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Big news this week was Facebook's push for Places, it's geo-location answer to Foursquare, and its launch of "event check-ins" on mobile phones. Unfortunately. like an updated version of "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," it's attracting the wrong crowd of people - namely, spammers! Now, I ask you, is that any way to run a location-based social network?

Cross-pollination amongst social networks has been a trend ever since Facebook tried to replicate Twitter's tweets into its status updates and Foursquare's geo-location components into its Facebook Places. This week, it appears the shoe is on the other foot, as both Twitter and Foursquare are dipping their toes into "brand pages" that comes very close to Facebook's fan pages.

As unrest in the Middle East gains traction with sympathizers globally, China tightens its current Internet controls. It appears the government's infamous "Great Firewall" has ramped up its interference capabilities on Gmail, virtual private networks (VPNs) and social networks, where disruptions in service some say is "a new kind of attack by Chinese censors."

Based on the premise that travelers can become a brand's strongest advocates, Flip.to, the social media service for hotels, airlines and restaurants launched its 'confirmation' component to beta customers this past year. Over 50 hotels on five continents have integrated with Flip.to to allow guests who book online to receive incentives for communicating with their followers on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. This month, the social media platform expands to include incentives for Web site visitors as well.

One of the world's least known social networks could go public prior to Facebook, or even LinkedIn or Twitter - and in the most unlikely country of China. Six year-old Renren - often referred to as the Chinese Facebook due its the many similarities is one of the major default social networks in its country of origin - as Facebook has been blocked by the "Great Fire Wall" since 2009.

Remember the days when hand-held game and watch consoles only featured one game which was basic and simple in premise and gameplay? I recall owning two or three of these back in the day so I found it a pleasant surprise to find at least one of the previous game titles I owned on Pica Pic, a brand-spanking new site that allows you to play over 19 classic games for free online.

You can now use your smartphone to feed your pet.

In 'Lars and the Real Girl' - as delusional as the lead character was in the movie, at least he had something "real" to hold onto. With the beta launch of a site called "Cloud Girlfriend," the goal is to offer virtual love affairs to male users in the form of what they might conjuring up as perfect mates. Giving a whole new meaning to the sexual innuendo "faking it," this new Internet startup wants to help guys move their status from "single" to "in a relationship" on Facebook.

With Google's ever-evolving algorithm, SEOBook posted a detailed infographic that took on the burdensome task of piecing together how Google  continually try to reinvent itself. From the rudimentary beginnings that surfaced with the launch of PageRank a decade ago to the the recent release of its Panda update to curtail...

Like Blanche DuBois' famous line in Tennessee Williams' play "A Streetcar Named Desire," sometimes you just "have to depend on the kindness of strangers." Not to be lumped together with anti-social networks such as Avoidr, Color.com does however have the ability to allow its users to connect with strangers. And on the heels of coming off a $41 million round of funding, apparently investors feel that 'people you don't know' do have something in common - if only being at the same place, at the same time.

In Munich, you can find a car on the side of the street, take it, and leave it wherever you like.

While car service apps like Uber and Flinc seem to be populating our mobile devices in rapid number, GroundLink appears to be the only one that has global coverage around the clock - allowing geek cred to 'virtually' replace the old school street cred of hailing a cab.

Before the recent All Facebook report, titled “Facebook Testing Web Search Box At Top Of Site” was changed to “Facebook Not Testing Web Search Box At Top Of Site (update)” I can imagine the reaction from Google's top brass. There has been a lot of speculation about Facebook potentially adding social media search to its core product, presenting the Big G with its first major threat in over a decade. Is that day close at hand?

A new application has been designed to provide as much disaster relief as possible in one place.

Google, long known for it speed in serving up searches faster than a speeding bullet has of recent date been spending more time "thinking" than delivering results. From "Think with Google" a platform initiated in June, 2010 that generated  insightful and inspiring bite-size videos -  to the release of its first edition of "Think Quarterly" a 69-page dive into the world of data and its impact on business - Google is taking the scholarly high-road in analyzing and reflecting on today's digital landscape.

While Facebook's Open Graph has changed the way we navigate the Web with their LIKE buttons populating faster that rabbits on a hot summer day, the Socialcam app had a different take as to how they could mix things up with the power of social media. When they launched a contest challenge at SXSWi this past week, hundreds of  participants responded - but only one was able to get the job done lickety-split!

Cosplay (short for "costume play") has spread from Japan to become an international subculture phenomenon. In the aftermath of the Great Tohoku Earthquake, anime & manga fans around the world are joining Prayers From Cosplayers and offering their support to the land and people who inspired them.

Hundreds of years have passed since Nathaniel Hawthorne penned his magnum opus, "The Scarlet Letter." Set in the 17th Century and viewed through the prism of puritanical mores, the adulterous heroine of the novel was condemned to wear a badge of shame in the form of the "letter A" sewn on a swatch of scarlet cloth.

Google announces 21 Google Science Communication Fellows, who have been charged to spread the word about climate change.