Facebook joins hunt for missing kids with Amber Alerts

Facebook will send alerts on users' news feeds
by Sharon Gaudin
In an effort to find missing children faster, Facebook will deliver Amber Alerts to its users.
Facebook users in all 50 U.S. states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands can now sign up to receive Amber Alerts for their state as part of their news feed.

With the new service, which went into effect on Wednesday, users will also be able to share the alerts with their Facebook friends.
"Everyone at Facebook feels a responsibility to help protect children and, as a former federal prosecutor and a father of two, I am particularly proud that we are now part of the Amber Alert program," said Chris Sonderby, Lead Security and Investigations Counsel at Facebook.
"We are hopeful that today's announcement offers these dedicated officials another useful tool to find and safely recover abducted children," Sonderby said.
The announcement came on Wednesday during a joint press conference with Facebook, the U.S. Department of Justice and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
The news also came out the day before the 15th anniversary of the abduction and murder of 9-year-old Amber Hagerman, who became the namesake of the national Amber Alert Program.
"That's a nice thing FaceBook is doing," said Ezra Gottheil, an analyst with Technology Business Research. "It has some potential. It's probably not that great on short-term emergencies, but a lot of people spend a lot of time with Facebook. Certainly more than looked at the back of milk cartons, back in the day."

Survey: Windows 7 getting popular with developers

Apps builders like touch and multitouch capabilities but are challenged by supporting older versions of the OS



Developers are hopping on the Windows 7 bandwagon, according to survey results released Monday by database and developer tools vendor Embarcadero Technologies.

In a survey of 606 respondents conducted in May, Embarcadero found 54 percent indicated they were developing applications for Windows 7. Another 25 percent said they plan to develop applications for Microsoft's latest client OS in the next year. Just 10 percent have no plans to build for Windows 7.

[ Get all the details you need on deploying and using Windows 7 in the InfoWorld editors' 21-page Windows 7 Deep Dive PDF special report. ]





But more than 15 percent of respondents are waiting for more organizations to adopt Windows 7 to make it worth their while, according to Embarcadero. Respondents were comprised of developers, architects, and analysts.

Respondents, Embarcadero found, are enticed by Windows 7 capabilities such as touch, multitouch, and enhanced graphics. Microsoft began shipping Windows 7 last fall.

"The popularity of devices like the iPhone and iPad have helped drive mainstream acceptance of touch-based technologies. This popularity transcends into the developer community, and I doubt we'll see it abate anytime soon," said Michael Rozlog, product manager for Delphi Solutions at Embarcadero, in a statement released by the company.

Building for Windows 7 is not without challenges, however. Thirty-four percent of respondents indicated the biggest challenge is supporting users on older versions of Windows. Microsoft is ending support for Windows XP in April 2014 and analysts are encouraging enterprises and consumers to move to Windows 7 by the end of 2012, Embarcadero said. These urgings, however, have been met with reluctance, the company noted.

Better than 10 percent of respondents said learning something new was the biggest challenge to developing for Windows 7.

The survey also found that the majority plan to build Windows 7 desktop applications first, with database applications second on the list, followed by utilities and tools. Small business applications are of higher priority than enterprise applications.

Domain Names to be Auctioned at DOMAINfest

Moniker and SnapNames, which make up Oversee.net, will have a live premium domain name auction at the DOMAINfest One-Day Power Networking Event at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York, N.Y. The auction will be held on Wednesday, August 18, 2010, from 4 to 7 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time.

The live auction from Moniker has a wide selection of premium domains and names from all price points. SnapNames will then hold an online auction after the Moniker auction. The online auction will be held until Wednesday, August 25 at 5 p.m. US Eastern Time.

You can view the complete catalog at http://domainauctions.moniker.com/2010/DOMAINfest-New-York. Among the premium domains are Rate.com, Quotes.com, Stocks.com, StockQuotes.com, Cable.com, Reggae.com, Patents.com, ByOwner.com 1-800-ByOwner, Artist.com, BigApple.com, Invitro.com, XXX.com, Alcohol.com, Testing.com, Voters.com, Partner.com and Lawsuits.com.

Monte Cahn, the founder of Moniker, stated that recent domain name sales, like Photo.com, Dating.com, and Slots.com, show that business of sizes, from start-up to mature corporations, are now accepting keyword-rich domain names as a main strategy to build their brands. He added that most of these recent premium domain names were obtained by businesses so they can develop and increase the value of their e-commerce sites.

Craig Snyder, the general manager of Moniker and SnapNames, said that these successes were partly allowed by the improved platform from Moniker and SnapNames. He said that they were able to reach global buyers and sellers in a quick, safe and simple way.

The Moniker Live Auction is a part of the Power Networking Day event of DOMAINfest NYC, which offers the chance for attendees to build relationships with motivated professional with the same interests. Free-flowing networking discussions will be facilitated by experts on subjects such as Local Search Trends—Is it Time to Invest?, How to Get the Most Out of Affiliate Marketing, Online Advertising Trends and Legal Q&A.