August 20 - 11:40am EDT   Firemint has previewed a new game in development for the iPhone. Titled Real Racing, it features accelerometer-based driving, but also the rare option of head-to-head play over Wi-Fi or cellular networks, including support for creating mini-leagues with friends. Its Australian developer has also spoke of features such as associated Facebook and OpenSocial applications, which will let users show off their stats through social networks. [full story]

May 8 - 4:05pm EDT   MySpace today introduced a new initiative that will see its users' data shared outside of the social network. The Data Availability framework will let any member of the MySpace service opt in to share profile info, friend networks, photos and videos to sites that will support the approach on their networks: MySpace users will have the option of posting their biography and latest blog updates to their Twitter profiles, for example, or bring images to Photobucket. eBay and Yahoo will also allow portability, with Yahoo's new Open Strategy allowing users to automatically fill in a profile that is viewable across much of the site's network. [full story]

March 25 - 12:00pm EDT   Yahoo today said it would both join Google's OpenSocial and that it would help found the OpenSocial Foundation, a new collaboration that involves Google as well as MySpace. The move would see Yahoo ensure that any social networking elements it develops can be ported between any OpenSocial-based social network and that the platform will be protected in the future. The Foundation will ensure that OpenSocial remains neutral and dictated by the public rather than controlled by any one company, according to its launch partners. [full story]

February 19 - 4:05pm EST   Best known for his DeCSS routine that bypassed DVD encryption, Jon Lech Johansen and his startup company doubleTwist today launched a new utility they hope will all but eliminate the restrictions that normally block transferring music and videos between devices. Just referred to as doubleTwist Desktop, the app is designed to share and sync media regardless of the format and uses intelligent converters to produce more universal formats out of sometimes proprietary files. [full story]

January 30 - 11:20am EST   MySpace this morning firmed up details of the MySpace Developer Platform, its programming interface first announced in October that will let third parties write their own applications for the social networking site. Like Facebook's longstanding interface, developers will be able to hook their programs into some of MySpace's key features and will also have opportunities to collect revenues and advertise their apps on the larger MySpace network, according to the company. [full story]

December 12 - 4:00pm EST   Social network site Facebook today announced the early stages of open access to Facebook Platform, the underpinning for the company's web application service. The company will let its existing platform serve as a reference for other sites and will allow competitors to license the company's proprietary tags and similar code, though the cost if any of a license has yet to be revealed. Expanding the code will let developers writing for Facebook export their web applications to other sites without having to significantly rewrite the code for another platform, the company says. [full story]