April 25 - 1:55pm EDT   The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center is launching the "Digital Backpack," which will allow visitors at the Freedom Center to utilize social networking technology, digital media production, and wireless computing in ways that empower them to create, "distribute and access a shared vision for freedom." The company has chosen Apple products to power the project: each pack contains an Apple MacBook Pro notebook computer, iPod classic with voice recorder, digital camera, HD digital camcorder and tripod. These perspectives are then captured as a digital movie, archived at the Freedom Center, and published to an iTunes channel that the Center is launching in May. [full story]

April 11 - 11:10am EDT   nanoCom is promoting a Mac client for iSpQ Videochat, its video-based social networking service. Like other social networking sites, users are encouraged to great personal profiles; the focus however is on arranging real-time text and video chat, using webcams. Video is displayed at 320x240 at 15fps. Rooms are moderated, and users can also send each other messages with photos attached. [full story]

April 4 - 12:30pm EDT   App4Mac, the company behind RapidoWrite, CheckUp and other Mac OS X tools, has announced net4mac, a new, free social networking service built exclusively for Mac users. Users can create a profile including your location, job, activities, skills and the type of Macs, iPhone, iPod, etc. owned, then add friends to your profile and manage them. Users can also create their own groups of interest and invite friends to join them (people using the same application, in your same location, sharing the same passions, etc) and create events and invite Mac users. Registered users can search members using different of criteria and discover local Mac users.. [full story]

March 6 - 10:20am EST   A geotagging-based social networking site, GyPSii, says it has developed a new iPhone version of its mobile web client. The site is used to upload and share points of interest along with pictures, video and text; the two can in fact be combined, creating what the company dubs an online "life history." The iPhone client uses an optimized interface, able to display all relevant information at once for a particular person or place. Location-based search has been improved with new categories, and users can get integrated directions from the mapping interface, pointing to or from specific people and places. [full story]

February 25 - 11:55am EST   Two cellphone-optimized versions of LinkedIn's social networking website have launched, say members of the company. The site is geared towards exploiting connections for career purposes, by getting users in touch with past and present coworkers and classmates. The site also points out connections in job hunting, and links people to experts with job advice. [full story]

February 22 - 1:45pm EST   Fruux, a cross between social networking and .Mac's sync service, is currently in beta testing and looking for people to help test the service. Fruux synchronizes address book, bookmark, and calendar files with each computer someone owns, and also gives the user the ability to synchronize contact information with others. This allows users to stay in contact with friends, business partners, and family, even if the contact information changes. [full story]

February 5 - 4:15pm EST   After considerable delay, Nokia has finally begun an initial rollout of its N-Gage gaming service. The online network allows people to download and play a variety of high-end cellphone games, rendered with both 2D and 3D graphics. The client software is now available through the company's First Access program; although it is only officially said to work with the N81, third-party sources have already managed to remove the software's protective "wrapper," and run N-Gage on phones like the N95. The service was initially slated to launch in November, but the date was then moved to late December, and finally to sometime after the holidays. [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]