Obviously feeling pressure from MySpace and Facebook, Google and Yahoo may be planning on turning their email services and home pages into social networks, according to The New York Times.
So far, Google has been tight-lipped about the possibility of turning Gmail and iGoogle into a social networking platform, but Yahoo's Brad Garlinghouse was much more forthcoming with information on how Yahoo could revolutionize Yahoo Mail and MyYahoo.
Sort by relationship?
According to Garlinghouse, his company is working on something he called "Inbox 2.0." This new method of handling email revolves around the strength of your relationships with people based upon your habits. In other words, the system will analyze your relationship to others by measuring the frequency of email exchanges and instant messages. Upon doing so, the inbox will rearrange the messages in order of who is most important.
"The inbox you have today is based on what people send you, not what you want to see," Garlinghouse said. "We can say, here are the messages from the people you care about most."
Besides that, Yahoo envisions a platform that will link to a Yahoo Mail profile page, as well as something called 'vitality' - a news feed similar to Facebook's.
No word yet on availability
So far, neither Yahoo nor Google have officially confirmed that a social networking platform revolving around homepages and email will definitely be launched, but judging by the detail provided by Yahoo, these services must be coming sooner rather than later.
Microsoft has confirmed reports that a new Xbox 360 update scheduled for early December will allow you to download original Xbox titles onto your Xbox 360. The new system - called 'Xbox Originals' - will offer Halo, Psychonauts, Crimson Skies and Fable on the same day as the update's launch and more games will be released weekly. Each game will cost 1,200 Microsoft points or $15 (£8).
Nokia goes upmarket
Nokia announced two 3G 8800-series mobile phones on Tuesday that sport hefty prices and analogue clocks to tell time. Dubbed Arte and Sapphire Arte, the two phones sport 2-inch QVGA OLED displays with 16 million colours and 3.2-megapixel cameras with 8x digital zoom. The Arte will go on sale before the end of the year for 1000 Euros (£705), while the Sapphire Arte will arrive in early 2008 for 1150 Euros (£810).
