CNN Reports On A News Site That Bans Anonymous Comments

I ran across this the other day on the website of CNN and thought I'd pass it along. It seems that some news sites are starting to ban anonymous comments.







What do you think of this trend? Are you for it or against it?

WSJ.com Reports On A New App For The iPad Called Zite

Here's a video I ran across yesterday at WSJ.com that might be of interest to you especially if you're a news junkie who owns an iPad:

The New York Times Reports On A New Service Called Ongo

Here's an interesting article I stumbled upon yesterday in the Technology section of The New York Times:

Start-Up Opens a One Stop Shop for the News

After reading the article, what do you think of the concept? How much would you pay to read your news online in one place? And is that even important to you?

What Is WikiLeaks Exactly?

If the term "WikiLeaks" that's been in the news this week had you scratching your head, like it did me, you need to watch this video from WSJ.com.

What They're Doing About User Comments

If you're like me, and you read a lot of online news, you've probably come across some user comments on these sites which is often not appropriate--even offensive in some cases. Well, apparently this is a problem that many of these news sites are starting to address, according to this CNNTech article I stumbled across recently:

News sites reining in nasty user comments - CNN.com

What do you think about online media's efforts to curtail out of control user comments?

Search For Local News Videos With A Little Help From Yahoo!

Want to know a great way to find local news videos quickly and easily? Just head on over to the following link:

Yahoo! Local News on Yahoo! Video

If you live in or around one of the major metropolitan areas in the U.S., this can be a useful way to search for news videos of interest to you. What do you think of this service from Yahoo? Sound off in the comments section.

Have You Seen CNN's Belief Blog?

If you're a fan of CNN you'll love this: They've recently released a "Belief Blog." Here's a video they produced that explains this brand new feature from CNN:

CNN's New Facebook Features

Are you on Facebook? Do you visit CNN often? If you answered yes to both of these questions you might be interested in this CNN produced video that describes some interesting Facebook features now available on the CNN Web site:

It's "Top Ten" Time Again

As they do every year--an quite capably, I might add--Time Magazine has put together a collection of fifty Top Ten lists for 2009 and posted them online. Here's the link:

The Top 10 Everything of 2009 - TIME

If it's worthy of a top ten list, chances are you'll find it there!

Are You Up For The CNN Challenge?

Think you're pretty good when it comes to staying on top of current events? Then you should have no problem scoring high on the following quiz from CNN:

CNN Challenge

I took this quiz the other day and let me just say this: "Challenge" is an appropriate title! But it's also a lot of fun, especially if you're a newshound!

Watch The CBS Evening News Live Online

Did you know that you can watch the CBS Evening News live online? CBSnews.com has recently announced that they've partnered up with Ustream, a leading online live video streaming site, which means the CBS live news stream will become widely available on the Internet! See: CBS Evening News to Be Live Streamed (via mediabistro.com).

In fact, starting today we're embedding the Ustream video player right here on The Senior Surfer so you can catch the CBS Evening News and other CBS news content without leaving this page! (It's over on the left sidebar)

Pretty cool, huh?

Use The Web To Stay On Top Of The Latest Retirement News

Interested in the latest information and news headlines on the subject of retirement? You don't have to look far! U.S. News & World Report aggregates the latest retirement news headlines and displays them in a handy widget you can place on your own blog or Web site.

What's more, if you read The Senior Surfer, we've made it even easier for you by placing the widget right here on our site--it's in the left sidebar right underneath The Senior Newsreel.

Check it every day!

YouTube For News Hounds

Are you a news hound? Do you love YouTube? Then you'll appreciate the fact that the popular video sharing site has a ton of News & Politics videos that they're adding to their archive daily.

YouTube.com/news aggregates all sorts of news videos, from top national and world news to news happening near you, and makes it easy to find. Here's an example of content currently featured:

Watch News Videos Here At The Senior Surfer

This one's for all you news junkies out there who are beginning to see how convenient getting your news online can be. Do you like watching news videos online? Well, starting today, you can watch top U.S. news videos right here at The Senior Surfer!

You'll find this handy new feature over on the left sidebar right underneath the title Top U.S. News Videos.

Heard Through The Newsvine

In the old days-the days before the Web, that is-who decided the important news of the day? Wasn't it those powerful people in Television, Radio and Newspapers who wielded editorial control? The rest of us had little if any say as to what was considered "newsworthy."

Today, thanks to the power of the Web, there's evidence that this paradigm might be shifting. Specifically, so called "community-driven news sites" are beginning to spearhead this change. These are sites where readers have a hand in deciding which news stories are the most important. Want an example? Try Newsvine, exactly the type of site that exemplifies this emerging trend.

Newsvine relies on a community of readers like yourself to discover stories from different news sources and then vote on their importance. The stories that get the most "up" votes from the community, are featured more prominently on the site. Your opinions taken collectively with those of others in essence amount to editorial control. Pretty neat, huh?

If you've already started enjoying the benefits of getting your news online-the variety of sources, the immediacy, etc., you might also enjoy a news site that lets you exert some editorial control. To find out more just visit Newsvine and click on Welcome at the top, right hand side of the page.

Step Back In Time With Google News Archive Search

Want to know a quick and easy way to use the Web to search historical archives and read news stories from the past? Just use the Google News Archive Search! This convenient service from Google, the search engine that seems to do it all, lets you venture into the archives of such esteemed news and magazine sources as BBC News, Time Magazine, The New York Times and others.

Some articles are free to read while many require a fee-previews however won't cost you a dime! To find out more about how to get the most out of this site you'll want to read the News Archive Search Help section of the Web site-it's easy to understand and will answer just about any question you have regarding this useful search feature from Google.

The Best "Year In Review" Sites

As the year winds down, you might be wondering where on the Web can you get a good recap of the year's top stories. Some of the best places for news throughout the year also have some great "year in review" sections on their Web sites.

Get your dose of "year in review" stories from these titans of news online :

• The Year In Review 2007 from Reuters.com

• Year in Review 2007 - Special Reports from CNN.com

• Year in Review 2007 Full Coverage on Yahoo! News

These sites are hard to top for comprehensive coverage of the most important stories of 2007!

A Great Place On The Web To Discuss Your Local News

Have you been to Topix.net yet? If you're looking for a great place online to discuss the local news that's important to you, this is one place that's hard to top. Easy to navigate and searchable by topic, city and state, or postal code it's sure to satisfy you if you're a serious newshound-especially an opinionated one!


Here's what Topix.net offers:

• Links to 50,000 news sources from all over the Web
• Forums and message boards where you can discuss the news
• The opportunity to participate in opinion polls and start your own

Billing themselves as "the leading news community on the Web," Topix encourages reader involvement. They even offer the chance to become a Topix editor for your city. Read their Editing FAQ's to learn more.

Missed A News Story? How To Find It Quickly With Google News

Next time someone tells you about an interesting news story that they heard, don't waste your time looking for it in the newspaper or on TV. Look for it on Google News instead-it's quicker and easier. Google News searches over 4,500 news sources for the search terms you specify.

For example, let's say someone asks you if you heard the story about the dog that rescued a litter of kittens that were stuck up a tree. If this had actually happened you could search Google News for articles about the event. Here's how:

• Go to Google News and type in search terms like, kittens, tree, rescued, dog, etc.
• Click on Search News.
• The resulting page offers links to articles about this unusual event.

Never miss another news story again-Catch up with it on Google News!

Introducing The Senior Newsreel

Interested in Senior News? Starting today, readers of The Senior Surfer will be able to quickly access information on a variety of Senior related topics in the news by simply clicking on one of the keywords over on the Senior Newsreel located on the right sidebar.

The topics included are:

• Medicare
• Social Security Benefits
• Prescription Drug Plans
• Assisted Living

Click on one of these topics and you'll see current news stories that include the selected topic. This service is provided by Google News!