"Web & social" news, interviews, and features

News about Web & social

• Gmail gets visual with hundreds of new themes, revamped emojis

  Gmail has added more themes to choose from and has swapped its old emoticon menu for Hangouts-style emojis.

• Internet problems take out Facebook, Instagram, others

  Unexplained outages take out several popular Internet services, including Facebook, Instagram, and HipChat.

• How to find free Internet for your laptop while travelling

  A solid Internet connection isn't always available on the road. Here's three ways to stay connected almost anywhere.

• Happy birthday, Internet! Here are your lamest lifetime moments

  Yes, the Internet has brought us closer together, but sometimes it's felt like surfing in a sea of dumb.

• BitTorrent and Madonna join forces for free speech

  The queen of pop is using BitTorrent to distribute a free film and launch a new art project.

• Hands-on: Flickr gets a stunning new look, but still feels incomplete

  After years of languishing mostly unchanged, Flickr--the one-time leader in photo-sharing sites--finally got a major overhaul.

Features about Web & social

• How Bitcoin can go mainstream

  It's a fringe concept at the moment. But bringing the virtual currency to the masses isn't as far-fetched as you might think.