If they recall it at all, most Americans probably remember Friendster as the also-ran of social networking sites. Although the site had a head start when it launched in 2002, its founders squandered their lead when software glitches and slow access times prompted users to flee to the now hugely popular MySpace and Facebook. Friendster seemed destined for the scrap heap, remembered mainly as the company with the smiley-face logo whose owners in 2003 turned down a $30 million buyout offer from Google. Ling Woo Liu (’06) reports as a Hong Kong-based correspondent for TIME.

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Photo by Cheon Fong Liew from Flickr.

The village of Huangbaiyu in rural northeast China was supposed to be a model for energy-conscious design. The initial project was to build 400 sustainable homes, collaboration between US architect William McDonough and the Chinese. But something went awry. FRONTLINE/World reporter Timothy Lesle (’08) traveled to the region to investigate.

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An economic slowdown in the United States that could turn into an outright recession later this year is likely to weaken demand for oil in the months ahead, which could push the price of a barrel of crude as low as $70 by June, analysts said.
But a host of factors ranging from the onset of driving season, uncertainty about the depth of the economic slowdown, and resistance to output increases from producing nations could all conspire to make any decline in prices short-lived and limit its impact on the consumer, they said. Moming Zhou (’07) reports for Dow Jones’ MarketWatch.

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China’s efforts to rein in rampant inflation took a step backward this week after the central bank made an emergency effort to soften the economic pain caused by ongoing brutal snowstorms. The People’s Bank of China issued an order Thursday instructing local commercial banks to speed up loans in areas hit by the deadly blizzards. The action amounts to a suspension of the central bank’s efforts to tighten credit in the face of the hottest inflation in 11 years, analysts said. Moming Zhou (’07) reports for Dow Jones’ MarketWatch.

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Photos by Hui Wang.