A content management system (CMS) is a collection of procedures used to manage work flow in a collaborative environment. These procedures can be manual or computer-based. The procedures are designed to:

    * Allow for a large number of people to contribute to and share stored data

    * Control access to data, based on user roles. User roles define what information each user can view or edit

Google Buzz is the loudest party I've ever been forced to attend. It's not because there are too many people invited but because of all the chatter. I'm following only 40 others. And even if I wanted to follow a few hundred more, my network's too small. But these 40 contacts all have their own friends, and even though I've never met most of them, Google is making me hear their thoughts.

And that dynamic makes Google Buzz a fundamentally different social network than Facebook and Twitter. Those networks, of course, are also filled with noise. But Google pushes the comments of your friends' friends (we'll call them secondary friends from here on out) into your Gmail window, alerting you whenever a secondary friend has responded to something your actual friend has written. This is a small quirk, and only mildly different from similar features on Facebook and Twitter. But it's Buzz's biggest one. Google's network will live or die depending on whether people like all that chatter.

The most important thing about Buzz is a number. It's the one that sits next to the "Buzz" link in your Gmail window any time your network has written something new. This feature cannot be turned off. Either you're forced to hear all the latest buzz, or you're not allowed to even know it exists. This makes Buzz a unique type of nuisance, one that goes away easily enough (just click on the Buzz link and the number disappears) but only after you've acknowledged its presence. It is an itch that can't be stared down; it must be scratched. Because all Google wants you to do is pay attention to Buzz; every time you scratch, Google wins.

If you're a Gmail user, chances are you now have Google Buzz in your inbox. Here's how to make the most of it (or just get rid of it).

On Tuesday, Google announced Buzz, a new social networking service integrated with Gmail. On Wednesday, you probably mashed your F5 key waiting for it to arrive in your Gmail account--and maybe you even tried to cut in line. By Thursday, you were likely worried about the privacy issues. Well, if you're buzzing about Buzz, we have the tips you need to make it work for you. And if you're wishing it would buzz off, we'll show you how to remove it from your Gmail account.

Keep Buzz Out of Your Inbox

Google Buzz's default settings send you an e-mail notification every time someone mentions you in a post with an @ reference or replies to one of your buzzes. Since all this stuff also shows up in your Buzz stream anyway, the redundant reminders get annoying fast.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin said Friday he is hoping the Internet powerhouse will find a way to operate in China without censoring Web search results.

"I'm optimistic," Brin said during an on-stage chat at the prestigious TED Conference in Long Beach, California. "I want to find a way to really work within the Chinese system and drive more information.

"A lot of people think I'm naive, and that may be true, but I wouldn't have started a search engine if I wasn't naive," he added smiling.

Google Buzz continues to make waves as the Gmail- and mobile device-based social networking platform reaches the masses this week.

Buzz takes one part Facebook, one part Twitter, one part YouTube and one part Flickr and blends it for a social networking platform lodged directly into Gmail. So far, Google Buzz has been receiving mixed praise. As with any new platform where people share information, however, privacy is a huge question. People post personal information, photos and other content to share with friends, not with the world. It's up to Google Buzz to keep that information to its intended recipients.

Early on, Google Buzz has come under scrutiny for lacking some fundamental privacy and security. Here are three areas Google Buzz needs to tighten up before users will be confident enough to make it their single social networking service:

1. Google Buzz automatically imports contacts and shows them as friends.

Reporting from San Francisco and Los Angeles - In the latest blow to what was once the jewel of News Corp.'s digital empire, MySpace Chief Executive Owen Van Natta unexpectedly exited Wednesday after less than 10 months on the job.

Van Natta's departure comes as the media conglomerate struggles to reshape MySpace, a former giant in social networking that has been overtaken by Facebook and confronts new challengers such as Twitter. MySpace's rapid decline also illustrates the perils of placing big bets on digital media, where websites can quickly rise and fall by the mouse clicks of fickle users.

Now Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. hopes to convert MySpace into a portal that guides users to content such as movies, music, TV shows and games, distancing itself from its origins in which people created Web pages to share details of their lives. It remains to be seen whether the site can convince its users to think of it in a fundamentally different way.

YouTube today introduced a new content filter that helps users screen out offensive content, such as news videos with graphic violence, or sexually suggestive clips that don't exceed the service's Community Guidelines. The optional filter, named Safety Mode, also hides all text comments by default.

Google's YouTube has long banned family-unfriendly content, including pornography and videos that show gratuitous violence, animal abuse, underage drinking, and the like. But Safety Mode adds another layer of protection to keep kids and sensitive adults away from more provocative material.

Last week, Microsoft said it was investigating issues in Windows 7 that affect batteries on certain notebooks after hundreds of users reported they thought the OS was to blame. Steven Sinofsky, president of the Windows and Windows Live Division, has posted a lengthy response on the Engineering Windows 7 blog.

"At this time we have no reason to believe there is any issue related to Windows 7 in this context," Sinofsky writes. Here's his explanation: