Mashable: Latest 29 News Updates - including “NASA’s New Satellite Captures Amazing Hi-Res Image of Earth” |
- NASA’s New Satellite Captures Amazing Hi-Res Image of Earth
- Jobs’ Last Photography Wish: iPhone With Lytro, the Focus-Free Camera? [VIDEO]
- 5 Essential YouTube Channels for Gamers
- Macworld Enters 3rd Year Post-Apple; Is it Still Relevant?
- Contactually Prioritizes Contacts and Communication in Email Network
- Meme Machine: 5 Hilarious Viral Topics Trending Right Now
- HP’s Plan to Open-Source WebOS: What’s Taking So Long?
- Jailbreaking Exemption Law Could Expire Soon
- European Lawmakers Want “Right to Be Forgotten” on Facebook, Google
- 10 Tips for Building a Strong Online Community Around Your Startup
- Comedian Crashes at iJustine’s and 12 Other Celebrities’ Homes [VIDEO]
- Google Thinks I’m a Middle-Aged Man. What About You?
- NFL Will Allow Players to Tweet Inside the Pro Bowl
- Google’s Privacy Update: What You Need to Know
- New Scanners Will Virtually Frisk People for Guns [VIDEO]
- Fifth Megaupload Arrest; No Bail for Kim Dotcom
- Netflix Rebounds: Adds 220,000 Streaming Subscribers, Beats Street
- iPhone 5 Will Have 4-Inch Screen, Launch in Summer [RUMOR]
- 10 Simple Google Calendar Tips and Tricks to Boost Your Productivity
- Pope to Social Media: Please Be Quiet
- Boxee With Live TV Is a Cord Cutter’s Dream [REVIEW]
- Facebook Subscribe for Journalists: What Works and What Doesn’t
- Microsoft’s New Xbox 720 Will Be 6x More Powerful [REPORT]
- Obama’s State of the Union: Where Was the Tech?
- 6 Ways the Media Is Using Digital Tools to Cover the Election
- Recycle Your Kid’s Clothing Through the Mail with ThredUp Bags
- McDonald’s Follows Twitter Fiasco With Another Hashtag Campaign
- Twitter Will Become Available in Right-to-Left Languages This Spring
- Twitter’s Newest Impostor: Celebrity Chef Bobby Flay’s Wife
- Why Gary Vaynerchuk Tells it Like it Is [VIDEO]
| NASA’s New Satellite Captures Amazing Hi-Res Image of Earth Posted: 26 Jan 2012 01:16 AM PST      You’ve seen Earth, but you’ve never seen it like this. Suomi NPP, NASA’s newest Earth-watching satellite, has taken a high resolution image of Earth, one of the most beautiful such images ever created. It’s available in 8000×8000 pixel resolution, and it takes a while to download, but it’s definitely worth it. The satellite, named after the “father of satellite meteorology,” Verner E. Suomi, is designed to create fabulous images of Earth, monitor for natural disasters and improve weather forecasts as well as our understanding of long-term climate changes. The image is a composite, created using a number of swaths of the Earth’s surface taken on Jan. 4, 2012. It echoes the legendary “Blue Marble” photograph, taken by the crew of the Apollo 17 spacecraft on Dec, 7, 1972, The Blue Marble 2012, as NASA named the new photo, is available in high resolution here. Now, where do we sign up for a 8000×8000 pixel screen so we can use this baby as a desktop background? Credit: NASA/NOAA/GSFC/Suomi NPP/VIIRS/Norman Kuring [via Our Amazing Planet] More About: blue marble, blue marble 2012, Earth, image, NASA, satellite, trending For more Tech coverage:
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| Jobs’ Last Photography Wish: iPhone With Lytro, the Focus-Free Camera? [VIDEO] Posted: 26 Jan 2012 12:20 AM PST A new book by a top Fortune reporter reveals that Steve Jobs sought out the up-and-coming Lytro camera CEO — and putting Lytro in the iPhone was discussed. Lytro, a light-field capture technology that lets you shoot first and focus the shot later, is about to lauch its first consumer models in the US in the first half of 2012. It was developed by Stanford Ph.D and light field expert Dr. Ren Ng. In mid-2011, Ng was briefing media and big tech companies on the product he would shortly announce. Mashable received one of these briefings; the subsequent story was one of the most popular of that month. Jobs was fascinated enough to summon Ng to his Palo Alto home. According to Adam Lashinsky, Fortune‘s veteran of the tech beat, Jobs was looking for a new technology that could revolutionize the entire field of photography via the iPhone, and Lytro looked like it could fit the bill for the Apple billionaire. With Lytro built into every iPhone, instead of the bulkier auto-focus device in current models, people could take snapshots instantly without waiting for the image to focus. Lytro integrates well with Facebook, allowing your friends to refocus your shot in different ways. That functionality baked into the iPhone would give Apple a vital edge within the social network. To find out what happened next, and get a sense of how serious Jobs was about this, watch the video above. And let us know in the comments: would you like to see an iPhone with Lytro? More About: iphone, Lytro, steve jobs
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| 5 Essential YouTube Channels for Gamers Posted: 25 Jan 2012 09:14 PM PST
These are the elite of that set. Promoted by some of the best gaming websites, such as ScrewAttack and Machinima, these gamers are known for bringing in-depth knowledge, radical gameplay and a dash of humor for good measure. Some of them are gonzo, some are straight-laced, and still others are so mind-blowingly ridiculous that they can border on NSFW. What you won’t see here is the same hot video game everywhere you look: from old-school classics to underground indie games, every platform gets its moment in the spotlight. If you’re a gamer and you haven’t already done so, add these five picks to your channel subscription feed as soon as possible. I promise that you will not be disappointed. Is there a YouTube gaming star that you love the most? Let us know in the comments. 1. The Angry Video Game Nerd CineMassacre founder James Rolfe has been subjecting himself to the horrors of the gaming world for the last eight years, first as the Angry Nintendo Nerd and now as the Angry Video Game Nerd. His series, a partner venture with Screw Attack, tackles some of the worst titles in history (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde for NES) with a wholehearted rage. The AVGN chugs Rolling Rock and swears heavily, making for great laughs and some horrible flashbacks for childhood gamers. Click here to view this gallery. More About: features, Gaming, trending, video games, videos, YouTube For more Entertainment coverage:
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| Macworld Enters 3rd Year Post-Apple; Is it Still Relevant? Posted: 25 Jan 2012 08:38 PM PST   The annual Macworld exposition begins on Thursday in San Francisco, and for the twenty-eighth consecutive year will bring together Apple fans, users and developers. But this installment adds a new twist — and a new name. It’s now billed as Macworld | iWorld, which better captures “the essence of what a mobile lifestyle is,” according to event general manager Paul Kent. As part of that emphasis, this year’s convention will include a festival of films exclusively shot on iPhones and how-to sessions about ways to better leverage Apple’s mobile-friendly technology. Macworld | iWorld will also feature the traditional assortment of lectures and product demonstrations. Artists and musicians will showcase work created using Apple products. The event runs Thursday through Saturday. But Macworld | iWorld also faces a challenge: Three years after Apple’s final appearance at the event, can it remain relevant to fans and consumers? Kent said the showcase is aware of the challenge but believes it still has great utility as a way for fans and consumers to talk to developers, get their hands on new apps, and pick up useful tips and hints in a unique way. “We answer the question of, ‘What do I do now?’ after people have walked out of the Apple Store with their new Mac or iPhone or iPad,” he said in an interview. “The tools are so powerful and accessible that you ramp up much differently that you do using Windows or Android,” Kent added. Lost Its Luster?One longtime Mac developer told Mashable that the event may have lost some of its luster since Apple pulled out, but that it still has significance within the Mac-loving community. “I think it’s still relevant, but whether it’s as relevant is hard to judge,” said Christopher Allen, who has developed applications for Mac since 1984 and written books for iOS users. Allen is attending this year’s event to do marketing for his new app, Infinite Canvas. He said that Macworld’s smaller scale since Apple left — the event reportedly drew 44,000 attendees in 2007 when Steve Jobs introduced the first iPhone, compared to 22,000 attendees last year — offers people like himself a set of costs and benefits. “At its height, Macworld was starting to take on some of the challenges of CES, where it was getting so huge it was hard for a small company to get visibility,” he said. “But now that we’re a smaller Macworld, it might be a little easier to get the word out.” But Allen added it has become harder to find Apple engineers and evangelists to network and market products with, formerly a major benefit of the show. And smaller attendance numbers also mean fewer sales. “Before, small developers could basically show up and pay for their booth through sales but now I’m not quite as confident that’s possible,” he said. “Now it’s more of a pure marketing expense for a small developer, although they have made some good strides to improve that, like opening up on Saturday for more consumers to come through.” Still RelevantKent and other organizers, meanwhile, remain bullish on the potential and relevance of Macworld — or, as it’s known now, Macworld | iWorld. Mashable got a preview of the event as it was being set up on Wednesday, and it looks to be an “insanely great,” to borrow the term, showcase for lovers of Apple products. Its larger relevance in the market, however, will remain to be seen. “If people recognize this is not a trade show — it’s a lifestyle event — then it will work for them on so many levels,” Kent said. “If we’ve made the experience of using these products even more pleasurable through education, product discovery, performance and everything else here, then we will have really done our job.” What do you think? Three years after Apple’s withdrawal, is Macworld | iWorld still relevant to you? Let us know in the comments Also, click through the slideshow below to check out Mashable‘s behind-the-scenes look at what to expect this year at Macworld | iWorld. 1. Building Macworld | iWorld The main exhibit hall was still being put together when we got to visit. Viewed here as you enter, it will feature a mobile hub to the right and software stations to the left. Click here to view this gallery. Thumbnail image courtesy of www.macworldiworld.com. All gallery images exclusive to Mashable unless otherwise noted. More About: apple, iOS, ipad, iphone, Macworld
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| Contactually Prioritizes Contacts and Communication in Email Network Posted: 25 Jan 2012 08:08 PM PST   The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.
Quick Pitch: Contactually is a proactive personal assistant for your email contacts. Genius Idea: Contactually automatically prompts you to take action with the most important people in your network and syncs all contact data with your Customer Relation Management (CRM) system. Contactually is like a virtual secretary minus the hundreds of paper sticky notes. It manages your email contacts and communications to ensure you don’t forget to reply to important emails. The service links directly to a user’s email account, so there’s no need to install computer software or browser plugins as with similar services such as Boomerang for Gmail. It is made specifically for those working in sales, business development or professional services such as consulting and financial management, although it can be used with personal inboxes, too. “We have been talking with customers, and they say they have a nagging fear there are loose ends that aren't being wrapped up,” said Tony Cappaert, Contactually’s co-founder. “A customer says he is going to follow up with someone, and he doesn't. He says he is going to send a presentation — he forgets.” The company started in July 2011 when Zvi Band, Contactually’s co-founder and CEO, wanted to develop a simpler, less expensive approach to CRM, Cappaert said. “After hundreds of interviews with other professionals, we kept hearing the same thing: ‘I want something that just works,’” Cappaert added. Contactually provides daily prompts for emails it categorizes as most important on one’s communication priority list. Contactually’s sophisticated classification method and email reminder system do the hard work for its users. The system takes note of who a user contacts, how frequently the user contacts someone and how quickly the user responds to individuals. The user can also organize contacts by dropping them into different virtual buckets. For example, buckets could include friends and family, co-workers, individuals on group projects, customers, investors or acquaintances. Contactually links contacts to social media accounts. “When we see people who are important to you start to slip off your radar, we send you a reminder email,” Cappaert said. Zvi Band is well-known in the tech community. He has worked as a developer at skeevisArts, a boutique software development shop. He started #dctech, organized DC tech meetups, co-founded ProudlyMadeInDC and landed on Washingtonian’s Tech Titans list. Band teamed up with his co-founders — Cappaert, formerly with Microsoft Bing Ads and Jeff Carbonella, who met Band while designing and developing web applications at SkeevisArts. Contactually is free for now, but a paywall will appear in February for those who use Contactually frequently, Cappaert said. For most, prices will range from free to $45 per month per user. The system works with IMAP email accounts including AOL, Gmail, Google Apps and Yahoo; POP3 and Microsoft Exchange will be supported later on. Contactually is a 500 Startups company and has about 2,500 users. 500 Startups provides financial support to early-stage companies. In total, Contactually has raised $225,000. “We are really just hitting the tip of the iceberg,” Cappaert said. Series Supported by Microsoft BizSpark
More About: bizspark, Contactually, spark of genius series For more Business coverage:
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| Meme Machine: 5 Hilarious Viral Topics Trending Right Now Posted: 25 Jan 2012 07:31 PM PST   The Mashable Meme Machine is a daily look at five hilarious viral topics spreading across the web right now. Today’s Meme Machine features cats and tablets. While some don’t understand the point of a tablet, as shown in the parody commercial for Samsung, cats get it. Tablets are the future, and these cats are living in a world where technology exists to enter the feline mind through Nyan Cat-dream invasion. If that’s not enough for you, we also have Obama GIFs, a crazy possessive praying mantis, and people who need to learn how to tell a good story. Have you run into any solid memes lately? Let us know. Feel free to contact Brian Anthony Hernandez (@BAHjournalist), Christine Erickson (@christerickson) or Lauren Hockenson (@lhockenson). 1. Crazy Girlfriend Praying Mantis It's an odd but common fact that a female praying mantis kills and consumes her partner after mating. Think your girlfriend is crazy? Think again. Naturally, there is also a whole Tumblr dedicated to the subject. Click here to view this gallery. More About: cats, features, GIF, humor, Meme Machine, obama, trending, tumblr For more Entertainment coverage:
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| HP’s Plan to Open-Source WebOS: What’s Taking So Long? Posted: 25 Jan 2012 06:31 PM PST   Hewlett-Packard just announced it would fulfill its promise to make the code of its dormant mobile operating system, webOS, open-source … by September. The company, which effectively stopped the webOS platform in its tracks when it killed the HP TouchPad tablet and Palm line of phones last summer, said in a statement that it would gradually release parts of webOS to the open-source community over the next eight months. Starting this month with Enyo 2.0, the webOS developer tool, HP will make individual elements available bit by bit. (The full schedule is below.) On webOS Nation, a forum for enthusiasts of the platform, some members complained about the long schedule. Member kill_Dano said, “Seems like a really long time to do this. HP should have hired more people,” and another commenter noted HP’s September deadline was “a little longer than hoped.” Other forum members raced to defend HP, however, with some even saying the schedule was “pretty aggressive.” “I would rather them take time and get it right,” member gargoylejps said, “than rush something out the door and mess up. Realize, every line of this code has to be reviewed to make sure its not infringing on someone else’s intellectual property. If this were released with some Apple, or Google, IP in it, we could see any new device held up for, literally, years as they tie up things in court.” Looking at some comparable projects, the Open Handset Alliance, led by Google, was formed in November 2007, and the first Android phone got FTC approval in August 2008 — about nine months. And when Symbian, the operating system on most Nokia phones until this year, went open-source, it took a year and a half. “We feel really good about the timeline,” an HP spokesman told Mashable. “We’re thrilled to be putting some of the code into the hands of developers today. We feel it’s a smart and aggressive schedule. This is par or ahead of par for something of this scale.” After the schedule is complete, HP says it’ll continue to be involved in the development of webOS. “We’ve got a full development staff on it,” HP’s spokesman said. “1.0 in September is just the beginning. We’re going to be collaborating with the community. But it’s tough to speculate. We want webOS to take on a life of its own, and there’s no better way to do that than open-sourcing it.” HP acquired webOS when it bought Palm in 2010, and the company attached its entire mobile strategy to the platform. All that changed when CEO Leo Apotheker took over, though, who eventually decided to discontinue the TouchPad last August. Shortly afterward Apotheker was fired, but the fate of webOS remained up in the air for a while. After rumors about a sale, HP said in December that it would be taking webOS open-source. Here’s HP’s full schedule for open-sourcing webOS:
Let us know in the comments what you think of HP’s plan. More About: Hewlett-Packard, HP, Touchpad, webOS
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| Jailbreaking Exemption Law Could Expire Soon Posted: 25 Jan 2012 06:02 PM PST Protection granted by the U.S. Copyright Office for people who modify their iPhones and other iOS devices so they can install apps not authorized by Apple (known as “jailbreaking”) is set to expire soon. That’s why the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is rallying supporters to sign a petition to renew the jailbreaking exemption law. “The idea that you might face criminal charges because you altered your own property is totally unfair,” said Rebecca Jeschke, media relations director and digital rights analyst for the EFF. “The goal here is to make the law really clear.” Three years ago the Copyright Office created an exemption to the1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act DMCA that would protect users who jailbroke their phones from legal threats. Without this protection, anyone with a jailbroken iOS device could have legal issues looming over their heads. Currently, jailbreaking an iPhone just voids your Apple warranty. On Wednesday, the EEF — the organization that filed for the initial jailbreaking exemption that was put into place three years ago — called on users of jailbroken devices to send their comments to the Copyright Office and explain why the exemption should be extended. The EFF also wants tablets and video game consoles to be included in the exemption. Comments to the Copyright Office are due by Feb. 10 [link to .pdf comment form on copyright.gov]. You can also visit jailbreakingisnotacrime.org to sign a petition supported by EFF and Andrew “Bunnie” Huang, author of Hacking the Xbox. “The law was never intended to limit legal activity with a device that was legally bought,” Jeschke said. “It’s not good policy for consumers.” Jailbreaking devices is useful for uncovering security issues within it, or simply installing a modified operating system so you can access third-party app stores like Cydia. When news of the 2010 smartphone jailbreaking exemption made headlines, Jeschke said lots of people were flabbergasted to hear this was an issue. Apple fought against the exemption in 2010 — “Which I think would be a surprise to people who spent money on the phone to own it,” Jeschke added. Apple released a software update late last year for the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad 2 and iPad, plus the third and fourth generations of the iPod Touch. The update would bring phones to 4.3.4. and protect users from malicious PDFs, but also prevented users from jailbreaking the phone with JailBreakMe 3.0. The tug-of-war between Apple and Android for customers is ongoing and constant. Fans of Apple appreciate the company’s focus on design, while critics say Apple’s closed operating system is confining. Have you ever jailbroken your phone or considered it? What do you think about the exemption to the DMCA? Tell us in the comments. More About: hacking, iphone, jailbreak, jailbreaking, trending
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| European Lawmakers Want “Right to Be Forgotten” on Facebook, Google Posted: 25 Jan 2012 05:30 PM PST   European Internet users may be getting better control over information posted online, thanks to some proposed sweeping reforms lawmakers proposed Wednesday designed to protect digital privacy. The suggested law calls for a “right to be forgotten” and a “right to data portability.” The former would require Internet companies such as Facebook and Google to completely wipe all of a user’s info from their servers if such a request was made. The latter demands users be allowed to easily transfer data from one online service to another, a currently difficult task. The “right to be forgotten” wouldn’t be granted to users attempting to remove information relevant to a criminal investigation. All online businesses operating in Europe would be bound to the new rules, whether or not they’re based on the continent. Should web services fail to comply with these rights, they would be slapped with fines of up to €1 million or up to 2% of the global annual turnover of a company (The total value of all products made in a 12-month period). In the past, European Union (EU) member states have issued varying interpretations on existing digital privacy laws. Those different analyses have resulted in discordant levels of enforcement from country to country. If passed, this law would unify all 27 EU member states under a single set of privacy rules. The EU argues this Europe-wide standardization would save businesses money by providing a sole definitive source of online privacy law for the continent. However, many internet companies depend on access to users’ data for advertisement revenue. A spokesman for European Union justice commissioner, Viviane Reding, told the BBC that the proposed laws are a means of protecting children and young adults who share details online which they later want removed for professional or personal reasons. “These rules are particularly aimed at young people as they are not always as aware as they could be about the consequence of putting photos and other information on social network websites, or about the various privacy settings available,” said spokesman Matthew Newman. For the proposed new rules to become European law, they will need approval from the EU’s member states followed by ratification from European Parliament. That process may take up to two years. Do you think Internet users should be granted a “right to be forgotten?” Let us know in the comments below. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, richterfoto More About: europe, European Union, Facebook, Google, Social Media
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| 10 Tips for Building a Strong Online Community Around Your Startup Posted: 25 Jan 2012 04:59 PM PST   Megan Berry is Senior Marketing Manager for Klout, the standard for online influence. She also blogs at The Huffington Post and Brazen Careerist. You can follow her on Twitter as @meganberry. Building a community around your startup can be one of the cheapest ways to create momentum for your product. A community is much more than a one-time marketing campaign, and can help you throughout your company's life cycle if you take the time to grow it right. Here are 10 tips for getting started. 1. Look Before You LeapFirst, take stock of who is already talking about your product or industry and where they're doing it. Mike Handy, a community consultant, suggests you seek out "pockets of users who are excited about your product or service." If users are already talking about your product on Twitter, for instance, that's a good place to start building. Sumaya Kazi, CEO of Sumazi, recommends "It’s best to focus on one to two communities to begin with, and really focus your efforts to grow a community one at a time." Take stock of where your efforts will be most useful and narrow in on those areas. 2. Get to Know Your UsersKazi recommends you "use Twitter search to see who is posting about your company, competitor or about a topic that is relevant to your company. You can use that to follow people, start a conversation and engage with them." This way you can start to build a relevant following from the ground up. David Spinks, director of community for Zaarly, adds "Startups are always in a rush to build a community as big as possible, as quickly as possible. Slow down. Get to know all of your users one at a time." This will give you the foundation you need to eventually scale and grow your community. 3. Leverage Any and All Connections at Your DisposalKazi emphasizes the value of your own friends and connections to start the community. Ask them to be a part of your community and to help you grow it. Jason Keath, CEO of Social Fresh points out that email lists are often overlooked as a chance to ask your existing community to follow you elsewhere. Social Fresh found early success by building partnerships with conferences and leveraging their audiences, so definitely think about any partners or deals you can make to help build your base. 4. Build Social Into Your ProductIf you want people to share, make it really easy on them. When they sign up, give them a checkbox to sign up for your newsletter. Ask them to follow you on Twitter and like you on Facebook as part of your onboarding process. Suggest opportunities for them to tweet or share with their friends. You'll be amazed how many people will take the step to follow or share just because you took the time to ask. 5. Think in Terms of Advocates, Not Just NumbersGetting fifty more followers (or even 5,000) doesn't mean much in itself. Think about building a quality follower and fan base that is engaging with and sharing your content. According to a 2009 Nielsen study, 90% of consumers trust peer recommendations, while only 33% trust online ads. Your goal should be to turn your user base into advocates who help spread the word about your startup in a way you could never do on your own. 6. Expect It to Take TimeReal community doesn't happen overnight. Spinks advises "Every community will go through an 'awkward phase' where conversations feel a little forced and people aren’t initiating conversations on their own. It will pass. Keep building your community one person at a time, and it will eventually begin to flow naturally." The returns on your effort increase exponentially as you grow a real community. Don't give up when your account doesn't "go viral" immediately, because unless you're the Old Spice guy, it's probably not going to happen. 7. Connect and Help Your Community MembersHaving Twitter followers or likes doesn't mean you have a community. Spinks emphasizes this point: "It’s good to engage your users personally, but that’s not scalable. That’s why it’s so important to connect them with each other." By focusing on building a place where community members talk to each other, not just you, you're on the way to building a scalable community that can sustain itself. Make sure your community finds value from their involvement — focus on building that value and your community will not only stick around, but become a huge supporter of your company. 8. Take Chances and ExperimentIn some ways, a small community can be a blessing. It gives you the ability to try new things with very little fear of failure or of pissing a lot of people off. Handy suggests you "risk while the risk is low. If no one follows you, there is no where to go but up." I firmly believe you should always be trying new things, but there's no better time for your off-the-wall ideas than when you don't have much to lose. 9. Have a PersonalityThink about some of your favorite brands online. Are they boring and dry, or do they have a distinct personality or brand voice? Now is the time to build your own brand voice and have fun with it. Kazi showcased her brand's personality on its landing page for beta sign ups. It included quirky messages like “Sumazi can bake 30 minute brownies in 20 minutes flat." At the end of the signup process, users even got serenaded. They quickly exceeded the number of signups they were hoping to get because people were excited to share and be a part of what they were building. 10. Track EverythingPut numbers behind what you're doing and track them back to your company's goals. Note which of your efforts get the best response and try to do more like them. As Handy points out, your "data is telling stories" so make sure you're listening. A vibrant community helps you attract new users, keep current users engaged, and provide valuable feedback to help improve your product. At the beginning, getting any retweet or share will be a victory. If done right, however, you'll find yourself quickly and exponentially growing past those initial milestones. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, matspersson0 More About: community, community management, contributor, features, Social Media, social media marketing, Startups, trending
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| Comedian Crashes at iJustine’s and 12 Other Celebrities’ Homes [VIDEO] Posted: 25 Jan 2012 04:37 PM PST
The man who lived in an IKEA store for a week, hit up 171 Starbucks within 24 hours and even brought a goat to an Apple Store is back. This time, comedian Mark Malkoff embarks on a celebrity-infused adventure in which he spends the night or naps at 13 Hollywood locations, including homes, an SUV and a treehouse. Sound crazy? Well, “Celebrity Sleepovers” really is, but Malkoff pulls it off in charming fashion. “My favorite part is that I got to hang out with celebrities I grew up watching,” Malkoff told Mashable. “They even cooked for me which was crazy. Plus, I got to say in amazing homes minus when Dave Coulier [from Full House] had me sleep in his SUV and Justine Bateman [from Family Ties] put me outside to sleep in her kids’ treehouse. I wish ‘Celebrity Sleepovers’ was my full time job.” During his project to avoid costly hotels while visiting Los Angeles, he cuddled with actress Camryn Manheim’s Emmy, played Hungry Hippos with The Karate Kid villain Martin Kove, got turned down by TV host Larry King and even had Bridesmaids director Paul Feig read him a “bedtime story” a.k.a. his memoir Kick Me. In total, Malkoff did six sleepovers and seven nap time sessions, including one with Internet celebrity and top YouTuber iJustine. Here’s whom you’ll see in the video:  If Malkoff got the chance to pick three celebrities to do a joint sleepover, he told us he would choose Woody Allen (“It would be the most awkward sleepover of all time”), Bruce Springsteen (“I’d make him play ‘Born to Run’ for me on acoustic guitar”) and George Lucas (“I imagine ‘Star Wars’ pajamas and lightsaber battles”). More About: celebrities, comedy, Entertainment, Hollywood, ijustine, viral-video-of-the-day For more Entertainment coverage:
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| Google Thinks I’m a Middle-Aged Man. What About You? Posted: 25 Jan 2012 04:06 PM PST   I’m a woman who is too young to remember the Reagan administration, but Google has me pegged as a middle-aged man. Given my habit of browsing technology websites, the search engine probably placed me in my father’s demographic a long time ago. But it didn’t break the news to me until Tuesday, when it rolled out a revamped privacy policy that drew my attention to my account. That’s when I noticed a settings tab in my Google account called Ads Preferences, launched a few months ago, that shows the basic profile Google has compiled based upon my web browsing habits. Other websites who partner with Google use the profile to target ads on their sites. Here is a snapshot of what Google thinks I’m interested in:  Look like a 35- to 44-year-old dude to you? Google, too. Google uses a cookie, that is, a long string of alphanumeric characters, to convey this snapshot along with its guess for my age and gender to other websites. If Google were to have attached a non-PR-filtered, honest note to this page (it didn’t), I imagine it would say something link this: “See, this is all we’re concerned about in this whole tracking business. It’s not even detailed enough information to distinguish a middle-aged man from a girl technology reporter. To us, your profile is just a series of random digits, nothing more. And if you don’t like it, we are making it so easy to opt out that you have no excuse not to.” Easy it may be, but there’s still a battle raging between privacy advocates on one side and Google and advertising agencies on the other over whether an opt-out solution to privacy in behavioral advertising, like the one Google participates in, is sufficient. User data has become the number one factor that advertisers take into account when searching for a media partner, and the Network Advertising Initiative released a study that found behaviorally targeted advertising secured more than 2.5 times as much revenue per ad as its non-targeted counterpart. Both parties are hoping to prove that a choice to opt out of behavioral tracking is sufficient privacy protection. Privacy advocates, meanwhile, have demanded an opt-in solution that would only allow behavioral tracking if a user consented to it, citing, for instance, a 2010 study in which only 51% of participants realized that online behavioral advertising “happened a lot.” "People understand that the [grocery store] is obviously keeping track of the food that they buy, but they're getting it cheaper," John Simpson, a privacy advocate with the non-profit Consumer Watchdog advocacy group, told me about a year ago while explaining why he opposed an opt-out solution. "And if they're using those cards, they're willing to give up some of their information for cheaper prices. The thing about what's going on online is nobody really understood what they were giving up." Google looks to be making a bigger effort to help people understand how they are being tracked. And after looking at my own profile, what it’s telling other sites about me doesn’t make me paranoid. The step is probably not a big enough effort for most privacy advocates — some people don’t know how to find the opt-out button on the settings page and it’s easy to imagine the havoc Google could wreak with information it is capable of collecting — but is it enough for you? Let us know in the comments. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, hidesy More About: behavioral advertising, Google, privacy, trending
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| NFL Will Allow Players to Tweet Inside the Pro Bowl Posted: 25 Jan 2012 03:18 PM PST   The NFL is going to allow players to tweet during the game from this Sunday’s Pro Bowl. As first reported by CNBC’s Darren Rovell, players will be allowed to tweet from a designated area on the sidelines. The NFL, often called the “No Fun League,” famously disallowed in-game tweeting in July of 2009. The NFL later fined a player for tweeting from a training camp. Still, the league’s position regarding social media has evolved over time. Of course, this is the NFL, so the sanctioned Pro Bowl tweets will have some caveats. Rovell says that players “will not be able to tweet from personal devices” and instead will have to use a computer station set up on each sideline. Additionally, Rovell cites the NFL’s Brian McCarthy as saying that the league is not considering changing its stance on in-game tweets during the regular season. The Pro Bowl is the NFL’s all-star game — less of a game and more of a show — so it stands to reason that the league is willing to make changes to its official social media policy in this case. Still, we have to question the rationale of “designated computer stations.” Rovell tweets that these stations are unsponsored, which means there doesn’t seem to be a fiscal motive to limiting the type of device. Maybe it’s just us, but this doesn’t feel like the league is really ready to embrace social media. After all, if players have to go to a certain area and use a computer, doesn’t that limit the “realness” of the messages they send to fans? In any event, progress is progress. What do you think of the NFL’s decision? Let us know in the comments. More About: nfl, pro bowl, sports For more Social Media coverage:
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| Google’s Privacy Update: What You Need to Know Posted: 25 Jan 2012 02:45 PM PST   Google’s new privacy update that will allow the company to eventually integrate its products will kick in March 1. Tuesday’s news that Google condensed its 70 privacy settings into one easier-to-understand and more transparent document, paves the way for the company to meld its products into a more integrated and intuitive user platform, i.e. Google needed to give itself permission to sync your products in the future. Nothing will change tangibly on March 1 — Google products will all still look and function the same. Users can already share data across services such as Picasa and Google+. And Google already has numerous intuitive functions: the Google calendar can autocomplete using names in your Gmail account. But the new privacy rules give the company leeway to combine your Google products in cool ways in the future. Not searching for a gym membership in January? Google will remove those ads from your search. Email a friend about adopting a puppy? You might see ads for animal shelters in your area. Your friend Jon doesn’t have an “h” in his name? Google Docs will remember this, too. By syncing your Google products, the ads you see and your search results will be customized. Google will be different for each individual. Just like with iTunes and other online services, there is no way to opt out of a privacy policy, other than not using the service — and that’s unlikely considering Google is the world’s largest search engine. Users can, however, customize their privacy settings as integrated products roll out in the future. When Google launched Search Plus Your World it had some people wondering if Google searches would be tainted with irrelevant Google+ results. With the service, users can switch between the original Google and Search Plus Your World by logging out of their Google accounts. Any future services will most likely have that option as well. The company is adamant that it will not give your information to advertisers — Google uses the information, though, to place the ads it purchases. Google says it’ll let you opt in if it wants to access “personal information relating to confidential medical facts, racial or ethnic origins, political or religious beliefs, or sexuality." Your account information will not be shared with Google’s Double Click advertising network, either. Which Google products would you like to see integrated and how would you like them to function? Tell us in the comments. Photo courtesy of iStock, by Alija. More About: Google, privacy, user privacy
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| New Scanners Will Virtually Frisk People for Guns [VIDEO] Posted: 25 Jan 2012 02:05 PM PST The New York Police Department is currently testing scanners that can search passers-by for concealed firearms without an officer needing to perform a physical pat down. The terahertz wave-technology makes it possible for the devices to detect concealed weapons and explosives from more than 80 feet away — ideally from the top of police cars. Scanners measure terahertz waves released naturally by our bodies. It would detect objects and materials obstructing the receipt of waves, such as the metal of a gun. The gun scanners are still in its testing phase, according to a report by The New York Times. For now, the device can only scan for infrared rays as far as three-to-four feet away. "This technology has shown a great deal of promise as a way of detecting weapons without a physical search,” said New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly during his State of the NYPD address on Tuesday. The gun scanning technology will help lessen the need for NYPD’s use of Stop and Frisk procedures that allowed officers to stop New Yorkers for random street interrogations or searches. In 2011, about 600,000-plus New Yorkers were stopped. However, the scanners are worrying individuals who believe this technology violates their Fourth Amendment rights to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. See what representatives from the New York Civil Liberties Union are saying in the video above. What do you think of virtual police pat downs? Image courtesy of the New York Police Department More About: innovations, nypd, Tech, Video
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| Fifth Megaupload Arrest; No Bail for Kim Dotcom Posted: 25 Jan 2012 01:44 PM PST   Authorities appear to be giving no quarter in their case against file-sharing website Megaupload. A New Zealand judge denied bail to the website’s founder, Kim Dotcom, on Wednesday. Authorities in the Netherlands also arrested a fifth suspect in the case. Multiple news reports have identified the latest arrestee as programmer Andrus Nomm, a 32-year-old Estonian citizen. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) last week charged Dotcom and six others with running Megaupload as a “massive worldwide online piracy” operation. American authorities have been able to lead the charge because Megaupload was run in part from servers in the United States. The DOJ accuses Megaupload’s operators of enabling the illegal downloads of millions of films, music, TV shows, software and other content to earn more than $175 million for themselves while costing more than $500 million in damages to copyright holders. The first wave of arrests of Dotcom and three other alleged accomplices came last week, days after major websites including Wikipedia and Google blacked-out all or parts of their content in protest of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). Soon after the arrests, the hacker group Anonymous claimed credit for attacks that temporarily disabled the DOJ website. Dotcom was denied bail on Wednesday pending his first extradition hearing on Feb. 22 because he is believed to pose a flight risk. Prosecutors said that has access to large monetary funds and a history of avoiding criminal charges. Dotcom was arrested after authorities forced him out of a safe-room in his New Zealand mansion. Born in Germany as Kim Schmitz, Dotcom has led an extravagant life as an Internet rogue, according to widespread news reports. He was accused of a major insider-trading case in Germany at the peak of the Internet boom in 2001. He fled the country but was arrested in Thailand, then extradited and convicted in Germany, where he spent five months in jail after appearing on a popular late-night talk show to publicly defend himself, according to The New York Times. Multiple photos posted online show him with beautiful women, jetliners and fancy automobiles while decked out in his trademark sunglasses and black garb. He flew helicopters and paid for the city of Aukland’s 2010 New Year’s fireworks celebration, according to the Wall Street Journal. Authorities reportedly seized more than a dozen luxury cars when they arrested him last week. What do you think? Is Kim Dotcom up the creek without a paddle? Or can he wiggle out of this? Let us know in the comments.
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| Netflix Rebounds: Adds 220,000 Streaming Subscribers, Beats Street Posted: 25 Jan 2012 01:29 PM PST   Netflix on Wednesday announced it added 220,000 streaming subscribers in the fourth quarter and posted earnings of $0.73 per share and revenues of $876 million, beating Wall Street forecasts. The figures, which come in the first full quarter in which Netflix’s price increase took effect. The price hike did take a toll on DVD subscriptions, which fell in the quarter to 11.2 million, a drop of 2.7 million. However, in a letter to shareholders, Netflix noted that “both hybrid cancellation and migration to streaming-only plans ebbed through the quarter.” The company ended the quarter with 24.4 million total subscribers, 21.6 million of whom subscribe to Neflix’s video streaming service. About 10.4 million subscribers continue to get streaming plus DVDs. Neflix, whose stock price took a beating in 2011 after the price hike and an ill-fated program that sought to rebrand its DVD-only service as Qwikster, was clearly buoyed by the results. “We are encouraged by the strength in acquisition that we are seeing, coupled with continued improvements in retention among our domestic streaming members,” the letter reads. “For Q1 to date, our domestic net additions for streaming are tracking close to our net additions in Q1 2010.” Investors apparently share the company’s optimism. Netflix’s stock price has bounced back from a low of $64.53 in early December to $94.84, the company’s stock price at the close of the market on Wednesday. In after hours trading, the company’s stock rose 15% to $109. What do you think? Is Netflix on the rebound? Sound off in the comments. Image courtesy of Flickr, Mr. Thomas More About: netflix For more Business coverage:
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| iPhone 5 Will Have 4-Inch Screen, Launch in Summer [RUMOR] Posted: 25 Jan 2012 01:20 PM PST
9to5 Mac reports that a Foxconn worker told them that the next-generation iPhone, tentatively called the iPhone 5, is gearing up for production. According to the report, there are several different samples, each of which varies slightly from the others, so it’s impossible to determine which will be final. However, all the samples sport 4-inch or larger screens, which would finally put the iPhone into the same screen leagues as many of its high-end Android competitors, like the Droid RAZR. That of course means none of the samples have the same compact form factor as the iPhone 4 or 4S. The screen on one of the units is said to be made by LG; there was no screen info for the other samples. Also of note: Not a single one of the phones has a MacBook Air-inspired teardrop shape, a rumor that first got started last spring, then visually realized in a speculative post on This Is My Next (now The Verge). Apparently all of the samples are symmetrically shaped. The report goes on to say that production of iPhone 5 could begin soon, perhaps with a summer release. While you should look at all of this information with a skeptical eye, a raised eyebrow and folded arms, the rumor sounds slightly more credible than the junk typically spewed out from Taiwan industry pub DigiTimes. For starters, reviewing various prototypes before deciding on the final production model is a standard practice in manufacturing, unlike many rumors that imply certainty about what something will look like. Also, the overall vagueness of the rumor (no precise screen measurement, no photos, nothing about the insides) at least gives an appearance of authenticity. After all, if you were just going to make something up, why not be more detailed? There’s certainly no shortage of potential features to choose from. What do you think of this latest rumor about iPhone 5? Do you think it’s bunk, or does it feel like the real deal? Have your say in the comments. BONUS: Top 8 Rumors About iPad 31. Minor Upgrades iLounge recently reported that it saw a prototype of the next-generation iPad at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and that it looks just like the iPad 2, only thicker by about 1 mm. The camera in the top left corner is expected to be a bit larger than the iPad 2 and similar to the improved camera featured on the iPhone 4S. It's also been rumored that the next-generation iPad will have a high-resolution screen – possibly even double dpi -- and a stronger interior. However, the updates seen by iLounge seem to be more cosmetic than structural. Could the next-generation device be an upgrade similar to that of the iPhone 4 to the iPhone 4S? Click here to view this gallery. More About: apple, iPhone 5, rumors, trending For more Mobile coverage:
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| 10 Simple Google Calendar Tips and Tricks to Boost Your Productivity Posted: 25 Jan 2012 01:09 PM PST 1. Use Keyboard Shortcuts An entire list of Google Calendar keyboard shortcuts will help you get around the service more quickly. For example, "S" goes to the "Settings" menu, "D," "W" and "M" produce day, week and month displays, "/" pulls up the search box, and "Q" brings up the "Quick add" field. Click here to view this gallery. Google‘s free Calendar tool is a handy way to organize your life online, but how much time have you invested getting to know the service? We have 10 tips and tricks that will help you to get more out of Google Calendar. Discover quick ways to add events, schedule your agenda to be emailed to you on a daily basis, and many more valuable Calendar tricks. Take a look through our gallery of GCal tips. Let us know in the comments about any other handy shortcuts you’ve come across. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, alexsl More About: features, gmail, Google, Google Calendar, tips and tricks
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| Pope to Social Media: Please Be Quiet Posted: 25 Jan 2012 12:52 PM PST   Pope Benedict XVI’s annual message for World Communications Day on Tuesday suggested a tried-and-true strategy for both social media and life in general: don’t just talk, also listen. The theme of the message: balancing silence and words. “The process of communication nowadays is largely fuelled by questions in search of answers,” the pope said. “Search engines and social networks have become the starting point of communication for many people who are seeking advice, ideas, information and answers. “In our time, the Internet is becoming ever more a forum for questions and answers – indeed, people today are frequently bombarded with answers to questions they have never asked and to needs of which they were unaware. “If we are to recognize and focus upon the truly important questions, then silence is a precious commodity that enables us to exercise proper discernment in the face of the surcharge of stimuli and data that we receive.” The pope, however, is no Luddite. During his term, the Vatican has launched a YouTube Channel, iPhone app and web portal. He sent his first tweet from an iPad, and recently used an Android tablet to light a Christmas tree. He made it clear in his message that he was not attacking technology. “In concise phrases, often no longer than a verse from the Bible, profound thoughts can be communicated, as long as those taking part in the conversation do not neglect to cultivate their own inner lives,” he said, in an apparent nod to Twitter. You can read the full text of the message here. Photo courtesy of Flickr, catholicism More About: pope, Twitter, vatican
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| Boxee With Live TV Is a Cord Cutter’s Dream [REVIEW] Posted: 25 Jan 2012 12:35 PM PST Home The home screen in Boxee 1.5 now has a new "Live TV" option when the Live TV dongle is plugged in. Click here to view this gallery. Boxee is bringing live TV to the Boxee Box with its new live TV add-on and version 1.5 of the Boxee software. The company hopes that the combination of the $49.99 Boxee Live TV dongle and a Boxee Box will appeal to users looking to cut the cable cord. We’ve had a chance to use the Boxee Live TV tuner alongside the 1.5 software update. Does the combination of over-the-top and over-the-air (OTA) content help users make the jump? Can OTA and Online Content Replace Cable?In its marketing and press information, Boxee is really going after cord cutters — those that are giving up cable television and instead getting all of their content from over-the-top online services and subscriptions. Making the transition is easier said than done, according to previous cord cutting studies. Sure, tons of content is available online or through subscription services, but access to live television content streams is almost always restricted to cable television subscribers. This is fine for certain types of television shows, but the real-time element of social TV has made watching live TV much more attractive. The biggest roadblock for many potential users is that these services make using the TV more complex. It’s fantastic to turn on Roku, Apple TV, Boxee Box or Blu-ray player and start browsing for movies and TV shows via Netflix, Vudu, Amazon, iTunes or Hulu Plus, but none of them are, like live TV, already streaming content when you first turn them. Flipping on a channel and vegging out in front of the couch is simply more of a chore with these services. This is the barrier Boxee wants to break down. By offering access to live OTA content through the same interface and using the same remote as the connected device, Boxee is promising the best of both worlds. Setting UpThe Boxee Live TV tuner is a USB dongle that plugs into the back of the Boxee Box. On the opposite end of the USB cable is a coaxial port. This can be attached to a coaxial input or to an included antenna. Our set came with a digital cable and a coaxial signal that allows a TV without a cable box to view the digital OTA signals. For testing purposes, we also used Boxee’s included antenna. Depending on your area, you may need an amplified HDTV antenna for maximum channel access. Setup is easy. Simply plug in the Live TV adaptor into the back of the Boxee Box. Then, follow the on-screen instructions for setup. After selecting the type of connection you’re using, the system scans the antenna or coaxial airwaves for channels that it can find and display. We found that selecting “cable” as an input option yielded no results, however using “antenna” even when using the coaxial running through the walls, worked perfectly. After finding your channels, selecting the new “Live TV” icon from the top of the Boxee menu brings up live television. Rarely has the process of setting up OTA-to-computer or HTPC systems been as simple or problem-free as it is with the Boxee Box. Boxee has taken a page out of TiVo‘s playbook when it comes to ease of setup. That’s a good thing. Watching Live TVWatching channels via Boxee is similar to watching them directly through an antenna or using an adapter from Elgato or other TV-to-PC devices. There is an on-screen guide showcasing what’s currently on, as well as upcoming programming. In a nice social twist, Boxee also shows you how many people are watching a certain channel, as well what your friends are watching. You can also share what you’re watching to Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter. Boxee also has a new Live TV Timeline app for Facebook that uses the new social gestures to easily share what you’re watching. (This can also be turned off for users that don’t want to share their viewing habits.) When you’re finished watching live TV, you can exit the app and return to watching content from the Internet or a local home network. The best part of Boxee Live TV is the ability to switch between live TV and Netflix or networked content. This is a stumbling block with other devices, such as the Logitech Harmony. The only downside is that all the live channels have to come in over-the-air or through coax. There are a lot more channels available this way than one might expect, but it still means that most of your favorite channels could be off limits. Boxee will hopefully make agreements with major cable companies to provide special cable boxes — boxes that are essentially a Boxee Box and a regular digital cable solution. That would be the holy grail. For users who primarily watch live content on the major networks, however, the experience is top notch. Boxee 1.5To use Boxee Live TV, you need to upgrade to Boxee 1.5. This release has been in testing and in beta for the past month or so and it’s an evolution to the excellent Boxee update the company released last spring. In addition to supporting live TV, Boxee 1.5 also has an updated interface that makes browsing different types of content more seamless. The Future of Boxee and Connected PlatformsOver the course of nearly three and a half years, Boxee’s software — and later the Boxee Box — have evolved from a software layer into something that is much more like an appliance Boxee 1.5 was released for Mac and PC last month and it is the last stand-alone version of the software that Boxee will release. While this is sad news for HTPC and build-it-yourself fans, it represents the realities of the current connected device market. The connected living room and connected ecosystems have been a constant promise on the tech horizon but that potential has yet to be fully realized. We should have been further along by now. The biggest hurdle that connected device makers face — besides getting access to content — is managing to pull together an experience that isn’t too much work for the user. For too long, the convergence of the computer and the television has meant that the resulting device acts too much like a computer. A decade ago, TiVo was on the right track and very few companies have managed to adequately raise the bar. Even Apple has struggled to find a way to make the content experience seamless on the bigger screen. Boxee comes closer to any other solution we’ve seen. The all-in-one nature of the device is a huge boon and the growing support for subscription services is top notch. We’re not ready to cut the cord just yet but Boxee with Live TV is our favorite connected device experience for those looking to make the leap. More About: boxee, boxee box, boxee live tv, cord cutters, cord cutting, Feature, review, social tv
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| Facebook Subscribe for Journalists: What Works and What Doesn’t Posted: 25 Jan 2012 12:11 PM PST   “Thousands” of journalists have signed up for Facebook Subscribe since it launched last September, according to a report released by Facebook Wednesday. Subscribe is a feature that allows Facebook users to follow the public status updates of other users without sending a friend request. The report, which was authored by Facebook journalism program manager (and Mashable alum) Vadim Lavrusik and Facebook data analyst Betsy Cameron, doesn’t disclose any traffic referral numbers, but it does offer some tips on how journalists can best take advantage of the feature. Based on analysis of 25 journalists, the company found the following types of content generated more engagement:
It also matters how journalists frame their posts. Posts accompanied by a question receive 64% more comments, likes and shares on average. Those that are introduced with analysis receive 20% more referral clicks, and those with photos receive 50% more likes than posts without. Call-to-action messaging is effective, as well: Posts that contain a call to action, such as “read my link,” or “check out my interview with” receive 37% more engagement than the average post. Speaking personally, Subscribe has been a great way to tap into a much larger audience than I’ve found on other social networks. On Twitter, the network on which I am most active, I have about 8,500 followers and am lucky if something I tweet gets five responses. On Facebook, I’ve somewhat bewilderingly amassed a subscriber base of 130,000, and a single link averages about 300 likes and hundreds of comments. Those are great numbers, but there’s something to be said for the quality of the audience: I find that I usually need to provide more context for the articles I link to and my profile is frequently spammed, much to the frustration of my subscribers. If you’re a journalist using Facebook, or someone who subscribes to a journalist on Facebook, we’d love to hear what is and isn’t working for you. BONUS: 5 Top Celebrities to Subscribe to on Facebook |
| Microsoft’s New Xbox 720 Will Be 6x More Powerful [REPORT] Posted: 25 Jan 2012 11:36 AM PST “More power!” You can imagine Steve Ballmer yelling it through Microsoft’s halls but that’s exactly what is happening with the Xbox 720, according to reports from IGN. The next Xbox — rumored to be the “Xbox 720″ — will ship to retailers in late October or early November 2013 and have six times the processing power of its predecessor, the Xbox 360, sources close to the project told IGN. The next console will use the AMD 6000 series, which should run similar to the Radeon HD 6670. That all sounds a bit jargon-y but essentially it’s a super-fast processor that supports DirectX11, multi-display output, 3D and 1080p HD. Production of the GPU should start by the end of this year. All that anticipated extra power on the fabled Xbox 720 isn’t just about graphic fidelity. It allows games to have more detailed environments, longer draw distances (think open world games such as The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim), better enemy artificial intelligence, faster multiplayer experiences and the ability to cram more stuff on the screen. Sony’s PlayStation 3 won the tech arms race with the last generation of consoles however that gamble on technology didn’t quite pay off. The PlayStation 3 was generally outsold by both the Xbox 360 and the Nintendo Wii for years after its launch and the Wii had a slower processor than both of its competitors. (PS3 sales are making a steady comeback of late.) Will a more powerful Xbox finally dominate the market or should it watch out for Sony’s next console and Nintendo’s Wii U? More About: Gadgets, Gaming, microsoft, Tech, trending, video games, xbox For more Entertainment coverage:
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| Obama’s State of the Union: Where Was the Tech? Posted: 25 Jan 2012 11:17 AM PST    From what I've heard, President Barack Obama is a bit of a gadget nerd. He likes his iPad and his BlackBerry, and fought to keep using the RIM device as he entered the White House in 2009. Yet, as I listened to his State of the Union-cum-2012 presidential election stump speech, I was struck by the near total lack of digital name-checks in the almost hour-long address. It was very nearly a luddite speech for luddites. "Technology" has three references, "High-Tech" four. Never mentioned: Social Networking, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Apple. Cyber threats (same as Cyber-Espionage in my book) got one passing reference: "I’ve already sent this Congress legislation that will secure our country from the growing danger of cyber threats." Broadband Internet got one mention as part of a segment on America's crumbling infrastructure: "…an incomplete high-speed broadband network that prevents a small-business owner in rural America from selling her products all over the world." The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) one of the biggest online hot-button issues of the last six months got nothing, unless you count this portion on China: "It’s not right when another country lets our movies, music, and software be pirated." Listening to Obama, I thought he would segue from this to the complicated issues of piracy (foreign and domestic) and content ownership, No such luck. "Jobs," by contrast, got 37 mentions and only one of them was about Apple's legendary founder: "…we should support everyone who’s willing to work and every risk-taker and entrepreneur who aspires to become the next Steve Jobs." It's telling, though, that the President never mentioned the Cupertino company by name. Obviously, the creation of American jobs is important to most Americans, and a tent-pole in the 2012 Obama Presidential Re-election Campaign. So I should not be surprised that it beat technology, digital and social by a country mile. Still, it worries me that such a critical speech all but ignores how millions upon millions of us live our lives every day. Most of us are online 24/7, whether via our laptop and desktop or our tablet and smartphone. We do everything in the digital space and have real and valid concerns about how big companies and malefactors want to use our data. "Data" by the way, did get a mention, but it was only, again, as it relates to jobs: "Now you need to give more community colleges the resources they need to become community career centers, places that teach people skills that businesses are looking for right now, from data management to high-tech manufacturing." Obama seemed disinterested in the power and importance of social networks in everyday lives and how it's changing the social, political and global landscape. This State of the Union was one of the most well-orchestrated social media events by an administration I have seen in years, yet not so much as a hat tip from our Tweeter in Chief. If you were looking for "social" in the speech, you'll only find it mentioned with "security," as in "Social Security." I do credit President Obama with managing to squeeze in a mention of the need for "high-tech batteries" but it was folded into a broader push for renewable energy. Personally, I'd like to know which companies have "already positioned America to be the world’s leading manufacturer of high-tech batteries. " This election-year State of the Union speech was, naturally, intended to lay the ground-work for the presidential campaign, but it was also about policy and getting things done. Are there no policy questions revolving around digital that need answering in the next 11 months? How about issues such as the quiet emergence of ACTA or how unfettered access to social networks might be altering the way our country's youth acts, reacts and matures? What about mega online networks and growing privacy concerns? Americans worry daily about who knows what about their online activities, but it’s not an issue for the President? President Obama has, over the years, met with numerous tech luminaries and he has (or at least his campaign has) joined numerous social networks, including Google+ and Foursquare. So was it too much to expect a little more recognition in the State of the Union speech that we live in the digital age; that there are some important questions that need answering and that maybe, just maybe, this Administration still wants to help answer them? I encourage you to read the transcript of the President's speech and tell me in the comments if it isn't true that much of it could have been delivered by any President who occupied the White House long before the advent of tablets, smartphones, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Google and Twitter. More About: apple, barack obama, Facebook, Google, microsoft, trending, Twitter, U.S. presidential election
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| 6 Ways the Media Is Using Digital Tools to Cover the Election Posted: 25 Jan 2012 10:51 AM PST   Politicians have been deploying digital tools in new and innovative ways this election season, and the media outlets and journalists covering them have been doing the same. Throughout the 2012 battle for the White House, media outlets have been designing web apps dedicated to political coverage, while individual journalists have been tweeting and uploading photos nonstop. These digital media innovations are giving readers unprecedented access to the election. Many of these online features are interactive, contributing to a two-way conversation between journalists and readers and changing the political journalism ballgame. Follow along as Mashable highlights some of the ways the media and individual journalists are covering this election digitally. 1. Social DebatesMany of the networks that have hosted presidential debates have been using social media to allow viewers to ask questions directly to candidates. This idea isn’t new in 2012, but it has become more mainstream. NBC and Facebook teamed up to co-host a Republican debate during which viewers asked questions via Facebook and discussed the debate amongst themselves. Fox News used Twitter to instantly gauge each candidate’s performance during a debate in South Carolina. Social debates allow American citizens better access to candidates. They turn debate audiences from viewers into participants, increasing their sense of “ownership” in an election. By giving viewers a voice in a debate, network hosts are keeping their audiences tuned-in and engaged. 2. Election CentersMany major news sites, including CNN, MSNBC and Fox News Channel, are featuring 2012 election portals, which include all the organization’s political coverage. Online election centers are designed to be a one-stop shop for all things politics in 2012. Visitors to these portals can learn about the candidates and their stances on the issues that matter, access links to candidates’ social media profiles or find out more about their financial backers. If you want to know more about candidates or their stances on a particular issue, an online election center is the place to go. 3. Calendars and Interactive MapsCalendars and maps are handy digital ways to show when and where a given candidate will be appearing on a certain day. With the ever-changing nature of campaign schedules, putting these calendars and maps online allows quick and easy updating to maintain accuracy. At CNN, an interactive map and calendar show visitors when and where upcoming primaries and caucuses are to be held. Likewise, NBC has teamed up with Foursquare to map the 2012 campaign trail. Visitors can easily see where candidates (and NBC journalists) are appearing. Politico takes the mapping concept a step further. Its map shows you not only where a candidate is (and where he’s been) but also why he’s doing a particular event. For example, Ron Paul won’t be in Florida the night of the Republican primary, and the Politico tool helps explain why (Paul is focusing on later contests). That editorial insight adds usefulness to an already visually appealing tool. 4. Delegate TrackersCNN, NBC and Politico all offer a “delegate tracker,” which shows how many delegates each candidate has won thus far (winning delegates is the key to winning the Republican nomination for president). CNN’s delegate tracker adds some fun by allowing armchair campaign managers to guess the outcomes of upcoming contests. Users can then figure out how candidates must perform in order to keep moving forward in the nomination process. That interactivity keeps readers engaged with the story of the 2012 election season. 5. Print Goes DigitalMany publications with roots in the print world have been experimenting with digital methods to cover the presidential contest. Over at The Washington Post’s politics page, visitors can find an interactive “campaign finance explorer,” which helps educate people on the candidates’ sources of income. The New York Times launched a unique mobile app, which aggregates all of its 2012 election-themed content. And finally, Mother Jones is just one of the media outlets which have been experimenting with Storify to neatly collect tweets and photos of campaign events. 6. TwitterTwitter is the social tool of choice for many political journalists. Major media outlets usually publish lists of their journalists who are active on Twitter, making it easy to follow them. Political journalists on Twitter can provide a window into the electoral process that wasn’t possible before the days of social media. Journalists can now bring each town hall, rally, primary and caucus to the screens of Americans across the country, opening up formerly local conversations to the rest of the nation.
Political journalists, some assigned to one particular candidate, often tweet the most informative and immediate election news. Many often break news over Twitter, their followers becoming first to receive up-to-the-second campaign updates.
Political journalists often become experts in the subject matter they cover. That equips them to share insights into the news of the day.
They also often interact with one another in conversations, which you can watch and learn from when you follow multiple political journalists (Twitter only lets you view @ messages when you follow both users).
Breaking news aside, these journalists often tweet minor, but telling scenes from the campaign trail. These “micro stories” include a candidate’s offhand remarks during a campaign event, jabs at other candidates or information about candidates’ strategies in important battleground states. These kind of quick reports are well-suited to Twitter’s 140-character limit. Occasionally, they’ll grow and be turned into a story (or at least included in one). More often, they’ll never move out of their first home; therefore, the tweet stream is the only place people will ever find them. That’s a major change from years past, when such quips would have been archived in a reporter’s notebook (or just in his or her brain), and the public would likely never hear them repeated. What unique digital tools have you seen media organizations using during the 2012 election season? Let us know in the comments below. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, temis More About: 2012 election, 2012 presidential campaign, features, Media, Politics, Twitter For more Media coverage:
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| Recycle Your Kid’s Clothing Through the Mail with ThredUp Bags Posted: 25 Jan 2012 10:33 AM PST   Sure, there are parents who responsibly sort their children’s outgrown clothes into boxes for consignment and donations before driving them to appropriate locations. But there would probably be a lot more of them recycling clothes if the process instead involved throwing all items into one big garbage bag and setting it on the porch for the mailman to pick up. Clothes-swapping startup ThredUp is now offering that option through a new service called ThredUp Concierge. At its website, users can sign up to receive a bag with a pre-paid shipping label. (Starting in March, receiving a bag will require a $5 deposit.) Then they simply fill it with clothes and send it back. Thredup sorts the clothes it will donate to charities such as Goodwill from the clothes it will resell online, and it credits the previous owner’s PayPal account upfront for the later. The startup’s core business model involves swapping rather than selling. Parents who register for its original service (about 250,000 so far, according to ThredUp) receive shipping boxes in the mail, fill them with outgrown clothing and toys, and list their contents on the site. Other parents can then choose to have those boxes shipped to them. For every box a family ships, it can sign up to receive one from another family, paying just shipping costs and a small transaction fee. But that’s a lot of work. “"[ThredUp Consignment] serves another segment of consumers who wanted to be a part of what we were doing, but didn't have the time or bandwidth,” ThredUp CEO James Reinhart says. Reinhart believes ThredUp can make up the expensive shipping costs it’s fronting with the resale of packages’ contents, and he has been busy building a warehouse operations team that can handle the sorting bonanza that will soon commence on its property. Within the next few weeks, ThredUp will use the inventory it pulls from its geen-polka-dotted garbage bags to launch an online store for used children’s clothing — something that could eventually prove more profitable than transaction fees from swapped boxes. Thumbnail image courtesy of iStockphoto, kativ For more Business coverage:
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| McDonald’s Follows Twitter Fiasco With Another Hashtag Campaign Posted: 25 Jan 2012 10:13 AM PST   McDonald’s — whose last Twitter campaign, themed #McDstories, became a magnet for criticism of the brand — launched another hashtag campaign on Wednesday. The new drive is called #littlethings. The fast food giant introduced the talking point with the following tweet, which hit at 11:42 EST: “No line at the bank, a large tax refund, & those extra fries at the bottom of the bag. What are some #LittleThings that bring you joy?” Despite the open-ended nature of the campaign, so far few users have used the hashtag as a forum for bashing the brand or taking the conversation in off-color directions. Responses so far include “a good cup of coffee in the morning” and “a child’s laugh.” That’s a far cry from #McDstories, which drew comments like “Fingernail in my Big Mac once” and “ordered a McDouble. Something in the damn thing chipped my molar.” However, McDonald’s may have another issue with #LittleThings: DoubleTree by Hilton recently launched a Promoted Tweet campaign with the same hashtag. Reps from DoubleTree could not be reached for comment at press time. McDonald’s, which has close to 300,000 followers on Twitter and 13.8 million fans on Facebook, racked up those impressive stats behind strong brand recognition. But the company has been largely tentative with its social media strategy. That began to change late last year when the brand launched a LivingSocial deal offering a booklet of five Big Mac vouchers and five vouchers for large fries for $13 — half the normal cost. McDonald’s also ran a program in December crowdsourcing 10 mini-movies promoting a new menu item, McBites. Rick Wion, the brand’s social media director, says that there will be more news on the social media front: “We are actually launching a larger-scale social effort for a new menu item that includes but goes far beyond Twitter soon,” he says. Do you think #littlethings can eclipse the negative momentum of #McDstories? Let us know in the comments. More About: Advertising, Marketing, McDonalds, Media, trending, Twitter
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| Twitter Will Become Available in Right-to-Left Languages This Spring Posted: 25 Jan 2012 09:56 AM PST   Twitter announced languages read right to left would be coming to the Twitter Translation Center, beginning with Arabic, Farsi, Hebrew and Urdu. Twitter will become fully available in those four languages later this spring, once volunteer translators have completed their work. The company said in a blog post Wednesday it has made sure tweets and hashtags will work in right-to-left languages. It also says it’s “made changes behind the scenes to give right-to-left language speakers a localized user experience,” although it doesn’t specify the changes. As someone who often types in a right-to-left language, I can attest that programs often have alignment/justification bugs with oppositely-oriented text. It will be interesting to see how Twitter’s hashtags adjust. The company’s translations program, powered through a network of 425,000 volunteers, has helped make Twitter available in 22 languages to date — Traditional Chinese, Indonesian, Portuguese, Italian, Filipino, Finnish, Norwegian, Polish, Turkish, Danish, Malay, English, French, Korean, Swedish, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Hindi, Japanese, German, Russian and Dutch — all of which are read from left to right. Aside from Thai, the four right-to-left languages added to Twitter are the only languages in the translation center for which Twitter is not available. Twitter does not need to be available in a specific language for you to tweet in that language. All you need to do is type your message in your language of choice. For example, many people tout Twitter’s organizing power in the Arab Spring; however, those Arabic-speaking and tweeting users must interact with the site in a non-native language. Are you looking forward to Twitter in Arabic, Farsi, Hebrew or Urdu? Do you think it will help grow the microblog’s member base in the Middle East and South Asia? BONUS: Twitter Tools for Language Lovers |
| Twitter’s Newest Impostor: Celebrity Chef Bobby Flay’s Wife Posted: 25 Jan 2012 09:41 AM PST   Twitter has another celebrity impostor — someone pretending to be actress Stephanie March, wife of chef Bobby Flay. On Tuesday morning, Flay addressed the many questions swirling around on Twitter regarding the @StephanieCMarch account, which launched Jan. 21 and racked up roughly 1,300 followers before Flay dubbed it inauthentic. The impostor profile was deleted sometime between 11 a.m. and 11:45 a.m. ET, shortly after Flay sent this stern tweet:
The incident marks the second time this year that an account of a high-profile person has been deemed fake. On Jan. 3, the account bearing media mogul Rupert Murdoch's wife's name, Wendi Deng Murdoch, was outed as not being controlled by her or anyone connected to her. Twitter immediately admitted in a tweet that it had mistakenly verified @Wendi_Deng. Although Twitter didn’t verify @StephanieCMarch and had no role in having people believe it was really March, both cases highlight the troubles with recognizing which profiles on any social networks are real. Pinpointing the bogus profiles may get harder as social networks, not only Twitter, continue to grow and even loosen their naming regulations. Just this week, for example, Google+ altered its Common Name policy and began allowing users to employ nicknames and full-fledged pseudonyms. Phony accounts are not new to Twitter. What’s different with these two impersonations is that you couldn’t tell they were spoof accounts. Generally, fake accounts are easily identified as parodies. Do you think this incident highlights a greater need for social network account verification? Sound off in the comments. Speaking of parody profiles, @AngryBobbyFlay exists and so do these other funny spoof accounts: 1. Android PR Who knew that cute little green bot had a wicked streak? If you're a fan of the Android platform -- heck, even if you're not -- then follow this account for some Google-centric fun. Click here to view this gallery. More About: celebrities, Entertainment, parodies, Social Media, spoof, Twitter For more Social Media coverage:
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| Why Gary Vaynerchuk Tells it Like it Is [VIDEO] Posted: 25 Jan 2012 09:33 AM PST Why is author, entrepreneur and social media expert Gary Vaynerchuk so successful? According to the man himself it is because he has out worked everyone else. Self-made success in today’s economy is all about what Vaynerchuk likes to call hustle, and he has it in spades. Watch the full interview above to learn Vaynerhuk’s thoughts on why he doesn’t sugar coat his opinions, why you need to take care of your customers, what mistakes he has made (and why making them is just part of the process), how he disconnects and more. Behind the Brand is hosted by Bryan Elliott. Stay tuned to Mashable every Wednesday for new episodes. More Recent Episodes of Behind the Brand:
More About: behind the brand, entrepreneurship, gary vaynerchuk, mashable video, Social Media, Video For more Social Media coverage:
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