Sunday, June 20, 2010

The Next Web

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Check Out The New Digg Before You Can Use It

Posted: 19 Jun 2010 04:59 PM PDT

Take these as you will, they feel authentic enough to pass our muster. Sent in via email, we thank our special friend for his assistance. This is the new Digg, version 4, live under use by a regular guy.

As we told you yesterday, press is being kept out of the initial Alpha of the new Digg. If you got an invite, follow our log in directions here. Happy Saturday.

Original title and link for this post: Check Out The New Digg Before You Can Use It

Under proposed legislation, White House could be given an Internet “kill switch”

Posted: 19 Jun 2010 01:47 PM PDT

I promise you, no matter how many times you read that headline, it won’t change.

According to some research done by Stuff.co.nz, the United States Internet-loving public could find themselves being the next North Korea if Senator Joe Lieberman has his way.  Under the legislation, the Internet is to be viewed as a US “national asset”, and therefore would be able to be controlled by the government.

Of course, this control would fall under the umbrella of Homeland Security, and therefore the Internet access for the United States could be turned off at any time if an emergency situation was declared.  Known as the “Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act”, the legislation would cause all US-based Internet service providers to “immediately comply with any emergency measure or action developed”.

So here’s our perspective:

While we agree that National Security is a great concern, it seems that Senator Lieberman is slightly off his rocker.  What he’s proposing is legislation that would have wide-ranging destruction on the Internet as a whole.  What Senator Lieberman fails to realize, though we’re certain he’s been told, is that the United States is a primary block of the Internet as a whole.  When you take the US off the grid (so to speak), you cripple it and the rest of the world as well.

Could the Internet run if the United States were to go dark tomorrow?  Of course it could.  Would it be as swift and effective?  Not in the slightest.  There is a much deeper issue at hand, that Senator Lieberman’s short-sighted claims fail to take into consideration.  The Internet is, to coin an old phrase, a web.  When you take a large chunk out of that web, you’re essentially compromising the architecture upon which it is built.  Want the rest of the world to see you as a problem?  Threaten to take your toys and go home.

The counterpoint to this is, albeit weak, at least well-intentioned.  Sen. Lieberman goes on to say that the Internet can be a “dangerous place with electronic pipelines that run directly into everything from our personal bank accounts to key infrastructure to government and industrial secrets”.  To that end, he is indeed correct.  But if the US government feels like reaching its hands any deeper into the regulation of the Internet as a whole (because let’s not fool ourselves; taking the US offline causes havoc to the whole), it needs to do so in specific areas under which it already has jurisdiction.

Not comfortable with the level of security for our banks and government ?  Then propose legislation that is directed at that security.  To simply pull us offline, you’re taking us back 20 years in a matter of seconds.  If and/or when the United States is faced with a “cyber 9/11“, communication between us and the rest of the world will be imperative in order to stifle havoc instead of causing it.

As is often the case, when legislation such as this is brought to the table, it is done so by people who simply do not understand the weight of their ideas.  This case is no exception.  It is simple human nature to try to control that which we can’t understand.  With that in mind, Sen. Lieberman’s actions make perfect sense.  However, it is imperative that the US Internet community as whole voices its opinion in this case and backs up those opinions with hard facts.

Original title and link for this post: Under proposed legislation, White House could be given an Internet “kill switch”

Looks Like Amazon Just Patented Facebook

Posted: 19 Jun 2010 11:20 AM PDT

Amazon appears to have been granted a patent for Facebook. Strange as it sounds, that essentially what the patent for a “Social Networking system”, granted on 15 June, is.

The patent, reported by Network World, grants the online retail giant (via its Reno-based Amazon Technologies arm) control of the concept of “A networked computer system provides various services for assisting users in locating, and establishing contact relationships with, other users.”

That sounds a lot like what Facebook, Myspace, Bebo and many others have been doing for a long time. Indeed, the patent’s abstract essentially describes what Facebook does.

“Users can identify other users based on their affiliations with particular schools or other organizations. The system also provides a mechanism for a user to selectively establish contact relationships or connections with other users, and to grant permissions for such other users to view personal information of the user.”

Sound like Facebook to you? It even has the same kind of granular privacy. One of the supporting images in the patent document suggests travel planning service that allows you to see which of your friends are going to be in the same city at the same time, similar to Nokia-owned Dopplr.

One thing’s for sure, Amazon may have vaguely social elements to its service (wish lists, for example) but it’s certainly never run a full-on social network. It makes us wonder whether the folks at the US Patent Office have an internet connection. Facebook and many other online social networks are an inescapable part of life and everything about this patent screams “Prior Art!” Even when the application was submitted in May 2008, social networking was already well established.

The only prior art acknowledged by Amazon in the application is “Personal information management software” like Microsoft Outlook, “Groupware” like Lotus Notes and online ‘white pages’ and email services.

Although submitted in 2008, the patent has a long history. Forbes notes that:

“The patent was created by Brian Robertson and Warren Adams, co-founders of PlanetAll, which is often cited as the first social network.  They sold it to Amazon in 1998, which held onto it for only two years before selling the company.”

The question is, will Amazon do anything with their patent? They could try to get Facebook and others to pay a license fee for running social networks, but we imagine that lawyers would stop that from happening. As Network World points out, Friendster patented a very similar social system four years ago and that hasn’t stopped other social services from flourishing.

It’s possible that Amazon is planning on turning its service into a fully social experience. That would be an interesting path for the company although why it would need a patent for already well established technologies isn’t clear.

We’ve asked Amazon for comment and will let you know what we hear back. Below are some images from the application.

Original title and link for this post: Looks Like Amazon Just Patented Facebook

iPhone Apps With iAd Integration Appear In The App Store

Posted: 19 Jun 2010 09:44 AM PDT

We’ve noticed that at least two popular iPhone apps – Showtimes and Yellow Pages (but not related to yellowpages.com)- have updated their apps over the last couple of days to support Apple’s iAd advertising platform.

Both of these apps are built by Avantar, LLC and rely heavily on advertising, and especially for Showtimes, iAd’s emphasis on video ad content should fit right in with Showtimes’ movie content.

While a number of apps have started to roll out iOS4 updates, iAd integration seems to be slower to this point. Though iAds doesn’t officially launch until July 1, the fact that we’re just seeing these integrations now could mean a couple of things. First of all, it could just be that developers have been focusing on iOS4 updates, putting iAds on the back-burner, especially as they still have a dozen days before the platform launches.

Another possibility, is that a number of developers plan to stick with AdMob (if they can) and aren’t interesting in iAds. A third possibility is that developers are in a wait-and-see mode right now with iAds, and aren’t interested in being involved until the platform/ad network matures a bit.

Of course, with both of these apps, we can’t see how the iAd integration works yet as the platform isn’t live, but we’ll make sure to check back on July 1 to see how slick the integrations are.

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Original title and link for this post: iPhone Apps With iAd Integration Appear In The App Store

Synergy: The handiest (FREE) way to control multiple computers.

Posted: 19 Jun 2010 09:33 AM PDT

If you’re like me, you have different computers for different uses.  In my case, I have a laptop that I use in a pinch, and for some dedicated audio work.  I also have a desktop that I use as my main work machine.

So how do you keep access to both computers, without having to flip back and forth between two keyboards?  I use Synergy.

Synergy is an open source, keyboard/video/mouse switch that runs over your local network.  Instead of having a physical switch, all I have to do is move my mouse cursor to the edge of one screen, and it will show up on the other.  Where ever the cursor sits, that’s where the keyboard works.

After suggesting Synergy to TNW’s @Alex, he noted having some confusion with setting up the app.  I found out, after asking around, that he’s far from the only one.  So here’s a step-by-step to help you make the most out of running multiple computers.

First, you’ll need to grab yourself a copy of Synergy from the repository at SourceForge.  It’s available for all major operating systems (yes, Mac and Unix included) and, though it is only officially supported up to Windows XP, I can verify that it works on Windows Vista and Windows 7 as well.

Now that  you’ve downloaded and installed Synergy, you’ll need to choose which computer you want to use as your server.  All other computers will be set up quite easily, simply by selecting the “Client” option.  For the server, make sure to check the appropriate option, then open the Configure button.

Once inside the Configure options, you’ll need to check the + button, to add a “Screen”.  Screens are computers, in this case.  As you can see in my example, I’m running 2 “screens”; Laptop and Obelisk.  As you add screens, you’ll have some options.  The only ones that are required are for you to give the screen a Name, then an Alias.  Beyond that, you have some other options that might be viable to your own setup, but we’re only going to cover the basics.

And now, since  you’ve set up your screens, you need to tell Synergy where they are.  This is handled via the dropdown boxes on the bottom of the Screens & Links section.

As you can see here, Synergy knows that my big computer is to the left of my laptop, and vice versa.  I told Synergy this by specifying the statement on the bottom with the appropriate options.  Bear in mind that you’ll need to tell Synergy both directions, so once you’ve specified one, you’ll need to do a vice versa and specify the opposite:

After you’ve set your direction statement, click the + button at the bottom left, and Synergy will then tell you (using this case as an example) that Obelisk is to the left of Laptop.  When you have that set, go back and reverse your statement and directions, telling Synergy where your main computer is in relation to another.  That’s all it takes to set up  your server, so now click Start.

As I said earlier, setting up the client screens is supremely simple.  In the main options screen, you’ll want to check the radio button for “Use another computer’s shared keyboard and mouse (client)”.  Select the button, type in the server computer’s name and then click Start.

Now, starting from your Server computer, move your mouse cursor off the edge of the screen and it should appear on the client computer.  You’re now free to use your keyboard and mouse on that computer, without having to physically move to it.  Oh, there’s also the handy feature of clipboard carryover.  Whatever you have stored on the clipboard on one will be automatically transferred to the computer that you use next.

Synergy does have its bugs, and they vary from system to system.  But overall it’s a great solution for using multiple computers without having to set up a true KVM switch.

Original title and link for this post: Synergy: The handiest (FREE) way to control multiple computers.

How the World Spends Its Time Online [Infographic]

Posted: 19 Jun 2010 08:56 AM PDT

Ever wonder what everyone (and we mean everyone on Earth) does online? Take a look below. All of this data comes from Nielsen, and the infographic is nicely done by Visual Economics

Original title and link for this post: How the World Spends Its Time Online [Infographic]

Google have Sleep Pods at their offices. Sleep PODS!

Posted: 19 Jun 2010 08:21 AM PDT

No need to go home or find a bed if you work at Google, the company has sleep pods.

The product is made by Metronaps who say it is the perfect place to quickly and effectively enhance your energy. If only the Jetsons were still around today…

Original title and link for this post: Google have Sleep Pods at their offices. Sleep PODS!

Betable lets you bet on anything with your friends, family and colleagues.

Posted: 19 Jun 2010 07:50 AM PDT

First, a little background.

I’m getting married in just over a month, August 1st to be precise. I’ve been working (sorta) hard to get in shape but it’s these last 6 weeks that I aim to be push myself over the limit in the hope that I’ll be in somewhat better shape for the big day. More on that in a moment.

A couple of days back, while watching France take on Mexico in the World Cup, I wanted to spice things up with a small bet on the match. I’d never gambled online before and so had no idea where to go and so as in most cases these days, I asked on twitter. For the record, SkyBet, Labrokes, 888Sport and Smarkets were recommended but it was a site called Betable that caught my eye.

Betable is a unique take on social gambling. It stood out not because of its World Cup focus but because it did indeed seem like an simple way to bet amongst people you know, whether they be colleagues, friends, family or your social network buddies.

Betable also makes it very easy to create your own bets. So easy in fact that out went the idea of betting on something boring like a football match and in went the idea of creating my own crazy idea.

Sign up was a breeze and within about 10 minutes I had a bet set up. On what you ask? To run 24 miles, essentially a marathon. I’ve never run a marathon before I might add. I completed a couple of half marathons back almost 10 years ago but believe you me, a lot hass changed since then. To be honest with you, I was still only half committed to the idea of actually doing the 24 miles. It was the the most viable challenge that came to mind – I’d always wanted to complete a marathon – but really I just wanted to see how easy it was to set up a bet.

So I had a bet set up, with no money on it just yet. When you create a bet on Betable, you don’t actually need to bet on it yourself – although you would assume you would want to. I spent a few minutes browsing other random bets on the site  ”Will Spain make it through the group stage?” and “Will Lindsay Lohan be convicted of violating her probation during her court hearing on July 6, 2010?” were a couple, nothing too serious you see and none of the  pots were over the £100 mark.

I eventually left the site and had almost forgotten about the marathon bet I’d set up (not actually betting on it remember) and carried on watching the Mexico/France game that had just got a lot more exciting. About 20 minutes later, I receive an email notification from Betable to let me know someone had put money on me not completing the 24 miles(!?). Then another a few minutes later with someone betting I could. Then a comment asking how I would prove I had completed the 24 miles – which is when I realised this was real…I answered, with RunKeeperPro, which you can use to track my run in real time online.

Before I knew it, almost 10 people had betted and I was in a minor state of shock that real money was being placed on the line.

I’ve now come round to the idea and so in less than a month, on the 15th July, I will wake up and run a marathon having never completed one before. Crazier things have happened I suppose. And while I’d appreciate you betting on me or against me, the real point of this story is to introduce you to Betable. A (currently UK only) community betting site that transforms those frustrating to organise friendly bets into something trackable and easy to get going.

If you win you’ll get 100% of any money wagered back and then the remaining money in the pot, “the winnings,” are split among the winners after a 10% commission to Betable. If you lose, well, you lose.

The company launched in May and is funded by Atomico Ventures who previously founded the likes of Skype, Joost, Kazaa and more recently Jolicloud and RDIO.

Check Betable out here.

Original title and link for this post: Betable lets you bet on anything with your friends, family and colleagues.

Orange trialling HD Voice for clearer calls

Posted: 19 Jun 2010 05:39 AM PDT

Orange has announced it is trialling HD voice in Bristol, Reading and Southampton with a variety of demographics catered for including small businesses and early technology adopters, as well as more mainstream users. The service is expected to roll-out across the UK by the end of summer.

Since Orange and T-Mobile are now one big network (though still currently offering services through the separate entities) it can be expected that T-Mobile will also be offering HD voice soon too.

HD Voice is all about making calls sound better and Orange are using a technology known as AMR-WB which stands for Adaptive Multi-Rate Wide Band. Mobile phones already use AMR for current voice calls. Really AMR is some clever compression technology that removes parts of the speech that humans don’t hear and does clever magic with the rest so that it can fit down the mobile pipes used in voice calls (which are much smaller than in mobile data). The newer AMR-WB uses more complex technology which requires more computing power to compress the speech, but modern phones have the computing power that allows this to be done.

Many VoIP players have had HD Voice capability for some time and have been using this as selling point against traditional telephone services which are limited in their voice quality capabilities due to the way their networks work and that the technology powering traditional voice system has been around for at least 50 years when computing power was at a premium so utilising complex compression processes wasn’t possible.

Traditional voice telephony supports audio in the range 300Hz to 3400Hz while the new HD Voice (AMR-WB) now supports 50Hz through 7000Hz which is over double the bandwidth.

Orange say the quality is so good is sounds like users are in the same room and will encourage users to leave voicemails and use more voice services.

ITSPA (the Internet Telephone Service Providers Association) is also trying to encourage more voice providers to offer HD Voice and is holding a HD Voice workshop on Wednesday.

Original title and link for this post: Orange trialling HD Voice for clearer calls

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