Tuesday, June 22, 2010

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To follow or not to follow?

Posted: 22 Jun 2010 02:31 AM PDT

First impressions count.

When I look at someone’s Twitter page, I decide in a few seconds whether or not I’m going to follow them. If you want to build your follower count, it’s important to think how someone else might perceive you. Here’s how at least I glance through someone’s profile when making my “do I follow?” decision.

Your avatar

It’s the first thing I see. On an individual’s Twitter page, I expect to see a person. On a brand’s page, I expect to see their logo. If I see Twitter’s default avatar, I tend to think you’re not taking things too seriously, particularly if your first tweet was more than a week or two ago. If I see some sort of supposed representation – a comic book character or a famous character in a move – I wonder what you’ve got to hide.

The “about” bit

  • Your name tells me if you’re a brand or a person. I’m not going to discount one or the other, but I do expect disclosure. If your name suggests you’re a person but your tweets suggest you’re a brand, I’m off.
  • Location is only of passing interest to me, I follow people from across the globe but there are some places I’m more interested in than others. If you’ve got something twee like “Everywhere” or “Wherever you are” then you better have good reason. Taxes are everywhere, most other things are not.
  • A web link is good to include. Feel free to use your other social media profiles but circular linking to Twitter makes me think you’re a fool. And try to avoid URL shorteners, in this case I want to see the domain as that is informative.
  • I’ll always look at the bio to see if you’re tweeting about something I’m interested in. If your bio is blank, I don’t usually go much further. It’s good practice to give a brief description of what you’re going to tweet about, this helps me make my decision which makes it much more likely I’m going to decide in your favour.

The numbers

I’ll briefly glance at your follower / following ratio. I personally don’t read too much into it but I know that a lot of people do. I’m more interested in seeing whether you’re selective. If you follow and are following thousands of people, it doesn’t give me the sense that you are. If your content is interesting and unique, I’ll still be happy to follow you but I have the expectation that I’m more likely to pick up some content from you than I am likely to actually engage with you. That’s okay, I want to follow a mix of people, but when I choose to follow someone I also want to be clear in my own mind what I expect from them.

Following

I look at the photo display to see if you are following anyone I recognise. It’s a false economy because it only shows the 30 most recent people you’ve chosen to follow, but sometimes I find a few familiar icons. It helps me understand if we’ve got some common ground.

If I’m looking at your page in response to you following me, I look to see how many people you’ve chosen to follow since following me. I tend to look at the Twitter profiles of everyone that chooses to follow me, usually within a few hours of Twitter’s email. If I see you’re following just a few people since following me, then you’re probably selecting people individually. If I no longer see my mug on the board, you’re most likely using a bot system and I tend to lose interest.

Your tweets

At the end of the day it all boils down to content. I look for a few things…

  • Are you talking about topics that are interesting to me?
  • Are you sharing insights and / or links that are interesting to me?
  • Are you sharing content from a variety of different sources? I’ll be more inclined to following someone that exposes me to content that I’m not already seeing.
  • Are there a lot of @ replies? This is neither good nor bad, it’s just an indicator that you actually engage with your followers rather than punt content at them. Most Twitter clients filter out @ replies not directed at the user anyway.
  • How often due you tweet? I’m looking for a clue as to whether this is an active account. This means I’m more interested in regularity rather than recency. You might only post every two or three weeks but if its interesting stuff then I’m happy. If I see you were last active months and months ago, I probably will decide you’re no longer around.

The background

Frankly, I don’t pay much attention to this. You could’ve probably guessed that because my background is one of Twitter’s standard options. A nice background is appreciated but using a Twitter standard background isn’t a dealbreaker. In fact, you’ve got more to lose than to gain, if I think your background is garish or makes the content hard to read, I’ll be put off following you. However, once I’m following someone I don’t often look at their profile page so this is quite unimportant.

How should you interpret this?

The variables will probably be relevant to everyone, but your response to them will be driven by what you want to get out of Twitter. The decision to follow someone is a personal one, I am using Twitter for specific things and those things drive my decision making around choosing who to follow. Consequently, those are the things I look for when I see other people’s profile pages.

If you’re reading this with the desire to build a following, it might be worth considering whether all aspects of your profile communicate your message.

Original title and link for this post: To follow or not to follow?

Abobe Ships Flash 10.1 For Mobile – Coming Very Soon To Android

Posted: 22 Jun 2010 02:16 AM PDT

Adobe will start to roll out it’s Flash Player to mobile vendors today, giving handset manufacturers and developers the chance to start creating and deliver content for mobile users wherever they are.

Although most users will not be able to deploy Flash right away, owners of an Android device running FroYo (Android 2.2) will be the first to get the player, a software designed to offer a consistent user experience across a number of different platforms including laptops, PC’s, tablet devices, televisions and of course smartphones.

The only problem for Android owners is that Android 2.2 is currently only available on one handset, the Nexus One (with many owners still having not received their OTA update). As soon as handset vendors (or third-party ROM creators) start to release firmware updates for devices like the HTC Evo, HTC Incredible, HTC Desire, Samsung Galaxy S and Motorola Droid, adoption of Flash 10.1 on mobiles will truly begin to take off.

Windows Phone 7, Palm, Symbian and Blackberry will also see some Flash love after Adobe noted it had sent binaries to each handset vendor, allowing them to ready a release for each of their handsets. iPhone owners won’t even get a sniff of official Flash support after the very public spat between Steve Jobs and Adobe.

It’s a bold move by Adobe, a move that it needed to make to prove Flash has a future on smaller internet-connected devices like smartphones. Developers and designers will look to adapt their offerings to work efficiently and effectively on a smartphone, utilizing multi-touch, gestures, and built-in accelerometers to push the bar in regards to smartphone advertising, gaming and content delivery.

Flash 10.1 for Android can be downloaded via the following link, expect many more releases to show up soon.

Original title and link for this post: Abobe Ships Flash 10.1 For Mobile – Coming Very Soon To Android

Social Media usage worldwide: Australia / Brazil lead the way

Posted: 22 Jun 2010 02:06 AM PDT

The latest global survey from research house Nielsen shows Australia and Brazil are the top Social Media users in the world.

Australia leads the table of most time spent, with each user spending on average 7:19:13 hours per month on Social Networks/ Blogs (SN/B).

Brazil leads the countries with the greatest reach, with 86% of their Internet population active users of SN/B.

While Brazil and Australia share some of the best weather and lifestyle in the world (which might at first seem at odds with time spent on SN/B) the two countries got to the top on the back of different Social Networks – Facebook in Australia and Orkut in Brazil.

Below are the results from other countries included in the study:

It's a bit odd that Nielsen only includes Japan, Switzerland, France, Germany, Brazil, Spain, United Kingdom, Italy, United States and Australia in their "global" report, but you’d think that they’ve picked a good sample of countries to demonstrate the difference across territories.

Other interesting data from the study shows that

  • Almost ¼ of all time spent on the Internet is spent on Social Networks/Blogs
  • ¾ of global consumers who go online access Social Networks /Blogs
  • A 66% increase in time spent on Social Networks/Blogs compared to last year

Original title and link for this post: Social Media usage worldwide: Australia / Brazil lead the way

Social Media usage worldwide: Australia / Brazil lead the way

Posted: 21 Jun 2010 10:38 PM PDT

The latest global survey from research house Nielsen shows Australia and Brazil are the top Social Media users in the world.

Australia leads the table of most time spent, with each user spending on average 7:19:13 hours per month on Social Networks/ Blogs (SN/B).

Brazil leads the countries with the greatest reach, with 86% of their Internet population active users of SN/B.

While Brazil and Australia share some of the best weather and lifestyle in the world (which might at first seem at odds with time spent on SN/B) the two countries got to the top on the back of different Social Networks – Facebook in Australia and Orkut in Brazil.

Below are the results from other countries included in the study:

It's a bit odd that Nielsen only includes Japan, Switzerland, France, Germany, Brazil, Spain, United Kingdom, Italy, United States and Australia in their "global" report, but you’d think that they’ve picked a good sample of countries to demonstrate the difference across territories.

Other interesting data from the study shows that

  • Almost ¼ of all time spent on the Internet is spent on Social Networks/Blogs
  • ¾ of global consumers who go online access Social Networks /Blogs
  • A 66% increase in time spent on Social Networks/Blogs compared to last year

Original title and link for this post: Social Media usage worldwide: Australia / Brazil lead the way

Did Quora Leave Private Beta A Day Early?

Posted: 21 Jun 2010 03:57 PM PDT

This is what you get for trusting exclusives and the traditional media. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Quora, the hot stealthy question and answer service is to leave private beta tomorrow.

The only problem is that it Quora’s door are open right now. On the website registration is now open and free to the public. That may be a mistake, but it is the current situation. If you want to use Quora and have been long denied an invite, head on over and get an account right now.

Perhaps the most interesting element of the full Quora roll out is the prominence and power of its home page. A large search box with rapid suggestions helps guide you to questions and topics that match your search term to help you learn. It feels faster, more robust, and more useful than at any other point in the time that I tested the service. It feels ready.

It could be that Quora is opening the doors to get some fresh faces and content in the door before the big day tomorrow.

Whatever is happening at Quora, expect corporate announcements tomorrow as it officially leaves private beta. For the uninitiated, is Quora worth the wait? It is by far the most compelling question and answer service online, but that could largely be due to the strength of its initial users.

We’ll bring you more tomorrow as it happens.

Original title and link for this post: Did Quora Leave Private Beta A Day Early?

Apple is now storing and sharing data about your location. Here’s why you don’t care.

Posted: 21 Jun 2010 03:29 PM PDT

Prepare to be shocked…if this is your first day on the Internet.  If it’s not, then you can read it, then point and laugh at the ones who are shocked.  Apple is collecting “precise, real-time geographic location” on iPhones, iPads and possibly even computers, according to some reading over at the LA Times.

In case you haven’t noticed, increasingly applications will ask to know your location in order to work.  So Apple apparently has cut out the middle man in acquiring that data.  Now, when you agree to the new terms and conditions in the iTunes store, you’ll also be agreeing to a small paragraph that gives Apple and other “partners and licensees” the ability to store and collect data on you.

Here’s a copy/paste from the new paragraph:

To provide location-based services on Apple products, Apple and our partners and licensees may collect, use, and share precise location data, including the real-time geographic location of your Apple computer or device. This location data is collected anonymously in a form that does not personally identify you and is used by Apple and our partners and licensees to provide and improve location-based products and services. For example, we may share geographic location with application providers when you opt in to their location services.

Some location-based services offered by Apple, such as the MobileMe "Find My iPhone" feature, require your personal information for the feature to work.

Yes folks, cue the privacy outcries.  But the fact is, what Apple is doing is nothing more than what it says.  It’s collecting information that will help it to provide better services over the long run.  Companies need access to this information, in long-term formats, in order to provide the best end-user experience.

So you heard it here first.  Before anyone starts screaming, just bear in mind that Apple has spent the better part of the past 5 years developing and releasing the products that make you drool.  It’s going to take some major innovation to keep that curve moving, and information such as this is what will help to lead it.

Original title and link for this post: Apple is now storing and sharing data about your location. Here’s why you don’t care.

WordPress Updates iPhone / iPad App, Optimized For Retina Display

Posted: 21 Jun 2010 02:12 PM PDT


An updated version of WordPress’ universal iPhone/iPad app just hit the App Store and includes fast app switching support for iOS 4 multitasking and is optimized for the iPhone 4’s retina display. Since the app works on the iPad, it does not require iOS 4 to run.

According to WordPress’ iOS blog the update also includes:

  • Cut-and-paste now behaves as expected on the iPad.
  • Better handling of drafts in progress when quitting the app.
  • Several performance enhancements, UI improvements, and bug fixes.

As we’ve mentioned before, we find blogging to be a bit difficult on the iPad (and with the iPhone, it’s mostly to check comments, etc), but hopefully the platforms (both WordPress and iOS) will continue moving towards a more PC-capable experience and we can ditch our keyboards. On the top of the list for sure, is adding and working with images.

It’s available now for download/update.

h/t Laughing Squid

Original title and link for this post: WordPress Updates iPhone / iPad App, Optimized For Retina Display

Refereeing Howlers: Why Football Needs Tech

Posted: 21 Jun 2010 02:03 PM PDT

Every World Cup runs into the problem of poor officiating, and after the absolutely baffling decisions made in Friday’s games, it appears that this year is no different.

This complaint takes different forms every time. Sometimes, people clamor for instant replay to be introduced. Other times, the complaint takes the form of suggestions for higher-tech equipment. What most people agree on, however, is that it’s faintly absurd that human error by the match officials still plays such a huge role in determining the outcome of a game.

Here at TheNextWeb, we’ve been watching the World Cup with baited breath and here is what we think should be done.

Instant Replay: The Wrong Way Forward

Instant replay has been implemented in many other sports already. However, football poses an interesting case for its implementation. While it has worked quite well in sports like American football and basketball, which feature frequent stoppages of play and limited situations for its use, implementing it in football would be a challenging proposition to say the least.

It’s relatively easy to poke holes in the best arguments for instant replay in football. Its proponents claim that the sport could easily implement a NFL-style challenges system, where each team receives two chances to stop play for an instant replay ruling on the legality of the call in question.

Proponents of Instant Replay point to this handball as a perfect use of instant replay.

Sports Illustrated (an American sports magazine), in particular, was a proponent of this system (for cases like the one shown above). They advocated for two challenges per team for a maximum of 60 seconds of review time for each challenge.

However, as is often the case with such calls, there’s a whole host of questions. What calls are valid to be challenged? Can you overturn an offsides call? If you do, what happens when the “offsides” player breaks through on goal and scores because everyone stopped defending? What happens when challenging calls becomes a time-wasting tactic?

A large part of why football is so enjoyable to watch is the flow and pace of the game. Bringing proceedings to a screeching halt for an official to spend three or four minutes reviewing an offsides call up to four times a game could have disastrous effects and necessitate halves with ten minutes of stoppage time. While it’s technically possible, it seems wildly impractical to implement.

Location, Location, Location

While the glut of location-based services brings to mind funny applications in football (“Just checked in @ 17 yards from goal after rounding a defender” or “I just unlocked the ‘Diving Scumbag’ badge at Wembley Stadium”), location could be the best possible way to solve many officiating problems.

By embedding computer chips in the players’ kits and boots, as well as in the ball, the boundary lines of the pitch and across the goal line, FIFA could take much of the fudge factor out of many refereeing decisions.

By triangulating the exact position of the ball relative to the players on the pitch, FIFA could easily rule out poor offsides calls like the one which cost the United States the game on Friday. Such information could easily be relayed to the linesmen in the form of a flashing light or vibration in the handles of their flags, letting them know that they need to stop play since a player is offside.

Similarly, such technology could also remove any shadow of a doubt whether the ball stayed in or went out of bounds and who it went off of, ending complaints about whose throw or corner it was. But most importantly, this same tech could finally inform the referees that this was a goal and this was not.

This technology is entirely feasible, too. A company called Cairos Technologies has been developing a system like this for nearly 10 years and had even tested it at the 2005 FIFA U-17 World Cup and the 2007 FIFA Club World Cup. With a few tweaks, the company’s Goal Line Technology (GLT) system could easily be implemented in time for the next major tournament. Alternatively, a new GPS and RFID system could be developed between now and then.

Fit As Butcher’s Dogs

Despite the fact that concerns about referee fitness by fans and coaches are largely overblown, there is possibly a legitimate concern at the heart of this criticism. The breakneck pace of the modern game, aided by modern fitness techniques and those ugly purple and orange Nike boots, makes it difficult for some referees to keep up.

Given the widespread nature of tech in training for players, it’s somewhat shocking that similar techniques haven’t been used among referees. If AC Milan’s physio staff are able to determine whether players will suffer leg injuries by filming their vertical leaps, and Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger is able to monitor his players’ diets by looking at their bloodwork, is it too hard for the referees to receive immediate feedback on their work rate and fitness?

Hardly. Tracking these stats is pretty simple, too. Cairos Technologies, the same company that partnered with Adidas to create the GLT system, have created a real-time stats collection program. It tracks the position of all players on the pitch, as well as the ball. With a little bit of tweaking, the system could be used to give feedback about the referee’s positioning and fitness.

The referees should also examine this type of data for the teams that they are about to referee. Indeed, some of the more successful FIFA referees swear by this technique. Frank De Bleeckere, who has been slated to referee the crucial clash between the United States and Algeria, has been watching footage of both teams to help his positioning. With more aggressive data collection to create heat maps and similar tools, referees like De Bleeckere will have an even easier time calling their matches.

The Height of Fan Technology: The Vuvuzela Hat

No. Dear god, no!

So where does this leave us? Can technology solve every problem in football? No, not by a long shot. The game still requires an experience referee to call fouls correctly and to assess advantages. However, technology can certainly help with the more difficult calls.

Sure, Sepp Blatter and FIFA tried to shelf some of these technological reforms in early 2008, citing big costs. However, after a series of costly blunders on a world-wide stage, FIFA can’t afford to wait any longer. They must help pare some of the human error out of the refereeing equation.

Thanks to Gizmodo for the Vuvuzela hat picture. Thanks to Engadget for the CNN Foursquare World Cup badge.

Original title and link for this post: Refereeing Howlers: Why Football Needs Tech

iBooks Now A Universal App

Posted: 21 Jun 2010 12:50 PM PDT

Following up on making iOS 4 live for everyone, Apple has just updated iBooks to make it a universal app that now works on the iPhone and iPod Touch to go along with the iPad.

The new version, 1.1, requires iOS 4 to work on the iPhone/iPod Touch and includes the following updates according to the App Store description:

  • Open and read PDF documents from Mail. PDF documents will be added to your library and appear on the PDF bookshelf. You can even search PDFs for words or phrases and bookmark your favorite pages.
  • Take advantage of new ways to bookmark. In addition to highlighting a word or a passage, you can now also add notes or bookmark an entire page with the new page ribbon.
  • Keep your bookmarks, notes, and your current page wirelessly in sync between iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch with the new automatic bookmark syncing feature.
  • See your book pages in a new font, called Georgia.
  • Read your books on white or sepia colored pages.
  • Choose left or fully justified text layout from Settings.
  • Read pages with greater ease by increasing to even larger font sizes.
  • Enjoy greater stability and better performance.

One of our editors notes that books don’t seem to sync between the iPad and iPhone – only the bookmarks, so perhaps they have to be downloaded twice?

Image

Original title and link for this post: iBooks Now A Universal App

Amazon Just Cut The Kindle Price To Fight Nook Threat

Posted: 21 Jun 2010 12:19 PM PDT

Quick Hit: In response to the story we brought you earlier today that the Nook had introduced a $149 WiFi only version of itself and had cut its 3G model’s price to $199, Amazon has lowered the price on the standard 3G Kindle to $189.

The new price is live and on Amazon’s website. You can see it here.

With the 3G Kindle a mere $40 more costly than the WiFi Nook, Amazon is tossing its weight around to keep its current market dominance. If the respective companies are profitable at these price points remains to be seen.

Amazon cannot afford to lose money on both the books and the devices, so we can only hope that the hardware is cheap enough to allow Amazon to sell at this price long term. Now at $500 the cheapest iPad is long and far away the most expensive way to get into e-reading.

Original title and link for this post: Amazon Just Cut The Kindle Price To Fight Nook Threat

The Future Of Electronic Reading

Posted: 21 Jun 2010 11:46 AM PDT

The future of reading is electronic and is up for grabs, and now everyone wants a piece of the action. The current market is a scrap between Amazon, Apple, Sony, Barnes and Noble, and even Borders in some capacity. There is money, innovation, and disruption in a market niche. It’s the technological perfect storm.

These billion dollar players are all in the same sandbox fighting for the same market, each trying to grow faster than the others as the e-reader market explodes. The biggest difference between these players, beyond their brand names, is the devices that they offer: their cost, their abilities, and their focus.

The divergent nature of the market raises a few big questions. Is the future of e-reading on dedicated devices? What price points will succeed? What feature blend is crucial for consumer adoption? Those questions will drive the next 12 months in the market. Let’s look at where we stand.

The iPod Question

The discussion of features versus simplicity is something that splits the e-reader market into two pieces, dedicated reading devices against multifunction gadgets. The iPad versus the rest, if you want to put is bluntly. The iPad is selling like beer at a NASCAR race, but it is currently far from passing up the Kindle, no matter what metric you pick. To paraphrase an earlier discussion we had on the topic, while the iPad is likely to perhaps pass the Kindle in total units sold this year, aren’t we:

comparing apples (get it?) and oranges. The Kindle is  a dedicated reading device. All it does is read. People buy it to read. People (the vast majority) do not buy iPads to be e-readers. It's all about the browser, remember?

Even more, the Kindle has both a larger selection of books and their collection is on sale at lower prices. This means that as it stands right now, the simpler single-use devices have the upper hand; the iPad needs to catch up to beat them.

Oddly enough, this mirrors an earlier Apple success, the iPod. The iPod itself came out and made a niche product mass market just by doing one thing well: music. Apple perfected the store and the device and for years made mountains of cash without ever needing an app store or flashy touch interface. The iPod is still popular because it has content, distribution, and ease of use in one container. That is exactly what the Kindle is doing, using Apple’s formula to try to match their success.

In an odd way, Apple has to fight the battle that it always made its competitors fight, the content war. iTunes has the best musical library for sale anywhere, and anyone who wants to compete has to deal with that. No amount of hardware can fix not being able to buy the artists you want to listen to. Now Apple has the device without the content, books in this case. It is an interesting reverse of circumstance.

A final note, Amazon has by far more industry know-how in regards to books than Apple does, and it has deeper relationships among the big players. Book publishers need to stay on Amazon.com at all costs, giving Amazon leverage to maintain an advantage over whatever Apple does.

Simple Or Not?

As we mentioned, devices aside from the iPad are generally focused, single use gadgets designed to provide you with books on an electronic paper screen. Consumers have taken to them despite their limited use case. Price is a factor in that.

News today has come forth that Barnes and Noble with their Nook e-reader (a very engaging little bit of technology, I can say from hands-on experience), has a new WiFi only flavor that is priced at a mere $149. The 3G version has also received a price drop to $199, making it in the words of Barnes and Noble the “market’s first under-$200 dedicated full-featured eBook reader that offers both free 3G wireless and Wi-Fi connectivity.” Impressive.

The Nook’s specific characteristics aside (it has various tie-ins with the Barnes and Noble empire), this is a very interesting move by the company. The cheapest Kindle costs a some $259, meaning that Amazon finds itself at a significant price disadvantage to a competitor’s reader that may, or may not depending on your view, match the venerable Kindle in quality and ease of use.

Consumers are price very dollar conscious in regards to reading, which is why the Amazon e-book market with its slightly cheaper pricing is a draw in and of itself. Book pricing is war. But with the cheapest Nook now $100 cheaper than the Kindle, the number of books needed to be purchased to close the gap is large. Perhaps large enough to swing market momentum.

The iPad is not in a very strong position in this market. As it is not a dedicated device, people often aren’t buying it for its e-book reading capabilities. Its users are not necessarily the most enthusiastic readers, thus limiting their purchasing potential. Why would anyone buy an iPad as an e-reader when the Nook is $149, the Kindle is $249, and the iPad costs a minimum of $500 and has a smaller content selection?

The Jobs Element

That would be the state of things if we could discount what Steve Jobs can do. He has an uncanny knack for turning things in his favor. He also has a hot product that is going to be the hands of millions of people around the world this year. This cannot be ignored.

Apple also knows how to work with copyright-holders after years with iTunes, despite being less experience in this market than Amazon. With an extremely concerted effort, they may be able to manage to close the content and price gaps with Amazon in the next year. That would still leave them with an overpriced product offering to reach hardcore readers, but it would help them in their pitching. All we can do is monitor this area of the market.

Casual V. Not

This discussion could perhaps have set up a false dilemma if Apple is not shooting to grasp the hand of the heavy reader to lead them to iPad-land. It could be that Apple merely wants to court the casual reader, and is willing to leave the rest to the rest.

Amazon and Barnes and Noble would likely find this to be a sort of truce, but not one that they would want to let stand long. Casual readers are an important slice of the book market; they fuel explosive bestsellers by appearing out of the woodwork at odd moments. You want them.

If Apple is courting casuals, then this is the question: will enough people buy the iPad to ensure a large enough pool of occasional book-buyers to have a marketshare worth talking about. No one can be, or is sure of that. Jobs said that in the early iPad rush some 2.5 books were downloaded per iPad. What percentage of those were free is the bit of information we all want, but it could show strength in targeting casual users.

The Next 12 Months

The iPad will sell several million more units. Amazon should announce their next generation hardware. Barnes and Noble will press their foot and web traffic to sell the Nook. Borders is going to sell several competing hardware options in its stores, and Sony is going to continue fishing to for a killer product (read: one that works).

The battle for the reading market is going to be a blood fight, and it is far from over. The final wildcard would be serious product offerings from publishers themselves, but that is unlikely at best, despite what rumors may say. They don’t have anything near the know how or taste for risk that it would take to walk down that road.

When you break down the market, three players are there: Kindle, iPad and Nook. Simplicity is winning, partially because the most established online player has the content and price edge. The scrappy brick and mortar store is biting back to save their bottom line, and the sexy wizard-like consumer product powerhouse is trying to crash everyone’s party.

From what we know, the most probable situation for next June is a similar stalemate, with each player having grown their revenue along with the expanding e-book market.

Original title and link for this post: The Future Of Electronic Reading

Google Under Multistate Legal Threat Over Unauthorized Data Collection

Posted: 21 Jun 2010 11:23 AM PDT

As you well know by now, Google collected wireless data in ways that it should not have all across the globe through its Street View project. Legal authorities around the world are not letting the company off with a pass.

The Attorney General of Connecticut is personally leading a crusade against Google with what he hopes to be other states in tow. From his statement:

"My office will lead a multistate investigation — expected to involve a significant number of states — into Google's deeply disturbing invasion of personal privacy. Street View cannot mean Complete View — invading home and business computer networks and vacuuming up personal information and communications. Consumers have a right and a need to know what personal information – which could include emails, web browsing and passwords — Google may have collected, how and why. Google must come clean, explaining how and why it intercepted and saved private information broadcast over personal and business wireless networks.”

While that bit of text sounds like something from someone who does not fully understand the situation, you cannot fault their enthusiasm. The Attorney’s office is petitioning Google for reams of information on the data collection, including the “internal procedures and protocols for Street View cars and data collected by them,” and why “did Google save data it says was accidentally collected,” among other things.

More to the point, while the good AG is likely no technologist, we are seeing Google run head first into the brick wall of normal government. Google is not going to be able to wiggle out of this situation. More as it comes.

Original title and link for this post: Google Under Multistate Legal Threat Over Unauthorized Data Collection

2 big reasons to get an Android phone (on another carrier) over the iPhone 4 on AT&T

Posted: 21 Jun 2010 11:22 AM PDT

So I got an Android handset this weekend even though I could have walked into AT&T this Thursday (very early of course) and gotten an iPhone 4 as I wasn’t on any kind of contract. What I’m about to say isn’t breaking news, but it is significant to reiterate as iPhone 4’s hit stores this week, because utility and cost savings sometimes outshine style (which the iPhone 4 has a lot of).

In the end, I decided that there are two features of Android make it a much better deal than the iPhone: the ability to turn the phone into a WiFi-hotspot (officially with Android 2.2, but possible through rooting/apps right now), and unlimited use of Google turn-by-turn navigation (i.e. no data limit on AT&T).

Unlimited, no extra cost turn-by-turn navigation is awesome

Let’s start with unlimited data in turn-by-turn navigation. For the three major US carriers that offer unlimited data usage (guess which one doesn’t anymore), this maybe the best thing Google has ever done for mobile phones. It’s free, it’s based on Google Maps, and most importantly, it works. Yes, Google navigation on the iPhone 4 is coming, but you’ll certainly run over your 2gb limit if you use it often, and who wants to pay extra right? (btw, you could replace turn-by-turn with Pandora, or any other app that you could run all the time in the background of your iPhone 4 and pay through your teeth with that 2gb limit).

No WiFi-hotspot function on iPhone 4 is a deal breaker

The second reason – being able to turn the phone into a WiFi hotspot – was actually the real deal breaker for me with the iPhone, and it’s ironically a deal breaker because of another Apple product: the iPad. I bought the WiFi-only iPad with the exact intent of having a phone that would act as a WiFi-hotspot, therefore saving the extra dollars a month the 3G iPad would have cost me (boy, was that the right decision). I also wanted to be able to connect my laptop, but the iPhone 4 can actually now be tethered (for an extra $20 a month of course).

Coulda, shoulda, woulda

When I bought the iPad back in April, I had two thoughts on what phone to get: I was going to either get the HTC Evo 4G or the iPhone 4 if Jobs announced the ability in iOS4 (of course we didn’t know either name at that point) for the iPhone to be used as a WiFi hotspot.

Well, I didn’t go with either. With the Evo, the battery isn’t good, and Sprint (ridiculously) charges per month to use the Evo as a WiFi hotspot – so it was out, and as we all know know, there is no way to either tether the iPhone 4 to an iPad or to turn the iPhone 4 into a WiFi hotspot.

Could Apple/AT&T bring WiFi hotspot to the iPhone 4? Absolutely. Will they, at least this year? Absolutely not. So for me, the iPhone 4 might be the best phone in the world, but it doesn’t do the one thing I really want it to and that is why I’m not getting an iPhone 4.

A third reason: AT&T of course – though you can get the Nexus One for AT&T, iPhone is only AT&T, and that’s another dealbreaker.

Notes: As I didn’t want to pay for two data plans, I also never considered the MiFi or Sprint Overdrive. Palm devices also can be turned into WiFi hotspots, but I didn’t even consider buying one of those.

Original title and link for this post: 2 big reasons to get an Android phone (on another carrier) over the iPhone 4 on AT&T

Facebook’s Zuckerberg Charms London, Says Location Features Coming Soon

Posted: 21 Jun 2010 10:24 AM PDT

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was in London today to head up the company’s Developer Garage event, where he made reference to the company’s forthcoming location-based features.

Venturebeat reports that Zuckerberg said "We are finishing designing our application soon and hope to offer it soon." Many observers had expected a location-based feature to have been launched at the recent F8 conference.

It’s thought that the company is planning to integrate location data from sources like Foursquare and Gowalla into the service, although it has not given any firm details of exactly what it will be offering, or how developers will be able to hook into it.

Earlier in the day, The Guardian reports, he enthused about how the latest version of Spotify uses Facebook integration to socialise the user experience and revealed that research shows many users now navigate Facebook purely by using the faces of their friends and family.

Zuckerberg started the day by rubbing shoulders with the country’s politicians and apparently advising them on digital engagement.

Jeremy Hunt, the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport (how’s that for a wide brief?) tweeted earlier “Just met Mark Zuckerberg, Founder of Facebook. Really smart guy with some good ideas on improvement digital engagement in policy making.”

Given Facebook’s track record on misjudging its users’ views on issues such as privacy, maybe the government shouldn’t be taking his advice too seriously. Zuckerberg supposedly met the Prime Minister, David Cameron briefly. Sadly, no photos of the moment have materialised on the 10 Downing Street Flickr account yet.

Aside from government top brass, one-on-one access to Zuckerberg was limited. Channel 4’s Benjamin Cohen suggests this might be due to Facebook being “More cautious about the way that their CEO is used.” After his recent, uncomfortable interview at D8 in New York, there may well be some truth in that.

At the developer event, it seems, he was far more relaxed. When he wasn’t talking shop, it appears Zuck took some time to make a few geeks’ days by posing for photographs.

Original title and link for this post: Facebook’s Zuckerberg Charms London, Says Location Features Coming Soon

What’s the Celebrity Effect in Geolocation Apps?

Posted: 21 Jun 2010 10:12 AM PDT

Last year Twitter experienced the Oprah effect with their service when she spent a whole show on it.

The statistics showed a 43% increase in traffic compared to that previous Friday. Twitter is characterized by the vast amount of celebrities that are directly communicating with or broadcasting to their fans. It is hard to imagine what Twitter would be without such an influential user base. Probably it would still have gotten quite some traction, but would it have hit the 100 million mark this year? I think it’s fair to say it would’ve taken longer to break out of the early adopters segment into the early majority.

Much of what we know about growth of social networks and how to get traction has been explained in the brilliantly written Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell.  In “The Law of the Few” he describes how connectors, mavens and salesmen play a big role in fueling the virality of any message, product or initiative. Celebrities don’t fall under a specific category, because they can either be a connector, maven or sales person. However, whatever their role, they are the igniters who can leverage any social service to higher grounds and that’s why they play an important role in the success of Twitter.

If we extrapolate that line of thought to location-based services we discover something interesting. To date celebrities are not adopting any of the major location-based social networks. Where we see Facebook pages on Facebook, YouTube channels on YouTube and millions of followers on Twitter we see nothing on Foursquare, nothing on Brightkite, nothing on Gowalla. The closest attempt to a location-based celebrity initiative was Whrrl’s idea to put the Entourage characters on a map. You could discover the favorite bar of character Ari Gold or see where Turtle buys his caps. While this got them some good press coverage and made the fans happy, it’s not the same as being able to follow real celebrities around.

Some celebrity ideas that could work

It is obvious why celebrities would not want to draw any attention to their whereabouts in their private life, but it might be a missed opportunity for their professional life. Here are some suggestions I could see work:

  • Writers promoting their book signings, checking in when they arrive so random passengers in the mall become aware of their presence.
  • Actors going to the red carpet sharing location details and preparations before they step in that limo to arrive
  • Movie productions abroad, showing where the cast is, what is being shot that day and where they are travelling next
  • Athletes way to and from a game, places they like (and get paid to promote)
  • Royalty telling the crowd where they are and show what they did last week
  • TV hosts promoting their program by showing where they are preparing for the next one (semi-secret stuff)
  • Politicians showing that they aren’t asleep at the desk
  • Rock & pop stars to constantly show they are alive and kickin’
  • CEOs of famous companies telling the staff and everyone else where they are today and why (if they can)

Why is no one doing this? Can’t wait to hear what you come up with.

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Original title and link for this post: What’s the Celebrity Effect in Geolocation Apps?

iOS4 Now Available for Download!

Posted: 21 Jun 2010 10:04 AM PDT

As promised, Apple has released iOS4, you should find it immediately available via software update in iTunes. If not, you can download the update direct here (thanks to Mac Stories):

This is a free update but only works with specific iPhone models:  iPhone 3G with no multitasking, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and 2nd / 3rd generation iPod Touches.

Original title and link for this post: iOS4 Now Available for Download!

Pandora for iPhone updates for iOS 4

Posted: 21 Jun 2010 09:49 AM PDT

If there’s been one thing that I’ve heard time and time again from iPhone users, it was that they were waiting to be able to listen to Pandora while doing anything else.  Finally, today, that dream will become a reality.

According to Mac Stories, the newest version of Pandora is now in the App Store and ready for download.  You’ll be able to browse the web, and keep Pandora in the background after pressing your Home button.  Apparently there’s also widget support, toward the left of the Multitasking tray.

We’re still waiting for iOS 4, which is the key feature needed to make the whole thing work, but you might as well grab your favorite apps for it ahead of time.

Original title and link for this post: Pandora for iPhone updates for iOS 4

California DMV may become an ad network using digital license plates

Posted: 21 Jun 2010 09:24 AM PDT

The State of California’s legislature is considering a bill that would in effect turn the Department of Motor Vechicles (DMV) into a digital ad network by allowing the department to distribute digital license plates that can serve ads and other messages.

If it passes the entire legislature in its current form (it unanimously passed the Senate) the bill lets the DMV work with the private sector to research and come up with the technology behind the digital plates and then submit recommendations to the legislature by January 1, 2013.

Basically, the plate will act as a mini-digital billboard, so theoretically it could display text and/or images (video?). According to the AP / Mercury News, at least one company is already working on digital plates, San Francisco-based Smart Plate, but it’s still all pre-production stuff. Our guess is that in order to be effective, these plates will have to have some kind of wireless chip, which of course could then be theoretically tracked – done wrong, this could be a privacy nightmare.

Of course, that’s not the biggest problem with this idea, which is 1) all of the accidents this could cause and 2) what happens in law enforcement investigations when the license plate number doesn’t display correctly? Though the idea is that the ads would only be displayed once the vehicle is stopped for more than 4 seconds – and never when the car is moving – that doesn’t mean that cars could be stopped in one lane while traffic moves in another, distracting drivers in the moving lane with messages like “All Mattresses Half Off This Weekend!” (though that’s a lot to fit on current license plates – maybe they can make them project ads onto the entire rear end of the car?)

For law enforcement, this also could pose a problem as license plate numbers may not be visible when they need to be. Law enforcement officials will be consulted in the research process – can’t see that going well.

Finally, if all of the tech is settled, then we’ll have the DMV running a digital ad network. Advertisers will go directly to the DMV and the DMV (working with the private sector no doubt) will then charge and serve the ads. If you’ve ever been to a DMV (in any state), we really don’t have to explain how bad of an idea this is.

We know that the State of California is desperate to alleviate its $19 billion deficit, but really, can’t they just cut to the chase and make car registrations more expensive and save us the indignity of seeing Big Mac ads on every car in front of us as we sit in traffic? (we’re joking about the registrations, please don’t do that either).

Original title and link for this post: California DMV may become an ad network using digital license plates

Gmail on the iPad gets a spiffy new interface.

Posted: 21 Jun 2010 08:24 AM PDT

Back when the new version of Gmail for iOS and Android was announced, we raved over the features.  Apparently, things just got even better for iPad users.

According to the Gmail Mobile Blog, there’s a fresh new interface, specific to iPad users, on the much-beloved email service.  The features are the same, but put together in a different interface that’s more appropriate to use on the iPad.  According to the blog:

When you write an email you'll now get a big full screen compose window instead of splitting the screen between your inbox and the compose view. More text is visible at once and there are no more distractions with messages on the side. We've also fixed problems that prevented scrolling on long messages.

Here’s a side-by-side of the old versus new interfaces.  Looks like I now have even more reasons to lust over an iPad.

Original title and link for this post: Gmail on the iPad gets a spiffy new interface.

Why Twimbow just became my favorite Twitter client on the web.

Posted: 21 Jun 2010 08:10 AM PDT

My Twitter stream is noisy.  Really, really noisy.  It’s not so much that I follow a lot of people, it’s more that I have a lot of interaction.  When I’m at home, I use TweetDeck to keep up, but when I’m not at my own computer, I don’t have that option.

Twimbow just made my life a lot easier, and a bit more colorful to boot.

Twimbow is a web-based Twitter application that takes your stream, color codes it and lets you customize things to your liking.  It’s powered by OAuth, so logging in is seemless.

The default color pallet is good, but options abound.  Each type of message is given a color, so that you can quickly view your integrated timeline and pick out what’s important to you.

Your main feed is called “Personal Buzz”, and will show you ReTweets of your messages, as well as DM’s and replies.  From each message, you’re given a wealth of options on mouse over.  As you’d expect, you can reply, DM and rewteet, but the extra features are what really catch my attention.

Twimbow takes your Twitter interaction a step further by providing an awesome interface to quote, add to favorites and even share via other platforms.  At the moment, only sharing by email is allowed, but Facebook and Google Buzz implementation is just around the corner.

Skipping to the middle column will show you your feed just as it appears on the Twitter site, and allows the same interactive options.  The far right column is reserved for a real-time search, and again you’re given options aplenty.

For now, Twimbow is in a pre-alpha, but you can head to the site and try to snag an invite for yourself.  Take a look at the screenshot below, and you’ll see why it’s not just handy, but might actually change the way that you use Twitter on the whole.

Original title and link for this post: Why Twimbow just became my favorite Twitter client on the web.

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