The Next Web | |
- India Puts Pressure On RIM, Decision To Block Messaging Services Will Be Made Tomorrow
- UK TV Network Five To Be First Broadcaster To Deliver TV Programmes Via Facebook
- Mendeley “sexes up” its academic API, opens it to all
- Check Out (Or Should It Be Check In To?) Foursquare’s New Online Store
- Twitter introduces the Tweet Button. Is TweetMeme being left in the cold?
- Is Facebook about to become one big MyTown?
- Clever minimalist business card design? Or too confusing for a non-geek?
- Dell Streak On Sale In The US August 12th
- Twitter gets back to its roots; announces faster follows via mobile
- Camera+ does $500,000 in 60 days. That’s AFTER Apple’s cut.
- Microsoft Isn’t Showing Weakness By Slapping Apple, They Are Exerting Dominance
- Zagat Hits 50,000 Friends On Foursquare, Is The Location Service Mainstream Yet?
- Red Cross: 74% of people expect rapid response from social media pleas for help
- Samsung Galaxy Tab To Be Unveiled In Early September
- Why You Shouldn’t Always Trust Wikipedia
- HP Exec Tells Employees WebOS Tablet Will Launch In Q1 2011
- TwitPic founder launching stealth startup Heello
- Bing ups its Q&A IQ with Wolfram|Alpha
- Chegg iPhone app lets students search and scan their way to textbook savings.
- First Android Trojan Surfaces But It’s Anyone’s Guess How You Become Infected
| India Puts Pressure On RIM, Decision To Block Messaging Services Will Be Made Tomorrow Posted: 11 Aug 2010 02:25 AM PDT
The issue is over how the RIM encyrpts its email and messaging services, an encryption that Indian authorities are suggesting that allows militants to misuse these services because security agencies cannot access messages sent via BlackBerry devices. It is thought that India’s home ministry will meet with RIM to discuss the sharing of its encryption details. Reuters spoke to a government official who said:
Because RIM does not provide a “master key” for its service, the security requirements that need to be met are the responsibility of the mobile phone operators. Indian authorities are not happy with RIM’s proposal to help security agencies track email messages without sharing its encryption details. If a resolution is not found, messaging services will go dark on Thursday until RIM and Indian authorities can reach a mutual agreement. Original title and link for this post: India Puts Pressure On RIM, Decision To Block Messaging Services Will Be Made Tomorrow |
| UK TV Network Five To Be First Broadcaster To Deliver TV Programmes Via Facebook Posted: 11 Aug 2010 01:58 AM PDT
The deal, which will see content made available to Facebook’s 26 million UK users, will allow Five’s “Demand Five” catchup-TV service embedded in Facebook, allowing visitors to watch content including Neighbours, Home & Away and The Gadget Show. The service could roll out in as soon as ten days according to sources close to the project with the player already being embedded into the popular social networking site. Whilst Five is the first broadcaster to syndicate its content to Facebook, the BBC are blocked from Facebook integration due to its syndication policy and ITV has signalled its reluctance to sign any third-party syndication deals. Channel 4 has enjoyed success with dedicated groups for its programmes and continues to look into a possible partnership in the future. With most UK broadcasters relying on ad-revenue as their main revenue stream, Five will be looking to stand firm on a deal that sees a large proportion of its sales head to Facebook. Five already has a deal with YouTube for its content but will look to exercise control over the Facebook ad-sales negotiations. It’s a good move for Five, who will be able to use Facebook sharing tools and services to help promote its programmes. It will be interesting to see how many other broadcasters follow suit. Original title and link for this post: UK TV Network Five To Be First Broadcaster To Deliver TV Programmes Via Facebook |
| Mendeley “sexes up” its academic API, opens it to all Posted: 11 Aug 2010 01:35 AM PDT
The London-based startup opened a beta version of the API in April, allowing developers to build applications and services on top of the wealth of academic research available via Mendeley. While the beta version was limited to pre-approved developers, anyone can now give it a go. Despite some high-profile coverage of the beta launch, the company’s “Chief Scientist and VP of R&D”, Jason Hoyt admits on its blog that the API could have been “sexier”. Hoyt writes that the company has been working on making the API more appealing to developers who have never worked with science data previously. As a result, a user-friendly looking Mendeley Developer’s Portal has launched. Developers looking to tap into the research carried by Mendeley can head along there to find out more. Original title and link for this post: Mendeley “sexes up” its academic API, opens it to all |
| Check Out (Or Should It Be Check In To?) Foursquare’s New Online Store Posted: 11 Aug 2010 01:15 AM PDT
Many Foursquare users had requested the T-Shirts that the team would be wearing in official photos, these have been added to the store, providing a small revenue stream for the Foursquare as it aims to bring location services to the masses. The buttons and stickers are vibrant and colourful. Even if people didn’t know what the badges signified, I’m sure people would ask where the person got them. Some users have complained about the high shipping charges (one user suggests his $20 cost $30 to ship) but it shouldn’t stop many people from getting their official swag. Original title and link for this post: Check Out (Or Should It Be Check In To?) Foursquare’s New Online Store |
| Twitter introduces the Tweet Button. Is TweetMeme being left in the cold? Posted: 10 Aug 2010 07:31 PM PDT
With the new Tweet Button, could TweetMeme be next on the list? According to Mashable, Twitter is introducing its own share button and it could be available as soon as Thursday. Here’s a quick view of what we know so far:
As you can see, Twitter appears to be aiming both barrels directly at the TweetMeme audience. Full analytics behind the button should make it a pretty notable piece for site owners and a single line of code to implement it keeps things easy.
While it is worthy to note that implementing TweetMeme into your site is every bit as easy as what the Tweet Button is trying to flaunt, Twitter seems hell-bent on touting the simplicity of the service.
The final slide goes into some details that are, again, exactly the same as what TweetMeme is offering. However, the Tweet Button doesn’t offer a choice of URL shortening services, quite obviously because of Twitter’s integrated t.co links. Mashable postulates that Twitter and TweetMeme have already sat down to talk about things, but we’re honestly not so sure. We’ve reached out to TweetMeme, and we’ll let you know what information we find, but the rest is a bit of a waiting game for the time being. So for you site owners: is a retweet button, native to Twitter, enough to pull you away from another service? Why or why not? Original title and link for this post: Twitter introduces the Tweet Button. Is TweetMeme being left in the cold? |
| Is Facebook about to become one big MyTown? Posted: 10 Aug 2010 05:17 PM PDT
Part of our skepitism has been associated with how long it has taken Facebook to get around to adding location. Well, today CNET reports that Facebook will start adding location to it’s developer API “within weeks”. So if Facebook is finally ready to bring some kind of location to its half a billion users, what will it most likely look like? Most likely, it’ll look like one big MyTown, the real-world-Monopoly location game. Don’t get us wrong – MyTown is popular and for many it’s addicting…kind of like Farmville in fact… see where we’re going? So where’s the proof? Well, right now all we have is an educated guess, we’ll admit that. That said, if Facebook was building a stand alone core feature, this most likely wouldn’t be the route that location would go. However, by putting location features into the developer API, Facebook is giving location to its developers, and the biggest developers on the Facebook Platform? Gaming companies. Honestly, this is probably a very smart move by Facebook. First of all, as Foursquare and Gowalla have shown, the gaming element of location is attractive, and gaming is huge on Facebook, so it’s a great fit. Second, by putting it into the API for gaming developers to use (and yes, other developers and sites as well) Facebook may be able to insulate itself somewhat from privacy concerns as well as present location in a less threatening manner through gaming. Will location on Facebook completely pan out this way? Again, we think it’s a very strong possibility, but right now – like everyone else, including Facebook developers – we’ll just have wait a few weeks (or maybe longer) to see. Oh, and we still think that location is the prime way for Google to go after Facebook, whether it becomes one big MyTown or not. Original title and link for this post: Is Facebook about to become one big MyTown? |
| Clever minimalist business card design? Or too confusing for a non-geek? Posted: 10 Aug 2010 04:10 PM PDT via borismus.com Original title and link for this post: Clever minimalist business card design? Or too confusing for a non-geek? |
| Dell Streak On Sale In The US August 12th Posted: 10 Aug 2010 03:00 PM PDT |
| Twitter gets back to its roots; announces faster follows via mobile Posted: 10 Aug 2010 02:38 PM PDT
Fast FollowTexting “follow [username]” to 40404 will let you start following a user. So while you’re out and about and find someone who is on Twitter, you don’t have to remember their name for later. SMS Alerts“on [username]” or “off [username]” will turn your SMS alerts for a user on or off. If you leave out the username, doing simply On or Off, Twitter will zip its beak and not send you any messages. “get [username]” is another handy feature, allowing you to get the most recent Tweet from a user sent right to your phone. Of course, the easiest way to set these alerts is still probably through the Twitter site itself. But if you’re an SMS fan, or using a phone that doesn’t support applications, then Twitter via SMS is still a highly viable option. Original title and link for this post: Twitter gets back to its roots; announces faster follows via mobile |
| Camera+ does $500,000 in 60 days. That’s AFTER Apple’s cut. Posted: 10 Aug 2010 02:04 PM PDT
I’m not sure that anyone quite expected these numbers, however:
In real world numbers? Those 60 days have equated to half a million dollars in sales for Incentive, Inc, the maker of Camera+. What’s most impressive about these numbers, however, is that Camera+ has survived the maligned “2nd month slump”. Where applications will typically sell really well for their first 30 days, the second 30 tend to be a downward slant toward oblivion. While the developers, tap tap tap, have done an amazing job with Camera+, they’re not foolish enough to believe that things always succeed purely on their own merit. In fact, there’s a notable quote at the bottom of the blog post about the sales figures:
It’s worthwhile mentioning that the entire $500 ended up in the developer’s hands, after Apple’s 30%. You can pick up Camera+ from the App Store, and apparently it’s only $1.99 for a limited time, so move quickly. A huge tip of the hat goes to Lisa Bettany for the heads up. Thanks! Original title and link for this post: Camera+ does $500,000 in 60 days. That’s AFTER Apple’s cut. |
| Microsoft Isn’t Showing Weakness By Slapping Apple, They Are Exerting Dominance Posted: 10 Aug 2010 01:49 PM PDT
I have to disagree with that sentiment rather completely. I applauded the company for its move yesterday, and as it turns out have been one of the very few people to do so. Why is that? Well, it seems that literally nothing that Microsoft does will ever be a good idea in the eyes of a large bit of the internet. This is why I like Microsoft’s move, to come at the whole discussion from a different, not PC v. Mac angle: the website, which does compare OS X and Windows 7 based machines, is mass market. That is a very good thing. Windows 7 is a mass market operating system, and the mass market is where Windows controls the scene. High end machines? A toss up between gaming rigs running XP and OS X, fine. For Joe and Jane, Windows is the operating system that computers run on, and Microsoft wants to let them know that their comfortable computing environment is the best for their needs, that there is no need to switch. Weakness, or just keeping their users content and happy Windows is what they know, and moving to Mac would require change, so Microsoft is right on that count. Blu-ray is a big damn deal for a lot of people, regardless of what Jobs (or you and I) think. The list goes on. MSFT and the whole Redmond crew are speaking to their market, the mass market, and are doing so at the expense of Apple’s potential market share growth. Do you really think that your average, not computer savvy PC user, after reading that site would buy a Mac? No. And Microsoft knows that. They are using their market advantage, to their advantage. Using their dominant mass market weight to keep their users content, safe, and paying. Hitting Apple a show of weakness? Only maybe if you are a technologically powerful person, us that is. To everyone else, Macs are just those other machines that cost more. Microsoft knows its demographic, and is playing them like a fiddle. That ability is why they are big and why they are going to stay that way. Using your current advantage to maintain your market position is not weakness, but strength. Original title and link for this post: Microsoft Isn’t Showing Weakness By Slapping Apple, They Are Exerting Dominance |
| Zagat Hits 50,000 Friends On Foursquare, Is The Location Service Mainstream Yet? Posted: 10 Aug 2010 01:14 PM PDT
The company is of course a perfect match for the Foursquare using world, the company itself being focused on reviewing and rating locations. People get ratings on locations using Zagat, then hit the joint and ping Forsquare. The company is literally a direct hit on the Foursquare demographic. It should be noted that Foursquare and Zagat have been partners for some time, so the company did not hit 50,000 friends purley organically, but with special badges and trips boosting their account. Good on Zagat for riding a big wave higher than anyone would have expected. It brings to the forefront, yet again, the question of just how big Foursquare is and if it is now finally ‘mainstream.’ The answer, as before, is no. However, this massive showing does say something strong about the Foursquare community: it is now large enough to self-sustain. With traditional, established brands like Zagat racking up dozens of thousands of friends, Foursquare is big enough to live on its own. According to this, the company over 2 million users today. That was not always a certainty. People to this day still question the possible longevity of location based startups like Foursquare and Gowalla. Everyday that goes past as they rack up more and more users means that those complaints and jibes lose more and more credibility. Location is a hit with a large slice of the world, but whether it will ever go mass market is still an open question, if it even matters. You can follow Zagat on Foursquare here. Original title and link for this post: Zagat Hits 50,000 Friends On Foursquare, Is The Location Service Mainstream Yet? |
| Red Cross: 74% of people expect rapid response from social media pleas for help Posted: 10 Aug 2010 01:01 PM PDT
While reiterating that 9-1-1 should still be the first choice for anyone in an emergency situation, Gail McGovern, the American Red Cross’ CEO was quoted in a press release as saying, “But when phone lines are down or the 9-1-1 system is overwhelmed, we know that people will be persistent in their quest for help and use social media for that purpose.” The survey of 1,058 adults also found that if 9-1-1 was unavailable, “one in five would try to contact responders through a digital means such as e-mail, websites or social media,” and that “44% would ask other people in their social network to contact authorities, 35% would post a request for help directly on a response agency’s Facebook page and 28% would send a direct Twitter message to responders.” The study also found that 69% expect emergency responders to be actively monitoring social media channels “in order to quickly send help,” and that, among Internet users, social media is the fourth choice of emergency information, behind TV, radio and online news websites. In related news, the Red Cross is also gearing up for the hurricane season in the US by updating its Safe and Well service, which allows people to notify authorities and loved ones that they are OK. The updated service includes Twitter and Facebook integration as well as a new mobile site. These findings and improvements by the Red Cross add weight to a shift in crisis response communication methods that were most clearly highlighted during the Haiti earthquake earlier this year (as well as subsequent disasters) and dovetail with crowdsourced and open source solutions such as those provided by Crisis Commons, Ushahidi (which just yesterday launched CrowdMap) and Sahana. Original title and link for this post: Red Cross: 74% of people expect rapid response from social media pleas for help |
| Samsung Galaxy Tab To Be Unveiled In Early September Posted: 10 Aug 2010 12:50 PM PDT
New evidence has come to light that suggests tomorrows conference will not be stage for the grand unveiling of Samsung’s new tablet, instead the device will be revealed at the upcoming IFA 2010 expo, commencing September 3rd in Berlin. JoonAng Daily got the scoop, receiving word from a “high ranking official” who also noted that Samsung would be using the event to showcase its new interchangeable camera and a new Smart TV. Samsung will not be wanting to keep its new product under wraps for too long, it is looking to release its tablet around the holiday season, beating most of its rivals to market and gaining a better shot at providing some real competition to the iPad. Original title and link for this post: Samsung Galaxy Tab To Be Unveiled In Early September |
| Why You Shouldn’t Always Trust Wikipedia Posted: 10 Aug 2010 12:22 PM PDT …because you might end up with egg on your face. This gem is doing the rounds on Twitter today. Looks like the UK’s Independent newspaper got a certain ‘fact’ in that last paragraph from Wikipedia. Read more about it at The Guardian. Original title and link for this post: Why You Shouldn’t Always Trust Wikipedia |
| HP Exec Tells Employees WebOS Tablet Will Launch In Q1 2011 Posted: 10 Aug 2010 12:20 PM PDT
The project is allegedly codenamed “Hurricane” and will add to what looks like will be a very industrious first quarter for HP as it looks to bring a webOS, Windows 7 and Android tablet to market. The delay in manufacturers bringing tablets to market can only be music to Apple’s ears as it looks to assert market dominance with its iPad. Already touted as one of the top selling products this Christmas, the iPad could Apple establish a position in the tablet market that would be very hard to compete in. Original title and link for this post: HP Exec Tells Employees WebOS Tablet Will Launch In Q1 2011 |
| TwitPic founder launching stealth startup Heello Posted: 10 Aug 2010 11:32 AM PDT
Everett says that he came up with the idea two years ago and that the three “main facets” of Heello are:
That’s about all Everett is saying right now. What do you think it might be? UPDATE: We have apparent confirmation from a tweet from Ryan LeFevre of TwitPic that Heello Inc. is a wholly separate venture from TwitPic. We’ve also asked Everett to confirm. Original title and link for this post: TwitPic founder launching stealth startup Heello |
| Bing ups its Q&A IQ with Wolfram|Alpha Posted: 10 Aug 2010 10:04 AM PDT The battle to be the king of answers continues, but instead of crowdsourcing those answers from the masses as Facebook and Quora are doing, Bing has taken a different approach, teaming with Wolfram|Alpha to offer more scientific answers to searchers’ questions. If you’re not familiar with Wolfram|Alpha, it in itself is a kind of search engine, but aimed at the academic and scientific set. Bing seems to be planning on using it as more of a middle-school educational tool, and there is nothing wrong with that. The new integration will answer questions like “What is the capital of France?” or “What is the boiling point of water?” and can be used to compare geographical data, i.e. comparing the populations of two or more countries. Another useful feature that Bing announced is giving a clear answer to dates/holidays. This in itself would be worthy of an announcement – we can’t tell you how many times we’ve had to search through 2-3 links in Google just to find the correct date for Labor Day and other holidays. Very useful feature. As we said last week when Microsoft announced some other big new features, Bing is certainly on a roll. How are you finding the new features? Is Bing answering your questions correctly? Please let us know in the comments! Original title and link for this post: Bing ups its Q&A IQ with Wolfram|Alpha |
| Chegg iPhone app lets students search and scan their way to textbook savings. Posted: 10 Aug 2010 09:22 AM PDT |
| First Android Trojan Surfaces But It’s Anyone’s Guess How You Become Infected Posted: 10 Aug 2010 08:56 AM PDT
As the messages are sent, the user incurs a large bill whilst the applications developers get a share of the profit. Anti-virus company Kaspersky Lab, caught wind of the malicious program, classified it as a “Trojan-SMS” and gave it a name: SMS.AndroidOS.FakePlayer.a. The file works its way onto a users handset disguised as a media player application .APK file that is just 13KB and when installed immediately starts sending out the premium rate SMS messages. Currently, only Russian Android owners can physically lose money by the trojan but users can still be infected regardless of location. How Vulnerable Am I?
The small matter of how you become infected has been neglected by Kaspersky. It is not clear whether a user can be infected by downloading an app via the Android Market or via a third-party download site. We assume that a user has to download the APK manually and then install it on their Android device, a process that the Android operating system blocks by default. The Android operating system is set to disable the installation of apps from unknown sources, stopping trojans such as FakePlayer from ever gracing your Android handset. Technical Android owners are more likely to have enabled this option leaving themselves a little more vulnerable than users who leave their Android settings set to factory defaults but Android has another system to stop even those users from mistakenly installing rogue applications. Whether it’s a Market or non-Market app being installed, Android will always display the permissions that the application requests. Using FakePlayer as an example, you would not expect a media player application to request SMS permissions, meaning you should proceed with caution. Protecting YourselfEven though your handset might have the above options selected, you still need to be vigilant when installing applications. If you are keen to avoid untrusted apps, always stick to the Android Market and make sure the Unknown Sources option is unticked in your Application Settings. Even then, carefully read what permissions each app requests when installing so you can be in complete control of what data is accessed on your device. ConclusionWe are keen to stress that security should never be taken lightly, appropriate steps should be taken whenever you install an app, whether it be from the Android Market or otherwise. With so many tech outlets stressing that this trojan is a blow for Google and its OS, we wanted to show that Android holds its own when it comes to security, visually prompting the user as to what resources installed apps will try to access and blocking third-party apps by default. This is a complete contrast to the JailbreakMe PDF exploit which can affect any iPhone or iPad device regardless of security settings. Original title and link for this post: First Android Trojan Surfaces But It’s Anyone’s Guess How You Become Infected |
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When Twitter’s API first hit the Internet, one of the most exciting things about the service was how developer-friendly it was. Over time, though the API hasn’t gone away, the service has been taking a lot more of its activity in house and some developers are being left in the cold.









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