Month: October 2010

Rapleaf, Where Everybody Knows Your Name

Earlier this month, we found out that some of the most popular apps on Facebook were sharing user data they shouldn’t have been. While many of the apps involved did not share this information intentionally, it still violated Facebook policy. To explain the gravity of the issue:

The main issue with passing around this UID is that it can later be combined with other data floating around the Internet about you. RapLeaf, a company that compiles data about web users and sells it, was able to connect these UID’s with data they already had. This allowed them to form a better picture of the individuals they were tracking. This data collection is really where the privacy issue lies.

So, companies like Rapleaf know your Facebook UID. Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but it does pose a problem when that UID is connected to other identifying information. According to WSJ, Rapleaf is one of the few companies that not only collects and sells data about website users, but has no problems storing your name with the data.

This makes RapLeaf a rare breed. Rival tracking companies also gather minute detail on individual Americans: They know a tremendous amount about what you do. But most trackers either can’t or won’t keep the ultimate piece of personal information—your name—in their databases. The industry often cites this layer of anonymity as a reason online tracking shouldn’t be considered intrusive.

It’s one thing to take a bunch of anonymous information about a person and use it for ads or statistics, but once you start tossing in names and UID’s things start to get a little disturbing. What do you think?

Digg Lays Off 25. Games Their Own System.

Earlier this year, Digg dropped 10% of their staff. In an effort to remain relevant, they completely redesigned and refocused the site. Regular Diggers didn’t like the changes one bit. Now, Digg has lost their Chief Revenue Officer Chas Edwards and plans to fire 25 more employees. This amounts to about 37% of their current staff. In a blog post by Digg CEO Matt Williams, he explains the new cuts:

Unfortunately, to reach our goals, we have to take some difficult steps. The fact is our business has a burn rate that is too high. We must significantly cut our expenses to achieve profitability in 2011. We’ve considered all of the possible options for reduction, from salaries to fixed costs. The result is that, in addition to lowering many of our operational costs, I’ve made the decision to downsize our staff from 67 to 42 people.

About the same time we are finding out about Digg’s financial troubles, it looks like they may have been gaming their own system. According to @LtGenPanda, an avid and vigilant Digg user, It seems that Digg manipulated their own system to benefit publisher partners. In response, Digg explained that they only used these accounts to test for spam vulnerabilities. Digg Founder Kevin Rose says “We’ve used test accounts since day one and will continue to use them as we validate our various spam/promotion algorithms.”

GetGlue Gets Serious About Rewards and Integration

Yesterday, GetGlue announced partnerships with USA, Syfy, ESPN, and 20th Century FOX to launch GetGlue Rewards and showcase exclusive site integration. USA viewers will get exclusive badges for checking in to USA’s top shows. They will also be able to earn branded fan stickers and secret stickers for shows like Psych and Burn Notice. Syfy will include deep integration with GetGlue on the website for their live Ghost Hunters Halloween event. You will be able to earn special badges, interact with other users on the site, and check-in using a special widget on the site.

In addition to a trailer sticker, a special sticker for those who watch the during its opening weekend, and a sticker that rewards fans for watching the movie in theaters after the opening weekend, 20th Century FOX has integrated GetGlue’s check-in widgets onto each movie’s Facebook page. Fans will be able to check-in to GetGlue directly from the movies Facebook Page and interact with other fans.

MySpace recently announced plans to completely overhaul the website and change the focus of the MeeySpace brand. Rather than being simply a social networking site like Facebook, MySpace wants to be a social entertainment destination for Gen Y. These means a new brand, a new website, and a new suite of products. The goal is to create a “rich, highly personalized experience for people to discover content and connect with other fans who share similar interests.”

As we talked about previously, the new direction puts the focus on connecting with others around similar interests rather than just connecting with people you might already know. With about 15 million African-American members, MySpace has become a hub for African-American youth and culture. As a result, Rap and Hip-Hop have been propelled to the top music genres on the website. In response, the new MySpace will allow you to:

• Discover and engage with Myspace’s broad array of programming, including originals, exclusives and content from around the Web.
• Express, collect and display their creations and interests on their profiles and through sharing tools.
• Connect to other fans with similar tastes.

“This marks the beginning of an exciting turning point for Myspace. Our new strategy expands on Myspace’s existing strengths – a deep understanding of social, a wealth of entertainment content and the ability to surface emerging cultural trends in real-time through our users.” -Mike Jones, CEO of Myspace

The design of the new beta site puts a focus on the content. From the ground up, each element makes it easier for people to find relevant content. The welcome page updates with fresh content from across the site in real-time. After you login, this information changes to become relevant to your individual interests. To cover all your screens, Myspace will soon release a mobile version of the beta site, accessible on any mobile browser, with new iPhone and Android apps coming later this year.

As we mentioned before, MySpace will be rewarding active users on the site. Specifically, the subset of users that help bring in quality content, which helps MySpace attract more users:

Myspace will also focus on promoting curators – a subset of its audience whose reputation and knowledge around particular entertainment topics and emerging cultural trends make them uniquely influential – by supporting them with the resources, tools and platform to expand their reach within the Myspace community.

New users get immediate access to the beta site. Current users should have access to the beta by the end of the month. Visit www.myspace.com/newmyspace for more details.

Days after Sony kills off the Walkman and images of a Sony Playstation Phone run rampant, speculation about a potential Apple-Sony merger is spreading across the web. The rumors caused a slight jump in Sony’s stock, which was stagnant until that point. Apple and Sony haven’t addressed the rumors at this point.

It seems like a merger between Apple and Sony could make sense for both companies. They are on a collision course as far as gaming and entertainment goes. Apple is quick to point out that iPhone and iPod touch are the world’s best-selling portable gaming devices. They are well ahead of Nintendo and Sony doesn’t even appear to be in the running, which explains why they may need to branch out and create a phone/gaming device of their own. A merger with Apple could create a more powerful adversary for Microsoft and Nintendo. Think Playstation + Apple TV.

On the other side of the spectrum both companies are big on entertainment. Apple would gain a foothold into millions of living rooms, possibly bringing Apple TV functionality and iTunes integration to more devices. This is the direction Google TV was headed before some push-back from the entertainment industry.

Apple may very well succeed in invading our living rooms and owning our handhelds, but a merger with Sony could accelerate the process and bring exciting technological developments.

via DigitalTrends, Technorati, TUAW

Rumor has it that Google and Samsung may be teaming up to launch the successor to the Nexus One, the phone that kicked off all this Android business in the first place. According to Android and Me, Google and Samsung will announce the “Nexus Two” at an upcoming press conference on November 8th in New York.

This would be an interesting move given what Eric Schmidt said about the Nexus One:

The idea a year and a half ago was to do the Nexus One to try to move the phone platform hardware business forward. It clearly did. It was so successful, we didn’t have to do a second one. We would view that as positive but people criticised us heavily for that. I called up the board and said: ‘Ok, it worked. Congratulations – we’re stopping’.

This news comes from multiple “trusted sources.” The Nexus Two would run Android Gingerbread (3.0). This would make sense given that the Nexus One always received the latest Android OS updates first. Even after it was no longer available to the public, the device was available for developers for testing.

The real question here is why Google would bother with another phone in the Nexus series. The Nexus One primarily served as a template for manufacturers and carriers. Just as Google has done in other areas, they needed to push the envelope a little to show everyone what was possible and get them interested in the Android brand.

Now that Android OS has gained popularity, we are seeing interesting things happening around it. Everyone and their grandma is opening up their own Android app store. Beyond skinning the phone, HTC is trying to completely co-opt the Android brand. They call it a “holistic experience filled with moments of delight” and don’t even want you to call their devices Google phones.

It’s possible that Google may be trying to preserve the purity of Android by having at least one device out there not tainted by the motivations of the carriers and manufacturers.

What do you think?

via TheNextWeb, Android and Me

Users of Android and iPhone devices have recently noticed a feature on Google search for mobile that lets you search for apps. Searching for an app will give you more details on that app at the top of your results. You can also use the “more” dropdown to access Android/iPhone App Search directly. While the feature is just being discovered, Google actually announced it back in June.

The Android Market recently crossed the 100,000 app boundary and critics have already pointed out that finding the exact app you need is difficult. Searching using the Market app is simplistic and third-party solutions don’t completely solve the problem. Using Google search directly may make it easier to find the app you need as well as making sure it’s legit. As Android Police points out, it would be great to see an Install button added as well. Still, a direct link to the app in the market saves some time. Also, keep in mind that this feature works for finding iPhone apps as well.

Frostwire Mobile P2P

Now, it will be easier to locate apps like Frostwire, which lets you search, browse and share files locally and over the Internet using Wi-Fi in a P2P-style network all from your Android phone. With the Limewire software banned from distribution by Limewire LLC, Frostwire is the next runner-up for P2P file-sharing. It works on your desktop and now also your Android. It will be interesting to see if they will face a similar fate to Limewire as they both run on top of the Gnutella network.

PayPal Checkout in Android Market

Another problem plaguing the Android market is the process of purchasing apps. One quick fix for this would be integration with PayPal to replace the current checkout method. According to an accidental post by PayPal, this feature should be on the way soon. They’ve since taken down the post, but Google sees all.

A lawsuit filed against Limewire about four years ago has finally reached a verdict. The file-sharing service has been found guilty of assisting users in committing copyright infringement “on a massive scale” according to a federal judge. The suit was filed by the RIAA in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of eight major music publishers.

LimeWire LLC was charged with facilitating “pervasive online infringement.” They were also accused of “allowing and actively encouraging users to participate in music piracy.” The plaintiffs claimed that over 93 percent of the content available via Limewire infringed on one copyright or another.

A visit to the Limewire website stops visitors cold with a popup message and a link to the actual court injunction:

“THIS IS AN OFFICIAL NOTICE THAT LIMEWIRE IS UNDER A COURT-ORDERED INJUNCTION TO STOP DISTRIBUTING AND SUPPORTING ITS FILE-SHARING SOFTWARE. DOWNLOADING OR SHARING COPYRIGHTED CONTENT WITHOUT AUTHORIZATION IS ILLEGAL.”

Back in May, a court found Limewire liable for copyright infringement. They even held founder Mark Gorton personally responsible for the copyright violations.

“The evidence demonstrates that [Lime Wire] optimized LimeWire’s features to ensure that users can download digital recordings, the majority of which are protected by copyright,” Wood said in her 59-page decision. “And that [Lime Wire] assisted users in committing infringement.”

This latest case resumes in January 2011, when the court will figure out how much Limewire has to pay. With the minimum penalty at $150,000 for each music copyright infringement, Limewire may be on the hook for around $1 billion.

While our copyrights must be protected, I’m still on the fence about this case. Limewire is only a piece of software that leverages an existing underlying file-sharing network. That peer-to-peer network is still there and Limewire is not the only game in town. Users are already looking into alternatives like Frostwire. BitTorrent also offers an alternative file-sharing method that users could turn to. It’s unlikely that the RIAA or any other entity could shutdown all available avenues for piracy.

Will you miss Limewire? Do you think it and software like it should be shutdown like this?

via PC World

As we reported back in August, Sony is actively developing a gaming phone. Now, Engadget brings us actual photos of the device. It will likely run Android 3.0 (aka Gingerbread) and has a 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8655, 512MB of RAM, 1GB of ROM, and a 3.7 to 4.1 inch screen. It features a long touchpad in the center which is likely multitouch. It still bears the familiar PlayStation shoulder buttons.

According to Engadget, the device doesn’t seem ready for prime time yet. It’s said to be “buggy” and possibly not ready for a 2010 release, so 2011 would be more likely. Still, the possibility exists that we could see this new device for the holidays. Not good news for Sony as every second counts and the competition already has product on the shelves or on the way to the shelves.

A PlayStation phone would definitely cause a stir in the gaming landscape. Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch family of devices have proven to be stiff competition in the gaming world. Apple is putting millions of these in the hands of customers every quarter. The launch of the iPhone 4 and iOS 4 took gaming on iDevices to the next level.

Microsoft has the XBox 360 with multi-player gaming via XBox Live. With the launch of Windows Phone 7, they’ve gone in the same direction as Apple, giving the consumer a competitive mobile device with integration into their existing multi-player gaming network.

Nintendo and Sony both appear to be in a tight spot. Their current crop of handheld gaming devices are just not doing that well and this may be Sony’s chance to turn things around and get back in the game. Users have been waiting for PlayStation to release this type of device. This would also be a good look for Android in general as it may bring a new crop of advanced and professional games to the Android platform.

At this point, this is all speculation. Sony refuses to comment on this device and has denied that the photos of the device are authentic. One thing is for sure: If a device of this type is not currently in development, they need to get on the ball and make it happen ASAP.

Are you looking forward to a PlayStation Phone?

via Engadget, VentureBeat

Today, MySpace launches a redesign of the site aimed at attracting younger users and differentiating themselves from Facebook. Once king of social networking, MySpace has had a tough time since Facebook blew up. Now, it’s mostly synonymous with artists and glitter graphics. Some have even called it the ghetto of social networks. MySpace isn’t down and out yet, though.

This update will be the latest in a series of changes MySpace has made to change direction and make the service more attractive. According to MySpace President, Mike Jones, “This is a full rethink.” Their plan is to go after 13 to 35-year-olds looks for a social network centered around entertainment. Somewhere separate to hang out away from your standard friends and family network. “This is an entirely different product”

Rather than connecting with others based on real life connections, MySpace wants users to connect based on common interests. This is possible to do on other networks like Facebook, but not necessarily practical. This single change in direction could take away the competitive dynamic of the Facebook-MySpace relationship and make it easier for users to justify using both. If MySpace doesn’t have to compete directly with Facebook, it’s more likely they can turn things around.

One feature of the redesign pulls a page from the Windows Phone 7 interface, displaying information in tiles that update before your eyes. Another setting displays a full-screen slideshow of recommended media, profiles, and messages from your network and interests. Of course, your standard customizable profile view, both a blessing and a curse for MySpace, is still an option.

In addition to cutting clutter on the site and improving mobile support, MySpace has also added a gaming aspect to the social network. Active users are rewarded with badges and get their profiles promoted.

This feature recognizes and rewards curators and fans for their social activity around entertainment topics on the beta site and promotes them with badges – graphic icons that appear in a user’s stream.

News Corp. is aiming to make MySpace profitable by the end of next year. The site fell behind Facebook last year and estimates say they’ve lost about $350 million. News Corp. will likely sell the site, estimated at $300 million, if it doesn’t improve within the next two years.

via MySpace, Bloomberg

The latest edition of the Barnes and Noble Nook reading device has been a hot topic. Many have speculated that the device would have a color display. Further digging by CNET revealed a mockup of the touch screen e-reader. It turns out that most of the rumors were correct. The Android powered, color e-reader looks exactly like the “crude” and “unprofessionally done” mockup (as Gizmodo referred to it). The Nook Color is much more than what you might expect, though.

At the live event today, the new Nook was finally revealed. The Nook Color by Barnes & Noble is being billed as “the future of reading.” It’s geared towards people who “snack on content,” but also offers additional features to enhance the reading experience.

• Expandable up to 32GB MicroSD
• Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n)
• 16 Million Color Display
• 7” Color Touch screen
• Backlit Display

You can actually use your Nook Color as an audio player. It stores up to 100 hours of MP3 or AAC files for listening to books or music. There is a universal 3.5mm stereo headphone jack for audio, but the Nook Color also includes a mono speaker. Even if you don’t want to store any music on your Nook Color, you can simply run Pandora to satisfy your music cravings. Playing your music while you read is supported.

Nook Friends is where the Nook Color gets social. You can import your Google contacts and share favorite lines or recommend books. Facebook and Twitter integration let you update your reading status without leaving the page you’re on. I’ve seen people live tweet TV shows, so this should be no different. The Nook also makes it easy to share passages from the book you’re reading in case you think something might be of interest to your social networks.

Other features include Microsoft Office integration, where you can create, edit, and view Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents. Nook Kids turns your Nook Color into an interactive reading device for children. There are games and a LendMe feature for swapping books.

The Nook Color is much more than a simple e-reader. Its features straddle the line between e-reader and full-fledged tablet. You can even become a Nook developer to create new Nook Extras. You can order the device right now for $249 with free shipping (expected ship date is November 19th).

via CrunchGear, Barnes & Noble

In a very interesting move for the Comcast Cable Company, Comcast customers can now access Xfinity TV from any ISP. The Xfinity service is being taken out of beta and being let loose into the wild. Previously, you could only access Xfinity content from within Comcast’s network, which meant you also needed a broadband account with Comcast. This was done to make it easier to test the service. Now that restriction has been removed.

Xfinity TV offers “more than 150,000 hours of online content” to all of its digital video subscribers. The branding piece is a bit confusing, though. If you visit Xfinity.tv, you’ll be redirected to Fancast.com, which handles all of the heavy lifting. The layout and most of the content is similar to what you might find on Hulu. You don’t need to be a Comcast subscriber to access most of the content on Fancast and you have the added benefit of being able to watch CBS shows, which are not available on Hulu (don’t act like you don’t watch CSI).

The benefit for Comcast subscribers is in accessing shows and movies from Showtime, HBO, Cinemax, Starz, Encore, and some other basic cable networks. Before Xfinity came out of beta, you would have to be in your home to access these shows from your computer. This pretty much defeats the purpose as it would probably be easier to walk over to the nearest TV. Now, these subscribers can access shows like Dexter and True Blood from any Internet-connected computer.

Xfinity TV is just as “free” as Comcast’s OnDemand service, which really means there is just no extra charge for it. Comcast has a merger with NBC Universal pending the FCC’s approval. We’ve also seen a lot of activity and growth in watching movies and shows online via services like Netflix and Hulu. While Netflix has been looking to expand their catalog and make moves into Canada, Hulu is still testing out Hulu Plus. It’s been rumored that Hulu Plus, priced at $8.95, may be slashing their pricing in half. This might be a requirement for success given offerings from Netflix and now a free service for Comcast customers.

via paidContent

Today, Microsoft launches Office 2011 for Mac. This brings the latest version of their productivity software to Mac users. The Office Mac team has been porting software to the Mac for 13 years.

“As someone who works at Microsoft and deals with Apple often, I acknowledge that our companies compete,” Wilfrid says. “Some people choose Windows, and some people choose Mac. That conflict tends to get a lot of attention, but I deal in the reality that there are customers who love their Macs and also love using Office.” — Eric Wilfrid, general manager of Microsoft’s Office for Mac team

One would think that Mac users would shun Office just as many of them avoid other Microsoft products, but three-quarters of all Mac users have Office on their machines. The theory is that they run Office to remain somewhat compatible with the Windows world. Seems that it’s not necessarily a choice, but a necessity to get things done given the proliferation of PC’s and Microsoft Office software.

Still, this highlights the important relationship between Apple and Microsoft. Today, Microsoft releases Office for Mac 2011. It brings Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook to the Mac platform. This is the first time that Outlook has been available for the Mac. It is available in 13 languages and, by November, will be available in 45 countries around the world.

Outlook being included in this release is very interesting. It was built from the ground up and works with both on-premises Exchange and the new Office 365 cloud service from Microsoft. While Microsoft has always made Office available for Mac, Outlook is a new addition to the suite for Mac users.

Just as the latest version of Office for Windows has improved the suite by leaps and bounds, the same features are coming to the Mac. This includes co-authoring, where teams in different locations can edit the same document, and heavy integration with the cloud for storing documents and making them accessible wherever you are, even editing via the web browser.

Office 2011 has new built-in integration with Windows Live SkyDrive as well as connections to SharePoint so users can manage files and work from any location, Wilfrid says. With Office Web Apps, Mac consumers can edit Office documents straight from their browser.

Are you one of the Mac users who have been waiting on the latest release of Microsoft Office?

via Mac Meets PC With New Office Release

Just a couple of hours ago, @Ustream tweeted that they had a special announcement. A few minutes later, they announced an Open Pay-Per-View Program and Ad-Free Broadcasting. These new features are still in the “coming soon” stage, but Ustream was so excited about them that they couldn’t keep things under wraps.

Ustream Open PPV will allow any Ustream broadcaster to apply directly to Ustream for the ability to charge viewers for content. Once a broadcaster is approved for Ustream’s Open PPV program, they will be able to monetize their content via PayPal payments. Let’s say you host a weekly show, such as a music show, a cooking show or a conference on Ustream, but you decide to produce an episode with special content – such as high-profile guests or a private lesson. As an approved Ustream Open PPV user you’ll be able to charge your viewers to watch the premium content. And, voila – pay-per-view is democratized and broadcasters have a chance to attract some of Ustream’s 45 million monthly viewers.

The PPV program is currently available to a select few Ustream broadcasters, but you can go ahead and sign up to be notified about the application process or submit your request for your own PPV show.

Ad Free broadcasting is also coming soon on Ustream. With this feature, broadcasters will have the option to turn off ads for those viewing their shows in addition to “a range of options that give them more control over their viewers’ experience.” This feature should be coming in early November. I assume that the broadcaster will front the cost of the missing ad revenue in this case.

It’s definitely good to see a service like Ustream diversify and share revenue with users. YouTube has already taken steps in that direction with the YouTube Partner Program, revenue sharing, and the more recent $5 Million Partner Grant Program.

It’s not every day that these social media services give you a way to make money from your efforts, so this should be interesting for many Ustream users. It may also attract new users to the service.

What do you think?

via The Ustream.TV Blog

INTERNATIONAL CAPS LOCK DAY

Today is CAPS LOCK DAY, so feel free to hit caps lock and yell at everyone for the duration. This special day is actually celebrated twice a year. The original date is the 22nd of October (today). June 28th was added later to honor the “Infomercial King” Billy Mays who, before he passed away on that date, showed us exactly how to talk in ALL CAPS. Surprisingly, @KanyeWest and his diamond teeth have nothing to do with this “holiday.”

International Caps Lock Day is in fact a testament to the small mindedness of certain Western individuals: the majority of the world’s population writes in scripts which have no concept of letter casing. Therefore it is advised to laugh at anyone who invokes this day as an excuse to dismiss local typographical conventions: they are simply making an ass out of themselves. – Caps Lock Day Founder Derek Arnold

via TheNextWeb

Obama Meets With Apple’s Jobs and Google’s Mayer

According to Mercury News, President Obama just visited with Steve Jobs and Marissa Mayer to drum up funds for the Democratic party. Some reports say $1.8 million is expected from his efforts. Obama first met with Steve Jobs at the Westin Hotel in San Francisco, whom he also met with in 2008. Later, he met up with Google executive Marissa Mayer at a $30,400 per-plate fundraising dinner. In his speech there, he said:

“My task has also been to try to figure out how do we address some of the structural problems in the economy that have prevented more Googles from being created, prevented more Hewlett-Packards from being created … how do we unleash this incredible energy and dynamism that we know has always driven America, decade after decade.”

Hulu May Drop Price of Plus Package

Hulu is the free video site you know and love for watching some of your favorite shows. Hulu Plus is the premium version, currently in beta, which runs you about $9.95/month. The benefits are a “deeper catalog” of videos to choose from and the ability to watch Hulu on devices like the iPad and Xbox 360. While the service is still Beta, it looks like $9.95 is a bit steep for the limited catalog Hulu has to offer, mostly offering current shows from Disney’s ABC, GE’s NBC and News Corp.’s Fox. For $8.99/month you could just get Netflix, which offers more shows and support for streaming to just about any device (Apple TV, Google TV, etc.). Hulu has declined to comment.

via AllThingsD

Abode Releases HTML5 Player Widget

In an interesting move, Adobe has decided to straddle the fence between Flash and HTML5. Adobe has defended themselves to stay relevant in a time where it looks like HTML5 could make Flash unnecessary. While many are marvelling at what can be done with HTML5, developers are looking for cross-platform solutions to support the largest number of visitors. With their HTML5 video player widget, Adobe may have the solution.

The HTML5 Video Player widget, now available through the Adobe Widget Browser, works with or without Dreamweaver CS5. Code generated from the widget plays video in the best possible player for the requested platform using a range of video codecs. Based on the Kaltura open source library, the HTML5 Video Player widget is fully cross-browser compatible with support for Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Chrome, and Opera. Moreover, the player is completely customizable with industry standard CSS techniques.

via Adobe

Square Redesigns Readers to Work With iPhone 4

Square is the service that lets you accept credit card payments from your mobile phone, something that many small-business and entrepreneurial types would benefit from. To use the service, you install the Square software on your phone and they send you a free card reader that plugs into your headset jack. It was recently discovered that the readers didn’t work with the iPhone 4 because of that pesky metal antennae that wraps around the phone. The readers had to be redesigned with a plastic contact instead of a metal one. If you have an iPhone 4, you should receive a new, compatible reader automatically.

via SAI

12seconds Shuts Down TONIGHT

Just got an email from 12seconds reminding me that the service is going away. Sad to see it go, but at least you can still download your videos. Here is the email they sent me:

Dear 12ers,

Tonight at 8:15PM PST we will shut down 12seconds.tv .

No videos can be recorded after 5PM PST.

If you have not yet downloaded your videos, go to 12seconds.tv and use the awesome 12seconds video export tool and save your memories. The tool will be available until 5:15 PM PST, so be sure to export your videos before then.

Is this the last time you will hear from us?

Love,

Team12

At a recent rally in Seattle, Sylvester Cann IV got President Barack Obama to sign his iPad. As those around him expressed their excitement in being in such close proximity to the President of the United States, Sylvester Cann IV stood calmly waiting his turn to address our first black commander in chief. On his shirt he wore the president’s face, in his hands he held an iPad with the simple command: “Mr. President, sign my iPad.” Mr. Cann describes the event:

At a rally in Seattle, WA at the University of Washington, the President used the touchscreen on my iPad to give me his autograph. Secret service was leery about the idea, but they warmed up to the idea and the President thought it was cool.

He looked slightly surprised, but proceeded to use his finger to scribble on the iPad using the Adobe Ideas app.

I have a video of the event as well. This HAS to be the first time an iPad has received a Presidential autograph.

A pretty significant event for Mr. Cann and President Obama. With the features available with the iPad and the Adobe Ideas application, we get to share part of the excitement in meeting the president and seeing his autograph. Mr. Cann created a site to immortalize the event, aptly titled: I figured, “Why Not Ask?”

The site simply lists other sites which have covered his story, hosts the image of Barack and his autograph, and has a video (yes, there is video). Check out the video to see the look on Barack’s face when presented with the iPad. My only question is, what happened to “Please?” We can only assume Mr. Cann just couldn’t get it to fit.

via TechCrunch

We finally have a price on the much-anticipated HP Slate. It will run you $799 and is being positioned for business and enterprise. For your $800 hard earned cash, you get the device in addition to the dock and the case.

While the first videos released by HP may have made it seem like it would be for consumers, HP’s tactfully changed its tune (don’t forget it’s got Palm / WebOS tablets on the way) and is now aiming the Slate at the enterprise and business market. Still, it will be available on HP’s site for $799 to anyone who wishes to purchase one.

The HP Slate is powered by a 1.86GHz Intel Atom Z540 processor, has 2GB of RAM, 64GB SSD, and handles 1080p video using the Crystal HD accelerator from Broadcom. The dock includes an HDMI port so that you can hook your slate up to your TV. It’s running Windows 7 and has a 8.9-inch capacitive touch screen. What sets it apart from other Windows slates is the Wacom active digitizer, which is primarily used for taking notes. You also get dual cameras: a front facing VGA cam and a 3 megapixel camera on the back. The device is the same weight as the iPad, but not as thin. This makes room for more space around the edges, which allows you to hold the device in one hand without touching the screen. The back panel is covered with an array of angular triangles which make the Slate 500 easy to grip.

HP is taking great pains to avoid comparisons with the iPad. They’re focusing on the fact that the Slate runs software that corporate types might already be using. The simple fact that it’s running Windows 7 will be of interest to those in a business environment because they are likely already running Windows on a desktop or laptop. The price range probably puts it outside of what your average consumer might be willing to shell out.

What do you think about the HP Slate 500? Check out the full review over at Slashgear with photos and video.

via Engadget, Slashgear