Author: Rahsheen on Black Web 2.0

At an exclusive event yesterday, Twitter revealed a complete redesign for Twitter.com. The new design takes things in a different direction and gives many third-party clients a run for their money. We also heard a few stats that bear repeating.

In the beginning, it was important to emphasize the content creation aspect of Twitter. Now, with the ridiculous number of users that have joined the service and the thriving ecosystem that has grown up around Twitter, content creation is no longer the focus. Meaning users no longer need to tweet to gain value from Twitter. They are seeing 90 million tweets per day, 25% of those tweets contain links and 90% of that content is public.

To leverage this treasure trove of content, the interface has been redesigned to focus on content consumption. Each tweet may be only 140 characters, but the included links add another level of depth. Location and context also add deeper meaning to a simple tweet.

The most important new feature here is the ability to click on an individual tweet and dig into the information it holds. A separate pane opens up showing just about any detail imaginable. Partnerships with DailyBooth, DeviantART, Etsy, Flickr, Justin.TV, Kickstarter, Kiva, Photozou, Plixi, Twitgoo, TwitPic, TwitVid, USTREAM, Vimeo, yfrog, and YouTube allow Twitter to show media inline right on the site. Of course, there is still data about the tweet that Twitter already holds and that will be shown as well. Clicking a tweet will also bring up things like the conversation that led up to the tweet, who has retweeted it, people mentioned in the tweet, and location of the tweet on a map.

While Twitter.com still remains the most popular destination for people to interact with Twitter, there is no reason they couldn’t push that percentage higher. This new site redesign looks like a step in that direction. If Twitter.com keeps innovating, there will really be no need for most third-party clients.

They have added embedded media, infinite scrolling, and other details. The new design is fast and responsive. They have even added keyboard shortcuts to make navigating your timeline a snap. If that’s not a trick to get us geek interested, I don’t know what is.

The new design will be rolling out over the next few weeks. The screen shots are compelling, but it remains to be seen if this will be enough for people to ditch their web and desktop Twitter clients. I also wonder if they will be adding any additional functionality to their mobile site.

via Twitter, FastCompany

Google pulled an Oprah today at Google Zeitgeist, giving away 600 geeky gift packages to lucky attendees. The packages included 6 months of DISH Network service, a Sony BRAVIA HDTV with Google TV, and complimentary Best Buy Geek Squad installation. A pretty sweet package, but one has to wonder if most of these attendees need the Geek Squad’s help.

Zeitgeist is an attempt to bring together the “leading thinkers of our time” from all walks of life and all professions. The goal is to “explore the ideas and phenomena that affect our social, economic, political and cultural surroundings.” What better way to get the public at large excited about Google TV than to give the product away to a bunch of smart and influential people.

Assuming Google TV delivers, they should get a lot of good press and word of mouth coverage. According to Google, their much-anticipated free TV service goes live this fall. It completely undercuts Apple’s recent $99 Apple TV launch and it’s pretty hard to go lower than free.

While we haven’t seen an official launch date for Google TV, it looks like Best Buy may once again have spilled the beans via a leaked document. According to Engadget, an internal Best Buy document puts the Google TV launch date at October 17th, having been pushed back from October 3rd.

This places the launch right at the beginning of the new TV season premiers and just after Apple’s TV launch. Probably not a coincidence. We will also be going into the holiday season as Thanksgiving approaches, so it seems logical to make Google TV available in October.

It’s not confirmed, but it seems very likely this date is correct. Google giving away Google TV service to 600 people “from business leaders to statespeople, renowned writers and bloggers, professors and publishers, inventors and humanitarians, activists, and musicians” only seems to support an upcoming launch date.

With so many tech savvy people checking out Google TV, we should see some interesting insights into the service in the coming weeks.

In a recent email to developers, it looks like Verizon is intent on becoming frenemies with Google. Having just launched the Samsung Fascinate with Bing as the default search engine with plans to make Bing the default on all devices, they have now decided to launch their own app store. They already had a V CAST Apps tab in the Android Market app, but this new store will be a complete replacement.

Verizon Wireless has opened Android submissions for V CAST Apps! We are preparing to launch V CAST Apps across our industry-leading lineup of Android handsets, and we want to give you the opportunity to get in on the ground floor.

Many of the hottest Android phones out there come from Verizon. You would think that Google and Verizon would be partners, but it looks like Verizon is looking to take Android and step out on their own. This is one of the scariest issues with Android being an open platform.

First, you have carriers putting skins on top of Android like HTC Sense and MotoBlur. These delay upgrades to the underlying operating system and fragment the user experience. Then, the carriers start bundling their own useless bloatware with their phones. You can’t even uninstall these apps. Now, we see Verizon taking an open system and turning it into their very own Apple-like app store.

Verizon even takes shots directly at Google in their message to developers:

• Get the visibility you deserve, not just a quality-crushing algorithm!
• As you know, merchandising your Android app through other channels can be a challenge – Your applications are billed directly to the Customer’s Bill; No credit cards, PayPal, etc.

It’s well known that the process for buying apps is a little convoluted. It’s also known that finding apps in the Android Marketplace can be a challenge. It remains to be seen what this move really means. Is Verizon really going to create their own separate ecosystem for their customers or are they simply the testing grounds for a more advanced and useful Android Marketplace? Have Verizon and Google drifted apart, or is this part of a greater plan to advance Android?

via Android and Me, Silicon Alley Insider, TechCrunch, The Next Web

Wal-Mart definitely has clout when it comes to getting deals with the wireless carriers. Since last year, they’ve been the exclusive seller of the Verizon-based Straight Talk service. They’re also trying out a similar service called Common Cents from Sprint. Now, they will be teaming up with T-Mobile USA to bring Wal-Mart Family Mobile.

Straight Talk and Common Cents are both prepaid plans. According to Greg Hall, vice president of merchandising at Wal-Mart U.S., “there’s a perception among customers that prepaid service doesn’t offer access to the best phones or the best network quality.” I would definitely agree with him here. Family Mobile will combat this perception by being introduced as a postpaid plan.

The only similarity between Wal-Mart’s plans and a traditional postpaid plan is the fact that you pay the bill at the end of the month. There will be no credit checks, early termination fees, or contracts. Unlimited calling and texting will start at $45 per month for the first line and $25 for each additional line for the family.

“What we saw was an opening in the marketplace for really bringing family savings and a family plan and T-Mobile was a great partner there.” — Greg Hall

Interesting to note about Wal-Mart Family Mobile is that it undercuts T-Mobile’s own prices. Leave it to Wal-Mart to make one of the cheapest carriers even less expensive. T-Mobile still feels they are benefiting from the deal, though. Chief operating officer Jim Alling says that Wal-Mart putting their brand name on the service is a “”tremendous endorsement.” Even as it undercuts T-Mobile’s postpaid prices, the new service still gives T-Mobile an extra revenue stream based on customers it probably couldn’t reach before.

Starting today, you can choose between five phones on the service. The Motorola Cliq XT will run $249, giving customers an option for a full-fledged smartphone. This is something severely lacking with most prepaid services. You can also grab a Nokia for $35.

There is still a prepaid piece to the service. The Family Mobile plan includes a small amount of data, so you can use a prepaid pool to pay for addition data usage for your family. For example, $40 will get you 1GB of data to share between all lines. While this is almost double what some contract customers pay, you get to carry your balance over from month to month.

via Engadget, AP

Today, at 8am PST (11am EST), YouTube will begin testing their very own live streaming video platform. The test will be conducted today and tomorrow on a limited trial basis in conjunction with four of YouTube’s partners: Howcast, Next New Networks, Rocketboom and Young Hollywood. This move could put YouTube in direct competition with Ustream, Justin.tv, Vokle, Livestream, and others.

YouTube has already done live video in the past: “From U2 to the Indian Premier League to the White House to E3, we’ve worked closely with our partners to give you a front row seat to a wide array of live events.” What makes this move different is direct integration into YouTube channels and working directly with a broader range of partners.

Should the current champions of streaming video be worried? That remains to be seen. YouTube seems to be taking things slow and steady at this point. While I’m sure they have the infrastructure to support live streaming video for a large number of users, it will still take time to roll something like that out. It’s also unclear if that’s even the goal. Ultimately, Google+YouTube is looking to make a profit. While I doubt they could see much return on the average person doing a live show, they might be able to squeeze a few dollars out of someone in their partner program. These partners are usually more polished and already have a following.

The testing phase includes a “Live Comments” module, which will allow broadcaster and the broader YouTube community to communicate in realtime. This initial test will run today and tomorrow and, based on their results, they will “evaluate rolling out the platform more broadly to our partners worldwide.” There goes that word “partners” again. Even if this thing goes live on a larger scale, it looks like it will still be on a limited basis. It’s not impossible to become a partner, but there are some basic criteria you must meet:

Applications are reviewed for a variety of criteria, including but not limited to the size of your audience, country of residence, quality of content, and consistency with our Community Guidelines and Terms of Use.

You can only watch the live streaming trial on YouTube’s website, no embedding available yet. Check the schedule below for programming details.

via YouTube Blog, TechCrunch

Amazon Buys Amie Street

Four years ago, Amazon helped fund Amie Street, an online music store. Now, they are shutting the service down. Amie Street didn’t really take off as they’d hope, with a variable pricing model that didn’t catch on and only partial support from the major labels. It ended up being a place for indie artists rather than mainstream stars. As Amazon folds Amie Street’s customers into their existing base, the Aime Street team will focus on their online streaming radio service Songza. via AllThingsD

Google Voice Widgets for Android

Google just released two new home screen widgets that will make your interactions with Google Voice much easier. Not only are they useful, but they are compact and kinda pretty. The first is the Google Voice Inbox widget. It shows you most recent voicemails and text messages. You can flip back and forth through the items and tap to open the application.

The second is the Settings widget. It gives you quick access to:

• Launch Google Voice
• Compose a Text
• Change your dialing preferences – your phone can use Google Voice in four different ways
• Turn on Do Not Disturb – send all calls to voicemail

via Google Voice Blog

Google’s Bucky Balls Doodle Costs Visitors Money

This past weekend, Google celebrated the 25th anniversary of the discovery of the buckminsterfullerene with a special doodle. An interactive and rotating bucky ball graced the search home page. According to ZDNet, some Google users were up in arms about the new doodle. Why? because it was using up all their CPU, causing their laptops to overheat, and driving up their electric bills. Who wasn’t complaining? The maker of the Bucky Ball desktop toy, who raked in $250k in sales because of the doodle.

Just a few days later, Google not only put up a seemingly more complicated “balls” doodle, but also launched Google Instant search. Those poor computers have probably all burst into flames by now. Of course, we know the real point of these latest doodles is to highlight how far the Web has come.

The Craigslist Adult Section Saga

After huge amounts of pressure, Craigslist shut down their Adult section. First, in clear protest, they simply replaced the link with a big CENSORED logo. Now, it’s as if that entire section never existed. Not only does this raise questions about free speech, but some say the removal of the Adult section is a loss for victims. Danah Boyd writes that Craigslist serves as a “public perch from which law enforcement can watch without being seen.” By removing the Adult section, we lose a valuable resource in helping those being victimized.

Windows Phone Coming Oct 11th

According to Pocket-lint, “multiple sources” have confirmed that Microsoft will launch its new mobile operating system, Windows Phone 7, on 11 October 2010. Microsoft will use New York as it’s stage and broadcast the launch around the world. This news comes from “senior figures within the industry,” known and trusted by Pocket-lint. Not feeling Android? iPhone just not what you’re looking for? Looks like your prayers may be answered on 10/11. Keep an eye out.

Seesmic Desktop has always been in the running for top Twitter client, but their latest release goes well beyond a simple interface for Twitter. After about a year of development, they have released something that is powerful, extensible, and nice to look at. Seesmic Founder Loic Le Meur describes the new Seesmic Desktop as the first “platform for platforms.”

When Seesmic acquired Ping.fm, I had hoped it would be for the better. While Ping.fm lets you broadcast your message across the entire social web, Seesmic Desktop 2 now makes it easy to listen as well. You can aggregate all of your social media activities in one place with the ability to respond and interact with what you see. This has been attempted in the past, but never executed very well.

Seesmic Desktop 2’s power lies in their app store. Developers can download an SDK and develop plugins for SD2 which may appear in its online marketplace. Besides standard services like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google Buzz, users can now access Google Reader, YouTube, Techmeme, Formspring, and more right inside the SD2 interface.

Not only can plugins give you access to new feeds of data, but they are also capable of changing the existing interface. For example, the Klout plugin adds tiny icons within your feed that lets you check anyone’s Klout score without skipping a beat. Picture Previewer lets you preview images online with an option to click through and see the full image.

Using Twitter’s Stream API, SD2 pulls in your tweets in realtime. No more refreshing, delays, or floods of tweets. Desktop notifications make sure you don’t miss anything. There are now 40+ plugins in the marketplace for you to play with. Everything is free at this point, but Le Meur says developers will have the option to charge some time next year.

If you’re primarily on the move and use your mobile most of the time, don’t fret. Le Meur says many of these features will soon be available on Android, iPhone, and Windows 7. Of course, because the user interface is Silverlight, Windows 7 will come first.

Take Seesmic Desktop 2 for a spin and tell us what you think. What plugins or features are missing? What makes it most useful to you?

via TechCrunch, ReadWriteWeb

PepsiCo announced today that it has chosen Fanfeedr as one of 10 start-up companies for the inaugural PepsiCo10, an innovative incubator program that matches technology, media and communications entrepreneurs with PepsiCo brands to activate pilot programs in digital media and social marketing.

“The PepsiCo10 are an inspiring group of entrepreneurs, who represent the best in emerging trends in technology, media and communications. With the inaugural PepsiCo10, we are creating a new conduit for digital R&D within PepsiCo and for the industry broadly—an important endeavor as we continue to seek innovative and meaningful ways to connect with our consumers and to transform communications into a business driver.” — B. Bonin Bough, Director of Digital and Social Media at PepsiCo

Among the 10 selected were start-ups, we find gaming platforms for consumers in restaurants, amusement parks and retail stores, mobile couponing solutions, and niche social networking platforms that bring consumers together around common interests, such as music, TV and sports. FanFeedr was the only sports-focused company picked, which says a lot about the platform.

The PepsiCo10 pilot programs will bring targeted consumers of Gatorade, Pepsi, Frito-Lay, Quaker Chewy granola bars and Pepsi beverages in restaurants new digital marketing activations as early as the fourth quarter of this year.

According to Seth Kaufman, Director of Media Strategy and Investment for PepsiCo North America Beverages, PepsiCo10 is all about leveraging “outside innovation” and “cultivate emerging start-ups” while refreshing the Pepsi brand and bringing “new perspectives and inspiration.”

The rigorous selection process began in June with an open call for submissions focused on one of four innovation segments. More than 500 applicants were cut down to 20, who gave a two-day oral presentation to PepsiCo brand and marketing teams, agency partners and venture capitalists at PepsiCo headquarters.

FanFeedr stood out in the Social Media & Marketing category, being described as “a real-time personalized sports feed platform, which allows users to pick favorite teams and players, and supplies them with the most-up-to-date collection of relevant news, videos, tweets, scores and information.”

The PepsiCo10 will get support from a PepsiCo mentor and other partners, including Mashable. A spokesperson from FanFeedr shared with us that they, “are all very excited —this is a big honor.”

Two important events have occurred that will make Apple and iOS a little more open. First and foremost, there is already a jailbreak technique for iOS 4.1 that has been reported to be in working order. Secondly, Apple has reversed their position on the restrictions placed on iOS developers. This means you may soon be able to easily jailbreak your iPhone and the App Store may see a plethora of new applications.

This is a different type of jailbreak technique than what we’ve seen before. It doesn’t rely on a simple software bug, but gets right at the lower level code. This makes it impossible for Apple to “fix” with a simple software update.

“[I]t will require Apple to release a revised hardware version of iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad and the iPod Touches with new bootroms in order to patch the bootrom exploit. This is the reason why iOS devices (like iPhone 3GS (new bootrom), iPhone 4, iPad, iPod touch 3G / 4G) which shipped after November 2009 are currently not jailbreakable via PwnageTool because it uses the 24kpwn bootrom exploit, already patched by Apple.” — Redmond Pie

It’s unclear when this exploit will be available to the masses, but those with jailbroken devices are advised to skip the 4.1 update for now.

On a related note, Apple just released a statement today on developer restrictions put in place earlier this year. In response to some applications being developed using third-party development tools (namely, Adobe), Apple changed their policy so that you absolutely had to use Apple’s Objective-C tools to publish software for the iOS platform. Nothing else was acceptable.

Developers protested as this killed any projects which were developed using cross-platform tools. Suddenly, you had to own Mac hardware and software to develop for iOS. Game developers using platforms like the Unity 3D Engine were left out in the cold. Jobs himself said, “intermediate layers between the platform and the developer ultimately produces substandard apps and hinders the progress of the platform.” Which made no sense at the time and makes even less sense given that Apple has changed their minds. In their press release, they say:

“We are continually trying to make the App Store even better. We have listened to our developers and taken much of their feedback to heart. Based on their input, today we are making some important changes to our iOS Developer Program license in sections 3.3.1, 3.3.2 and 3.3.9 to relax some restrictions we put in place earlier this year.

In particular, we are relaxing all restrictions on the development tools used to create iOS apps, as long as the resulting apps do not download any code. This should give developers the flexibility they want, while preserving the security we need.”

One side-effect of this change may be that we see more apps and games showing up consistently across all platforms. Developers may be able to code once and compile for everything. Another interesting twist in the story is that Apple is, for the first time, posting their App Store Review Guidelines. This may be a major step in transparency and avoiding hard work going to waste with no explanation from Apple. Why have they changed their minds here? Probably because the Epic Citadel game, with its stunning graphics and gameplay, was developed using the Unreal Engine 3, which is absolutely not part of Apple’s official Objective-C development tools.

Apple’s latest update their iOS software was just updated to 4.1. This release was aimed at fixing a bunch of bugs while also adding a few extra features to the OS that were announced last week. At the same time, Samsung is unleashing the Fascinate on Verizon customers.

iOS 4.1 is available for download now. One of the more pressing features that it addresses is fixing an issue with the proximity sensor. This sensor tells the phone how close it is to your face so that it can shut off the screen while you’re talking and prevent you from doing fun things with your cheek. Here are a few issues Corvida and others have faced (pun intended):

• Pressing the number pad in the middle of several calls
• Putting myself on mute
• Ending calls

According to Corvida, the problem with the proximity sensor is still unresolved even after the update, so your mileage may vary.

Another exciting feature is Game Center. This is something like Xbox Live, but for your iOS device. It makes it easier to find people to play with in multi-player games. It also stores achievements and helps you discover new games.

Other features include:

• The ability to upload HD quality videos to YouTube
• TV Show rentals from iTunes
• And HDR Photos

While the demo for HDR photos was interesting, it seems the actual implementation and user experience is not. This is another feature where your mileage may vary. Many are describing the difference in quality between standard photos and HDR photos as “meh.”

As many Apple fans are updating their iPhones, some Verizon customers are looking to snag a new Android device. The Samsung Fascinate is one of the latest in the Android line. It stands beside other Galaxy S phones like the Vibrant and the Captivate, sharing the same basic design as most Android phones.

There is really nothing new and fascinating about the Fascinate. It’s simply a decent phone with competitive specs and fits right into the Samsung lineup. One interesting quirk pointed out by Engadget is that it uses Bing as the default search and there is no way to change it to anything else. They also site problems with the TouchWiz skin, which they describe as a “pale and often buggy imitation of iOS.”

The Fascinate might work fine for someone who has never used an iPhone or any other Android device, but it would probably frustrate anyone else.

Are you still having problems after the iOS 4.1 update? Does the Samsung Fascinate intrigue you? Tell us about it.

via SheGeeks, Engadget

During their search event today, Google launched a few extremely important features they say will save you a lot of time when it comes to searching for what you want. Not only do you get results faster than before, but Google almost seems to read your mind as you type your search queries. It’s called Google Instant. No more clicking to search. Just type.

Instant Search

Google Instant Search is a simple concept to understand, but brings tremendous power to the user. Rather than typing in a search query, pressing Enter, and waiting for you results, you get the results instantly. As you type your query, the search page updates dynamically to bring you the most relevant results.

Predictions

We’ve all had a lot of fun with Google’s search predictions. As you type your search, Google tries to figure out what you are going to type. Predictions are show in gray and help you immediately refine your search. This is a lifesaver when you don’t really know what you’re searching for. For example, the title of a movie or name of a band.

Scroll To Search

This refers to the fact that you can scroll through Google’s drop-down predictions and see the results of those queries instantly on the page. It’s the cooperation between Instant Search and Predictions. Scrolling through your predictions and seeing the results immediately makes it that much quicker to find exactly what you want.

Feedback

Immediate feedback is what makes Google Instant so useful to you. As you type, Google suggests what you want. Not only will this save you some typing, but it may also help jog your memory about what you were really looking for or give you a suggestion for your next search.

Links and images show up on the page immediately via the magic of AJAX, which frees you up to continue your train of thought and finally get what you needed. How many times have you started out searching for one thing and got totally side-tracked somewhere else? Maybe you ended up doing so many searches that you even forgot what you were searching for.

The user benefits of Google Instant are many—but the primary one is time saved. Our testing has shown that Google Instant saves the average searcher two to five seconds per search. That may not seem like a lot at first, but it adds up. With Google Instant, we estimate that we’ll save our users 11 hours with each passing second!

Google Instant is rolling out now at Google.com for Chrome, Firefox, Safari and IE 8.

via Official Google Blog