A Texas man is facing battery charges after police say he hit his estranged New Mexico wife and pulled her hair over her lack of a response to his Facebook status update.
Oct 072011
Oct 072011
First it was solving a complex protein puzzle related to the HIV virus, and this time it is the 40,000 registered users of the game Planet Hunters who have identified 69 potential new planets and two very strong candidate planets outside the Earth’s solar system. We think we see a new trend in the making.
This latest breakthrough involved taking data retrieved from NASA’s Kepler space telescope that has been recording images at the mind-boggling pace of one image every 30 seconds since 2009. The goal? To find potential habitable planets outside our solar system. Trained on the Cygnus constellation — located on the northern plane of the Milky Way — the telescope recorded over 200,000 stars. That’s a lot of space people.
The good scientists over at NASA know a problem when they see one. That amount of data is simply too much for a small group to handle, so like others before them they cried, “Houston, we have a…” wait! Let’s change that to “Gentlemen, to the gamers!”
Planet Hunters challenges players to analyze data by viewing the actions of stars over time.
via Gamers are at it again, this time discovering new worlds | DVICE.
Oct 072011
While some publishers proactively stopped offering pop-up ad space, the real reason pop-ups went away was browser developers built pop-up blockers into the system. However, the reason behind the blocking wasn’t based on offensive messaging, but rather the fact that it really impeded the flow for the end user. Imagine if while watching a television program the channel changed to play a commercial and the only way to get back to the program was to change the channel back. Sure, your remote is probably close by and it’s easy to click, but it would have interrupted the flow for the consumer and, in turn, annoys more than engages.
via 4 ways you’re annoying your online audience – iMediaConnection.com.
Oct 072011
Rdio users in the U.S. have just been given a huge gift: free music streaming privileges.
The streaming-music startup announced its free, on-demand music offering Thursday, touting it as the only ad-free, zero-cost plan available in the U.S. market.
Members can now stream any of Rdio’s more then 12 million tracks free of charge — until they cross an undefined threshold for the month. A green meter atop the user profile will track usage and give the user a visual, albeit mostly ambiguous rendering of how much free streaming she has left each month.
Oct 072011
NM Incite, a Nielsen/McKinsey Company, worked with Nielsen to try to better answer that question. In the study, NM Incite and Nielsen were able to find a statistically significant relationship that shows a correlation between online buzz and TV ratings. This correlation takes place throughout the TV show season, though the impact online buzz can have on ratings can vary based on a season’s timeline.Unsurprisingly, the strongest correlation takes place with younger demographics, viewers ages 12-17 and 18-34. Nielsen and NM Incite also found a slightly stronger correlation for women over men.
via Study Shows Correlation Between Social Buzz and TV Ratings.
Oct 052011
Facebook’s new Timeline design gives users a large “cover photo” space at the top of the page. We think this revamp is a great opportunity to get creative with your profile presentation.
We recently asked the Mashable readership to share how they’ve played with the new design. Here are 10 examples of Facebook Timeline cover photo designs we think are particularly creative, and that offer a witty take on the new layout.
via 10 Facebook Timeline Designs That Will Blow You Away [PICS].
Oct 052011
Let’s start out with addressing a few caveats. First, these senior Googlers could be posting a ton privately and we simply don’t know it. But it’s more likely that their lack of public engagement is indicative of their lack of engagement overall. This is especially true of Google’s management, which has an incentive to promote Google+ publicly.
You could also argue that the SVP of search or ads shouldn’t be expected to be heavily engaged on Google+, but given the fact that Google intends to integrate Google+ into everything it does, I don’t buy that argument either. When Google+ first launched, Gundotra told me personally that Google+ is an extension of Google itself, thus why the company chose the name.
It doesn’t matter how you slice it: if Google’s management truly believed in Google+ as the future of the company, they would be more engaged. Not being connected to a product that has such a direct correlation to the company’s future is dangerous. This is about leading by example. Why should Google employees be excited about Google+ if their managers aren’t excited?
via If Google’s Management Doesn’t Use Google+, Then Why Should You?.
Oct 042011
You don’t have to worry so much about the QR codes you find in magazines and television commercials; the malevolent codes are located squarely on the Internet. When people are looking for new apps for their phones, they often use their desktop computers to search the Web for what they’re looking for. Rather than forcing users to hen-peck the URL into their smartphone’s browser, many sites now include a QR code linking directly to the app to make things easier all around.
Scammers have begun redirecting QR codes away from the given URL and pointing them towards malware, Kapersky reports.
via Maximum PC | Poisoned QR Codes Spreading Malware To Android Phones.
Oct 042011
Need more motivation for your next run? How about a pack of snarling zombies snapping at your heels?
Zombies, Run!, to be released early next year for iPhone and Android, is an app in the style of Runkeeper, with an exciting undead twist.
You start up the app, plug in your headphones and go for a run. As you begin to sprint, jog or walk to your destination of choice, you’ll hear the narrated story of a zombie-infested, dystopian future. You’re a “runner” in this world, which means that your job is to go out and collect supplies like ammo, medicine and batteries for your ragtag base of human survivors. The more you run, the more stuff you’ll acquire.
via Zombies, Run! Makes Your Workout a Race for Survival | GameLife | Wired.com.
Oct 042011
Facebook is now closer than ever to becoming the phone book for the internet. The site recently launched a Directory of people, Pages, and Places to allow users to find friends and official entities by name. The People Directory displays an alphabetized list of all users who’ve made public search listings available in their privacy. In addition to browsing by first letter, the Pages and Places Directories surface the most popular presences first for speedy discovery
Until now, users could only find people, Pages, and Places through search, the personalized Find Friends feature, and the buried Pages Browser. Directories will assist users that are looking for things with common names or that they’re not positive about the spelling of. Though certainly slower than search, it could become a powerful last resort for people intent on finding someone or something on Facebook.
via To Complement Its Search Engine, Facebook Launches People, Pages, and Places Directories.