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Reddit tests NFT user profile pictures, just like Twitter
Reddit is testing its own NFT user profile picture implementation.
TikTok gives livestreamers more ways to mute annoying people
As promised in July, TikTok is rolling out more ways for livestreams to wrangle their unruly audiences.
Facebook launches Campus to keep college kids connected (again)
With a new school year upon us, Facebook is embracing its history with the launch of Facebook Campus, college-only social network.
Facebook's Oversight Board says it won't be ready until 'late fall'
Facebook's Oversight Board is still in the works, but it unfortunately won't launch until late Fall.
Recommended Reading: The 15th anniversary of 'Halo 2'
When 'Halo 2' invaded planet earth Anthony John Agnello, The Ringer In the latest installment of "things that will make you feel old," Halo 2 was released on November 9, 2004 -- which makes it 15 years old. The Ringer takes an in-depth look at the game's legacy, including how it made video games a shared experience and its lasting influence on things like streaming culture. Oh yeah, it was also the best-selling entertainment (not just gaming) release of all time when it debuted. Insane.
Australia's new law threatens social media companies with jail, fines
Australia's controversial bill that seeks to punish social networks and any other hosting service for failing to remove violent content from their platforms is now a law. The country's politicians drafted the Sharing of Abhorrent Violent Material bill (PDF) after the Christchurch mosque shooting in New Zealand by a gunman who's believed to be an Australian white nationalist. Under the new law, content hosting platforms have to "expeditiously" pull down audio and video recordings or streams depicting "abhorrent violent conduct." In addition, they have to notify authorities whenever they find illegal materials.
Politiwoops uploads its 1.1 million-tweet collection to the Internet Archive
Twitter may have revoked Politiwoop's API access but that isn't stopping the political watchdog from preserving its already-sizeable collection of online gaffes and retractions from elected officials. Politiwoops, which archived the deleted tweets of politicians in 35 countries worldwide, announced on Wednesday that it will upload its collection of 1.1 million formerly-deleted tweets to the Internet Archive for perpetual preservation.
Path's social apps get sold to the company behind KakaoTalk
Remember Path, the social network for keeping in touch with your closest friends and family? Unless you live in Indonesia, probably not. And that's part of the reason why it ended selling its social networking apps to Daum Kakao, the Korean parent company of the messaging app KakaoTalk. Path was founded five years ago with a more intimate and well-designed take on social networking, and it snagged 10 million users in that time. But aside from some initial pickup in tech centers like San Francisco and New York City, most of its growth ended up being in Latin America and Southeast Asia (more than half of its users are based in Indonesia). Specifically, Daum Kakao is picking up the core Path app and Path Talk, a standalone chat app it launched last year. Path the company will live on with its animated GIF app Kong, and it likely has some other projects in the works too.
ZergID, an MMO social network, enters public beta today
Have you ever found yourself wishing specifically to have a social network meant to support you as an MMO player while also delivering piping-hot pastrami sandwiches right to your front door? Good because that's what ZergID is here for. Except for the pastrami sandwich part; you need to make your own sandwiches. But it is a newly announced social network designed for MMO players, with built-in support for the things that you need whilst playing multiple MMOs. The site features profile support for multiple characters and guilds across several games, play session scheduling across games (with reminders for those who miss raid night or PvP night or hot dog night or whatever), and all of the usual bits and bobs you'd expect from a social network. If that sounds like just what you want from social networking, you can try it out now, as the site is entering its public beta today. [Source: ZergID press release]
Twitter wants everyone to know how many people read their tweets
Publishers and verified users have been able to track view counts on organic tweets since last month, but Twitter is looking to make that data more widely accessible. Today, the microblogging social network revealed that this analytics feature is no longer limited to people or companies with a tiny blue check mark on their profile. The tweet activity dashboard is now also available to users who are active primarily in English, Japanese and Spanish, and have had an account for longer than two weeks. And don't worry, support for additional languages is coming -- Twitter let it be known that it is working to bring its tool to everyone sometime "soon." So, there it is, now you won't have to wonder if anyone's actually reading those thoughtful (and wonderful) tweets of yours.
The Times of India wants access to its journalists' social networks
Over the past few years, social networks have become an extremely powerful tool for every journalist, whether it's here in the United States or elsewhere across the world. But social networks like Twitter and Facebook aren't just a venue for sharing links or live-tweeting breaking news events, as great as that is -- it's also about the engagement one can have with readers and other fellow journalist. Knowing this, The Times of India has recently implemented a new policy that requires its journalism employees to hand over Twitter and Facebook passwords, as it looks to gain control of what they can and cannot post on their social accounts.
Refresh for iOS briefs you on people you meet
Refresh (free) is a fascinating app designed to tell you more about people in your contacts or people you are about to have a meeting with. We first looked at the app in June, but are some significant changes and new useful features. Once you set up Refresh with logins for social sites like Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook and others, it will note who is on your upcoming calendar events and notify you with background on the people you are going to meet. You can also search for people by name, whether you have a meeting with them or not. It's a clever idea to aggregate these public sources of information, although I can't get over the fact that it feels a bit creepy to do this. The app never shares your data. A smart notifications feature reminds you to check the app just before a meeting. New features are a complete and easier to use re-design, searching of news articles about a person, increased sourcing, including Yelp, Quora, Dribble and others, and a new approach to ordering and presenting the data. Setting up Refresh is easy, especially if you remember your various logins at social sites. When you search for someone it will tell you about them, any common contacts you have with them, where they live and have lived, and their interests. Of course all this information depends upon what that person posts on various social sites. I found the app worked well, and I can see where someone in business would appreciate having a single place to get this information. Still, it reminds me of how much information about ourselves and others is up on the web for people to see, which still feels a bit disquieting. Refresh requires iOS 7 or later. It's not a universal app, and it does support the longer screen of the iPhone 5. The company has just released web access so you can see your information on any computer client.
A quick guide to following World Cup 2014 on Google, Facebook and Twitter
Like a trio of vuvuzelas, the three big internet platforms became a significant part of the World Cup's background noise in 2010. They have even more to offer this time around: Not just a multitude of ways to follow scores and other stats, but also places to go if you want to trumpet your opinions and listen to those of others. So, we've rounded up some of the best advice from Twitter, Facebook and Google on how to get the most out of the new features they're dishing out for Brazil 2014.
Social networks key to understanding chimpanzee civil war
A long-standing mystery about a chimpanzee civil war might have finally been solved, thanks to social networking. Back in 1971, a group of chimpanzees in Tanzaina's Gombe Stream national park suddenly split into two factions and spent the next four years trying to wipe each other out. Researcher Jane Goodall, who has monitored activity in the park for the last 50 years was at a loss to work out what had caused the violent shift in the group's dynamic. Now, however, Joseph Feldblum at Duke University in North Carolina analyzed the data as if it was a social network, identifying which members of the group spent time with other and looking at the connections.
iPhone 101: How to add Facebook, Twitter, and other social network accounts to iOS
Apple has made it easy for iOS owners to share content across their social networks thanks to the integration of services like Facebook and Twitter into iOS itself. You can download Facebook events into your iOS calendar, upload videos to Vimeo from the Photos app and share links in Safari. It's very convenient for iOS owners who are active on social networks. To connect iOS directly to your social network accounts, you only need to add your account credentials into your iOS settings. Here's how: 1. Open the Settings app. 2. Scroll down until you see the entries for your social networks. Depending on your device and geographic location, you will see listings for Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Vimeo, Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo. 3. Tap on the social network to access a screen that allows you to enter in your username and password. 4. You can also download the official iOS app for that service and configure additional settings like import contacts, sync with calendar and more. Once you enable these social accounts, you'll be able to share links, post status updates and sync contacts between iOS and your social networks. This useful chart from Apple summarizes the features available for each network. Some services like Flickr, Vimeo and Tencent Weibo require iOS 7, while the others require iOS 6 or later.
We now live in a world with two pet-based social networking apps
I love my cats, and I take photos of them frequently and with reckless abandon. That said, I'm not entirely sure I need more than one specialized app just for sharing photos of Nibbler and Cinnamon (don't judge me). Regardless, a couple of months after the iOS version of Peterest hit the scene, we now have Petigram. OK, so pet photo apps clearly still need to work on original naming schemes, but we'll ignore that for the moment. Petigram offers the ability to share photos, follow other users, and post comments. Its main selling point, however, is the built-in photo editing tools that let you add borders, text and other obnoxious graphics. At the moment, the app is quite buggy (you can post blank comments, buttons are sometimes unresponsive, etc.) but for a 1.XX version, it's not terrible. If you really want to share photos of your furry friends somewhere other than Facebook or Twitter, I'd still recommend Peterest as your first stop -- it simply has a better layout and more-polished features -- though Petigram may also be worth checking up on down the road.
DeNA collects 10 new partners for Mobage titles on iOS
DeNA, one of the biggest social gaming networks in Japan, has announced a development deal with 10 social and mobile game developers. The company is working to gain inroads with western audiences via iOS and other mobile platforms. Mobage is the giant network that DeNA runs, which recently picked up Ngmoco and several other western publishers and developers to help build a stable of popular games and attract western players. Now, the company has deals with 10 different social and mobile game developers, including XMG Studio, Cobalt Play Games and Joywinds, plus several other small-to-medium developers who've been working hard on iOS and Android. Deals like this are becoming common in the social and mobile landscape. Eastern companies are learning that they need high-quality games to attract customers in the west. At the same time, smaller game developers are looking for funding. DeNA has plenty of that to go around. Typically, the issue is that smaller developers get swallowed up in the big network's money-making machine, and the resulting games lack the quality they need. So we'll see. DeNA is certainly pushing hard for an iOS hit (or two, or three, or 10, presumably). Some of these studios are capable of giving them that, but hopefully the publisher will be smart enough to let these creators do their thing. Show full PR text DeNA Unveils New Partners Coming to Mobage, the Premier Mobile Games Platform Diverse Portfolio of Games and Developers Further Extends the Reach of the Global Network SAN FRANCISCO – November 1, 2012 – DeNA Co., Ltd. (TSE: 2432) announced today that it is partnering with 10 independent social and mobile game developers to bring their games to the Mobage mobile social games network and platform for iOS™ and Android devices worldwide. New developer partners include BigHut, Cobalt Play Games, GameCloud, Electrified Games, Joywinds, Inc., Kyy Games, Massive Damage, Oh BiBi socialtainment, Runaway Play, and XMG Studio, Inc. The Mobage network has launched industry-leading games such as Rage of Bahamut™, developed by partner studio Cygames Inc., and Deity Wars, created by CROOZ, Inc., which have both held top spots on the Apple® App Store™ and Google Play™ top grossing charts. "The Mobage network provides development studios a unique opportunity to reach millions of mobile game players throughout the world," said Barry Dorf, Senior Director of Third Party at DeNA's U.S. subsidiary ngmoco, LLC. "As a global mobile games platform leader, our dedication to building long-term partnerships has enabled us to work with some of the most esteemed developers worldwide to deliver engaging, top grossing games like Rage of Bahamut. This is an exciting time for Mobage as we strive to fulfill our commitment to bringing delight, innovation, and fun to mobile gamers." New Mobage Developer Partners BigHut: The Brazilian independent mobile game development studio strives to make free-to-play games that are fun to play and provide experiences tailored to individual players. The company launched this week Boney the Runner, an endless runner game where players help Boney the skeleton escape through the cemetery from a pack of hungry dogs. To play Boney the Runner for free, please visit: http://moba.ge/boneytherunner Cobalt Play Games: A team of developers based in Asia working on interactive entertainment for the iOS and Android platforms. They have developed more than 10 casual mobile games and have just released their tower-building game Monster Mall on the Mobage platform. To download the free Monster Mall game, please click: http://moba.ge/monstermall Electrified Games: Electrified Games is an experienced independent developer of mobile and online games recognized for its expertise in trading card and strategy games. From its offices in the San Francisco Bay Area, the company has developed games for leading publishers and brands including Kaijudo Online, Kaijudo Battle Game, Tap Tap Revenge Tour, Defense of the Oasis, and Café 51. GameCloud Studios: A leading developer of global social and mobile games striving to bring together the digital and real worlds. Founded in 2009, the company has operations in Southern California and Shanghai, and has been developing innovative games and systems for the mobile space. With a unique approach to sports simulation games, the company introduces an innovative intuitive play system for their current mobile sports games. Joywinds, Inc.: A new mobile game developer from Shanghai whose core value is to connect people through imagination. Their newest title World of Wizards is set to launch this month on Mobage, and turns players into legendary wizards by learning different spells, collecting equipment and capturing magical pets. Kyy Games: Kyy Games is an independent game development studio located in Tampere, Finland. The company is known for their game Cabals: The Card Game, a revolutionary online trading card game that re-invents the genre with the introduction of a gameboard and an original game world that is inspired by different esoteric traditions. Kyy games has also launched Legends of Elendria: The Frozen Maiden, and Cooties: The Revenge of the Appendix. Massive Damage: Massive Damage, Inc. is an award-winning mobile games studio building the future of massively multiplayer social role-playing games on mobile. The studio recently released its cult-hit title Please Stay Calm, a location-based zombie survival game, and it is currently working on other titles coming soon to the Mobage platform. Oh BiBi socialtainment: Oh BiBi socialtainment is a French company specialized in developing and publishing social games for smartphones and tablets. The young and wild company benefits from the solid handheld game design expertise of its founder Stanislas Dewavrin, the former Creative Vice President at Gameloft and the Asphalt franchise creator. Oh BiBi socialtainment is committed to providing innovative, full-featured social games, promising brand new user experiences. Runaway Play: Based in New Zealand, Runaway Play is currently developing a Mobage mobile version of Flutter, a butterfly simulation game that gained a loyal following on Facebook. The developer also released the mobile games Puzzle Planets and Howling Mouse. Runaway Play works closely with philanthropic partners National Geographic and the World Wildlife Fund to continue to raise awareness surrounding wildlife conservation. XMG Studio Inc.: XMG is an award-winning mobile games developer based in Toronto. They have released 12 mobile games in various genres, including the popular Drag Racer franchise, the original franchise that created the drag racing genre in mobile games. Additionally, the company was named one of the top up-and-coming global mobile game developers to watch for by industry media. For developers interested in opportunities to publish their mobile games on DeNA's Mobage mobile games platform, please visit: https://developer.mobage.com About DeNA DeNA Co., Ltd. is a global Internet company focused on social games, e-commerce and other Web services for mobile devices and PCs. DeNA's current flagship business is its mobile social games platform Mobage, which offers first-, second- and third-party games on four localized user networks across Japan, China, South Korea and the rest of the world. The original Mobage network in Japan currently serves over 43 million registered users with more than 2,000 titles. Founded in 1999 as a small startup in Tokyo, DeNA currently has over 2,000 employees worldwide working at offices and development studios in 16 cities across 11 countries and regions. The company generated annual sales of more than 1.8 billion U.S. dollars in the fiscal year ended March 2012. DeNA is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (2432). For more information, visit dena.jp/intl. About Mobage The Mobage social games network and platform hosts over 50 first-party and third-party games that are available on the Apple® App Store™ and Google Play™. Mobage features chart-topping apps including Rage of Bahamut, Blood Brothers and Ninja Royale™, casual games such as Zombie Farm® and Tiny Tower, licensed intellectual properties such as Marvel: War of Heroes, and core games such as Quests & Sorcery™, Hellfire and Warriors of Odin. Mobage also hosts mobile social games in other languages via separate regional networks. Mobage offers developers access to a suite of features to enhance their development environment, including a payment API, production and marketing support and analytics tools. To learn more about Mobage, visit: http://mobage.com. For developers interested in publishing opportunities on Mobage, please visit: https://developer.mobage.com
Forrester survey finds first ever decline in people 'using the internet,' but a changing notion of 'being online'
A survey measuring people's internet use used to be a fairly simple thing. If you dialed up and logged onto CompuServe or AOL, you were "online" until you disconnected. Even in more recent years, you were "online" for as long as you were looking at a web browser or a chat window. But things have gotten more complicated as we've grown more mobile and connected than ever, and that's now resulted in the first ever decline of people "using the internet" in Forrester's annual survey since it began asking the question in 1997. As AllThingsD reports, this year's survey found that people spent an average of 19.6 hours per week using the internet, compared to 21.9 hours in 2011. According to Forrester's Gina Sverdlov, however, that's not due to a shift back towards TV or other activities, but to a changing notion of what "being online" means to individuals. As she puts it, "given the various types of connected devices that US consumers own, many people are connected and logged on (automatically) at all times," and that "the internet has become such a normal part of their lives that consumers don't register that they are using the internet when they're on Facebook, for example." The full report isn't available to the public, but you can find a few more details from it at the links below.
Connected To The Case to use Facebook for crowd-sourced crime solving
Ready the spandex and decide on a name for your alter ego, because come October 16th, you'll have the chance to fight crime from the comfort of your computer. On that date, the "Connected To The Case" website goes live with the aim of crowd-sourcing tips from its users to help the cops solve active investigations. You'll use your Facebook login for access, as the service pulls data from your profile to prioritize cases with which you might have a connection. Morgan Wright, CEO and Chief Crime Fighter of Crowd Sourced Investigations, told us its system looks at five key areas when digging for pertinent triggers: "date, location, time, relation and demographics." It then uses that data to tailor notifications of unsolved crimes based on -- for example -- proximity to your school, or where you used to work. Rest assured that you control the privacy settings, and if you've got useful info to share, you can do so anonymously. Law enforcement agencies can register to include their cases from today, with the initial roll-out targeting the US. The plan is to expand first to other English-speaking countries, with foreign language support in the future to build a global network of internet do-gooders. Including data from other social networks is also in the pipeline, starting with Twitter and later, Foursquare and Pinterest. A smartphone app is also on the agenda, so get your detective devices ready -- we can be heroes, if just for one click.
Apple's Ping no longer pinging back, leaves memories of white noise in its wake
"I can't remember if I cried when I read about his widowed bride Something touched me deep inside... the day the music died." R.I.P. Ping (09.01.2010 - 09.30.2012)
