Firehose
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FBI using Twitter's raw 'firehose' data to monitor users
The FBI is using a Twitter tool called Dataminr to track criminals and terrorist groups, according to documents spotted by The Verge. In a contract document, the agency says Dataminr's Advanced Alerting Tool allows it "to search the complete Twitter firehose, in near real-time, using customizable filters." However, the practice seems to violate Twitter's developer agreement, which prohibits the use of its data feed for surveillance or spying purposes.
Bloomberg: Twitter is reconnecting its firehose to Google
Tomorrow Twitter will release its latest quarterly earnings figures, but ahead of that Bloomberg has word that the service is bringing its "firehose" of data back to Google's search results. The two have been estranged ever since 2011 when Google announced its agreement to access Twitter's data directly had expired. As a result, it suspended the "realtime" search feature that included up-to-the-minute results from social media. Of course back then Google was still going all-in on Google+, Twitter had expanded relationships with Bing and Yahoo, and webOS was still kicking. Now, Google has backed off of the hard sell for its social media platform, Twitter finally launched a decent search tool and there has been significant turnover in the executives at both companies. According to the report, at some point in the first half of this year Google will again include Tweets as soon as they're posted, so there's one more reason to check for typos before hitting Enter. Update: In another curiously-timed release, The Verge has obtained an internal memo from Twitter CEO Dick Costolo admitting that "we suck" at dealing with online abuse. There's no word on how it will fix its practices going forward, but at least there's recognition of the problem. Update 2: Twitter's Dick Costolo has confirmed the company's deal with Google in its quarterly earnings call. [Image credit: Shutterstock]
Real Heroes: Firefighter finds real publisher
Conspiracy Entertainment obviously wants to ensure that there'll be none of this fake hero business on the Wii, because it's gone and signed up Epicenter Studios' Real Heroes: Firefighter, which it intends to release in the U.S. during Q2, 2009. Because it's been almost a year since we heard anything about the project, this morning's press release kindly reminds us that Real Heroes: Firefighter will utilize the Wii Remote as a fire hose, a fire axe, and a crowbar, all in the name of fighting Epicenter's proprietary "Thinking Fire" technology. Conspiracy CFO Keith Tanaka was also on hand with some quotes about product line-ups and distribution, for which we thank him and move on.[Via press release]
Hold the hose real tight and get ready for a real fight
A new developer called Epicenter Games is developing a non-violent firefighting action-puzzle game for the Wii, called Real Heroes: Firefighters. The title should help prevent confusion with those other Real American Heroes. Real Heroes casts players as a new firefighter in a busy station, and, of course, uses the Wiimote to simulate a fire hose.The game makes use of what Epicenter calls "Thinking Fire," which will totally beat you at Othello react unexpectedly and semi-randomly to your actions. The game doesn't have a publisher yet, but they're hoping for a release in late 2008.
