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Google Takeout promises radical left wing-themed data extraction for Circles, more (video)
A team of khaki-clad Google engineers, calling itself the Data Liberation Front, has taken up the cause of freeing your data from the restrictive confines of El Goog's servers. Google Takeout, as the program has been billed, rips your various stashes of data from Buzz, Circles, Picasa, Contacts, and your Google Profile, and quickly bundles them in a zip file for download. The resulting booty is yours to do with as you choose. Takeout was announced the same day Google's latest social initiative sprung to life, offering an alternative to the notoriously hard to transfer data of its obvious competitor. But we're sure that was just a coincidence. Right? A hilariously nerdy promo video awaits you after the break.
Trimit reads, simplifies, and condenses web content for social networks
Trimit is a new app that promises to automatically summarize text. The idea is this: You enter a URL, trimit ingests the web page you pointed to, and then it spits back a condensed version at the length you specify. TUAW had a chance to take an early peek at this app, which is due to launch soon on the App Store. So how did it measure up? All in all, I was impressed by its looks, but not by its functionality. Trimit is visually lovely. But that loveliness has not been designed around a solid user experience. I did eventually get the hang of using the application, but given the number of steps it took to make things happen, I felt that the app would benefit from hiring a usability designer. Here are the steps you need to take for the most common use case: In Safari, find a URL you want to work with and copy it to the system clipboard. The application does not offer a built-in web browser. Tap the link button (it's in the center of the screen, one icon over from the left, looks like a two-link chain). Paste the URL into the "import text source from url:" field. Tap Go and wait. Trimit extracts the content text from the page. Tap on settings. This is the leftmost icon in the middle of the screen. Once tapped, it becomes a keyboard icon. You'll need to use this after picking your destination. Select a destination, like Twitter (which is the top-left of the options). A teeny tiny checkmark appears next to the choice. I could figure out Twitter at a glance, and "f" is probably facebook, but the other options may leave you guessing. After tapping on the destination, once again tap on it, but this time tap and hold until the iPhone vibrates. A pop-up appears. Choose whether you want to compress vowels and/or add abbreviations. Tap anywhere but on the destination again. (It took me forever to realize you could not dismiss the pop-up by re-tapping.) Tap on the keyboard icon to leave the destination settings mode. Shake the iPhone strongly. A gentle shake will not do. And *only* shake in the right mode, which seems to be compose mode or something like that, after destination picking. You'll be shaking your arms off otherwise. Honestly, I'm not entirely sure why some massive shakes would work sometimes and others wouldn't. Wait for trimit to compress your message. If needed, further edit the message by hand (so you can add a bit.ly'd source to the summary, for instance). Tap the send button at the top-right corner of the screen. It does not look like a button, just like an arrow, but it is a button. (Other on-screen buttons have shadow effects to show they are tappable buttons that invite interaction.) Select how you want to send the message, e.g., "Twitter it" or "Facebook it" (their phrasing). While these items do explain what each icon means, those same explanations should have been on the destination chooser and should follow the same order. They aren't and they don't. Enter credentials, authorize the application, and send. Tap the keyboard to re-enable the link button. Pull down to clear the previous text (otherwise the app will append new material, not replace it) and confirm your deletion. I love the idea of trimit, but the app itself is a big ol' mess. With this high degree of summarizing, not being able to include a source link is incomprehensible. What's more, people seem to do a much better job of summarizing the cool web pages they just read, whether using a basic tweet test or allowing more lax summaries. For example, consider this Auntie TUAW post. Most people would tweet it like this: "iOS devices are no replacement for Wacom tablets http://aol.it/jx5AvB" 70 characters or so. How does trimit summarize the same material? I am looking for an iPad app that allows it 2 function as a graphics tablet, similar 2 something like a Wacom tablet. No source link, and very little context. Here's another go. Website io9 seemed to like Sunday's True Blood season premiere. What does trimit have to say about their write-up? Con: Sookie is pized that Jason had the audacity 2 sell her (her grandmother's) house, after she's been mizing for over a year. Honestly, do you really want to tweet that out? As if you had written it? I found trimit more concept than execution. I didn't like the "shake to summarize" -- don't build your apps around shake gestures, people -- I wasn't impressed by the summaries, and I found the user interaction crippling. Trimit is an app that should have soared. It is a great concept, but the app doesn't deliver on execution. Trimit will be available on App Store for US$0.99 (introductory price), moving to $4.99 once the initial sale concludes. Product Video
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings joins Facebook's Board of Directors
News that Netflix's CEO Reed Hastings is joining the Board of Directors for Facebook should make for an interesting note in the next movie, but beyond that it's unclear what it means for either company. Hastings successfully navigated Netflix through the process of going public which many assume will be a next step for the social media giant, so his experience could come in handy, and also serves on the board of Microsoft, which owns a stake in Facebook. That goes without mentioning plans by Netflix to make another run at integrating social features into its movie service after the original implementation fell apart and Warner Bros. recently offering video on-demand through Facebook. Other than facing a lawsuit from Paul Allen, Netflix and Facebook share an intense public backlash whenever either one changes their homepage, but we're not sure how he could help there -- have you seen the redesigned Netflix.com?
Seesmic Twitter app drops BlackBerry support, RIM's frown sags even lower
The third-party app experience has always seemed like an afterthought for RIM. Lousy selection and a half-baked install process are just some of the issues plaguing BlackBerry owners and developers, but there's no blow stronger in the app world than when a dev drops support for a platform, after dedicating the resources necessary to bring a product to market in the first place. That's exactly what Seesmic has done with its popular social media app -- effective June 30th, the company will drop support for BlackBerry, "in order to focus development efforts on (its) most popular mobile platforms." It goes so far as to suggest that users "try out Seesmic for Android, iOS, and Windows Phone 7," which would of course mean replacing that BlackBerry with another, more app-friendly device. The move doesn't necessarily indicate that other devs will follow suit, but if jumping ship does become a trend, it could put a significant damper on RIM's future earnings, to say the least.
Google trademarks Photovine, hints at new photo-sharing service
Well, it looks like Google's got the online rumor mill churning with its latest trademark application. Back on June 7th, El Goog filed a USPTO application for the name Photovine, sending sparks flying down the, er, grapevine about a possible photo-sharing program. The application cites a service dedicated to the "transmission of visual images and data by telecommunications networks, wireless communication networks, the Internet, information services networks and data networks." Unsurprisingly, it looks like the internet giant's also picked up the corresponding domain name. So is Google getting ready to add photo storage to its recent suite of cloud services? Or is it looking to up its social media cred? And where does Picasa fit into all of this? One things for certain: we won't be responsible for letting this round of speculation whither on the vine.
In Iceland, constitutions are written on Facebook
Ah, Iceland -- home to the Blue Lagoon, Sigur Rós and, most recently, crowdsourced constitutionalism. With its economy still reeling from the 2009 financial crisis, the country has begun hammering away at a brand new constitution, and is asking its online citizenry for help. The draft is being prepared by a democratically elected, 25-member council, but any Icelanders with an internet connection can add their own suggestions, engage in online debates, or follow the proceedings in real-time on Facebook. All suggestions are moderated to weed out the really dumb ones ("FEWER VOLCANOES"), and those approved by the board will be directly added to the draft, due to be completed at the end of this month. It's a fascinating social experiment, but one that could probably only happen in a place where nearly 90 percent of all households have a broadband connection, two-thirds of the entire population is on Facebook -- meaning their politicians are always within poke's reach.
France bans Twitter, Facebook mentions on TV, in the name of market competition
The words "Facebook" and "Twitter" are now verboten on French TV, because France thought it'd be a good idea to follow its own laws. Last week, the country's Conseil Supérieur de l'Audiovisuel (CSA) ruled that TV networks and radio stations will no longer be able to explicitly mention Facebook or Twitter during on-air broadcasts, except when discussing a story in which either company is directly involved. The move comes in response to a 1992 governmental decree that prohibits media organizations from promoting brands during newscasts, for fear of diluting competition. Instead of inviting viewers to follow their programs or stories on Twitter, then, broadcast journalists will have to couch their promotions in slightly more generic terms -- e.g. "Follow us on your social network of choice." CSA spokeswoman Christine Kelly explains: "Why give preference to Facebook, which is worth billions of dollars, when there are many other social networks that are struggling for recognition? This would be a distortion of competition. If we allow Facebook and Twitter to be cited on air, it's opening a Pandora's Box - other social networks will complain to us saying, 'why not us?'" It didn't take long for the US media to jump all over the story, with many outlets citing no less objective a source than Matthew Fraser -- a Canadian expat blogger who claims, in ostensible sincerity, that the ruling is symptomatic of a "deeply rooted animosity in the French psyche toward Anglo-Saxon cultural domination." Calling the ruling "ludicrous," Fraser went on to flamboyantly point out the obvious, stating that such regulatory nonsense would never be tolerated by corporations in the US. But then again, neither would smelly cheese or universal healthcare. Apple, meet orange. Fueling competition via aggressive regulation may strike some free-marketeers as economically depraved, but it certainly won't kill social media-based commerce. Facebook and Twitter have already become more or less synonymous with "social networks" anyway, so it's hard to envision such a minor linguistic tweak having any major effect on online engagement. That's not to say that the new regulation will suddenly create a level playing field -- it won't. But it probably won't put America's social media titans at a serious disadvantage, as some would have you believe. Rather, these knee-jerk arguments from Fraser and others seem more rooted in capitalist symbolism and cross-cultural hyperbole than anything else -- reality, included.
Defamation settlement requires Malaysian man to apologize 100 times on Twitter
The punishment, the saying goes, should fit the crime. When working within the legal system, however, it can be pretty tough to come up with a truly appropriate sentence. Settlements, on the other hand, offer a little more room for creativity, and after a Malaysian political aide / social activist used Twitter to air a grievance about a pregnant friend's employer, the publishing company turned to the social network for inspiration. Fahmi Fadzil tweeted an apology shortly after, but BluInc Media wasn't satiated. The two parties finally reached an elementary school-esque out of court decision, requiring Fadzil to apologize for his initial statement 100 times on the microblogging service. He began the apology today at 9:00AM his time, and will continue on until June 4th, as per the rules of the agreement. Those looking to inject a little diversity into their Twitter stream may want to wait a bit before following the guy.
Facebook admits hiring PR firm to smear Google
It seems like the ongoing rivalry between Facebook and Google has taken a turn for the subversive. Last night, a spokesman for the social network confirmed to the Daily Beast that Facebook paid a top PR firm to spread anti-Google stories across the media and to encourage various outlets to examine allegations that the Mountain View company was violating user privacy. The PR firm, Burson-Marsteller, even offered to help blogger Chris Soghoian write a critical op-ed piece about Social Circle -- a service that allows Gmail users to access information on so-called "secondary connections," or friends of their friends. Social Circle, in fact, seems to have been at the epicenter of Facebook's smear campaign. In a pitch to journalists, Burson described the tool in borderline apocalyptic terms: "The American people must be made aware of the now immediate intrusions into their deeply personal lives Google is cataloging and broadcasting every minute of every day-without their permission." Soghoian thought that Burson's representatives were "making a mountain out of a molehill," so he decided to prod them about which company they might be working for. When Burson refused to spill the beans, Soghoian went public and published all of the e-mails sent between him and the firm. USA Today picked up on the story, before concluding that any claims of a smear campaign were unfounded. The Daily Beast's Dan Lyons, however, apparently forced Facebook's hand after confronting the company with "evidence" of its involvement. A Facebook spokesman said the social network hired Burson to do its Nixonian dirty work for two primary reasons: it genuinely believes that Google is violating consumer privacy and it also suspects that its rival "may be improperly using data they have scraped about Facebook users." In other words, their actions were motivated by both "altruistic" and self-serving agendas, though we'd be willing to bet that the latter slightly outweighed the former. Google, meanwhile, has yet to comment on the story, saying that it still needs more time to wrap its head around everything -- which might just be the most appropriate "no comment" we've ever heard.
Massachusetts court opens up to social media and live video, Ice-T expected to cameo
This story ripped from today's headlines: the Quincy District Court, just south of Boston, Massachusetts, will now stream live video online. Dubbed OpenCourt, the experiment will also offer WiFi and encourage liveblogging and social media reporting -- all in an attempt to help the judiciary understand and accommodate new digital reporting tools. Funded with a $250,000 grant from the Knight News Challenge, it proposes a more transparent philosophy for the legal system, which has often banned cameras and restricted access. But the court won't become an open free-for-all. There will be no video for restraining order cases and those involving minors, among others, and judges can disable the video feed at any time. Said executive producer John Davidow,"The idea is to bring the courts and what goes on in the courts closer to the people so they understand how the law and the justice system work in this country." With such high-minded goals, expect viewing that's closer to C-SPAN than Law & Order.
New York City marks April 16th as Foursquare Day, Mayor feeling good about his chances
16 is the product of squaring four, so naturally the date of April 16th is the most logical one to be called Foursquare Day. Just why such a celebration should exist is less obvious. As it turns out, a grassroots movement of Foursquare users built up steam around the idea of dedicating a day to the online check-in service, that concept then filtered through to Foursquare's founders who decided to go "100% in on this," and now, somewhat surprisingly, so has New York City Mayor (the elected one) Mike Bloomberg. As Mike sees it, Foursquare represents a fine example of NYC's startup-friendly environment, which is why he's giving it and its heretofore informal Foursquare Day celebration the official NYC seal of approval. He even went so far as to deliver a Mayoral Proclamation to the Foursquare offices, which you can see for yourself after the break.
Poll: How social is your TV watching?
Twitter and Facebook are common enough that even your grandmother probably knows what they are by now and studies have confirmed that watching TV with laptop, tablet or phone nearby is an increasingly common experience. Over the last year or so startups like GetGlue, Tunerfish, Miso, Philo and IntoNow have all tried to make checking in and other social media standbys a part of TV, while Boxee has arguably lead the way in social video sharing on connected TV platforms. So if you've added TV checkins to the Foursquare, Farmville and other data you're bombarding followers and friends with or just see them as another thing to filter out of your timeline, let us know how it's going below. %Poll-61890%
Google Social Search update makes your friends more relevant, difficult to ignore
Google's been talking up its Social Search function for sometime, but up until now your friends' tweets probably haven't made it to the top of your search results -- unless of course you're besties with TMZ, and you've been searching the Miley Cyrus bong salvia rip again. Thankfully, it looks as if that could change with El Goog's latest update to the socially minded search function, which now mixes updates from your contacts' various online accounts, like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, in with the standard search fare -- pulling them up from their previous position at the bottom of your results. Google's also included a photo and annotation to show the origins of relevant links, and given you the ability to manage how you connect your accounts -- either publicly through your profile or privately through your account. The new functions started rolling out yesterday, which means you could be seeing a whole lot more from those contacts you regretted friending in the first place. Isn't social media a wonderful / disastrous thing?
News Corp. set to unload Myspace?
We hate to say it, but we could see this coming a mile down the road: After Myspace (or, as the kids say, my[_____]) relaunched itself as an entertainment portal to little effect late last year, and then the company went and laid off fifty percent of its staff, what's the next step? Tears -- a flood of bitter, bitter tears. And after that? Well, it looks like News Corp. is considering a couple options. As COO Chase Carey said on a recent earnings call, "The new MySpace has been very well received by the market and we have some very encouraging metrics. But the plan to allow MySpace to reach it's full potential may be best achieved under a new owner." Continuing with the theme, he told Paid Content the following: "There's been a lot of interest, because there's been some indication we're pursuing this path. We'll consider all options... it could be a sale, it could be an investor coming in to it, it could be us staying in with a restructured ownership structure with management." Now, that's a whole bunch of "corporate speak" there, and while the future is up in the air, we're fairly sure that if you called our man Chase and offered him cold, hard cash, you could probably take Myspace off his hands at a fairly reasonable price. Make sure you ask him to throw in the Blingees for free.
NYC crowns Rachel Sterne as Chief Digital Officer, we question her analog existence
CEO, COO, CIO, CFO -- all TLAs that most folks would be proud to see blooming on their business cards. Get ready for a new one. It's CDO, Chief Digital Officer, a position recently created in New York City and now occupied by one Rachel Sterne. She's something of a social media maven and is the founder of GroundReport, an aggregator of user-created news stories. She'll now be tasked with improving the city's ability to leverage social networks and the internet as a whole to communicate with its residents. We're not sure if this will actually entail the digitization of Rachel herself, but we're wondering if maybe that's already been taken care of. See for yourself after the break. [Image credit: meyers]
Shocker! Media addicts suffer withdrawal symptoms, just like real addicts
...and we're all media addicts, aren't we? A recent study conducted by the International Center for Media & the Public Agenda (ICMPA) certainly seems to indicate that this is indeed the case. The premise was pretty straightforward: students at twelve universities around the world were instructed to abstain from using all media for twenty-four hours. The results were somewhat predictable: across the board, going without television was somewhat easy to do, while abstaining from text messaging and instant messaging brought on withdrawal symptoms: "When I did not have those two luxuries," wrote one student, "I felt quite alone and secluded from my life. Although I go to a school with thousands of students, the fact that I was not able to communicate with anyone via technology was almost unbearable." According to Dr. Roman Gerodimos of the University of Portsmouth both psychological and physical symptoms were reported by the young techno-junkies.
UK voice choir sings Please Retweet Me song for charity, probably has no idea what it means (video)
So here's the deal: the UK Meningitis Trust wants to help raise awareness about the disease it's dedicated to battling and has a 30-strong male voice choir at its disposal to do it with. How does it reach the widest possible audience? If your ideas include namedropping every major social media site set up over the last decade, a nod to the iPhone versus Android dichotomy, and the use of Yahoo as a bad pun, then you must be the guy responsible for putting together the video after the break. Congratulations, it's awesome. The behind-the-scenes footage with these old crooners isn't too terrible either.
Astronaut shares amazing Twitpics from space, booze not involved
The same social media-savvy astronaut (and current ISS commander) responsible for the first Foursquare check-in from space is now using his exhibitionist skills on Twitter to share some amazing images of earth. Covering everything from the view of our blue planet outside of the Cupola of the International Space Station, to a night view of the Nile river, or morning breaking over the Andes -- it's pretty surreal stuff and definitely puts your tweets from last night's bar-hopping to shame. We're also glad to see NASA's presence on Twitter be slightly more uplifting than the long, agonizing death of the Mars Phoenix rover. To view some of the shots in question, see the gallery below, or hit the link to Douglas H. Wheelock's (a.k.a @Astro_Wheels) Twitter account to take it all in. Oh and we should also mention he accepts requests, so if there's something you really want to see let him know. %Gallery-107741%
Motorola video survey says Americans are still into paying for TV service, buying new TVs
It doesn't seem like everyone's jumped on the cord cutting bandwagon just yet, as the 2010 "Media Engagement Barometer" conducted by Vanson Bourne for Motorola surveyed 7,500 consumers in 13 countries (1,000 in the US) before issuing its findings that 86 percent of Americans subscribe to pay TV providers and 6% are using video/TV on the internet, even while free OTA TV is available. And those 3D TVs that are everywhere? Worldwide, they figured 75 percent of viewers either own or plan to own an HDTV in the next 18 months, while 4% currently own 3D sets, 25 percent indicated they plan to upgrade to one in the same time period. US stats pegged 59 percent of respondents with HDTVs, 20 percent with an internet enabled set and 25 percent with a smartphone. Other results indicate we haven't seen the last of the Twitter widget on our TVs and set-top boxes either, with 58 percent of responses showing people have used social media during a TV broadcast and would switch providers to have it integrated in their TV service. Check out the press release after the break and PDF fact sheet for more statistical breakdowns while we figure out exactly what this means for any a la carte TV dreams.
Ping now available on iPad
iPad users may have to wait a little longer than they'd like for features like multitasking and folder support, but at least one new feature is available right now: the iPad now supports Ping, Apple's stab at a social media component to the iTunes Store. Via an update to the iTunes Store's servers, Ping functionality is now available in the iTunes app on the iPad. You'll find all the usual Ping features in a tab on the iPad's iTunes app: who you're following, who follows you, and so forth. Just like when Ping came to the iPhone in early September, there's nothing you need to do or download in order to get Ping working on the iPad other than open the iTunes app. For some of us, Ping is a somewhat more enjoyable experience on the iPhone than on the Mac, and the same may be true of the iPad. Let us know in the comments how it works for you, and if this makes you more likely to actually use Ping.
