twitter posts

Obama Says Presidential BlackBerry Is 'No Fun,' But His iPod's Stocked With Jay-Z

by Terrence O'Brien (RSS feed) — Jul 30th 2010 at 2:35PM

It's a well known fact that President Obama has a bit of a BlackBerry addiction -- so much so, the man fought long and hard to keep his beloved device once he entered the White House, making him the first sitting president to use one of the e-mail centric smartphones. But Obama revealed on 'The View' Thursday that, perhaps, it wasn't worth all the trouble. Though White House security and IT personnel eventually succumbed to the president's desires, only a select few are authorized to contact him on the device. A grand total of ten individuals know the President's BlackBerry info. As he told the ~~coven~~ round table on 'The View,' it's "no fun" because people refrain from sending him the "real juicy stuff" in order to avoid being archived under the Presidential Records Act.

There are some other tantalizing tech bits. "Some 20-year-old" person tweets for the presidential Twitter account. And, while he hasn't "made the switch" to an iPhone, he does have a fully loaded iPod upon which he's dependent. His music choices? "You name a song, I've got it," the President explains, mentioning Jay-Z, Frank Sinatra and Maria Callas -- but definitely not Justin Bieber. [From: AFP, via: Engadget]

Tags: BarackObama, iPod, politics, president, TheView, top, twitter

Steve Ballmer Bemoans iPad Success, Kanye Interrupts Our Twitter

by Warren Riddle (RSS feed) — Jul 30th 2010 at 11:55AM

Highlights from this morning's other big tech headlines....

Perhaps still despondent over the Courier execution, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has reportedly acknowledged that Apple has "sold certainly more [iPads] than I'd like them to have sold." [From: Engadget]
Kanye West embarked on an extensive Twitter ramble this week (containing awesomely convoluted references to Kool Aid smiles, goblets, fabricated numbers, J. Press ties and classical compositions), and his prose even rivals the inspirational mutterings of Courtney Love. [From: The Awl]
Despite Facebook's staggering membership of half a billion people, the site reportedly won't issue an initial public offering until 2012. [From: The Huffington Post]
Sprint has announced that Froyo will officially land on the Evo 4G Tuesday, although the carrier is allowing early downloads. [From: Engadget]
At least one nation has cleared Google in the global Street View scandal, as Great Britain reportedly dismissed the data collection because no "meaningful personal details" were disclosed. [From: The Los Angeles Times]
An employee of an Internet security firm decided to publish the public information of 100 million Facebook members, saying his list provides a "nice format for statistical analysis." While those folks probably should have adjusted their privacy settings, they probably don't consider his actions very "nice." [From: FOX News]

Tags: android, apple, business, facebook, froyo, google, ipad, KanyeWest, Microsoft, MicrosoftCourier, morningxtra, socialnetworking, SprintEvo4g, SteveBallmer, stockmarket, streetview, top, twitter, web

Social Networking

Twitter Users Aren't Interested in Supporting Your Brand

by Matthew Zuras (RSS feed) — Jul 29th 2010 at 6:00PM

Bad news, Evil Corporations: Twitter tweeps aren't your shills! A study by digital marketing agency 360i reveals that only a sliver of consumer tweets forward branding messages. It notes that "more than 90-percent of tweets originate from consumers -- and only 8-percent are authored by marketers." Conversely, only 12-percent of all tweets mention a brand. (Click here for the full PDF report.)

When tweets do mention a brand, they're usually talking about digital culture, with the top five mentions being Twitter itself, Apple, Google, YouTube and Microsoft. Those brand mentions are usually informational in nature (e.g., "French Politicians Ban Twitter From Heated Legislative Debate"), or about using the brand in question, while about "one-fifth of tweets mentioning brands demonstrate an outward opinion of the brand."

Tags: 360i, branding, marketing, OldSpiceCommercial, socialnetworking, study, top, tweet, twitter, web

Celebrities, Web

Ivy Bean, Twitter's Oldest User, Dies at 104

by Amar Toor (RSS feed) — Jul 29th 2010 at 10:05AM

Ivy Bean, from Bradford, England, definitely wasn't your average Twitterer. She had a staggering 57,000 people following her IvyBean104 handle, and, thanks to her viral popularity, managed to work her way into meetings with British politicians and celebrities, alike. Oh, and at 104-years young, she was the world's oldest microblogger.

Late Tuesday, though, Bean passed away at the care facility where she stayed, and her death was announced, appropriately enough, on Twitter. As CNN reports, Bean fell ill two weeks ago, forcing care facility manager Pat Wright to take over her tweeting duties. On Wednesday, Wright tweeted, "Ivy passed away at 12.08 this morning," and quickly followed that up by writing, "I'm sorry it took me so long to tell you but it was a very difficult thing to do."

Tags: elderly, ElderlyCare, ElderlyFitness, ElderlyPeople, facebook, IvyBean, microblogging, socialnetworking, twitter, uk, web, Wii, WorldsOldest

Web, Social Networking

Facebook Questions Debuts, Probably Can't Find Our Keys

by Caleb Johnson (RSS feed) — Jul 28th 2010 at 5:50PM

Facebook rolls out Questions feature for beta testing.

Back in April, we reported that Facebook would introduce a Q&A feature that would compete with sites like Quora, Aardvark and Yahoo! Answers. According to The Facebook Blog, the social-networking site introduced Facebook Questions to a limited number of beta testers today. When the public feature (yes, everybody can see what you ask) becomes available, an 'Ask Question' button and text box will appear on your homepage and your friends' walls. There will be a few different ways to ask for advice. For example, you can just ask a general question, post a photograph along with a question about it or make a poll. Adding tags to each question will be an important part of this new feature, too, since the site will quickly amass millions of queries for you to browse via drop-down topic menus. You'll also have the option to follow certain questions, so you'll be notified of new answers that users post.

As usual, Facebookers will complain, but this is a direct shot at Google and Twitter that could end up being extremely useful. While Twitter is great for getting instant feedback, searching for answers is still prohibitively difficult. Unlike Google, Facebook Questions relies on answers from real people, and Facebook has enough users to create an enormous repository of searchable questions and answers. [From: The Facebook Blog, via: Mashable]

Tags: facebook, facebook questions, FacebookQuestions, questions, search, SocialNetworking, top, twitter

Web

Safari Update Adds Extensions Gallery, Twitter and Bing Support

by Amar Toor (RSS feed) — Jul 28th 2010 at 10:50AM

This morning, Apple unveiled the latest version of its Safari 5 browser, replete with revamped extensions support and a sparkling new extensions gallery. The new browser allows users to download extensions directly from a third-party developer's site, or from the new gallery, which Engadget describes as "the App Store for browser add-ons." So far, the gallery includes extensions from heavy hitters like Amazon, eBay, MLB.com, the New York Times and Twitter. And, given the relative ease with which extensions can be constructed with HTML5, JavaScript or CSS, users should expect to see more additions to the extensions gallery in the near future. It's great that Safari is finally getting Extensions, but, let's be honest, it's a little late to the browser add-ons party. Google Chrome and Firefox have let users customize the browsing experience for years now. Grab the new Safari 5.0.1 here, and customize away. [From: Engadget]

Tags: amazon, apple, Bing, browser, eBay, ExtensionsGallery, MLB, NewYorkTimes, safari, Safari5, top, twitter, update, WebBrowser

Web

Study Finds That Readers Don't Read Print Media, But Don't Trust Online News, Either

by Amar Toor (RSS feed) — Jul 28th 2010 at 10:00AM

As print journalism continues to die a slow death, consumers are flocking to the Internet to get their news. According to a recent study, though, people are still having a hard time trusting what they read online. A report from the Center for the Digital Future at the University of Southern California finds that more than 75-percent of users rank the Internet as the most important source of information, while a little more than half said they consider newspapers to be significant, too. Also, 18-percent of those surveyed claimed to have canceled print subscriptions in favor of free online content.

At the same time, though, just 39-percent of readers said they considered online information to be reliable -- the lowest percentage researchers have recorded since beginning the series of annual studies ten years ago. Meanwhile, 14-percent of consumers said they considered only a negligible portion of online material to be reliable, the highest figure the USC study has ever found. And, as the New York TImes points out, even popular news sites are often considered untrustworthy. Nearly 25-percent of those surveyed said that they could only rely on half or less than half of the online content they read regularly.

Tags: content, DeathOfPrint, journalism, JournalismOnline, media, news, newspaper, online, print, reading, studies, study, top, twitter, UniversityOfSouthernCalifornia

Web

Federal Register Website Gets a User-Friendly Redesign

by Amar Toor (RSS feed) — Jul 27th 2010 at 12:35PM

In Washington, the Federal Register is regular reading for most lawyers and lobbyists eager to catch up on the latest policy proposals, regulations and public meeting notices. For most people outside the Beltway, though, the Register's arcane legal jargon renders the weekday compilation virtually indecipherable. Now, as part of its ongoing campaign to more directly engage voters and enhance governmental transparency, the Obama administration has launched a new, more user friendly edition of the Register.

The site, which launched yesterday, is designed to resemble a typical online news site, with rules and regulations divided into six categories: money, environment, world, science and technology, business and industry, and health and public welfare. According to the Washington Post, the site will also feature highlighted stories that have particular relevance to current news or debates, along with a simply written summary of the piece. Each notice will also include a series of links to agencies seeking public feedback, as well as the ability to share stories on Facebook or Twitter.

Tags: facebook, FederalRegister, government, obama, ObamaAdministration, politics, PoliticsNews, top, twitter

Ask.com to Ask Real People, Terry Gilliam Drawn to Direct Arcade Fire Webcast

by Warren Riddle (RSS feed) — Jul 27th 2010 at 11:45AM

Highlights from this morning's other big tech headlines....

The revamped Ask.com, which will actually utilize live humans to field certain queries, just entered beta mode and is currently accepting invitation requests. [From: Ask.com]
Director and founding member of Monty Python Terry Gilliam reportedly plans to direct the live YouTube webcast of Arcade Fire's August 5th concert at Madison Square Garden. [From: Variety]
Despite the climbing popularity and recent impressive valuation of Foursquare, Forrester Research reportedly believes "major marketers" should avoid marketing with the site. Forrester's research determined that only a small number of adults (4-percent) actually use Foursquare. But -- if you read a certain tech blog -- you probably already know that. [From: Advertising Age]
The Twitter is serious business. After another Wikileaks deluge of classified military documents, the Department of Defense has taken to microblogging in order to remind everyone that it does, in fact, take information leaks "very seriously." [From: Boing Boing]
Ford has now fully embraced social networking as part of its ongoing modernization movement. After recently starting a tweeting car campaign, the manufacturer just bypassed the typical auto show route by revealing its 2011 Explorer on Facebook. [From: PSFK]

Tags: ArcadeFire, ask.com, Ask.comSearch, DepartmentOfDefense, ford, FordExplorer, ForresterResearch, FourSquare, MontyPython, morningxtra, TerryGilliam, top, twitter, Wikileaks, youtube

Web, Social Networking

Bernie Kerik Tweets Against Ground Zero Mosque from Prison

by Matthew Zuras (RSS feed) — Jul 24th 2010 at 11:00AM

Joining the ranks of Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich and New York gubernatorial candidates Rick Lazio and (the unlikely) Carl Paladino, former NYC Police Commissioner Bernie Kerik has also come out in opposition of the so-called Ground Zero Mosque.

That's great news for the anti-mosque organizers, but we must remind ourselves that Kerik is also a convicted felon currently serving time in Cumberland, Maryland. (Click here for the laundry list of his crimes.) And yet Kerik was able to tweet a link to a video hosted on conservative website Newsmax (Palin once described Newsmax as one of her top news sources) created by right-wing pundit Frank Gaffney's group, Center for Security Policy. Kerik also reposted Gaffney's Newsmax article on his personal blog. But how did he do it?

Tags: bernie kerik, BernieKerik, ground zero, ground zero mosque, GroundZero, GroundZeroMosque, islam, jail, prison, religion, sarah palin, SarahPalin, September 11, September11, social networking, SocialNetworking, top, twitter, web

Web, Social Networking

Fake Facebook Femme Fatale Gathered Info From Intelligence Insiders

by Amar Toor (RSS feed) — Jul 22nd 2010 at 5:10PM

If you were meandering around Facebook or LinkedIn, and happened to stumble across the profile of a woman named Robin Sage, you'd probably be impressed. She attended a prestigious New England prep school, got a degree from MIT and, judging from her profile picture, was pretty easy on the eyes, too. All in all, she's an over-achieving geek's dream date. So, what's the catch? She's not real.

Robin, as it turns out, was created by Private Security co-founder Thomas Ryan, as part of a project aimed at exploring how social networking could be used to covertly gather intelligence. As it turns out, Ryan's fictional femme fatale made online connections pretty easily: she made 226 friends on Facebook, 206 on LinkedIn and 204 on Twitter. Most of his online contacts were from branches of the U.S. military, intelligence agencies, information security companies and government contractors. What really mattered for Ryan's experiment, though, was what those connections revealed to his bot. Ryan claims that many of these insiders were strangely candid with his non-existent persona; some offered her invitations to conferences, others shared personal information or photos, and some even asked her to review documents.

Tags: experiment, facebook, intelligence, IntelligenceInformationGathering, linkedin, mit, robin sage, RobinSage, security, SocialNetworking, top, twitter

Web, Social Networking

Twitter Happier: Scientists Track Tweets to Trace National Moods

by Amar Toor (RSS feed) — Jul 21st 2010 at 6:06PM

Twitter's 140-character format may limit how much users can reveal about themselves, but, according to a group of computer scientists from Northeastern University, our casual tweets may contain enough information to reveal how we're truly feeling. Between 2006 and 2009, a team of researchers, led by Dr. Alan Mislove, analyzed all public posts to Twitter, looking for key, mood-indicating words. Using a ranking system called 'Affective Norms for English Words,' the scientists calculated scores for each publicly tweeting user, and determined their overall moods. Positive words -- like "diamond", "love" and "paradise" -- receive positive points, while 'funeral,' 'rape,' 'suicide' and any other negative words are counted as poor scores.

The study, which restricted its scope to U.S. users only, confirmed the obvious by concluding that tweeters on the West Coast tended to be "happier" than those on the East. The report also claims that American Twitter users, overall, tend to be happiest on Sunday, and saddest on Thursday evenings. "The visualizations are amazing and I think it is absolutely fascinating to see the nation's mood vary in near-real time," says Johan Bollen of Indiana University.

Tags: mood, moods, NationalSentiment, research, scientists, socialnetworking, study, top, tweet, tweets, twitter, web

Web, Social Networking

'Ex-Blocker' Helps Erase Heartbreak From the Internet

by Leila Brillson (RSS feed) — Jul 21st 2010 at 4:26PM

As the Swedes of yore so sagaciously proclaimed, "Breaking up is never easy, I know, but I have to go." Those perky blondes were right. The untangling of lives, from reclaiming your teenaged Liz Phair shirt to changing your relationship status on Facebook, is no walk in the park.

Adding to the torment and heartache comes a whole new digital terrain, wherein once-friendly Twitter feeds and Facebook friends suddenly pack a whole new emotional punch. Endlessly googling and fretting doesn't heal old wounds. So, in order to get all 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' for the heartbroken, the Web magicians at firm Jess3 have decided to literally erase the virtual past by creating the personalized, grudge-friendly 'Ex-Blocker,' a user-friendly add-on designed for the major browsers.

Tags: abba, BreakingUp, dating, ex-blocker, facebook, jess3, privacy, relationships, top, twitter, web

Car Tech, Social Networking

Meet AJ, the Ford Fiesta That Tweets

by Matthew Zuras (RSS feed) — Jul 21st 2010 at 2:46PM

AJ is a lime green, decal-bedecked 2011 Ford Fiesta. Like HAL from '2001,' he has his own man-made intelligence, and thus the gendered pronoun. He's been making his way around the country, sending messages to anyone who will listen. You see, AJ is a car that tweets.

Ford engineers gave AJ (short for American Journey 2.0) the ability to connect to the Internet by outfitting him with a Dell computer running Windows 7, a Wi-Fi router and a high-speed cellular connection. They set him up with his own Twitter account (AJtheFiesta), and connected his internal sensors, as well as data streamed from the Web, to his automotive brain. And so AJ tweets, "It might as well snow... ugh. Current conditions: partly cloudy (day)." Ignoring the fact that AJ was attending the Bay Area Maker Faire at the time of that tweet, and that San Francisco was in no danger of snowfall, you must admit that AJ's ability to report on his own condition and that of the world around him is remarkable.

That is, until you ask the inevitable question: "Why?"

Tags: ai, aj, ArtificialIntelligence, car, ford, FordFiesta, FordSync, foursquare, MakerFaire, prototype, SocialNetworking, sync, top, TrafficConditions, transportation, twitter, weather

Web, Social Networking

French Politicians Ban Twitter From Heated Legislative Debate

by Amar Toor (RSS feed) — Jul 20th 2010 at 3:45PM

This week, all French eyes are on the country's Parliament, where lawmakers have just begun discussing a "controversial" new law that would raise the French retirement age from 60 to an outlandish 62. (Sacré bleu!) The proposed legislation, supported by President Nicolas Sarkozy and his Labor Minister/Partner-in-Crime Eric Woerth, has come under intense scrutiny from trade unions, members of the Socialist party and members of any party that doesn't believe in progress. Unfortunately for all those joueur-détesteurs, though, they won't be able to get any real-time scoops from the closed-door legislative meetings -- because every French lawmaker has agreed to ban Twitter from the premises.

As Reuters reports, both the governing UMP and opposition Socialist parties have agreed to use neither Twitter nor text messages to break any real-time news during the proceedings. It's unclear why the politicians implemented the ban, although it probably has something to do with Parliament's recent meeting with disgraced soccer coach Raymond Domenech. The meeting was supposed to be top-secret, but a so-called "traitor" in Parliament leaked some of the deets on his Twitter account. We understand that politics can get ugly and French elites don't want to risk fanning the flames of Gallic fury. But you'd think that a country so obsessed with removing veils would be more willing to shed at least a little light on what goes on behind its own political curtains. [From: Reuters]

Tags: france, government, NicolasSarkozy, politics, RaymondDomenech, SocialNetworking, top, twitter, twitterban, web

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