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Posts with tag twitter

Students Use Twitter to Report on China Earthquake

by Tim Stevens, posted May 12th 2008 at 11:01AMBreaking News

First-Hand Earthquake Reports via Twitter

China may not be a leader when it comes to Internet acceptance, given its history of trying to block anything online that doesn't quite jive with its political message. Thankfully, the country has apparently not chosen to block instant-update site Twitter, a Web site that has become a bit of a sounding board for those who experienced the 7.8 earthquake that struck the nation early on Monday.

Though plenty of news about the quake has been coming steadily from established news sources such as AP and Reuters, it hasn't always covered up-to-the-minute specifics about each and every affected area, and here's where some non-traditional, online information/social-networking services are coming in handy. According to some blog reports on the BBC and Silicon Alley Insider, many English-speaking students are using Twitter to post first-hand, post-quake experiences, which are helping those on the outside understand what's happening there. Users casperodj and inwalkedbud have been two of the most prolific earthquake twitterers, posting some frightening updates such as the one pictured above, as well as some later, more reassuring ones.

By enabling people to post quick updates from cell phones, computers and other mobile devices, Twitter has gained popularity and is gaining a reputation for being a fun way to keep up with friends. Critics call it a waste of time, but this perception is changing since increasingly Twitter is being used as a way to keep in touch during disasters, when sometimes traditional forms of communication or media are not available. Case in point, last year's wildfires in Southern California, when residents used Twitter plus Google Maps to share information about affected areas and shelters.

Twitter has a long way to go before it'll be considered a reliable news source, but during such debilitating disasters, the service is certainly proving its worth among those looking for instant updates. Let's just hope the power doesn't go out next time there's a crisis, which would make using cell phones and Wi-Fi challenging. [Source: twitter via dot.life and Silicon Alley Insider]

New Feature Lets You Take Your MySpace Profile to Other Sites

by Tim Stevens, posted May 9th 2008 at 9:10AMBreaking News

MySpace Launches Social networking is obviously a lot of fun, but if anything it's getting a little too popular; you can't pick a movie on Netflix or upload a picture onto Flickr these days without having to wade through a web of friend recommendations.

What's more annoying is that each network is completely disconnected -- sign up for some hot new site, pick a crew of friends, then move on to the next hot site and try to find the same crew of friends again. Annoying. MySpace is finally looking to end that with a new initiative called "data availability" that will let you take your profile with you to other profile-based sites and services, including Twitter, Photobucket, and Yahoo!.

The changes, set to go into effect in a few weeks, will let you effectively sync up your profiles at a number of partner sites with your MySpace profile. For example, on Twitter you would be able to set up Twitter to pull in your picture and other information from your MySpace profile, in real-time -- so, if you update your main pic at MySpace, it would be propagated over to Twitter as well. You'll be able to do the same with your eBay profile, creating a more informative set of information about you that will "yield a deeper connection between individuals," according to the press release.

It would also let eBay shoppers learn an awful lot about you, something that many people will be uncomfortable with. The opportunity to save time by syncing up your profiles sounds quite appealing, but making yourself more identifiable to potentially irate eBay buyers and sellers sounds a little -- unnerving. [Source: BusinessWire, via New York Times]

Facebook Trumps Media and Emergency Services During Disasters

by Tim Stevens, posted May 1st 2008 at 12:19PMBreaking News

Facebook Trumps Media, Emergency Services During DisastersThere's a disaster somewhere; homes are burning, tornadoes are spinning, a shooter is on the loose, flooding is rampant -- something like that. Where do you turn? Most would click on the local news and sit through the commercials hoping for an update. Others would turn on the radio and wait for an emergency broadcast to tell them what they need to know. More and more people, however, are turning to online services like Facebook, and according to researchers they are the ones who are keeping most informed.

The report found that, in the wake of disasters like last October's fires in Southern California and the Virginia Tech Shootings, which happened a year ago last month, bloggers, Twitterers, and Facebookers are reporting information about the emergencies more quickly and more efficiently than the local media. And, it's without the "lowest common denominator" spin that most media can fall into, zooming in on celebrity homes ablaze during the fires rather than discussing evacuation information, or endlessly repeating information about the shooter in the VT massacre instead of helping victims recover.

But, it seems, emergency services are starting to get the hang of things. The Red Cross took a hint from some amateur wildfire reporters and is now using Twitter to post information about emergencies. We're hoping FEMA maybe thinks about using Google Maps during the next emergency, which might just enable faster routing of emergency supplies to where they're needed.

Of course, none of these claims take into account power failures and Internet outages that occur as a result of these disasters. [Source: Daily Telegraph]

College Student Twitters His Way Out of Egyptian Jail

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Apr 16th 2008 at 8:17PM

Journalism Student Arrested in Egypt Twitters his Way to Freedom
We've heard the micro-blogging service Twitter called a lot of things -- everything from fun and indispensable, to frivolous and stupid. Now, you can add lifesaver to the mix. At least one man, James Buck, can thank Twitter for his freedom after being picked up, along with his interpreter Mohammed Salah Ahmed Maree, by Egyptian authorities while taking pictures of a demonstration.

Buck, a U.C. Berkeley graduate student of journalism, managed to type out a simple one word message -- "Arrested" -- to his network of followers on Twitter. Friends, fellow students and journalists quickly sprang into action by contacting U.C. Berkeley, the U.S. embassy in Egypt, the Associated Press, and other media outlets. The next da, Buck walked out of jail a free man with a U.C. Berkeley hired lawyer at his side and the U.S. embassy on the phone.

Buck is now spearheading an effort to free his interpreter Maree and other other imprisoned journalists in Egypt by drawing more media attention to the struggles against censorship in the Middle East through his writing, and, of course Twittering. [Source: Mercury News]

This Plant Sends You Messages When it Needs Water

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Feb 26th 2008 at 3:08PM

DIY Twittering Plant Lets You Know When to Water it
Those of us with not blessed with a green thumb (some of us at Switched could kill a cactus) wish plants would tell you us they needed and when. A company called Botanicalls has cooked up an admittedly complicated DIY (Do It Yourself) project that lets your plants to send messages via the micro-blogging service Twitter to let you know when it needs to be watered. It even thanks you for feeding it.

The project uses a tiny networked computer, a circuit you must wire up yourself, and simple moisture probes made of nails to detect water levels and trigger Twitter messages when the plant needs water, when moisture levels are critically low, to thank you for watering it, to let you know that you've watered it, but not enough, or that you've over-saturated the soil.

The concept is pretty cool, but not for the faint of heart. Check it out here if you want to give the project a shot.

From Digg and Botanicalls

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Blogger Calls for Hillary Clinton's Death

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Jan 29th 2008 at 2:46PM

Pioneering Blogger Urges
Calling for the death of someone on the micro-blogging service Twitter probably wouldn't garner you much attention, unless of course you're Dave Winer, a pioneer in RSS and author of Scripting News, one of the oldest blogs on the net. When he 'Tweeted' (the cool-kid lingo for updating one's Twitter blog) "Kill Hill Kill Hill" while watching presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on TV, a few people were taken aback.

Those who read Winer's sarcastic and occasionally caustic blogs and Tweets probably won't bat an eye, but the secret service probably won't be so understanding. Keep in mind this guy really didn't want Hillary to die, but we're thinking people will take his blog the wrong way.

From Gawker

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Exclusive, Would-Be MySpace-Rival Pownce Goes Public

by Tim Stevens, posted Jan 22nd 2008 at 1:01PM

Pownce Goes PublicDo you like Twitter, but wish that it offered a little more functionality? Or do you dig Facebook, but think the whole Web 2.0 social networking scene is a bit stale? Whatever your feelings, you need to check out Pownce, the latest revolution in keeping in touch with friends. The social-networking service has just entered a public beta, meaning the software isn't quite ready for prime-time, but is open for you to check out.

Created by the same people behind the immensely-successful Digg, Pownce is a mixture of group-based IM, event invitations, and file sharing. You create lists of friends and can post updates a la Twitter, but can also post files for download like any file sharing app. You can also post up events for friends to join in on. It's a bit of an odd mix of features that we're not sure will necessarily make Pownce the next MySpace, but, again, if ya gotta be cutting edge, this is it.

From TechCrunch

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Twitter Users Tracking the Latest California Fire News

by Tim Stevens, posted Oct 23rd 2007 at 10:00AM

Titter Users Track So Cal FireSouthern Californians near San Diego are currently in the midst of a massive and (largely) out of control wildfire destroying houses and displacing many residents. When you're near such a spreading and unpredictable disaster, staying informed is about the most important thing you can do. Some posts made by users of the instant-status-update site Twitter are helping some keep ahead of the flames.

According to 'Wired,' two users, Nate Ritter and Viss, are using the site to post updates about the fire's progress, ordered evacuations, police presence, and traffic problems. The two are even posting pictures online of the events happening in and around the turmoil. This is an interesting change of intent for the Twitter, which is typically host to banal updates about where someone is or what they're doing right now, updates that may or may not be interesting, but that certainly won't save your life.

Nate and Viss are using the identifier #sandiegofire for their updates, and if you're the SMS type, you can send the message "track sandiegofire" to 40404 and get updates straight to your phone.

From Wired

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How Presidential Candidates Are Using the 'Net

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Aug 4th 2007 at 4:02PM



This election cycle is becoming the year politics go super-digital. Take a quick look at any of the candidates' websites -- each one reveals a host of buttons linking to the various candidates' digital outposts on various social Web services. Each site has a blog, a MySpace page, and a YouTube channel. Each one also provides tools to help supporters organize.

This is not just the result of the growing popularity of online services and the success of the Dean revolution from 2004, masterminded by Joe Trippi, but a necessity of the compacted primary season. Candidates can't be everywhere at once, especially those who still have day jobs as Senators and Governors. With 23 states holding their primaries or caucuses by February 5th -- representing slightly less than half the delegates -- a strong online presence and enthusiastic grassroots organization is essential to staying in the race.

We've taken a quick look at what the major players in the race are doing and how they stack up against each other.



Hillary Clinton

Hillary is probably the least tech savvy of the major Democrats in the race. She has the requisite MySpace and Facebook (26,000+ friends) pages, a YouTube and Flickr channel, and has even unveiled a text-messaging initiative not too long ago. Hillary's attempts so far, however, seem too safe, the old guard adopting the new media without understanding how it works.

Her text-messaging service seems to be primarily a way to put out announcements while her MySpace page forgets that the social web is about being, well... social. She is well on her way to 123,000 friends, but Clinton's top 15 are all photos or logos of her and her campaign. There isn't a single regular supporter in sight, and the content is written in the third person, betraying what we all know anyway -- that Hillary didn't write this. The same goes for Clinton's YouTube channel, where clips you see are primarily things like her quip from the last debates about sending Dick Cheney to other countries "hardly being diplomatic." It screams "look at me! Aren't I funny!?!?," which misses the whole point.

Her one experiment that sort of succeeded was an opportunity for Hillary supporters to choose her official campaign song. People logged on and voted for their choice. The winner was revealed through a video with hubby and ex-pres Bill that spoofs the ending of the Sopranos.

German Twitter Clone for Sale on eBay

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Jun 21st 2007 at 1:01PM

German Twitter Clone for SaleWhere do you go when it's time to sell your Internet startup for millions of dollars? If that startup happens to be a German Xerox copy of the Twitter micro-blogging service, the answer is eBay. That's what the owners of dukudu are doing. Unfortunately for them, it doesn't look like they're going to strike it Internet rich ... the auction is currently sitting at a paltry 12,605 Euros, or just shy of 17 grand in U.S. dough.

The service reportedly cost 25,000 Euros to develop, but the reserve price is only 15,000, which leads us to believe dukudu's owners are desperately trying to unload this service for some reason.

So if you've ever wanted to have your own Web 2.0 startup but can't code worth a damn, here's your chance to buy one already made ... though entirely in German.

From TechCrunch

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CEO Caught Fibbing by His Own Site

by Tim Stevens, posted Jun 4th 2007 at 12:32PM

These days it's easy to make sure that your friends and casual acquaintances know exactly where you are, what you're doing, and when you're doing it. Services like Twitter and Plazes are designed for just that purpose, but if you're going to use them you'd better watch what you say you're doing. Plazes CEO Felix Peterson has found himself in a somewhat sticky situation thanks to his site, which lets you not only post minute-by-minute updates of what you're doing but also indicate on a map exactly where you're doing it. The problem is, he was found on his site to be in one place when he said he'd be in another.

Felix was supposed to be attending The Next Web Conference in Amsterdam this past weekend, but just before said he couldn't make it due to problems at the Plazes site and because his daughter was sick. Some were rather surprised, then, to find that his Plazes account showed he was instead attending competing conference Reboot 9.0 in Copenhagen. For his part, Felix says that he canceled on the first conference for valid reasons. When his daughter got better, he decided he could attend the second conference. Little white lie caught or big misunderstanding? We think it's more the latter than the former, but it's a good reminder to watch what you say you're doing on Twitter and Plazes.

From TechCrunch

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John Edwards Is a Twitter

by Tim Stevens, posted Apr 5th 2007 at 9:45AM



Can't stand long blog posts? You may want to check out Twitter, a mini-blog and social networking site where users post 140 character or less text messages to the site, describing the minute details of their daily lives for all the world to see. Not to be left out of the fun, John Edwards has jumped onboard and is providing his own dull, dull, seriously dull updates. His most interesting post? It's a toss-up between "Enjoying the weekend with family," and "In san antonio." His contributions are, at least, more interesting than Lindsay Lohan's text messages.

From Tech Digest



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