Posts Tagged ‘Twitter’
Posted by andreaitis on April 28, 2009
One minute Oprah is the Internet’s new Tweetheart, the next minute hard-core twitterers are grumbling. It’s like when hordes of people invade your favorite secluded beach spot. Usually that means it’s time to find a new favorite secluded beach spot. Enter Microsoft, and a new product called Vine. It’s in early beta testing in Seattle, but it looks like they’ve zeroed in on core needs with the easy messaging of Twitter, the contacts and connections of Facebook, and the local news and Latitude of Google. If it works better than Internet Explorer (a low bar), it’s definitely worth keeping an eye on. Could this be the next big thing?
Vine is designed to keep family and friends in touch when other communication methods are either broken or not particularly efficient. Times of crisis usually involve a breakdown in mobile phone or other key communication infrastructures, and Vine is designed to be as hardy as possible to keep people connected. Vine can be accessed via a desktop client (Windows only for now), text message or email.
So what is it? Vine is a tool keep people connected during a crisis, but it’s also used to for more mundane, everyday tasks. My guess is it will hit a sweet spot with the masses. My parents, for example, are going to love this.
via TechCrunch: Microsoft Vine To Connect Family, Friends When Crisis Hits
Posted in social media, technology | Tagged: facebook, google, microsoft, Twitter, Vine | 5 Comments »
Posted by andreaitis on April 16, 2009
Larry King via Wikipedia; Ashton Kutcher via Flickr
Really, all I have to do is put up these two pictures and you can imagine the thousand words. Still, it’s worth repeating the battle that is surely creating warped pay-per-view visions in Vince McMahon’s mind. Dreamy Ashton Kutcher and rickety-crickety CNN are each racing to get 1 million followers on Twitter. I’m not really sure why or how this started (and I can’t say I care enough to bother looking it up) but there you have it.
But — as if this wasn’t dramatic enough — enter a NEW challenger. A challenger, in fact, with a secret past that can rival stories of Larry and his Seven Wives, proving once again that it’s not necessarily who you are, but who other people think you might be. We’ll just see who gets the last punk’d.
While Ashton Kutcher and CNN are trying to be the first to hit 1 million followers on Twitter, Joseph Frieschel, an inconspicuous Australian MD, is quickly catching up. Frieschel only opened his Twitter account last night, but he already has over 200,000 followers. How can this be? Well, it looks like the anonymous members of the infamous 4chan imageboard didn’t like the idea of either Kutcher or CNN breaking the 1 million follower barrier before they got a chance to make their presence felt.
4Chan Takes on Twitter
The choice of the fake user’s “real” name, username, avatar, and bio are typical examples of the kind of crass and often tasteless humor that runs rampant on anonymous forums like 4chan. The new Twitter account clearly refers to Joseph Fritzl, the Austrian who, unknown to the rest of his family, imprisoned his daughter in his house’s basement for 24 years until his double life finally unraveled last year.
Not all of the humor on 4chan is this crass, however. The site, after all, was also the breeding ground for popular Internet memes like Rickrolling and lolcats.
Operation Basement Dad: How 4Chan Could Beat CNN & Ashton Kutcher
Posted in social media, technology, twitter | Tagged: Ashton Kutcher, CNN, Larry King, Twitter | Leave a Comment »
Posted by andreaitis on April 13, 2009
Was the AmazonFail wail heard across the twitterverse the result of a hacker’s prank, a purposeful stunt to call attention to a cause, or a company gaff? The trend of the day seems to be judge first, ask later. You can jump into the fray and follow along as the plot thickens. One thing’s for sure: you can fit a lot of self-righteous rigor into 140 characters. Another thing’s for sure: I bet Amazon’s seeing a pretty nice bump in traffic and (offending) book sales.
Twitter had a big tizzy yesterday over Amazon.com’s supposed censorship of gay and lesbian titles, did you hear? Just one problem: A well-known hacker has come forward and claimed the whole thing was his prank.
The hacker, known as Weev, with whom we’ve had dealings before the “amazonfail” episode, is saying that the whole escapade was the result of his exploitation of a vulnerability in Amazon’s product-rating tools.
Gawker – Why It Makes Sense That a Hacker’s Behind Amazon’s Big Gay Outrage – Amazon.com
Posted in technology | Tagged: Amazon, AmazonFail, Hacker, Twitter | Leave a Comment »
Posted by andreaitis on April 9, 2009
It was bound to happen: a business model around a business struggling to find its business model.
Twitter’s whole concept is based on simplicity. Do you really need to hire someone to explain how and what to type in 140 characters?
Some of the best-known names in the London dotcom world are joining forces to cash in on the popularity of Twitter, the rapidly growing social network.
Twitter Partners said that it will help brands, media companies and celebrities to monitor and market themselves on the network, which allows more than 4m users to post 140-character updates to their list of “followers”.
FT.com / Companies / UK companies – Dotcom veterans in Twitter ‘brains trust’
Posted in technology, twitter | Tagged: Twitter, Twitter Partners | Leave a Comment »
Posted by andreaitis on April 6, 2009
Friendfeed has been flying under the radar, lurking in the shadow of Twitter and Facebook. This morning the clouds will part and a new version of Friendfeed will emerge. It was demo’d to bloggers, and reviews and videos of that demo will be available in a few hours. In the meantime, Robert Scoble has already weighed in with a “not so much” reaction. He does, however, have a smart, succinct list of product requirements for Twitter 2012: Filtering, Groups, Messaging and Location.
If something like the Hudson plane crash happens in Twitter 2012, I want to draw a box around New York and tell Twitter “only show me Tweets from inside this box.” To do that Twitter will need more metadata. In this case, location of where Tweets are being sent from (Twitter could easily get that from my iPhone’s GPS or use my Internet provider’s data to get detail on where my location is).
What else might I like in Twitter 2012?
See the list of six must-have Twitter features @ Scobleizer
Here on T/S, we’ve had an ongoing debate over the value of Twitter. Read Scoble’s list and then tell me: would you use that kind of Twitter?
Posted in social media, technology | Tagged: Friendfeed, Scoble, Twitter | Leave a Comment »
Posted by andreaitis on March 31, 2009
Yes, it’s true. A press release went out yesterday with this announcement, and for better or worse Rhode Island is showing us the money: http://twitter.com/RITreasury/
So, which is it: better or worse?
General Treasurer Frank T. Caprio announced today that the Office of the Rhode Island General Treasurer will now be using Twitter to broadcast the State’s daily cash flow on a real-time, daily basis.
Cash flow is a measure of Rhode Island’s financial health. Each day’s publication or “tweet” will highlight the gross revenues and expenditures of the General Fund. “In layman’s terms, what money the state takes in and what money is paid out,” said Caprio.
via RI.gov : Rhode Island Government : Treasurer Caprio’s Office To Utilize Social Networking Tool Twitter To Broadcast Rhode Island’s Daily Cash Flow On A Real-Time Basis.
Posted in technology, twitter | Tagged: Frank Caprio, Rhode Island, Treasury, Twitter | Leave a Comment »
Posted by andreaitis on March 29, 2009
Now if only Mark Cuban was twittering when he was on Dancing with the Stars…
The NBA has fined Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, the dotcom billionaire, $25,000 for slagging referees on Twitter Friday.
via Shut Up, Twitter: Mouthy Billionaire Mark Cuban Fined for Using Twitter.
Posted in social media, technology, twitter | Tagged: Fine, Mark Cuban, NBA, Twitter | Leave a Comment »
Posted by andreaitis on March 27, 2009
Another illusion shattered. All those celebs twittering? Well, some of them are Cyrano de Twitters. I can’t wait for the outcry from authentic star twitterers who will look down upon those outsourcing their twittering.
And, no matter what, please don’t tell me the_real_shaq is not the real Shaq. Surely a fake Shaq couldn’t Twitter like that.
Britney Spears recently advertised for someone to help, among other things, create content for Twitter and Facebook. Kanye West recently told New York magazine that he has hired two people to update his blog. “It’s just like how a designer would work,” he said.
It is not only celebrities who are forced to look to a team to produce real-time commentary on daily activities; politicians like Ron Paul have assigned staff members to create Twitter posts and Facebook personas. Candidate Barack Obama, as well as President Obama, has a social-networking team to keep his Twitter feed tweeting.
The famous, of course, have turned to ghostwriters for autobiographies and other acts of self-aggrandizement. But the idea of having someone else write continual updates of one’s daily life seems slightly absurd.
via When Stars Twitter, a Ghost May Be Lurking – NYTimes.com.
Posted in technology | Tagged: britney spears, Celebrities, Shaq, Twitter | 4 Comments »
Posted by andreaitis on March 26, 2009
Posted in technology | Tagged: Twitter | Leave a Comment »
Posted by andreaitis on March 12, 2009
Actually, I get this. Twitter is a live lifeline, and a quiet one. Instead of making noise talking to 911 you can quietly alert people, provide all critical info and then someone in the Twitterverse will surely call the police. Assuming, of course, you have an active Twitterverse. Think of the cameraperson who keeps shooting in the midst of gunfire or an explosion. They see themselves through the lens, in an altered reality. In this case, 140 characters of reality (plus live video).
A strange man broke into Revision3 COO David Prager’s home last night. Did David call the police? No, he updated Twitter and turned on a live video stream at Ustream.
Valley Exec Twitters Through Home Break-In
Posted in technology, twitter | Tagged: Break-in, David Prager, Revision3, Twitter, Ustream.tv | 1 Comment »
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