27 September 2009

27 September 2009

Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR [email protected]

WEB NEWS

6 Incredible Twitter Powered Art Projects [Mashable] SEP 27, 2009 02:16A.M.

Portwiture is an absolutely beautiful Twitter/Flickr mashup project that takes your tweets and turns them into a gorgeous piece of mosaic tile art. The site works by taking a look at your most recent tweets, and pulling out your most used keywords. Using those keywords, Portwiture then matches your tweets to interesting photography from Flickr to create a “serendipitous visual representation of your Twitter profile.” The results are stunning and can be viewed both in mosaic mode, and as a slideshow. You can tweet the results by changing the number of keywords to use, how it searches Flickr (i.e., by interestingness or by relevance), and by restricting the Flickr results to a specific Flickr user (so you can make a mosaic of your own photos). Twitter has brought us many things. It lets us communicate in real-time about breaking news events, it lets us share content like photos, music, and videos, and it lets us do business in new ways. But Twitter is also being used to power some very intriguing and beautiful virtual art projects. Tweets are being visualized and mashed up with other content in ways that create stunning online art.

2. Twitter Mosaic

In this post we’ll highlight six incredible experimental art projects that are using Twitter as a basis for their awesome creations. These visualizations go beyond just displaying data in more interesting ways — they are also truly fascinating pieces of online art. 1. Portwiture

Twitter Mosaic also creates a beautiful mosaic image from your Twitter profile, but rather than pulling images from Flickr and matching them to

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27 September 2009

the content of your tweets, the site instead tiles the profile images of your followers (or friends). The result is another amazing piece of Twitterpowered artwork. The site lets you delete from the mosaic any followers you want — allowing you to remove default avatars and reconfigure the mosaic until you have the most attractive possible version. The resulting image can be embedded on your web page or purchased on merchandise like coffee mugs or t-shirts. 3. TimeTweets

Twistori is an absolutely dazzling Twitter art project that continually scrolls tweets using the words love, hate, think, believe, feel, or wish. The site offers a fascinating look into the psyche of the collective Twitterverse, but because of the understated beauty of its design, Twistori can also be considered a top-notch Twitter-powered art project. Mac users can download a screensaver version of Twistori, as well as a desktop app that can create your own custom Twistori visualizations based on whatever keywords you want (and in whichever colors or fonts you’d like to use). 6. Twyric TimeTweets is an infinitely clever Twitter mashup that turns tweets into a clock. The site searches for tweets with a number corresponding to either the hour, minute, or second and then places those tweets into a clock by accentuating the numbers. The result is a very readable clock that is accurate to the second and refreshes in real-time with new tweets (though sometimes a second or two may be skipped if there are no good tweets that match the necessary number). The site is also available as a screensaver for the Mac. 4. Twitterfountain Twitterfountain takes text and photos and puts them together to create a piece of continually updating art. The site is another Twitter/Flickr mashup that mixes tweets and Flickr images about specific keywords. You can set the keywords for both the Twitter and Flickr searches, and they don’t have to match (so you could mix tweets about puppies with pictures of kittens). The result is a really cool way to visualize tweets about specific topics or events with images that match.

By mashing up Twitter with Flickr (sense a theme?), Twyric is able to bring life to short, Twitter-published verse. The site pulls in tweets that include poetic hashtags such as #haiku, #twyric, #lyric, #poetry, #poetic, and #poem, among others. The site then pairs the contents of that tweet with a related (by keyword, at least) image from Flickr. In mashing up those two, Twyric manages to create short, but beautiful, one-line visual poems. The creators of the experimental art project say that the idea is to create a “background for contemplation.”

Twitterfountains can be embedded and the size, color, and keywords for both Twitter and Flickr can be customized.

Do you know of any other Twitter-powered art projects? Please let us know about them in the comments!

5. Twistori

More Twitter resources from Mashable: - 6 Gorgeous Twitter Visualizations - 10 Most Extraordinary Twitter Updates - HOW TO: Find a Job on Twitter - HOW TO: Do Good on Twitter - 10 Ways to Find People on Twitter

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27 September 2009

Reviews: Flickr, Twitter

[via YouTube]

Tags: art, List, Lists, twitter, visualizations

Reviews: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube

WEB NEWS

Jenny Slate Drops The F-Bomb on SNL [YouTube Video] [Mashable[YouTube Video]] SEP 27, 2009 01:23A.M.

WEB NEWS

CNN Gives Tips on Trustworthy Tweeting with Mashable’s Ben Parr [VIDEO] [Mashable[VIDEO]] SEP 26, 2009 11:10P.M.

We’ve previously called these events “YouTube moments“. Perhaps in retrospect they might better be called “social media moments” – those rare events wherein Twitter, Facebook and YouTube suddenly explode with buzz around an event. Tonight that’s certainly the case with the “Jenny Slate Drops The FBomb on SNL” moment, in which the new SNL cast member swore on live television. Expect to see this all over your Twitter and Facebook feeds by the morning.

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27 September 2009

CNN broadcast a segment this morning on building a more “trustworthy Twitter”: ways to use web tools to avoid untrustworthy links and spammy Twitter users.

WEB NEWS

WITN?: In sort-of defence of Britain’s ridiculous libel laws [TechCrunch]

Mashable’s Ben Parr joined via phone and highlighted Powertwitter.me, a browser add-on that expands short URLs so you know what you’re about to click on. He also pointed to Tweetblocker, a Twitter spamfighting site we’ve covered before on Mashable: the site lets you enter a username and see if that person is a spammer.

SEP 26, 2009 10:26P.M.

Another site highlighted: TweetGrade. This handy tool lets you enter a Twitter username and see how worthwhile it would be to follow that person: it’s particularly useful if you receive a message that the person is following you and want to know if you should follow them back. A final tip offered (and probably the most valuable): the account Twitter.com/spam is the official way to report spammers to the Twitter staff. Just send a direct message to this account to let them know you’ve spotted a spammer. The full video clip is embedded below. How did Ben do? Let us know in the comments! Embedded video from CNN Video I’m writing this from the ‘club section’ (whatever that is) from San Francisco’s AT&T Park where, if I understand the scoring correctly (I don’t), the Cubs are leading the Giants 4-1. I’ve just eaten my second hot dog and I’m debating whether to buy a baseball cap emblazoned with the words ‘Go Giants’. I also just turned to my British friend Andrew to make an amusing American pop culture reference, prefacing my observation with the word “dude…”.

Reviews: Mashable, Twitter

I mention all of this for two reasons. First, I hope it will make you understand why my column this week reads like it’s been written by a man distracted by the fear of at any minute being beaned by a baseball, and second so you’ll appreciate all of the efforts I’m making to Love America. You see, over the past weeks I’ve realised how sensitive you former colonials are to foreigners opining on any aspect of your country, particularly if we compare it to our own. Almost two weeks after Techcrunch 50, I’m still getting hate mail over my post suggesting that your flag be moved two feet from the stage to the main floor. Much of the abuse glosses over the issue at hand and focusses instead on the indisputable fact that I am a freedom-hating socialist who would gladly see the American flag used to mop up the blood of terrorist martyrs. (Weirdly this is an accusation that I’ve heard far more frequently since joining TechCrunch than when I worked at the Manchester Socialist Guardian of Kabul.) So again, then, let me clarify that I love America. If there were a baseball game between the Terrorists and America, I would be as crestfallen as the next man were the Terrorists to win. Ok? Are we cool, America? Good. Now hopefully I can safely and rationally talk about the

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27 September 2009

differences between the British and American systems of libel law. In particular the fact that, whatever Michael Arrington might say, Yours might not be better than Ours.

soil where he has a (I’m trying here to channel my laughter through my keyboard as I write these words) reputation to defend. Libel tourism – where a foreign litigant can sue a foreign publication on British soil because one copy of the publications was sold there – is evil, but that’s not what’s happened here.

More than enough has been written about Techcrunch’s – and Arrington’s – run in with UK defamation law, but I’ll sum it up in a nut for newbies. Back in July a former TechCrunch UK editor called Sam Sethi sued TechCrunch, and Arrington, over a Crunchnotes post titled ‘The Fact And Fiction Of Sam Sethi‘. In the post, Arrington recounted the sorry tale of Sam’s departure from TechCrunch and subsequent founding of a rival blog network called BlogNation. It’s a story of lies, money, spectacular mismanagement and ultimately abysmal failure – a story eerily close to my own, but without the scorned women and prison cells.

This is an unpopular point of view, even amongst my own countrymen, but I actually quite like the harshness of British libel law. For a start it puts the burden of proof on the person making the libelous statement. If you accuse me of being a bad guy then it’s up to you to prove it’s true. If you can’t, you lose. And the penalties for losing are harsh: really harsh, which is how it probably should be. Unlike me, most Brits care about their reputation and standing in the community, and it’s hard to put a value on its loss.

But whereas my story ended with pseudo redemption, and an – ahem – bestselling book, Sam’s ended with denial, rage and him bringing a ridiculous libel suit – brought in the English courts – against TechCrunch. Advised by lawyers that it would cost upwards of half a million pounds ($750,000) to defend the case in the UK, Arrington and Techcrunch declined to participate, leading – ridiculously – to a default judgment in Sethi’s favour.

Really, when it comes to freedom of speech, it’s America that has the more ridiculous system. Thanks to the First Amendment and a presumption in the US that public figures are fair game, I am free to make up almost any bullshit I like about an American in the public eye without him being able to sue. “Michael Arrington fucks swans!” See, there you go. It’s actually kinda fun! And thanks to the Internet, Arrington’s fictitious swan-molesting ways will soon be known to the world. Hell, if TechCrunch is a credible source, they might even make it to Wikipedia. God Bless America.

You can understand then, why, Michael might have issue with the libel system in the country of my birth. And it gets worse: shortly after the judgment, documents came to light which showed that Sethi should never have been running BlogNation in the first place. Following the collapse of a previous business, he had been barred from being a director in England and Wales but due to an administrative fuck-up, this ban hadn’t been entered onto the statutory database. The situation has now been remedied and yet, despite the ban and the fact that Sam has apologised to Arrington and admitted fault, the judgment stands, effectively preventing Michael from visiting the UK.

Really the Sethi vs Techcrunch case has nothing to do with freedom of speech and everything to do with how ridiculously cheap and easy it is for a delusional litigant to bring a nuisance lawsuit in the UK against a journalist who is telling the truth. A journalist who then has to spend a small fortune defending the action. If the defendant is from outside the UK then their only real choice in these circumstances is to decline to participate, leading to a criminally unfair judgment against them. If they’re from the UK, their best hope is to settle and hope to keep their house. Either way, the delusional litigant wins, and the truth loses.

And yet, and yet… Reading Arrington’s post on the subject – entitled ‘UK Libel Law Is Out Of Control. We Know From Experience‘ – I can’t quite bring myself to entirely agree with him. Not about the Sethi stuff – Sam lied repeatedly to me and everyone else about being struck off as a director, and so deserves every bad word Michael says about him – but rather with the wider argument that libel law in the UK is in complete disarray because it allowed a UK litigant to sue an American citizen and website over something published online from the US.

Again, though, we’d struggle to look to America and find a better system. It was you people, after all, who gave the world the idea of no-win-no-fee lawyers: bloodsucking ambulance chasers who will gladly help me sue McDonalds for making their coffee with boiling water, rendering it unsafe for me to pour over my baby’s head. In most cases outside of libel, defending a nuisance lawsuit in the US is just as expensive, and just as pointless as it is in the UK. If our system is a mess then so is yours. Also, it’s all too easy for Americans to criticise our system without suggesting a better one. It’s like those people who stand on street corners yelling “stop the war” or “free healthcare for all” or “swans don’t put out” without demonstrating how they would solve the problem if they were in charge. Those who suggest that Britain would be better off with a US First Amendment style system are just plain wrong. Particularly in the Internet age, lies can get halfway around the world before the truth has found a decent WiFi connection. For that reason we need a system whereby liars are scared shitless from posting untruths in the UK, lest they find themselves in front of a bewigged judge capable of handing down an almost unlimited fine. It’s the only language these people understand.

Libel tourism gone mad! Wither freedom of speech?! Hmmmm. Like most legal issues, it’s actually a bit more complicated than that. Sethi is a British citizen who was – in his deluded mind at least – libeled by a website published in the US, but available to read – obviously – in the UK. For that reason there is, prima facie, absolutely nothing wrong with his bringing his ridiculous and pointless action in the UK courts. After all, thanks to the Internet, he was defamed (in his mind), on British

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27 September 2009

So what is the solution to improving the UK libel system? As always, I have the answers…

If the consultation results in a change of law then it won’t solve the problem entirely – the UK still needs to get rid of no-win, no-fee lawyers and to clamp down on no-British litigants and the suing of individual journalists – but it would be a major leap forward. One which would have stopped Sethi in its tracks and move the British libel system closer to being The Best In The World.

First, we needs an immediate ban on no win no fee lawyers in all but means-tested personal injury claims. If a litigant really thinks they have a claim against a publication – foreign or domestic – then they need to put their money where their reputations is. If they can’t do that then you might ask what value they put on their reputation in the first place.

And this, America, is where you come in. If like Arrington, you think the English system is screwed, I urge you to get involved in repairing it. The Ministry of Justice has published a list of questions that it wants your answers on here. Go answer them; pretend you’re British if you have to.

Second, it’s ridiculous that litigants can sue individual journalists when their work appears in professionally edited publications. In Arrington’s post, he referred to the case of Simon Singh, a British journalist who was sued personally by the British Chiropractic Association for an article he wrote in the Guardian. The BCA chose to sue Singh personally rather than the Guardian, thus exposing the reporter to personal ruin no matter whether he successfully defends the action or not. Only a mentally retarded chimp would think that’s fair.

I’ve already sent in my answers and I’m going to do my best to convince Arrington to do the same when he gets back from vacation in Hawaii. Or at least he claims he’s on vacation. Do they have swans in Hawaii? Just saying.

Third, libel tourism could be wiped out at a stroke if there was a requirement for litigants bringing action under English law to actually be British citizens. This wouldn’t have helped in Sethi vs Arrington, but it would certainly deal with the vast majority of outrageous abuses of jurisdiction.

Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0 TechCrunch50 Conference 2009: September 14-15, 2009, San Francisco

But by far the most important change that needs to be made to English libel law is to scrap the so-called ‘multiple publication rule‘. This is the decision, made by the English courts in 1849, that every time a publisher makes a new copy of a libelous article, they are considered to have republished – and repeated – the libel. Which is important because English law imposes a statutory limitation of one year after publication for someone to bring a defamation action. With the advent of the Internet, the multiple publication rule has caused havoc. In the eyes of the law, every time a user accesses a copy of an article published online, the act of the publisher’s web server delivering it is considered to be a republication. In other words, as long as something remains in an online archive, it is constantly being republished and there is no time restriction on someone suing over it. This is how Sethi was able to dither for well over a year after Arrington’s ‘Fact and Fiction’ post was first published before taking action, and it’s why the UK remains such an attractive place to bring a libel suit. Without the multiple publication rule, his suit against TechCrunch would have come too late, and been thrown out before it even started. The good news is that the English justice system is already – forgive the pun – on the case. Earlier this month, the Ministry of Justice began a consultation over scrapping the multiple publication rule. In its place they are considering a single publication rule – where the clock begins ticking when the libel is first published, and stops either one or three years (they haven’t decide yet) later. After that, publishers who keep articles archived electronically would have what’s called a ‘qualified privilege’ defence where they couldn’t be sued for leaving what they believe to be accurate statements online after that time.

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27 September 2009

To explain the inconsistency, the company’s FAQ once famously read: “Google opened its doors in September 1998. The exact date when we celebrate our birthday has moved around over the years, depending on when people feel like having cake.” In recent years, Google has taken to changing its logo on September 27th, meaning this has been taken as the “official” date. If you’d like to learn more about Google’s intriguing history, Google it.

How has Google changed your life? Let us know in the comments! Reviews: Google

WEB NEWS

Happy 11th Birthday, Google. Nice Logo! [Mashable] SEP 26, 2009 10:15P.M.

WEB NEWS

Should Facebook Remove Subject Lines from Messages? [Mashable] SEP 26, 2009 08:01P.M.

It’s Google’s 11th birthday on Sunday, September 27th: to celebrate, the company has changed its logo to a version that turns the letter “L” into the number 11. The logo is already viewable in Europe. What’s interesting about the logo change is that Google’s official birthday is somewhat disputed: some often declare the company was born on September 15th 1997, the day the Google.com domain was registered. Meanwhile, Google filed for incorporation in September 1998: the papers were filed on September 4th, but Google has been known to celebrate on both September 7th and September 27th.

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27 September 2009

There are reasons to favor Blackwell’s stance, however: Twitter Direct Messages (DMs) have never required a subject line since the aim is to fit the message within the length limitations of an SMS (typically 160 characters). Facebook messages, by contrast, often get split into two or more parts when sent to your phone via SMS. Facebook would likely see more casual interaction if it worked more like text messaging. It comes down to what you think Facebook messages should be: is your Facebook inbox an alternative to email? Or is it just for more casual, SMS-like communication?

Silicon Valley-based entrepreneur Trevor Blackwell has a proposal for Facebook: remove subject lines from Facebook mail. Blackwell, whose company Anybots builds humanoid robots, argues that Facebook subject lines are so often just a casual “hi” that they could be removed completely. As he explains on his blog today:

What do you think? Should Facebook remove the subject line, or keep it? Reviews: Facebook, Twitter, blog

Here’s an idea for Facebook. Get rid of subject lines in messages. They almost never have any content in them other than “Hi”. Nobody ever changes subject lines in threads, because it seems like you’re trying too hard, so they’re usually unrelated to recent conversation. And it makes it seem like when you’re writing to someone, you have to have something to say that can be summarized. But often what people want to say is just one sentence, “Hey, nice to see you last night at the club” or something. There’s no short version of that. Getting rid of the Subject: field would lead to a lot more messages since it makes it so much easier.

WEB NEWS

This Week’s Top Downloads [Download Roundup] [LIfehacker[Download Roundup]]

While he has a point – many casual conversations on Facebook typically merit only a “hey” or “hi” subject line – removing established features is rarely a popular move, especially in this case where subject lines are totally optional. That’s the key point, I think: of the Facebook mails currently in my inbox, around 1 in 10 senders just don’t enter a subject line.

SEP 26, 2009 08:00P.M. • Picasa 3.5 Organizes Your Photos with Facial Recognition (Windows/Mac) • Google’s free desktop photo organizer is stepping up to iPhoto’s killer feature by adding face recognition and syncing it with Picasa Web Albums, making it easy to send Uncle Bob every single photo you’ve got of Aunt Marla.

The subject line has value, too: if you receive your Facebook mails via your webmail account (especially on your phone), it’s useful to have a subject line. For those who use Facebook professionally, meanwhile – and many, many PR pros send pitches this way – a subject line seems appropriate for these formal messages.

• Evernote 3.5 Beta Brings Tons of Tiny Fixes to Windows (Windows) • If you’re a happy Evernote desktop user and only wish it looked nicer, moved faster, and was smarter about how it handled your organization tools, the just-released 3.5 beta will make you very happy.

Counterpoint: Shorter is Faster

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• PhotoLapse Makes Time-Lapse Movie Creation a Snap (Windows) • PhotoLapse is a tiny and portable application for stitching together images into a time-lapse video. Point it at a folder full of pictures, and you’re mostly done.

WEB NEWS

Hello, And Welcome To Moviefone. Now Leave And Try ShowtimeFu. [TechCrunch]

• Google Chrome Dev Channel Boosts Mac and Linux Versions (Windows/Mac/Linux) • Yesterday afternoon, the Google Chrome team released another update with performance gains for platforms, but Mac and Linux users will see the greatest boosts and new, useful functions.

SEP 26, 2009 07:36P.M.

• Thunderbird 3 Beta 4 Available for Download (Windows/Mac/Linux) • Mozilla has released a new preview version of their desktop email application in the form of Thunderbird 3 Beta 4, adding a new email search, smart folders, and more. • Apple Releases iTunes 9.0.1 Update (Windows/Mac) • Two weeks after releasing iTunes 9, Apple has pushed out a small update to the popular music player in the form of iTunes 9.0.1. The update addresses several bugs and improvements, but doesn’t offer any significant updates (not surprising considering iTunes 9 just came out). • Google Chrome Frame Turns Internet Explorer into a FrankenChrome Browser (Chrome) • Google today released a new browser plug-in called Google Chrome Frame that creates an unholy union between Internet Explorer and Google Chrome, rendering web pages in IE using Chrome’s rendering engine.

At one time, Moviefone was the hottest way to find movie showtimes. It was so hot in the 90s that Seinfeld even made fun of it in an episode (embed below). Sadly, now run by AOL, its website is a cluttered mess. I don’t know about you, but when I visit it, I expect to find a way to easily find movie showtimes. I don’t care about the latest celebrity gossip, nor do I want to see all this behind the scenes stuff. Just movie showtimes, please.

• Mint for iPhone Brings 3.0 Features to the Personal Finance App (iPhone/iPod Touch) • Popular personal finance webapp Mint released their iPhone app last year, but today they’ve unveiled a new and improved version, introducing support for push notifications for important alerts and editable transactions.

That’s what a new site, ShowtimeFu offers. And it’s so much better than Moviefone You simply visit the site, put in your city (or it may remember it if you’ve been there before), and you get a full listing of every movie playing around you, at what time, and at what theater.

• FoodScanner Makes Calorie Counting a Breeze (iPhone) • Previously mentioned fitness web site Gyminee has changed names to DailyBurn since we last featured them, and as of today they’ve also released a new iPhone application that helps track calories by scanning bar codes of over 200,000 foods.

On the left side navigation, you can deselect certain movies, as well as rule out theaters. You can also deselect certain ratings, and filter the time. In the main column, you simply have a list of the movies and the showtimes. If you click on one you’re interested in, it loads a new page in this main column which contains a description of the movie (along with links to its IMDb and Rotten Tomato pages), a map of where the theater showing it is, and the play times (including a beginning and end time).

• FeedDemon 3.0 Final is an RSS Addict’s Best Friend (Windows) • The official 3.0 version of FeedDemon, the desktop feed reader that synchronizes with Google Reader, is now available, bringing with it many, many fixes, features, and updates for lovers of all things RSS.

Unfortunately, one thing you cannot do is purchase tickets from the site. But it seems like that would be an easy enough feature to add. And to be honest, I never buy tickets over the web anyway, I just want the showtimes then head to the theater to get the actual tickets. So this option is perfect for me. I long ago gave up on Moviefone. Fandango is slightly better in terms of easy access to movie times, but it’s even more cluttered. Recently, to find movie times, I’ve been using Google Search with queries like “movies ZIP

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CODE”. But that leave a bit to be desired if I do actually want to know a little more about the movie. ShowtimeFu is a simple site, that won’t lead to any Seinfeld spoofs (that would be hard considering the show has been off the air for a decade), but it works — at least when I’m at my computer, otherwise there are plenty of good iPhone apps for finding movie times.

WEB NEWS

Connosr Ranks All Things Whiskey [Drinks] [LIfehacker[Drinks]]

Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.

SEP 26, 2009 07:00P.M.

TechCrunch50 Conference 2009: September 14-15, 2009, San Francisco

We’ve pointed to Steepster as a social network for tea snobs, and Snooth for wine-lovers. Both posts were filled with cries for similar service for whiskey fans, so we’re back with Connosr. Trust us, it’s all about whiskey. Connosr lets users catalog, review, and rate whiskeys you own and have tried. You can share those reviews with friends and check out what they’ve been drinking, then add their favored spirits to your wish list for future sampling.

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The site has extras that make tracking and reviewing whiskey even more enjoyable (if that’s possible), like maps of distilleries, calendars of events detailing things like tours, tasting events, and whiskey-centric gatherings, and the ability to browse whiskey reviews via a tag cloud. Looking for a peaty taste with smokey overtones? There’s a spot in the tag cloud and a whiskey to fit your request.

However, it was found that one of her posts had been copied in part from the Techdirt blog, creating an obvious irony. Allen also admitted she distributed mixtapes of other artists’ work early in her career, somewhat undermining her case. In a change of heart, Allen apologized to Techdirt and said she will abandon her stance. The blog TorrentFreak claims that Allen continues to support bandwidth throttling of infringers, but not total disconnection.

Connosr is a free site, but requires a login for anything beyond searching and reading reviews. Connosr [via DownloadSquad]

Now singer Dan Bull has responded to the debate in the form of an open letter presented as a song entitled “Dear Lily”. The full video is below, and contains some pretty good zingers. What do you think? Is Lily Allen’s stance on file sharing hypocritical? [Image credit: Benoît Derrier]

WEB NEWS

Dear Lily Allen: File Sharing Debate Now Has Lyrics [Video] [Mashable[Video]] SEP 26, 2009 06:14P.M.

WEB NEWS

Install a “Garage Open” Indicator to Increase Security [Security] [LIfehacker[Security]] SEP 26, 2009 06:00P.M. British pop star Lily Allen has topped the blogosphere this week over posts made to her anti-piracy blog “It’s Not Alright”. The singer came out in favor of proposed UK legislation that would cut off the Internet connections of those found to be downloading copyrighted material three times.

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WEB NEWS

Use Apples to Extend the Shelf Life of Cakes [Food Hacks] [LIfehacker[Food Hacks]] SEP 26, 2009 05:00P.M.

We’ve all been there. You climb into bed, you turn off the nightstand lamp, and you think “Did I close the garage door?” Save yourself the midnight trip to check on the garage with this ingenious hack. Instructables user kcj2010 hated peeling himself out of bed to double check on the garage door and hated waking up in the morning realizing he’d left it open even more. His solution was to wire a sensor to his garage door and place an indicator light hidden in the light fixture of the master bedroom. Office parties. Birthdays. Holidays. Attend most celebrations and, odds are, the festivities will include cake, and there will be leftovers. Keep those indulgent slices fresher for longer with apples.

When the garage is open, a small red LED shines on the light fixture and gives an immediate and highly visible indicator that the garage door is open. No light? The garage is closed. Seems like an idea that could be applied to any swinging or sliding door that causes you concern. Check out the Instructable for the parts list and wiring diagram. Sound off in the comments if you’ve undertaken a novel hack of your own to solve a problem around the house.

Photo by kimberlykv. Reader’s Digest culled six culinary uses for apples, and one of them, according to their post, is extending the shelf-life of both homemade and store-bought cakes. Simply store them in the fridge or freezer with half an apple tilted or placed on top of slices laying on their side. The cut apples will help lock in the moisture longer than the cold temperatures of your fridge and freezer alone.

How-To Install a “Garage Door Open” Indicator [via Unpluggd]

Check out the post for the other apple tips, then browse our top ten food and drink hacks for other ideas on how to make the most of your meals. Six Extraordinary Uses for Apples [Reader’s Digest]

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WEB NEWS

YouTube Feud Ends: U2, Madonna and Green Day Videos Set to Return [Mashable] SEP 26, 2009 04:51P.M. WEB NEWS

ReadWriteWeb Events Guide, 26 September 2009 [Read Write Web] SEP 26, 2009 04:00P.M.

Just a reminder: ReadWriteWeb’s own Real-Time Web Summit is only a few weeks away, and some excellent participants are now signed up. You can download the event calendar below in iCal format or import it into your Google Calendar. You can also import individual events using the link beside each entry. This events guide is a weekly feature here on ReadWriteWeb. We publish it every weekend, as good a time as any to review your conference plans.

YouTube and Warner Music may finally have settled their differences and come to a deal that puts music from major artists back on YouTube. CNET reported last week that an agreement will be announced in the “next few weeks”, while AdAge claimed Friday that the deal is now signed. The move ends a long feud between the two companies: since December 2008, when talks broke down, videos featuring Warner artists have been blocked and/or muted on the site, including some cover versions.

Know of an event taking place that should appear here? Let us know in the comments below or contact us. Sponsor

In one very notable case, Death Cab For Cutie saw videos for songs from the albums Plans and Narrow Stairs pulled from their own website. We’ll say that again: songs were removed from an artist’s own website because the group used YouTube embeds. Meanwhile, YouTube users posted angry responses after seeing their videos muted or deleted.

15 October 2009: Mountain View, California

It’s good news for everyone, then, that the spat is finally at an end. An official announcement is yet to be made.

The ReadWrite Real-Time Web Summit

[Image credit: Massygo] Reviews: YouTube

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Our month of special coverage on the real-time Web culminates with ReadWriteWeb’s very first event: the ReadWrite Real-Time Web Summit, a day-long event of conversations about the real-time Web, including its current state and its pressing challenges and greatest opportunities.

invite to contribute ideas and videos to the film. When the film is completed, it will be released online under a creative commons license. In other words, you are both the contributor and the audience. The 24-hour storytelling event on 30 September 2009 shares the videos submitted up till then in a round-the-clock marathon in which participants get to watch the videos online, rate and comment on them, and tweet about them.

Topics will include: • The potential and pitfalls of real-time for social networking, media, financial services, humanitarian work and political advocacy. • How will ubiquitous real-time information delivery change the web in the future? What will it make possible? How will it change user expectations?

2 October 2009: Seattle, Washington

ExpressionEngine Roadshow

• How can real-time information overload be dealt with, technically and culturally? • How can small organizations use the real-time web to challenge market incumbents? How can market incumbents continue to thrive in a real-time environment? Register here.

The ExpressionEngine Roadshow is a traveling conference designed to bring together experts and users to learn ExpressionEngine techniques and share insider tips. Now in its second year, and second city, the 2009 conference will be a full day event. The show runs from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm, with breakfast before, a party after, and lunch in between, all included in the price of admission. Follow @eeroadshow on Twitter for the latest details.

30 September 2009: on Twitter

Twittamentary

2 October 2009: New York City

Hadoop World

Update: Call for submissions of stories and videos is now open. In this documentary, filmmaker Tan Siok Siok peels away the hype and explores the human dimensions of how lives connect and intersect, and then are affected and changed, as result of encounters on Twitter.

Facebook, Google, and Yahoo! introduced the world to Hadoop, the open-source technology that simultaneously combines storage and processing for large-scale data. Now, all sorts of companies in a number

Twittamentary is created in the open spirit of the Web. Twitter users are

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of different verticals are using Hadoop. And they’re all going to be in New York City on October 2nd for Hadoop World. All the Hadoop rock stars will be there, including Hadoop project creator Doug Cutting. Amazon, Facebook, IBM, and Yahoo!, to name a few companies, are sponsoring the event. In addition to the above listed, Visa, JPMorganChase, China Mobile, and many others will be giving talks about their use of Hadoop. ReadWriteWeb readers get 25% off the regular ticket price. Register here.

The Juice Pitcher is shaping up to be the hottest new networking event in the Valley. The exclusive evening gathering on October 10 is being hosted by Vator.tv and TheFunded and will showcase 10 startups, chosen by their peers through votes on the Vator competition platform. Get your favorite companies to join the Juice Pitcher Competition, and don’t forget to vote! Voting is open to anyone, so you can make a difference. In addition, Aaron Patzer, CEO of Mint.com, will speak about how he built a $170 million company in just three years, and Munjal Shah, CEO of Like.com, will talk about best practices and steps to earning revenue.

8 October 2009: San Diego

Mobile Application Stores conference

Click here to buy your tickets and see the agenda.

22 October 2009: London, England

Cloud Computing World Forum As a partner seminar of Intenational CTIA WIRELESS I.T. and Entertainment, the Mobile Application Stores conference will focus on the tremendous opportunities in the mobile apps stores eco-system. The event is designed to give a complete understanding of how to capitalize on this exploding market. Participants will discuss strategy and deployment in application stores such as Apple (iPhone), Google (Android), RIM (Blackberry), Nokia (Ovi), Palm Pre, and Microsoft, as well as other emerging application stores. To learn more, visit www.mobileapplicationstores.com or write to [email protected].

The Cloud Computing World Forum is the perfect event for professionals to learn and discuss the future development and integration of cloud services. This one-day conference will provide a focused platform for the global cloud computing industry. The Cloud Computing World Forum is the place to meet all the key decision makers from all of the cloud service providers in one place. Show highlights include:

10 October 2009: Mountain View, California

• Hear from leading case studies on how to integrate cloud computing into working practices,

Juice Pitcher

• Learn from the key players offering services in the cloud, • Benefit from pre-show online meeting planner, • Evening networking reception.

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New for 2009 is VGS University, a half-day seminar designed to provide a comprehensive overview of how to succeed with virtual goods. Hear from experts on topics such as why virtual goods are effective and the ins and outs of managing a virtual economy. Whether you’re new to virtual goods or seeking insights and lessons from the leaders, we encourage you to join us for the day and learn from some of our industry’s leading-edge thinkers.

23 October 2009: Durham, North Carolina

The Social Media Business Forum

ReadWriteWeb readers save 15% off general admission by registering here using the discount code “READWRITEWEB.”

4 – 5 November 2009: Raleigh, North Carolina

Internet Summit 2009

The Social Media Business Forum will feature national and local speakers from marketing companies, technology companies, and social networks discussing ways in which business communications have changed because of social media. Sessions will look at internal and external communications methods for both B2B and B2C companies and provide actionable takeaway items for attendees to immediately implement in their businesses. The forum targets business owners, executives, business communicators, key organizational stake holders, and anyone interested in gaining practical knowledge about social media.

Internet Summit ‘09 will feature over 75 speakers, including representatives of major Internet brands such as Twitter, Pandora, Google, Salesforce.com, Digg, Technorati, CBS Interactive, Huffington Post, Blogger, Tree.com, and many more. Topics will include social media, blogging, real time, mobile, video, search, online advertising, e-commerce, analytics, the cloud, and more.

Early bird registration is $125 until September 18, and $250 thereafter.

Join over 1200 entrepreneurs, senior marketers, and executives in the conversation about the future of the industry and how to capitalize on the shifting dynamics of the Internet and tap into its unlimited business potential.

29 – 30 October 2009: San Francisco, California

9 – 10 November 2009: Santa Clara, California

Virtual Goods Summit

Social Networking World Forum — California

The virtual goods market has exploded as developers and publishers dive into this new opportunity. The third annual Virtual Goods Summit in October 2009 will bring together thought leaders in this space from Asia, Europe, and the US to talk about what’s changed and what’s working and the key challenges facing the industry. If you’re active in virtual goods — or thinking of jumping in — the Virtual Goods Summit is a must-attend event.

This event taking place at the Santa Clara Convention Center actually consists of three conferences: two days dedicated to social networking,

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one day dedicated to enterprise social media, and one day dedicated to social TV. Key speakers include social networking publishers, advertising agencies, industry analysts, software developers and equipment manufacturers, pay-TV and network service providers, mobile operators, and more.

largest sense, we’re all looking to augment the pace at which we achieve insights on raw data — to accelerate the “A-ha” moment. Defrag explores the intersection of topics like: • Business intelligence

• Joint exhibition combining social networking and enterprise social media formats

• Business process management

• Pre-show online meeting planner for delegates

• Social computing and analytics

• Discount for early booking (expires September 25th)

• Next-level discovery

• Free pass for exhibition only

• Enterprise 2.0 • Next-gen email

10 – 13 November 2009: Las Vegas

• The semantic Web

PubCon Vegas

19 November 2009: Mountain View, California

Under the Radar

PubCon Las Vegas is a multi-track educational conference hosted by SearchEngineWorld & WebmasterWorld. PubCon events are for thought leaders and professionals in search engine and Internet marketing to gather and to share best practices in the design, development, promotion and marketing of their Internet businesses and brands. PubCon London 2009 is a social networking event.

Featuring the most cutting-edge mobile startups from around the globe, Under the Radar will get you dialed in to what the 2010 mobile innovation marketplace will look like. It’s a must-attend event for dealmakers from global carriers, brands, media companies, and handset manufacturers responsible for helping their companies leverage new mobile technology and innovation in the fast-evolving digital landscape.

11 – 12 November 2009: Denver, Colorado Save $200: book by 2 October 2009, and get the early-bird rate.

Defrag 2009 Conference 1 – 3 December 2009: London, England

Online Information & IMS 2009

As online data is growing and fragmenting at an exponential pace, individuals, groups and organizations are struggling to discover, assemble, organize, act on and gather feedback from that data. In the

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part of an integrated platform for customers. You need to know solutions and technologies that are ready to be implemented today. Gilbane Conference Boston is built around the four major areas of how enterprises use Web and content technologies: • Web business and engagement; • Managing collaboration and social media: internal and external; • Enterprise content: searching, integrating and publishing; • Content infrastructure. Visit www.gilbaneboston.com for conference details. ReadWriteWeb readers, use the discount code “GILBANE” to save an additional $200. Register today!

Online Information and IMS together create the largest event dedicated to the information industry. Consisting of an exhibition delivering over 9,000 visitors from 70 countries, a conference and a show-floor seminar program, the event provides an annual meeting place for the global information industry.

15 – 16 March 2010: London, England Online Information is once again set to play host to thousands of information professionals, information end-users and publishers from around the globe, meeting suppliers of online content, e-publishing, and library management solutions. IMS provides a forum for IT, business, and information management professionals to find unlimited, relevant advice, educational content and compare solutions under one roof. Attend IMS and meet suppliers of content management, search solutions, and Web 2.0 technologies.

2nd Annual Social Networking World Forum — London

1 – 3 December 2009: Boston, Massachusetts The 2nd Annual Social Networking World Forum takes place at the Olympia Conference Centre in London. The two-day event features four dedicated conference streams:

Gilbane Conference Boston

1. Social Networking World Forum 2. Enterprise social media 3. Social TV World Forum 4. Mobile Social Networking Forum The event features key speakers from global brands, organizations, social networking publishers and developers, pioneering social media leaders, top agencies, content producers, and more. • Full workshop program within exhibition area Join us at the sixth annual “Gilbane Conference Boston: Content, Collaboration and Customers.”

• Evening networking reception • Pre-show online meeting planner for delegates

Your content is your business, and you need to make your Web content

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• Free pass for exhibition only

Julia Suits, a tinkerer with a Flickr account, had this to say to Make Online about her endeavors in chess set building: [As I] headed toward the light-bulb aisle in my local hardware store a few years ago, I stopped to admire the bins of nuts,bolts and the like ... I love metal,and have cast and welded all types as a sculpture major in graduate school. When I saw the little bin containing two different types of castle nuts, I immediately thought of rooks.

Download this entire events calendar in iCal format. Discuss

At the time my three sons and I hosted a weekly chess club, so chess was on my mind a lot. With my boys in tow, I returned with graph paper and we computed what sorts of bits we might want (we didn’t know for sure) for each type of piece and how many in total. An hour later, after poring over numerous bins and waiting for the clerk to saw the threaded rod into measured lengths (for kings, rooks,and bishops), we went home with about fifteen pounds of loot, including spray paint for the black pieces. We created a set not far different from what is pictured here. Since then we’ve added washers to some and added a flanged hex nut to each of the bases to make the set uniform and even more stable. The hardware chessmen were a huge hit and the other boys built their own sets. If the set caught your eye, you’ll definitely want to check out her Flickr account for a deep look. There you’ll find close ups and “exploded parts” style photos of various pieces. If you’ve tried your hand at building a custom chess set of your own, we’d love to see pictures of it in the comments.

WEB NEWS

Make a Chess Set Out of Nuts and Bolts [Games] [LIfehacker[Games]]

Julia’s Nuts and Bolts Chest Set [via Make]

SEP 26, 2009 04:00P.M.

If you’re pondering over a gift to give a chess-loving, mechanically minded friend this holiday season, you could do worse than a chess set made of nuts, bolts, and washers.

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WEB NEWS

WEB NEWS

ReturnMyPants Ensures You Get Loaned Items Back [Tracking] [LIfehacker[Tracking]]

Wine.com Uncorks Its API [TechCrunch] SEP 26, 2009 01:37P.M.

SEP 26, 2009 03:00P.M.

Wine.com, a popular wine retailer with a fantastic domain name, is releasing its API for third-party developers to create and enhance wine applications connecting to the site’s e-commerce and wine database platform. If you’re loaning something out and you’d like to see it again some day, it’s wise to have some sort of reminder system in place. ReturnMyPants is a simple tracking tool for items you loan out.

Wine.com’s database has detailed information on over 40,000 wines, including labels, wine maker notes, professional ratings, customer reviews, geographical information, flavor profiles and more. The API will offer access to Wine.com’s “Wine Basics” content, which includes information about the world’s major wine growing regions and grape varietals.

Tell ReturnMyPants what you’re lending, to whom, whether you want the lendee to get an automatic reminder from ReturnMyPants, the length of the “loan”, and who you are. ReturnMyPants can email them, or just you, when it’s time for your pants or other loaned items to return home.

The online wine industry is steadily growing with wine-related startups raising significant amounts of funding. Online wine store and community Vinfolio got a $4.5 million infusion recently and social wine review site and retailer Snooth raised $1 million earlier this year. And the newly re-launched Corkd has added a social stream and a new business model.

The service is free, and an account is created for you the first time you use the service. Have another handy way to keep track of your things as they journey about town? Let’s hear about it in the comments. ReturnMyPants [via MakeUseOf]

While many of these more established sites (and competitors) may not present opportunities for the integration of Wine.com’s API, the site may find interest from smaller blogs, or sites that want to create wine applications that connect with the wine retailer’s database and ecommerce platform. Photo credit: Flickr/Warrenski Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily. TechCrunch50 Conference 2009: September 14-15, 2009, San Francisco

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WEB NEWS

Project Playlist and Blip.fm Down [Mashable] SEP 26, 2009 01:27P.M.

Two major music sites: “Twitter-like” music service Blip.fm and streaming music player Project Playlist are having downtime woes today. (UPDATE at 1.30pm ET: Blip.fm appears to be back up.) Project Playlist suffered a power outage at its data center last night, according to an alert on the site, and playlists are not populating. Blip.fm has also acknowledged its downtime, although no reason has been given for the outage. Music fans looking for their social music fix might want to check out the following resources: 1. 10 Ways to Share Music on Twitter 2. Social Music: 5 of the Best Free iPhone Apps 3. Social Music: Top 5 Sites to Build a Playlist 4. Social Music: Top 5 Music Recommendation Services 5. HOW TO: Use Social Media for Sharing Music 6. 16 Great Music Add-Ons for Firefox 7. 5 Digital Music Trends Reviews: BLIP

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