17 new stories on The Next Web today |  |
- Google rolls out new mobile site for US midterm elections [TNW Mobile]
- Microsoft acquires 3D motion sensor maker Canesta [TNW Microsoft]
- drop.io acquired by Facebook. Talent grab or is file storage coming to Facebook? [TNW Social Media]
- T-Mobile’s Crazy Heathrow Arrival Gate Musical [TNW Shareables]
- Google brings remote wipe, other security features to Android through Google Apps dashboard [TNW Google]
- Microsoft now provides photography advice to Foursquare users [TNW Microsoft]
- Need to Bang Out Some Bhangra? Pocket Bhangra Is Just The Ticket [TNW Canada]
- Bell Can Meter Bandwidth & Gets the Most Complaints [TNW Canada]
- Facebook’s new games portal is just around the corner [TNW Social Media]
- Friday Listen: William Gibson CBC Spark Interview [TNW Canada]
- OnStar and GM release iPhone and Android apps to control, monitor 2011 car models [TNW Apps]
- This vending machine accepts PayPal, the future has spoken [TNW United States]
- iPhone 4 completely sold out in China, hoarding scalpers probably to blame [TNW Asia]
- The white iPhone 4 commercial that Apple should have made [TNW Apple]
- PayPal is down. Here’s what you need to know. [Updated] [TNW United States]
- The Social Network on track to be one of this year’s most pirated films [TNW Social Media]
- Windows Phone 7 gets a boost from 89,000 Microsoft employees [TNW Mobile]
- Limewire’s demise leads to a Bearshare climb [TNW United States]
| Google rolls out new mobile site for US midterm elections [TNW Mobile] Posted: 30 Oct 2010 12:43 AM PDT
Android smartphone and iPhone users will be able to visit the Google Election Center by entering m.google.com/elections into their mobile browser. The site will then presents users with an address prompt, displaying a Google Map of the users local polling station once entered. It’s great to see Google encouraging people to go out and vote. Introducing a portal like the Election Center will encourage citizens who might have been undecided on whether to vote to locate their nearest polling place and make that all important difference.
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| Microsoft acquires 3D motion sensor maker Canesta [TNW Microsoft] Posted: 29 Oct 2010 04:20 PM PDT Canesta, a Silicon Valley based maker of 3D chips and “electronic perception technology” just confirmed an earlier New York Times report that Microsoft has acquired the company. Terms of the deal were not announced. For the soon-to-be-release Kinect Xbox add-on, Microsoft is actually using a chip from a competitor of Canesta, though perhaps down the road Microsoft will switch to the technology that it just acquired. That said, Canesta’s motion detection technology – especially in the hands and deep pockets of Microsoft – could be used in a variety of applications including PCs, tablets, appliances and even cars. Here’s a video from the Canesta website demoing its technology on a PC: Press release, New York Times, Techmeme [Notice: this is the RSS feed for ALL stories from across The Next Web - that means a lot of stories every day - for just our top stories, subscribe to our Top Stories RSS feed here.] |
| drop.io acquired by Facebook. Talent grab or is file storage coming to Facebook? [TNW Social Media] Posted: 29 Oct 2010 03:22 PM PDT
If you’re hosting files on drop.io, you’ll have until December 15th to grab them. All files will be deleted at that time and no user data or content will be transferred, according to the blog. Other APIs and services (such as Presslift) will remain online for a while longer while the transition to a Facebook happens. Some interesting clarification comes from CNET, where Caroline McCarthy provides this:
While we’d love to see file storage come to Facebook, especially for easy photo transfer, does it really make sense? We’re reaching out to the drop.io folks and Facebook as well and we’ll let you know if we find any information beyond what’s on the blog.Techmeme Discussion [Notice: this is the RSS feed for ALL stories from across The Next Web - that means a lot of stories every day - for just our top stories, subscribe to our Top Stories RSS feed here.] |
| T-Mobile’s Crazy Heathrow Arrival Gate Musical [TNW Shareables] Posted: 29 Oct 2010 03:07 PM PDT No instruments. Just people getting welcomed to Heathrow Airport by a musical numbers. Some performers were seemingly on the planes as well (though maybe not). Doesn’t this make you want to turn on your T-Mobile phone as soon as you land? Crazy marketing. [Notice: this is the RSS feed for ALL stories from across The Next Web - that means a lot of stories every day - for just our top stories, subscribe to our Top Stories RSS feed here.] |
| Posted: 29 Oct 2010 02:46 PM PDT
Now, however, companies that use Google Apps now have the options to:
To enable this on Android phones, the phone will have to have the “Google Apps Device Policy” app installed, which Google says should be available through the Android Market “in the next few days,” and will be free to all Google Apps Premier and Education Edition customers. Google will be running a live webinar on November 10 at 12pm EDT to discuss these changes. You can sign up here if you’re interested.Google Enterprise Blog [Notice: this is the RSS feed for ALL stories from across The Next Web - that means a lot of stories every day - for just our top stories, subscribe to our Top Stories RSS feed here.] |
| Microsoft now provides photography advice to Foursquare users [TNW Microsoft] Posted: 29 Oct 2010 02:22 PM PDT
Here’s how it works. First, you need to follow Windows Live Photo Gallery on Foursquare, then every time you check into a venue that is near a place that professional photographers have scouted out as places to take great photos, you’ll see a Tip popup from Windows Live Photo Galley saying not only where to go, but how to best take the picture. This model of providing experts Tips, is a pretty good one, we have to say. Often when we’re using Foursquare, we ignore the Tips that pop up, even though they are often from people we know, because often they are just recommendations for which donut or beer to get. However, combine an expert’s knowledge with Foursquare’s To Do List and that has a lot more appeal for us as far as Tips go. To find these tips you have two options: you can either check-in and be surprised when one pops up, or if you would prefer to just find out where all of the places the experts (Lorenzo Dominguez in NYC, Patrick Smith in SF, and Jason Hoover in Seattle) recommend, you can just visit the Windows Live Foursquare page.
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| Need to Bang Out Some Bhangra? Pocket Bhangra Is Just The Ticket [TNW Canada] Posted: 29 Oct 2010 02:05 PM PDT
Created in Vancouver by programmer Paul Boparai, who is also a guitarist in the South Asian fusion hip hop band A-Slam, thought it would be cool to be able for people to create Bhangra on the go. So he recorded his friends playing tumbi, tabla, and dhol and made the app …
The YouTube video posted for the app also shows some of the new features like creating and saving your own loops… I just wish I had a lick of musical talent so I could justify getting this app. If any reader buys the app and creates something cool, let me know in the comments. I’d love to give a listen.Source: Vancouver Sun [Notice: this is the RSS feed for ALL stories from across The Next Web - that means a lot of stories every day - for just our top stories, subscribe to our Top Stories RSS feed here.] |
| Bell Can Meter Bandwidth & Gets the Most Complaints [TNW Canada] Posted: 29 Oct 2010 01:11 PM PDT
Interestingly enough Bell also scored tops in consumer complaints for any telco (via CBC). I guess you can do what you want when you control a lot of the infrastructure for the Internet, are a telco, an ISP, oh and own a huge broadcast network (CTVGlobeMedia).Source CBC (CRTC), Source CBC (Consumer complaints), Photo credit: James Cridland [Notice: this is the RSS feed for ALL stories from across The Next Web - that means a lot of stories every day - for just our top stories, subscribe to our Top Stories RSS feed here.] |
| Facebook’s new games portal is just around the corner [TNW Social Media] Posted: 29 Oct 2010 12:22 PM PDT
Leena Rao, who is in contact with the leaking sources said the following:
While gaming on Facebook is a very popular activity, ever since Facebook first launched its platform managing games and other applications has hardly been a simple task. This new Facebook product will help to solve that lingering weakness. This does not come as a surprise. As we reported previously, Facebook has been working to alleviate the problem of poor user interface design in regards to gaming for some time. Expect to see this in November.TechCrunch [Notice: this is the RSS feed for ALL stories from across The Next Web - that means a lot of stories every day - for just our top stories, subscribe to our Top Stories RSS feed here.] |
| Friday Listen: William Gibson CBC Spark Interview [TNW Canada] Posted: 29 Oct 2010 12:20 PM PDT
Regardless, CBC’s Spark program just posted their interview with him from this week:
So after you listen to the TNW Podcast go have a listen to the CBC interview. [Notice: this is the RSS feed for ALL stories from across The Next Web - that means a lot of stories every day - for just our top stories, subscribe to our Top Stories RSS feed here.] |
| OnStar and GM release iPhone and Android apps to control, monitor 2011 car models [TNW Apps] Posted: 29 Oct 2010 11:44 AM PDT
The apps require an active OnStar account of course, which comes standard on many GM models (for 6 months). How well the apps work in everyday life we’re not sure, and probably won’t be until more reviews start rolling in on the app pages. That said, the apps certainly seem to offer a lot of functionality and look nice. Functions include the ability to monitor gas levels, tire pressure, check-engine-lights, find dealers, set parking reminder (with remaining meter time), access to the car’s owner manual, and of course locking and unlocking of the car, as well as engine start. Again, how all of these functions work, we’re not sure, but it’s still good to see car makers and services like OnStar rolling these types of smartphone apps out. We’ve included a number of screenshots below (more than usual) because they really do tell a thousand words. One last note: these apps will only work with 2011 models, and number of the still limited reviews on the Apple App Store are complaining that it should be backwards compatible, at least to 2010 models (also these apps are the follow up apps to the Chevy Volt app shown in the picture above). Search for “OnStar MyLink” and “myCadillac” / “myChevrolet” to find the apps in the Apple App Store and Android Market.
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| This vending machine accepts PayPal, the future has spoken [TNW United States] Posted: 29 Oct 2010 11:34 AM PDT
As an avid, you may even say addicted, PayPal user, someone who actually has a PayPal debit card for moving money from the internet to the real world, this is a giant step in the right direction. Now, how the vending machine works is rather convoluted, but it is a move in the right direction. To make a PayPal payment you scan a QR code with your smartphone which instigates the transfer, which will after going through send the payer a Twitter note alerting them of the payment and its cost. A smartphone and your PayPal account are all you need to purchase on the go without a card. Move over Square, I am in love. If this became more sophisticated you could have QR codes abounding around the world and less and less need to ever employ your wallet. Add in a swipe-password system like Android features for quick safety on the go, and small micropayments in the real world sans cash are feasible. Wired rightly points out that there are around an infinite number of better uses than a candy vending machine, but for a proof of concept, good on PayPal. If you build it PayPal, at least I will come. [Notice: this is the RSS feed for ALL stories from across The Next Web - that means a lot of stories every day - for just our top stories, subscribe to our Top Stories RSS feed here.] |
| iPhone 4 completely sold out in China, hoarding scalpers probably to blame [TNW Asia] Posted: 29 Oct 2010 10:53 AM PDT
Right now, it seems that it is impossible to buy an iPhone 4 legitimally in Mainland China (though you can still get an 8GB 3GS apparently online). There are no available sales numbers for this rush. According to the People’s Daily that interviewed a Beijing Apple Store employee,
On China Unicom’s side, a representitive was quoted as saying, ”The situation will be eased after November,” and the carrier has set up a booking system for iPhone 4 orders in its 15 Beijing stores. Obviously, the iPhone 4 is super popular, but that doesn’t fully explain the shortage – what does, however, are scalpers who, even with the restrictions mentioned above must still be finding ways to gobble up as many iPhone 4s as possible (scalping is a very sophisticated business in China). If you’re in China and have either been able to purchase an iPhone 4 through normal channels over the last 24 hours and/or have heard any reports about what the street markup is for the iPhone 4, we’d be interested to know.People’s Daily, 9to5 Mac [Notice: this is the RSS feed for ALL stories from across The Next Web - that means a lot of stories every day - for just our top stories, subscribe to our Top Stories RSS feed here.] |
| The white iPhone 4 commercial that Apple should have made [TNW Apple] Posted: 29 Oct 2010 10:28 AM PDT
This is Friday, and that means that we all need a laugh to get the day going. Take three minutes and enjoy the clip, you’ll learn from the that Apple has in fact never released a white product before, if you didn’t know it. Oh, and if the white iPhone 4 every does come out, who else wants to bet that it would move a million units on its first day on the market? Oh, and this is what that Detox bit was about.9to5mac, Image Credit [Notice: this is the RSS feed for ALL stories from across The Next Web - that means a lot of stories every day - for just our top stories, subscribe to our Top Stories RSS feed here.] |
| PayPal is down. Here’s what you need to know. [Updated] [TNW United States] Posted: 29 Oct 2010 09:23 AM PDT
Updated at the foot of the post. The rumors are flying all over Twitter, and we’ve been information gathering for you today. PayPal systems (not the site itself) are down because of an API issue, from the best that we can tell, worldwide. That means that no payments are being accepted and in some cases people are having issues pulling money from their PayPal accounts. This API issue seems to be causing problems with debit card transactions using the PayPal Mastercard as well. While the public statement from PayPal only says that they are “continuing to work on the [API] issue”, a call to the PayPal toll-free number tells us that the outage should continue no longer than one hour from now. We’re monitoring both the @PayPal and @AskPayPal Twitter accounts to let you know when things get cleared up. The issue, as one Twitter user points out, is that PayPal’s downtime reflects badly on its customers rather than the provider itself. When PayPal users aren’t able to complete transactions it causes issues for those trying to buy as well as those trying to sell. With a lack of viable alternatives for many uses, PayPal continues to have a strong hold on the Internet transactions market. Update: The PayPal developer blog (and confirmed reports from users) are stating that things are starting to return to normal:
We’ll be keeping an eye on the blog in case things go wrong, but all should be well soon. [Notice: this is the RSS feed for ALL stories from across The Next Web - that means a lot of stories every day - for just our top stories, subscribe to our Top Stories RSS feed here.] |
| The Social Network on track to be one of this year’s most pirated films [TNW Social Media] Posted: 29 Oct 2010 07:48 AM PDT
TorrentFreak tells us that there is a leaked screener release floating around on the Internet and that it has already been downloaded over 100,000 times in the first 24 hours since its appearance. As the pirate releases go, a screener copy is a great find. Generally speaking you’ll initially see a “cam” release, which is filmed via a camcorder in the theater. After that, a telesync release will often follow, which is only slightly improved by having better audio than the cam release. That’s typically the last that you’ll see other than perhaps an “R5” release which is often times an early version of the true DVD release itself. The “screener” release is they mythical unicorn of the pirating world. It’s a release that is typically sent to critics, media and the like, in order to get early reviews of a film.
So who is downloading it? Again from TorrentFreak, the numbers seem to show that the US leads the pack at 31%, followed by the UK at 14%, with Canada, Australia and India making up the majority of the remainder. Will it kill sales? Not likely. The success of the film has kept people flocking to the theaters, and almost certainly, not everyone who downloads the film would have paid to see it in the theater.Techmeme Discussion [Notice: this is the RSS feed for ALL stories from across The Next Web - that means a lot of stories every day - for just our top stories, subscribe to our Top Stories RSS feed here.] |
| Windows Phone 7 gets a boost from 89,000 Microsoft employees [TNW Mobile] Posted: 29 Oct 2010 07:06 AM PDT  There are some definitive advantages when you’re a company with as much cash on hand as Microsoft. One of those advantages is that you can afford to give away 89,000 of your brand new Windows Phone 7 handsets to your employees. Combine that with the 1,000 that were given away yesterday at the PDC and that’s a hefty chunk of change for 90,000 phones. According to NetworkWorld, Guy Gilbert and Paul Bryan from Microsoft weren’t shy in admitting the issues that earlier versions of the Windows Mobile OS had. But as we’ve stated here before, Phone 7 appears to not only be a competitor, but also will likely be a force to be reckoned with by both Google and Apple in the mobile market. Does the 89,000 number cover all Microsoft employees? It should be close. Microsoft is said to employ 90,000 people total, though that number is likely off by a few thousand in either direction given the moves of the past couple of years. Will this help to spell success for Microsoft in the mobile market? It’s anyone’s guess right now. To say the least, a big part of the story will come down to applications, but those that we’ve seen so far are impressive.Techmeme Discussions [Notice: this is the RSS feed for ALL stories from across The Next Web - that means a lot of stories every day - for just our top stories, subscribe to our Top Stories RSS feed here.] |
| Limewire’s demise leads to a Bearshare climb [TNW United States] Posted: 29 Oct 2010 06:13 AM PDT For years, Limewire has been synonymous with peer to peer file sharing on the Internet. Though it was possible to use the service for legitimate reasons, it acquired the largest bit of its fame as being an easy way to pirate music and software. A few days ago, however, a judge in New York ordered Limewire to shutter its service and close down the Limewire product. Now, heading to the Limewire page, you are greeted only with this:
However, as the saying goes, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure and the trash left in the wake of the Limewire closing has opened doors for Bearshare. In fact, Bearshare has seen massive growth since the Limewire closing, according to our source at Bearshare:
Like Limewire, BearShare enables users to download content from their fellow file sharers. However, as a legal network, BearShare has licenses with all the major music labels via MediaNet and direct. You might remember Bearshare from years past as being a client on the Gnutella peer-to-peer network. Taking a cue from services such as Napster, however, Bearshare now touts itself as a “legal network”, saving its users the hassle of court cases and multi-million dollar fines. Is it worth a look? That depends on what you’re trying to find. If you want full-length movies and other illegal content, then no. Bearshare isn’t that program anymore. However, from what we’ve seen, there’s a wealth of content available in a number of formats. There’s not a lot of information out there as to how Bearshare works, but the network is growing and the music is available so it’s at least worth a glance. [Notice: this is the RSS feed for ALL stories from across The Next Web - that means a lot of stories every day - for just our top stories, subscribe to our Top Stories RSS feed here.] |
There isn’t much news on this yet, other than a confirmation from the 
$75 million in only a few weeks is success by anyone’s standards. But now, by another standard entirely, 
While the screener releases are often times a lower quality than the true DVD release, and generally they will contain digital watermarks or scrolling “warning” text as well, they’re often received very well from the pirating crowd.
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