11 new stories on The Next Web today |  |
- Facebook Dislike Button: Why it Will Never Happen
- Why is it so difficult to legally watch TV shows online?
- Samsung Galaxy Tab to cost $399 on T-Mobile?
- TNW ME’s Live Blog from MENA ICT Forum 2010
- Ever wonder how actors look so perfect in the movies? Here’s how.
- Windows Phone 7 Website Goes Live With Detailed How To Articles & Apps
- Google has self-driving cars… Self-driving cars! [Updated with Video]
- Report: China online gaming market to reach $5B this year, 338M gamers
- North Korea reportedly opens its first website to the outside world
- HTC Desire HD and Desire Z fall foul of Google testing, get delayed
- Windows Phone 7 handsets available in UK on October 21?
- The Internet Doesn’t Need Your ‘Great Idea’
| Facebook Dislike Button: Why it Will Never Happen Posted: 10 Oct 2010 03:56 AM PDT Last month's 'Facebook Dislike Button' scam caused some disturbance for those seeking to voice a wider spectrum of opinion than simply 'like'. So this seems like a good time to look at whether an official 'dislike' button is ever likely to happen. But let's first look at what's already out there. Firstly, last month's scam was only a partial scam. Whilst the scammers did post spam messages, and dupe users into completing an online survey, it does conclude with users being directed to an existing add-on for Firefox which offers users a dislike button. For Facebook. But the major downside to this add-on is that only friends who: a) use Firefox and b) have installed the add-on, can see what you dislike. So what's the point? And with Facebook's Open Graph 'Like' button permeating cyberspace, German social aggregation service Yiid launched its own dislike button to counteract the universal love and affection spread by Facebook. But again, with limited take-up, it really doesn't put much of a dent in the Facebook 'like' crown. Indifference is even pandered to with an 'I don't care' extension for Google Chrome but, as per the Firefox add-on, you are limited by which browsers your buddies are using. Of course, you already can 'unlike' something on Facebook…you just have to 'like it' first then change your mind and 'unlike it'. But you really have to hope that your friend has noticed that you no longer 'like' their status update for your disdain to have any real impact which, let's face it, is far from ideal. No, the only thing that would work would be a genuine, bona fide, fully-sanctioned 'dislike' button built into the Facebook interface. YouTube allows you to give videos a thumbs-down, whilst countless forums allow you to rate posts. People simply love to voice their disapproval and a Facebook 'dislike' button would give millions of people what they so dearly crave. FaceMod, the developer behind the 'dislike' add-on for Firefox, states: "…the Dislike button is not for the haters…we made this for the millions of folks who use Facebook and who, like ourselves, wanted the ability to "Dislike" things to express our sympathy or shared resentment for the distasteful, the disgraceful, and the downright rotten!" So very noble sounding. Your friend is "in bed with the flu, feeling blue :(", and at last you can show your sympathy. Or a vague acquaintance you've ended up 'friending' on Facebook posts a rather distasteful video and you can now come out, all guns blazing and 'dislike' it. But here's why Zucker and Co. will never approve a dislike button: people simply can't be trusted to use a dislike button sensibly. Social media is all about building networks, being accepted, being 'liked', sharing information…positive things. A dislike button goes against all of that and would only promote bad karma and negativity. Anti-social media, in other words. But over and above Facebook's desire to keep connecting people in a positive fashion, there's the issue of revenue. Money, as we all know, talks. All those company pages and sponsored ads bring a lot of cash to Facebook, and giving 500 million people free reign to openly dislike something which has cost a company x amount to promote doesn't make good business sense for Facebook. Ultimately, if something isn't broke, it won't be fixed. Many people may want a dislike button, but nobody would leave Facebook on the basis of it not having one. So why would Facebook rock a very profitable boat?BBC     |
| Why is it so difficult to legally watch TV shows online? Posted: 10 Oct 2010 03:32 AM PDT
Options for streaming TV shows in the UK truly are shockingly limited. Sure, if it’s been shown recently most popular channels have an online catchup service. However, while streaming of older, back catalogue TV shows is a potential goldmine, right now it’s so much hassle that it’s no surprise that many people resort to illegal means of obtaining them. While the US is starting to get its act together with online streaming devices that connect to TVs looking like a popular gift this holiday season, in the UK we’re further behind. Listening to the excellent Media Talk podcast today I was inspired to catch up on TV show I’ve heard nothing but praise for and never got around to watching – Mad Men. Sure, I could probably have the whole first season downloaded and ready to watch via BitTorrent in an hour or two but I want to reward the people who made it by doing it the official way – surely it’s not difficult? Turns out it is… Challenge 1: Actually finding the show
Luckily, if you look a little further there are a range of sites that offer on-demand streaming of TV shows. The BBC iPlayer would have had Mad Men to stream for free if it had been shown in the past two weeks, but they’re in the middle of showing season four right now so there was no joy there. Being prepared to pay to stream the show, I checked the few UK sites that offer back-catalogue shows at a price. SeeSaw didn’t have it, but LoveFilm did have it as a “Watch Now” option. Success! Challenge 2: Not being ripped off
So, I can stream back catalogue TV shows on demand in the UK but choice is limited and prices can be high. Set top box saviour?
In the UK, only two of those – the Boxee Box and Apple TV – are lined up for this Christmas. Streaming back catalogue shows might not be made any easier though. The Apple TV (which has 99 cent TV show streaming as one of its main selling points in the US) completely lacks TV shows in the UK for now, sadly. The Boxee Box is looking more promising with content from BBC, CNN, Channel 4, Comedy Central and ITV among the deals announced. However, whether this entirely recent “Catch-up” content or if any back catalogue shows will be available isn’t clear, so the dream of streaming old shows on a whim may still be some way away. So for now it’s just simpler download illegally than stream on demand in a way that benefits the creators of the show. Why didn’t the TV industry see this coming, learn from the music industry and get deals sorted to make all this possible before people turned to illegal means? Me? I’m just going to borrow the DVD box set of Mad Men from a friend. It’s more legally acceptable than BitTorrent but producers Lionsgate Television have lost out on my cash. Sad.Image source    |
| Samsung Galaxy Tab to cost $399 on T-Mobile? Posted: 10 Oct 2010 12:03 AM PDT
In the week, BoyGeniusReport suggested that Sprint would be launching the Galaxy Tab on its network on November 14, keeping the same price structure as T-Mobile. When UK pricing rumours surfaced, we were surprised to see the Samsung device coming in a little more expensive than the iPad, especially when the Galaxy Tab is tasked with taking the Android fight to Apple’s tablet market domination.    |
| TNW ME’s Live Blog from MENA ICT Forum 2010 Posted: 09 Oct 2010 11:57 PM PDT    |
| Ever wonder how actors look so perfect in the movies? Here’s how. Posted: 09 Oct 2010 03:26 PM PDT This is pretty mind blowing. Having laser scanned hundreds of real people, this software is able to change the proportions of any human and then warp their body frame-by-frame throughout an entire movie.    |
| Windows Phone 7 Website Goes Live With Detailed How To Articles & Apps Posted: 09 Oct 2010 02:26 PM PDT
It seems like Microsoft has now unveiled their Windows Phone 7 websites for UK and US. The website houses lists of Apps, detailed How To articles on the various features and list of devices (right now empty.) Some featured apps on the website are:
The How To section is exhaustive with tons of information about the OS features. The website if for consumers and developers. With tips and tricks like the one here: Windows Phone 7 UK websiteMichael Gillet    |
| Google has self-driving cars… Self-driving cars! [Updated with Video] Posted: 09 Oct 2010 12:25 PM PDT
In what the company is calling “A first in robotics research”, it has been testing the cars driving themselves around the San Francisco area, clocking up over 140,000 miles on public roads. Google says the cars use video cameras, radar sensors and a laser range finder to "see" other traffic. Map data, collected using manually driven vehicles are used to navigate the road ahead. For safety there’s always a trained human in the driving seat waiting to step in if things go awry. Why is Google doing this? It believes automated cars will be safer than conventional cars and will encourage car sharing. We’re not sure why car sharing will be encouraged by no-one doing the driving – surely the appeal of having your own car is having your own space, whether you’re doing the driving or not. This is all a long way from being mass-market, though. Google software engineer Sebastian Thrun writes ”While this project is very much in the experimental stage, it provides a glimpse of what transportation might look like in the future thanks to advanced computer science. And that future is very exciting.” This is certainly impressive technology and we look forward to seeing Google make the cars transform into robots too. Update: SF based Ben Tseitlin reportedly spotted one of Google’s self driving cars in November 2009. The car(s) have apparently been spotted on numerous occasions. Video via TechCrunch. Google Computer-Driven Prius from Ben Tseitlin on Vimeo.Google Blog, Image source    |
| Report: China online gaming market to reach $5B this year, 338M gamers Posted: 09 Oct 2010 10:56 AM PDT
The report also goes into seven trends that it sees in the online gaming industry in China:
The report also lists four areas that investors (Zero2IPO’s clients are generally VCs and other investors) should focus on:
You can read the entire report here.MMO News    |
| North Korea reportedly opens its first website to the outside world Posted: 09 Oct 2010 10:11 AM PDT
IDG News says that one of the 1,024 IP addresses that North Korea has had registered for some time has come online with a news website. The report did not provide a link to the new website. Also, international reporters in Pyongyang to cover the anniversary also apparently have full access to social media websites, including Facebook, Twitter and Skype (thought that of course could just be a courtesy). The access was set up in a press room in a hotel and goes far beyond what reporters normally have to access to – phones and email from designated computers. Of course, North Korea now famously has a Twitter account (and 13 friends as well, including Twitpic). “Frequent monitoring of the addresses by IDG News Service repeatedly failed to turn up any use of them until now,” said the report on ComputerWorld, also pointing out that the connection to the outside would is being made though China Netcom, which makes sense, as North Korea – though its leaders generally get their Internet access via satellite – has hard-lines that stretch over the border to neighboring China. Also of course, China is one of the only countries in the world that has more or less regular relations with communist North Korea.ComputerWorld    |
| HTC Desire HD and Desire Z fall foul of Google testing, get delayed Posted: 09 Oct 2010 08:21 AM PDT
Both devices have recently gone on sale in Asia but it looks like the European launch could be delayed after both handsets failed Google’s Type Approval testing processes, testing that the HTC Desire initially failed when it came to market. A launch that was once thought to be on October 7, then mid-October, could now be pushed back to the end of October. The news has been reported by Android Police, which posted up the following graphic to underline the fate of the Desire handsets: Take a look at the first paragraph, especially the second sentence:
Members of the popular XDA Developers forum have also confirmed the delay of both handsets, leaving many customers who pre-ordered a little frustrated that Asian markets are already enjoying the new HTC smartphones whilst European and Israeli markets have to wait.    |
| Windows Phone 7 handsets available in UK on October 21? Posted: 09 Oct 2010 07:52 AM PDT
The US market looks set for a deployment of Windows Phone 7 handsets at the end of October, creeping into November but it appears that the UK market could be getting its hands on a new Windows handset as soon as October 21, if UK carrier Three’s leaked roadmap has anything to do with it. Judging from the capture, the “Windows 7Phone” will almost certainly be a Samsung device, due to its 4-inch Super AMOLED screen, meaning we could be looking at the Samsung Cetus. It will also feature a 5MP camera with Auto Focus. The roadmap mentions that 2000 applications will be available at launch, showing just how hard Microsoft has been working to make sure the app market doesn’t languish when devices go on sale. Keep an eye on The Next Web Mobile over the next couple of days, with the launch only days away we could be seeing some very interesting leaks before the main event.Engadget    |
| The Internet Doesn’t Need Your ‘Great Idea’ Posted: 09 Oct 2010 06:04 AM PDT
Take a look at any successful Internet company that is around at this moment. Can you find any that were born out of a single idea? That took the market because they were first, with their idea? Of course not. There were a lot of search engines before Google and a lot of video sharing websites before Youtube. The number of websites where you could leave short messages to chat with friends? Hundreds of those! The difference between a nice idea and a very successful idea has always been execution, timing and a large dose of luck. For a brief period of time ideas did matter. Probably between 1997 and 2001 you could still take the world by storm, even if just for an Internet Minute, with an original idea. Lots of stuff just didn’t exist yet and you still had a chance to come up with something new. eBay was such an example. The idea was simple, very well executed and they had a huge advantage of being first. I guess Amazon deserves similar credit although I’m not even sure they were the first service to ever sell books online. But even those two examples thrived more because of their long-term vision and attention to details and less because they had his single, cool and innovative, idea. Twitter wasn’t just a good idea either. In fact, most people at the time agreed it wasn’t much of an idea at all. I spoke to one of the early investors recently who told me ‘nobody saw it coming. We invested in Evan Williams because we believed in him as an entrepreneur and he only needed a small sum of money. But we all hoped he would quickly transform his service into something entirely different’. What Twitter did have was a working prototype, that people liked to use. And that is really all you need. These days, when someone tells me ‘I have a great idea for a webservice’ I just don’t get excited anymore. I have learned not to. The reason is that ideas really don’t matter anymore. On the other hand; got a simple idea and a working prototype and do your friends all love it? Give me a call! That is what excites me! That is a formula for success. Forget about your MBA friends and their ‘but what is the businessmodel?’ bullshit questions. So again; got a 40 page business plan, innovative idea covered by patents and $40,000 to outsource the development to India? Nah, sorry, but I’m not interested. Don’t just have an idea but start building something.    |
We've written about the Windows Phone 7 
| You are subscribed to email updates from The Next Web To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
No comments:
Post a Comment