Monday, November 1, 2010

10 new stories on The Next Web today

10 new stories on The Next Web today

Link to The Next Web

Samsung Galaxy Tab Now Available In The UK [TNW Mobile]

Posted: 01 Nov 2010 02:50 AM PDT

After months of speculation, fears over pricing and anticipation, the Samsung Galaxy Tab has finally gone on sale in the UK.

The Galaxy Tab comes to market as the first real iPad competitor, an 7-inch Android powered tablet device that offers video call functionality and a raft of powerful features. Surprisingly, the recommended retail price of the Galaxy Tab is quite a bit higher than the iPad, the Apple device it is tasked with dethroning.

This has left consumers in two minds over what tablet device would be best for them. Should consumers go for the Galaxy Tab, a device with a smaller form factor, voice calling and a high unlocked price, or the Apple iPad, a large tablet with fantastic battery life, a huge App Store and huge market penetration.

Now the device is on sale we will soon find out. The Samsung Galaxy Tab will be offered on subsidised contracts, something that Apple does not permit with its iPad.

As of today, you will be able to buy the Galaxy Tab from the following retailers:

Vodafone and o2 have dedicated pages for the Galaxy Tab but pre-orders remain unavailable.

Will you get the Samsung Galaxy Tab or does the iPad hold greater appeal? Let us know in the comments.Image Credit



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iPhone alarm bug hits as clocks go back in Europe [Updated] [TNW Mobile]

Posted: 01 Nov 2010 01:15 AM PDT

Updates at the foot of the post.

iPhone users could well be rolling into the office an hour late today across Europe. A bug affecting Apple’s handset’s alarm has hit after clocks went back one hour at the weekend.

The fault means that although the phone’s clock will automatically step back one hour to account for daylight saving time, the alarm sticks to its previous time. The result? Lots of people getting up an hour late. Twitter is full of reports of the bug this morning, and our own Mobile Editor, Matt Brian was affected too.

As Engadget notes, this bug was first spotted when Australia’s clocks changed at the start of October and acknowledged by Apple. It’s a little surprising that no fix was pushed out in the following weeks.

We imagine Apple engineers will be working overtime to get this fixed before daylight saving time hits the USA next weekend.

Update: We have read reports that a short-term fix to the iPhone Alarm bug is to delete the existing recurring alarm within the Clock app and then re-set it. Other people (including Kevin Cross in the comments) have suggested setting the alarm an hour early or creating a new alarm each day (as new) with the time wanted without setting the repeat option.

Let us know how you get on.Image source



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Hyves sold to TMG (Telegraaf Media Groep) [TNW Europe]

Posted: 01 Nov 2010 01:14 AM PDT

Only three days ago we wrote about the Leading Dutch Social Network, Hyves, when it announced it would launch a Mobile Network offering “Free calls to Your Friends“. Today Hyves announces it will sell 100% of their company to TMG (Telegraaf Media Groep) for an, as yet, undisclosed sum.

According to our sources Hyves is on schedule to do €20 million in revenue in 2010 with 140 full time employees. The company has received an early funding round in 2008 in which it raised several millions for 20% to 30%. After that funding round co-founder Raymond Spanjer hinted at international expansion plans. Those plans never materialized but Hyves did grow to become the dominant social network in The Netherlands with over 9 million registered members.

The new owner of Hyves has assured us that the new site will not change considerably and the current management team will stay active in growing the site even further. The TMG group contains dutch newspapers ‘De Telegraaf’ and ‘Sp!ts’, radio-stations ‘Sky Radio’ and ‘Veronica’ and is a shareholder in television networks ‘Net5′, ‘SBS’ and ‘Veronica’.

The combined reach of TMG and Hyves is 8,5 million Dutch people aged 13 and older. The new combination reaches 62% of all people in The Netherlands every month.



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2010′s Best Geeky Halloween Costumes [TNW Shareables]

Posted: 31 Oct 2010 09:14 PM PDT

They say Halloween brings out the crazies, but it seems to be the time of year when geeks get their creative juices flowing as well. We’ve all seen Princess Leia and Superman costumes come out year after year, but it’s the original ones that make us take notice. Here’s some of the most impressively geeky Halloween costumes this October:

Most Authentic – Lego Vampire

Lego Vampire

Considering this one only took about a week to make, and 50 EUR, the detail is pretty impressive.

Most Original – Angry Birds

Angry Birds

You know you’ve got a good product on your hands when people take it this far. Of course, Angry Birds isn’t the only mobile game to make it into Halloween costumes this year – Plants Vs Zombies got a look in, too.

Most Effort – Pacman and Ghosts

Pacman and Ghosts

They even made the dots for Pacman to eat! Almost as impressive – a Mario Kart battle in progress.

Best Working Costume – Transforming Bumblebee


If I’ve ever seen an impressive costume, this is it.

Best Dad Joke – Pumpkin Pi

Pumpkin Pi

Is being a math teacher enough of an excuse for this one?

Best Improvement – iPhone

iPhone BabyThe working iPhone costume has been around for a while now, but how’s this for a new twist?

Best Web-Based – Firefox

FirefoxTalk about being a fan!

Most Geeky – Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs CostumeYou’d want to have understanding friends to take you trick-or-treating in this!

Hardest to Explain – /costume

/costumeYou have to admire him for this one – it’s a big step to take on the role of “costume nobody gets” at your Halloween party.

Honorable Mention – Mii

MiiNot the best game-based costume around, but how could you not love those sparkling eyes?



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Have we already caught up to science fiction? [TNW Media]

Posted: 31 Oct 2010 07:16 PM PDT

Trying to look into the future is a grand old time, one that countless science fiction writers and visionaries have done more than a century. From Julies Verne predicting space rockets to Gene Roddenberry’s flip mobile phones to William Gibson defining cyberspace before it existed, science fiction writers have been leading the way towards technology’s future.

Sitting around today on a lazy Sunday flipping through apps on my iPad, however, I started to wonder if perhaps the present has not only caught up with – but perhaps even surpassed – what science fiction promised us.

Now, I’ll get this out of the way to start: I’m not talking about a few hundred years from now or a galaxy a long time ago and far away, I’m talking about more or less the here and now. With that in mind, here’s what I’m thinking, and the idea of this post is to start a discussion, not to preach.

Think of it for a second – other than perhaps devices that read/plug directly into our brains and flying cars, what are we really lacking that science fiction promised? We can make and receive a phone call from nearly anywhere on the planet, including now from Everest basecamp. We have cameras that take digital pictures that can be shared worldwide nearly instantanously, as well as live-streaming video, and Twitter, which reports earthquakes faster than the USGS.

Yes, the Internet is at the center of many of those innovations, but we also have multi-touch phones and tablets, inch-thick flat-panel TVs, integrated talking directions in our cars and yes, Google even has self-driving robot cars. Even disconnected to the Internet, you can walk around with an entire small library that weighs less than paperback, and you can start streaming thousands of movies on your phone in seconds with Netflix.

Of course, there is also (a new somewhat neglected) virtual world called Second Life, there are video games that just require us to move our body to play, and well, the world’s largest supercomputer 15 years ago couldn’t beat you desktop at a game of chess today.

These once-only-in-science-fiction realities are just of course a sampling of our everyday lives. I haven’t even mentioned stem cell research, cloning or any of a thousand medical advances that would probably seem like beyond science fiction fifty years ago, as well as a hundred other disciplines we could talk about – but this is The Next Web, so I’ll keep it simple.

Anyway, back to science fiction for a second. If you watch a lot of science fiction TV or movies or read sci-fi books, you’ll probably notice that nearly everything they use (again, other than death-rays, etc) is pretty much some kind of alternative to what we have now. Maybe a little more advanced (like Minority Report) but really it’s pretty rare when I see/read something and think, “gee, wouldn’t it be cool if we had one of those?” More than likely, it either already exists in some form or someone is working on a prototype that you can read about in Popular Science.

It really is incredible.

Now, am I saying that there are no science fiction writers out there who are predicting some amazing stuff that will someday come true? Of course not – in 20-30 years time, I’m sure we’ll look back at a few writers and see their genius as well. Nor am I am I so awestruck with the present that I think we’re in some golden age or whatever, though I would say the last 30 years has seen a particular growth spurt. I also do not believe that technology is the solution to solving all of the world’s ills (listening a bit more would be a good start there). What I’m saying is that we seem to be nearly caught up to science fiction as we knew it in many ways, right here on Mother Earth.

I hope a lot of you will have strong opinions about this post and that we can have an enthusiastic discussion in the comments. The future might not be now, but to me, it’s close.

p.s. Happy Halloween!



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Is the future of radio being interactive? Astral Media thinks so. [TNW Canada]

Posted: 31 Oct 2010 04:31 PM PDT

This week Astra Media announced that they has updated all their radio websites with not only a new look and feel, but also new interactive components for contests and listener interaction:

All of the radio station websites today boast a new graphic interface that displays Astral Radio’s creativity and innovative spirit. Radio hosts at the 83 Astral stations across the country can now create a unique experience on air and online, as well as provide an interactive environment conducive to live interactions with listeners through relevant content discussed on air during their shows.

“The evolution of radio stations in the interactive environment marks a new chapter in our content strategy,” says Rob Farina, Executive Vice President, Content for Astral Radio. “We now have the technical ability and all the desired flexibility to develop our online content in each one of our markets and offer our audiences across the country a unique and rewarding experience—on air, online, and on site.”

[snip]

In Western Canada, the Cutest Baby Contest on Vibe 98.5 also enjoyed a huge success with over 5,500 participants who registered online via the radio station’s website to upload a picture of their little sweetheart. Over 570,000 users (400 per cent more than the previous year) visited the site and voted for their favourite cutie.

via ASTRAL MEDIA INC. | Astral Radio Creates a Unique Experience for Listeners with Its New Interactive Platform.

Ah but that’s not all, and here is the economic bonus…

Astral Radio’s new interactive platform also provides local and national advertisers with the possibility of building even more engaging interactions with their customers. Thus advertisers can leverage new innovative ideas for fully integrated, multiplatform campaigns that complement each other.

With these new high-performance tools, such as cyberreporting, geotargeting, cyberevents, as well as other interactive tools and games, hosts can now interact with a narrowly targeted clientele, engage listeners to share an exhilarating experience, receive a comprehensive analysis of the targeted clientele’s demographics, and achieve better results. For example, a house builder recently used Astral’s cyberreporting to promote his product on air and on the web. Listeners could go to 102.9 K-LITE FM’s site for a virtual and interactive tour and take advantage of the builder’s exclusive offer. As well, a retail business leveraged the cyberevent on Virgin 98.5′s airwaves to promote products and invite listeners to select different pieces of clothing to create a virtual fashion show. What’s more, the new and unique interactive platform allows the quick and efficient deployment of a campaign across the country.

And this is the big part of the announcement. Sure, being able to run contests more easily and with more interactive content is ducky, and listeners certainly will dig it, but it isn’t listeners entering contests that will earn a station money, it’s advertisers paying for ad time and space that pays the piper. It’s a double-bonus whammy of awesome here. Listeners get websites that look better, have interactivity to enter contests, and connect with hosts. Advertisers get targeting, reporting, and cooler ads to connect with listeners.

I wonder if there is time to enter the Virgin 95.3 contest for best Halloween costume. I’m a work-at-home, tech journalist and author.

Astral Media Press Release



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Google Wave Creator Leaves Google Because It’s “Too Unwieldy” [TNW Google]

Posted: 31 Oct 2010 03:48 PM PDT

If terms like “once in a decade” and “changed the world” bother you, you might want to select another TNW article to read. However, if you’re not phased, then Lars Rasmussen is offering some fantastic insight as to why he left Google after six years to join the team at Facebook, as was just announced this past Friday.

In an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, Rasmussen uses some pretty compelling words to describe how he feels about Google, Facebook and the move in general. Explaining that he was wooed by none other than Mark Zuckerberg himself, Rasmussen said this about Facebook:

It feels to me that Facebook may be a sort of once in a decade type of company. Obviously they’ve already changed the world and yet there seems to be so much more to be done there. And I think that it’s the right place for me to be.

As for his job? How’s this for a description? “Come hang out with us for a while and we’ll see what happens”.

If you’re not familiar with Rasmussen, then you’re at least familiar with his products. Of course he was heavily involved in the forming of Google Maps, but the now-defunct Google Wave was his pet project. When the Wave announcement came down, it set a line in the sand as to how Google sees projects versus how the rest of the world uses them:

We were not quite the success that Google was hoping for, and trying to persuade them not to pull the plug and ultimately failing was obviously a little stressful. It wasn’t something that I would like to bet my life on, but all that excitement we created when we first unveiled the project was based on something real. It takes a while for something new and different to find its footing and I think Google was just not patient.

Rasmussen addresses, also, the idea that Google is reaching its hands into too many places. He states that Google is starting to feel “unwieldy” and Facebook holds an advantage in being a smaller company with more impact given to each employee.

The entire article is filled with gold that I’d love to copy and paste to share with you here. But if you want to get a good idea about Rasmussen’s feelings on Zuckerberg, Google in general, The Social Network and more, drop by and read the interview. It’s time well spent.

We’re excited to see the things that Rasmussen could bring to Facebook. Engineers of his caliber simply don’t come along every day and Facebook’s continuing talent grab from the jaws of Google has proven to be fruitful thus far.

Editor’s note: Our initial title quoted another source for the article. We mistakenly ran the quote as being attributed to Rasmussen. We have since changed the title to reflect a properly-attributed statement.Sydney Morning Herald



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LG Optimus Quantum Coming to Bell Mobility November 8th [TNW Canada]

Posted: 31 Oct 2010 03:46 PM PDT

Looking for a Windows Phone 7 handset? If you’re a Bell customer you just have to wait until November 8th and then the LG Optimus Quantum could be all yours…

The Quantum is a full-QWERTY device with a 3.5-inch capacitive touchscreen display, Wi-Fi b/g, Bluetooth 2.1, GPS, 5 megapixel camera with flash and 720p video recording, DLNA support, 1500mAh battery, and 16GB of internal storage. The full-retail price is listed as $449.95 without subsidies; look for the device to go for around $100 with a 3-year contract.

via Confirmed: Bell Mobility to offer LG Optimus Quantum on November 8th « Boy Genius Report.

So, faithful readers, is a Windows Phone 7 handset in your future? I’ve been seeing those “Season of the Witch” commercials at least a few times an hour for the last few days, so clearly Microsoft wants  us to be thinking…”Hey I do need a new phone, maybe I should give one of those Phone 7 phones a shot…” What’s your take?Boy Genius Report



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Halloween Decorations Taken To The Next Level [TNW Shareables]

Posted: 31 Oct 2010 02:08 PM PDT

When Halloween comes around you know you’re going to spend a lot of that hard earned cash on candy; that is unless you decide to spend it on dressing up the house to the point where kids don’t even consider hitting the doorbell:



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Saudis in Audis Goes Viral [TNW Middle East]

Posted: 31 Oct 2010 12:06 PM PDT

Performed by Arab-American comedian/rapper Remy, it’s hilarious yet some might find it a bit insulting. I think it’s a good display of Arab humor that’s actually pointing out how some Saudis represent themselves when traveling throughout the region.

The video highlights some of the most popular stereotypes in two societies: American and Arab which is probably why it got almost 1.2 million views in only 10 days. Enjoy Saudis in Audis by Remy. Oh and if you liked this one you can buy the guy’s tunes from iTunes.



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Web Designers, Developers: We’re Hiring. [TNW Voice]

Posted: 31 Oct 2010 07:50 AM PDT

You may have heard we’re launching a Design and (front end) Dev channel on TNW. To do so, we need knowledgeable experienced cream-of-the-crop designers and developers to share their knowledge.

We ignorantly assumed we could find a full time writer to write about design and front end web development, but of course if you’re writing all the time, you’re not practicing your trade…

So here is what we’re offering:

Option 1) A full time designer to design for TNW and spend 50% of your time writing. You’ll be working on an array of cool projects, most of which we can’t share details about here. If that interests you and you’d like to learn more, drop us an email to rec@thenextweb.com.

Option 2) Contribute one to two quality posts a week. We’ll pay per post.

What will you be writing about? Design and front end development. Sharing useful guides, latest trends and techniques, unique ways to get things done and delving into the tools you love and trust.

Interested? Email rec@thenextweb.com.



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