9 new stories on The Next Web today |  |
- The British Monarchy takes up residence on a new royal Facebook Page [TNW Social Media]
- Key GOP congressman on Internet privacy: “it’s something that is gaining in importance” [TNW United States]
- Store Wars: Microsoft opened its largest store today – right across from the Apple Store [TNW Microsoft]
- Is it a Bird? Is it a Plane? No, it’s Jetman! [TNW Shareables]
- ScreenSteps: Easy, Fast, Web-ready Documentation [TNW Apps]
- Amazon Plans To Buy Diapers.com for $540 million [TNW United States]
- Fix the iOS alarm bug: Turn off repeating alarms tonight [TNW Lifehacks]
- Verizon quietly introduces a heavily-discounted plan. Matches Sprint, beats AT&T. [TNW Mobile]
- Dirpy, a Digital Video Recorder for the Internet [TNW Apps]
- Can Tumblr Topple Twitter? [TNW Social Media]
| The British Monarchy takes up residence on a new royal Facebook Page [TNW Social Media] Posted: 06 Nov 2010 10:25 PM PDT The British Monarchy is setting up a new royal residence today: on Facebook. According to the Scotsman, the new British Monarchy Facebook Page will feature pictures, video, the royal schedule and events and “will be available on the iPhone” (we’re not sure if that means there will be an iPhone app or not). The British Monarchy already had Twitter (the Queen follows no one, just so you know), Flickr and YouTube accounts, but fans of the royal family on Facebook must have been dying to Like the Queen and Princes William and Harry, and all the rest, and now they can. [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: 06 Nov 2010 09:58 PM PDT
Barton, who is a top Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee and a potential chairman of the committee in the next Congress, also said that Google CEO Eric Schmidt could also be called before Congress to answer questions about Google’s WiFi data collection (the FTC has ended its investigation of Google on this, and basically cleared them). Regarding Facebook, according to Bloomberg:
On privacy, Barton said that he was somewhat surprised that there hasn’t been an Internet privacy bill introduced in this Congress, and that he would be very willing to “legislate” on this issue in the next Congress, saying that privacy is “something that is gaining in importance”. On Google, Barton said in the interview:
Google "will continue to work with the authorities to determine the best way forward, as well as to answer their further questions and concerns," Christine Chen, a spokeswoman, said in an email to Bloomberg. You can watch the interview here – the privacy section starts at around 13:40 and the Google part around 22:50.Bloomberg, Search Engine Land, 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.]    |
| Posted: 06 Nov 2010 06:49 PM PDT Microsoft has opened its sixth and largest store ever (8,600 sq feet) in the gigantic Mall of America in Minnesota today, and the store is right across the aisle from the Apple Store, as previously announced this summer. Is this a mainstream, Mid-Western tech lovers dream come true or what? If you’ve got the spare change (or are doing some holidays shopping of course) you walk into the Apple Store, pick yourself up an 11 inch MacBook Air, throw in an iPad and and iPod Touch, then walk about 20 feet to the Microsoft Store, grab an Xbox with Kinect, a copy of Windows 7, then grab yourself any number of Windows focused accessories. Of course, then you can go and wash all that credit card debt down with a Slushie in the food court! Oh, and Kelly Clarkson apparently performed today at the Mall, and the first 100 people that got into the Microsoft Store got her autograph (if you care about such things, we guess that’s interesting). Here’s a video of the grand opening today: [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.]    |
| Is it a Bird? Is it a Plane? No, it’s Jetman! [TNW Shareables] Posted: 06 Nov 2010 04:10 PM PDT This man is living the dream everyone has, being able to fly! His name is Yves Rossy and he’s a retired military pilot from Switzerland that just had to fly in a different manner than that he was used to. Watch this video so you know what we’re talking about: Yves has been developing his wing for more than ten years now, in which he tried to cross the waterways between France and the UK and between Spain and Morocco. The first was a success, the latter not so much. Even though a project like this brings its ups and downs, Yves seems to keep at it, something which we applaud. We can’t wait to hear more about Yves and his project, because who knows, we might me able to go out and book an afternoon flight ourselves one day. Oh, and if you still think this guy doesn’t really fly but is just prolonging his fall then you might want to see this video of him doing loopings. Enjoyed that? You’ll love this.Youtube channel, Jetman.com [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.]    |
| ScreenSteps: Easy, Fast, Web-ready Documentation [TNW Apps] Posted: 06 Nov 2010 03:43 PM PDT
Oh and you still have to publish it so it looks good. If the prospect of all this gives you nightmares, maybe the new version of ScreenSteps is for you. Frankly I hadn’t heard of the app before, so can’t comment on the jump form the old to new version, but I can say that I downloaded the app and was able to crank out a simple WordPress how-to in about five minutes. With the launch of ScreenSteps 2.8.7. ScreenSteps has also launched a new lesson sharing site called ScreenSteps.me in beta. After signing up for the beta and getting my confirmation I uploaded my WordPress lesson with one click.
The interface, essentially, walks you through the process of creating a lesson. Create a lesson, add a step, click the camera to take a screenshot, continue… If you find steps are out of order or you need to add a step, yes dragging and dropping works just fine to move things around. ScreenSteps Desktop is available for both Macs and PCs and comes in a “regular” version for $40 and a “pro” version for $80. The feature comparison is very helpful, so after the 14-day free trial you can have a good idea of which version you need. And in case you might be wondering, yeah, the web versions you upload to ScreenSteps.me even look great on mobile devices.TUAW, Photo credit Flickr [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.]    |
| Amazon Plans To Buy Diapers.com for $540 million [TNW United States] Posted: 06 Nov 2010 03:37 PM PDT This Monday Amazon.com will announce its $540 million acquisition of Quidsi, the parent company of Diapers.com, Soap.com and BeautyBar.com as reported by Fortune. Quidsi’s founders Marc Lore and Vinnie Bharara launched the site in January 2005. The $540 million price tag is $200 million over Quidsi’s most recent valuation. Last year we saw Jeff Bezos buy Zappos.com for just under $900 million. Quidsi is yet another huge warehouse company with a well-oiled algorithmic process of shipping to its dedicated customer base. In an interview with Inc. last year, Quidsi’s Marc Lore describes this process, which explains why Quidsi makes a valuable addition to Bezos’ growing e-commerce powerhouse.
[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.]    |
| Fix the iOS alarm bug: Turn off repeating alarms tonight [TNW Lifehacks] Posted: 06 Nov 2010 12:17 PM PDT North America is catching up with the rest of the northern hemisphere and coming off Daylight Savings Time tonight. If you don’t remember the rhyme, it’s “Spring Forward, Fall Back” so we all turn our clocks back an hour tonight. For the most part computers, phones, and other devices will adjust themselves. Unless, of course, you have a repeating alarm on your iPhone or iPod touch, in which case you have one more step to do.
Now tomorrow (Nov 7th), just go back and reverse this putting the repeat back in. Here’s the one thing that Apple isn’t talking about—Calendar reminders. Last week, Europe was hit with this bug and word was that not only did people wake up late, but they also were late to meetings because the calendar reminders were off too. Searching Apple’s Knowledge Base comes up dry, but here are some things that could potentially alleviate the problem (until Apple releases iOS 4.2 which fixes all the problems with DST).
Apple Knowledge Base, Photo 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.]    |
| Verizon quietly introduces a heavily-discounted plan. Matches Sprint, beats AT&T. [TNW Mobile] Posted: 06 Nov 2010 10:52 AM PDT It should be immediately noted that our Verizon PR contact is not aware of this plan and as such states that you should “question the validity of” it. However, noting that the link leads to an official Verizon Wireless page certainly does add to the credibility. We also have confirmation via Twitter of Verizon users who have switched their plans so it appears that this is an all-clear. The sole complaint that I’ve had as a Verizon customer is that, while the service is rock solid, the prices are enough to make you choke. However, it appears that Verizon has just launched a new plan that aims to take on its lower-priced competition head on. The plan, described as “Talk and Text Plus Data” is a 450 minute plan with unlimited data and text, for $69 per month. When you consider that Verizon’s current plan will cost you $90 per month, that’s a pretty serious discount. Of course, it also pays to bear in mind that the $69 price point perfectly matches Sprint’s package for the same features. From what we can see, there is no way to sign up for the plan online You’ll need to call 877-873-3278 if you want to get in on what’s being described as a “limited time” deal. Heading to Verizon’s site, we still see the same $90 per month package that we did before: Of course, there’s the issue of a mandatory 1-year contract extension to take advantage of the new plan. You’ll need to clarify when you call as to whether this will have ill effect on your device upgrade timing, but it honestly shouldn’t. By way of comparison, this plan now matches the Sprint plan of equal minutes and data, and it beats the most comparable AT&T plan by $15 per month. Is this a move by Verizon to snag away some AT&T customers while it waits for an iPhone of its own? Though we were told yesterday that there was no upcoming Apple-related announcement, the proof is still in the wild with the CDMA iPhone. [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.]    |
| Dirpy, a Digital Video Recorder for the Internet [TNW Apps] Posted: 06 Nov 2010 07:55 AM PDT
Dirpy Studio, currently in Beta, is an advanced Internet DVR that lets you record and convert your favorite YouTube videos to high quality mp3s. You simply insert a Video URL and choose from options including start and stop time for recording, three different quality formats (highest is 128 kbps) and ID3 tag data editing. Hit “Record” and a matter of seconds the song is ripped from the video and downloaded onto your computer. Very cool. Dirpy Studio is free and requires no registration. The site even incorporates easy to share Facebook and Twitter links which I love. And with Sprint and Toms Shoes as advertisers it’s apparent Dirpy isn’t doing too bad financially. But is it legal? According to their site, “legality depends on many factors like one’s location and its according laws. Dirpy is simply offered as a service and it’s up to the individual user to determine the legality of their own activities. We are not your lawyers and we cannot give you legal counsel.” But for users in the United States, and countries with similar laws, “using Dirpy as intended is perfectly legal.” Dirpy taps into Google and YouTube’s free APIs. Technically, Dirpy is similar to other devices that let you convert and store media locally for personal playback like TiVo or MythTV. So just like DVRs let you record TV programs and other media content, Dirpy “lets you record local versions of freely available online media for your own personal uses.” Dance on. [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.]    |
| Can Tumblr Topple Twitter? [TNW Social Media] Posted: 06 Nov 2010 06:20 AM PDT Whilst Facebook comes out on top in terms of number of users, Twitter certainly seems to be the darling of the social media world. Everyone from Bill Gates and Barack Obama, to Ashton Kutcher and Andy Murray regularly court the microblogging service. Whilst you might well 'like' any of the aforementioned public figures on Facebook, the chances are you won't make regular visits to their respective Facebook pages…if they even have one. Facebook may have the brawn, but Twitter has all the cool friends. Is Zucker & Co. bothered about this? Not overly. You see, different social networking platforms serve different purposes. They AREN'T all in direct competition and many complement each other. YouTube clips are embedded effortlessly into any Facebook page, whilst Skype and Facebook now enjoy a rather cosy relationship too. And Mark Zuckerberg even has his own public Twitter account. Though in fairness he hardly ever uses it – his last Tweet was back in March 2009. But by having a public Twitter account, that's the same as Zuck saying 'I'm not worried about Twitter'. Do you think Coke CEO Muhtar Kent would be seen sipping Pepsi at a press conference? Hell no. But this 'we're all best friends…really!' act only goes so far. It was only two years ago that Twitter used Tumblr to communicate information regarding its down-time, and whilst both are what you'd call microblogging platforms, they were always different enough for neither to pose a real threat to each other. Tumblr has never had a 140 character limit and its users always viewed it more as an actual blogging service, albeit a simplified one – which is what people like about it. This is in contrast to Twitter, which was always more of a news-sharing 'update' service that didn't have any real bells or whistles to speak of. Each platform had its own niche in the social media market But with Twitter 'mark 2.0', the boundaries between the two platforms begin to blur. Twitter's multimedia partnerships with the likes of YouTube, TwitPic, Justin.tv and Flickr means that Twitter is taking a more sophisticated multimedia approach to its offerings. Some have suggested that Twitter is moving closer towards the Facebook model, but it seems that Twitter may have one eye elsewhere and is adopting a more Tumblr-esque approach. With richer content, more action takes place within the Twitter platform itself, rather than it acting as a sort of aggregator for content held elsewhere. So why would Twitter attempt to reposition itself within the social media sphere? Probably because it knows what happens when such platforms rest on their laurels. The fact that MySpace and Bebo were left shaking their fists at a Facebook dust-cloud is all the evidence you need. So – can Tumblr realistically expect to overtake Twitter as the number one microblogging platform? Sure, Twitter has around 200 million users – give or take – and Tumblr only just exceeded the 6 million mark a few months ago, but its growth rate is impressive. Figures announced by Tumblr reveal that 30,000 new members sign up to Tumblr each day – that's a whisker away from a million people per month. And as we all know, the more members that sign up to any social networking platform, the more likely the growth rate will rise exponentially – which could be why Tumblr is aiming to double its staff in the coming months, from 12 to 24. And not to be out-sexed by Twitter, Tumblr has its very own celebrity squadron too, such as Pete Wentz (Fall Out Boy) and Josh Groban. Twitter may be realigning itself as a content-rich networking tool of a similar vein to Tumblr or Facebook, but the rot may already have started. Serial-tweeter and some-time musician John Mayer closed his Twitter account in September, despite having over 4 million followers. He'd already opened his own Tumblr account, announcing in April that Twitter had reached its "cruising altitude" – and insinuated that the honeymoon period for Twitter was over. For many, it seems, Tumblr holds more appeal than Twitter. Unless you're in an industry that requires you to be tuned-in to all that's happening, or you're big on celebrity culture, you probably won't need a Twitter account. Tumblr is where you go to properly ‘microblog’ – and Facebook is still where friends network online. It's estimated that Twitter has a retention rate of around 40%, compared to over 80% for Tumblr. These figures date from 2009, but they're still indicative of what the future may hold for Twitter – retention is the key to any social networking platform's long term success. Tumblr ultimately allows for more personalisation and customisation too which could be a key unique selling point if users are presented with the option of signing up to either platform. Tumblr allows you to use your own domain, with Tumblr essentially acting as the content management system (CMS) – the interface and URL can be entirely of the user's choosing. It's blogging for people without the technical know-how or who simply can't be bothered with the likes of WordPress. Twitter may have changed its approach but it may be too little too late. Twitter is now synonymous with a certain type of social networking and it may find it difficult to win those users back who've already jumped ship for something more relevant to them. With Facebook’s growth showing no signs of ceasing, Zuckerberg knows that Twitter as a platform can't really compete with it. He even said he believed its exponential growth was over, stating that much of its popularity was due to media hype. But Twitter was never really designed to compete with Facebook – it’s a different beast altogether. Twitter and Tumblr operate in a difference social sphere to Facebook. Can Tumblr topple Twitter as the number one microblogging tool? You bet it can. And whilst Twitter isn't going the way of the dodo any day soon, that Tumblr train is gathering pace. Better watch out for that dust-cloud!Tumblr Blog, Forbes, New York Times [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.]    |
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