Senin, 24 Mei 2010

Mashable: Latest 11 News Updates - including “Twitter’s Most Influential Users [INFOGRAPHIC]”

Mashable: Latest 11 News Updates - including “Twitter’s Most Influential Users [INFOGRAPHIC]”

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Twitter’s Most Influential Users [INFOGRAPHIC]

Posted: 24 May 2010 01:26 AM PDT

On March 21st 2006, Twitter’s founders uttered their first tweets. If you look at that moment as a big bang of influence in the ever-expanding Twittersphere, how does Twitter’s cosmos look today? Web design studio Information Architects aims to answer that with an enormous visualization of the Cosmic 140 – the 140 most influential users on Twitter.

The map may look a bit chaotic at first, but it’s not. The founders of Twitter are at the very center of the “galaxy;” long-time Twitter users are closer to the middle, and the two circles for each user (the white one and the transparent one) represent list volume and the number of followers. The users are organized around the circle according to category (indicated on the outer rim of the sphere), such as sports, politics, humor and so forth. Additionally, you can see the first tweet of each user on the map.

As hard as it is to determine the exact level of influence of individual Twitter users, the visualization is an amazing sight to behold. It’s huge, complex, and beautiful. Check the entire version, available as a free PDF, here.


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Reviews: Facebook, Twitter

Tags: infographic, social media, twitter

Facebook CEO: We Will Add Simpler Privacy Controls

Posted: 23 May 2010 10:43 PM PDT

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg addresses Facebook users’ privacy concerns in a column in the Washington Post on Monday.

Zuckerberg admits that users find their privacy settings confusing, and promises new, simplified settings “in the coming weeks”. The public statement follows a private email exchange with a blogger in which he admitted “we've made a bunch of mistakes“.

The majority of Monday’s column (the thrust of which is quoted below) doesn’t really provide us with new information. It’s the standard patter about Facebook’s mission, and the company’s belief that sharing makes the world a better place. But Zuckerberg does outline a plan to revise the site’s privacy settings:

Facebook has been growing quickly. It has become a community of more than 400 million people in just a few years. It’s a challenge to keep that many people satisfied over time, so we move quickly to serve that community with new ways to connect with the social Web and each other. Sometimes we move too fast — and after listening to recent concerns, we’re responding.

…The biggest message we have heard recently is that people want easier control over their information. Simply put, many of you thought our controls were too complex. Our intention was to give you lots of granular controls; but that may not have been what many of you wanted. We just missed the mark.

We have heard the feedback. There needs to be a simpler way to control your information. In the coming weeks, we will add privacy controls that are much simpler to use. We will also give you an easy way to turn off all third-party services. We are working hard to make these changes available as soon as possible. We hope you’ll be pleased with the result of our work and, as always, we’ll be eager to get your feedback.

I find Zuckerberg’s private response far more impressive than this public one. His private email to Robert Scoble, reprinted with Zuckerberg’s permission, included honest phrasing like “we've made a bunch of mistakes” and ” I want to make sure we get this stuff right this time”. Those concessions to critics verge upon being a mea culpa, even if they stop short of a direct apology. The Washington Post piece is much less direct: No doubt vetted by multiple members of the Facebook team, it almost seems to blame the users for being unable to work their privacy controls.

Nonetheless, Facebook is smart to address critics in such a public fashion. Whatever the resolution of this privacy debacle, I’ve no doubt the controversy will eventually be forgotten, just like every other Facebook flap over the years. Simply put, Facebook is on an unstoppable roll right now: It’s the dominant force on the social web, with Google and Twitter trailing far behind.

Reviews: Facebook, Google, Twitter

Tags: facebook, privacy, Zuckerberg

Yankee Stadium Bans iPads

Posted: 23 May 2010 07:43 PM PDT

According to Apple’s latest commercial, “iPad goes anywhere” — anywhere that is, except for Yankee Stadium. Yahoo! Sports confirmed with the stadium that the iPad falls under its “no laptops” security policy and patrons won’t be able to enter the ball field with one in their possession.

Say what now?! So the TSA says that you don’t have to take an iPad out of its case to go through security, but Yankee Stadium says the device is a no-go? The discussion surrounding the ban was spurred from a message by poster Spacekatgal on the IGN Boards. Spacekatgal tried to bring her iPad in to the Yankee/Red Sox game, only to be turned away at the gate. Undeterred, she did re-enter the stadium with her iPad in her jacket — but the ban exists all the same.

Now while you can reasonably argue why someone would want to bring an iPad (or any electronic device aside from a cell phone) into a ball game, the out right ban of such a device does strike us as pretty funky, especially when at a stadium that has WiFi throughout the complex.

In any event, if you want to bring an iPad to Yankee Stadium this summer (assuming you’re sitting in the shade), you might want to make sure you’ve got a bag or windbreaker that can mask said device from the security guards.

Or you could just leave the gadgets at home and watch the game. What do you think of this security policy? Let us know!


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Reviews: Facebook, Twitter

Tags: Baseball, ipad, ipad ban, yankee stadium

Robots and Rockets: A Tour of Maker Faire [VIDEO]

Posted: 23 May 2010 05:55 PM PDT

Maker Faire is the stuff of legends: Robots, rocket ships, pyrotechnics, dragons, vehicles for land and sea, and ever so much more.

Even if your interests aren’t roughly aligned with those of a four-year-old boy, Maker Faire is still pretty cool. This celebration of all things DIY has something for everyone, from steampunks to crafters to techies to parents. The sheer diversity of both the crowd and the projects presented is something to see.

Maker Faire is a product of MAKE Magazine, a quarterly publication about DIY and DIWO (Do It With Others) projects in the fields of computer science, robotics, metal- and woodworking, crafting, and the arts.This year marks the event’s fourth anniversary.

If you’ve never been to a Maker Faire and always wondered what these events entail, take a look at this video to get an idea of the quirky, fascinating world that lies within this festival. The Bay Area Maker Faire ends today, but it’ll be back next year. Faires in Detroit and New York are coming later this summer. Previous Maker Faires have been held in Rhode Island, Austin, TX, and the United Kingdom.

[music credit: Kevin McLeod]


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Reviews: Facebook, Twitter

Tags: maker faire, raygun gothic, robots

Lost Finale: What the Web Wasn’t Made For

Posted: 23 May 2010 05:07 PM PDT

Tonight sees the finale of one of the highest rated shows on TV: Lost. The series surely owes some of its success to the web — but tonight Lost fans may have no choice but to log off completely.

Is this a mixed blessing provided by the web? While watching and commenting upon TV shows is easier than ever, unwanted information — the dreaded Lost spoiler — also zooms around the network at the speed of light.

Lost Online: On-Demand Creates Choice

The web has provided Lost aficionados with a wealth of options for consuming and connecting around each episode. Lost was among the very first series available on iTunes, giving the option to watch on-demand on your computer, iPod or iPhone. What’s more, these episodes are without commercial interruption, giving you the option to watch (or DVR) the TV version for free, or pay for a better experience.

In 2006, meanwhile, ABC tested a model whereby Lost was available free online with ads — a risky move considering that Internet advertising typically yields lower rates than TV. At the time of writing, seasons 1-6 are available in HD, all for free (with ads) on the ABC website.

Unsurprisingly, the move proved popular: in late 2008 Nielsen named Lost the most popular TV show online. And don’t forget that in 2009, Lost also came to Hulu, providing an even better user experience and yet more choice.

Building Community

The web has enabled “Lostaways” to connect in myriad ways: From the usual chatter on Twitter, Facebook and fan blogs, to fan forums like Lost-TV (may include spoilers).

Podcasts, both official and unofficial, sprung up to discuss the series. Lostpedia, meanwhile, is a constantly-updated encyclopedia for Lost addicts (again, beware of spoilers).

Lost seems ideally suited to online community building: Its storyline is so rich with mystery and unexpected twists that fans feel compelled to offer up their theories on the meaning of it all. ABC, meanwhile, fed the online intrigue with fake websites for the likes of Oceanic Airlines and a fictitious biotech center called the Santa Rosa Institute of Advanced Genetic Research.

All of which will mean squat tonight, as the web’s most valuable asset becomes a liability for Lost watchers.

Logging Off: The Inevitability of the Lost Spoiler

Those two wonderful facets of the web — on-demand viewing and instant communication between fans — tonight become a double-edged sword.

The Lost Finale will be shown at 9pm ET on the East Coast, and 9pm PT on the West Coast. These time zone delays are the antithesis of what the web is about: Instant communication. The web is the perfect platform for the spread of breaking news, rumor, and those facts that corporations and politicians would rather keep quiet. In short: blogs, Facebook and Twitter make the spread of information immediate.

But the web doesn’t understand the concept of the “spoiler”: The kind of information you’d like to avoid until a specific date or time. A TV blog can’t set its RSS feeds to be delivered later to the West Coast than the East. A Facebook update doesn’t get held back until you’ve watched the finale on your DVR. Your phone doesn’t know to block all Lost-related Tweets until you’ve watched the final episode.

As such, there are no real solutions for those wishing to avoid Lost spoilers tonight — some may feel the need to simply stay away from their Twitter and Facebook feeds, while turning off their phones to avoid unwanted updates.

The web may have been a boon for Lost fans, but tonight it could be bust — at least for those unable to disconnect.

Reviews: Facebook, Hulu, Internet, Twitter

Tags: abc, finale, hulu, lost, lost finale, lostpedia

Britney Beats Ashton, Grabs #1 Twitter Spot

Posted: 23 May 2010 03:41 PM PDT

It’s official: Britney Spears has just become the top Twitter account, surpassing longtime Twitter king Ashton Kutcher by a margin of a handful followers at press time.

Each account’s actual number of followers continues to fluctuate by the second, but Spears seems to be maintaining a tenuous lead.

Just a week ago, we wrote that the pop star was set to overtake Kutcher on the popular social site. Both users are still just shy of reaching 5 million Twitter followers and are predicted to reach this landmark figure within the next 30 days.

Spears’ Twitter victory flies in the face of conventional wisdom on how to use the social web. The @BritneySpears account is managed by the singer’s staff, and most of the tweets seen there are either promotional messages or "BS alerts" when unfavorable tabloid reports surface. Tweets from "Brit" or "Britney" comprise around a third of all tweets from the account, and we suspect some of those aren’t actually written by the star herself since updates posted from the web are often thrown up on the account when Spears is reportedly attending an event.

Kutcher was the first Twitter user to reach 1 million followers when he battled CNN for the top spot in April 2009. And last month, Kutcher’s account ranked far above Spears’ in popularity when the Twitter “accept” bug allowed users to force others to follow them back.

Spears’ account may be just a marketing-message system for an inaccessible pop star, but her global popularity is apparently all the Twitter karma she needs. Still, between Ashton and Britney, whose updates would you rather read, if you had to choose?


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Reviews: Facebook, Twitter

Tags: ashton kutcher, britney spears, twitter

Lost Finale Online: ABC Hosts Live Fan Chat

Posted: 23 May 2010 02:50 PM PDT

Tonight is the series finale of Lost and ABC is going all out, dedicating four hours of programming to the finale. The action isn’t just taking place on television, the network is getting into the live fanchat action too. Starting at 6:30 pm EDT and running until 3:00 am EDT, Lost fans can chat with other fans live at http://abc.go.com/shows/lost/live-chat-intro.

The chat, which starts just thirty-minutes before the east coast broadcast of the Lost retrospective special, will be accessible using your Facebook, Twitter or MySpace accounts. For a show that has had such a strong online following, we think this is a pretty shrewd move on ABC’s part.

Keep in mind that if you join in the chat after 9pm eastern time, it’s possible you could catch some spoilers regarding the finale, so west coast fans, it’s probably better to get offline at 6pm until the finale starts on your end.

On Facebook, ABC has created an event for the Lost Series Finale that includes a full schedule of the television events.

Earlier today, the Lost producers posted a link to a special musical tribute montage created and edited by Alex Levy, the music editor for the show.

Will you be chatting about Lost online tonight? What are your plans for staying spoiler-free? Let us know!


For more entertainment coverage, follow Mashable Entertainment on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook


Tags: fan chat, lost, lost finale, televisiont, tv

Facebook CEO: “We’ve Made a Bunch of Mistakes”

Posted: 23 May 2010 02:27 PM PDT

In his first comment since the privacy controversy of recent weeks, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has admitted that the company “made a bunch of mistakes” and wants to “get this stuff right this time”.

Zuckerberg has been criticized from some corners for a lack of communication on Facebook users’ privacy concerns, and a public comment from the CEO hasn’t been forthcoming. Today’s concession isn’t a public apology as such: Rather, Zuckerberg replied to a private email from tech enthusiast Robert Scoble, who then requested permission to reprint his response on his blog.

Zuckerberg’s reply has some merit to it: Facebook wants to respond to the dustup with a product fix. Rather than simply telling users what he intends to change, he’d rather go ahead and make that change.

Here’s Zuckerberg’s reply in full:

Hey,

We've been listening to all the feedback and have been trying to distill it down to the key things we need to improve. I'd like to show an improved product rather than just talk about things we might do.

We're going to be ready to start talking about some of the new things we've built this week. I want to make sure we get this stuff right this time.

I know we've made a bunch of mistakes, but my hope at the end of this is that the service ends up in a better place and that people understand that our intentions are in the right place and we respond to the feedback from the people we serve.

I hope we'll get a chance to catch up in person sometime this week. Let me know if you have any thoughts for me before then.

Mark

Except that this isn’t a model that typically fairs well in the PR and media worlds: To Facebook’s audience, it has seemed that Facebook either doesn’t know or doesn’t care about user concerns around privacy. If Facebook does indeed share user concerns and will soon make changes (as Mark explains), a very early mea culpa and increased communication with the press may have saved Facebook from a great deal of criticism.

In short: It’s great that Facebook is looking to improve its privacy settings, but explaining these moves earlier and more publicly may have been preferable.

We’ll have to wait and see whether Facebook’s updates calm tensions around the company’s privacy stance. My take: As important as the issue may seem right now, the privacy dustup will eventually blow over and Facebook will continue its relentless march to win the web.


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Reviews: Facebook, Twitter

Tags: facebook, mark zuckerberg, privacy, trending, Zuckerberg

Download Google Pacman Game for Free [HOW TO]

Posted: 23 May 2010 12:03 PM PDT

Update: Google decided to permanently offer its version of Pacman at http://www.google.com/pacman. Read-on if you want to know how you can download a copy of your own and for more Pacman fun!

If Friday’s Google Doodle didn’t feed your Pacman Fever, you download the special Google version of Pacman and play on your own time! Over at StackOverflow, users worked together to figure out how to extract and host the special version of Pacman, created by Google in honor of the yellow guy’s 30th birthday, for play online or off.

You can play the game live at http://macek.github.com/google_pacman/ or you can download the code and run the game from your browser anytime, by downloading the source at Github.

This is what you want to do:

1. Go to http://github.com/macek/google_pacman

Click on the “Download Source” button near the top of the page. It doesn’t really matter what option you choose for downloading, TAR or ZIP, but if you are on a Windows machine, choose Zip.

2. Unzip the Folder

The folder will have a name like “macek-google_pacman.” Once unzipped, you’ll see some files and a folder labeled source.

Double click on the index.html file.

3. Play Google Pacman

Enjoy!

Other Pacman Options

If you find your Pacman needs not being met by the Google version of the game, there are some other free or inexpensive alternatives!

Namco has a special website set-up in honor of Pacman’s 30th Anniversary which includes history about the game, art, and games you can download for your PC or mobile device.

  • Windows users can download the original Pacman game from Namco’s official site for just $2.99. You can download a trial version first to see if it’s worth the $3.
  • Mac users can enjoy Pac The Man X, a free Pacman clone for Mac OS X. The game supports one or two players and is fun, but be aware that it moves much faster than the original game.
  • Linux users can enjoy NjAM, which our friend Richard Stallman will like, as its licensed under the GPL.
  • On the iPhone, Ms. Pacman and Pacman Championship Edition are both on sale for $0.99. Pacman Lite is also available for free.
  • On the Android front, at one time, Namco had an official Pacman game available in the Android Market but we don’t know its current status. However, Mazeoid, a Pacman clone, is available for free.

You Tell Us: Best Pac-Man Ever

So what is your favorite Pac-Man game of all time? The Arcade, the NES, maybe a mobile version? Let us know!

Tags: games, pac-man, pacman, software

iPhone 4G to Come in White? [PICS]

Posted: 23 May 2010 10:26 AM PDT

Chinese website Apple.pro has posted pictures of a purported next-generation iPhone, this time in white! While we’ve seen the black variant of the iPhone 4G in the wild on numerous occasions, the images of the white model are a nice change of pace.

While the authenticity of the photographs haven’t been verified, the photos do show what appears to be a complete white faceplate sitting atop the standard iPhone 4G body. The phone itself looks likely to one of the same pre-production models (hence the seams) with the white faceplate not completely snapped on.

Now, as Engadget astutely points out, this could just be a non-official faceplate. Engadget posted about the existence of a white faceplate for the next-generation iPhone, but its authenticity hasn’t been verified. After all, China does have a booming market of shanzhai merchandise and assorted accessories, but the existence of such a prefab that appears to fit the physical dimensions of the new iPhone prototypes is interesting to say the least.

One of the reported hallmark features of the next iPhone is a front-facing camera for video conferencing. In that vein, BGR has more photos showing off some official video call debugging screens from the next iPhone.

Thanks to the iPhone leaks and the data inside the iPhone OS 4.0 beta builds, video call support is all but a foregone conclusion; still, it’s nice to see some official debug screens that mention the feature.

The next generation iPhone is expected to be unveiled at WWDC on June 7, 2010. What do you think of the white iPhone faceplate and the new video chat details? Let us know!

[via Engadget and BGR]

Tags: iphone 4.0 os, iphone 4g, iphone hd, video chat

How “Open” Is Google Really? [VIDEO]

Posted: 23 May 2010 10:02 AM PDT

While we were thrilled with Google’s many announcements at Google I/O, particularly the announcements that went against the grain of Apple’s one-man-one-device ethos, we have to take the company’s claims to openness, choice and freedom with a grain of salt.

This is America, Google is a major and successful corporation, and as such, it will be “open” usually when such behavior is profitable. The company’s not going to open-source its search algorithm any time soon, for example, or make its advertising software free for modification and redistribution.

Relative to other corporations, such as Apple, Google does a commendable job of not “being evil,” but it still controls a ton of user data and infringes on user freedoms in specific ways. We choose to relinquish these freedoms in exchange for conveniences such as Google search, Gmail, Blogger, Buzz, Maps, Reader and a score of other applications.

Not long ago, we sat down with Free Software Foundation and GNU founder Richard Stallman, a pioneer and legend in the free and open source communities. With a lifestyle and philosophy that are famous for their single-minded dedication to technological freedom, Stallman is better qualified than just about anyone to examine how “open” a company like Google truly is.

Take a look at this video, and let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Note: Stallman asked that we use Ogg Theora, an open format, for encoding this video. To download the original video, go to its Wikimedia page. This video is published under a Creative Commons-No Derivatives license.


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Reviews: Facebook, GNU, Gmail, Google, Twitter, blogger

Tags: apple, free software, Google, open source, Stallman

Why Facebook Must Get Serious About Privacy

Posted: 23 May 2010 09:26 AM PDT

Facebook Privacy ImageDallas Lawrence is Managing Director of Burson-Marsteller's Proof Integrated Communications. He is a Mashable contributor on emerging media trends, online reputation management and digital issue advocacy. You can connect with him on Twitter @dallaslawrence.

The recent firestorm over Facebook's approach to securing the privacy of its more than 450 million users continues to reverberate around the globe this week as thousands of news outlets cover the unfolding drama with almost breathless zeitgeist. And while traditional outlets are grappling with what it all means for the future of Facebook, online denizens have trumpeted their angst about the company's most recent changes with more than 25 million blog posts.

The current crisis of confidence leveled against Facebook once again centers on the core issue of how the social networking platform manages access to its users’ information. PC World columnist JP Raphael noted earlier this month that with the significant new changes announced by the Palo Alto-based social giant, "achieving maximum privacy on Facebook now requires you to click through 50 settings and more than 170 options — and even that won’t completely safeguard your info." According to news reports this week, the company may finally be reversing course (again) and returning to a streamlined security process.

To be sure, Facebook is no novice when it comes to navigating the controversies of privacy in the online marketplace, and it will very likely emerge from the current crisis singed, but not terribly worse for the wear. What is surprising however, and perhaps most troubling for a company that nearly all watchers agree must prove its mettle with a public offering in the next 18 months, is the voraciousness of the global opposition the recent controversy has sparked, and the apparent lack of corporate agility at Facebook to respond effectively to even the most basic crises inherent to an organization so intertwined in the daily lives of half a billion users.

The Lessons Facebook Can Learn from Google

Facebook Overshadow ImagePurported 7-year old texts from CEO Mark Zuckerberg are now lighting up the online community with an amusing, and some may say prescient peek into the then 19-year old's views on privacy. The constant and steady drip of opposition forming around the most valuable social media property in the history of the Internet is beginning to paint a picture of a company that has failed to fundamentally understand that what got it to where it is today will not make it into what it wants to be: A wildly profitable public company rivaling the reach and prominence of Google.

The $200 billion search behemoth learned these same painful lessons of accountability earlier in the past decade as they became the public whipping boy for privacy issues. Regular Congressional hearings, editorial columns and tech-savvy thought leaders all lampooned Google for their approach to user information. Many began questioning its very core mantra of "don’t be evil" that had mightily bound Googlers for more than a decade. Google's response was to aggressively educate global regulators and privacy experts while dramatically expanding their Washington, DC footprint. They further ramped up public policy and communications outreach efforts to ensure they were accessible and accountable to those most concerned about their industry and how they as a company approached the prickly issue of online privacy.

Transparency is Key to Facebook’s Maturation

As regulators and privacy watchdog groups from the EU, Canada and the U.S. begin to catch up to the social media revolution and the inherent policy concerns that came with it, Facebook's maturation has reached a seminal moment in the platform's life cycle.

For a brand built on the ideals of transparency (sharing your life updates with your friends and family), Facebook must begin to embrace the mantra of a transparent and accountable organization while remaining free from the constraints of life as a publicly traded, heavily regulated, investor-driven company.

Facebook's chief policy guru Elliot Schrage appeared at least to grasp the challenges that lie ahead for the company during a question and answer session with The New York Times last week. "Another painful element comes from professional frustration," Schrage wrote. "It's clear that despite our efforts, we are not doing a good enough job communicating the changes that we're making … We may not always agree about the speed and comprehensiveness of our response but I'm here because I'm confident Facebook's future success depends on our ability to respond."

Tough words and sound perspective from a smart, well-respected industry insider. If heeded, they may finally drive the internal changes necessary for Facebook to complete its startup evolution and graduate into the world's most dominant — and profitable — communications platform.


For more social media coverage, follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook


More Facebook resources from Mashable:

- How Facebook Can Become a Money Making Machine
- Facebook vs. Google: The Billion Dollar Battle to Be Your Default Social Profile
- 5 Essential Facebook Privacy Tips
- 4 Tips for B2B Marketing on Facebook
- The Local Advertising War Will Be a Clash of the Internet Titans

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, malerapaso

Reviews: Facebook, Google, Internet, Twitter, iStockphoto

Tags: analysis, facebook, privacy, social media, social networks
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