After a string of violent attacks on teens stemming from the location-based flirting app Skout, Mobiledia questions if young users should be allowed to access location-based services.
Although Skout CEO Christian Wiklund believes Skout set up sufficient protection for its teen version of the app, Mobiledia argues that “letting strangers know where you are will always leave people vulnerable to violent outliers.”
The post differentiates between minimizing risk and eliminating risk, arguing that even if companies take precautionary measures such as banning sex offenders from sites, risk still exists for violent attacks based on location data.
The attacks come as Facebook mulls the option of opening its site to children under the age of 13.
Mobiledia suggests that even if sites improve security features, “parents may want to monitor or even outright forbid teenagers’ access to location tracking sites and features.”
But the post also suggests that there are options other than banning the sites for children, and that “educating them about how to navigate these potentially hazardous situations may start them off on a path to more sophisticated digital literacy.”
Digital Trends has acquired a 56-page document outlining Microsoft’s plans to introduce the Xbox 720 in late 2013. Although authenticity of the document has not been confirmed, the length and depth of the report suggests the briefing is not a hoax.
The document describes plans to sell the Xbox 720 for $299 during the 2013 holiday season. The device will feature improved Kinect capabilities including “an improved camera, support for up to four simultaneous players and improved, hardware-based player tracking technology,” explains the post.
The Xbox 720 will reportedly output content in true 1080p and full 3D, creating the possibility of 3D gaming and streaming video. Additionally, the console will supposedly function as a DVR with the ability to stream across multiple devices.
“That concept, more than anything, offers hope that this document is indeed legitimate, as that last feature sounds quite similar to the SmartGlass initiative that Microsoft outlined at [the recent] E3 conference,” adds Digital Trends.
The document also outlines plans to implement “props” in a fashion similar to the Wii. The props may possibly operate as controllers, and also pulse and shake as users “feel the experience,” according to the document.
Zynga’s social game “Draw Something” hopes to revive its success as a new interactive game show on CBS.
Variety reports that Sony Pictures Television, Ryan Seacrest Productions and Embassy Row are producing the show, which will allow viewers to interact with celebrities and their drawings from home.
“Teams of celebrities and everyday users will test their skills in front of a studio audience to earn money and big laughs,” explains Variety. “Viewers can also play along at home for a chance to win prizes and compete with the celebrities.”
A related TechCrunch post suggests that the move may represent a last-ditch effort from Zynga to spark interest in the app after a dramatic traffic decease following the acquisition of OMGPOP.
In an interview with Lost Remote, social TV graphics expert James Neufeld says one challenge facing the “Draw Something” television experience will be that the game “is based on timing and revealing the drawing as it was captured.” He suggests that it will be difficult “to maintain the sensation of the game’s real-time nature and render out the drawings in a way that is presentable in studio, or even harder, the audience at home.”
Despite the inherent risks involved in transitioning a social game to a television show, Neufeld maintains that “this is a huge step for social TV and participation TV.”
Speaking at the TV of Tomorrow Show in San Francisco last week, Roku CEO Anthony Wood predicted Blu-ray player sales would peak this year or next and then decline.
“Will people use Blu-ray players in four years? I don’t think so,” he suggested.
While admitting that most video streaming takes place on game consoles today, Wood doesn’t expect we’ll see much growth in that area. “New customers don’t go out and buy game consoles to stream video,” he said.
“Wood sees momentum shifting to streaming players like the current-generation Roku boxes, as well as Smart TVs,” reports GigaOM. According to Wood, his company’s “goal is to be the dominant platform in those two segments.”
Roku’s streaming stick is scheduled to launch later this year and Wood sees it as an initial step into the Smart TV space for Roku.
“Wood also shared some new numbers about his company’s performance: He said that Roku made $100 million in sales last year, and that the number of devices sold tripled year-over-year,” notes the post. “However, he didn’t mention that the company missed its projected sales goal by 500,000 units.”
Online video is evolving from an entertainment medium geared toward viewers with short attention spans to a legitimate platform featuring programs running 30 minutes or more.
Long-form content is finding a home online thanks in part to YouTube’s made-for-Web initiative, services such as Netflix and Hulu, and the cord-cutting trend.
“I think our creators always wanted to make longer content — we’re just reaching a certain point in the lifecycle of online video where people have the command over the audience and the budget to make longer video,” says YouTube Next Lab director Tim Shey. “More creators are building huge audiences on YouTube, and once you build a loyal audience online, they all tend to want more.”
Producers are experimenting with more full-length content, and research suggests that consumers are responding, with retention rates of more than 75 percent reported for some archived programs.
GigaOM lists a number of early success stories including Wil Wheaton’s “Tabletop” on YouTube and Wilson Cleveland’s “Leap Year” on Hulu.
“What’s encouraging to me is that the platforms are becoming networks funding their own original series,” says actor/producer Cleveland. “These series are on-par with the broadcast and cable fare audiences have already been comfortably consuming on these same platforms for years. THAT’s the marriage of TV and digital programming realized.”
In a reversal of its long-standing opposition to selling subscriptions through Apple, Time Inc. has announced plans to offer all of its magazines through the newsstand section of Apple’s App Store.
The Apple newsstand, which currently lists more than 5,000 magazines and newspapers, has softened some of its initial restrictions in order to better compete with the likes of Amazon and Google. The imposed restrictions are what drew concern from Time.
“For a magazine or brand like People or Time, a tablet will become an increasingly important part of the experience,” says Time CEO Laura Lang. “Our goal is to offer content where our consumers want to read it.”
“The agreement also moves Apple further along in its strategy of expanding its App Store beyond popular games like ‘Angry Birds’ and making it more of a destination for news, information and videos,” reports The New York Times.
The article also notes that Time Inc. has been struggling with a decline in print advertising revenue (about 30 percent in the last five years), joining the ranks of others in the print publishing business looking to a digital transition for change.
The Huffington Post is a prime example of how digital media continues to impact the magazine and newspaper businesses.
Last week, it introduced a sleek new digital magazine for the iPad called Huffington and it is moving aggressively into online video.
“Huffington is a particularly acute reminder of how much things have changed,” writes David Carr for The New York Times. “Last year, The Huffington Post was sold to AOL for $315 million, less than a year after Newsweek was sold for a dollar, and in April the site won its first Pulitzer, for David Wood’s 10-part series about wounded veterans.”
“More unique Web visitors now go to The Huffington Post each month than The New York Times, according to the research company comScore,” writes Carr.
Meanwhile, traditional media is being dragged reluctantly into the digital era. Time Inc., for example, just agreed to Apple’s terms so it can sell its digital magazines on iTunes. And local newspapers continue to struggle. The Times-Picayune in New Orleans, for example, is undergoing a big layoff.
“It’s true that legacy media brands still have juice and powerful assets at their disposal,” notes Carr. “No purely digital media product has kicked up anywhere near the profits that beleaguered traditional brands still do. But smart minds will figure that out. As his lawman uncle told the sheriff played by Tommy Lee Jones in ‘No Country for Old Men,’ ‘You can’t stop what’s coming.'”
Vizio, known primarily for its LCD TVs and home entertainment products, has announced it will start selling a variety of PCs this summer, including a pair of all-in-one PCs, a 15.6-inch laptop, and two ultrabooks.
“In a market that’s already crowded with competition from the likes of Apple, HP and Dell, Vizio is hoping that it can lure new customers by offering products that combine high performance and stylish design,” reports AllThingsD.
The all-in-one PCs come in 24-inch and 27-inch versions, both with a 1080p HD display, wireless keyboard and touchpad with multi-touch support. “Surround sound audio is also onboard, as well as dual HDMI ports, so you can connect your cable box, Blu-ray player or gaming console and turn it into a mini entertainment hub,” notes the article.
The company’s Thin + Light ultrabook series tout HD displays, a slim aluminum unibody design, 4GB of memory, SRS Premium Sound, 1.3-megapixel 720p camera, and HDMI and USB 3.0 ports.
The Vizio notebook features a 15.6-inch HD display and although not as thin and light as the ultrabook offerings, runs a more powerful graphics processor for users concerned with multimedia.
“All of Vizio’s laptops and all-in-one PCs feature Intel’s latest Ivy Bridge processors and ship with the Signature Edition of Windows 7, which means you won’t get any bloatware or unnecessary applications,” adds AllThingsD.
Microsoft has long been a software company, creating programs to run on other company’s machines. However, “the company will make its biggest-ever break from that tradition” when it launches “its own brand of tablets as part of an effort to reinsert itself into the market,” reports AllThingsD.
While Microsoft is not entirely new to hardware, it has experienced more misses (Kin, Zune) than hits (Xbox 360). And similar to how the Zune music player had to compete with Apple’s iPod, Microsoft’s Surface tablet will attempt to challenge the tremendously popular iPad.
Microsoft does bring assets to this battle, including Windows and Office. “The company also has its Xbox gaming abilities, plenty of licensing deals with Hollywood and the music labels, as well as the Barnes & Noble partnership it stuck when settling a legal battle earlier this year,” notes AllThingsD.
Microsoft unveiled its new tablet at an event in Los Angeles yesterday afternoon. Surface features a 10.6-inch screen and will run a forthcoming variation of Windows 8. “The tablet has a built-in ‘kickstand’ that will allow users to prop it up for watching movies, and a detachable cover that will serve double duty as a keyboard,” reports The New York Times. Pricing and availability have yet to be announced.
There could be a great deal at stake for Microsoft. Consumer expectations regarding the marriage of hardware and software have been impacted by the iPad — and Apple’s tablet is becoming more popular with business customers, a market that Microsoft has dominated in the past.
“We’re no longer talking about a peripheral, but rather the future of computing and the core of Microsoft’s business,” suggests AllThingsD.
The U.S. government has partnered with private corporations to create ultra high-speed broadband networks. The program is called US Ignite and invites private developers to build applications to advance the economy.
A White House press release explains that it envisions the program as “a test-bed for designing and deploying next-generation applications to support national priorities areas such as education, healthcare, energy, and advanced manufacturing.”
“US Ignite will challenge students, start-ups, and industry leaders to create a new generation of applications and services that meet the needs of local communities while creating a broad range of job and investment opportunities,” adds the release.
The network will expand to 25 cities in the next five years, says the White House, and aims to advance network speeds to 1 gigabit-per-second. This represents speeds 100 times faster than today’s Internet.
“In the 1970s, many doubted there were uses for even 50 kilobit-per-second Internet,” explains Bob Metcalfe, who co-invented Ethernet. “But soon application explorers came up with remote login, file transfer, and email. Pioneers have since found new worlds in telephony, television, publishing, commerce and social interactivity. Today, while investing in gigabit generations of Internet, we are again sending out our application explorers.”
A recent study projects that mobile advertising will become a $20 billion business in the future.
However, Monday Note questions that assumption given the challenges of mobile advertising — such as smaller screen size, diminished attention spans, and privacy concerns.
Even location-based ads may not offer the opportunity some believe. “Do we want barkers on our devices?” asks the post. “Is this the game changer for mobile advertising, yet another kind of spam?”
Monday Note examines the ineffective approaches to mobile advertising thus far and suggests the future will require more than simply resizing content to fit a different screen.
“If the industry hasn’t cracked the mobile advertising code after five years of energetic and skillful work it’s because there is no code to crack,” suggests the post. “The ‘$20B Opportunity’ is a mirage.”
Wooga and Electronic Arts announced they will both pull games from Google+, less than a year after the network first launched social games.
“The decision from two of the five largest social gaming companies comes as a result of the network’s struggles in engaging users, and the larger audience available on Facebook,” according to The Verge.
Wooga has already taken its “Monster World” game down and will remove both “Bubble Island” and “Diamond Dash” in early July. Additionally, the EA-owned PopCap plans to remove its “Bejeweled Blitz” game.
“After the game platform launched, Google+ received a lot of attention from game developers, in part because they were looking for somewhere else to go besides Facebook, but also because the company was sharing 95 percent of the revenue from virtual goods with developers, and was keeping only 5 percent for itself,” reports AllThingsD in a related post. “That was, and remains, much more generous than the 30 percent cut that Facebook takes.”
“Although the decision is a setback for Google+’s social gaming prospects, the network still has 40 games available including notables like ‘Angry Birds’ and several popular Zynga games; whether it’ll continue to attract new titles, though, is another question altogether,” comments The Verge.
In the wake of recent security breaches, experts have been discussing the importance of including non-alphanumeric characters in passwords.
“Adding a symbol eliminates the possibility of a straight dictionary attack (using, literally, words from a dictionary), notes ITworld. “Adding a symbol, especially an unusual one, makes it much harder to crack even using rainbow tables (collections of alphanumeric combinations, only some of which include symbols).”
Based on GRC’s Interactive Brute Force Password “Search Space” Calculator by Steve Gibson, the article examines the number of possible combinations based on passwords of six and 10 characters (comprised of letters and numbers, no upper- or lower-case and no symbols) and estimates how long it would take a computer to crack a password.
It then compares the results to those calculated by adding a symbol to the passwords, making “the crack several orders of magnitude more difficult.”
For example, 2.25 billion possible combinations result from a six character password without a symbol, whereas there are 7.6 trillion possible combinations when the same password includes a symbol. Check out the post to see how long it would take to crack the password online via a Web app, offline with high-powered servers or desktops, and offline using massively parallel multiprocessing clusters or grid.
“Take Steve’s advice: go for 10 characters, then add a symbol,” recommends the article.
MIT’s Technology Review reports that Facebook has amassed “the most extensive data set ever assembled on human social behavior,” that includes private conversations, family photos, records of trips, births, marriages, and deaths.
The social network also has personal profiles, “Likes” they have chosen, and in certain apps and websites the songs listened to or articles they read. To give you an idea of the scale, Facebook cataloged some 5 billion songs listened to in only five months.
Facebook’s Data Science Team is charged with analyzing all this information to advance both the business and social science generally. They research how people behave so they can influence them to the benefit of their advertisers.
“Our goal is not to change the pattern of communication in society,” explains Cameron Marlow, Facebook Data Science Team. “Our goal is to understand it so we can adapt our platform to give people the experience that they want.”
For example, last year Facebook found that rather than the six degrees of separation we have from one another, among its then 721 million people only four intermediate connections were needed. They have built a “gross national happiness” index by measuring words and phrases that signal positive or negative emotion. They are looking at why some ideas and fashions spread and others do not.
“In April, influenced in part by conversations over dinner with his med-student girlfriend (now his wife), Zuckerberg decided that he should use social influence within Facebook to increase organ donor registrations,” notes the article. “Users were given an opportunity to click a box on their Timeline pages to signal that they were registered donors, which triggered a notification to their friends. The new feature started a cascade of social pressure, and organ donor enrollment increased by a factor of 23 across 44 states.”
Poptip is a real-time tweet polling client that offers management tools for Twitter users. The brainchild of 22-year-old Kelsey Falter, Poptip is the latest start-up to emerge from the TechStars New York program and has already raised $640,000 in funding.
“Poptip’s simple premise — it lets brands conduct and analyze instant polls on Twitter and, soon, on Facebook — lines up very nicely with the recent heat around anything and everything that has to do with social media marketing,” reports AllThingsD.
Digital Trends places Poptip above its competition, including Klout, which it describes as “more or less a social network popularity contest.”
“There are other Twitter analytics tools of course, like TweetStats and Foller.me, but they don’t specifically pinpoint the efficacy of asking questions and getting answers on Twitter,” notes Digital Trends. “For that, you turn to poll stat clients, like GoPollGo or TwitPolls, or you start paying for enterprise CRM products — but the experience isn’t as woven into Twitter as many would like.”
Poptip’s dashboard tracks a user’s questions and corresponding answers with a simple, clear interface. It should prove useful for end-users, but Falter is targeting big brands for customer engagement purposes.
The AllThingsD post includes a 2-minute video demo.
After a string of violent attacks on teens stemming from the location-based flirting app Skout, Mobiledia questions if young users should be allowed to access location-based services.
