Twitter is testing a new timeline for its mobile app based on location, called “Nearby,” which shows users recent tweets that originated in the user’s vicinity. The Nearby feature has occasionally appeared on the smartphones of users who allow the service to use their location (users can also opt out of location sharing). Twitter has yet to comment on the feature, which some suggest could be attractive to advertisers, but says it experiments regularly to provide a better user experience. Continue reading Twitter Runs Location Sharing Experiment with Nearby Feature

Facebook is working on ways to give brands and media companies a better look at conversations happening on the social media service about TV, movies and media. Facebook recently launched new APIs allowing certain companies to read what people are saying about them online. The goal, of course, is to allow those companies to better engage with target audiences. But for now, the program is limited just to media brands and content producers. Continue reading Facebook Helps Companies Gauge Social Chatter About Media

Entertainment media execs met with President Obama this week to discuss including copyright protections in new trade agreements and help in facilitating improved relations between Hollywood and Silicon Valley. During the meeting, the president offered his administration’s assistance in bridging the divide between the two industries. A priority in Hollywood is to stop search engines from linking to websites that stream pirated content. Continue reading Hollywood Executives Discuss Piracy with President Obama

Bravo is one of the first networks to make use of Facebook’s new Keyword Insights API. Scanning private posts of the social networking site’s 100 million-plus users, Bravo is taking advantage of the feature — introduced in September — by running keyword searches during new episodes of the “Real Housewives” TV shows and using the data for social engagement during reruns. The reruns are referred to as the “social edition” versions, which include tweets and comments from the stars. Continue reading Bravo Uses New Facebook API to Enhance User Engagement

Hshtags is a new search engine from developer Kim Goulbourne that is designed to help users easily navigate the mass onslaught of hashtags, which have become a nearly ubiquitous utility of the social Web. The universal hashtag search client, launched in September, provides access to all the content posted with a specific hashtag from an array of social platforms including Facebook, Flickr, Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter, Vimeo and YouTube (support for Vine and Google+ is expected soon). Continue reading Hshtags Search Engine: The Google Search of Social Media

Nuvyyo is developing an affordable alternative to Simple.TV’s streaming DVR with its own Tablo DVR, a set-top box that streams both live and locally recorded broadcasts to Android and iOS-powered devices, as well as Roku players and Web browsers. Unlike other DVRs that often rely on cloud services or are linked to television, Tablo is an attractive option for consumers looking to cut cords altogether, and reduce long-term costs. Continue reading Cord-Cutting: New Tablo HDTV DVR is Driven by Tablet App

Just when it looked like Samsung was taking over Android, Google swooped in with a new in-app search function, as well as app content in mobile search results, for Android users. In the next few days or so, the features will be available not only for phones using the recently released Android 4.4, or Kit Kat, but also for older Android models within Google’s Search app. Google partnered up with Expedia, Trulia, Etsy and about nine other apps for the launch. Continue reading Google Launches In-App Search, Retains Control of Android

Google is beta-testing a program that tracks consumers wherever they go using location data on their smartphones. It is the company’s answer to advertisers’ question: “How do we reach consumers who are on-the-go?” The program uses Android and iOS technology to track consumers’ locations and looks at their recent Google searches. Participating advertisers whose brick-and-mortar stores are nearby can pay to appear first in those listings. Continue reading Google Uses Location Tracking to Target Customers On-the-Go

Western Digital’s HGST subsidiary announced yesterday it is shipping a helium-filled, 3.5-in hard disk drive that has been more than 10 years in the making. The company says the new drive offers 50 percent more capacity than current 4TB drives and uses 23 percent less power and is 38 percent lighter. While pricing has yet to be announced, the company says the drives will “command a premium” based on the lower total cost of ownership. HGST plans to sell the drives to server and storage array manufacturers. Continue reading Breakthrough: HGST to Ship Helium-Filled Hard Disk Drives

ConnecTV’s new app allows users to share short video clips of television content in a Vine-like fashion, without the need to access a camera phone or rewind via DVR. The Los Angeles-based social TV startup has created an alternative for recording highlights from sporting events, news bloopers and music videos. The app helps users select a highlight from live TV, and then edits the clip for sharing. ConnecTV also includes an option for searching for shows by network. Continue reading New ConnecTV App Lets Users Record and Share TV Moments

Following last month’s report by major Hollywood studios stating that 82 percent of infringing URLS that point to pirate sites and torrent files come from Google’s search engine, the Motion Picture Association of America has released a list of major worldwide torrenting sites, cyberblockers, and brick-and-mortar marketplaces. The MPAA is not creating this list to facilitate piracy, but rather to raise awareness in an effort to combat it. Continue reading Notorious Markets List: MPAA Points Out Global Piracy Sites

Facebook is looking to expand its Graph Search algorithms to account for the use of slang and expressions, and translate them into searchable key words. The company adjusted its search algorithms in January, and the changes mostly worked. The new algorithms signal the beginning of new ways to search user information using natural and nuanced language, and provide more personalized ads. Other tech companies are looking into similar technologies. Continue reading Facebook Turns to Deep Learning to Grow Search Possibilities

The Motion Picture Association of America announced that the file sharing search engine isoHunt is shutting down and will pay movie studios 110 million dollars in damages. The search engine has been fighting with studios since 2006, but is finally reaching its demise due to a court ruling that says it enables users to pirate copyrighted works. The site enables users to find files on peer-to-peer networks utilizing BitTorrent file sharing software.

Continue reading Victory for Hollywood Studios: Court Rules Against isoHunt

A new website is building a dataset to help determine whether consumers are increasingly turning to piracy when movies are not made available legally via streaming, digital rental or digital purchase. The site — PiracyData.org — lists the top 10 most pirated movies on BitTorrent as reported by TorrentFreak each week, and researches the Can I Stream It? service to determine whether each title is available legally. The authors suggest that shorter windows would help counter piracy. Continue reading Do Movie Fans Turn to Piracy Due to a Lack of Legal Options?

Blippex is a newcomer search engine that is essentially built by its users. The site takes users’ submissions in order to provide the data for search results. Its results are different from other popular search engines as it is anonymous and does not identify users. In contrast, Google’s search is not anonymous as its business is based on advertising, with much of it personal and targeted to the user. Blippex will have to prove it can rival the competition. Continue reading Blippex Hopes to Challenge Google with New Search Approach