Apple is a company that doesn’t often jump bandwagons; they rather have everyone else jump on theirs. It is thus somewhat understandable that they don’t have an official Twitter account yet, except for the one that lists all the new iTunes Trailers. However, as noticed by Tweetdeck founder Iain Dodsworth, Apple has recently added a couple of iTunes-related Twitter feeds, bringing the total number of their accounts to five. These are:twitter.com/iTunesMusictwitter.com/iTunesPodcaststwitter.com/iTunesTVtwitter.com/iTunesMoviesIt’s not much, and we’d still like to see Steve Jobs tweet, but it’s a start. Reviews: TweetDeck, TwitterTags: apple, itunes, twitter
It’s that time once again: time for another head-to-head in our weekly Faceoffseries! Last week’s winner in the exciting Twitter vs. Facebook was Facebook, and this week we turn our attention to blogging platforms.Both have their die-hard fans. Both have robust user communities and full-featured blog software. But when it comes right down to it, we want to know who would win in a bar room brawl: WordPress or Typepad?If you’ve been with us in our previous Faceoffs, you’ll know how this works. Just head on down to ye olde poll below and cast your vote — there’s even a tie option for the indecisive among you.So have at it! And be sure to let us know why you voted the way you did in the comments.Who would win in a fight: Wordpress or Typepad?(survey)Web Faceoff: Overall ResultsWeek 1:- Mozilla Firefox vs. Google Chrome- WINNER: Firefox, 4600 votes (Chrome: 3310 votes, Tie: 911 votes)Week 2:- Tumblr vs. Posterous- WINNER: Tumblr, 1809 votes (Posterous: 1496 votes, Tie: 256 votes)Week 3:- Pandora vs. Last.fm- WINNER: Last.fm, 1187 votes (Pandora: 1156 votes, Tie: 122 votes)Week 4:- Twitter vs. Facebook- WINNER: Facebook, 2484 votes (Twitter: 2061 votes, Tie: 588 votes)Reviews: Chrome, Facebook, Firefox, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Pandora, Posterous, Tumblr, Twitter, TypePad, WordPressTags: blogging, typepad, web faceoff, Wordpress
If you’re one of the about 10% of Twitter users that protect your tweets, watch out, because anybody can read them with a simple Google search.The security hole, first reported by The L.A. Times, reveals that, by just typing “site:twitter.com/*username*” (replacing *username* with the Twitter name of a protected account), you can see most or all of the tweets of an account. And it’s already being used to see the tweets of Bill Clinton, and others.Apparently, while you can’t directly access a protected Twitter account, Google’s crawling bots can pass right by without any problem. By looking at the Google results, you can get a sense of what that person is tweeting about. For example, here’s what comes up when you search Bill Clinton:Yeah, you can find some juicy stuff, and that is not good at all for the microblogging startup.So what can you do if you have a protected Twitter account? Unfortunately, there is not much you can do until Twitter fixes this security hole. For now, don’t tweet anything sensitive if you have a protected account. We have informed Twitter of the issue and if there is any new information on this story, we’ll bring you the update.Update: There are reports that Google bots don’t crawl private accounts, but tweets from accounts before they were privatized. We are checking with Twitter to see if this is accurate.Reviews: Google, TwitterTags: twitter
The eReader market is about to get truly crowded, with lots of competition on deck for Amazon’s flagship Kindle. With the Barnes & Noble eReaderslated to hit next year, LG’s solar powered device, and Spring Design’s Alex running Androidall coming up to bat very soon, digital book reading is seriously heating up.Now we have more information on another player in this space. We knew a large-format eReader was on the way from a company called Plastic Logic since last CES, when they debuted a prototype of an 8.5 x 11-inch E-Ink device. Today the device gets a name: the QUE proReader, and an official debutante date: January 7, 2010 — again at the Consumer Electronics Show.What sets the QUE apart from other offerings to date is its target audience: business professionals. We’ve already seen the Kindle DXbe first to market with a letter-sized large-format eReader, but the QUE takes that format and aims it squarely at an audience looking for a competitive edge in the business world.Featuring support for typical business document formats including Word, PowerPoint, Excel and PDF, the QUE will also access a content store tailoring to the needs of business users. Able to connect either over Wi-Fi or via AT&T’s 3G network, Plastic Logic’s QUE will access a store powered by Barnes & Noble, marking a rather “platform agnostic” approach on the part of B&N, who as mentioned previously will also be launching their own eReader device.Still unknown at this point are an official release date and the all-important marketplace arbiter: price. We do have new photos of the device now, which feature an attractively sleek and black finish whereas previous prototypes have been a rather unassuming off-white. Check out a few at the end of this post.Who is your pick for the most interesting upcoming eReader? Do you have your eye on any of the devices forthcoming from Barnes & Noble, LG, Spring Design or Plastic Logic? Or will you hold out and buy your digital books from Google?Plastic Logic QUE proReader PicsTags: digital books, e-ink, ereader, plastic logic, que, que proreader
On Friday we reported about the #BeatCancer campaignto leverage social media for cancer charities. Their goal was to set a Guinness World Record for the most social mentions in 24 hours, which by Saturday had already topped 200,000on Twitter, Facebook and blog posts.Today Guinness World Record confirmed the success of the campaign, which at 209,771 mentions in a single day achieved an estimated 100 million overall impressions of the #BeatCancer message. Not only did the campaign set a newly-developed world record for online impressions, but raised over $70,000 in the process from its financial sponsors.The funds raised from donors eBay/PayPal and MillerCoors will go to four non-profit cancer organizations including Spirit Jump, Bright Pink, Alex’s Lemonade, and SU2C (Stand UP to Cancer). Although the official Guinness World Record drive is now over, the campaign continues to raise awareness and encourage donations. You can donate and find resources to help you promote the endeavor on the Beatcancereverywhere.comwebsite.If you participated, let us know in the commentsTags: beatcancer, charity, facebook, social good, twitter
This rumor simply has to be taken with a grain of salt, but word has it that Verizon and Apple are testing a version of the iPhoneon Verizon’s upcoming 4G LTE network.For those unfamiliar with the landscape, 4G is essentially the next-generation of cellular networks, designed to carry data and increase the speed and capacity of mobile networks. Although the rumor is unconfirmed, it would make a lot of sense for Apple to hold out for the LTE deployment in order to get more mileage out of the R&D dollars it needs to spend to make a version of the iPhone compatible with Verizon’s network.The rumor sources note that Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam has been making bi-monthly trips to Mountain View to visit with Google, culminating in an announcement of Android phones coming to Verizon. Apple’s headquarters are a mere 8.5 miles away, lendingfurther anecdotal evidence to the idea.We know that Verizon is steadily making progress on their next-gen LTE (Long Term Evolution) network, having already begun successful testingof data calls. We also know there are many logical reasons to expect that AT&T exclusivityfor the iPhone will end, with analysts and pundits alike all placing the timeframe in 2010 for this to happen. Even the Department of Justiceis taking an interest in getting the iPhone onto more networks.What remains unknown are the specific details. It does seem like it fits with Apple’s M.O. to want to make a big splash with a 4G iPhone launch on the U.S. largest carrier, but keep those salt shakers at the ready until we get some official confirmation.If you’re a current iPhone owner, would you consider ditching AT&T for Verizon if the option were available? If you’re not an iPhone owner, would you consider picking one up if it came to another carrier? Let us know in the comments.Reviews: GoogleTags: 4G, apple, apple iphone, att, DOJ, iphone, LTE, Mobile 2.0, verizon
With practically unlimited ways for users to access Twitter for sending and receiving tweets, we wondered how long it would take before it became an active participant in courtrooms.We’ve already seen journalists in the United States granted permission to tweetwhile in court, but Australia is breaking some interesting ground when it comes to Twitter and the legal system.After a recent trial that involved journalists tweeting the proceedings, FOXNewsis reporting that the Federal Court in Australia has decided that as with other media, individual judges will be able to decide on a case by case basis if they will allow live Twitter coverage from within their courtrooms.Apparently earlier in the month two technology journalists, one from ZDNet Australia, used Twitter to report live regarding an iiNet copyright case around movie piracy. The presiding judge, Dennis Cowdroy, soon became aware of their tweets, but saw no issue with their behaviors.Cowdroy was even quoted as saying, “I believe that the public has a legitimate right to be fully informed of proceedings, particularly proceedings such as (the iiNet case), which have attracted considerable public interest. Twittering can serve to inform the public in a more speedy and comprehensive manner than may be possible through traditional media coverage.”Given the circumstances, the Federal Court of Australia became aware of the situation. Chief executive Warwick Soden then went on the record to dictate that each judge will be able to make their own decision on whether or not to allow Twitter reporting.Do you think allowing journalists to tweet from the courtroom is a good idea? Share your thoughts in the comments.Reviews: Australia, TwitterTags: australia, court, courtroom, twitter
Yesterday we somewhat skeptically covered the news of Bill Cosby’s social media ambitions: the “Cos” now has pages on 12seconds, Facebook, Flickr, Blog Talk Radio, MySpaceand Cinchamong others.But is Bill really engaging with these platforms? Foolishly, I told his PR reps that if Bill actually replied to us on video site 12seconds.tv, I’d wear a Bill Cosby sweater in my Facebook profile pic. The bet did not end well for me, as the video below attests.Speaking of which, Bill will be hosting a livestreamon video-sharing site Ustream at 7pm ET. That’s about now, so we’ll embed the video for that too. Cosby Replies@mashable – Thanks! I love Mashable.on 12seconds.tvBill Cosby Livestream at 7pm ETLive streaming video by UstreamReviews: 12seconds.tv, Facebook, ustreamTags: bill cosby
Twitter passed the one billion tweet mark back in Novemberof last year. It took them less than a year to quintuple that figure: according to Gigatweet, Twitter has now passed the 5 billion tweet mark. Wow.CNet reportsthat the 5 billionth tweet was delivered by one of Twitter’s initial loyal users, which seems fitting. Robin Sloan’s famed 5 billionth tweetread simply, “Oh lord.” It was apparently an unintentional, yet appropriate, religious moment.Placing this milestone on the Twitter timeline makes the 5 billionth tweet appear all the more impressive, considering the service was only up to 1.6 billionat the end of April this year. That means about 3.4 billion tweets have been sent in about the past 6 months. Again, there’s a word for that: wow.Have you managed to tweet any Twitter milestones? What’s your bet on how long it will take Twitter to pass the 10 billion tweet mark?Reviews: TwitterTags: milestones, tweets, twitter
This post is part of Mashable’s Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark.Name: PenzuQuick Pitch: Penzu is a free online diary and personal journal with a focus on privacy. Securely record your thoughts and ideas with the ease of writing on a pad of paper.Genius Idea: A big part of blogging has always been about sharing your thoughts with others, but sometimes, you really just want to record your thoughts and keep them private — like you would in a traditional paper journal. Penzu brings the paper-journal experience (and aesthetic) to the web and offers private-entry by default and the ability to protect your entries with a password or high-level encryption.Although most blogging or journaling platforms will let you make an entry private or select who it is shared with, the process isn’t always easy to manage. Plus, if someone has access to your account, they can still access your journal entries.Because Penzu entries are private by default, the chances of your personal thoughts being seen by the wrong person are considerably lower. Also, because you can password protect or encrypt entries, even if someone breaks into your account (or you forget to log out or something), there can still be one more barrier protecting what you write from someone else’s eyes.Penzu’s aesthetic looks like a piece of notebook paper — which is a pretty cute effect. If you do want to share an entry with someone, you can create a public entry for it and give it to whomever you choose. Unlike other journal or blogging services, there isn’t a main index of all entries – so only the links you share publicly are accessible.Penzu is incredibly easy to use – if you’ve used Tumblror any other instant-write platform,you’ll be comfortable. Penzu also recently introduced the ability to attach photos from Flickr— or your computer — to your journal entries.For users who want more control, Penzu offers Penzu Pro. Penzu Pro is $19 a year and it offers the ability to customize your Penzu backgrounds, format text, control the date for your entries (so you can backdate old entries), import entries from LiveJournal and export entries as text or PDF files. Penzu Pro also offers 256-bit AES encryption in addition to the standard password-lock option available on free accounts.If you want to keep a record of your thoughts, but you don’t want to share them with the world (or with Google), you might want to give Penzu a try. What tools do you use for recording your private thoughts?Spark of Genius Series Sponsored by Microsoft BizSparkBizSpark is a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.Entrepreneurs can take advantage of the Azure Services platformfor their website hosting and storage needs. Microsoft recently announced the “new CloudApp()” contest– use the Azure Services Platform for hosting your .NET or PHP app, and you could be the lucky winner of a USD 5000* (please see website for official rules and guidelines).”Reviews: Flickr, Google, PHP, Penzu, TumblrTags: blogging, journaling, LiveJournal, penzu
When asked about increased competition to the iPhone, like the new Android offerings, Apple COO Tim Cook was characteristically confident: “We think people are trying to catch up with the first iPhone released two years ago,” he said. Cook continued to point out that the 85,000 apps in the App Store far exceed the offerings of any of the other smartphone platforms.Whether Android 2.0 is iPhone 1.0 or not (and we think not), it’s clear Apple still feels they have the lead on innovation and new technologies that consumers want to use.In a sense, of course, this is true. One could argue that every smartphone released to the market since June 2007 has been a response to the iPhone. This isn’t to suggest that everything in the original iPhone was revolutionary (it wasn’t), but the combination of full web-browsing plus multi-touch screens and ease-of-use — not to mention the platform-specific application store — is something that virtually every other smartphone has tried to emulate in the last two and a half years.What has really driven the iPhone as a product and as a brand hasn’t been the technical features of the phone, but the apps. When you compare what is available elsewhere with what is available for the iPhone, both in quality and quantity — it’s not as stark as pre-App Store to post-App Store, but it isn’t on the same playing field.The iPhone 3GS is selling like hotcakes too. Although sales were up a “mere” 7% year-over-year (and keep in mind that it was Q4 last year that the iPhone came to many international markets for the first time), the sell-through rate was 38% higher than last year and Apple had a very difficult time keeping its channel inventories stocked. Even now, Apple remarked it wished it had more stock in the channel, especially with the impending iPhone China launch.Still, something tells me that Apple won’t be content to sit on its laurels and to underestimate the competition. Apple knows it has to continue to innovate if it wants to retain its lead on the competition.What do you think of Cook’s statement? Are other smartphones still playing catch-up to the original iPhone? Let us know!Reviews: App StoreTags: android, apple, iphone, peter cook
Welcome, music fans! It’s another Free Music Mondayfor you today. If you’ve been paying attention thus far, you’ll know we’re celebrating the #musicmondaytradition on Twitter.We pick 10 tracks from around the web and either embed a stream or link you to the free download. Last week was a special electronica editionwhich followed a rock and popgenre edition. This week’s theme is “live” footage, so all the tracks here represent actual artist performances.Let’s get rolling with the list!1. [SINGER-SONGWRITER] Eilen Jewell: Codeine Arms (Live at KEXP) — Blues and Americana mix with wistful folk in this live track from Eilen Jewell, embedded below. Head over to the Free Music Archive for a free download.2. [JAM BAND / FUNK] Global Funk: Live at The Bean Scene — Check out a lengthy live set in Chico, CA from this solid and relatively unknown group. Blending funk with prog rock, jams, and the occasional bluegrass and Latin flavors, their live set can be streamed below or downloaded from the Internet Archive.3. [CLASSIC ROCK] The Who: Live at the Philadelphia Spectrum — Check out the entire live set from the classic rock gods in December 1973 courtesy of Wolfgang’s Vault(free registration required), or check out a stream of one of my favorites, I Can’t Explain, below.4. [FOLK] Meiko: Under My Bed (Live) — Pensive, introspective folk from this singer-songwriter is live and embedded below.5. [ELECTRONICA] Deadmau5: Live at Nature One 2009 — Download not only the entire live set from Deadmau5 at Germany’s biggest electronic music festival, but the sets of all the performersincluding Carl Cox, Paul van Dyk and more.6. [JAZZ] Joshua Redman: Jazz Crimes (Live) — Check out the live video performance from the saxophonist and his Elastic Band, including legendary session drummer Brian Blade.7. [AMERICANA] Blind Pilot: Oviedo — Check out the video of Oregon’s Blind Pilot performance as part of Pandora’s Concert Series below, including a brief interview on the origins of the song.8. [HIP-HOP] Public Enemy: Live at BB King’s in New York — The entire set from a special Flavor Flav birthday gig is embedded below.Watch this show and more at SyncLive.com9. [HEAVY METAL FLAMENCO] Rodrigo y Gabriela: Live at NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts — Heavy metal flamenco is not a genre you see too often. This duo puts on a unique and impressive acoustic set live as part of NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert series, which has musicians performing at All Things Considered’s Bob Boilen’s desk. It’s hard to imagine a more fierce and driving acoustic nylon-stringed performance.10. [ALT-COUNTRY] Neko Case: Middle Cyclone — Courtesy of Spinner’s Interface live seriesis heart-tugging chanteuse, solo artist and New Pornographers member Neko Case performing Middle Cyclone.Thank you so much for listening this week! And if you enjoy Free Music Monday, please help support the feature by sending it to your music-loving friends. You can find the latest edition as well as all the past editions of this feature by heading over to the Free Music Mondaytag page.Also, a huge thanks to everyone for all the amazing submissions. If you sent us tracks and we haven’t featured them yet, please stay tuned for a future Free Music Monday. If you’d like to submit tracks for yourself or an artist you represent, just give us a shout at barb AT mashable DOT com. Thanks everyone!Reviews: PandoraTags: downloads, free music monday, mp3s, music, musicmonday, streaming
If someone told you that the CIA was spying on you by way of your Twitter updates, Facebook posts, YouTube videos, or Amazon reviews, you’d probably chalk it up to a conspiracy theory.But today we’re learning from Wiredthat the CIA’s technology arm In-Q-Telhas invested an undisclosed sum in Visible Technologies, a firm that provides software to companies like Microsoft for social media monitoring.According to Wired, the investment is “part of a larger movement within the spy services to get better at using “open source intelligence” – information that’s publicly available, but often hidden.” The current plan is for the CIA to use the technology to monitor International intelligence shared in public channels to get an early edge on what’s being shared and communicated by influential voices. In addition, funds from the deal apparently will be allocated towards enhancing the foreign language monitoring capabilities of Visible Technologies .From the report:“Of course, such a tool can also be pointed inward, at domestic bloggers or tweeters. Visible already keeps tabs on web 2.0 sites for Dell, AT&T and Verizon. For Microsoft, the company is monitoring the buzz on its Windows 7 rollout. For Spam-maker Hormel, Visible is tracking animal-right activists’ online campaigns against the company.“Anything that is out in the open is fair game for collection,” says Steven Aftergood, who tracks intelligence issues at the Federation of American Scientists. But “even if information is openly gathered by intelligence agencies it would still be problematic if it were used for unauthorized domestic investigations or operations. Intelligence agencies or employees might be tempted to use the tools at their disposal to compile information on political figures, critics, journalists or others, and to exploit such information for political advantage. That is not permissible even if all of the information in question is technically ‘open source.’”While we’re not exactly thrilled by the idea of the CIA paying attention to our every tweet, we do think that it is a rather obvious next step for the intelligence agency. We can only hope they’ll use their eye on the social sphere for good.Image from practicalowlon FlickrReviews: FlickrTags: CIA, social media, social media monitoring, visible technologies
Apple has just released its earnings reportfor Q4 2009. You can listen to the entire earnings callat 5PM EDT/2PM PDT, but the big take-away is that Apple beat estimates and moved more iPhones and Macs than they did during the same period last year.Apple sold 7.4 million iPhones in the quarter, which was a 7% increase in year-over-year growth. On the Mac side, Apple sold 3.05 million computers, a 17% increase year-over-year. iPod sales decreased 8% year-over-year, with 10.2 million units sold.The earnings calls sometimes (but not always) give insights into future products and partnership plans. We’re especially interested to hear how Apple responds to the inevitable “is the AT&T exclusivity agreement ending” question in the post-results Q&A. We’ll post updates with any important breaking news.Tags: apple, business, earnings, iphone
