After introducing online registration in 2008, Washington State continues its progressive tactics to spur voting by introducing Facebook voter registration.
Prospective voters will access the Secretary of State’s Facebook page and then authorize an app (developed by Microsoft) to access their name and birth date. People will finish the process by manually entering driver license or state ID numbers.
“When the app launches early next week, Washington will become the first state to offer voting registration through Facebook,” reports The Verge.
“In this age of social media and more people going online for services, this is a natural way to introduce people to online registration and leverage the power of friends on Facebook to get more people registered,” explains Shane Hamlin, Washington State co-director of elections.
Hamlin stressed that Facebook gains access to no data, and that all the user information goes only to Washington State.
“You are giving your information to us, not Facebook,” he says. “Your name and date of birth are pulled from Facebook profile, then it operates exactly as it does if you’re not in Facebook. Our state database checks to see if you’re already registered. If you are, it will take you to MyVote service, [where] you can update registration information.”
While Congress’ attempts to block new technologies can seem unnecessary at times, GigaOM argues that people should take Senator Al Franken’s recent warnings about facial recognition software seriously.
“I think Congress should leave new Web technologies alone so they can grow organically and we, the people — who are actually perfectly able to adjust to them — can decide the limits with which we’re comfortable,” writes technology journalist Derrick Harris. “But facial recognition is a whole new beast.”
Harris suggests that the most dangerous aspect of facial recognition technology is that, at the current rate, anyone will have access to a wealth of information to identify strangers.
Technology will soon allow people to take a picture, analyze the picture using a database of Facebook and Flickr photos, and then discover an individual’s name. Once someone has the name, they can then discover the person’s personal information, and possibly even social security number.
Harris recommends using fair tactics to regulate the technology. While outlawing the technology may go too far, restrictions should be put in place to avoid dangerous consequences.
YouTube, for example, announced its face-blurring technology for videos this week, but it may not be enough.
“Blocking out dissidents’ faces so they aren’t the targets of authoritarian governments is a noble goal, but it doesn’t address the issue of me being able to blur out my face in someone else’s video,” notes Harris. “I’m not sure how such a capability would work from a business perspective, but citizens need some level of control over how and where their images are used.”
Facebook’s advertisements boast a 1.1 percent mobile click-through rate, according to a study from social media specialist TBG Digital.
This percentage is roughly four times higher than Twitter’s 0.266 percent rate. TBG measured 406 billion impressions in more than 190 countries.
“Mobile growth has been troublesome for Facebook, and the company made a case before its IPO that mobile was one of its biggest risk factors,” reports VentureBeat. “The company might even be planning to build its own phone to deal with this issue.”
“But the new study at least provides a glimmer of hope for the company’s mobile ad prospects and shows that its newsfeed engagement is working.”
Germany had the highest CPM increase (31 percent) quarter over quarter, followed by the U.S. (25 percent), Canada (21 percent) and the UK (7 percent).
“Another important aspect of the report is that Facebook’s cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM) increased by 58 percent between Q2 2011 and Q2 2012. This means that Facebook’s ads are generally working well enough that the company can keep charging more for them,” notes the post.
LinkedIn has redesigned its interface, but the changes appear to be more than cosmetic. The company may be aiming to compete as more of a social content sharing platform.
This week the company “released a redesigned LinkedIn Today page that included much-needed social features,” reports Digital Trends. “LinkedIn has confirmed the launch of a simpler homepage, which is suspiciously similar to Facebook’s Newsfeed. While LinkedIn is promoting the redesign’s ease of use, what may not be so apparent is LinkedIn’s slow transformation from a resume network to a content sharing platform.”
“We’ve started to roll out a simpler and easier way to navigate Homepage experience that offers quick access to the relevant information and updates that help you be great at your job,” explains Caroline Gaffney, LinkedIn project manager.
“The Homepage and LinkedIn Today redesign coupled with the integration of social features is evidence of LinkedIn’s strategy to become the user curated content and news platform that Facebook and Twitter have been aggressively competing to become,” suggests Digital Trends.
LinkedIn hopes the redesign, which will be officially put in place in a couple of weeks, will encourage users to spend more time perusing the site rather than simply visiting for a few minutes to check their profile and then logging off.
AT&T has unveiled a data sharing plan that is essentially identical to Verizon’s Share Everything.
Mobile Share provides tiered plans that allow customers to share data across up to ten devices. As with Verizon’s Share Everything, all Mobile Share plans come with unlimited messages and voice.
Prices vary slightly between Verizon and AT&T. The price distinctions are because AT&T offers different smartphone surcharges based on the amount of data purchased.
AT&T charges $15 per gigabyte in overage — the same charge as Verizon’s Share Everything.
“Individual plans are a key differentiator between the nation’s two biggest carriers: the introduction of Mobile Share has no effect on the availability of AT&T’s existing offerings, which means new customers won’t be forced into a data sharing arrangement if they don’t want it. Verizon, meanwhile, has phased out its entire postpaid portfolio outside of Share Everything,” reports The Verge.
Mobile Share is scheduled to launch in late August.
Apple’s upcoming iPhone 5 will feature in-cell touch display technology to reduce thickness, reports the Wall Street Journal.
The emphasis on keeping the iPhone thin suggests Apple does in fact plan to increase the phone’s screen size, as has been rumored for months.
Current iPhone models use a layered structure of LCD, capacitive sensors and glass. But Sharp and Japan Display are making LCD displays that feature built-in touch technology.
This technology will allow Apple to eliminate layers in the phone and keep the device sleek and thin. It will also allow the company to simplify the supply chain and potentially reduce costs by no longer acquiring touch panels and LCD panels from different suppliers.
“The technology integrates touch sensors into the LCD, making it unnecessary to have a separate touch-screen layer,” explains WSJ. “The absence of the layer, usually about half-a-millimeter thick, not only makes the whole screen thinner, but improves the quality of displayed images, said DisplaySearch analyst Hiroshi Hayase.”
The in-cell touch display technology should be crucial to Apple regarding its ongoing competition with Samsung in the smartphone market. Samsung has been touting its organic light-emitting displays as a distinction from other phones. The company’s “Galaxy S III comes with a 4.8-inch OLED screen and is thinner than the current iPhone,” notes WSJ.
The new iPhone is expected to be available sometime this fall.
Nokia will cut the price of its Lumia 900 to $49.99 when subscribers agree to a two-year contract from AT&T, reports the Wall Street Journal.
The Lumia 900 was initially offered for $99 with a two-year agreement when it hit the market in April.
“This move is a normal strategy that is put in place during the life cycle of most phones,” explains Nokia spokesman Doug Dawson. It “allows a broader consumer base to buy this flagship device at a more accessible price.” He noted that Samsung’s Galaxy S II also experienced a price drop during a similar time frame.
Nokia hopes the price cut will bolster falling sales. Last month, Microsoft announced the next generation Windows 8 operating system, and also revealed the Lumia 900 will not receive an update to the system.
“If the phone wasn’t selling well before that bit of news dropped, it’s likely selling much worse now,” comments Mashable.
The Lumia 900 rode positive reviews to early success, but Nokia has struggled since the initial burst. The company plans to lay off 10,000 workers by the end of 2013 and close factories in Finland, Germany and Canada.
Increasing numbers of cost-conscious American families are avoiding 3D screenings due to rising prices and decreasing excitement around the technology.
More than 85 percent of revenue for “Avatar” came from 3D tickets, and 56 percent of revenue for “Toy Story 3” came from 3D. But newly released “Brave” only received 32 percent of revenue from 3D sales.
A family of four could have to pay as much as $65 in some American theaters to see a 3D movie such as “Ice Age: Continental Drift.” If the family chose to see the movie in 2D, the price would drop 25 to 40 percent, depending on the theater.
The number of 3D movie releases rose about 75 percent between 2010 and 2011, but 3D revenues dropped by $400 million.
“For the moment, it appears that the movie industry is relying on extreme fans of comic book films and action movies to prop up 3D ticket sales in the United States,” notes Digital Trends.
While American 3D sales decline, sales around the world have increased. Successful 3D ticket sales in China, Brazil, and Russia will continue to encourage studios to produce 3D movies, even if American audiences opt for the less expensive 2D versions.
President Obama signed an executive order titled “Assignment of National Security and Emergency Preparedness Communications Functions” in an effort to increase government control over the Internet during natural disasters and security emergencies.
“The Federal Government must have the ability to communicate at all times and under all circumstances to carry out its most critical and time sensitive missions,” explains the order.
“Survivable, resilient, enduring, and effective communications, both domestic and international, are essential to enable the executive branch to communicate within itself and with: the legislative and judicial branches; state, local, territorial, and tribal governments; private sector entities; and the public, allies, and other nations.”
“Such communications must be possible under all circumstances to ensure national security, effectively manage emergencies, and improve national resilience,” states the order.
Critics of the bill are especially concerned with Section 5.2, which outlines how telecommunications and the Internet are controlled — and can be interpreted as a plan to provide the government with an “on/off” switch for the Internet.
“Presidential powers over the Internet and telecommunications were laid out in a U.S. Senate bill in 2009, which proposed handing the White House the power to disconnect private-sector computers from the Internet,” reports CNET. “But that legislation was not included in the Cybersecurity Act of 2012 earlier this year.”
Comcast, which owns NBCUniversal, has acquired Microsoft’s 50 percent stake in MSNBC.com for $300 million, according to “people with knowledge of the transaction,” reports The New York Times.
The URL now redirects to NBCNews.com. However, MSNBC.com will return early next year as the online home of the MSNBC cable channel.
Microsoft sold its share of the MSNBC cable channel in 2005, but kept 50 percent control of the online news site. This deal created advertising problems between the two entities, as they could not sell shared advertising to interested parties.
The sale will allow MSN to feature stories other than MSNBC content. “Being limited to MSNBC.com content was problematic to us because we couldn’t have the multiple news sources and the multiple perspectives that our users were telling us that they wanted,” explains Bob Visse, MSN general manager.
“Most interestingly, though, Microsoft plans to strike out on its own this fall with original online reporting,” reports The Verge. “Visse told the AP that MSN will be building a brand-new news team of approximately 100 journalists, or roughly the same size as the original group of reporters behind MSNBC.com at its launch in 1996.”
The summer Olympic games will use more social media than ever before. Mashable takes a look at the top seven ways to make the most of these tools during what some are calling the first “Socialympics.”
1) Online Olympic Communities: The Olympic Athlete’s Hub allows fans to interact with more than 1,000 athletes via real-time chats and personalized athlete updates.
2) Facebook: The Official Olympics Facebook page has more than 2.8 million likes. Mashable suggests also liking the NBC Olympics page and the Countdown App page.
3) Twitter: @Olympics, @USOlympicTeam, and @IOCMedia are all worth a follow, according to the post.
4) “More than 300,000 users have the London 2012 Google+ page in their circles, with many posts receiving more than 50 comments and +1s,” reports Mashable.
5) YouTube: Team USA plans to update the Team USA YouTube channel with five to ten videos per day during the summer games.
6) Photos/Pinterest: Although an official Olympics Pinterest page does not yet exist, fans can follow the IOC on Flickr.
7) Shazaam: “A recent partnership between Shazaam and Comcast’s NBCUniversal will allow Shazaam users to access additional content when using the app during broadcasts on five NBC networks. The recent integration of Shazaam with the Grammys proved successful, so it could also perform well at the Olympics,” suggests the post.
Amazon has long fought legislative efforts to force the retail giant to collect sales taxes. Because Amazon only needs to collect sales tax in states in which it has a physical presence, the company strategically built warehouses in low population states like Kentucky and then shipped the goods to larger markets like California.
However, Amazon is changing its strategy, and has pledged hundreds of millions of dollars to build new warehouses across the country in an effort to bring same day shipping to its customers.
The new warehouses will increase prices on Amazon, as customers will have to pay sales tax, but they will also greatly increase the speed of shipping.
The company currently offers free three-day shipping for all customers and free two-day shipping for its Amazon Prime subscribers. Customers can also pay extra for next day shipping.
Amazon invested in robot development company Kiva Systems to improve shipping times and reduce warehouse errors.
Slate argues that local retail could be impacted as a result of the convenience of same day shipping. “Order something in the morning and get it later in the day, without doing anything else. Why would you ever shop anywhere else?”
Facebook and other social media platforms are using smart technology to scan users’ conversations for potential criminal activity.
The software “monitors chats for words or phrases that signal something might be amiss, such as an exchange of personal information or vulgar language,” reports Mashable.
The software targets people without a well-established connection to the site and conversations between people of very different ages. If Facebook positively detects evidence of a crime, the police may be contacted.
Facebook identified at least one alleged child predator using the software. And in April, the company complied with a Boston Police Department subpoena by turning over printouts of data of a murder suspect.
“We’ve never wanted to set up an environment where we have employees looking at private communications, so it’s really important that we use technology that has a very low false-positive rate,” explains Joe Sullivan, Facebook chief security officer.
“Aereo is a start-up funded by ex-Fox CEO Barry Diller’s IAC that streams the local broadcast signals of TV stations via the Web to iPhones and iPads for a $12 monthly fee,” reports Fortune. “It’s been available since March in New York City, but there’s no technical reason it couldn’t work nationwide.”
The biggest winner in Aereo’s recent court victory may end up being Apple. District Judge Alison Nathan ruled against a request by TV networks for a preliminary injunction, possibly bringing Steve Jobs’ dream of an Apple TV one step closer to fruition.
Jobs wanted “the best of television without the rest of the 500 channels that most viewers never watch,” notes the article. TV networks did not want to negotiate with Jobs, because his model would upset their existing business model.
However, Aereo could change all that. Since Aereo pays no licensing fees to the networks, other companies could follow the same model to take advantage of local broadcast signals.
On the other hand, Apple would share revenues with the content creators, meaning networks may soon reopen negotiations with Apple if Aereo’s legal successes continue.
“It was a setback for the networks. It was a big, if temporary, win for Aereo. It was also a win for the cable and satellite TV providers who pay a small fortune to the networks for access their content,” notes Fortune regarding the recent decision. “I don’t know if it’s legal or not,” said Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt. “But if it is, we should do it too.”
Tech start-up Aereo will continue to provide broadcast TV signals in the New York area online, as U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan ruled against a request by networks for a preliminary injunction.
“The networks worry that such services will undercut their business model, particularly the retransmission fees they collect from cable operators, and undermine broadcast stations’ plans to launch mobile offerings to smartphones, iPads and other devices,” reports Variety.
Aereo uses thousands of mini antennas to allow subscribers to either choose a streaming live show or replay offerings in a DVR style.
Judge Nathan ruled that each antenna operates independently, and therefore likened the system to other remote storage DVR products already in existence.
“Today’s decision is a loss for the entire creative community,” the group of plaintiffs wrote in a statement. “The judge has denied our request for preliminary relief — ruling that it is OK to misappropriate copyrighted material and retransmit it without compensation. While we are disappointed, we will continue to fight to protect our copyrights and expect to prevail on appeal.”
“Today’s decision shows that when you are on the right side of the law, you can stand up, fight the Goliath and win,” countered Aereo founder Chet Kanojia.
After introducing online registration in 2008, Washington State continues its progressive tactics to spur voting by introducing Facebook voter registration.
