The brains behind Blogger and Twitter have released a new content publisher called Medium.
Evan Williams and Biz Stone co-founded Obvious, a company that helped create the popular platforms Blogger and Twitter. Williams and Stone hope their new project helps advance collaborative publishing and create a more polished product than their previous projects.
“Lots of services have successfully lowered the bar for sharing information,” explains Williams, “but there’s been less progress toward raising the quality of what’s produced. While it’s great that you can be a one-person media company, it’d be even better if there were more ways you could work with others.”
The two are confident that Medium will mark an “evolutionary step” in Web publishing, reports Fast Company. And that step looks a lot like Pinterest, apparently.
As Fast Company describes it, Medium is “intended to be a Pinterest for our own lives, an elegant repository for photos, projects, and stories we’ve actually lived, as opposed to a re-blogged clearinghouse for pictures of wedding dresses and eggs baked into avocados found elsewhere around the Web.”
The user will post items and separate them into “collections” on a grid. Potential examples include “When I Was a Kid,” featuring childhood images and “This Happened To Me, a collection of amusing, inspiring, or unlikely real world anecdotes.”
The article discusses the pros and cons of a tile-based layout, suggesting that for Medium, the tile approach may be a great fit: “The tightly packed tiles serve to visually reinforce the idea that these photos and stories are part of a collection. If you’re flicking through a blog, a 200-word story titled ‘Beat-boxing saves lives’ probably wouldn’t grab your attention. But when it’s a tile in a collection headed ‘This Happened To Me,’ you automatically have a context that makes it a bit more compelling.”
Anyone with a Twitter account can check out Medium’s collections now, but posting is limited to a small group of beta testers.
“Much of our vision for Medium is just that — vision,” notes Stone. “Our ideas are much farther along than our product. Medium is only a sliver of what it could be.”
Twitter is making commitments to its new API changes, placing stricter requirements on third-party developers.
For one, any app accessing Twitter’s API must be authenticated. Developers have six months to switch over to the new API v1.1.
Also, third-party developers will be required to get permission or “work with [Twitter] directly” once they reach 100,000 users, the company explains. For current apps, the new restrictions will apply after their “user tokens” double whatever they are now.
“Essentially, once any third party app hits its user limit, the developer will need to have a ‘come to Twitter’ moment at which something will happen, but Twitter’s not saying what,” explains The Verge.
Twitter reiterated that it does not want client apps that “mimic or reproduce the mainstream Twitter consumer client experience.” Instead, the company said it “preferred that developers create analytics apps, Social CRM apps, and other types of essentially non-consumer-facing apps while avoiding traditional clients,” the article states.
Another change: Twitter is putting a limit on the number of API calls that can be made in an hour, making it so anyone that wants real-time analytics has to work closely with the company. Also new, hardware manufacturers will have to clear pre-installed Twitter apps on devices because they are rarely updated, Twitter says.
Twitter will continue to push the enriched-content “Twitter Cards,” with plans to expand. And developers will now have “Display Requirements,” not “Guidelines.”
“[The changes] could mean that we’ll be seeing more and more partnerships between third party developers and Twitter (likely that involve displaying Twitter’s ads and ensuring revenue flows in the right direction). It could also mean we could see the most popular Twitter apps shut down,” the article concludes.
For some app developers, HTML5 technology just means long load times and reliance on a good Internet connection. But gaming company Goko wants to prove that HTML5 not only works, but also cuts costs.
“It allows developers to create one version of a game that can run across multiple platforms, including Facebook, the Web and mobile,” reports AllThingsD. “Not only does that save developers money, it also lets consumers play the same version of the game on whatever device they choose.”
Goko is launching a number of HTML5 games across several digital platforms. The company also announced it has raised $8 million in funding.
To demo its platform’s capabilities, Goko has launched popular real-world card game “Dominion” across multiple platforms including Facebook, Google+, Goko.com, Android and iOS.
“Ted Griggs, Goko’s CEO, acknowledges that there are some limitations to the technology, but for most card and board games, it’s good enough today,” the article states. “To prove that its platform is up to the task, Goko secured licensing deals with 150 well-known board and card games.”
“Starting today, the company’s platform will also be available to developers looking for help creating, distributing and monetizing games across multiple platforms,” adds AllThingsD.
Just a few years ago, game console manufacturers were competing against one another to grab the dominant portion of the market. Today, these big names have a new competitor: the smartphone.
When it was released in 2006, Nintendo’s Wii console saw a strong surge in buyers, giving the company an edge on its top rivals, Microsoft and Sony. Unfortunately for Nintendo, adoption dropped off after a few years, especially with the success of Microsoft’s Kinect for Xbox.
On a different front, Sony and Nintendo vied for consumer dollars with their handheld gaming devices. Both Sony’s PlayStation Portable and Nintendo’s Game Boy and DS saw strong sales. The companies have since updated their devices, but haven’t been able to recreate the same adoption.
“Smartphones and tablets are becoming more popular and their components more powerful,” reports Fortune. “Meanwhile, major game publishers, like Electronic Arts, are realizing that gamers increasingly prefer to use those devices to play titles.”
“And why not?” asks the article. “Smartphones and tablets today deliver high-quality visuals at every turn. And the sheer convenience of being able to switch from a phone call or text message to a video game is too appealing to pass up.”
“We believe that consumer preferences may be switching decisively to mobile games, given that game quality is similar, if not better, and mobile games have the added advantage of being playable at any time, anywhere,” writes Cowen analyst Doug Creutz.
The gaming business is now much less about the games and much more about the new features. For consoles, this means tools like Internet streaming and motion capture could split the difference between the top three.
If the rumors are true that Microsoft is planning to release its Xbox 720 at the end of 2013, that means it’s taken eight years to update the gaming console, “decades in the world of technology,” Business Insider suggests. This lag has some (including pioneer Nolan Bushnell) thinking consoles will soon be replaced by online and mobile games.
Business Insider takes a look at the history of major consoles that “paved the way for ‘Angry Birds’ and other highly addictive mobile and online games.”
Atari Pong (1972) : “Bushnell’s ‘Pong’ single-handedly defined the video game industry (and its future) with his ping-pong themed arcade game,” the article states. Nintendo Entertainment System (1985): Set the stage for Nintendo’s gaming dominance, selling across America with popular titles like “Mario Bros.”
Sega Master System (1986): Created to compete with NES and boasted better graphics and the ability to run game cartridges or credit card-sized Sega cards. Nintendo’s GameBoy (1989): Preloaded with “Tetris,” the handheld console saw sales of more than one million in its first holiday season.
Super Nintendo Entertainment System (1991): Had 32K colors and special effects like scaling, rotating and transparency. PlayStation (1995): Initiated the switch to CDs for games, which created a rise in piracy. Nintendo 64 (1996): Stuck with cartridges, but saw great sales due to the popular game titles.
PlayStation 2 (2000): “Boasted the Emotion Engine, a unique CPU customized by Sony and Toshiba allowing players to run old PlayStation games on the console, as well as modern DVDs.” Xbox (2001): Was sold with then-unknown “Halo” and quickly outpaced Nintendo’s GameCube and the PS2.
Nintendo Dual Screen (2004): Offered new voice recognition technology and stylus input. And in recent years: Xbox 360 (2005), PlayStation Portable (2005), Nintendo Wii (2006), PlayStation 3 (2006) and PlayStation Vita (2011).
Check out the post for additional details regarding each product release and gaming milestone.
Watching people leave the building with personal possessions and white sheets of paper only fed the rumors that streaming game provider OnLive was giving out numerous pink slips — and worse, that the company was going under.
Now, a company spokesperson has issued a statement saying the rumors are not true and that OnLive has been purchased.
“We can now confirm that the assets of OnLive, Inc. have been acquired into a newly-formed company and is backed by substantial funding, and which will continue to operate the OnLive Game and Desktop services, as well as support all of OnLive’s apps and devices, as well as game, productivity and enterprise partnerships,” according to the statement.
“The new company is hiring a large percentage of OnLive, Inc.’s staff across all departments and plans to continue to hire substantially more people, including additional OnLive employees,” notes the statement. “All previously announced products and services, including those in the works, will continue and there is no expected interruption of any OnLive services.”
Even so, The Verge suggests some questions remain unanswered: “OnLive’s customers will no-doubt be happy to know that service will be maintained, but beyond that we will have to wait to find out exactly what the reasoning is behind today’s very strange drama.”
A 3D body scanner with Apple-worthy design has just landed in the middle of Bloomingdale’s to help customers learn which clothes will best fit their body shape.
The scanner is made by the London-based company Bodymetrics and is the first in America and second worldwide.
Bloomingdale’s customers at the Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto, California can step into the scanner, equipped with 16 Microsoft Kinect sensors, and have their exact measurements appear on an iPad in just moments.
“Bodymetrics says it had success with a test run in Los Angeles, before making Silicon Valley (‘yes, we’re influenced by Apple, isn’t everybody,’ says Chairman Dr. Suran Goonatilake) its first American home,” reports NBC.
For now, the scanner is only for females, but Bodymetrics could be coming out with a male version eventually. While Bloomingdale’s remains tight-lipped on the cost, it remains to be seen how popular the scanners will become.
“If you don’t mind the feeling of being scanned, give it a shot,” suggests NBC. “It will very likely cut your shopping time in half, and if you’d rather keep the results to yourself, just check your iPad later, and shop online.”
A promising new technology hopes to offer 3D films on television displays without the need for special 3D glasses. According to the Fraunhofer Institute, researchers plan to unveil the technology at the end of the month during Berlin’s IFA trade show.
The Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications research team at the Heinrich-Hertz Institute in Berlin says it has developed a new technology that converts Blu-ray 3D content in real-time to be shown on autostereoscopic displays.
“We take the existing two images and generate a depth map — that is to say, a map that assigns a specific distance from the camera to each object,” says Christian Riechert, research fellow at HHI. “From there we compute any of several intermediate views by applying depth image-based rendering techniques.”
“And here’s the really neat thing: the process operates on a fully automated basis, and in real-time,” adds Riechert.
Simultaneous interpretation allows the viewer to screen a 3D Blu-ray disc without the need for glasses while enjoying the same familiar experience of a conventional stereoscopic approach, including the ability to fast forward, rewind, start and stop, etc. The researchers claim that flickering on the edges of objects (commonly due to imprecise estimations) is now imperceptible.
The team’s next step is to collaborate with industry partners to port the software onto a hardware product that can be used with televisions. The post suggests it will be “at least another calendar year” before we see a product in stores.
The International 3D Society (I3DS) and the 3D@Home Consortium, two of the industry’s top 3D organizations, are merging into a single association.
It is fittingly called the International 3D Society & 3D@Home, and will be made up of a merger of both existing teams, “comprising members in 20 countries and chapters in North America, China, Japan, Korea, Europe and the UK,” reports Variety.
“This newly formed organization will serve to spearhead the growth and expansion of the 3D entertainment industry across the entire ecosystem — from content conception and development, to consumer education and adoption,” says Tom Cosgrove, co-chair of the newly combined organization and CEO of 3net.
“From supporting content creators to educating consumers, our two groups have distinguished themselves in providing neutral, non-branded information,” adds Jim Mainard, past chair at I3DS and head of digital strategy at DreamWorks Animation. “Their combined power and scope will maximize our ability to steadily grow 3D across countless media platforms in education.”
The new organization, comprised of more than 60 companies and 500 individuals, will be led by I3DS CEO Jim Chabin. Studio and TV members include Disney, DreamWorks, Pixar, Sony, Turner Broadcasting, ESPN, BSkyB and National Geographic.
Other corporate members include Panasonic, Dolby Laboratories, XpanD 3D, RealD, 3ality Technica, Masterimage 3D, IMAX, Intel, THX, Samsung and others.
The first-ever LA Mobile Arts Festival is set to open this weekend in Santa Monica, celebrating iPhoneography — the “up-and-coming art form” launched by the popularity of the iPhone’s built-in camera and a growing collection of compelling apps.
“The event features 600-plus works from iPhone artists around the world — prints, mixed-media installations, sculptures, sound and video projects, and more,” notes CNET. “It’s sponsored by iPhoneArt.com, one of a number of online communities dedicated to sharing and promoting the burgeoning mobile arts.”
The festival, which will feature works by more than 150 mobile photographers, will also showcase innovative techniques in underground mobile art, reinventing the daguerreotype, and performance art. It will include hands-on workshops and photowalks along Venice Beach and the Santa Monica Pier.
The event will take place for one week at the 22,000-square foot Santa Monica Art Studios (3026 Airport Avenue). The opening gala is slated for Saturday, August 18, 7:00-10:00 pm.
Two months after the launch of Airtime, the app has only 1,000 daily and 90,000 monthly active users, according to AppData. In order to make good on the $33.5 million fronted by its investors, Airtime desperately needs a jumpstart to its distribution method.
“Airtime planned to reach millions through real-time Facebook Chat invites to video calls,” reports TechCrunch. “But private messages can’t go viral, so two months after launch it’s hoping for growth through public video posts to Twitter and Facebook.”
Airtime has started a limited public release of the video posts, along with Twitter integration and its newly enhanced buddy list, in hopes that “Airtime users gain ways to tempt more friends to hop aboard, and not just one at a time,” explains the post.
The buddy list has been redesigned to include people in three categories: those currently logged into Airtime, those currently on Facebook but not Airtime and anyone else who is offline, making friend-finding much easier.
But is video-based social networking something that’s really going to take off? It’s different than the quickness of text and photo sharing.
“Video posts could certainly give people a reason to take some quick Airtime, but not if they drag on like a voicemail,” suggests the post. “It might take a time limit, or an entirely new type of interaction, but the products needs to feel lightweight. Because if users think the minimum session takes too long, they’ll never see how Airtime could humanize the Web through face-to-face interaction.”
Efficient file downloader uTorrent was acquired by BitTorrent Inc. in 2006 and has since become the most widely used BitTorrent application, with more than 125 million regular users worldwide.
In a move that may upset consumers, but provide a big payoff for expansion, BitTorrent has announced uTorrent will soon be ad-supported.
“Until now nearly all revenue came from the toolbar which users can install optionally when uTorrent is first downloaded. However, BitTorrent Inc. sees the need to experiment with other revenue sources with ‘sponsored torrents’ being added for all users in an upcoming release,” TorrentFreak reports.
BitTorrent sees an annual revenue of around $15 to $20 million — plus millions in venture capital — according to some close to the company. The added revenue from advertising could help the company further expand, the post suggests.
With the new approach, users’ IP-addresses will determine geographical locations, but BitTorrent maintains that privacy will be protected while attempting to bring targeted sponsored torrents.
“This new build will display a featured torrent at the top of your torrent list. This featured torrent space will be used to offer a variety of different types of content. We are working towards bringing you offers that are relevant to you,” explains BitTorrent.
The torrents can’t be turned off, but individual ads can be clicked away. The ads will also be used to promote artists and highlight updates.
Digiboo kiosks have been offering downloadable movies in airports to customers with USB sticks and Windows devices.
The company has now announced the ability to replace the USB connection with wireless access, while unfortunately keeping the strict Windows-only option.
However, the switch to wireless “should make Digiboo’s next step — Android support, which is promised to come this month — a whole lot easier,” Engadget suggests.
According to the press release, the service offers more than 800 new releases and popular movie titles: “Rentals are $3.99 (new) or $2.99 (catalog) and can be viewed within 30 days of download up to 48 hours after the movie is opened. Purchased movies cost $14.99. New releases are largely available day-and-date with DVD and Video on Demand.”
“Digiboo has partnered with several studios, including Lionsgate, Paramount, Sony and Warner Bros., as well as Kingston Digital, Inc. (USB), PFU (kiosk), and FSH (MSP distribution partner) to provide the highest quality service to travelers,” notes the release.
The company is also looking to expand into more retail locations and new markets in the final quarter of 2012.
Mobile ad company InMobi recently surveyed 1,055 Americans regarding how much time they spend engaged with different types of media.
“Users responded that they watched TV for 141 minutes a day,” reports Business Insider. “But they spent 144 minutes a day — 26 percent of the nine hours they used various media — with their phones.”
The post features an infographic that breaks down mobile device usage and mobile activities during a typical day. The most common activities of mobile use include general information and search, social media, games, entertainment, email, local search, shopping and banking/paying bills.
Interesting statistics regarding which media most impact purchasing decisions: 59 percent for mobile devices, 57 percent for TV and only 34 percent for computers.
According to the infographic: “66 percent are more or equally comfortable with mobile advertising vs. TV or online ads.”
SoundExchange, which collects royalties for digital streams and Internet radio, has collected royalties for 50,000 artists and labels who stand to lose their payout if they don’t register with the company by October 15.
“The agency, created in 2000, pays performing artists and record labels when their music is played on services like Sirius XM and Pandora — a royalty that the music industry has long sought, since terrestrial radio pays only songwriters and publishers,” explains The New York Times.
Right now the company has 70,000 accounts for performers and 24,000 for labels and other copyright owners, but it has struggled to get those parties to fill out the required documents.
The agency has paid out $1 billion since its start. Although the amount owed to the 50,000 unregistered parties hasn’t been confirmed, the artists and labels could lose out if they don’t meet SoundExchange’s October deadline.