Hasta La Gadget!

Paul Chambers, who was previously found guilty of sending a “menacing tweet,” has been acquitted by the High Court after two-and-a-half years trapped in legal limbo. On hearing of the closure of his local airport, the 27-year-old had sent out a facetious tweet to his 600 followers that mentioned “blowing the airport sky high!” However, despite airport authorities realizing the message was a joke, the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service took the man to court and won. The social network quickly rallied around, with many repeating the tweet with the hashtag #IAmSpartacus and involving celebrities such as Stephen Fry, who helped raise funds to launch an appeal. The court today found that its joking nature was “obvious” and that it was sent by someone who did not hide their identity — clearing Mr. Chambers name once and for all. For the record, here was the original tweet with expletives removed:

“C**p! Robin Hood Airport is closed. You’ve got a week and a bit to get your s**t together, otherwise I’m blowing the airport sky high!!“

Man acquitted as #TwitterJokeTrial appeal ends in victory originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Jul 2012 05:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Enough with that silly fake money in Farmville and the lack of real-world thrills in Zynga Poker. The country’s favorite social game company is looking to expand into the world of sin and will offer a poker game that allows players to gamble actual money sometime in the first half of 2013. However, don’t expect it to be hosted – or perhaps even playable – in the US, where online gambling is all but expunged due to several state laws banning the practice.

The announcement came from Zynga CEO Mark Pincus during a conference call today with investors. Just looking at some of the reports when it comes to this market makes it very easy to realize why the company would want to go down this new path. For example, Zynga users currently spend an average of $2 – $3 per month. Of course, multiply that by millions of users and you’re doing pretty well. But by comparison, online gambling sites typically see revenues of around $300 per paying user per month.

It will be the first time such a major name outside the world of gambling hopes to make it big in the online gambling world. Every other noted video game publisher has shied away from it because of many issues, not the least of which is that real-world gambling gives publishers an automatic “AO” rating from the ESRB, and most publishers are ingrained in the video game rating system so deeply that they don’t dare launch a game that doesn’t have that group’s stamp of approval. Of course, the legalities also play a huge role in this. This is going to be an interesting story to watch.

[via VentureBeat]

Zynga to offer real-money gambling in 2013 is written by Mark Raby & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Earlier in the year, a design team called ADR Studio created a camera concept based off the Instagram icon used for iOS and Android. Now the designer of Socialmatic, Antonio De Rosa, says the concept could see a fully working prototype before the end of the year. De Rosa recently returned from Singapore where he met several manufacturers based in Hong Kong, saying that he had secured a partner that will bridge the gap between the concept and the manufacturing.

ADR tried to secure $50,000 in funding from IndieGoGo earlier in the year, but failed to reach its target goal. A private investor swooped in, however, allowing the team to continue with the project and begin searching for manufacturers. De Rosa confirmed that the final name of the camera will be Socialmatic, saying that there’s a strong demand for the camera despite the failure of the IndieGoGo funding.

The camera is designed to take Instagram style photos, but also features an integrated printer so that you can give a physical copy of the photo to anyone. The Socialmatic would come with 16GB of storage, WiFi, a 4:3 touchscreen featuring the company’s custom InstaOS, and two lenses; one for the main photo capture and a second for 3D filters among other applications. InstaOS, meanwhile, is said to pull the best features of the Facebook and Instagram apps.

[via International Business Times]

Socialmatic promises Instagram-for-real prototype by end of year is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The 2012 Summer Olympics in London are going to be the most online-connected Olympics ever. That’s a fact, and it’s nothing worth writing an essay about because that doesn’t surprise anyone. What’s perhaps most interesting, though, is to see whether or not the organization that runs the international games is keeping up with the incredible social presence that the next few months will have.

So the International Olympic Committee has updated its official social page for the event, the Olympic Athletes’ Hubs. It’s an online destination for fans to follow their favorite athletes and their country, allowing them to connect via Facebook and Twitter to various Olympians. The committee is doing its best job to keep the flurry of social content in one centralized location.

Users are able to log in with their existing Facebook or Twitter accounts. In addition to that, the IOC has its own official Twitter account as well as a presence in Instagram, Google+, and Tumblr. The hub also will integrate with all these platforms. It’s going to be tough keeping on top of everything in one location, but the IOC surely wants to do the best that it can.

[via VentureBeat]

International Olympic Committee enhances online social presence is written by Mark Raby & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Social media is a godsend of a tool for military families because it lets them communicate from thousands of miles away. But it can also be totally damaging to Operational Security (OPSEC), if a photo posted or a status reveals covert location data, which is the type of mistake that’s happened in the past. So the Air Force has published a 41-page guide to effective social media use in order to avoid major screw-ups, maintain OPSEC, and create a standard operating procedure. More »