Facebook announced today that they have opened up their first data center outside the US in Luleå, Sweden. It’s located in a small town at the northern edge of the Baltic Sea, and is just 62 miles south of the Arctic Circle. It’s an odd place for a data center, but Facebook says there are
This weekend inside sources have suggested Google to be reaching a deal with the team at Waze, a smart navigation app previously rumored to have been in talks with Facebook for a similar deal. This acquisition has been tipped to be ringing in at $1.3 billion USD while real terms have not yet been revealed.
This afternoon Twitter has reported site issues in a very, very general way for the masses. This status update comes courtesy of Twitter’s Tumblr page, as it were, a publication whose engine is now owned by Yahoo. Twitter’s status appears at the moment to be affecting both mobile and web browser-based Twitter accounts.
The Twitter issue at hand appears to have been in effect for a bit under an hour at this point here at 4PM CST, with Twitter official only assuring the public that their engineers are currently working to resolve the issue. This update appeared a little over 30 minutes after the issue started to appear in social networks both inside and out of Twitter.
For those of you still having Twitter issues, there’s always support groups inside Google+ and Facebook. That said, Twitter is already appearing to start sending Tweets and appear both in and out of mobile web browsers for multiple operating systems, from our end. Reports continue to flow from both sides of the miniblog.
Let us know if you’re having site issues and we’ll let you know when Twitter gives the go-ahead. Until then: courage!
SOURCE: Twitter
Twitter is down with “site issues”, it’s not just you is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
If you thought smartphones were ubiquitous now — and in certain places they pretty much are — prepare for a whole lot more people to be coming online on their phones in the next five years. Network kit maker Ericsson has published its latest mobility report, based on traffic measurements of live mobile networks, which projects that global smartphone subscriptions will rise from 1.2 billion in 2012 to 4.5 billion by the end of 2018 — a CAGR of 25 percent.
Ericsson is also expecting the monthly mobile data usage per smartphone to rise from 450MB in 2012 to 1,900MB by 2018. Even larger growth is on the cards for tablets, with monthly data usage forecast to rise from 600MB in 2012 to 3,100MB in 2018 — a CAGR of 30 percent. By 2018, Ericsson also reckons LTE (4G) will cover 60 percent of the world’s population. As for the mobile data driver, it’s video — with video growth underpinned by increasing availability of faster networks as LTE spreads. Larger devices with bigger screens with higher resolutions are also causing users to gobble up more MB, according to Ericsson:
The fastest growing segment in mobile data traffic is video. Increasing usage is driven by continual growth in the amount of available content as well as the better network speeds that come with HSPA and LTE development. Larger device screens and better resolutions will also drive video traffic as they will enable high definition and eventually even ultra high definition video.
Ericsson’s data shows video makes up the largest segment of mobile data traffic today — and is expected to grow by around 60 percent annually until the end of 2018 when it’s forecast to account for about half of total global traffic, dominating mobile content consumption. Good news if you’re Vine, then.
The data also shows music streaming gaining in popularity — with a projected annual growth rate of around 50 percent, although Ericsson notes there is a “high degree of uncertainty” in the audio forecast because it’s “very dependent on how music streaming services develop over the coming years.” So that likely refers to stuff like Apple being rumoured to get into the streaming space, and the knock on effect a Cupertino iRadio could have on other services, should it indeed come to pass as rumoured.
On the social and web front, Ericsson reckons web browsing and social networking will each constitute around 10 percent of the total data traffic volume in 2018 — so achieving some sort of parity, even if social networking still ends up taking up more of mobile users’ time and therefore more mindshare. According to Ericsson’s data, smartphone users are spending the largest portion of their time on social networks: an average of 85 minutes a day in some networks.
Ericsson has also broken out mobile traffic by device type, to give a breakdown of what different devices are being used for right now, which shows how quickly video has established itself on tablets — passing smartphones video volumes already. The latter device type remains the most popular device for social networking, which dovetails with how personal smartphones are vs tablets and laptops which can be shared within groups and families:
I’m a fan of crowdfunding and crowdsourcing of products. However, sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo don’t really let the community decide what sort of projects make the cut for a funding opportunity, so alot of similar – and sometimes downright crummy ideas make it to the stage where they can be funded.
JumpStartCity is new arrival on the crowdfunding scene, which wants visitors to help pick which projects are even eligible to ask for funding.
The biggest thing makes JumpStartCity unique is the addition of its “Elevator Pitch” stage – which allows those with products and services to convince readers that their projects are worthy of funding. Personally, I love this idea to help weed out the riff-raff before any money changes hands, and should help keep the number of projects which make it to the funding phase down to the cream of the crop. Members of the community can be notified whenever new ideas are submitted, providing greater visibility to each and every project than competitors.
Another step along the way is the Promotion Stage. This is a phase which occurs prior to funding to allow creators to promote their products and services and build buzz before fundraising begins. After they’ve built up some momentum during this stage, only then do they move on to the “Active” or funding stage. Unlike other crowdfunding sites, the funding stage is short – only 20 days – focused on producing the biggest impact in the shortest period of time. Creators can extend this by another 20 days after successful funding if they so choose. One other nifty feature of the platform is called “Cash at Goal” – which allows creators to immediately receive their funding as soon as the goal is reached, with any overages coming at the end of the fundraising period. This gives creators the ability to start their projects earlier if their goal is met early.
There are also benefits to community members for being active, including greater influence, extra points you can “spend” for your favorite elevator pitches, and potentially cash for receiving and watching elevator pitches. Early project backers also get a 10% discount during the first 24 hours of funding. Community members also get 1% of their purchase price back in the form of credits which can be used on future projects.
Since the site is in its infancy, JumpStartCity does face an uphill battle convincing consumers to participate in their site instead of the already-established players in the crowdfunding market. However, they do offer a unique approach with benefits to both creators and buyers which could set them apart.
You can sign up for JumpStartCity here, and then check out the current projects in the funnel here. It’s definitely worth checking out.
This week Tumblr has begun to roll out sponsored posts beyond their mobile application environment. While back on the 22nd of April Tumblr brought advertisements to smartphones, users working with their desktop computers and browsing their Dashboard with a web browser will see the same thing. Because the Yahoo buyout of Tumblr was announced so very recently, it’s likely this move was scheduled well ahead of said acquisition.
As Tumblr states today, it’s been one year since the first sponsored post appeared on Tumblr Radar. This program has since garnered “more than 10 million likes and reblogs” in the months between there and here, and Tumblr is glad to usher in said content to their main console.
Posts that are sponsored will be appearing to regular users the same way a normal piece of content would. In an effort to keep Tumblr as visually pleasing and “cool” as it has been, sponsors create advertisements in the same manner a regular Tumblr user would. This means the same title, image, placement format and everything.
Though these posts will appear in user feeds the same way they would any other post, a shining dollar sign will appear in the upper right-hand corner. As this dollar sign is a light gray and meant to be unobtrusive, these posts will “simply blend in”, as Tumblr hopes they will.
Does this sound like a positive move to you? If you’ve been using the standard Tumblr app on your iPhone or Android device, have you noticed paid posts yet? They’ve been there for a few weeks!
SOURCE: Tumblr
Tumblr Sponsored Posts hit web with dollar-sign icon is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Ben Silbermann has found himself in a pretty swell spot. He’s the CEO of Pinterest — a company that was recently valued at $2.5 billion, despite not making a single cent to date. He took the stage today at D11 in Southern California, answering questions shot from Kara Swisher. One of the key points he made was on the topic of mobile. Swisher was asking about Pinterest’s mobile efforts, and Silbermann suggested that in the very near future, asking such a thing would be borderline silly. “It’d be like asking a business today if they’re a dot-com business,” he said, suggesting that every business created in 2013 should absolutely have some sort of presence on the web.
It’s perhaps due to the shocking uptake of Pinterest’s apps. Said Silbermann: “A growing number [of users] use Pinterest exclusively on their phone or tablet. When we released our mobile apps, we were taking bets on how long it’d take for those to surpass our web traffic. I figured it’d take a few weeks. It was literally the day it was released [that the traffic was passed]. I think it’s because phones and tablets are largely always around you, whereas you’re not always around a [traditional] computer.”
It’s perhaps the token example of how consumers at large are moving away from needing a full-fledged machine at their fingertips, and the redefining of what a “computer” is for the newest generations.
In an effort to help users identify legitimate pages and profiles of popular celebrities and businesses. Facebook has rolled out their own verification system that’s a lot like Twitter’s own offering. Verified Facebook page and profiles will have a small blue checkmark next to their name, indicating that it’s the official page or profile of said person or business.
Facebook says that verified accounts “belong to a small group of prominent public figures (celebrities, journalists, government officials, popular brands and businesses) with large audiences,” so if you’re wanting to get that blue checkmark stamp of approval, you’ll want to make sure that you’re one of the popular kids in school.
This is an effort to cut down on the number of fake Facebook pages out there in the wild. Many celebrities either have fan pages that are run by avid followers of a particular celebrity, or a celebrity is simply being impersonated by someone else. The verified checkmarks will cut down on this kind of nonsense.
For now, it appears you can’t request to be verified, and Facebook’s own way of verifying users hasn’t been disclosed yet, but we’re guessing the social network will slowly make its way around to popular page to give them the verification stamp over the next few months. In the meantime, you can still report fake profiles or pages that are impersonating you.
Both Google and Pinterest also have similar systems, allowing celebrities and other popular folks to be verified in order to not confuse other users, and all of the social networks have the similar checkmark badge that shows up next to someone’s name.
Facebook intros verified pages and profiles, takes a page from Twitter is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
The man worth at least a few billion tweets is about to take the stage here at D11, and we’ll be covering Dick Costolo‘s every utterance as he’s interviewed in one of these famed red chairs. The sit-down comes just hours after Facebook’s own Sheryl Sandberg took the stage, and we’re expecting quite the wide range of questions. Twitter has evolved into a global communications platform, not just for individuals looking to rise up against an oppressive regime, but for brands looking to better address their audiences. How to balance all of that? Join us after the break as we find out in real time.
Today an app has been released by DISH that will bring social networking to the Hopper Whole-Home HD DVR machine, integrating Twitter and Facebook into the mix. This app is what DISH calls the “first set-top box application capable of providing contextually-relevant social feeds.” Of course this isn’t the only way you can chat through Twitter or see your Facebook updates on your TV, but it certainly is a unique bit of integration.
DISH is launching this app with the ability to both see your Twitter feed and interact with Twitter in essentially every way you’d be able on a desktop or mobile device. With “Now Watching”, his app shows a Twitter feed relevant to the program being displayed on the television.
With “My Twitter”, users will see their own Twitter feed – assuming they’re logged-in, along with the ability to tweet, retweet, reply to a tweet, and “favorite” a tweet. Facebook integration exists through “My Facebook”, this allowing the user to post a status update, see their personal feed, and post any of a variety of pre-drafted updates – letting people know what you’re watching on TV, of course.
This app shows these updates in two places – the first is in a data bar along the bottom of a viewer’s TV screen. This bar works with Twitter exclusively to show tweets about the TV program on at the moment, the programs “sentiment rating”, and data surrounding gender and frequency of tweets with regard to the show being shown.
The second place this app shows data is through DISH’s “quick launch” bar. This bar is access via a press of the blue button on the Hopper user’s remote control, this also bringing up the ability to connect up to four Twitter accounts and up to four Facebook accounts if the viewer does so choose.
SOURCE: DISH
DISH Hopper Social app brings Twitter chat and Facebook updates to HD DVR is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
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