Hasta La Gadget!

When Google comes to your door – or your digital door – and tells you they’d like you to join their collective, generally you say yes, let’s do it! That’s what Behavio has announced they’ve done this week. Behavio is a company that was Knight Foundation funded and aimed to develop apps that would accurately detect social and behavioral trends of you, your friends, and everyone around you.

While it’s not entirely clear where the funding bits Behavio has received thus far will be funneled, we do know that the team remains highly thankful to both the Knight Foundation and SXSW Accelerator. This group won the 2012 SXSW Accelerator competition and gained additional publicity because of it. The video below, found by TechCrunch, shows a speech made by Behavio’s Nadav Aharony for the Knight Foundation as they presented for the 2012 Knight News Challenge.

According to the Knight Foundation, the folks at Behavio had already begun bringing the heat back over a half a year ago – and they certainly didn’t start there.

“Behavio is an open-source platform that turns phones into smart sensors of people’s real world behavior – from how they use their phones to how they communicate with others. Funding will be used to help programmers build apps with smarter sensors, create tools for journalists that uncover trends in community data and launch a mobile application that allows individuals to explore data about their lives.”

The Behavio Team has been clear in their announcement of their integration with Google that they’re going to continue to maintain their Funf open source project as they work their way into the heart of the Google complex. As they aimed to make “smartphone apps [that] are actually smart”, so too did they call upon their Funf buddies to do the same – Open Sensing Framework is what it was and is all about at Funf.

“We are very excited to announce that the Behavio team is now a part of Google! At Behavio, we have always been passionate about helping people better understand the world around them. We believe that our digital experiences should be better connected with the way we experience the world, and we couldn’t be happier to be able to continue building out our vision within Google.” – The Behavio Team

Above you’ll see the beginning of a touching letter posted today by the Behavio Team announcing their jumping in with Google. What we’re to understand is that Google will, as always, be using the team to create wonderful new projects as they continue to strengthen those they’re already pushing solidly.

We can’t wait to see what the developers and forward-thinking minds at Behavio will bring to the Googleplex! Nadav Aharony, Alan Gardner, and Cody Sumter are names you’re going to hear again in the future – keep them in mind!

Google acquires Behavio: social prediction connects with the big G is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Social networks, Twitter in particular, provide an odd sort of communication dichotomy: while it is very much public with a wide audience, the isolated nature of using it can delude us at times, making us forget just how visible our words and statements are. Such was perhaps the case with Adam Orth, who went by Orthy on Twitter and worked as Microsoft’s Creative Director until a rant cost him his job.

As we’ve noted, all signs point towards the next-generation Xbox console requiring a constant Internet connection, something that hasn’t set well with the gaming community at large. Such was the topic of Orth’s rant, with the creative director going into spiels about how the current reactions to the news are something he can’t understand, and that people need to “get with the times.”

Microsoft didn’t take too kindly to Orth’s comments, which suggest the rumors may have a basis in reality, although that hasn’t been confirmed yet. According to Game Informer, Orth no longer works with Microsoft, and sources have stated he resigned – at Microsoft’s behest or of his own accord is unknown. Regardless, Microsoft issued a statement apology for the tweets, saying:

“We apologize for the inappropriate comments made by an employee on Twitter yesterday. This person is not a spokesperson for Microsoft, and his personal views do not reflect the customer centric approach we take to our products or how we would communicate directly with our loyal consumers.” The statement then goes on to apologize about any offenses that might have been taken, and clarifies that Microsoft has not yet made any announcements about such a thing and that it has nothing more to say on this matter.

[via Game Informer]

Microsoft’s Creative Director resigns after Twitter rant is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Facebook rolled out a new paid messaging feature late last month that allows British users to message their favorite celebrities for a fee. The paid messaging service was another way for Facebook to generate more revenue, however, it may be crossing a line. The paid messaging service sends your message straight to the celebrities’ priority inbox, and the scale of the fee depends on the popularity of the celebrity.

The cheapest celebrity you can message is Dara O’Briain, a comedian and TV game show host, who you can message for 65 pence, or $1.00, which is the same fee if you want to priority message any normal person. The highest fees so far is Tom Daley, an Olympic Diver, Michael Rose, a former children’s laureate, and Ed Sheeran’s fake account. They cost 10.68 pounds to message, or about $16.38.

This new feature is very similar to the feature it has in America, where users can pay $1, $5, or $15 to send a priority message to someone who isn’t on their friend’s list. The message is sent to the person’s main inbox, instead of being rerouted to their non-priority inbox. This way, the receiver will be notified of the new message. There used to be a $100 fee to send a priority message to a celebrity, but it was cancelled due to people being able to message Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s CEO, himself.

This new feature, if it becomes more widespread, will be a nuisance to celebrities. Having millions of fans being able to directly contact you can get bothersome quickly. All of the priority messaging fees will go to Facebook directly, with the celebrities receiving no benefit from this new feature. On the bright side, at least Facebook is only allowing people who are at least 18-years old to send a priority message, but then again, how hard is it to fake a birthday? In other news, be sure to check out our hands-on with Facebook’s new service, Facebook Home, which is set to be released in 3 days.

[via The Sunday Times]

Facebook charges you to message celebrities directly is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Facebook’s newest method to start a social fire is Facebook Home, the company’s new home screen app launcher of sorts. It’s set to release for free in the Google Play store on April 12. However, only US users will be able to take advantage of the new launcher, leaving international users waiting a bit before it hits their land. However, it’s reported that Facebook Home will hit Canada within weeks after the US launch.

According to MobileSyrup, Director of Product Marketing at Facebook, Ami Vora, says that Facebook Home will be available to Canadians a couple of weeks after the US launch, and even going as far as saying a few days after the US release, possibly. However, Vora says that it certainly won’t be months until Home launches in other countries.

The HTC First, which is the one device that Facebook Home is optimal on, is an AT&T exclusive, and it’s only available in the US. However, there’s no word on whether or not we may see the new phone release in Canada or other countries, although it’s certainly possible. We won’t hold our breath just yet, though.

Canada has been a big testing ground for Facebook, using the country to test new features that are being workshopped. However, it seems that Canada is getting short end of the stick this time around, but we have a feeling that the exclusivity with AT&T might have something to do with that. Either way, if you’re a Facebook junkie and live in the US, you’ll probably want to tune into Google Play come April 12 to be one of the first to get your hands on the new product.

[via Android Community]

Facebook Home to launch in Canada within weeks after US release is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The Civil Rights Defenders have issued their first batch of GPS bracelets that will alert the CRDs’ headquarters, other nearby activists, and the entirety of the CRDs’ social media following if the bracelet’s owner is ever kidnapped. The first 5 bracelets were issued from April 2nd through April 5th during the Civil Rights Defenders’ conference, Defenders’ Days. The CRD plans on issuing 55 of these bracelets over the next year and a half.

The bracelets are described as a personal alarm, and the product is called the “Natalia Project”. It was named after Natalia Estemirova, a human rights defender who, in 2009, was murdered within 24 hours of being kidnapped. The CRD believed that if the authorities were alerted sooner of Natalia’s kidnapping, the tragedy could have been prevented. Robert Hårdh, the Executive Director of Civil Rights Defenders, stated that these bracelets “gives us an opportunity to react faster and extend our hands-on protection further.”

The GPS bracelet can be activated manually, or if an attacker forcefully removes it from the activist’s wrist. A signal with the activist’s GPS location will be sent to the CRD headquarters in Stockholm. Alerts will also be sent out to other CRD activists within the vicinity, and an automatic notification will be sent out throughout the Natalia Project’s Facebook and Twitter accounts.

The Civil Rights Defenders state that these bracelets could potentially alert hundreds of thousands of people instantly. It would also put pressure on the attacker, because having the entire world become aware of the attack “creates virtual protection around civil rights defenders at risk.” Unfortunately, the CRD requires additional money to get these bracelets to more activists. Its asking anyone who can help to support the Natalia Project with any donation amount they can afford. You can find out more about the Natalia Project here.

GPS bracelet uses social media to protect Civil Rights Activists is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.