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Continue reading Tweetbot might replace your iOS Twitter client (video)

Tweetbot might replace your iOS Twitter client (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Apr 2011 08:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We know, you’ve seen an awful lot of Zuckerberg and crew here lately, and the Facebook news just keeps rolling in. This time the social networking giant is doing some sharing of a different sort by offering public access to the specifications and best practices behind its new, more efficient data center in Prineville, Oregon. According to the company, the center, built in collaboration with AMD, Dell, HP, and Intel, has boosted energy efficiency by 38 percent while lowering cost by 24 percent. The information now available through the Open Compute Project includes technical specs and mechanical CAD files for everything from servers to building design. Basically, if you want to erect your own multi-million dollar Facebook-style data center, you’ve got the go ahead. Full PR after the break.

Continue reading Facebook’s Open Compute Project shares plans for energy-efficient data center

Facebook’s Open Compute Project shares plans for energy-efficient data center originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 21:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Like Google’s web search, Twitter started off life doing one single thing and doing it very well. And, just like Google, it’s kept adding subtle little enhancements along its way to becoming a mature internet tool. Today, its own famously simplistic search functionality has take a turn through the makeover booth and has emerged shinier, happier, and much smarter on the other side. No longer do you need to have, for example, the specific names of your favorite smartphone jailbreak artists, you just search for the general term and Twitter will do some actual searching for you instead of merely matching your query to usernames. You can even step up to an advanced search, where adding the “:)” and “:(” operators determines whether you’ll get happy or downbeat tweets on the topic. Come to think of it, that is pretty advanced. Yo Google, where are your emoticon operators?

Twitter finally gets a legitimate search function, lets you filter tweets using smiley faces originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Apr 2011 16:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Most of the so-called “young folks” would argue that Facebook lost its innocence the day that parents were invited to play along, but there’s no question that politicians would disagree vehemently. A recent study published by the number crunchers at Pew Internet found that over half (54 percent, if we’re being precise) of adults “used the internet for political purposes in the last cycle, far surpassing the 2006 midterm contest.” A total of 58 percent hopped online for political news, while one in five (22 percent) used Twitter or a social networking site for “political purposes” in 2010. Taken as a whole, a staggering 73 percent of online adults took part in at least one of these activities in 2010, and judging by the power of these networks in the recent Middle Eastern / African uprisings, we get the impression that figures will only be rising in elections to come. Too bad you can’t “Like” a politician to give them your vote — haven’t these polling places realized what century we’re in?

Continue reading Blame the 2010 elections for your parents being on Facebook, Twitter

Blame the 2010 elections for your parents being on Facebook, Twitter originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Mar 2011 21:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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An announcement by Ryan Sarver, a member of the platform team at Twitter, could spell bad news for makers of third-party apps that access the growing social network and new ones looking to get in on the action. In a move that will inevitably cause quite a ruckus among developers and tweeters alike, Twitter has essentially decided that no new apps should be developed “that mimic or reproduce the mainstream Twitter consumer client experience.” He goes on to say that existing apps will continue to function, but that the bar will be raised in terms of quality and consistency. Specifically, he cites differences across apps in terminology for core functions like @-replying and trending topics as confusing to users and at the root of the change.

According to Sarver, over 90 percent of Twitter users access the service through official Twitter apps, so for many the change won’t be drastic. The company hopes developers will shift their focus to other areas of the ecosystem that “focus on areas outside the mainstream consumer client experience” such as publishing tools, curation, and social CRM (consumer relationship management). Still, it’s incredibly interesting — and frankly, disheartening — to see a Web 2.0 company making such an un-Web 2.0 move. Of course, this could all be part of Twitter’s plans to eventually monetize the service, but for now we’ll have to take the company at its word, even if that means our choice of clients becomes a little less diverse in the future.

Twitter to developers: we want to own the pipes, water, and faucets, but feel free to make soap originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 11 Mar 2011 23:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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