ReadWriteWeb

January 2012 Archives

Daily Wrap: What Matters at Mobile World Congress and more

By Robyn Tippins / February 29, 2012 10:32 AM / Comments

Dan Frommer tells you the only five things that matter at Mobile World Congress. This and more in today's Daily Wrap.

Sometimes it's difficult to catch everything that hits tech media in a day, so we wrap up some of the most talked about stories. We give you a daily recap of what you missed in the ReadWriteWeb Community, including a link to some of the most popular discussions in our offsite communities on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+ as well.

Delicious Founder Creates New People Search Engine, Skills.to

By Marshall Kirkpatrick / February 29, 2012 10:09 AM / Comments

Joshua Schachter and his team of star developers at TastyLabs have begun work on a second project, an endorsement and people search engine called Skills.to. The site lets you endorse people for their skills in various fields, see what the people you know have been endorsed for and search for people with particular skills.

The site is just beginning. "We have a lot to do, lots of ideas here and lots of places we can go next," Schachter told me by Twitter DM today. What's the core idea behind the site? "Search engine for people by property of the person," he says. "Portable reputation someday." There's certainly something refreshingly Delicious-like about it, the way you can navigate around the site by clicking any link and navigating by a few simple properties.

With E-Book Ban, Apple's "Closed" Nature Goes Too Far

By John Paul Titlow / February 29, 2012 09:15 AM / Comments

It's easy to take jabs at Apple for sometimes being too "closed." From restrictions on mobile apps to the limited customizability of the iPad, it's a reputation that the company has earned even as it sells millions upon millions of devices. Even the original Macintosh infamously discouraged tinkerers by requiring specialized tools to physically open it up.

While it may frustrate many hobbyists and hackers, this approach is simply a cost of being one of Apple's millions of otherwise satisfied customers. It's rare that the company crosses over the line between closed and alarming. But that's exactly what just happened.

How Google Search Really Works

By Jon Mitchell / February 29, 2012 08:54 AM / Comments

Last week, I talked to Google Search lead designer Jon Wiley about the process of designing Google's iconic interface. What goes on behind that white box? For the second part of my interview series with the people who make Google Search, I talked to Google Fellow Ben Gomes. He's one of the elite engineers addressing the never-ending array of challenges we users pose by asking ever-more-complicated questions of Google.

The first time I spoke to Ben, he was introducing me to a brand new Google concept called Search, plus Your World. This time, we were able to delve much deeper into the fundamentals of Web search. Computing power at Google's scale is awesome to behold, and I asked Ben to take us along for a search query's ride one step at a time.

[STUDY] How Hyperconnectivity Affects Young People

By Alicia Eler / February 29, 2012 08:45 AM / Comments

Would you mind putting down your smartphone for a moment to read this? Thanks, we really appreciate it.

A new study released today by Pew sheds light on the lurking, albeit very real notion that we all not-so-secretly fear: there are actual consequences to the hyperconnected lifestyle that many 21st century millennial Americans live! But calm down, it's not all frowny-face emoticons and Sherry Turkle-esque Alone Together narratives.

Yes, there are some major downsides to relying on the Internet as our "external brain," including the desire for instant gratification, and the increased chances of making "quick, shallow choices." But researchers also say we networked young people are nimble, quick-acting multitaskers who will do good in the world.

Facebook Needs to Stop Being Total Boobs

By Alicia Eler / February 29, 2012 07:00 AM / Comments

Earlier this month, Facebook decided to ban breasts, err, photos of women breast-feeding. Indeed, images of a mini-person sucking from the breast of a lady were too much for the social network to deal with. So it took the obvious route, banning all breastfeeding images. Breastfeeding activist Emma Kwasnica, along with other mothers, took to the streets, protesting Facebook's anti-breastfeeding stance. Naturally, Facebook has no problem displaying hypersexualized imagery of womens' breasts.

"I can't tell you how many times I've seen ads on Facebook with a lady's breasts falling out of her tank top, so it's doubly distressing to see Facebook take issue with breastfeeding photos," says ReadWriteWeb's Community Manager Robyn Tippins. It's a woman feeding her baby, not child porn. Geesh!" In this situation, Facebook is the loser. The world's largest social network is missing out on some of the most beautiful photos on the planet.

Foursquare Dumps Google & Goes Open-Source for Maps

By Jon Mitchell / February 29, 2012 06:44 AM / Comments

Foursquare just made what it called "a little announcement", but it's really not little at all. It's switching away from the Google Maps API to OpenStreetMap. For the map images, it hired MapBox, a start-up that makes pretty maps out of OpenStreetMap data. Starting with foursquare.com, foursquare's maps now use MapBox Streets.

Foursquare cites Google's decision to start charging for access to the Google Maps API in October as the reason it started looking for alternatives. But it sounds like it just made more sense to the team philosophically, too. "We love the idea of open data," the announcement says, "and were happy to try it out."

With Windows 8, Microsoft Learns From the Mobile Revolution

By Dan Rowinski / February 29, 2012 06:30 AM / Comments

The software world is becoming an interconnected Web of services tied together within the cloud. Applications used to be stand-alone objects that did not communicate with each other and were designed to do one thing and do it well.

Then came the mobile revolution. And the cloud.

More than anything Microsoft has ever produced, Windows 8 is informed by the lessons of the mobile generation. It is app centric, gesture based and tied to the cloud. Apps are no longer static beings and user identity becomes an important aspect of the experience. Many people have been waiting for Microsoft to "get it" when it comes to mobile development. With Windows 8, Microsoft may have finally figured it out.

RWW Hangout - The Future of Search

By Jon Mitchell / February 29, 2012 06:05 AM / Comments

Each week (more or less), Jon, Robyn and other ReadWriteWeb team members hold a Hangout On Air on our Google+ page to take a break from the grind of reading and writing and talk face to face about the tech stories of the moment. We post prompts for what we plan to talk about, and we invite anyone in our audience to join in. The conversation streams live on Wednesdays from 11:00 to 11:30 a.m. Pacific (click here for your time zone.

This week, after a few minutes amongst themselves, Jon, Robyn and Dan were joined by Fraser Cain, publisher of the space news site Universe Today, to talk about search. How well is search working today? What's changing? Where's it heading? It's an issue that affects Web readers and writers alike, and we had fun discussing it. In case you missed it live, here's the full video.

On Facebook, What You Give is What You Get

By Alicia Eler / February 29, 2012 05:00 AM / Comments

It's your best friend from 5th grade's birthday, and you almost missed it because you were stalking your 7th grade best friend on Facebook. The time is now 9pm, in your time zone. In a moment of freedom, you return to Facebook.com and notice the tiny birthday notifications in the upper-righthand corner. Is it too late to wish your 5th grade best friend a happy Facebook birthday? You race over to his page and try to say something witty. "Happy birthday bro-dude!" you write, crouched over your keyboard. You were on Facebook this morning but were way too busy trying to just catch up on the newsfeed-filtered news of the day and forgot to pay attention to birthdays. And now, you just feel sad.

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