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Posts Tagged ‘Twitter’
Trendsmap maps Twitter trends in real-time
September 21st, 2009 | 
Author: Stateless Systems, the creators of BugMeNot and PDFMeNot, have a new tool called Trendsmap that hasn’t been designed to solve any productivity problems. Instead, it does just the opposite and serves as entertainment. It tracks trending Twitter topics by geographical location by combining data from Twitter’s API and What The Trend. It then sticks it onto a Google Map where users can sort by city or general region and see trending topics in real time.
All of this information is organized into something resembling a tag cloud, which floats around without any specific, or pinpointed location within each city. Clicking on any of them pops up a small info box that aggregates the latest tweets, local and global seven-day histories of that trend’s popularity, as well as some top-related news links that change depending on what’s trending.
Trendsmap gives you a birds-eye view of trending topics on Twitter, per city, region, or worldwide.
(Credit: CNET)
Where the site shines though, is in letting you dig even deeper by giving each city its own trends page. Here you can cruise through info boxes without first having to find each tag, as well as see all of the trending charts stacked up against one another–something I think makes for a better experience. It also collects all of the related media like photos and videos in one single section (try giving it a spin for Las Vegas).
One thing the service doesn’t do very well though, is serve smaller towns. This wasn’t a big deal killer for me since I’m based in San Francisco, but if you want to use it for somewhere that’s outside a major city, you’re out of luck. This may simply be a limitation of how deep the data set is, but it keeps you from seeing trends starting up in smaller towns, which can be more interesting than in major cities.
See also Palm’s Trendtracker, which lets you see trending topics not only geography but by time of day as well. We checked it out last week.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-27076_3-10357898-248.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Phone calling coming to Twitter
Twitter users on Thursday will, for the first time, be able to make voice calls directly to each other through the microblogging service.
A new third-party offering from Jajah known as Jajah@call is expected to go into beta Thursday morning that will allow Twitter users to initiate a two-way voice chat with other users by typing “@call @username”–where “username” is someone’s Twitter ID–into any Twitter client. During the beta period, the company said, the calls will be limited to two minutes, but the company will evaluate that length during beta. However, it sees the two minute period–after which the call will end–as “the verbal equivalent of a tweet.”
According to Jajah, an Internet communications provider with tens of millions of users, the service will allow a user to place a call to any other user, so long as the second person follows the first on Twitter and both have Jajah accounts. The service is free to use and is expected to work on any Twitter-enabled device, from PCs to smart phones.
One important element of the service is that users can keep their phone numbers private, yet be able to have voice chats with just about anyone on Twitter. To be sure, since the calls are initiated by one person, the recipient may well not be online, or may choose to ignore the call if they don’t want to talk.
There are currently several applications that allow users to create voice-to-text Twitter posts–known as tweets–but it does not appear that anyone has yet made it possible to initiate voice communications directly between Twitter users.
Coming on the heels of the announcement earlier this week that Facebook users will now be able to communicate with each other via voice–using a third-party application from Vivox–it’s clear that there is a strong interest, among service providers, at least, in taking leading social networks beyond strictly text communications. Whether large numbers of users choose to get on board is unknown at this point, of course. And given that neither the Facebook nor the Twitter voice services are being provided by the social networks themselves means that some users will choose not to get involved for fear of privacy, stability or other concerns.
Still, if these third-party services end up being successful, it would be natural to expect that Facebook and Twitter may decide they need to step up and directly embed such technologies into their offerings. And there is a precedent for such a move. After Vivox began offering Second Life users a third-party voice solution, the virtual world’s publisher, Linden Lab, decided it needed to take advantage of the technology. Today, thanks to a formal partnership, Vivox’s voice service is formally integrated into Second Life.
And while it may be some time before such a thing happens with either Facebook or Twitter, or any other major social network, one would have to think that it’s only a matter of time.
Source :
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-10355319-52.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Twitter to raise funding at $1 billion valuation?
Twitter is attempting to raise funding at a $1 billion valuation, according to a TechCrunch post Wednesday.
The blog cited unnamed sources claiming that Twitter CEO Evan Williams announced the valuation in a recent meeting. According to TechCrunch’s sources, Twitter plans to raise about $50 million during the financing round. The company has already raised about $55 million in funding.
Twitter hasn’t immediately responded to requests for comment.
In February, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone announced in a blog post that his company raised approximately $35 million in a Series C round of funding led by Benchmark and Institutional Venture Partners. At the time, it was reported that Twitter’s valuation for the round was about $250 million. Assuming that both reports are true, Twitter is contending that it’s now worth four times as much as it was just seven months ago.
Of course, determining the real value of a company is a subjective practice. And most times, those figures change rapidly as economic factors impact the company’s operation.
Twitter, which has yet to turn a profit, still hasn’t implemented a profit-making business model. That could have a major impact on its valuation, regardless of the figure.
That said, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone said in an interview with VentureBeat last month that his company will implement a revenue model by the end of the year. He wouldn’t dig too deep into details, but he did say it would incorporate paid accounts for businesses that want to use the platform for marketing and customer relations.
But just how those paid accounts will impact Twitter’s growing user base is up for debate. Will companies go elsewhere to promote their brands? Will they pay Twitter’s fees? All that can impact the company’s real value.
So as Twitter possibly heads into another round of funding, it’s important to remember that valuations are fluid numbers that are easily changed. It’s also important to note that so far, Twitter hasn’t confirmed that $1 billion valuation. So maintain some skepticism, as we do, until we hear from Twitter.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10355207-2.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Posted in Communication, Internet, Twitter | 
Tags: $1 billion, Biz Stone, Evan Williams, fund raiser, Twitter | 
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Trapped kids update Facebook rather than ring police
Very much in the category of ‘you couldn’t make this up’ comes the news that two girls trapped in a storm drain in South Australia chose to update their Facebook status to get help – rather than ringing the emergency services.
The South Australian Metropolitan Fire Service has expressed worry that the two girls – ages 12 and 10 – chose to turn to social networking
rather than ringing triple zero, the Aussie equivalent of 999.
Apparently the two girls found themselves lost in a drain in a surburb of Adelaide.
Fortunate
Fireman Glenn Benham told ABC News it was fortunate that someone was online and able to call emergency services when he saw the update.
“It is a worry for us because it causes a delay on us being able to rescue the girls,” he said.
“If they were able to access Facebook from their mobile phones, they could have called 000, so the point being they could have called us directly and we could have got there quicker than relying on someone being online and replying to them and eventually having to call us via 000 anyway.”
Surely they should have know that a Twitter update would have been WAY more effective. That’s a joke kids…
Fox retweets Fringe tonight
For more details click the link below.
http://www.fox.com/futurefox/blogs/index.php/2009/08/30/tweet-fringe-tweet-glee/?src=carousel_on_home_page
Posted in Entertainment, FOX, Internet, TV, Twitter |
Tags: FOX, Fringe, retweet, Twitter |
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TweetSaver makes a personal archive of Twitter
I’m always intrigued by backup tools for Web services that don’t really need backup. TweetSaver is no exception. This paid service backs up (almost) everything you’ve ever posted to Twitter, along with private messages and replies from other users. It then adds an extra layer of utility on top of it, like a search tool that’s limited to just your messages, simple sharing options for each message, as well as a way to assign a tag to each tweet for categorization.
Of course the usefulness of all of this hinges on Twitter being down and/or somehow losing all of your data. However, based on Twitter’s uptime over the past year, you have to ask yourself if it’s worth the cost of $20 a year. That’s pretty steep considering there are some free Twitter backup solutions like TweeTake and TweetBackup that do many of the same things.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-27076_3-10322626-248.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Posted in Communication, Internet, software, Twitter |
Tags: archive, TweetSaver, Twitter |
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Twitter : If @Break_com gets 12k followers, they will run down Wilshire Blvd. with a Naked Woman !
Ok Break.com’s Twitter :
@Break_comAlright, the supes gave me the go-ahead: 12,000 followers by January and I’ll run with naked women down Wilshire. What to name it…?
So follow @Break_com if you want some public nudity !
Posted in Break.com, public nudity, publicity stunt |
Tags: @Break_com, Break.com, Twitter |
No Comments »
Biz Stone is keynote speaker at 140: Twitter Conference LA
The Twitter conference is coming to Los Angeles September 22 -23, 2009. With an amazing number of A-List people speaking and attending, this conference is sure to be THE social media conference to attend this year.
Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter, Inc. will be the keynote speaker at 140: Twitter Conference LA, “Tapping into the Real Time Web”.
This conference is a two day event with two tracks; a main track and a developers track. Celebrities and Geeks tweet up to discuss all things Twitter. If you are new to Twitter or not there is something for everyone including celebrity panels, business sessions and the latest killer apps.
Who will be speaking at this must-attend conference? To list just a few: Dr. Drew Pinsky, Tony Hawk, LeVar Burton, Guy Kawasaki, Veronica Belmont, Peter Shankman, Justine Ezarik, and many more.
A sample of the sessions:
Twitter and Celebrity: A Match Made in Heaven? Featuring Dr. Drew Pinsky, LeVarBurton, Guy Kawasaki, Olivia Munn, and Mark Geragos.
Lunch panel: The Comedy Session featuring Tom Arnold and Jamie Kennedy
Developer Showcase:
There will also be a dedicated space at The Twitter Conference to showcase some of the cool stuff being developed. If you’re going to be attending the conference, then you’ve got a room of cool developers showing off new applications to look forward to. If you’re promoting a launch or looking to generate buzz for an existing Twitter application, you should consider joining the Developer Showcase.
Tweetup
The Official 140tc Tweetup party will be held from 5:30-7:30 on September 22
To learn more about the conference or to buy tickets: The Twitter Conference
Tickets are just $299 until September 6th. They will increase to $429 until sold out.
More info :
Posted in Internet, Olivia Munn, Tech, Twitter |
Tags: Biz Stone, Olivia Munn, Twitter |
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Why Twitter isn’t pointless babble
Have you ever sat in a bar or a coffee shop, just watching what people do, examining the expressions on their faces, or just desperately trying to overhear the endearing nonsense that emerges from their mouths?
That’s how I think of Twitter.
Except there is one small difference with this peculiar little microblogging site: you can control who is in the bar or the coffee shop.
Some extremely clever people at Pear Analytics declared last week that 40% of tweets are “pointless babble”. However, might their analysis be, as the English enjoy saying, just a little pear-shaped?
Some people might view, say, reality television as pointless. Yet for others it reveals aspects of humanity that can enlighten far more than many a drama.
Full Story…
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10311596-71.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Source :
CNETNews Why Twitter isn’t pointless babble http://bit.ly/66BBm
Posted in Internet |
Tags: Communication, interent, isn't pointless babble, micro-blogging, Twitter |
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Here come the ‘Twitter, we did it first’ lawsuits
One of the issues when you create something simple, easy to use, and phenomenally popular is that there will invariably be some folks who come along and say that it was their idea first.
Naturally, that’s started to happen to Twitter. Earlier this month, a patent lawsuit was filed against Twitter on behalf of a Texas-based company called TechRadium, which has a patent to “allow a group administrator or ‘message author’ to originate a single message that will be delivered simultaneously via multiple communication gateways to members of a group of ‘message subscribers’ over e-mail, text message, or another platform.
More specifically, TechRadium’s technology has been applied to a product called Iris, which is designed to be able to send out mass messages for emergency response purposes. The lawsuit claims that Twitter’s service amounts to “offering for sale or use, or selling or using these products without license or authority from TechRadium.”
Full Story…
CNETNews Here come the Twitter ‘we did it first’ lawsuits http://bit.ly/3KesC
Posted in Internet |
Tags: Communication, interent, lawsuits, micro-blogging, Twitter |
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