Tuesday 19 March 2013

Mashable: Latest 29 News Updates - including “Samsung Is Working on a Wristwatch of Its Own”

Mashable: Latest 29 News Updates - including “Samsung Is Working on a Wristwatch of Its Own”


Samsung Is Working on a Wristwatch of Its Own

Posted: 19 Mar 2013 03:37 AM PDT

Samsung-ces
Feed-twFeed-fb

Rumors around an Apple wristwatch have been making rounds on the internet lately, but there's another major player who'd like to get in on the smartwatch craze — Samsung

“We are working very hard to get ready for it. We are preparing products for the future, and the watch is definitely one of them,” said executive VP of Samsung’s mobile business, Lee Young-hee, during an interview in Seoul.

Lee gave no details about the features of the watch or its price, merely saying that the company has been "preparing the watch product for so long."

Samsung's admission comes after months of rumors about an Apple wristwatch, followed by the unearthing of patents for a wearable accessory device

Vintage Moon Photo Project Seeks Public Support

Posted: 19 Mar 2013 03:06 AM PDT

Earthrise
Feed-twFeed-fb

A five-year effort to recover nearly 50-year-old images of the moon is seeking public support to keep the project going.

Since 2008, Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project (LOIRP) has been reprocessing data received from five unmanned NASA spacecraft in the 1960s. The Lunar Orbiters, tasked with imaging potential landing sites for the Apollo manned missions that were set to follow, made their own history by taking the first photos from lunar orbit.

Started with funding from volunteers and initially supported financially by NASA, the LOIRP team of retired engineers and scientists, together with students, have recovered and enhanced 600 out of the more than 1,400 images taken by the Lunar Orbiters in 1966 and 1967.

Google Chromebooks Coming to Six New Countries

Posted: 19 Mar 2013 12:47 AM PDT

Chromebook
Feed-twFeed-fb

Google's Chromebooks from HP, Acer and Samsung will become available in six new countries: Australia, Canada, Germany, France, Ireland and the Netherlands, Google has announced

The rollout, which will start Tuesday, will also include Chromebooks for schools and businesses. Google will organize a Hangout for each new country the Chromebooks are available in, explaining how Chromebooks can be used in education. The time schedule for the Hangouts is available here

Furthermore, Chromebooks will become available in more than 1,000 new Best Buy stores in the U.S. over the next couple of weeks

Image credit: HP

'Paperman' Parody Shows Uncut NSFW Ending of Disney Short

Posted: 18 Mar 2013 11:57 PM PDT

Paperman-nsfw
Feed-twFeed-fb

By now, most of us have seen and fallen in love with Paperman, the Oscar-winning Disney short that captured our hearts after going viral.

The story is classic: Boy meets girl; boy loses girl; boy reunites with girl; then, romance ensues. The ending, however, is a little more ambiguous, as viewers are left to imagine exactly what happens after boy and girl get together.

College Humor has an answer. And it's hilariously crude. (Seriously, a word of warning to folks at the office: This is NSFW)

The comedy website released a parody video on Monday, showing "the full unedited ending" of Paperman. In the original, paper airplanes bring the two lovers together, but College Humor's version reveals that the papers have a much more insidious reason for reuniting boy and girl. Check out the video, above, to find out what it is.

Gmail App for Android Update Helps You Search and Reply Faster

Posted: 18 Mar 2013 10:58 PM PDT

Gmail
Feed-twFeed-fb

Gmail unveiled an update to its Android app Monday, enabling users to reply, archive and search messages more efficiently.

Those who own a device running Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) and up, can now reply and archive messages straight from their notifications by making a quick selection. In a blog post, Google software engineer Andy Huang includes an example of the update, seen below

Huang also suggests combining the update with existing notification features, such as customizing the messages that receive notifications, and setting up different sounds for certain labels

Repix Gives Your iPhone Photos a Fantastic New Look

Posted: 18 Mar 2013 10:03 PM PDT

Repix
Feed-twFeed-fb

Tired of using Instagram to spruce up your smartphone photos? Meet Repix, a free iOS app that lets you remix your snapshots by "painting" on them using different preset brushes.

The app comes with a number of free built-in brushes, including a "Cartoonize" brush for turning your photo into a cartoon and a "Charcoal" brush for making it a drawing. Additional brushes can be purchased within the app in packs of four; they include options such as “Stars” for creating a starry sky anywhere you like and “Van Gogh” for making your picture look similar to a piece of art created by the painter.

To get started using the editor, simply take a photo with the app, bring in a pic from your phone’s camera roll, or grab a photo from your Photo Stream or Facebook page.

10 Personal Finance Experts to Follow on Twitter

Posted: 18 Mar 2013 08:58 PM PDT

Wallet
Feed-twFeed-fb

When it comes to your personal finance, turns our there are some pretty awesome experts out there, specializing in everything from investing advice to living on a budget. If you’re looking for a constant stream of wise money posts, check our some of these finance feeds on Twitter.

1. For an Academic and Public Policy Perspective: @A_Lusardi

Why we need to teach financial literacy in school.Oh yes!thefiscaltimes.com/Columns/2013/0…

— Annamaria Lusardi (@A_Lusardi) March 12, 2013

A professor at the George Washington School of Business, Annamaria Lusardi is a strong advocate for financial literacy. Follow her for tweets on the intersection of public policy and personal finance knowledge.

Verizon Awards $100,000 to Schools for STEM App Designs

Posted: 18 Mar 2013 07:58 PM PDT

Verizon1
Feed-twFeed-fb

Ten teams of middle and high school students across the United States won Verizon's National Innovative App Challenge on Monday, each receiving the opportunity to develop their own mobile apps and a $10,000 prize to further STEM education in their respective classroom

The challenge prompted students to address a social issue in their community. The app concepts tackled issues including invasive species in local lakes, time-management skills and recycling. Winning teams will work with MIT's Media Lab to learn basic coding and bring their concepts to Google's Play Store, and each student will receive a Samsung Galaxy Note

I, for One, Welcome Our Google Glass-Wearing Cyborg Overlords

Posted: 18 Mar 2013 06:08 PM PDT

Googleglass
Feed-twFeed-fb

Mashable OP-ED

You may have noticed the Google Glass backlash is well underway. Once we were thrilled by the promise of the eye-level connected screen and camera technology; once we poked satirical fun at it. But no more. Now, it seems, we've reached the stage of being threatened by it.

One dive bar in Seattle banned customers from wearing Glass; given that no consumers and few developers have their hands on the tech yet, and Google HQ is 700 miles to the south, this was a little like your local doctor's office banning human cloning. Still, the bar got plenty of media attention; no doubt other establishments have taken note

Funny or Die to Release Steve Jobs Spoof Movie

Posted: 18 Mar 2013 06:00 PM PDT

Steve-jobs-justin-long-getty-images
Feed-twFeed-fb

Actor Justin Long, who starred in those well-known "Get a Mac" commercials, will now play Steve Jobs in comedy website Funny or Die's upcoming movie poking fun at biopics about the late Apple founder.

The New York Times reports that Funny or Die is making a 60- to 75-minute movie, iSteve, and will release it online on April 15.

“In true Internet fashion, it’s not based on very thorough research — essentially a cursory look at the Steve Jobs Wikipedia page,” iSteve writer and director Ryan Perez told the Times. “It’s very silly. But it looks at his whole life.”

We made a movie! "iSteve" stars @justinlong & will be the FIRST Steve Jobs biopic on April 15th. Read all about it: ow.ly/jaI6Z

— Funny Or Die (@funnyordie) March 18, 2013

BlackBerry Rocks Out Again to Celebrate the Z10 Launch

Posted: 18 Mar 2013 05:38 PM PDT

Blackberry
Feed-twFeed-fb

If you were waiting for a sequel to BlackBerry's in-house band's rendition of "Keep on Loving You," this is your lucky day

The pretend band is back together for this rendition of Etta James' "At Last." Don't tune out early though, because things take a rockin' turn about midway through. Why is BlackBerry, a brand that's struggling with coolness issues, rolling out another dad rock tribute? "We received countless suggestions for the band's final performance," according to the company. Still, wasn't Alicia Keys around to help out at least?

Image courtesy of YouTube, BlackBerry

Ad Agency Answers 140-Character Twitter Briefs in 24 Hours

Posted: 18 Mar 2013 05:09 PM PDT

Twitterbiz
Feed-twFeed-fb

A networked team of creatives in New York launched a new service that meets the demand for rapid turnaround advertising

Using Twitter as a medium, the World's Fastest Agency will respond from briefing to idea within 24 hours. Outputs will include tag lines, product and service naming, communications platforms and (of course) stunts. According to its press release:

WFA helps time-pressured clients keep pace with the lightening fast 24/7 global media and social culture.

Clients can say goodbye to 100-page PowerPoint decks, meetings, weeks of fee negotiation, countless emails, more meetings, lunch, meetings, scope of work to-ing and fro-ing, meetings, more emails, Q&A sessions, tissue meetings, inaudible conference call, pitch, feedback, feedback on the feedback, re-briefing, re-pitching, another meeting, more feedback, focus groups, another meeting, more emails….

10 March Madness Stars to Follow on Instagram

Posted: 18 Mar 2013 04:35 PM PDT

Peytonesivaig
Feed-twFeed-fb

March Madness is upon us and it's time to get down to one of life's true pleasures: three straight weekends of non-stop college basketball action

But you're going to want to follow along online, too. Of course, there's Twitter, but Instagram has become one of the hottest social networks around since last year's tourney. The photo-sharing network offers a whole new window into the off-court lives of some of our favorite college basketball stars

Here we've collected 10 of college basketball's biggest names — from the men's and women's tournaments, big-name teams and underdogs alike — who also post photos on Instagram. Click through the gallery above to find some sweet March follows, then add your own suggestions in the comments below

New Theft Tracker Is Like LoJack and OnStar for Your Bike

Posted: 18 Mar 2013 04:17 PM PDT

Istock_000004026699small
Feed-twFeed-fb

If you've ever had your bicycle stolen, you're probably familiar with the frustration of  losing your two-wheeled mode of transport. A Chicago-based startup is addressing that pain point with a gadget that alerts your smartphone when your bike is tampered with and makes it easy to notify the police.

The creators at Team BikeSpike developed a beacon of the same name that easily attaches to your bike and tracks its location through your phone or computer, and you can see how it works in the video above.

Bike gets lost? Similar to Apple iCloud's "Find My iPhone" feature, you get text and email alerts and can track the cycle's location on the web or through your iOS or Android smartphone.

Facebook Updates iOS App With Cover Photo Control

Posted: 18 Mar 2013 04:02 PM PDT

Fb-iphone-generic
Feed-twFeed-fb

Facebook released version 5.6 of its iOS app Monday, giving users the ability to update their profile cover photo on the go.

Users can now update their cover photo on the iPhone with a tap of their finger

Simply tap on the cover photo in profile view and you can choose to view your cover photo, choose a new photo from your photo library or take a new photo. Select the photo you want and arrange it as desired, hit save, and you're done.

The update also promises fewer taps for creating group messages and easier ways to name and find group conversations.

The Facebook for iOS update [iTunes link] is available in the App Store now.

12-Year-Old Makes Case for Marriage Equality in Inspiring Letter

Posted: 18 Mar 2013 03:51 PM PDT

Daniel
Feed-twFeed-fb

Twelve-year-old Daniel Martinez-Leffew is hoping a similarity between his family and the family of Chief Justice John Roberts will help bring support to LGBT rights

When Daniel discovered the chief justice had previously adopted two children, he realized Roberts might have a soft spot for other adoption stories — namely, his own. Daniel wrote Roberts a letter (which he reads in the video above) detailing his own rocky adoption journey, including how he was once called "unadoptable” because of a medical condition

Daniel goes on to explain that, regardless, he and his sister were lovingly taken in by two parents, who just so happened to be gay. His family, Daniel explains, is no different than Roberts', that both families are filled with love, happiness and support. It's something Daniel hopes the justice will keep in mind when the Supreme Court hears arguments for Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in the upcoming weeks

Listen to the Strokes' New Album Before Its Release

Posted: 18 Mar 2013 03:30 PM PDT

Julian-casablancas
Feed-twFeed-fb

The Strokes are now streaming their newest album, Comedown Machine, on their website — a week ahead of its scheduled release date of March 25

The group teased fans with the album's first single, "One Way Trigger," back in January.

Comedown Machine will be the New York-based rock band's fifth studio album. Their previous album, Angles, was released in 2011

Give it a listen for yourself. What do you think of the new tracks? Let us know below

Click here to view this gallery

Image via Simone Joyner/Getty Images

How Mashable Rocked SXSWi 2013

Posted: 18 Mar 2013 03:12 PM PDT

19.-mashbash-2013
Feed-twFeed-fb

Mashable had an amazing South by Southwest this year. Lines wrapped around the block for Mashable House and a diverse crowd from the interactive community partied together at MashBash.

We loved interacting with the community in Austin, and reading what you had to say using the #MashSXSW hashtag on Twitter and Instagram.

For those who missed it, Mashable House was an an easy escape from the Convention Center, which celebrated Internet cultureGrumpy Cat was as much of a star IRL as she is on the Internet, and fans lined up around the block, rain or shine, to take a picture with the feisty feline.

Social Media Sites Imagined as Party Goers

Posted: 18 Mar 2013 02:39 PM PDT

Internetpeople
Feed-twFeed-fb

In today's ultra-connected world where the Internet is your bestest (and only) real friend, it makes sense to party it down with your favorite social media sites

While a roaring shindig with Pinterest, Facebook, YouTube and Reddit sounds like the soiree of the century, it turns out these social media sites have pretty irritating human personalities. At least according to this Cracked video. They brilliantly imagine a work place get together with these Internet "people" that proves you really don't ever want to be friends with the World Wide Web

Ryan Seacrest Test Drives 'Draw Something 2'

Posted: 18 Mar 2013 02:34 PM PDT

Ryan-seacrest
Feed-twFeed-fb

It looks like a new version of Draw Something is on the way. Ryan Seacrest tweeted an image of the game Monday morning along with the message, “I somehow convinced them to give me #DrawSomething2 first” and a drawing of American Idol judges Randy Jackson and Mariah Carey.

I somehow convinced them to give me #DrawSomething2 first…this may be the best Mariah & Randy have ever looked twitter.com/RyanSeacrest/s…

— Ryan Seacrest (@RyanSeacrest) March 18, 2013

Draw Something, created by social-gaming startup OMGPOP, launched a little over a year ago. Exceptionally popular, the game reached 50 million downloads during its first seven weeks in Apple’s App Store.

Can Content Marketing Save Journalism?

Posted: 18 Mar 2013 02:07 PM PDT

Secret-sauce
Feed-twFeed-fb

Sam Slaughter is the VP of Content at Contently, and writes frequently about the intersection of advertising and journalism. He enjoys long walks on the beach, basketball and nachos, and is the owner of two dumb dogs. Follow him @samslaughter215.

On the seventh floor of a refurbished industrial building, just outside The Loop in Chicago, a pack of funny 20-somethings stands in front of a green screen, unwittingly trying to save the publishing industry

Ostensibly, they're simply shooting a commercial under the direction of Onion Labs, a rag-tag group of seven that serves as de-facto creative agency for the well-known satire site The Onion. Onion Labs is tasked with making sure that brands are able to effectively communicate with their audiences. In this instance, it means teaching a stodgy brand like Microsoft to be satirical, hilarious and most likely offensive to a least somebody

EA CEO John Riccitiello Resigns

Posted: 18 Mar 2013 01:51 PM PDT

John-riccitiello-ea
Feed-twFeed-fb

Electronic Art's Chief Executive Officer John Riccitiello will step down at the end of the month, according to a release EA sent to investors Monday afternoon.

Riccitiello will also leave his post on the board of directors March 30. The board has promoted Larry Probst to executive chairman while the company looks for a new CEO, the release said.

Riccitiello was the CEO of EA since 2007; before that, he was the company's chief operating officer from 1997 to 2004 before departing to found Elevation Partners.

Here is Ricitiello's complete resignation letter. He cites the company's financial troubles as his reason for exiting.

T-Mobile Sends Invites for Mysterious Event

Posted: 18 Mar 2013 01:49 PM PDT

T-mobile-mystery-event
Feed-twFeed-fb

T-Mobile sent invitations to the press Monday for an "exclusive" event to be held next week. Although it didn't elaborate on details, it appears to be about the company's future after the wireless provider officially merges with MetroPCS.

The invitations didn't say what the event is about, although the attached image had the following tagline: "We're still a wireless company. We're just not going to act like one anymore."

T-Mobile announced it was merging with MetroPCS last October, creating a larger carrier with about 40 million subscribers total. The two companies actually use similar wireless spectrum, which should help simplify combining their networks. Last week, in stark contrast to its reaction to AT&T's plan to acquire T-Mobile two years ago, the FCC approved the merger.

Let Government Scientists Tweet More, Report Says

Posted: 18 Mar 2013 01:38 PM PDT

Tweetupnasa
Feed-twFeed-fb

Many federal agencies are still failing to give government scientists adequate freedom to communicate their research and findings with the public, according to a new report by a scientific advocacy group.

A report released Friday by The Center for Science and Democracy gave many federal agencies mixed grades for their media and social media policies.

Out of 17 science-oriented agencies reviewed, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration topped out CSD’s 2013 overall report card, with an A grade for media policy and a B for use of social media. Bottoming out the list was the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which received ‘D’ grades in both categories. Several others received “incompletes” because researchers could not obtain the agency’s media policies in time

NHL Upsets This Week's Social TV Rankings

Posted: 18 Mar 2013 01:31 PM PDT

Hockey
Feed-twFeed-fb

This was a week of upsets in social TV, as a few programs generated unusually high buzz that placed them at the top of the rankings. This week's Bruins-Penguins matchup made the NHL the most popular broadcast program on social media, a spot the NBA usually dominates

A&E program The First 48 saw a remarkable jump due to a flurry of Facebook activity. The long-running police documentary series leapt almost 5,000% to be the second-most popular show on cable this week, next to The Walking Dead

The data is courtesy of Trendrr, which measures social media activity related to specific television shows (e.g. mentions, likes, check-ins) across Twitter, Facebook, GetGlue and Viggle. To see daily rankings, check out Trendrr.TV.

Supreme Court Refuses to Hear $220k Music Piracy Case

Posted: 18 Mar 2013 01:25 PM PDT

Supremecourt
Feed-twFeed-fb

Jammie Thomas-Rasset won't have her day in court at the highest judicial authority in the United States. On Monday, the Supreme Court declined to hear the case of the famous music pirate who was sentenced to pay $220,000 for downloading 24 songs with the now-defunct file-sharing software Kazaa.

In 2007, Thomas-Rasset became the first person to go to trial against the Recording Industry Association of America, when she refused to settle her case after receiving a piracy cease-and-desist letter in August 2005. In the mid-2000s, the RIAA sued thousands of Americans for copyright infringements; Thomas-Rasset was one of only two people who decided to fight the charges instead of entering an agreement

Will Killing Google Reader Increase Global Censorship?

Posted: 18 Mar 2013 01:15 PM PDT

Censored-earth
Feed-twFeed-fb

After Google unceremoniously announced it would be killing Reader later this year, much of the outraged response focused on its use in the U.S

But there's a whole other aspect to the service: for thousands of users around the world, it's one of the few ways they can get around their country's censors.

A "save Google Reader" petition hosted by Change.org has received 125,000 signatures so far. And as Change.org revealed to Mashable Monday, 75% of those signatures come from users outside the U.S. — and 12% of them total say they live in countries that Reporters Without Borders or the OpenNet Initiative report say have active Internet censorship by government forces.

English Soccer Player Gives Broke Fan Free Tickets via Twitter

Posted: 18 Mar 2013 01:06 PM PDT

Tyronemings
Feed-twFeed-fb

A soccer player who was banned for life from the Greek national team after celebrating a goal with a Nazi salute gained widespread notoriety online over the weekend. But perhaps we should have been paying a bit more attention to Tyrone Mings

Mings is a defender for the English soccer team Ipswich Town FC, and he did one local fan a big solid before Saturday's match against Bolton Wanderers

The story, which comes our way via the blog Digital Football, starts with a fan called Tris Monk, who tweeted a good luck message Mings' way but said he was too "skint" to make the match in person

@tyronemings1 good luck today, wish i was there to watch, hopfully 3 points #skint

— tris monk (@blutris89) March 16, 2013

'Lil Bub & Friendz' Brings Internet Cat Celebrities to Big Screen

Posted: 18 Mar 2013 01:01 PM PDT

Lil-bub
Feed-twFeed-fb

Small cat, big screen

Internet-famous kitty Lil Bub is about to go mainstream with her first film roleLil Bub & Friendz, a documentary from VICE, explores the web's purrculiar cat fixation through the bugged-out eyes of Lil Bub

The film debuts next month at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival. It also features Grumpy Cat, Nyan Cat, Keyboard Cat and non-cat, Scumbag Steve.

Click here to view this gallery

Homepage image courtesy of Flickr, sayhedgehog

Why We Need More Solar Companies to Fail

Posted: 18 Mar 2013 12:50 PM PDT

Suntech
Feed-twFeed-fb

Suntech, a Wuxi, China-based company that as recently as 2011 was the world’s largest producer of solar panels, is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. It’s running low on cash, owes bond investors half a billion dollars (which it failed to pay Friday), and is saddled with payments on billions of dollars in loans as it struggles to make money in a market flooded with solar panels.

If Suntech fails and shuts down its factories, that might not be a bad thing. Some industry experts say that hundreds of solar companies need to fail to help bring solar panel supply back in line with demand. That would slow the fall in prices and, as demand recovers, allow companies to justify buying new equipment and introducing the innovations that will ultimately be needed for solar power to compete with fossil fuels.


Back to the top