One of the most popular features on social sharing website Reddit is its use of AMA (Ask Me Anything) showcases. During those events actors, comedians, politicians and other well known and lesser known people receive questions from Reddit users and then answer those questions.
AMAs have been used by everyone from President Obama to Arnold Schwarzenegger and now Reddit has chose to share its “Top 500″ AMAs of all time.
Reddit breaks each list down into different categories with Actors/Entertainers and the “other” categories dominating the list with 80 and 130 mentions respectively. read more
Google+ has announced plans to launch a new enterprise feature which allows users to discover when they have connected to someone who works at the same company.
According to a Google+ blog post, if a coworker hovers over a person’s name they will see the company’s URL beneath the Google+ users name section.
Google+ has been long attempting to split up users via Circles, ensuring that coworker are kept separate from other family and friends on the growing social platform.
This newest move is being seen by some analysts as Google’s latest move to allow for better platform collaboration among Google+ enterprise users. read more
Facebook surpassed Google Maps in 2012 to become the most downloaded app of the year among iOS and Google Android users in the United States.
According to comScore supplied data the Facebook app also managed to win in terms of time users spent using its mobile apps. According to the report 23 percent of a mobile users time was spent on Facebook.
Facebook has long been a favorite app in terms of engagement and 2012 was no different.
While Mark Zuckerberg and team led the mobile download sector, Google still scored five out of the six most downloaded apps thanks to Google Maps, Google Play, app hub for Android, Google Search, Gmail and YouTube. read more
Way to class up the $175 million Presidential Inauguration Bette Midler! The star of film and song took to Twitter on Monday where she said down with her family and tweeted about the Presidential event.
According to Midler she was with her family and they were all hungover.
So what exactly did Midler have to say about the inauguration. Here are some of her more memorable and confusing tweets:
Tumblr has announced panaromic photo support for all blogs located on its network. The new feature allows Tumblr users to share larger, more vibrant photos with very little additional work.
Now live on Tumblr.com the new panoramic photos appear in a specialized lightbox.
The panoramic shots fill the entire width of each blog post, as opposed to regular photos which typically occupy only the left-hand side. Users on desktop web browsers can also scroll through a pictures panoramic view from side to side once it is enlarged.
Smartphone users should turn their phone sideways to take full advantage of the new Tumblr support for panoramic photos. read more
Location based services app Foursquare has published a map of the world which showcases exactly what 500 million check-ins look like. The map focuses on check-ins implemented over the last three months.
The move to showcase its importance comes less than a month after financial research firm PrivCo claimed that Foursquare was having a hard time raising venture funding. PrivCo believes Foursquare will be purchased in 2013 for less than its total funding.
Foursquare is estimated to be collecting upwards of 5 million check-ins per day with many of its users located in tech savvy cities including New York City and San Francisco.
The location based service says its more than just about maps, Foursquare aims to provide “amazing personalized recommendations” that businesses can use and users love. read more
Social network discovery platform StumbleUpon has fired 35 of its employees, reducing 30 percent of its staff as the social platform attempts to streamline its business.
StumbleUpon spokesman Mike Mayzel says the firing were necessary so the company could “become more streamlined [and] focused.”
In 2012 StumbleUpon continued to lose traffic referrals to Facebook, Pinterest, Reddit and other up and coming social stars. StumbleUpon traffic was down by more than half in 2012.
In an attempt to attract a new audience StumbleUpon underwent a major redesign in late 2012, utilizing many of the design features found on other Web 2.0 competitors. read more
When President Obama is inaugurated for the second time on January 21, 2013 his inauguration will be met with the release of both iOS and Android apps.
The new apps were launched on Tuesday by the Presidential Inaugural Committee and feature several useful functions including a schedule of events and SMS texts for up to the minute proceedings alerts.
The new presidential inauguration will also be updated with photos and videos from Obama’s social media accounts. read more
Want to trim a few pounds off your waistline? According to a new study Twitter is actually helping many users lose weight.
Published by researchers at the University of South Carolina’s Arnold School of Public Health the report claims that Twitter’s support system has given people the motivation they need to drop their extra pounds. The study examined an op-in weight loss program which encouraged Twitter users to receive and share information about weight loss and their own goals.
According to the study every 10 posts to Twitter by the test group results in another 0.5% weight loss per participant. While many weight loss intervention programs already exist, such as Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig, they are often more expensive and time consuming for participants.
If this study holds true the next big weight loss fade could literally involve sitting down in front of your computer for a little bit of time each day. read more
You’re probably sitting there after a long day scrolling through Twitter and Google+ hashtags and stories announcing some of the key items this year’s CES show. Your eyes are either on fire from staring at the screen too long or you can’t focus anymore because there’s just too much cool stuff. Yeah, we feel the same way! So let’s get to the good stuff right away and announce what we think are this year’s CES stunners.
Smartphones
The Sony Xperia Z, Alcatel One Touch Idol Ultra (who names these things?) and Samsung flexible display named “Youm” were all unveiled this year. In particular, the much-awaited flexible display Samsung put forth at the Keynote was jaw-dropping.
Samsung flexible OLED Display
There’s been a lot of hype and rumors since last year’s CES, when the rumors first started about the mega-corp was developing cool 21st century that would save us from cracked screens. At the time, Apple was still taking a lot of heat for its screens being too fragile, so this was perfect timing on Sammy’s part. Fast forward to this week’s CES and we now have a working prototype, in which it has been said a new ecosystem can be created from this concept device. The video below shows us more on this amazing new tech development!
Alcatel One Touch Idol Utlra
Onwards to the real fireworks, and the newest titleholder of “world’s slimmest smartphone”. Alcatel outdid themselves at the show and may be one to watch in the future. So how thin is this device? Alcatel’s official measurements put the One Touch Idol Ultra at a paltry 6.45mm! This is definitely poking into Samsung’s flexible OLED display territory. As far as specs are concerned on this bad boy, it sports a 1.2 GHz dual-core CPU, a 4.7-inch 720p AMOLED display, the standard 1 GB of RAM and an 8.0 MP rear camera.
Sony Xperia Z
Last but not least, is the dust and water-resistant smartphone aptly put into the ongoing Xperia series. The durable display on its slim 7.9 mm body holds its dual superpowers discreetly. The full HD 5” 1080 x 1920p “Reality Display” is really the stunner on this handheld wonder, but let’s be honest: most people will go right out and dump it in their toilet to test out its water resistance level. Sony lists these at IP55 and IP57, respectively. Rounding out the specs, a Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core CPU, a 13 megapixel camera and of course, screaming fast 4G LTE make this a solidly built smartphone.
Automobiles
You wouldn’t expect to talk about cars but it is CES after all, and it’s not limited to mobile tech and computing. This year we saw Volvo, Toyota, and Audi put their best foot forward. And best foot it was! I think they may have put both forward in order to make a giant leap into the future of how we visualize and implement our vehicles into daily life.
Volvo Sensus Connected Touch
First up is Volvo and their “inlaid iPad” dubbed Sensus Connected Touch. While many have scoffed at the idea of having a touchscreen in their vehicle (it’s nothing new, people have been modding their vehicles for quite some time), the concept displayed by Volvo is (sorry, Transformers franchise) more than meets the eye. The following video shows more info, and pay close attention to all the bells and whistles that can be found in this highly-connected piece of equipment!
Toyota Autonomous Robot Car
Remember that cool scene in the last Terminator movie when the motorcycles were chasing after Christian Bale? Well, now that’s a reality and it’s being brought to you by none other than Toyota. The company has done its absolute best to wipe the slate clean between them and consumers since their disastrous brake scandal. But let’s do away with that morbid news and get to the meat.
2010 Autonomous Audi TTS
On much the same news, comes Audi with their autonomous research facility’s beautiful piece of road art. Something to note with this story is that Nevada granted Audi the first automaker permit and thus, has allowed them to operate autonomous vehicles on public roads! Move over Jetsons!
One of the most popular features on social sharing website Reddit is its use of AMA (Ask Me Anything) showcases. During those events actors, comedians, politicians and other well known and lesser known people receive questions from Reddit users and then answer those questions.
