Selected by danthornton

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  Holy Kaw!

• Google Buzz's official demo [video]

  9 Feb 2010 | 11:25 am

  Google has just unveiled its latest attempt to become more relevant in the social media space—Google Buzz. The product is integrated within Gmail and will be rolled out gradually to all of the webmail service’s users over the next few days. While this development is still unfolding, you can check out Google Buzz’s two-minute demo of Buzz in action both online and via mobile. What are your initial reactions? Another soon-to-be-forgotten Google product like Wave, or a Facebook/Twitter killer? Full story at Mashable. Total Google coverage. Permalink | Leave a…

• Darth Vader’s original wimpy voice [video]

  9 Feb 2010 | 11:15 am

  Imagine a galaxy far, far away where Darth Vader sounded like any other British bloke strolling down the corridors of the Death Star. Before James Earl Jones provided the menacing voice of the Dark Lord of the Sith, English actor and bodybuilder David Prowse delivered the lines from inside the Darth costume. While George Lucas never intended for Prowse’s voice to make the flick’s final cut, it’s weird to imagine how different Star Wars would have been with a different Vader voice. Full story at Huffington Post. Tons of Star Wars tidbits. Permalink | Leave a…

• 7 things you didn’t know about condoms

  9 Feb 2010 | 10:14 am

  Rubbers. Raincoats. Inconvenient. Whatever you call 'em, condoms remain a must-have in the safe sex tool box. Long before the days of Durex and Trojans, men used animal intestines to protect their willies (that sounds lovely, eh ladies?) and still to this day use lambskin condoms for latex allergies and supposed extra sensitivity. Want to learn even more fun facts about condoms that will surely impress your friends and potential lovers? Check out Asylum's seven things you probably didn't know about condoms that includes tantalizing tidbits like: Vaseline + condoms = Disintegrated rubber and…

• Horror flick mirror scare mash-up [video]

  9 Feb 2010 | 9:25 am

  Horror movies love to rely on cliches to scare the bejeezus out of us, but does it really surprise anyone that the axe murderer is going to pop in the reflection of a mirror? Ok, yes, it still totally sparks a few pee-in-pants moments. Check out this mash-up of mirror scare moments (fair warning: don’t watch alone in a big, dark, scary house): Full story at Four Four. Boo! Tons of scary and not so scary movie news. Permalink | Leave a comment  »

• 7 things you shouldn't do on Valentine's Day

  9 Feb 2010 | 9:13 am

  Ah, Valentine’s day. February fourteenth marks that special moment in the year when Hallmark cashes in on our emotions and cupid gets busy shooting arrows. Whether you’re indifferent, excited, upset, or madly in love—there are seven things you just shouldn’t do on this lovey-dovey holiday. See a few do-not-do’s below: Go on a first date. First dates are hard enough, why add the extra pressure? Call your ex. Abort mission! On a day like this, it’s normal for your thoughts to drift to the one you used to be with, but you broke up for a reason. So, spare…

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  140Char

• Twitter continues to expand the team…

  Dan Thornton

  2 Feb 2010 | 12:36 am

  Twitter has been making some more hires recently – first up is Robin Sloan, who joins to handle media partnerships. Sloan previously worked as a strategist and executive at Current TV. During the first presidential debate of 2008, Sloan built an application to overlay tweets on the bottom of the screen. Spookily he was also the author of Twitter’s 5 billionth tweet. Also joining is user experience designer Mark Otto, who worked at ZURB, an interaction design firm whose listed clients include TinyPic and CC:Betty. And finally Dan Webb, the London web developer behind Twaudio, which brought…

• UK council in trouble over tweeting

  Dan Thornton

  31 Jan 2010 | 11:18 pm

  Councillors in Cornwall, UK, are in trouble after claims a number of them used Twitter during a meeting to mock other members – the same behaviour that takes place in the backchannel of every social media conference. They could face being reported to the authority’s standards committee and if they’re judged to have broken the code of conduct for inappropriate comments, could face suspension. The tweets apparently included: “naughty boy!” “high level of accidental sexual innuendo in the council today” “she said phones must be switched off. (I…

• Big money for hacked Twitter accounts

  Dan Thornton

  31 Jan 2010 | 8:17 am

  Stolen Twitter accounts appear to be commanding a premium amongst hackers sharing details on forums. Data stealing software is a risk to your details for any site, but according to Kaspersky researcher Dmitry Bestuzhev, he’s seen  a Twitter account with just 320 followers offered for as much as $1000. In this case, the three-letter username may have influenced the price. That compares with Gmail accounts for $82, Rapidshare accounts for $5 per month, and other sites including Skype and Facebook. Bestuzhev also went on to say Kaspersky had detected 70,000 data stealing programmes in…

• The first live tweet from space…

  Dan Thornton

  23 Jan 2010 | 8:01 am

  In the past, tweets have been produced on behalf of astronauts, but they were actually posted by someone on the ground… Now though, that’s changed… The first tweet to have been constructed and posted from space So 8.13am on January 22nd, 2010 marked one small tweet for man, and one giant leap for microblogging kind…

• Express newspaper in Twitter embarrassment

  Dan Thornton

  19 Jan 2010 | 10:42 am

  I wish I’d been online at the weekend and spotted the following story first, because it’s probably my favourite example of national newspapers completely screwing up reporting on Twitter In summary, the Express published a story (since removed from their site), which claimed the BBC was publishing Twitter accounts with 0 or 2 followers. Malcolm Coles was quick point out that the two Express writers had managed to use the figures for the number accounts were Following instead of being Followed by. Meanwhile No Rock And Roll Fun has a great detailed write-up of the complete article. Even…

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  Dan Thornton

• badgergravling: One of the benefits of working @absoluteradio - the motivational powers of hearing AC/DC playing throughout the building

  9 Feb 2010 | 4:42 am

  badgergravling: One of the benefits of working @absoluteradio - the motivational powers of hearing AC/DC playing throughout the building

• badgergravling: With the current #toyota problems, I'm happy to receive donations of mint condition AE86s to ensure your safety...

  9 Feb 2010 | 4:34 am

  badgergravling: With the current #toyota problems, I'm happy to receive donations of mint condition AE86s to ensure your safety...

• badgergravling: @LaurenFisher @TomGriffola You'll both be pleased to know the train eventually kicked into life, and I've just about caught up on the day!

  9 Feb 2010 | 4:32 am

  badgergravling: @LaurenFisher @TomGriffola You'll both be pleased to know the train eventually kicked into life, and I've just about caught up on the day!

• badgergravling: It's never a good sign when the train comes to a stop, and then the power and lights go out...

  9 Feb 2010 | 12:53 am

  badgergravling: It's never a good sign when the train comes to a stop, and then the power and lights go out...

• badgergravling: @joannageary Is there an adoption system for lost cat avatars?

  8 Feb 2010 | 8:26 am

  badgergravling: @joannageary Is there an adoption system for lost cat avatars?

• 
  TheWayoftheWeb

• Why I won’t be signing up to Blippy…

  Dan Thornton

  8 Feb 2010 | 3:48 am

  A fair number of tech luminaries have been writing about Blippy recently – a new service which tracks your on and offline card purchases and shares them with followers. Not surpising with investors including Sequoia Capital, Jason Calacanis and Evan Williams. And Louis Gray has been publishing his experiences with the site. I’m not averse to sharing my purchases and recommendations, and I’m fairly realistic about online security. Despite taking precautions, I’m aware that all banks and ecommerce sites have to transmit data, and that phishing and scam sites will always…

• How much to launch a new title online?

  Dan Thornton

  7 Feb 2010 | 11:44 am

  I’ve often wondered, and indeed directly questioned, why traditional publishers pondering new markets haven’t tested the water by launching an incredibly cost effective online trial for a new idea? I suggested it quite a lot in the past – especially using external hosting and services to launch something for a total cost that’s less than a day’s pay for the lowliest of staff writers. And don’t claim that your market doesn’t use the internet – there are more than enough people from any demographic to give you a better idea of what they’ll…

• Speaking, presenting, writing, and catching up…

  Dan Thornton

  29 Jan 2010 | 10:42 am

  I’m finally able to do something to assuage my blog guilt, after a week of some great meetings and working hard on a lot of cool stuff which unfortunately I can’t share just quite yet… But I can share a very nice testimonial from Julian Thorne, Managing Director of Dovetail after they kindly let me present at their client conference recently… ‘Dan is incredibly knowledgeable about the social networks in all their myriad guises. He also has that rare ability to enthusiastically inform the uninitiated without ever being patronising’ You might not have heard, but my blogging absence…

• Forget e-readers, I just want a CC-reader

  Dan Thornton

  23 Jan 2010 | 6:17 am

  I’ve been doing a bit of research into ebooks and e-readers recently. Partly as I was kindly invited to speak at a client conference for publishers (more on that in the future), and also to keep up with the technology on a professional and personal level. I’ve heard two major criticisms about the format as a whole so far. The first is that the technology isn’t a direct equivalent replacement for paper – the feelings,sensations and effect of reading in print can’t be replicated by an electronic device, and that’s completely true. But at the same time, as…

• Last night a cloud saved my life…

  Dan Thornton

  20 Jan 2010 | 11:32 am

  Cloud-based computing is a popular topic at the moment, and it’s opening up a plethora of possibilities for ways to interface with data. But to be honest, the way it’s helped me in the last 24 hours is much more important at the moment. Tomorrow I’ve got the pleasure of speaking at a conference and everything was well-organised and prepared until a small error resulted in the saved presentation file being wiped off the face of the earth… And in a long story of unwise decisions cut short, there was no backup available. All presentation and all notes gone… Except… While I didn’t…