YouTube’s ‘Trusted Flagger’ users have an inside track to get videos removed
Ever notice that little flag icon that underlines YouTube videos? It’s part of Google’s content reporting system — clicking it notifies YouTube moderators that the attached video might violate site’s community guidelines. The feature has been in place for ages, but it caught some attention last week when the Financial Times reported that British security had been granted special permissions to police YouTube content. Naturally, the online community was concerned: why is a governmental body being allowed to censor online content? Well, it isn’t. Google has since explained that UK officials are simply part of YouTube’s Trusted Flagger program: 200 or so organizations and individuals (including “fewer than 10″ government agencies according to a Wall Street Journal source) with access to advanced flagging tools. These so-called “super flaggers” don’t have the ability to manually curate or remove videos, but they can flag up to 20 at once for internal review.
The program has actually been around since October, with more Trusted Flaggers being added periodically. According to the WSJ source, YouTube offered access to the UK’s counter-terrorism unit after the agency began flagging videos that violated the site’s community guidelines, which ban videos showing dangerous and illegal acts, threats, hate speech and more. British officials say they try to flag videos that violate the UK’s Terrorism Act, adding that the burden of judging content as appropriate or inappropriate still lies with YouTube. The program seems to be invite-only, but YouTube users with an eye for the naughty can show their interest on Google’s Trusted Flagger support page.
Source: YouTube, Wall Street Journal
Quick Review: The Soldier 7800mAh Power Bank from Digital Treasures
There’s a fair share of portable power banks out on the market these days. All of them promise you extra power for your devices so you can go longer without having to plug into the wall. The Solider, from Digital Treasures, is no different in that respect. With a 7800 mAh battery it’s well equipped to charge your cell phones a few times over.
Features
The Soldier’s 7800 mAh battery provides enough juice for a couple of recharges of your average smartphone (those with larger devices like the Note 3 may not get as much for obvious reasons). Here’s a quick spec sheet of the Solider.
- Battery Capacity – 7800 mAh
- Battery Type – Three Samsung Li-ion 18650 Cylindrical 3.7V 2600 mAh
- Input – DC 5V/1A
- Output – DC 5V/1.5A
- Charging time – 7-9 hours
- Dimensions – 4.53″ x 3.48″ x 1.14″
- microUSB to USB cable included
- One year limited warranty
- IP67 rated
As you can see by the output of the Soldier you’re likely not going to charge your tablets with this guy but you sure will get your smartphone a good boost. The reality is, this thing is a TANK. During my testing I have deliberately thrown The Soldier across the floor, dropped it on to the sidewalk, let it roll out of the car door down the driveway and even tossed it into a bucket of water. The soldier is still working and working well after all the abuse I dolled out. While it may not charge your tablets, I don’t think you’d be using your tablet where this was designed to go. It’s a rugged let’s get dirty and give me some abuse kind of device.
We tested all three claims The Soldier makes. We dropped it into a bucket of water to test it’s waterproof claims, passed with flying colors. We threw it into a pile of dirt, passed, a little messy but passed. And we dropped it on the sidewalk and driveway, passed and passed. Even the built in LED flashlight survived the torment we subjected this thing to.
Conclusion
The Soldier is a no nonsense basic smartphone power bank that is ready to take a beating to keep your smartphone running. Take this thing anywhere and never worry about being out of power or damaging it. I’d say you might break it if you dropped it from a thousand foot cliff, but I don’t climb cliffs so I can’t test that out. I give The Soldier 4 out of 5 stars, the ability to charge tablets would have been nice, but that doesn’t make this a deal breaker at all in my book. Hit the link below to pick up your Soldier.
Daily Roundup: 8GB iPhone 5c rumor, Microsoft OneNote goes free, and more
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Apple reportedly launching a cheaper 8GB iPhone 5c on March 18th
Rumor has it that Apple’s cheaper and more colorful iPhone 5c hasn’t sold quite as well as the 5s. That might soon change, though. According to leaked documents unearthed by O2 Germany, Apple’s releasing a cheaper 8GB version of the 5c overseas on March 18th.
Apple’s Jony Ive: ‘We’re surrounded by anonymous, poorly made objects’
During a rare interview, Apple’s Jonathan Ive offers some insight into his own design process and how Apple products graduate from the drawing board. Every detail is given incredible thought, and for Jony, “It’s not just about aesthetics… Our success is a victory for purity, integrity – for giving a damn.”
Microsoft’s OneNote goes completely free, launches for Macs
OneNote, Microsoft’s productivity tool and Evernote competitor, has been available to Windows users for a long while, but now it’s finally arrived for those running OS X. Starting today, Mac users can download the full desktop version from the App Store for the wonderful price of $0.
Microsoft intros an LTE version of the Surface 2, arrives tomorrow for $679
We knew a cellular version of Microsoft’s slate was coming, but now the company’s made it official. The $679 LTE Surface 2 comes in a 64GB flavor, packing the same battery life as its less-connected counterpart. You can pick one up from Microsoft and Best Buy starting tomorrow.
You also might like:
WhatsApp tells what’s really up with Facebook partnership, talks data and privacy
If you’re a WhatsApp user, you can rest assured that your data and privacy will not be compromised with Facebook’s recent $16 billion purchase of the popular cross-platform social messaging platform.
WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum took to the company’s personal blog today to set the record straight since it said that while they’ve been “truly humbled” by the attention the partnership with Facebook has garnered, there has also been a lot of inaccurate and careless information circulating about user data and privacy.
Koum, who grew up in the USSR during the 1980s and recalls not being able to speak freely in fear of the KGB, said that respect for user privacy is coded in their DNA.
WhatsApp was built around gathering as little user information as possible, not asking for your name, email address, birthday, “likes” or location, and the company has no plans to change that, he said.
“Everything that has made WhatsApp the leader in personal messaging will still be in place. Speculation to the contrary isn’t just baseless and unfounded, it’s irresponsible.”
The focus of the company will be to continue to be allowing people around the world to speak freely without fear, with the Facebook partnership giving them “the flexibility to grow and expand” as said in a previous post on the personal blog.
You should also note, that keeping good on its promise, WhatsApp even recently released an update with new privacy settings.
All that being said… are you using WhatsApp? What are your thoughts on the Facebook acquisition?
VIA WhatsApp Blog
The post WhatsApp tells what’s really up with Facebook partnership, talks data and privacy appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Flyne lets you read offline! (App of the Day)
Flyne is a beautiful Twitter and Feedly reader that allows you to read your feeds offline.
Joaquim Verges, the developer of the popular Twitter app Falcon Pro, has created another very functional, very pretty app. Flyne’s main goal is to provide you with news from Twitter lists and Feedly categories, all brought to you in an easy-to-read mobile-friendly package.
After downloading the app, there are three categories from which to choose content: Popular Feeds, Twitter, and Feedly. Popular Feeds comes free with the app download, but you’ll need to pay $1.99 for the Twitter extension and $.99 for the Feedly extension. It’s definitely worth the extra $3 to get all of your news in one place, especially because this app is so gorgeous.
The reason why it’s our app of the day is because it received a huge update today. Here’s a list of the full changelog for the new version.
- New list based navigation, with big or small article previews (toggle it in the display settings)
- Polished looks for both day and night themesDouble tap to close article
- Zoomable, dowbloadable images
- Mark as read while you scroll
- Feedly two way sync
- New tablet layout
- Faster preloading of articles
- Smoother navigation
- New transition animation
- Many bug fixes
The post Flyne lets you read offline! (App of the Day) appeared first on AndroidGuys.
LifeLock Buys Lemon, Prompting: What’s the Future of Mobile Wallets?
More than half of American adults carry smartphones, according to the Pew Research Internet Project. And while we’ve no stats to back this up, we think just about everybody carries a wallet. It makes sense, then, that mobile payment systems—aka “mobile wallets”—are gaining acceptance in today’s marketplace. But is the mobile wallet the wave of the future or simply a passing fad?
LifeLock Acquires Lemon
At the end of last year, leading identity theft protection provider LifeLock acquired Lemon, a digital wallet platform that enables users to store their payment cards, loyalty cards, identification and more on their smartphones. According to LifeLock.com, the company spent approximately $42.6 million on the acquisition.
So what does LifeLock see in Lemon? Perhaps the company saw Gartner’s 2012 assessment of the worldwide mobile payment market, which the respected research firm predicts will be worth $617 billion with more than 448 million users throughout the world by 2016. A growing number of companies are putting their weight behind mobile wallets—and the technology that makes them possible—as well, including Near Field Communication (NFC), which allows smartphones and other devices to communicate with each other through “bumping” and proximity contact.
It’s little wonder that LifeLock is leveraging Lemon’s technology for its own LifeLock Wallet, which will replace Lemon Wallet Plus. It ties into the company’s portfolio of identity protection services, and the combination of identity theft prevention tools and mobile wallets should give LifeLock customers greater confidence about the security of their information.
While Lemon is merged into LifeLock’s suite of services, Lemon Network seems poised to be left behind. According to an article on TechCrunch.com, LifeLock is considering an evaluation of the fledgling mobile checkout service—but it’s more likely that it’ll be shelved pending any further innovations, especially in the face of competition from Google Wallet, PayPal and Venmo.
What’s in Store for Mobile Wallets?
As more people warm up to the idea of paying for goods and services with their smartphones, mobile wallets and other payment options are likely to grow in prominence—but only if retailers are willing to shoulder the expense and effort of accommodation through point-of-sale (POS) equipment upgrades. According to Digital Trends, retailers are concerned about the lack of return on this kind of investment, considering the high cost of POS equipment and potential transaction fees, similar to those of credit and debit card transactions.
Another problem comes in the form of NFC availability on smartphones. Although some experts believe that NFC-equipped handset penetration will reach 51 percent by 2015, Forrester predicts that NFC adoption will move much slower, with other proposed hardware-agnostic mobile payment options filling the void.
On the other hand, many companies are positioning themselves to be on the ground floor before mobile wallets truly take off. Larger retailers and major adopters of NFC and mobile wallets see the technology as a near-term opportunity, despite the continued emergence of cloud-based solutions and other alternatives.
Astronomers find evidence of cosmic inflation, gravitational waves and the Big Bang
In the immediate aftermath of the Big Bang it’s believed the universe grew at an exponential rate in what is known as cosmic inflation. Well, the first solid evidence of this growth, which would explain the uniform structure of the universe, has been discovered in the form of a curl in the cosmic background radiation left by the Big Bang itself. The “curl,” known as B-mode polarization, is believed to be caused by gravitational waves produced during the first fractions of a second of existence. As it expanded and nothingness filled with extremely high-energy particles, waves of gravitational forces would have propagated, not unlike ripples on a pond, leaving behind scars.
embed left: 65px!important; top: -40px!important;
These traces were observed by researchers from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and the BICEP2 telescope in Antarctica. What makes the observation particularly important, is that gravitational waves are a part of classical physics, where as inflation is considered a quantum phenomena. This would indicate that “gravity has a quantum nature just like the other forces,” offering hope of a reconciliation between the two prevailing theories in physics that often seem incompatible. John Kovac, leader of the study, called the detection of these signals, “one of the most important goals in cosmology today.”
Filed under: Science
Via: Gizmodo
Must See HDTV for the week of March 17th: March Madness, American Hustle, Infamous
This week the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament kicks off, so we hope you have your March Madness bracket filled out and ready to go. The full schedule of preliminary round games is available here, and don’t forget you can always watch the games streaming over the internet (with a cable login anyway) on a PC or mobile devices. On Blu-ray, Academy Award Best Picture nominee American Hustle leads the way, while gamers can grab Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes across several platforms. PS4 owners however, will want to pick up one of the platform’s big exclusives on Friday, as Infamous: Second Son arrives. Check after the break for trailers plus our weekly listing of what to look out for in TV, Blu-ray and gaming.
Blu-ray, Streaming movies & Games
- Frozen
- American Hustle
- Saving Mr. Banks
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923)
- Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
- Atlantis (S1)
- Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes (Xbox 360, PS3, Xbox One, PS4)
- Final Fantasy X / X-2 Remaster (PS3)
Monday
- Dancing with the Stars (season premiere), ABC, 8PM
- Bones, Fox, 8PM
- Bitten, Syfy, 8PM
- How I Met Your Mother, CBS, 8PM
- Star-Crossed, CW, 8PM
- Switched at Birth, ABC Family, 8PM
- The Voice, NBC, 8PM
- WWE Raw, USA, 8PM
- Top Gear, BBC America, 8:30PM
- 2 Broke Girls, CBS, 8:30PM
- Paycheck to Paycheck: The Life and Times of Katrina Gilbert, HBO, 9PM
- The Following, Fox, 9PM
- The Tomorrow People, The CW, 9PM
- The Fosters, Fox, ABC Family, 9PM
- Dallas, TNT, 9PM
- Being Human, Syfy, 9PM
- Mike & Molly, CBS, 9PM
- Mom, CBS, 9:30PM
- Bates Motel, A&E, 10PM
- Believe, NBC, 10PM
- Archer, FX, 10PM
- Intelligence, CBS, 10PM
- Lost Girl, Syfy, 10PM
- Teen Wolf, MTV, 10PM
- Chozen, FX, 10:30PM
- Inside Comedy: Eric Idle/Bob Einstein, Showtime, 11PM
Tuesday
- NCAA Tournament Play-in game, TruTV, 6:40 & 9:10PM
- Glee, Fox, 8PM
- Marvel Studios: assembling a Universe ABC, 8PM
- The Voice, NBC, 8PM
- Pretty Little Liars, ABC Family, 8PM
- 24 Hours on Earth (season finale), BBC America, 9PM
- From Dusk Till Dawn, El Rey Network, 9PM
- Rizzoli & Isles (season finale), TNT, 9PM
- Chopped (season premiere), Food Network, 9PM
- About a Boy, NBC, 9PM
- The Goldbergs, ABC, 9PM
- Face Off, Syfy, 9PM
- Twisted, ABC Family, 9PM
- Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Fox, 9:30PM
- Trophy Wife, ABC, 9:30PM
- Growing Up Fisher, NBC, 9:30PM
- Chrisley Knows Best, USA, 10PM
- My Big Fat Geek Wedding, Syfy, 10PM
- Clash of the Ozarks, Discovery, 10PM
- Game of Arms, AMC, 10PM
- Mind Games, ABC, 10PM
- Perception (season finale), TNT, 10PM
- The Profit, CNBC, 10PM
- Person of Interest, CBS, 10PM
- Chicago Fire, NBC, 10PM
- Justified, FX, 10PM
- Tosh.0, Comedy Central, 10PM
- Cougar Town, TBS, 10PM
- Kroll Show, Comedy Central, 10:30PM
- Are You The One?, MTV, 11PM
Wednesday
- Who the F is Arthur Fogel?, Epix, 8PM
- Arrow, CW, 8PM
- Survivor, CBS, 8PM
- Revolution, NBC, 8PM
- Melissa & Joey, ABC Family, 8PM
- American Idol, Fox, 8PM
- The Middle, ABC, 8PM
- WWE Main Event, ION, 8PM
- Suburgatory, ABC, 8:30PM
- Baby Daddy, ABC Family, 8:30PM
- The 100 (series premiere), CW, 9PM
- Modern Family, ABC, 9PM
- Law & Order: SVU, NBC, 9PM
- Psych, USA, 9PM
- Criminal Minds, CBS, 9PM
- Mixology, ABC, 9:30PM
- Doll & Em (series premiere), HBO, 10PM
- The Americans, FX, 10PM
- Legit, FXX, 10PM
- Workaholics, Comedy Central, 10PM
- Nashville, ABC, 10PM
- The Real World, MTV, 10PM
- Chicago PD, NBC, 10PM
- CSI, CBS, 10PM
- Deal With It (season premiere), TBS, 10:30PM
- Ali G: Rezurection, FXX, 10:30PM
- Broad City, Comedy Central, 10:30PM
Thursday
- Once Upon A Time in Wonderland, ABC, 8PM
- Community, NBC, 8PM
- The Vampire Diaries, CW, 8PM
- Parks & Recreation, NBC, 8:30PM
- American Idol, Fox, 9PM
- Saint George, FX, 9PM
- Suits, USA, 9PM
- Grey’s Anatomy, ABC, 9PM
- Reign, CW, 9PM
- Anger Management, FX, 9:30PM
- The Crazy Ones, CBS, 9:30PM
- Review with Forrest Macneil, Comedy Central, 10PM
- Portlandia, IFC, 10PM
- Scandal, ABC, 10PM
- Vikings, History, 10PM
- Parenthood, NBC, 10PM
- Elementary, CBS, 10PM
- Sirens, USA, 10PM
- Jerks with Cameras (season finale), MTV, 11PM
Friday
- WWE SmackDown, Syfy, 8PM
- Whose Line Is It Anyway? (season premiere), CW, 8PM
- Rake, Fox, 8PM
- The Neighbors, ABC, 8:30PM
- Hart of Dixie (spring premiere), CW, 9PM
- Geraldine Ferraro: Paving the Way, Showtime, 9PM
- Grimm, NBC, 9PM
- Bellator MMA Live, Spike TV, 9PM
- Shark Tank, ABC, 9PM
- Raising Hope, Fox, 9:30PM
- Game of Stones, Discovery, 10PM
- Helix, Syfy, 10PM
- Save Our Business, TNT, 10PM
- Hannibal, NBC, 10PM
- Vice, HBO, 11PM
Saturday
- Sorority Surrogate, Lifetime, 8PM
- Ripper Street, BBC America, 9PM
- Da Vinci’s Demons (season premiere), Starz, 9PM
- John Leguizamo’s Ghetto Klown, HBO, 10PM
Sunday
- NASCAR Sprint Cup Series @ Fontana, Fox, 2:30PM
- Bob’s Burgers, Fox, 7PM
- American Dad, Fox, 7:30PM
- The Simpsons, Fox, 8PM
- Once Upon a Time, ABC, 8PM
- The Amazing Race, CBS, 8PM
- Family Guy, Fox, 8:30PM
- Overhaulin (season premiere), Velocity, 9PM
- Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, Fox, 9PM
- Naked & Afraid, Discovery, 9PM
- Believe, NBC, 9PM
- Resurrection, ABC, 9PM
- The Good Wife, CBS, 9PM
- The Walking Dead, AMC, 9PM
- Shameless, Showtime, 9PM
- Crisis, NBC, 10PM
- House of Lies, Showtime, 10PM
- The Mentalist, CBS, 10PM
- Revenge, ABC, 10PM
- Talking Dead, AMC, 10PM
- Girls, HBO (season finale), 10PM
- Looking, HBO, 10:30PM
- Comic Book Men, AMC, 11:59PM
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
Xbox leader Marc Whitten is leaving Microsoft for Sonos
Microsoft’s launch of the Xbox One has had a rocky start — DRM 180 anyone? — and now Chief Product Officer Marc Whitten is leaving the company. Whitten will become the Chief Product Officer at wireless speaker company Sonos, continuing an executive reshuffling that started with former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and also saw former Xbox leader Don Mattrick leave last July. In a note to the fans, he reflected on fourteen years as part of the Xbox team, proclaiming “utmost confidence” in the group and its products — similar to what he told us at CES in January. Microsoft says the rest of the executive team (including Yusuf Mehdi and former Sony exec Phil Harrison) will remain intact and, for now, report to software platform EVP Terry Myerson, who oversees Windows Phone, Windows and Xbox. The news is an unexpected start to this week’s Game Developer’s Conference where we’re expecting to hear about Microsoft’s Xbox One plans for indie game developers and DirectX 12 news — if any execs get a Titan dropped on them we’ll let you know.
Will always love @xbox. Thank you for the well wishes everyone. Very stoked to join the great @sonos team as well. Many emotions today!
– Marc Whitten (@notwen) March 17, 2014
Filed under: Gaming, HD, Microsoft
Source: Xbox Wire (1), (2), Marc Whitten (Twitter)
Former Apple Marketing VP Reflects on Steve Jobs and Marketing [Mac Blog]
In a new video, former Apple marketing vice president Allison Johnson talked about marketing at Apple and what it was like to work under Steve Jobs. The interview, which took place at the 99U Pop-Up School last September (via Cult of Mac), covers words that were verboten at Apple — “brand” and “marketing” among them — as well as anecdotes about Steve Jobs, and some advice on marketing.
Johnson gave one example from the launch of the iPhone on AT&T in 2007. The carrier had written an email explaining to its internal sales team on how to properly sell the iPhone. Jobs asked to see the email and edited the email so the iPhone would be positioned correctly.
“He would dive in at a level of detail that most human beings would never consider,” Johnson explained. “So, a CEO looking at a sales memo to an internal sales group at AT&T. He cared that much.”
Johnson goes on to explain that Apple’s product and marketing teams work closely together from early on in the design process. As a result, the Product Marketing team “understood deeply what was important about the product, what the team’s motivations were on the product, what they hoped that product would achieve, what role they wanted it to play in people’s lives”. Because of this, Apple’s marketing was greatly improved and on-target.
For external marketing and PR agencies that aren’t involved as deeply in the development process, Johnson said, it’s more difficult for them to position products well.
After Johnson left Apple, she founded West, a creative agency that works with tech companies like Anki and Jawbone.
     |
AIVAnet 