Twitter wants everyone to know how many people read their tweets
Publishers and verified users have been able to track view counts on organic tweets since last month, but Twitter is looking to make that data more widely accessible. Today, the microblogging social network revealed that this analytics feature is no longer limited to people or companies with a tiny blue check mark on their profile. The tweet activity dashboard is now also available to users who are active primarily in English, Japanese and Spanish, and have had an account for longer than two weeks. And don’t worry, support for additional languages is coming — Twitter let it be known that it is working to bring its tool to everyone sometime “soon.” So, there it is, now you won’t have to wonder if anyone’s actually reading those thoughtful (and wonderful) tweets of yours.
Want to know how your Tweets are performing? Check out the revamped Tweet activity dashboard: https://t.co/g6w5dsqIo0
– Twitter (@twitter) August 27, 2014
Absolutely thrilled to open up access to http://t.co/wcU6oj9hFM to EVERYONE. Check it out, and let us know what you think!
– Ian Chan (@chanian) August 27, 2014
Filed under: Internet
Source: Twitter
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‘Doctor Who’ is coming to ‘Minecraft’ on Xbox 360 next month
Simply put, Doctor Who and Minecraft are two worldwide sensations, each extremely popular in their own entertainment category. Thus, it just kind of makes sense to bring the two together. Thankfully for those of you who are into both, Microsoft and the BBC have partnered up to do exactly that, by way of digital downloadable content for Minecraft on the Xbox 360. Starting next month, players will have access to character packs from Doctor Who, including skins of The Doctor himself, his companions and his mad enemies — all from throughout the show’s entire history, not only from most recent seasons. No word yet on if this also applies to the upcoming Xbox One edition of Minecraft, but it wouldn’t surprise us if that was the case.
Filed under: Gaming, Internet, Software, HD, Microsoft
Source: Microsoft
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You can now import your Google+ videos to your YouTube Channel
Recently we heard that Google was working to make it possible for users to import their Google+ shared videos to their YouTube channels. The process is now officially available for those of you who want to get it started.
The whole process is pretty simple, as the little help video from YouTube below demonstrates. Simply go to your YouTube account, login, go to the uploads page and click “import”. Just like any other video you have full control over the title, description and privacy options. That means you can set all those family outings that are backed up to Google+ as private and share them independently to your friends and family without the whole world seeing.
Source: 9to5Google
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ASUS smartwatch will be called the ZenWatch as depicted in recent video
ASUS has pushed out a number of teasers for their upcoming smartwatch that will be unveiled officially September 3rd at IFA in Berlin. The new addition from ASUS will be their first Android Wear powered watch, and hopefully not the last. As usual, ASUS has released a series of teaser videos to build up the hype. The suspension is nearly killing me. The latest video offers up a sneak peek of the watch, along with its name, the ZenWatch,
In the video it appears to show little bits of a brushed aluminum with rounded corners. It certainly looks thin and the glass looks pretty. Details on the internal components used and battery life are non-existent at this point. We can only hope that ASUS is looking to bring a competitor in the Android Wear department. The Moto360 is undoubtedly the unreleased king and I don’t think ASUS will be able to compete with it if this one comes in near the same price tag. I’m not sure I have high hopes for the ZenWatch though, simply because the Zen branding from ASUS on the device front has typically been low-cost midrange series of devices. That could work for ASUS if the ZenWatch can pull great battery life and a lower price tag than Samsung and LG have done so far. We will have to wait and see.
What do you think of the teaser?
Source: ASUS YouTube Via: AndroidandMe
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Music Freedom campaign from T-Mobile gaining 6 more services, Google Music coming
Back in June T-Mobile made a fairly awesome move that gave customers a break from their data consumption by letting you stream certain services without touching your data allotments. Sure, there were a few stipulations, like being on a plan that let you do it. Still, if streaming music is your bread and butter of data use, it certainly helped. At initial launch it offered up a variety of services that wouldn’t touch your allotment. Services like Spotify, Slacker, iHeartRadio and others. T-Mobile promised others would be added over time, but that the ones available at rollout were the heaviest used ones.
Today T-Mobile is adding in a few other services to the list that should make some of you jump up and down. Starting today, if you are on the Simple Choice plan of course, you can stream from six newly added services; AccuRadio, Black Planet Radio, Grooveshark, Radio Paradise, Rdio and Songza.
“T-Mobile’s Music Freedom and services like Grooveshark are about bringing music accessibility to the consumer,” said Sam Tarantino, Co-founder and CEO of Grooveshark, “Together with Music Freedom, Grooveshark is creating a new kind of music discovery on T-Mobile devices. We believe the combined global audiences of millions represents a new and engaged audience for Grooveshark on T-Mobile.”
Now, before you throw your phone and curse out T-mobile for not adding Google Play Music, there is news on that front too. Google Play Music raked in three-quarters of a million votes in the poll for what should be added next. It topped the charts and is clearly the service we all want the most. T-Mobile says they are on track to bring Google Play Music into the fold later this year. While it isn’t ‘right this minute’ like many of us would like, it is coming. It is almost September, so later this year only gives them 4 months at most to pull it off. So sit tight a little longer guys.
An interesting set of numbers came out of the press release as well. Since the launch of the Music Freedom campaign, T-Mobile claims that customers have streamed 7 terabytes of music with 5 million more songs being played a day then before the launch. Obviously removing the data use on music has paid off for customers in a pretty big way.
Via T-Mobile
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Android 4.4.3 update rolling out for AT&T HTC One M8 owners
Looks like there is an update headed to your HTC One M8 if you are using a AT&T branded version of the device. The firmware version coming down the pipeline is reportedly 2.23.502.3. It brings a long a number of security fixes and optimizations for your beloved M8. While you won’t find some fancy new visuals, it is still worth getting on the latest available update.
Like most OTA updates though, if you have root you might want to hold off for a bit. It is entirely possible that it will kill that for you. If you are just your average stock user though, have at that update button in your settings menu. Be sure you have over 50% battery life and some time to hover on a Wi-Fi connection as the update file size is said to come in at about 660MBs. I am sure it will be rolling out in stages too, so if you don’t see it right away keep an eye out for it.
T-Mobiles similar update started just last week and word on the street is that Verizon should be following suit sometime in mid-September.
Source: XDA via AndroidPolice
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Apple is reportedly unveiling its wearable device on September 9th
If you ask many pundits when Apple will unveil its often-rumored wearable device, many of them will say October. However, we may have to revise those expectations a bit. Recode‘s sources now claim that Apple will unveil the gadget on September 9th — you know, the same day that many expect to see at least one new iPhone. There’s little to back the claim at this point beyond the site’s reputation for accurate leaks, but the timing makes sense given that the iPhone and the mystery wristwear are expected to work virtually hand-in-hand. As for actual technical details? Besides the expected fitness and home automation support, there isn’t much more to say — most likely, you’ll have to wait a couple more weeks to get the full scoop.
[Image credit: Ruben Schade, Flickr]
Filed under: Wearables, Mobile, Apple
Source: Recode
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Disney’s drone research eyes better parades and floating screens
We’ve seen drones used for all sorts of things from film production to package delivery. Now, it seems Disney may be looking to leverage the aerial vehicles for its theme parks. The company has applied for three patents that employ the remote-controlled gadgets for floating projection displays and airborne marionettes. That latter option is meant to boost hovering parade characters that have been limited to gas-filled balloons with little mobility, while the former uses UAVs to float a screen over park visitors. The third scenario is one where the individual drones each carry a lighting rig to achieve the desired effect. Something like fireflies after dark, we’d surmise. All three projects would be commanded from a “ground control station” to coordinate flight paths. Of course, with this being an application, there’s no guarantee that you’ll encounter the compact flying vehicles at Disneyland anytime soon, but the outfit’s R&D department has a knack for coming up with awesome ideas.
Filed under: Misc
Via: Gizmodo, MarketWatch
Source: Patent App (1), (2), (3)
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Here’s how digital effects give ‘Game of Thrones’ its grand scale
We’ve already seen how digital effects make Game of Thrones’ world more believable, but there were some spectacular scenes in the show’s fourth season: giant city-states, an undead horse and battles involving thousands of cavalry. Want to know just how important computer graphics were in bringing those moments to life? Graphics house Rodeo FX will gladly show you. As you’ll see in the footage below, some environments (such as Meereen’s pyramid-laden landscape) depended very heavily on computer effects, with only a few live humans and real-world places involved. And that cavalry battle demanded even more work — animators populated the field with “smart” horse soldiers that reacted both to each other and the world around them. You may not want to watch the demo clip if you haven’t caught up on the show, but it’s otherwise worth checking out to see how fantasy and reality can blend together.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
Via: io9
Source: Rodeo FX
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Companies will pay you to give up privacy on your devices
You may have good reason to safeguard your privacy these days, but would you hand over the goods if someone paid you? For some people, the answer is “yes.” Companies like Luth Research have been paying willing subjects a modest amount (in Luth’s case, $100 per month) to track their devices’ locations, web histories and app usage to improve advertising and shopping. Ford, for example, used the technology this year to see how prospective buyers research a car; it could tell if participants bought a vehicle after visiting its site, or if they were using their phone to research alternatives in the showroom. These monitoring schemes are hardly low-profile, either. Verizon recently launched a voluntary program that promises rewards if you share your positioning and web info.
These companies don’t usually want everything (messages are often safe), and there are frequently security measures like virtual private networks (VPNs) that reduce the chances someone will take data without your permission. You can typically drop out of these tracking systems very easily if you’re nervous. Still, it’s easy to understand why you might not want to fork over sensitive info, no matter what your pay may be. You’re giving someone else valuable information and trusting that they won’t either misuse it or lose it to a data breach. And future collection methods may make you uncomfortable, even if you don’t mind putting information out in the open — Luth is developing ambient audio recording that would help it figure out exactly what you’re doing at a given moment.
[Image credit: Shutterstock]
Filed under: Cellphones, Desktops, Laptops, Tablets, Internet, Mobile, Verizon
Source: MIT Technology Review, Luth Research
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AIVAnet 