Twitter profiles on Android look much better now
Twitter’s mobile app has seen a fair bit of newness as of late, and its latest tweak brings the Android version’s profile pages in line with iOS’. What’s so different? Let’s start at the top. Header images and avatar photos have gotten a bump in size for starters, and, what’s more, the bio has its own bit of screen real-estate now instead of being a swipe to the left. Rather than only the three most recent tweets showing, now you can scroll through an infinite amount of a user’s 140-character updates too — same goes for photos and favorites.
Thankfully, this has streamlined profiles a ton and eliminates the need for lots of tapping to navigate. You can swipe right or left anywhere on your device’s display, for example, to move from tweets to photos to favorites, respectively, while the bio, avatar and header stay static. The simplicity is quite refreshing, to be honest. Compared to how the timeline itself has evolved (for better and for worse), it’d be surprising if this ruffles users’ feathers the way incessant ads for a certain mobile game has.
We’re rolling out new profiles on Twitter for Android: it’s now easier to view bios, Tweets and photos. https://t.co/MMnvuuHaxh
– Twitter (@twitter) March 10, 2015
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Source: Twitter (Twitter)
ISIS threatens Twitter employees after account was blocked
Middle Eastern terror group ISIS has apparently threatened the lives of Twitter’s employees, as well as that of its chairman, Jack Dorsey. The threat was reportedly made as a response to the service’s policy of blocking accounts that directly encourage acts of violence or illegal activities such as terrorism. BuzzFeed has translated portions of the message, part of which reads “when our lions come and take your breath, you will never come back to life.”
As TechCrunch comments, it seems odd that Twitter alone would be threatened, when other sites like Facebook and YouTube have similarly deleted material. Because the document was uploaded to anonymous sharing site JustPaste, it’s not entirely clear if the message originally came from the group’s leadership. As far as Twitter is concerned, however, it is taking the threats seriously and is now working with local law enforcement.
Filed under: Internet
Via: TechCrunch, BuzzFeed
Source: JustPaste
Joaquim Vergès explains how he created Falcon Pro 3 in only three weeks
Some time after the original Falcon Pro was pulled from the Play Store for hitting the dreaded Twitter token wall, developer Joaquim Vergès decided to rewrite the application from scratch. The revamped app, Falcon Pro 3, quickly became one of the most popular Twitter clients on Android after its release in early 2015. The app uses Google’s Material Design guidelines in a unique way, offers a handy “smart interactions refresh” feature, and oh yeah, it only took Vergès three weeks to rewrite the app from scratch.
Are you wondering how exactly he did it? You’re in luck, because he actually did an hour long presentation on the application, and you can watch it all in the video attached below.
In his presentation Vergès walks the class through every step of his writing process. He covers background and prep work, caching, queries, UI, animations, design, security and much more. He elaborates on his reasoning behind publishing the app, rather than leaving it to a Google+ Community to test it out first. Arguably the most interesting part of the presentation is the Q&A section towards the end, where Vergès hints at an imminent tablet layout, and how he sidestepped Twitter’s token limit this time around:
On the last version of Falcon, I really got screwed when I added the multi-user feature because people bought it once but had eight accounts. With in-app purchases, I can now have people with multiple accounts pay a bit more than the person who only wants one account. That way, I can also limit the people who actually have eight accounts, so now they think twice before adding them. With a free app, I would hit the limit immediately, so I put the price a little higher to make sure it goes slowly.
Whether you’re interested in application development or not, I’d urge you to watch the video. And if you’d rather read the dialogue instead, the presentation (complete with time codes and links to plugins) has been transcribed and can be accessed here.
If you’re interested in checking out the app, you can head to the Google Play link below for the download. Have you tried Falcon Pro 3? If not, what Twitter app are you currently using?
Twitter for Android gets ‘While you were away’ feature
While we like to keep a close eye on our timelines, it is nearly impossible to monitor Twitter at all times. That is why Twitter introduced the ‘While you were away’ feature to recap missed content that a user would find valuable. Twitter collects top tweets published between timeline checks. A banner at the top of the display reads “While you were away…” followed by the content. Initially, iOS devices were exclusive to the feature; however, Twitter is rolling it out for Android today.
The ‘While you were away’ feature does not appear to be included in a download-required update.
Source: Twitter
Come comment on this article: Twitter for Android gets ‘While you were away’ feature
Fifth HTC One (M9) wallpaper posted on Twitter
Twitter poster @LlabTooFeR is giving us yet another HTC One (M9) wallpaper. This brings the total amount of leaked M9 wallpapers to five.
You can see the new wallpaper after the break. I’ll also include the links to the other four at the bottom.
To check out the other four wallpapers, click the following links: Wallpaper 1, Wallpaper 2, Wallpaper 3, Wallpaper 4.
My favorite thus far is definitely wallpaper 2. What about you? Let us know in the comments below!
Source: @LlabTooFeR
Come comment on this article: Fifth HTC One (M9) wallpaper posted on Twitter
Tweetdeck lets you share accounts without sharing passwords
Until now, if you wanted to share Twitter log-in credentials with members of your team, it meant sharing a password. Thanks to TweetDeck, you no longer have to use the same info. The 140-character social network now offers TweetDeck Teams for its popular app: a tool that allows groups to employ the same account with admin and contributor roles. When you need to add a colleague to the social workload, all you have to do is authorize that user, and once they accept the invite, they’ll be good to go. As you might expect, access can be revoked at any time by the admin, and those folks have control over the password. Contributors can tweet, follow/unfollow, schedule tweets and make lists, but they won’t have any access outside of the app. The new feature starts rolling out today for TweetDeck on the web, Chrome and Windows.
[Image credit: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg via Getty Images]
Filed under: Internet, Software
Source: Twitter
UK makes ‘revenge porn’ illegal with punishment of up to two years in jail
Posting “revenge porn” in England and Wales is becoming a criminal offense. Thanks to an amendment to the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill, passed last year by the House of Lords and due to receive Royal Assent later today, anyone found guilty of distributing explicit images to force victims into sexual activity or to humiliate them will now face up to two years in prison. It’s designed to cover photos and videos that are shared without permission both on and offline, including those posted to Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and other social networks.
The Bill classifies revenge porn as “photographs or films which show people engaged in sexual activity or depicted in a sexual way or with their genitals exposed, where what is shown would not usually be seen in public.” Before, victims needed to navigate complex copyright laws to get images removed, which many feared because it could often draw more attention to the media in question. In the US, officials are catching people who post or are hosting revenge porn, but they are forced to prosecute based on related offenses. UK prosecutors can now bring specific charges against malicious posters, ensuring they’re met with swift justice.
[Image credit: Maurizio Pesce, Flickr]
Filed under: Internet
Source: BBC News
Twitter buys an agency that turns social networkers into ad stars
Twitter thrives on celebrities with legions of followers, and it just took a big step toward making a pile of money from those big names. The company has bought Niche, an agency that links social media stars like Zach King (above) to advertisers who want to capitalize on their popularity. Twitter isn’t being specific about its plans, but it’s not hard to figure out what comes next — the service now has an easier way to get your favorite Twitter and Vine celebs into ads, raising the chances that you’ll notice promo pieces in your feed. It’s hard to tell if this will work, but Twitter may feel that there isn’t much choice. It isn’t having a great time scoring new users, so it might as well get more ad revenue from the people who are sticking around.
[Image credit: Zach King]
Filed under: Internet
Source: Twitter Blog
Facebook helps online services warn each other about security threats
Malware frequently strikes multiple targets, but online services rarely do a great job of warning each other about related threats; your data could be at risk simply because your favorite social network didn’t get a heads-up in time. Facebook is clearly sick and tired of this problem, as it just launched a hub that designed to mount a coordinated defense. Its new ThreatExchange web platform lets services both look up existing threat info and share their discoveries with as many sites as they see fit. If Facebook reels under a botnet attack, it can let others know what to do to protect themselves.
There aren’t many early participants in ThreatExchange, but you’ll likely recognize them: Bit.ly, Dropbox, Pinterest, Twitter and Yahoo (including Tumblr) are all onboard. Facebook is also pushing for more partners, so it won’t be surprising if this alliance grows. The move might not stop rapidly-spreading viruses, and it certainly won’t render them invulnerable. However, it might just help your favorite online destination thwart a data breach that it wouldn’t otherwise catch in time.
[Image credit: AP Photo/Jeff Chiu]
Filed under: Internet, Facebook
Source: Facebook
Offensive tweets from Jeb Bush’s CTO remind us the internet is forever
This is Ethan Czahor. Ethan is the new chief technology officer at Right to Rise, a political action committee formed by former Florida governor and presidential hopeful Jeb Bush. He also happens to have a track record of saying some pretty shameful shit on Twitter and no amount of digital spring cleaning will be able to cover his virtual tracks. Czahor, a co-founder of Hipster.com (which was eventually purchased by Engadget parent company AOL) never seemed to realize that what you say online can and will haunt you for the rest of your life. Like those times he referred to women as sluts… repeatedly.
Back when Ethan was a fresh-faced engineer and co-founder of a startup that would eventually sell for millions of dollars, he apparently didn’t think that what he said in the public sphere mattered. This led him to post things like:
New study confirms old belief: college female art majors are sluts, science majors are also sluts but uglier.
and:
When I burp in the gym I feel like it’s my way of saying, “sorry guys, but I’m not gay”
Until recently, digging up these pretty offensive missives required nothing more than going far enough back through Czahor’s Twitter history. Today though, you won’t find the tweets in question. They’ve been deleted as he and his new employer, Bush, try to whitewash his online past. The problem is, nothing online ever really goes away. And, even though you won’t find them in his timeline, they’ve been preserved for posterity in the form of screenshots. (Thanks BuzzFeed News!)
Almost as troublesome as what Czahor actually said, are the obvious implications. Either Bush’s team didn’t dig enough into Ethan’s past to discover these problematic posts. Or, just as likely and more disturbing, the people vetting Czahor for the position found the offensive messages, but were unperturbed by them. They simply figured they’d delete them before anyone noticed. Obviously, it’s too late now, he’s already let the world know he thinks things like:
I know Lindsey Lohan is supposed to die soon, but I’d sure like to sleep with her before that happens
Filed under: Internet
Source: BuzzFeed News, Time
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