Twitter tool that breaks stories in real-time now open in US
Twitter’s more than just a way to update anyone who cares to listen on what you’re doing. Not only can you ask it life’s nagging/profound questions, you can use it to buy yourself a snood, if you wish. But, there are more serious tasks that Twitter’s constant stream of mini-missives can assist with — such as breaking news. Back in January, we heard about Dataminr for News — a service for journalists that identifies stories as they break on Twitter. Now, it’s ready for prime time. Initially, CNN had been trialling the tool, but that pool of newsrooms has since extended to the BBC, The Weather Channel, USA Today and beyond. Finally it’s open to any news room that wants to harness the 500,000,000 public Tweets per day that Dataminr claims it parses to distill into news. Dataminr for News is available through Tweetdeck integration, and a dedicated mobile app, and not only highlights stories, but adds context and estimated locations to events as more information flows in. Now your social media activism might have a quicker route to the media’s gaze.
Filed under: Internet
Source: Dataminr
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I’m a neurotic. IBM told me so.
I’m a late Wednesday afternoon tweeter. It’s not a characteristic I’d necessarily include on any of my dating app profiles, but it accurately sums up my online behavior nonetheless. I’m also a tremendous neurotic (which should come as no surprise to anyone who knows me well) who embraces self-expression, challenges and change. I’m that personality pie chart you see up above. I’m an open book, or at least my Twitter profile is to IBM.
http://www.engadget.com/embed-5min/?sid=577&playList=518420862
Michelle Zhou greeted me with that handy personality breakdown when we met at IBM Research’s Almaden lab in San Jose, California; she’d taken the liberty of finding out my Twitter handle beforehand and compiling the results. Zhou’s the lead researcher for a platform called System U that analyzes the big data generated from an individual’s socially networked life — be that Facebook, Twitter, emails or even chats — to determine their values, beliefs and personality traits. If you’re not a fan of labels, then you won’t like Zhou’s work; after all, it did expose me for the impulsive, OCD ice queen that I am. But then again, it’s not Zhou that’s placing you into neatly labeled boxes; it’s your own words that are responsible.
If you’re not a fan of labels, then you won’t like Zhou’s work; after all, it did expose me for the impulsive, OCD ice queen that I am.
System U is based off of the study of psycholinguistics, a branch of cognitive science that examines how we acquire, use and effectively interpret language. With this as a foundation, Zhou’s platform focuses on defining individuals according to three main areas of psychological profiling: the Big Five personality traits (i.e., openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism); basic human needs; and values. It even deconstructs our online social habits, hence the revelation that I tweet heavily during lunch on hump day. It’s not unlike the internal testing major social networks do with their own masses of user data, except IBM’s platform aims to mine all of that data to build a cohesive psychological profile.
Zhou’s big data cruncher isn’t infallible — I certainly take umbrage with the notion that I’m an angry fellow — but it is statistically significant. In fact, Zhou’s team conducted studies to prove the efficacy of System U and found that its results are over 80 percent accurate. That mark of scientific worthiness means the platform’s also good enough for IBM to license it as a business tool. Zhou said IBM’s already been working with several unnamed enterprise clients to apply System U and derive insights into those companies’ respective customer bases. Participation, Zhou stressed is, of course, opt-in, so individuals won’t have to worry about being unwitting pawns in a big business/big data profiling scheme.
As Zhou explained, “This is a very new technology.” And it’s one we better get used to.
Watch as Zhou details how the words we use online can be used to paint an accurate portrait of who we really are on the inside.
[Image credit: IBM Research]
Filed under: Science
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Wolfram Alpha will answer your important questions on Twitter
Wouldn’t it be great if you could just call up a supercomputer and ask it to do your data-wrangling for you? Actually, scratch that, no-one uses the phone anymore. What’d be really cool is if machines could respond to your queries straight from Twitter. It’s a belief that’s shared by Wolfram Research, which has just launched the Tweet a Program system to its computational knowledge engine, Wolfram Alpha. In a blog post, founder Stephen Wolfram explains that even complex queries can be executed within the space of 140 characters, including data visualizations. If you fancy giving it a go yourself, you can tweet queries to @wolframtap, but be advised that you’ll have to learn the basics of the Wolfram Language Code before it’ll give you anything in return.
Filed under: Internet
Source: Stephen Wolfram blog, Tweet-A-Program
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Twitter’s iOS 8 upgrade brings a new look for profiles
If (for some reason) you absolutely hate how profiles look on Twitter for the iPhone, you may want to fire up the App Store and download the latest update. It comes with a brand new design for profiles, which brings your bio front and center (no more swiping needed to see it) and adds separate timelines for your uploaded photos/inevitable GIFs) and favorite tweets. This new profile will show up for both iOS 7 and iOS 8 users, so you can already enjoy it even if you don’t want to delete apps and make room for Apple’s new mobile platform just yet. You do, however, get something extra if you’ve already upgraded: the power to retweet, follow and favorite posts right from the notification center.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Apple
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Twitpic is being acquired, and apparently not shutting down next week
Good news? After a shocking announcement by Twitpic that it would close its doors as a result of action by Twitter, now the company has announced that’s not shutting down after all. There are no specific details, but in a tweet, it says “We’re happy to announce we’ve been acquired and Twitpic will live on! We will post more details as we can disclose them.” Your guess is as good as ours as to the buyer, but this may explain a recent dispute that saw Twitpic founder Noah Everett blocking efforts to back up the site’s pictures before they disappeared. All that matters now, is that your pre-Instagram photos are safe.
We’re happy to announce we’ve been acquired and Twitpic will live on! We will post more details as we can disclose them
– TwitPic (@TwitPic) September 18, 2014
Filed under: Internet
Source: Twitpic (Twitter)
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Twitter thinks it’s a good fit for the Apple Watch and other small screens
Moments after Apple announced its latest devices to the world, Twitter’s President of Global Revenue, Adam Bain, came on stage at CTIA to give his thoughts on the integration of Twitter with that much talked about Apple Watch. Twitter was one of the apps given early access to Apple’s WatchKit, and was prominently featured in today’s keynote in Cupertino. Not only can you read tweets on your wrist, but tweeted images fill up the entirety of the tiny screen.
In conversation with CNBC’s Julia Boorstin, Bain says he finds the whole wearables field very interesting, and says it’s good to be on platforms both large and small. “Promoted videos [for example] look better on a larger screen,” he said. Yet he also thinks the mobile nature of Twitter fits very nicely with a watch. In the physical world, you glance at your wrist multiple times a day, he says, and a lot of people do the same with Twitter. Marrying the two together makes sense and having Twitter available on wearable devices like the Apple Watch would make the service more accessible than ever. Further, he highlighted the personal nature of getting tweets on your watch, stating that connections and emotions could be “more dramatic” than before.
But wait, does that mean we’ll see Twitter ads on the Apple Watch? While Bain was hesitant to answer that question, he didn’t rule it out. “Every new device sets new rules,” he said, saying that it was far too early to talk about anything of the sort just yet.
Bain was also asked about Apple Pay and if that hinders or helps Twitter’s recent mobile commerce efforts. Essentially, no, it wouldn’t hurt them. “Anything that reduces friction of payment on mobile devices is a good thing,” he said, even hinting that an integration with Apple Pay was possible in the future.
Filed under: Wearables, Mobile, Apple
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Apple Watch will unlock your hotel room door, guide you home and more: the app roundup
You’re at the Westin Grand in Berlin having a luxurious vacation. After finishing a delicious bowl of mushroom consommé — chanterelles are in season, after all — you stroll up the lavish center staircase toward your room. Having left wallets in the past, you simply hover your Apple Watch over the door. “Click!” And that’s that. Magnetic plastic cards are so uncivilized.
This is the future Apple imagines for you with its new Watch, and it’s working with Starwood Hotels (the group that owns Westin, among others) to make that future a reality. And that’s just one of several scenarios for Apple Watch that were introduced by Apple VP Kevin Lynch during a third-party app demo on stage in Cupertino, California.
Beyond Starwood, American Airlines is also working on Apple Watch — both are using WatchKit, the software toolkit Apple built for third-party app development. The specific context wasn’t given for its use with American, but one can easily imagine using Apple Watch as your electronic boarding pass.
City Mapper, a popular transit app on mobile, is getting an Apple Watch version, as are home-automation apps from Lutron and Honeywell. BMW is apparently creating a tool for finding your car with the Watch. These are the “internet of things” applications for Apple Watch — home automation, location guidance, personal-object retrieval, etc.
And then, of course, there’s stuff like Twitter and Pinterest. Twitter is relatively fully featured from the looks of the brief demo shown: You can tweet from it, as well as browse your timeline and such. Pinterest acts more like a reminder list, letting you know when you’re physically close to something you’ve pinned.
We’ll assuredly hear more about Apple Watch apps as the trio of watches launch sometime in early 2015. And hey, maybe you’re making a really cool app? Or you know of one that’s in the works? Don’t hesitate to let us know!
Filed under: Peripherals, Wearables, Mobile, Apple
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Twitter’s ‘Buy’ button is finally ready for public testing
It’s no secret that Twitter’s been working on a way for you buy junk straight from tweets, and the company is finally ready to talk about it in public. You see, in the days and weeks to come, you might see “Buy” buttons embedded in tweets from Home Depot, Pharell and Burberry (no, really) as you poke around in Twitter’s mobile app. Tapping that button will take you straight to you a checkout page where you can either punch in your credit card info or call forth the payment data you’ve already stored with Twitter. If everything goes the Twitter probably wants it to, we may soon be looking at a service that’s just as much about commerce as it is about content. That’ll be great for Twitter’s bottom line, but the jury’s still out on how regular folks’ll take it — some of them are already a little miffed about some of the timeline changes may already be coming barreling down the pipeline.
Source: Twitter
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Twitter CFO hints at big changes to how your timeline works
Twitter has already started to look more like Facebook, and it might soon start acting more like it too. You see, company CFO Anthony Noto hinted yesterday that the reverse-chronological firehose of tweets that some users hold so dear may give way to a more curated collection of messages cast into the digital ether. To hear him tell it, the Twitter experience as we know it “isn’t the most relevant” to the people who actually use the service (a notion that some people would definitely disagree with). That tidbit was lodged inside a broader conversation (which the Wall Street Journal captured) about improving Twitter’s search functionality — Noto pointed out the need for “an algorithm that delivers the depth and breadth of the content we have on a specific topic and then eventually as it relates to people.” Those last few words seem crucial — it sounds like he wants the Twitter experience to become one where content is tailored and presented differently depending on how relevant it is to the user. In the end, it might wind up getting Twitter a bunch of new users (which is exactly what all those antsy shareholders want to see), but would it really be worth alienating the service’s hardcore fans?
What do you think about Twitter’s possible shift to a “filtered” feed?
Filed under: Internet
Via: Gigaom
Source: Wall Street Journal
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Twitter helps you keep track of NFL action with curated timelines
While you’re sitting on the sofa watching your NFL team of choice take the field, you’re likely peeking at a mobile device for updates, too. If that’s the case, Twitter is looking to lend a hand this season with curated timelines for action around the league and game-specific options. In the #NFL timeline, you can see what the folks you follow are saying with “relevant tweets” from teams, players, coaches, media and celebrities peppered in to keep you in the know. For the game-focused feed (#SeahawksvsPackers or #SEAvsGB for example), everything is distilled down to what you need to watch that particular matchup. If that sounds a bit familiar it’s because the social network did the same thing during the World Cup, and now it’s looking to keep American football fans well-informed. For now, the timelines are only available on iOS and the web, so Android users will have to sit tight for the time being.
Filed under: Internet, Software, Mobile
Source: Twitter
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AIVAnet 