Yogi Land

Much can be said about the Twitter development community. Since day one, they have been building functionality on top of Twitter’s minimal web features to better the overall Twitter experience.

Initially we saw a frenzy of desktop and browser-based add-ons. Then, just as smartphones were becoming ubiquitous, the demand and interest in mobile Twitter applications became so high that application makers could not release updates fast enough.

As Twitter works to round out their portfolio of official applications — something we witnessed with release of the Blackberry app, acquisition of Tweetie and now the birth of Twitter for Android — developers building applications for Twitter are being eclipsed by the company that started it all. Suddenly third-party seems to be no party at all.

Fee Free or Die

Android Market, Blackberry App World and the App Store: Query each of them and you’ll find a bevy of Twitter apps. Next, judge the quality of the free apps against the quality of the paid apps. The trend has always been that the best Twitter apps come with a price tag. It’s not just mobile either; some of the best Mac-only Twitter apps come with a surcharge. More often than not, they’re better and more reliable than their free counterparts.

Enter Twitter. Things are about to change. The BlackBerry app is free. The iPhone and iPad app will be free. The Android app is free. There’s a trend here, one that’s likely to be repeated when (I believe it’s only a matter of time) Twitter releases a desktop application.

Unofficial apps with fees don’t stand much of chance (power users aside), even those with feature sets that are arguably better than Twitter’s offering. The official stamp of approval from Twitter will be more than enough for the average Twitter user.

Twitter, Features and the Cross-Platform War

In the midst of the Twitter application frenzy, we saw the best application makers rise up and compete head-to-head. TweetDeck versus Seesmic. Tweetie versus Twitterific.

And then a funny thing started happening. Singular platform was no longer good enough. Both TweetDeck and Seesmic created a new layer specific to each of their applications, so that you could login to your TweetDeck or Seesmic account regardless of platform and maintain your Twitter settings. The feature back-and-forth continued, but the new battle became cross-platform.

Not many expected Twitter to become a contender in the cross-platform battle and yet here they are, putting on their boxing gloves and entering the ring as crowds cheer and developers moan.

If Twitter is everywhere, where can developers thrive? Perhaps the answer lies not in where, but how. Features will continue to be an important battle ground for third-parties — look no further than HootSuite or CoTweet for proof. Still, gone are the days when a third-party Twitter app is newsworthy or relevant on its own.

Now is the time to show me the metadata. Better yet, make Twitter a small part of something more significant — something larger. And no, a dual Twitter-Facebook client is not something grander.

Twitter’s Biggest Loser: Seesmic

Seesmic began as a video service. After the acquisition of Twhirl however, Seesmic phased out video in favor of Twitter. Now Seesmic offers web, desktop and mobile apps (Android and BlackBerry with iPhone in the works). All of the apps are robust, some offer Facebook integration and each take an “update once, publish everywhere” mentality thanks to the Ping.fm acquisition.

But what does Seesmic do that Twitter doesn’t? The world is aware of Twitter, but even Twitter is having a hard enough time driving home a value proposition. With that in mind, and Seesmic merely being a Twitter afterthought, does Seesmic even stand a chance? Especially given the hundreds of other Twitter application challengers.

Let’s face it: competition is a good thing. I happen to love Echofon for Mac, so too does my much younger fellow Twitter addict Justin Beiber. Ashton Kutcher tweets with Brizzly. Ellen and Lady Gaga tweet from the web. Shaq is a TweetGenius user.

Great. The plethora of available Twitter apps reward personal preference. There’s no reason why hobby Twitter app developers can’t continue to make a fair enough return with small fees or in-app ads. But Seesmic, as a heavily-funded startup ($12 million in total), has tied its yolk to Twitter and Twitter is trying to break free.

To that effect, Seesmic founder Loic Le Meur argues that, “Twitter official apps will always be about Twitter only. Seesmic apps are about helping you stay in touch with the news in realtime, your friends and build your brand across social networks which is very different, we don’t compete with them, we are on the user side who really doesn’t want to keep switching apps all the time.”

We’re not convinced. Facebook has a phenomenal iPhone app and Twitter’s Tweetie is also quite marvelous. We have a sneaking suspicion that users will opt for brand affinity and simplicity over anything else. Why get a copycat when you can get the real thing?

[Img credits: Pawsforlove.com, Thomas Hawk and Geekr]

Tags: android, blackberry, iphone, seesmic, twitter, twitter apps

Controversial Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez said during a visit to Bolivia that he would like to invite Bolivian President Evo Morales and Cuban political leader Fidel Castro to join him on Twitter, according to Reuters.

Chavez joined Twitter on Tuesday, taking the username @chavezcandaga. His arrival on Twitter was a surprise, in one part because only 30% of his country has Internet access (though that figure is far higher than it was before he took office) and in another because he raised concerns about Twitter just two months ago, calling it a potential “tool of terror.”

Chavez — who describes himself as a Bolivarian soldier, a socialist and an anti-Imperialist — said he would use the site to spread Bolivarian revolution. Castro and Morales are two of his strongest allies in anti-American sentiment.

Chavez has acquired more than 100,000 followers since signing up. “This has been an explosion,” he said. Of Twitter in general, he was quoted by Reuters saying: “The potential this has … it’s not capitalist, it’s not socialist, it depends on how it is used.”

So sit tight and you might soon see the South and Central American political leaders retweeting one another.

Tags: bolivia, cuba, evo morales, fidel castro, Hugo Chavez, politics, social media, social networking, twitter, Venezuela

As we reported earlier today, Hewlett-Packard announced its plans to purchase Palm for $1.2 billion. The acquisition comes a few weeks after Palm put itself up for sale and less than a week after potential suitor HTC walked away from the table.

The deal comes as a bit of a surprise, given that it was Lenovo, not HP, who seemed most likely to acquire the struggling mobile company. However, as HP discussed in a call with investors and analysts earlier this afternoon, the deal may actually end up benefiting both companies.

As Mashable’s Adam Ostrow pointed out earlier today, this is a move that immediately puts HP back in the smartphone business. Although the company sells a smattering of Windows Mobile-based devices, it hasn’t been a significant player in the handheld market for at least five years.

During an investor call this afternoon, HP executives laid out the reasons for the Palm acquisition by pointing out what Palm can bring to HP and, in turn, what HP can bring to Palm. You can view the slide deck that was referenced in the call below:

It’s All About webOS

If there is only one reason for HP to acquire Palm, it is webOS and its potential. When Palm first introduced webOS at CES 2009, even the most jaded tech journalists had to step forward and take notice. The user experience of webOS rivals — and in some cases exceeds — that of the iPhone in terms of fluidity and consistency.

This is what HP wants. HP reiterated the size of the global smartphone market repeatedly during its call and the company feels strongly that this is just the beginning. What HP is able to embrace with Palm is the ability to have a seamlessly integrated user experience that extend across devices. This includes smartphones, tablets or slate PCs, and maybe even netbooks.

While more and more companies look at licensing operating systems like Android, Windows Phone 7, Symbian and Meego, there’s still something very compelling about owning and controlling your own platform. As much as licensed solutions can be customized, companies are still ultimately at the mercy of whoever is licensing the software. That means that bringing technology to new platforms or device types is often up to someone else; it also means that companies risk entrusting their market futures to a party who could ultimately seek to cut them out of the equation.

This is why companies like RIM and Apple have their own platforms and why even companies like HTC are looking at building their own native operating system.

HP is good at working with licensing partners; it’s the number one PC manufacturer in the world for a reason. However, owning webOS allows HP to distinguish itself from the pack. It sounds like the plan is to have the webOS exist across a number of devices and, in turn, to offer consumers a uniquely HP experience across products.

Even better, HP is in a much better position to target both consumers and corporations when selling webOS. HP has plenty of money and marketing power to target the right carriers, the right retail chains and to reach out to the most responsive consumers. Palm lacked the money and the skill to market itself and to attract developers and consumers the right way.

HP Will Not Abandon Other Platforms

Just because HP envisions having tablet or slate devices running webOS doesn’t mean the company intends to abandon Windows 7 on those devices as well. The company expressed its belief in choice and its plans to support Windows Mobile (and presumably Windows Phone 7).

That’s actually a very smart strategy. HP is a large enough company that it can diversify its investments. Businesses or users who are more comfortable with Windows 7 or Windows Mobile products can continue to get HP devices that are made for those platforms, while a consumer-focused platform will also be available across devices.

Just as many handset makers make devices for Windows Mobile, Android and even Symbian, HP will also support other platforms.

Of course, if webOS on HP is successful, the company may have less of a reason to invest in other platforms for reasons other than keeping existing customers satisfied.

Can This Work?

The more we think about the deal, the more sense this makes. HP gets a really strong product and Palm gets a company that actually knows how to make deals and market products.

HP stressed how much it wants to retain the current Palm team, and while that makes sense from a developer perspective, the differences in corporate culture mean that some people are going to choose to leave the company.

But the big question remains: Can webOS with HP at the helm succeed in a marketplace that is quickly become a battle of big players? HP has had tremendous success selling computers and printers and its corporate and consumer channels are very strong.

HP made it clear that it intends to invest in the webOS ecosystem and in its development. That’s vital. On paper, webOS is a dream platform for developers; in practice, however, the company has absolutely failed to gain any traction in the community or to even highlight its own strengths.

For example, when I attended the Future of Web Apps conference in Miami back in March, the two developer evangelists for webOS (people that were hired explicitly to help sell and promote webOS to other developers) spent most of their presentation talking about developing device-agnostic mobile sites or working with the iPhone. webOS was only mentioned in passing. That’s not how you get people excited about wanting to use your product and improve your platform.

In order to succeed, HP must revamp Palm’s developer marketing strategy entirely. This means that development tools and terms need to be more accessible and that the process for getting into the official Palm Catalog needs to be more simple, less expensive and less restrictive than the competition.

Fortunately, HP doesn’t seem to be on a timeline. It’s investing in Palm and webOS for the long term. Hopefully that means the company will be able to nurture webOS and the Palm developers and really give the technology a chance to shine.

What do you think about the Palm-HP deal? Do you think HP has what it takes to make webOS viable? Let us know!

Tags: Hewlett-Packard, HP, palm, webOS

The folks at Babelgum, who scored an Internet hit earlier this month with “Glee Explained in 60 Seconds,” are out with another timely video that’s making the rounds today: “Little Kids Reenact The Hills” (a theme the video site previously explored with “Little Jersey Shore“).

The video – a parody of the MTV “scripted reality” show that has its season premiere tonight – features little kids playing the show’s main cast of characters with references that will be all too familiar to those that watch (admittedly or not) Kristin and company.

From the banal dialogue at LA lunch hotspots to the incestuous relationships between characters to Audrina’s inability to make eye contact, this parody pretty much nails everything you need to know about “The Hills.” It even includes the product placement musical overlays that the show uses as it cuts between scenes. Enjoy:

Tags: Babelgum, mtv, television, the hills, tv

The tale of the engineer who lost the next-generation iPhone that was leaked across the web has taken a dramatic turn, one that could determine not only whether criminal charges are filed, but whether bloggers should be treated as journalists under the law.

Last Monday, gadget blog Gizmodo posted pictures and videos of what is most likely a prototype of Apple’s next-generation iPhone, which was lost at a bar by an Apple engineer. It was soon revealed that Gizmodo’s parent company, Gawker Media, paid at least $5,000 for the device. Controversy soon erupted over whether Gawker violated the law by purchasing the next-gen iPhone, as it could be construed as stolen property.

On Friday, police raided Gizmodo editor Jason Chen’s home and seized his computers as part of an investigation over whether purchasing and leaking the phone was indeed a crime. Now Gawker is claiming that the search warrant was illegal because it confiscated the property of a journalist, a protection granted in section 1070 of the Evidence Code.

The entire saga has brought a slew of legal, moral, and ethical issues that could impact the future of blogging and journalism. It depends on how the legal and criminal issues play out.

The California Shield Law

To frame the rest of this analysis, it’s important to understand the laws that are being referenced over and over again in this investigation.

Section 1524(g) of the California Penal Code and section 1070 of the Evidence Code state that no warrant shall be issued for refusing to disclose a source or unpublished information. This was brought up by Gawker Media in its legal response to the search and seizure conducted on Friday.

Here’s what Section 1070 says:

1070. (a) A publisher, editor, reporter, or other person connected with or employed upon a newspaper, magazine, or other periodical publication, or by a press association or wire service, or any person who has been so connected or employed, cannot be adjudged in contempt by a judicial, legislative, administrative body, or any other body having the power to issue subpoenas, for refusing to disclose, in any proceeding as defined in Section 901, the source of any information procured while so connected or employed for publication in a newspaper, magazine or other periodical publication, or for refusing to disclose any unpublished information obtained or prepared in gathering, receiving or processing of information for communication to the public.

(b) Nor can a radio or television news reporter or other person connected with or employed by a radio or television station, or any person who has been so connected or employed, be so adjudged in contempt for refusing to disclose the source of any information procured while so connected or employed for news or news commentary purposes on radio or television, or for refusing to disclose any unpublished information obtained or prepared in gathering, receiving or processing of information for communication to the public.

(c) As used in this section, “unpublished information” includes information not disseminated to the public by the person from whom disclosure is sought, whether or not related information has been disseminated and includes, but is not limited to, all notes, outtakes, photographs, tapes or other data of whatever sort not itself disseminated to the public through a medium of communication, whether or not published information based upon or related to such material has been disseminated.

Gawker has also pointed out that there is precedence that states that online journalists qualify under Section 1070.

On the surface, Gawker seems to have a case. But given the nuances of law, it may not hold water.

Does Gawker’s Defense Apply, Though?

Gawker would like to frame the debate in the context of the shield law. However, as others have pointed out, it does not protect evidence related to the commission of a crime.

This is where the legal issues get sticky. Was the raid conducted by California’s REACT Task Force — the Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team — illegal because it violated the shield law? Or was it legal because the shield law doesn’t protect this type of crime?

It’s not even clear whether California is targeting Gizmodo or the person who sold the gadget blog the prototype iPhone. Even the police aren’t sure if the shield law applies in this case.

Oh, and there’s another potential issue: Apple sits on the task force that raided Jason Chen’s home.

Nobody Actually Knows How This Will Play Out

Let’s be clear: I’m not a lawyer, so I can’t and won’t give a prediction as to which way the legal issues will go. However, I will talk about the potential outcomes of this case.

It’s too early to say whether this will be a case that “defines” whether bloggers and online publications are indeed journalists and journalistic institutions. This case may only apply to a unique situation in which a felony was committed. It’s also possible that this case could define whether technology bloggers and online journalists should be afforded the same rights as traditional newspaper and print media journalists.

Anyone who gives you a prediction on how they think the Apple-Gizmodo saga will play out and doesn’t have expertise in law is probably talking out of his or her ass. This is an issue that will be settled by lawyers and investigators, not journalists or technology experts, with the future of media potentially in the balance. We’re not sure what to think of that.

Tags: apple, blogger, crime, gizmodo, investigation, iphone, iphone 4g, Journalist, police

Last week, Facebook added a suite of new features that let websites like Pandora and Docs.com access some of your personal information and use it to instantly personalize your experience. Pandora, for example, will recommend streaming music stations built around artist’s you’ve Liked on Facebook in the past.

Most of the time this information is harmless and you shouldn’t worry too much about it being used for nefarious purposes, but if you want to err on the side of caution, you can actually opt out of the program for privacy reasons — the option is called “Instant Personalization” and it’s sitting deep inside of Facebook’s privacy settings pages.

Opting Out at Specific Sites

You can either turn Instant Personalization off entirely at Facebook, or you can opt out at individual websites on a case-by-case basis. The latter is easy; the first time you arrive a website that uses Instant Personalization, a bar will appear at the top of the page letting you know that’s what’s happening and giving you the option to either accept that or to tell it “no thanks.”

Blocking Instant Personalization For All Sites

The feature is on by default when you first arrive at a site, though, and if you’re sure you never want to use it anywhere, you can dig deep from your Facebook home page to make sure no other website can ever access your Facebook information for Instant Personalization purposes. To do that, start by clicking on “Account” in the upper-right corner of the Facebook homepage. Select “Privacy Settings” from the list that drops down below.

You’ll be presented with a list of five privacy settings pages. You can do a lot with these pages — customize who can see your profile info and news feed updates, for example — but the option we’re looking for now is right in the middle: “Applications and Websites.” Give that a click.

There it is at the bottom of this list: “Instant Personalization.” Consider clicking “Learn More” by the top item, too, though, as it explains exactly how your other privacy settings affect what information is shared with other applications and websites. Anyway, click “Edit Setting” by “Instant Personalization” at the bottom.

This last stop in the rabbit hole tells you what Instant Personalization does, and provides a lone check box at the bottom to enable or disable it. It’s on by default. Click the check box to turn it off.

There you go. It’s done! Facebook won’t share your personal information with websites for Instant Personalization again until you re-enable this feature. You can do that by going back and re-checking the box at any time, so if you decide you want the new features after all, this isn’t irreversible.

Preventing Friends From Sharing Your Info

You should be aware that friends can still sometimes share your information from their own profiles with websites even though this is turned off. This is easy to change. Just jump back one level to “Applications and Websites” and click “Edit Settings” by the second option — “What your friends can share about you” — instead of “Instant Personalization.

Here you can check and un-check boxes to specify what information your friends’ connections can share with other applications and websites. If you un-check everything here, none of your information will be shared. It’s nice to be able to choose exactly what you are and aren’t comfortable with, though.

Tags: docs.com, facebook, how to, instant personalization, Open Graph, pandora, privacy, social media, social networking, social plugins, yelp

In 9 weeks, 3 days and some change, Twitter will turn off basic authentication for apps, making OAuth the only way to connect to Twitter applications. The Twitter API team has even launched a countdown to what it calls “OAuthcalypse.”

Currently, there are two ways to connect to apps: basic authentication, where you provide your username and password to a third party, and OAuth, which allows you to connect to apps without giving away your account information. As part of a move to make Twitter more secure and stable, basic authentication will be removed on June 30th. Apps will no longer be allowed to ask for your username and password.

Twitter revealed the news and the countdown clock in an announcement on the Twitter API Google group:

“you’re going to be hearing a lot from me over the next 9 weeks. our plan is to turn off basic authorization on the API by june 30, 2010 — developers will have to switch over to OAuth by that time. between now and then, there will be a *lot* of information coming along with tips on how to use OAuth Echo, xAuth, etc. we really want to make this transition as easy as we can for everybody.”

It’s important to note that there is an exception to the new policy: the streaming API, which helps apps gain near-realtime access to certain sets of Twitter data, will still support basic authentication.

The change in policy and the launch of the OAuthcalypse countdown clock are good moves by the rapidly-growing company: it makes the entire Twitter ecosystem more secure while giving developers plenty of time and notice to switch over their apps to OAuth.

Do you think this is a smart move by Twitter? Be sure to let us know!

Tags: api, Countdown, developers, twitter

NASA was been wowing us with beautiful imagery from Mars and of our own planet’s volcanic activity, and now the space agency has released some spectacular photos and videos of our sun; we’ve included a few below.

The recently launched Solar Dynamics Observatory has been taking some unique portraits of our solar companion using four telescopes looking at the sun in different wavelengths. The results are unusual and beautiful, fulfilling the mission’s goal of exploring “solar activity in unprecedented detail.”

The SDO will be sending back 1.5 terabytes of data per day, and NASA is releasing much of the footage on their YouTube channel. You can also follow the mission on Twitter.

Sun Videos

Sun Pics

[all img credit: NASA/SDO/AIA]

[via CNet]

Tags: NASA, Photos, space, sun, video

The YouTube Store has a much more impressive library than it did during its January trial period, including a few classics like Reservoir Dogs and recent critical hit Precious. The Cove — one of the original five — is currently the most popular film in the library.

If you’re interested in trying out the service, rentals range from $0.99 to $3.99, and the rental periods vary. Some pages say 24 hours, while others say 72. When the service initially launched, it only had five Sundance films, which only drew in $10,709 during the 10-day run. The New York Times deduced that figure by counting the number of views on each of the five films, but you can’t do that now — view counts are hidden.

Niche content like Bollywood movies and Japanese animation TV shows still place prominently in the lists of popular content — evidence that while the site does have some mainstream options now, they still don’t match what Amazon, iTunes and Netflix offer. We find it curious that while iTunes and Amazon sell TV episodes for $0.99, the episodes on YouTube are just for rent.

NewTeeVee contacted the site and asked about the new content, which went up with little fanfare. A spokesperson told them: “When we announced YouTube Rentals in January we said we would be creating a destination after more partners joined the program. To date, we have nearly 500 partners that have joined our Rental program.”

Five hundred partners looks like a good number, but the YouTube Store still feels like a trial run because the content library isn’t competitive. Try it out and let us know what you think.

[via ReadWriteWeb]

Tags: Film, Google, Movies, News, rentals, television, tv, youtube, youtube store

If you had any doubts that 2010 is the year of 3D, this may put them to rest. The U.S. Treasury unveiled the new $100 bill today, which incorporates a “3D Security Ribbon” to combat piracy.

The security strip’s series of digits and bell images jump to 3D life when you tilt the bill, making it far faster to check whether or not the note is real.

The 3D ribbon is only one of a bevy of new state-of-the-art security features designed to stay ahead of counterfeiters, who are responsible for making the Ben Franklin-graced bill the most frequently faked paper currency. His visage stays on the new note, but the rest of the $100 gets a serious makeover, including a portrait watermark, second security thread, and a Liberty Bell image that turns from copper to green color when tilted.

As if that weren’t enough, the U.S. Treasury went all out and made a blockbuster release video for the new $100 bill. Check it out below and let us know what you think of 3D pervading even our very wallets.

Tags: $100 bill, 3D, counterfeit, currency, money, security