Twitter disappoints beta-testers with a Facebook inspired design

Twitter is always looking for ways to capture new users since the audience is in decline. To do so, they clearly intended to inspire from Facebook's design, which is, sadly, far from everyone's taste .

 The new design was made ​​for a tiny fraction of users and unfortunately for twitter, for Matt Petronzio, a Mashable journalist, who was more than happy to relay the news.  This new design looks very much like Facebook with profile picture, cover picture, central column and tabs. Obviously these items are important to Twitter items, but must admit it feels particularly "Facebooky".

Google, Facebook and Twitter violate Kim Dotcom's patent

Kim DotCom announced that Twitter, Facebook, Google and other sites violate one of its patents by using a two-stage identification system. The announcement comes just days after Twitter has implemented this system on its website.

Recently, it had become possible to add another level of security to your Twitter account. In addition to the traditional couple( username / password), the site can use the mobile phone of the user, by sending an SMS to confirm that he is the right person. If this system is new on Twitter, other sites such as Google and Facebook, are already adopting it  for some time. But the inventor, Kim Dotcom, says that the two-stage identification is subject to a patent owned it since 1997.

He has published a link to the patent in question, registered under his name, which describes the use of a "transaction authorization number" that must transmit the user to another device from which it tries to connect. Therefor the patent seems to belong to him, and it is hard to ignore the irony with Kim DotCom being considered a hacker and an enemy of the United States while the people behind Twitter, Google and Facebook are considered the Superheros of this century.

I innovated two-factor-authentication (MonKey), connected cars (MegaCar), automated stock trading (Trendax) & cloud storage (Megaupload).
— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) May 23, 2013

Google, Facebook, Twitter, Citibank, etc. offer Two-Step-Authentication.Massive IP infringement by U.S. companies. My innovation. My patent
— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) May 22, 2013

I never sued them. I believe in sharing knowledge & ideas for the good of society. But I might sue them now cause of what the U.S. did to me
— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) May 22, 2013

Google, Facebook, Twitter, I ask you for help. We are all in the same DMCA boat. Use my patent for free. But please help funding my defense.
— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) May 22, 2013

The next Xbox has already been snubbed by Sony!

It hasn't been unveiled yet and already largely snubbed by Sony: this is the fate of the next Xbox that, according to rumors, it's said to have an AMD Jaguar-based 1.6GHz CPU, and at a retail price of 299$. The new Xbox might be called "Xbox infinity" and not Xbox 720. It will be officially presented by Microsoft tonight at 19h and available for customers around Christmas 2013.

Sony has made its move yesterday by distributing a teaser focusing on the design of the PlayStation 4. As Microsoft prepares to unveil its new Xbox, and some of the games that make up the line-up, Sony cares, Sony and troll.

Besides its seeder disorder video, the manufacturer has not failed to laugh at Microsoft on Twitter, posting the following tweet:

Also - If you haven't seen our #PS4 teaser video, where have you been?! As it's a slow news day... here it is: bit.ly/12oYGG7
— PlayStation Europe (@PlayStationEU) May 21, 2013

Twitter has got your back!

Privacy in the digital age means a lot of things to a lot of people. From social networks to government surveillance, people always seem to be concerned.
But let's not kid ourselves. Complaining about privacy has become nothing but a way to express the "geek side" or an additional item to the black geek glasses to complete the "geeky look" . For all the complaining, no one is going to do much about it. Hence the sense of what is private shrinks.

However, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has posted its annual report (Who has your back?) on which Internet vendors do the most to help protect their users' private information.

The most privacy-oriented companies should comply with these policies:

1. Requiring a Warrant for Content
2. Telling Users About Government Data Requests
3. Publishing Transparency Reports
4. Publishing Law Enforcement Guidelines
5. Fighting for Users’ Privacy in Court
6. Fighting for Users’ Privacy in Congress

2013 Results

Although these results might not comply with your expectations, you must keep in mind that the report is about the government access to user's data.

"We’re happy to report that several of the companies included in last year’s report have significantly improved their practices and policies concerning government access to user data"
  
"Readers of this year’s annual privacy and transparency report should be heartened, as we are,by the improvements major online service providers made over the last year."

In the end,  EFF thinks that things are getting better among these vendors that deal with so much user data, and it seems that they're really happy with Twitter's improvement:

"This year two companies received all six possible stars: Sonic.net and Twitter. We are extremely pleased to recognize the outstanding commitment each of these companies has made to public transparency around government access to user data."

and a bit disappointed with Google's latest statement:

"We notify users about legal demands when appropriate, unless prohibited by law or court order."

To read the full EFF annual report: https://www.eff.org/sites/default/files/filenode/who-has-your-back-2013-report.pdf

Software that tracks people on social media created by defence firm

I just read an article published in The Guardian on Sunday 10 February 2013, by Ryan Gallagher about a new video revealing a new data mining software created by a defence firm that could be transformed into a Google for spies.

Here's some highlights:

A video obtained by the Guardian reveals how an "extreme-scale analytics" system created by Raytheon, the world's fifth largest defence contractor, can gather vast amounts of information about people from websites including Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare.

Raytheon says it has not sold the software – named Riot, or Rapid Information Overlay Technology – to any clients.

The power of Riot to harness popular websites for surveillance offers a rare insight into controversial techniques that have attracted interest from intelligence and national security agencies, at the same time prompting civil liberties and online privacy concerns.

The sophisticated technology demonstrates how the same social networks that helped propel the Arab Spring revolutions can be transformed into a "Google for spies" and tapped as a means of monitoring and control.

Read the full article here.

Twitter unveils new interactions within your tweets

An event took place yesterday in the Twitter HQ in San Francisco, where the press was simply not invited. Twitter seeking to hold a "head to head" with developers had unveiled their new interactions with which they were able to stay up to the game.  

The first announcement will interest mobile application developers. In fact, you may have heard of Twitter Cards (or extended tweets), which is the feature that will show an image, a photo, a video or an article summary directly from the Twitter.com interface. Its use could become widespread in the near future with names like Flickr, Path, Foursquare and Etsy who had the privilege to incorporate a little early. Simply put, if a person shares a Flickr photo on Twitter, you will be able to view the photo directly following the updates on your mobile application.  
If you have Flickr app on your phone, a link at the bottom offers you to see the photo in the application, and if you don't, you will be prompted to go and download it.  
Twitter could so quickly become a new download source for application developers. 

New Cards Twitter adds some new options for cards with the full list here:
Summary Card: information for sites that wish to put the title of an article, the lead-in, a small image and logo of the media.Photo Card: to include one photograph in a tweet.
Card Gallery:  to include up to 4 photos in one tweetApp Card: to transform iTunes links and Google Play in descriptive card applicationCard Player: to include a video in a tweetProduct Card: To add a product to an online e-commerce site(as with the example Etsy)
The Twitter Cards are good news for Twitter, which will make it more complete flow and therefore more interesting AND good news for developers who are going to benefit from it to increase their traffic, download applications, or sell products.

Use Twitter as a Gmail notifier and get SMS for new mail

Before starting I have to state that this project is created by the genius Mr.Amit Agarwal, I'm just creating this tutorial to demonstrate and explain the process.

So, as Mr. Argawal mentions this idea will let  can turn your Twitter Timeline into a Gmail Notifier and get notified (via tweets) as soon as new email messages arrive in your mailbox.And since you can link Twitter to your phone number, you can even get SMS text alerts for new Gmail messages.

This three steps process should take you 5 minutes and it is really easy to follow. Let's start: 

1- Creating a new Twitter app Gmail:

First I'm going to create a brand new twitter account and I'm gonna call it h20platform. Then, we'll have to go to the twitter settings and check the option “Protect My Tweets” and uncheck the option “Let others find me by my email address.” 

Now to create the application, go to https://dev.twitter.com/apps/new, sign in with your new twitter account and fill the fields as the picture below shows: