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Twitter steps into interactive ads, lets users sign up for offers directly from their timeline

Matt Brian — Wed, 22 May 2013 14:07:00 -0400

Twitter's new Lead Generation Card gives users a way to show whether they are interested in an offer or service advertised by a brand or company they follow. The new Card lets companies and brands provide a customized button attached to select tweets. If a user is interested in, for example, entering a promotion, they just need to click the button, which will send their name, username, and email address directly to the company. Twitter completes the whole process on the timeline. Continue reading . . .

Saving Google Maps destinations for easy navigation

PC World — Wed, 22 May 2013 14:05:00 -0400

Saving a destination in Google Maps makes it easier to navigate to and also lessens the chance for error when entering or trying to remember an address. To see a step-by-step guide of this Tech Tip, watch a video on YouTube. Destinations can be starred from a mobile device running Google Maps or from the Web. After searching for an address or location, click on the pin for the destination and switch on the star icon. Starred destinations will be synched across all Google accounts and devices. Starred destinations are easier to find and will type ahead on both mobile and desktop versions of . . .

Instacart expands its grocery delivery service to Oakland and Berkeley at last

Alex Wilhelm — Wed, 22 May 2013 14:00:00 -0400

Today the popular on-demand grocery delivery service Instacart announced that it is bringing its service to two new cities: Oakland and Berkely. The two cities join its other active locations, all of which fall inside of the Bay Area. Instacart appears to be succeeding where other firms have failed; it appears to have made grocery delivery economically viable. The service earns its keep by charging a fee for delivery – it costs more to get your goods sooner, and you tip delivery people on top of that – and by charging small markup on items sold. The combination, of fees, a cut, and tips . . .

Toshiba's AT10LE-A tablet lets the FCC peek at its Tegra 4 internals

Daniel Cooper — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:59:00 -0400

The FCC's underground bunker, situated beneath Portals II, 445 12th Street SW, has recently been visited by a rising star of the tablet world. Toshiba's AT10LE-a, the company's Tegra 4-powered slate that's reportedly running Android 4.2.1 has been dissected by those fine folks at the FCC. The unit is carrying WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0 and NFC radios, and now that they've been passed safe for human consumption, we can only assume that an official announcement won't be too far behind. Filed under: Tablets Comments Via: Mobileaks (Translated) Source: FCC

Galaxy S4 comes to Cricket for only $54.99, but carries an unknown monthly device fee

Nathan Ingraham — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:55:00 -0400

Now that Samsung's Galaxy S4 has rolled out to the major carriers in the US, smaller options like Cricket are getting involved. The prepaid carrier just announced that it'll start carrying the Galaxy S4, and it'll come in at an exceptionally low up-front cost of $54.99 - nearly $100 less than what T-Mobile is asking for the Galaxy S4. This only applies to "qualified customers," and there will also be an associated monthly device charge to go along with it - much like T-Mobile's new payment plan structure. Unfortunately, Cricket hasn't revealed exactly how much those monthly payments will . . .

Google Glass invitations coming to #ifihadglass winners in a few weeks, no new applications for now

Harrison Weber — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:55:00 -0400

Following the first wave of its "Explorer Program," Google has shared that winning #ifihadglass applicants will start receiving invitations to try Glass "over the next few weeks." Sadly, if you are not among the lucky few selected by Google, it doesn't look like you'll get your hands on Glass any time soon - the company has shared that it isn't " taking any more applications right now." For successful #ifihadglass applicants, this announcement should be satisfying to read; Google had previously been unclear as to when the winners would receive their Glass. Last we heard, . . .

Microsoft: Barclays Ups Target to $35; Support, But Rally's Over

Tiernan Ray — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:54:00 -0400

Following Microsoft‘s (MSFT) unveiling yesterday of its long-awaited update to the Xbox game console, the "Xbox One," and a 30% run-up in the stock this year, Barclays Capital's Raimo Lenschow today reiterates an Equal Weight rating on the stock, warning investors to "expect the end of the rally," although he also raised his price target [...]

Skyhigh Networks gets $20M to lift IT out of the shadows

Jordan Novet — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:53:00 -0400

The use of shadow IT - storing and sharing files on non-sanctioned clouds from Box, Dropbox and others, partly propelled by the bring-your-own-device trend - is not news, because it's been going on for years despite the compliance and security problems it can pose. But IT leaders are fighting back, and new investment in security startup Skyhigh Networks suggests that they're hungry for tools that reveal the use of cloud services and quantify the potential for data breaches and other risks. The company announced a $20 million Series B venture funding on Wednesday, bringing the total . . .

Penguin to Settle in E-Book Dispute

Lilly Vitorovich — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:53:00 -0400

Pearson PLC's book publishing business, Penguin Group, has agreed to pay $75 million to settle a dispute in the U.S. over the way it priced electronic books, drawing to a close an investigation into the publishing industry's e-book pricing tactics. In a brief statement Wednesday, Pearson said that Penguin has reached a "comprehensive agreement with the U.S. State Attorneys General and private class plaintiffs to pay $75 million in consumer damages plus costs and fees to resolve all antitrust claims relating to e-book pricing." Read the rest of this post on the original site »

Dropbox Adopts Single Sign-On Technology

InformationWeek — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:48:00 -0400

Dropbox says any off-the-shelf or homegrown identity management system that's compatible with the Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) standard can be configured to automatically sign users into its service.

Made For The World. Built And Designed In China.

Kim-Mai Cutler — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:48:00 -0400

For years, the iPhone has carried a small etching on the back that says ‘Designed by Apple in California. Assembled in China.' It's fueled the stereotype that China is the world's factory, but hasn't had a flexible enough education system to produce R&D talent that can also design world-class products for a global audience. But that's a stereotype that isn't exactly true anymore. A small group of companies - both small, bootstrapped app startups and multi-billion dollar giants like Tencent - are showing that they can design apps or higher-end hardware with international . . .

Merger of ancient galaxies could explain the origin of today's giants

Matthew Francis — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:45:00 -0400

The elliptical galaxy NGC 4150. Observation of a merger between two galaxies early in the life of the Universe could explain the origin of large elliptical galaxies. NASA, ESA, R.M. Crockett (University of Oxford, U.K.), S. Kaviraj (Imperial College London and University of Oxford, U.K.), J. Silk (University of Oxford), M. Mutchler (Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore), R. O'Connell (University of Virginia, Charlottesville), and the WFC3 Scientific Oversight Committee The largest galaxies in the Universe aren't beautiful spirals like our Milky Way; they are enormous egg-shaped . . .

Customer tweets complaint about bank, competing bank sends personalised video ball(ad) to woo customer

Zee — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:43:00 -0400

Mel Kirk, Managing Director of UK based Tribal Media, posted a tweet complaining about her bank, HSBC. Nothing out of the norm so far. However, within 24 hours, she'd received a video from a competing bank, Barclays, effectively singing for her business but also promoting Bespoke Offers, its new personalised UK shopping service. Watch: It was Old Spice that captured everyone's attention back in 2010 with a similar idea, but credit to Barclays for working harder than other banks for business, and being creative with it at that. Worth noting that Mel is somewhat of a "social media . . .

Xbox One: Microsoft's boldest attempt to unify its services is a game console

Devindra Hardawar — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:42:00 -0400

If you had asked me last week to pick a single device that embodied everything Microsoft was trying to accomplish in 2013 and beyond, I'd instantly point to its Surface tablets. After yesterday's Xbox One reveal, though, the answer is no longer as clear-cut. Building on its experience with the original Xbox and Xbox 360 (and to a certain extent, its work on the Windows CE operating system for the Sega Dreamcast), Microsoft has fashioned a powerful gaming system in the Xbox One that will also serve as a media hub for the entire family. The Xbox One can integrate with your TV service, . . .

Xbox One already has 11 confirmed games

Matthew Humphries — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:40:00 -0400

One of the big complaints about the Xbox One unveiling yesterday was the lack of games announcements. That's true, the focus was almost completely on games and services, and in particular TV, but . . .

Tool Kit: How to Detect Swindles and Spam Lurking in Your Search Results

By AZADEH ENSHA — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:38:00 -0400

A little caution when using a search engine can help you steer clear of fraudulent merchandise and keep out of the clutches of spammers.

Foursquare rolls out 'super-specific' filters to help you search out the perfect destination

Chris Welch — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:36:00 -0400

Foursquare is getting more ambitious with the data it has on you and your friends: the company today debuted "super-specific search" for its iOS and Android mobile apps. The new feature lets users make search queries at a level of granularity that Foursquare says competitors simply can't match. It accomplishes this through a range of filters, some of which are common (price, open now, etc.), with others that leverage Foursquare's treasure trove of check-ins and user data. You can filter potential destinations by whether or not your friends have been there before, for example. The system is . . .

MariaDB vs. MySQL: A Performance Comparison

Unknown Lamer — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:35:00 -0400

Nerval's Lobster writes "MariaDB is a fork of the MySQL source code, split off in the wake of concerns over what Oracle would do with MySQL licensing. In addition to its role as a 'drop-in replacement' for MySQL, MariaDB also includes some new features that (some claim) make it better than MySQL. Jeff Cogswell compares MySQL and MariaDB and suggests (in his opinion) that there's 'more than enough reason to ditch MySQL and switch over to MariaDB and stay there.' Why? While he breaks down MariaDB's new features and thinks many of them aren't that fantastic, and while MariaDB's performance isn't . . .

E Ink's three-pigment Spectra displays update pricing in real time, are destined for supermarket shelves (hands-on)

Sarah Silbert — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:34:00 -0400

In addition to demoing its Digital Paper collaboration with Sony here at SID, E Ink is showing off some new tech that's consumer-oriented in a very different way. Its solution for ESLs -- electronic shelf labels, obviously -- enables real-time pricing readouts for retailers such as supermarkets. E Ink's Spectra electronic paper display (EPD) is purportedly the world's first to offer three pigments: black, white and, for the demo's purposes, red. That third color can be swapped out for blue or green, but the point is to make the price placards readable -- both for customers and the businesses . . .

Photo App Service Piictu To Join Betaworks Company Kandu, Will Shut Down On May 31st

Drew Olanoff — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:34:00 -0400

Another photo sharing app bites the dust? Or is something with promise getting another chance? Either way you look at it, betaworks is adding more technology and team members to its arsenal, as photo sharing app Piictu has announced that the team will "join forces" with a betaworks company that has yet to launch. Piictu had raised $1.73M in seed funding, yet never really took off. The app allowed you to share photos with captions, but Piictu wanted to focus on letting photos start conversations, rather than sit in a stream waiting for likes. Here's what the Piictu team shared today, . . .

Samsung Takes a Stake in Component Customer (And Competitor) Pantech

John Paczkowski — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:32:00 -0400

A second-tier player in the handset industry, South Korea's Pantech has been having a tough time of it competing with the likes of Samsung and LG. The company, which was delisted back in 2007 because of persistent capital erosion, posted a massive annual net loss of 188 billion won last year. And earlier this year it negotiated a deal with Qualcomm to convert its debt to the semiconductor company into enough equity to raise Qualcomm's stake in Pantech to 13.49 percent from 11.46 percent. So Pantech's announcement today that it had sold off another 10 percent of itself is hardly . . .

Speaking in Tech: Portland hipsters gagging for yesterday's web tool

The Register — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:32:00 -0400

Podcast Someone came in two years ago and set up our Drupal instance... what NOW?

Microsoft teases Internet Explorer 11 WebGL support on Vine

Tom Warren — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:31:00 -0400

Recently leaked copies of Windows 8.1, which includes Internet Explorer 11, have suggested that Microsoft will support WebGL shortly, a specification that lets webpages render 3D graphics. The software giant is dropping a big hint towards that support today with a teaser on Vine. After a set of entertaining Vine ads for IE recently, the latest asks "what's next? WebGL?" The hints mean that Microsoft has likely engineered WebGL to fit its security needs. Previously, the software maker has outlined security concerns with the standard, noting in 2011 that its current form was non-endorsable "from . . .

Apple Details Five Patents Violated by Samsung Galaxy S4 and Google Now

Juli Clover — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:29:00 -0400

Last week Apple told the U.S. District Court in California that it planned to add the Samsung Galaxy S4 to its patent lawsuit already underway against Samsung. As promised, Apple today filed a motion (via Foss Patents) that details five different patents that the S4 allegedly infringes on. The filing includes two Siri-related patents violated by Google Now, Google's robust voice activated search assistant. Patents '604 and '959 cover a "universal interface for retrieval of information in a computer system." The other three patents in the filing cover a "graphical user interface using . . .

Nvidia, Citrix crank up virtual desktop delivery

PC World — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:25:00 -0400

Improvements to Nvidia's virtualization technology are aimed at turning graphics processors into a more important resource in data centers and could speed deployment of virtual desktops and delivery of data over the cloud. The graphics company Tuesday announced improvements to its VGX technology, which virtualizes the GPU and makes it a resource that can be shared with CPUs and memory in servers. Hardware and software improvements to VGX will allow a graphics board to deliver multiple virtual desktops. Previously, VGX could deliver only one virtual machine per graphics board. Virtualization . . .