Welcome to another edition of Tech Tuesday! Here is your recap of all the tech stories of the last week that could be affecting you now, or tomorrow, or soon. Yes, we try to keep you as informed as we can!
Amazon is Doing What?
Are you just sick and tired of the constant running back and forth to the grocery store? Well, Amazon hopes you are!
Called “AmazonTote”, which is currently only available for internal testing in the Seattle area, Amazon is about to roll out it’s own grocery delivery service. As of now, the service offers fresh produce, meats, dry goods, pet supplies, beauty products, and Amazon products delivered weekly to your home in re-usable tote bags, all shipping free of charge.
Yes, the convenience is a bit pricey, like $2.50 for one piece of fruit, but who knows, for many, the time and energy saved may be worth it.
Amazon has been known to put pressure on other companies, such as Barnes and Noble, so what will this do to our local markets and big grocery stores? Well, maybe we will see more home delivery available from our stores, including Walmart and Target. Maybe prices will lower. All in all, it seems like a win-win for us consumers.
Nobody Likes Me, Everybody Hates Me, Think I’ll Eat Some…
Twitter Worms! Yep, apparantely there is another Twitter Worm on the loose! Actually, this is the same worm that plagued Twitter Users early last month, but has been unleashed yet again. Basically, if you click on a shortened URL “Goo.Gl” (similar to Google) you will be taken to a malicious site that will download a virus (malware) and then ask you for money to remove it. Aren’t they original?
Twitter recommends if you see the goo.Gl link to change your password immediately, although I can’t imagine just seeing the link in your feed would be cause for alarm. It’s if you click on it, or you see that YOU have been sending out messages. If either of those are the case, then yes, you have some cleaning up to do.
Sean Parker Calls ‘The Social Network’ a work of “Fiction”
Sean Parker apparently did not think the way he was portrayed in the movie, by actor Justin Timberlake, accurate.
He said that “the part of the movie that frustrated me is actually the scene at the end where the character basically writes a check to Eduardo, and throws it in his face and has security escort him out of the building. And I mean, that’s just rude. This guy in the movie is a morally reprehensible human being.”
He also states that there are no “Victoria Secret” models in Silicon Valley, calling that another inaccuracy.
Well, I’m not too sure I believe him… I think he may be trying to save his image a bit here. I mean come on, THE guy who developed Napster, young kid from Los Angeles, throwing money around, can’t get a hot girl? I think he’s pushing it.
Here is the video: (To hear him speak about the movie, you have to move up to about the 5:00 minute mark.)
Wanna Port Your Number to Google Voice?
Another hit to phone industry, Google Voice now has number portability. For a mere $20 (with no phone fees thereafter) you can port your number over to Google.
For current Google Voice users, this means you’ll no longer have to remember and use two separate numbers. It will still include all of GV features, such as visual voicemail, conference calling, call screening and more.
Last week, number porting was announced as “coming soon” and it was giving only a limited number away in beta. This week, it is available to all current Google Voice users. Will you port over? Maybe this will help curb the rising costs in the phone industry.
The process of porting is kind of a pain in the behind, which takes 3 days and you may miss a few texts or messages, but the money saved could be worth it. Port your home number that you rarely use anymore, and have it ring to your cell, if you want that is.
I have included a quick video from Google on how the porting process will work. Check it out!
‘Daily Candy for Indie Music’
That is what new start-up MySpoonful is aiming for. They will send you a newsletter, 3 times a week, with a highlighted new artist or band, a bio, and a free MP3 to download.
Sounds like a great way to stay up on new and upcoming artists! Definitely a place to check out.
Facebook to Roll Out Yet MORE Ads
Now, you too can purchase that ‘what.ever.it.is’ your friend was interested in! Called “Sponsored Stories” Facebook will turn your friends actions on the site into promoted content streaming down the right side of your News Feed.
Facebook is really turning into something it wasn’t supposed to be, and eventually, users will get fed up. Today doesn’t appear to be that day however. Privacy concerns, Ads… What’s next?
Facebook Makes Credits Mandatory for all Games
That’s what’s next. Facebook ‘virtual currency’, Facebook Credits, will become the official coinage beginning July 1, 2011. All Social game developers, starting on that day, will be required to process all payments through Facebook Credits. Basically, in order to purchase anything in any of the games you play, you will now have to go through Facebook.
Mind you, many of the games have already made the switch. In fact, 22 of the top 25 games played on Facebook already have converted.
Financially, this is a great decision for FB. The company already takes a 30% cut from all revenue. Basically, if you wanted to buy that special item in Farmville for $2.00, Facebook gets $.60 of your money. Credits are already on sale at the big box stores, like Target, Walmart and Best Buy, who I’m sure also gets a cut.
So you ask, what happened to the old days of free games? What happened to old days of a free social network? Oh that’s right… it’s still here, at YakkityYaks! *evil grin*
DO NOT TRACK ME!
Google and Mozilla (Chrome and Firefox) have announced that they will add the ability to opt out of having users activities tracked online, partially in response to the “Do Not Track” lists proposed by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.
Both companies plan to tackle this feat in two very different ways.
With Firefox, it was announced that it will be added in future versions of the browser. There will be an icon or “tool” to turn on the feature located in the header of webpage. They believe this is the better way to do this, because it is a cleaner and more universal approach, rather than cookies or blacklists.
Chrome on the other hand has already released a new extension called “Keep My Opt-Outs.” The extension describes itself as a way to “permanently opt your browser out of online ad personalization via cookies. The extension works with ads from companies that have signed up with AboutAds, and with Google served ads.
The Internet is Running Out of Space!
Oh no! What will we do! Run to the market (or AmazonTote) and stock up on those canned goods! Ok… not really. Basically on February 2nd, around 4am or so, the internet will run out of it’s current version of IP addresses, at least that is the prediction by one internet provider, basing it on a rate of about 1 million addresses every 4 hours.
Fortunately for us, there were some awesome geeks out there that saw this coming. They invented what is called IPv6 which is basically a system that uses letters and numbers. This new system will be able to handle 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456 addresses. Got that number?
The doomsday campaign, launched by Hurricane Electric (and even has Twitter and Facebook accounts the count down to what they call the “IPcalypse” encourage other ISPs to transition into the new system.
Twitter Trends!
Last but certainly not least, for our Twitter Fans, a recap of the top Twitter trends in the last week. What were the most tweeted about this last week?
1. Golden Globe Awards. Top mentions, Johnny Depp and Jim Parsons. Ricky Gervais, who received a lot of press, really wasn’t tweeted about too much.
2. Martin Luther King Jr. – It was his birthday last week after all.
3. NFL – Well duh. Top mentions were Bart Scott and Joe Buck.
4. Justin Bieber. Apparently, fans of the Jonas Brothers renamed him to Justina Bieber, and fans of his retaliated by calling the Jonas Brothers the Jonas Sisters. Wow… such drama online!
5. Soccer/Football. Top mentions were Darren Brent, Jamie Carragher and Eric Cantona.
6. LMAOTwitpics. Tons of retweets scattered the Twitter landscape. Top honors went to photos of a Justin Bieber tattoo and a shirtless Lil’ Wayne.
7. Astrology. Yep, that 13th zodiac sign really had Twitter users up in arms.
8. Jonas Brothers. See number 4.
9. Justin Bieber Hoax. Yep, another death hoax. Tweeted, retweeted, and retweeted some more. Sigh.
10. Batman: Dark Night Rises. With the addition of Anne Hathaway as Catwoman, Batman was tweeted a lot.
And there you have it, another edition of Tech Tuesday in the can. What do you think about these stories? Will you buy from Amazon Tote? Will you sign on to get some new Indie Music? Is Facebook the evil overlord, or is Justin Bieber going to take over the world? Let us know below or in the FORUM! We have been waiting for you forever! Ok well, maybe not forever, but you know what I mean. Join us today! It’s free, and we promise not to take over anything, at least for the next two weeks.
Honoring Jules Verne, the French author who pioneered the Science Fiction genre, Google has an interactive logo today that allows you to explore the depths of the sea.
Twitpic is bringing support for video to Twitter today, allowing users to timely share their clips. Now, instead of posting your links to YouTube to spread your awesome vid, you can upload it over to Twitpic and share it immediately.
A study that surveyed 1500 consumers on why they unsubscribe, unlike, or unfollow brands in the social media world was conducted, and the results are in! I would think this shouldn’t be surprising…
As part of a special Valentine’s Day promotion, T-Mobile will offer all of the phones in it’s inventory for free with a new 2 yr. contract this Friday and Saturday. (February 11th and 12th.)
Fans of Jon Stewart, Colbert and Hulu unite! Both shows are returning to a computer near you. Hulu closed a major deal with Viacom last week, and as part of the deal, a “selection of great current programming from MTV, Comedy Central, VH1, TV Land, BET, and other Viacom channel brands will also be added to Hili Plus.
