Wow. Loic Le Meur asks for a simple feature on Twitter search - the ability to filter results by the number of followers that a user has to make sense of thousands of messages - and the blogosphere calls for his head. For the record, I agree with Loic. Being able to filter search results, if you select, by the number of followers a user has makes sense. Without it, you have no way of knowing which voices are louder and making a more massive impact. It’s a way to make sense of a query when thousands or tens of thousands of results are returned. Of course, I’m pretty sure I can live without this feature, too. I’m failing to get too worked up over it. But the outpouring of emotion from bloggers is surprising me, and I thought I’d seen just about everything when it comes to blogging.
Wow. Loic Le Meur asks for a easy feature on Twitter search - the ability to filter results by the number of followers that a user has to make sense of thousands of messages - and the blogosphere calls for his head.
For the record, I agree with Loic. Being able to filter search results, if you choose, by the number of followers a user has makes sense. Without it, you have no way of knowing which voices are louder and making a larger impact. It’s a way to make sense of a query when thousands or tens of thousands of results are returned.
Of course, I’m pretty sure I can live without this feature, too. I’m failing to get too worked up over it. But the outpouring of emotion from bloggers is surprising me, and I thought I’d seen just about everything when it comes to blogging.
Robert Scoble: “Here’s why it’s a stupid idea: everyone is gaming the number of followers. And, even if everyone weren’t, popularity on Twitter isn’t a good way to measure whether a Tweet is any good or not.” [Ok, but it is a good way of determining how loud that message was]
Sarah Lacy:“No one could be this nakedly egotistical and self-serving.” [this one was my personal favorite. Sarah is clearly worked up over this idea.]
Steven Hodson:“some-one like me with next to no followers wouldn’t even rate showing up in search results even if I started to topic being searched for” [no, only if someone turned that filter on in the search] Sam Harrelson:“I think this is a terrible idea.”
MG Siegler:“this totally would ruin one of the most compelling things about Twitter: That it’s completely democratic.”
All this vitriol and angst over a simple feature request - a button to filter search results by number of followers on Twitter search. If people don’t care about it, they have the ability to not go into advanced search and hit the button. No one is being disenfranchised, the wonderful faux democracy of Twitter won’t be imperiled. And for those of you who just hate the idea, maybe you can have an option to only show messages in search results that are from users with few or no followers.
Get it together people.
Crunch Network: CrunchBoardbecause it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
By Andrew Liszewski I suppose this is one of those products where you look at it and either go: “hey! I could really use that!” or “why on Earth would anyone need to water their plants at night?” I would be in that latter group, but since my habit for procrastination usually leaves me doing chores […]
By Andrew Liszewski
I suppose this is one of those products where you look at it and either go: “hey! I could really use that!” or “why on Earth would anyone need to water their plants at night?” I would be in that latter group, but since my habit for procrastination usually leaves me doing chores in the middle of the night, I’m sure that someone, somewhere would be in a similar situation and have a use for this. And if that picture isn’t descriptive enough for you, it’s your run-of-the-mill garden nozzle with a built-in LED flashlight. It’s also powered by 2 x AA batteries since you probably don’t want to be using an extension cord while watering. You can get it from Restoration Hardware for just $12.49.
By David Ponce Rafizah Zain, who chose the Saishin Retsu Gunmetal+Green watch. Tom Lorimor, who selected the Tokyoflash Negative IPB watch. Jordan Dobbs Rosa, who selected the Tokyoflash Galaxy watch. These were all chosen at random by Paul Cooper, marketing manager at Tokyoflash from all the entries he received. Thank you all for participating, and stay tuned for […]
By David Ponce
Rafizah Zain, who chose the Saishin Retsu Gunmetal+Green watch. Tom Lorimor, who chose the Tokyoflash Negative IPB watch. Jordan Dobbs Rosa, who chose the Tokyoflash Galaxy watch.
These were all chosen at random by Paul Cooper, marketing manager at Tokyoflash from all the entries he received. Thank you all for participating, and stay tuned for other giveaways in the new year.
By Andrew Liszewski Now isn’t this what the holidays are really about? Affordably produced USB-powered plastic novelty crap that’ll sit unused in your desk drawer for 11 months out of the year? I certainly think so. That’s why everyone on my list will be unwrapping one of these USB-powered X’Mas typing trees this morning. (Sorry […]
By Andrew Liszewski
Now isn’t this what the holidays are really about? Cheaply produced USB-powered plastic novelty crap that’ll sit unused in your desk drawer for 11 months out of the year? I certainly think so. That’s why everyone on my list will be unwrapping one of these USB-powered X’Mas typing trees this morning. (Sorry to ruin the surprise.)
The tree features a collection of 10 red LED lights that’ll only glow whenever you’re typing at your PC. And the faster you do type, the more lights will illuminate, which I have to assume translates to an increased level of holiday cheer. The tree also features a speaker in the base that you can connect to your Computer via the headphone jack allowing you to play your Christmas tunes through it, which once again can only lead to more holiday cheer. Though by this time of the year, I’m sure we’ve all reached our cheer quotas… and then some.
So on that note, all of us here at OhGizmo! once again wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, and here’s to seriously hoping you weren’t one of the people on my shopping list this year.
Next month is the annual Lotusphere conference. IBM is giving two free tickets to TC readers–leave a comment saying why you’d like to go to Lotusphere, and we’ll pick the winners by Monday morning. (Note: Passes cover conference registration only, not travel/hotel.) Few pieces of software are as polarizing as Lotus Notes. When my last job forced me to use Notes, I found the interface clunky, the graphics Win 95′esqe, and the workflow architecture non-intuitive. Granted, I was using Version 6.5 (Notes is now on Release 8), but even so I found it frustratingly unproductive. And I’m clearly not alone. Which leaves me wondering–has IBM’s Lotus Notes lost touch with the user-centric web 2.0 world? To answer these questions, I interviewed Kevin Cavanaugh, IBM’s VP in charge of the Notes/Domino group. Also joining us was Ed Brill, IBM’s Director of Messaging and Collaboration. Next month is the annual Lotusphere conference. IBM is giving two free tickets to TC readers–leave a comment saying why you’d like to go to Lotusphere, and we’ll pick the winners by Monday morning. (Note: Passes cover conference registration only, not travel/hotel.) Few pieces of software are as polarizing as Lotus Notes. When my last job forced me to use Notes, I found the interface clunky, the graphics Win 95′esqe, and the workflow architecture non-intuitive. Allowed, I was using Version 6.5 (Notes is now on Release 8), but even so I found it frustratingly unproductive. And I’m clearly not alone. Which leaves me wondering–has IBM’s Lotus Notes lost touch with the user-centric web 2.0 world? To answer these questions, I interviewed Kevin Cavanaugh, IBM’s VP in charge of the Notes/Domino group. Also joining us was Ed Brill, IBM’s Director of Messaging and Collaboration.
Just in is a statement from Facebook that they’ll ban the fast growing (but non-label-sanctioned) music service Project Playlist. Last Friday MySpace banned Project Playlist and removed all traces of the service from its site. But Facebook remained silent even as music label insiders called them “irresponsible” and recommended litigation against them was on the way. This is a huge blow for Playlist, which just yesterday announced that they had their first label deal, with Sony BMG. The other three large music labels, however, remain hostile to the service. The entire application has been removed (it used to be here), and the embedded playlists have been removed from user’s profiles. An image of what the application used to look like is below. Over 660,000 Facebook users are affected. Facebook’s statement:
Just in is a statement from Facebook that they’ll ban the fast growing (but non-label-sanctioned) music service Project Playlist. Last Friday MySpace banned Project Playlist and removed all traces of the service from its site.
But Facebook remained silent even as music label insiders called them “irresponsible” and recommended litigation against them was on the way.
This is a huge blow for Playlist, which just yesterday announced that they’d their first label deal, with Sony BMG. The other three big music labels, however, remain hostile to the service.
The entire application has been removed (it used to be here), and the embedded playlists have been removed from user’s profiles. An image of what the application used to look like is below. Over 660,000 Facebook users are affected.
Facebook’s statement:
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) initially contacted Facebook last summer requesting the removal of the Project Playlist application for copyright violation, and recently reopened those communications. We’ve forwarded the RIAA’s letters to Project Playlist so it can work directly with that organization and music labels on a resolution. In the meantime, the application must be removed to comply with the Facebook Platform Terms of Service. Our hope and expectation is that the parties can resolve their disagreements in a manner that satisfies the developer and copyright holder, that continues to offer a great experience to music fans, and that doesn’t discourage other developers from using Platform to share their creativity and test new ideas.
Crunch Network: MobileCrunchMobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.
By Andrew Liszewski The idea of creating a bionic eye to assist people with seriously impaired vision is definitely exciting. But installing a silicon chip into a human eyeball to aid the retinas has some drawbacks, the least of which being that the chip itself can block light from falling on areas of the retina that […]
By Andrew Liszewski
The idea of creating a bionic eye to aid people with seriously impaired vision is definitely exciting. But installing a silicon chip into a human eyeball to aid the retinas has some drawbacks, the least of which being that the chip itself can block light from falling on areas of the retina that are healthy and still working properly. So Jeffrey Olsen at the University of Colorado Hospital has come up with a different approach.
Instead of implanting a single massive chip, he wants to inject quantum dots, or nanoscale sized pieces of semiconductor into the retina. They fluoresce when hit by photons and would actually serve to boost the image hitting the damaged retina, improving its capability to interpret the image. Not only do the quantum dots not require an external power source, but they’re extremely small and can actually be targeted towards specific areas of the retina that are damaged. So in other words, you can send help where it’s needed most. So far the technique has shown promise when tested on rats, and you can read the patent application on the WIPO website for more specifics.
MySpace is getting back into the business of blocking third celebration widgets, it seems - this day they’ve banned embedded music widgets from the fast growing Project Playlist. But unlike previous 2006 and 2007 blocks of iMeem, Photobucket and many others, this time MySpace is doing it under threat of litigation from the major labels. We first got word from MySpace users that their Playlist widgets are simply vanishing from their MySpace profiles earlier this day. When we contacted MySpace they confirmed the ban, noting that they have received infringement notices from “major music companies”:
MySpace is getting back into the business of blocking third celebration widgets, it seems - this day they’ve banned embedded music widgets from the fast growing Project Playlist. But unlike previous 2006 and 2007 blocks of iMeem, Photobucket and many others, this time MySpace is doing it under threat of litigation from the major labels.
We first got word from MySpace users that their Playlist widgets are simply vanishing from their MySpace profiles earlier this day. When we contacted MySpace they confirmed the ban, noting that they’ve received infringement notices from “major music companies”:
MySpace is an open platform that welcomes all developers to build rich and legitimate applications for its global community. We take copyright issues very seriously and our goal is to help developers build a substantial business by creating an environment that respects rights holders and protects their content.
MySpace has received notices of infringement about Project Playlist at different times from several of the major music companies currently suing Project Playlist. Per our policy of taking very seriously the requests of rights holders to block access to third party sites that are believed to be infringing, we’ve evaluated the requests of the major music companies and determined that it is in our best interest not to grant Project Playlist widgets on MySpace, and effective immediately, we will no longer be allowing these widgets within the MySpace platform. Any third celebration widgets (including any music widgets) are welcome on MySpace so long as they don’t include infringing content—we encourage our users to utilize the many legitimate applications found on MySpace and across the Web.
Those major music companies are likely Warner Music, Universal Music Group and EMI, which have been in litigation with Project Playlist since April 2008. This is both a ban and a scrub, meaning users can’t add new widgets and all old widgets are being removed from the site.
Apparently this isn’t the first time the two companies have come to blows. MySpace also blocked Project Playlist earlier this year in March, but the company was able to evade the block with some success.
An industry source also confirms that Facebook has been served with the same notice of infringement. As of now, Playlist is still live on that site.
By Luke Anderson Have you ever noticed that Yoda looks kind of like The Grinch? Honestly I never made the connection until I saw this strange statue. Apparently someone thought that this great Jedi Master would make a good Santa. Unfortunately most children would probably run away screaming if they peeked down the stairs and saw […]
By Luke Anderson
Have you ever noticed that Yoda looks kind of like The Grinch? Honestly I never made the connection until I saw this strange statue. Apparently someone thought that this great Jedi Master would make a good Santa. Unfortunately most kids would probably run away screaming if they peeked down the stairs and saw this little guy coming from the chimney. I’m not sure on the size of the statue, but it will set you back $23, once it comes back in stock.
Once you’ve dressed up as an elf and danced like crazy with your coworkers it’s hard to get too worked up over a simple video greeting card. But if you are one of the few people left who still send actual dead tree holiday cards (tsk), give this new Skype holiday card thingy a twirl. Email videos out to your friends, embed the festive spirit in your blog like I’ve done below, or just link to it. And if you’re a Facebooker, you can do it all there. Happy Holidays.
Once you’ve dressed up as an elf and danced like crazy with your coworkers it’s hard to get too worked up over a simple video greeting card. But if you are one of the few people left who still send actual dead tree holiday cards (tsk), give this new Skype holiday card thingy a twirl. Email videos out to your friends, embed the festive spirit in your blog like I’ve done below, or just link to it. And if you’re a Facebooker, you can do it all there. Happy Holidays.
Crunch Network: MobileCrunchMobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.
Wow. Loic Le Meur asks for a simple feature on Twitter search - the ability to filter results by the number of followers that a user has to make sense of thousands of messages - and the blogosphere calls for his head. For the record, I agree with Loic. Being able to filter search results, if you select, by the number of followers a user has makes sense. Without it, you have no way of knowing which voices are louder and making a more massive impact. It’s a way to make sense of a query when thousands or tens of thousands of results are returned. Of course, I’m pretty sure I can live without this feature, too. I’m failing to get too worked up over it. But the outpouring of emotion from bloggers is surprising me, and I thought I’d seen just about everything when it comes to blogging.
Now isn’t this what the holidays are really about? Cheaply produced USB-powered plastic novelty crap that’ll sit unused in your desk drawer for 11 months out of the year? I certainly think so. That’s why everyone on my list will be unwrapping one of these USB-powered X’Mas typing trees this morning. (Sorry to ruin the surprise.)
Next month is the annual 
Just in is a statement from Facebook that they’ll ban the fast growing (but non-label-sanctioned) music service 
By Andrew Liszewski
Once you’ve dressed up as an elf and 
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