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How to share a video from Current to Facebook

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derk
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What Facebook Can Learn From Gmail

What Facebook and other Internet companies can learn from Google's webmail service.

On Tuesday, Facebook launched Prototypes, a service that lets users test out new tools and features before they become fixtures on the site. The first small batch offers nothing revolutionary: a search feature for photo tags, a way to better sync events with Outlook and other programs, and an app to let Mac users monitor their profiles from their desktop. But for a site with a history of unveiling huge makeovers with little notice—like the March 2009 redesign that got a 5 percent approval rating its first week—this is good news. Using Facebookers as beta testers is a great PR move and a positive sign for the future of the social networking site. By enlisting a huge, devoted focus group, Facebook will likely ensure that nothing that nine out of 10 users hate will become a part of the site's permanent design.
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If Facebook wants assurance that this model will work, it need only look to Gmail. For more than a year, Google has been crafting its webmail service by observing what its users do and don't want. Here's how it works: When a Google developer cooks up a new gizmo, the team will debut it in Gmail Labs, a buffet where individual users can pick and choose what to add to their accounts. (To get to Labs, sign in and click on the Settings page to find the bazaar of optional features.) There are currently 52 optional features in Labs. Some apps offer aesthetic improvements (adding thumbnail images to the chat window or randomizing the quote at the end of your messages), while others are more functional (previewing YouTube videos in the body of an e-mail). And then there is the save-you-from-yourself genre, with gems like the forgotten attachment detector and Mail Goggles, a program that asks you to solve math problems before sending e-mail during hours when you're likely to be drunk.What Facebook and other Internet companies can learn from Google's webmail service.... more

atomiclegion
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Ms. Cindy Play Facebook – Café World

Does this Facebook game need more time in the oven? http://gamesplusblog.com/?p=2831

Norman_Tran
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Twitter fights back with rival to Facebook Connect!

Twitter has introduced a Facebook Connect competitor dubbed "Sign in with Twitter" ,... more

sylviaw
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8 months ago
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Facebook Launching New Real-Time Homepage (twitter clone?)

Facebook struggles to stay relevant in order to avoid following myspace into... more

Mike_Johnston
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9 months ago
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MySpace acquires social network music app iLike

MySpace announced today that it was acquiring iLike, the online music application for... more

digitrash
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4 months ago
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Do you like the new Facebook layout?

Only 45K of 730K (6%) users like the new look. (as of 12:30 3/19/09) What do you... more

communiversity
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100 Incredibly Useful Facebook Apps for College Students

If you are a college student or getting ready to make the jump into your university,... more

sunnyspeaks
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MindSmack.com ranked top web design agency in the USA 4 months in a row!

MindSmack.com specializes in web design, 3d, animation, iphone, interactive,... more

mindsmack
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Facebook: No Government Healthcare

A recent user poll on Facebook has shown that the majority of those who answered the... more

TheEmpireGuy
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Old people Facebook disasters

"[E]vents... point to a dubious trend. For years, college students have been opting... more

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Facebook | Grooverider released from Dubai prison

This was the first I heard of this but, apparently, Facebook members and a certain... more

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MIT research bringing 'smart bikes' to Denmark

MIT researchers unveiled a major new project on Oct. 10 in Copenhagen aimed at transforming bicycle use in Denmark's largest city, promoting urban sustainability and building new connections between the city's cyclists.

The project, called SmartBiking, will utilize a novel self-organizing smart-tag system that will allow the city's residents to exchange basic information and share their relative positioning with each other. The project will be implemented citywide in time for the November 2009 U.N. Climate Change Conference, which Copenhagen will host.

"One of the most striking aspects of Copenhagen is that it is already a very sustainable city," said Carlo Ratti, Director of MIT's SENSEable City Lab, which is overseeing the Smart Biking project. "A considerable fraction of its energy comes from renewable sources and, unlike a few decades ago, 30 to 40 percent of its citizens use bicycles as their primary method of transportation.

"So our challenge was, 'How can we enhance these dynamics of sustainability? And how can we use technology to make them more widespread?'"

Beyond encouraging Copenhagen's citizens to ride more often, the program aims to help them interact as well.

"We have developed a Facebook application called 'I crossed your path,' which creates a social network for cyclists, allowing them to link up with people they may have ridden past during the day and potentially establish new connections," explained Christine Outram, the principal research assistant on the project.

The smart tags will also allow individuals to monitor the distance they travel while cycling as part of a citywide "green mileage" initiative, which is similar to a frequent-flyer program.

What will the reward for green miles be? "A year of free Muesli," mused SENSEable City Lab's Associate Director Assaf Biderman. "The very act of sharing this information and showing individuals the environmental impact of their actions could be very powerful. Research has shown that behavioral change is one of the most powerful forces to tackle climate change and the reduction of carbon emissions."

Ultimately, fine-grained monitoring of urban activities could allow cities such as Copenhagen to enter carbon-trading schemes. Cities could obtain funding for sustainable city services in exchange for their efforts to cut carbon dioxide emissions. The impact could be considerable, as cities account for approximately half of the world population, but are responsible for a much larger share of carbon emissions.

Finally, as part of the project, a prototype of a smart bicycle is being developed in collaboration with the MIT Media Lab's Smart Cities Group at the MIT Media Lab, directed by William J. Mitchell, the Alexander W Dreyfoos (1954) Professor of Architecture and Media Arts and Sciences. This hybrid bicycle uses a regenerative motor to harvest the energy created when braking and release it while cycling, in a manner similar to hybrid cars. Everything, including the battery, is packed in the rear wheel, which becomes a self-contained element that could be retrofitted on most existing bicycles.

The Smart Biking Project is developed by the SENSEable City Laboratory, an MIT research group focused on technology and urban planning that is a part of the MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning, together with the MIT Design Lab. In addition to professors Ratti and Mitchell, the team comprises Assaf Biderman, Francesco Calabrese, Michael Lin, Mauro Martino and Outram.MIT researchers unveiled a major new project on Oct. 10 in Copenhagen aimed at... more