TechLifeWeb

Tech news – April 15th 2012 to April 20th 2012:

• YouTube Improves Audio Editing With New Interface and New Tracks –
  mashable.com
  

  YouTube has updated the audio editing capabilities it offers its users with several important improvements.
• April 2012: Photo of the Day | The White House –
  whitehouse.gov
  
• Facebook Targets May 17th For IPO Date | TechCrunch –
  techcrunch.com
  - Alexia Tsotsis
  

  This just in: According to multiple sources close to the company, Facebook is eying IPO on May 17th — depending on whether the SEC agrees that all the reams of paperwork (including those concerning its recent acquisition of Instagram) are in order.
  This is in line with earlier reports that the company was going to hit NASDAQ during the third week of May. And also in line with what a single source told CNBC at length, that the social network was considering either the 17th or the 24th to go publ…  show all text
• The Jig Is Up: Time to Get Past Facebook and Invent a New Future – Alexis Madrigal – Technology – The Atlantic –
  theatlantic.com
  

  After five years pursuing the social-local-mobile dream, we need a fresh paradigm for technology startups.
• Rejected By VCs, Pebble Watch Raises $3.8M on Kickstarter – Bloomberg –
  go.bloomberg.com
  When it comes to the road to success in Silicon Valley, Eric Migicovsky was definitely on the right path. His idea for creating a watch that can dis
• Into The Wild: Lost Conversations From Steve Jobs’ Best Years | Fast Company –
  fastcompany.com
  

  Drawing from hundreds of conversations with Steve Jobs over a quarter century of reporting, the journalist who knew him best reconsiders his legacy–and the importance of his "wilderness years."
• Twitter Engineering: Introducing the Innovator’s Patent Agreement –
  engineering.twitter.com
  - Twitter
  Cross-posted on the Twitter Blog. One of the great things about Twitter is working with so many talented folks who dream up and build incredible products day in and day out. Like many companies, we apply for patents on a bunch of these inventions. However, we also think a lot about how those patents may be used in the future; we sometimes worry that they may be used to impede the innovation of others. For that reason, we are publishing a draft of the Innovator’s Patent Agreement, which we info…  show all text
• Twitter Blog: Introducing the Innovator’s Patent Agreement –
  blog.twitter.com
  - Twitter
  Cross-posted on the Twitter Engineering blog. One of the great things about Twitter is working with so many talented folks who dream up and build incredible products day in and day out. Like many companies, we apply for patents on a bunch of these inventions. However, we also think a lot about how those patents may be used in the future; we sometimes worry that they may be used to impede the innovation of others. For that reason, we are publishing a draft of the Innovator’s Patent Agreement, w…  show all text
• Path Announces $30M+ Round Of Funding, Investors Include Sir Richard Branson | TechCrunch –
  techcrunch.com
  - Anthony Ha
  

  Well, it’s officially official: Following a wave of rumors and reports, Path just announced that it has raised more than $30 million in new funding.
  “We are delighted to announce that last week we closed a significant round of funding with a new set of investor partners,” CEO Dave Morin said in the press release. “It is important to us to work with investment partners who share common values around quality and building for the long term. Our ‘Path’ has only just begun, and we are looking forward  show all text
• Why Path is no Instagram — Tech News and Analysis –
  gigaom.com
  

  Path, a niche mobile social network has raised $40 million in new funds. It has also drawn comparisons with Instagram, a mobile photo service that was acquired by Facebook. Many are betting it would be the next big acquisition. I disagree, and here is why.
• An Open Letter To Those Not Employed At Instagram | TechCrunch –
  techcrunch.com
  - Contributor
  

  Editor’s Note: Alexander Haislip is a marketing executive with cloud-based server automation startup ScaleXtreme and the author of Essentials of Venture Capital. Follow him on Twitter @ahaislip.
  Dear Non-Instagramers,
  Sorry that you didn’t get bought out for $1 billion last week. That’s got to be a bummer. Kevin Systrom just made enough money to buy a boat big enough to make Larry Ellison jealous and you’re still living in a studio apartment.
  Instagram is a one-off. A fluke. An anecdote that ma…  show all text

Many sites like Google+, Gmail and Tweetdeck like to use a custom scroll bar. This is that scroll bar over on the right that looks more like it is part of the page than window of the browser. Often this bar is a light gray color and I find it hard to find on the screen.

I put this little script up on Stylish that will make the scroll bar blue on any page that uses webkit scrollbars.

To use it in Chrome you just need the Stylish extension found here: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/fjnbnpbmkenffdnngjfgmeleoegfcffe
#tlw

Blue Webkit Scrollbar -
Customize your web browser with this user style.

Tech news – April 13th 2012 to April 15th 2012:

• Web freedom faces greatest threat ever, warns Google’s Sergey Brin | Technology | The Guardian –
  guardian.co.uk
  - Ian Katz
  

  Exclusive: Threats range from governments trying to control citizens to the rise of Facebook and Apple-style 'walled gardens'
  The principles of openness and universal access that underpinned the creation of the internet three decades ago are under greater threat than ever, according to Google co-founder Sergey Brin.
  In an interview with the Guardian, Brin warned there were "very powerful forces that have lined up against the open internet on all sides and around the world". "I am more worried t…  show all text
• The Mobile Paradox | TechCrunch –
  techcrunch.com
  - Contributor
  

  Editor’s note: Guest author Keith Teare is General Partner at his incubator Archimedes Labs and CEO of just.me. He was a co-founder of TechCrunch. Follow him on Twitter @kteare.
  Google’s stock declined by over 4% yesterday. Many have put this down to the company’s decision to create a non-voting class of stock as part of a control-retention exercise as the founders sell shares. But more is going on here.
  In the same week as Facebook acquired Instagram for $1 billion as part of its efforts to be…  show all text
• Web freedom faces greatest threat ever, warns Google’s Sergey Brin | Technology | The Guardian –
  guardian.co.uk
  - Ian Katz
  

  Exclusive: Threats range from governments trying to control citizens to the rise of Facebook and Apple-style 'walled gardens'
  The principles of openness and universal access that underpinned the creation of the internet three decades ago are under greater threat than ever, according to Google co-founder Sergey Brin.
  In an interview with the Guardian, Brin warned there were "very powerful forces that have lined up against the open internet on all sides and around the world". "I am more worried t…  show all text
• How I Got Ripped At 500 Startups | TechCrunch –
  techcrunch.com
  - Contributor
  

  Editor’s note: Dick Talens is one of the founders of Fitocracy and an amateur competitive bodybuilder. Follow him on Twitter @DickTalens.
  Little sleep, lots of stress, free food at all hours, and Paul Singh constantly try to booze you under the table. Sounds like the old college days when you tried to rush for Sigma Chi, doesn’t it?
  But nope. That describes life at 500 Startups.
  For a former fat kid like me, it’s an environment where I can accidentally gain 15 lbs in the blink of an eye.  Put a…  show all text
• coachella – YouTube –
  youtube.com
• Behind Instagram Feat, Networking the Old Way –
  nytimes.com
  - By SOMINI SENGUPTA, NICOLE PERLROTH and JENNA WORTHAM
  

  The founders of Instagram, now multimillionaires after Facebook bought their app this week, were helped along the way by the tight web in the Bay Area tech scene.
• Why Airport Security Is Broken—And How to Fix It – WSJ.com –
  online.wsj.com
  

  Air travel would be safer if we allowed knives, lighters and liquids on board and focused on disrupting new terror plots. A former head of the Transportation Security Administration, Kip Hawley, on embracing risk.
• Secrets of the Most Productive People I Know | Inc.com –
  inc.com
  - Margaret Heffernan
  

  The path to productivity is not a new assistant or project management software. It's these four shared characteristics.
  Like most everyone else, I worry about productivity. Since there aren't more hours in the day, how can I get more done? That's made me reflect on the truly productive people I've known or worked with throughout my career.
  They all share certain characteristics:
  1. They have a life.
  Far from being the maniacally focused, late night or early morning types, truly creative innovat…  show all text
• Google BBS Terminal –
  masswerk.at
  Google BBS Terminal – What Google would have looked like in the 80s. A working service after a video by Squirrel-Monkey.com.
• Sword & Laser Episode 1: We Kick-off The Magicians! –
  youtube.com

Tech news – April 10th 2012 to April 13th 2012:

• Once-in-a-lifetime picture of lightning striking San Francisco’s Bay Bridge | Mail Online –
  dailymail.co.uk
  

  Photographer Phil McGrew took the striking picture through the rain-soaked window of his apartment, in San Francisco. An incredible eight bolts hit the Bay Bridge during the thunderstorm.
• Newark Mayor Cory Booker taken to hospital after rescuing woman from house fire | NJ.com –
  nj.com
  

  Booker announces on Twitter that he suffered smoke inhalation while rescuing neighbors from a house fire. He also apparently suffered burns on his hand.
• How to Fail: Mark Pincus – Businessweek –
  businessweek.com
  

  I’m sometimes called a serial entrepreneur, but that’s only because, before Zynga, I failed to create a sustainable company. After starting two companies in the ’90s, I had a social networking startup, Tribe.net, in 2003. One of the things I try to instill at Zynga is to fail fast, look at the data,
• How to get more likes on Facebook – The Oatmeal –
  theoatmeal.com
  - Matthew Inman
  

  More tanks.
  View
• Walkie Talkie App Voxer Goes Big, IVP And Intel Lead $30 Million Round | TechCrunch –
  techcrunch.com
  - Eric Eldon
  

  Voxer, a walkie talkie mobile app that lets you talk to friends across iPhones and Androids, looked like an overnight success last November when it soared to its current place as a top social networking app in the app stores. But the company is five years old and has been working hard to figure out the software and design it needed to win big.
  It’s ready to go all the way, having just closed a funding round of more than $30 million led by Institutional Venture Partners, Intel Capital and numero…  show all text
• The e-book wars: Who is less evil, Amazon or book publishers? — Tech News and Analysis –
  gigaom.com
  - Mathew Ingram
  

  As expected, the Department of Justice launched an antitrust lawsuit against Apple and several of the major book publishers on Wednesday, alleging collusion and price-fixing behavior on e-books as a result of the “agency pricing” model. As my colleagues Jeff Roberts and Laura Owen have reported, three of the publishers named in the suit have decided to settle while two have chosen to fight the charges — and the states have jumped into the fray as well. The argument from publishers is that they …  show all text
• Official Google Blog: Toward a simpler, more beautiful Google –
  googleblog.blogspot.com
  - A Googler
  

  More than 170 million people have upgraded to Google+, enjoying new ways to share in Search, Gmail, YouTube and lots of other places. It's still early days, and there’s plenty left to do, but we're more excited than ever to build a seamless social experience, all across Google. A critical piece of this social layer is a design that grows alongside our aspirations. So today we’re introducing a more functional and flexible version of Google+. We think you’ll find it easier to use and nicer to lo…  show all text
• Silicon Valley, London, NYC: Startup Genome Data Reveals How The World’s Top Tech Hubs Stack Up | TechCrunch –
  techcrunch.com
  - Rip Empson
  

  Last year, we covered an ambitious collaborative R&D project called “Startup Genome,” created by three young entrepreneurs, Bjoern Herrmann, Max Marmer, and Ertan Dogrultan. The goal of the ongoing project was (and is) to take a comprehensive, data-driven dive into what makes tech startups successful — and not so successful.
  Out of its research came, among other things, Startup Compass: A free benchmarking tool that leverages its data to allow entrepreneurs to evaluate their progress compared to  show all text
• Facebook and Instagram: When Your Favorite App Sells Out — Daily Intel –
  nymag.com
  

  You can’t blame users for becoming hooting primates when a giant spaceship dumps a billion dollars out of its money hole.
• Investor Update | PandoDaily –
  pandodaily.com
  - Sarah Lacy
  

  PandoDaily has always had a pact with readers that we’ll be open and honest– particularly on the subject of our investors. Typically, this means we’re telling you about new investors.
  Today, however, we find ourselves in the unexpected position of having to disclose a change in our relationship with an existing investor.
  As of Monday, April 9 the shareholders of PandoMedia voted to remove Michael Arrington as a director. Given the change in relationship we feel it’s inappropriate for CrunchFund…  show all text

Tech news – April 7th 2012 to April 9th 2012:

• Here is why Facebook bought Instagram — Tech News and Analysis –
  gigaom.com
  - Om Malik
  

  You might have heard by now that Facebook has acquired Instagram for nearly a billion dollars in cash and stock. Incredible, isn’t it? I have received text messages of awe and shock from many people in the Valley, for no one saw this coming.
  A few days ago it was rumored to be valued at $500 million. A few months ago it was $300 million. Its last round — just a year ago – valued the company at $100 million. The rising valuation of the company was reflective of the growing audience it has been g…  show all text
• From Twitter – Leaving Instagram? Here's how. https //t.co/oC03j1oi
• I’m excited to… | Facebook –
  facebook.com
  Facebook is a social utility that connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around them. People use Facebook to keep up with friends, upload an unlimited number of photos, post links and videos, and learn more about the people they meet.
• Facebook to Acquire Photo-Sharing Start-Up Instagram for $1B – Kara Swisher – News – AllThingsD –
  allthingsd.com
  
• 5 Social Entrepreneurship Startups You Should Know Right Now –
  mashable.com
  - Lauren Drell
  

  In our new series, The World at Work, Mashable interviews the faces behind the startups and projects that are working to make a global impact.
  By harnessing the power of digital technology, these five companies have offered resources to citizens in need, helped to eliminate landfill junk and funded social entrepreneurs who will effect real change on a global scale. While the companies are diverse, they share a common thread — a passionate leader who’s devoted to improving lives.
  Here’s a roundup  show all text
• Did everybody see what just happened? The pendulum has swung. – Find Office Space – 42Floors –
  42floors.com
• From Twitter – RT @thedailybeast China Buys Up the Caribbean http://t.co/SL9UyoX6
• Reactions to the Death of Mike Wallace, ’60 Minutes’ Pioneer – NYTimes.com –
  mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com
  - By BRIAN STELTER
  

  Mike Wallace, who died Saturday at age 93, was remembered by colleagues and competitors alike as a pioneer of American broadcasting.
• What 23 Years of E-Mail May Say About You –
  nytimes.com
  - By ANNE EISENBERG
  

  Researchers using themselves as guinea pigs have analyzed huge amounts of their personal data, seeking meaningful and useful patterns.
• Selling Digital Fear | TechCrunch –
  techcrunch.com
  - Josh Constine
  

  The crowded building’s not on fire. After an exhaustive investigation of the top 100 Facebook apps, the Wall Street Journal didn’t find any serious privacy violations. While sensationalizing the dangers of online privacy sure drives page views and ad revenue, it also impedes innovation and harms the business of honest software developers.
  Reality has yet to stop media outlets from yelling about privacy, and because the WSJ writers were on assignment, they wrote the “Selling You On Facebook” hit…  show all text
• When the cops subpoena your Facebook information, here’s what Facebook sends the cops – Phlog –
  blog.thephoenix.com
  - Boston Phoenix
  This week's Boston Phoenix cover story — Hunting the Craigslist Killer: An Untold Detective Story from the Digital Frontier — would not have been possible without access to a huge trove of case files released by the Boston Police Department. Many of those documents have never been made public — until now. As a kind of online appendix to the article, we're publishing over a dozen documents from the file, ranging from transcripts of interviews to the subpoenas that investigators obtained from …  show all text

Tech news – April 6th 2012 to April 7th 2012:

• True or false: Citrix is more compatible with AWS — Tech News and Analysis –
  gigaom.com
  - Randy Bias, Cloudscaling
  

  The hubbub around Tuesday’s Citrix announcement has died down a bit, but I’d like to highlight one particular area of confusion: the cavalier use of phrases like “AWS compatibility” and “Amazon-style architectures.” These terms have been used interchangeably, but are they really the same thing?
  As part of the Citrix announcement, Sameer Dholakia, their general manager of cloud platforms said:
  “….we believe the biggest winners in the Cloud Era will be clouds built on a platform that is designed …  show all text
• Selling You on Facebook – WSJ.com –
  online.wsj.com
  

  Many popular Facebook apps obtain sensitive information about users—and users' friends—so don't be surprised if details about your religious, political and even sexual preferences start popping up in unexpected places.
• Why Gamification Can’t Be Stopped –
  mashable.com
  - Sam Laird
  

  From recycling, to personal health, to corporate culture, gamification is seeping into all aspects of everyday life. The practice of applying game mechanics to non-game contexts — for example fandom, separating trash from glass or meeting company goals — has exploded in the past few years.
  Since the beginning, the California-based company Bunchball has been at the emerging industry’s forefront and today works with companies including including Comcast, the Los Angeles Kings, Hasbro and Warner B…  show all text
• NBC Fires Producer of Misleading Zimmerman Tape – NYTimes.com –
  mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com
  - By BRIAN STELTER
  

  The network reacted to the furor that erupted after it was revealed that its edit took George Zimmerman's comments on Trayvon Martin's race out of context.
• The blood, sweat, and tears of living the startup life. « Chris McCann’s Personal Blog –
  mccannatron.com
  - Chris McCann
  TLDR: Startups are unimaginably difficult. Tweet this.
  Right now joining or starting a startup is the sexy thing to do, but don’t get fooled by the hype.
  It’s so easy to get swept up in the great stories and lives of people like Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey, and Elon Musk & how successful their respective companies are. It’s tempting to sit in your bed at night dreaming of leaving your high paying banking or corporate job and heading west to Silicon Valley, leaving the cubicle farm to make a di…  show all text
• Why Bob Woodward is wrong about the internet and journalism — Tech News and Analysis –
  gigaom.com
  - Mathew Ingram
  

  Anyone who has followed the media for the past half century or so knows that Bob Woodward is a giant in the field, one half of the legendary investigative team of Woodward and Bernstein — a man who helped to bring down a U.S. president and defined a generational shift in the practice of journalism. In other words, someone whose opinions on the craft of journalism are probably worth listening to. But should we believe him when he argues that the internet is not really of any benefit when it comes  show all text
• Etsy Hacker Grants: Supporting Women in Technology | Etsy News –
  etsy.com
  - precipice
  

  Photo by bitterfruitjewelry

  Marc Hedlund is VP of Engineering at Etsy. He has managed engineers in Internet companies from coast to coast, and is currently writing a book for O’Reilly Media on engineering management.
  Today, in conjunction with Hacker School, Etsy is announcing a new scholarship and sponsorship program for women in technology: we’ll be hosting the summer 2012 session of Hacker School in the Etsy headquarters, and we’re providing ten Etsy Hacker Grants of $5,000 each — a total …  show all text
• Twitter Blog: Shutting down spammers –
  blog.twitter.com
  - Twitter
  Twitter continues to grow at a record pace — we now have 140 million active users and more than 340 million Tweets each day. As our reach expands, we become a more attractive target for spammers. While spam is a small fraction of the incredible content you can find on Twitter, we know just how distracting it can be. We have previously discussed the ways we deal with spam on Twitter. Our engineers continue to combat spammers’ efforts to circumvent our safeguards, and today we’re adding another…  show all text
• 2012 Update from the CEO – Investor Relations – Google –
  investor.google.com
• From Twitter – Google will turn your 2D videos to 3D. Must be HD first. Kind of kludgy and takes a while. http://t.co/DBLAvP5Q

Tech news – April 2nd 2012 to April 5th 2012:

• Flashback trojan reportedly controls half a million Macs and counting –
  arstechnica.com
  - Jacqui Cheng
  

  Variations of the Flashback trojan have reportedly infected more than half a million Macs around the globe, according to Russian antivirus company Dr. Web. The company made an announcement on Wednesday—first in Russian and later in English—about the growing Mac botnet, first claiming 550,000 infected Macs. Later in the day, however, Dr. Web malware analyst Sorokin Ivan posted to Twitter that the count had gone up to 600,000, with 274 bots even checking in from Cupertino, CA, where Apple's headq…  show all text
• From Twitter – RT @DigitalTrends Flashback Trojan hits 300K US Macs; is your computer compromised? http://t.co/UfvTdzEf
• Google Begins Testing Its Augmented-Reality Glasses – NYTimes.com –
  bits.blogs.nytimes.com
  - By NICK BILTON
  

  On Wednesday, Google gave people 20/20 vision about a secret augmented-reality project called Project Glass. The glasses are the company's first foray into wearable computing.
• Just One More Game … –
  nytimes.com
  - By SAM ANDERSON
  

  How time-wasting video games escaped the arcade, jumped into our pockets and took over our lives.
• Join My Social Media Marketing Think Tank Mastermind Group – Learn Success! –
  thechrisvossshow.com
  
• Techmeme: iSimplyConnect Debuts VPN Tool for iPad (Darrell Etherington/BetaKit) –
  techmeme.com
  

  Darrell Etherington / BetaKit: iSimplyConnect Debuts VPN Tool for iPad  —  VPN services are often a must for organizations who have employees working out of the office who need access to on-site data, and the advent of tablets only underscores that need.  The iPad's reputation as the tablet of choice in boardrooms …
• Instagram for Android now available | The Verge –
  theverge.com
  

  Just a few weeks after teasing an Android app at SXSW, Instagram just announced that it's making an Android version of its app available today in the Google Play Store. According to Instagram, over…
• Startups, This Is How Design Works – by Wells Riley –
  startupsthisishowdesignworks.com
  
• How Does Y Combinator Scale Y Combinator? | TechCrunch –
  techcrunch.com
  - Kim-Mai Cutler
  

  The startups that presented at Y Combinator’s Demo Day last week were remarkable in their own right, but perhaps the most striking thing was the sheer number of them.
  With 66 companies and 180 founders in this season’s batch, the auditorium at Mountain View’s Computer History Museum was practically bursting with angel investors and reps from every notable venture firm last week. And that was just the latest class. Since 2005, Y Combinator has since spawned more than a dozen batches of startups …  show all text
• I hereby resign – raganwald’s posterous –
  raganwald.posterous.com
  

  Dear Mr. President:

  Thank you very much for honouring me with the position of Director of Software Development. I value your trust and have enjoyed my first two months on the job immensely. You have a world-class team and are executing on a daring vision. It pains me to tell you this, however I am forced to resign my position as Director and from here on, I must cheer your team from a distance.

  The situation is simple. As you doubtless recall, the new COO has issued a new set of employment co…  show all text

Tech news – March 31st 2012 to April 2nd 2012:

• How Buzzfeed’s Newest Blogger, ‘Copyranter,’ Threatened To Assault Me On His First Day At Work-
  businessinsider.com
  - Jim Edwards
  

  I was delighted to learn today that Copyranter, a closely followed and extremely funny blogger about advertising, got a new job with Buzzfeed, the social-media content play of Jonah Peretti. I was less thrilled when, after quoting the official announcement of the move on B.I. Advertising, he threatened to punch my lights out.
  After reading my take on his new job, Copyranter (real name Mark Duffy, pictured) wrote me a direct message on Twitter:
  You best hope we never meet. I’ve played hockey sin…  show all text
• Pinterest co-founder Paul Sciarra said to be leaving company | VentureBeat-
  venturebeat.com
  - Jennifer Van Grove
  

  Is there trouble in Pinterest paradise?
  Paul Sciarra (pictured, left), co-founder of digital pin-board sensation Pinterest, is said to be on his way out the door. Sciarra will be leaving the company as soon as next week, according to a report from Startup Grind, which said it confirmed the departure with several company insiders.
  Pinterest, first launched in 2010, came out of Cold Brew Labs, a product shop started by Sciarra and college pal Ben Silbermann. The one-time experimental project has …  show all text
• Autism Prevalence Rises to 1 in 88 | Science News | Autism Speaks-
  autismspeaks.org
  

  Autism Speaks is dedicated to increasing awareness of autism spectrum disorders, to funding research into the causes, prevention and treatments for autism, and to advocating for the needs of individuals with autism and their families.
• Bloomberg and Reuters: The Future of News | Adweek-
  adweek.com
  

  There’s no mistaking where Andy Lack feels Bloomberg LP is positioned versus its competitors. “We may be the last man standing,” says Lack, who oversees the news organization’s multimedia operations.
• The Newsroom Season 1: “Changed Man” Trailer-
  youtube.com
• Conan O’Brien ‘Resigns’ as Mashable CEO-
  mashable.com
  - Conan O’Brien
  

  Conan O’Brien has learned that, due to an unfortunate misunderstanding, he did not buy Mashable and oust CEO Pete Cashmore. Instead, he purchased a Mash TV fan site. He regrets the error and is returning Mashable to Pete Cashmore’s control.
  More About: conan o’brien
  For more Social Media coverage:
  Follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter
  Become a Fan on Facebook
  Subscribe to the Social Media channel
  Download our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad
• Ashton Kutcher to play Steve Jobs – Entertainment News, EXCLUSIVE, Media – Variety-
  variety.com
  The King of Twitter is now the King of Apple, as “Two and a Half Men” star Ashton Kutcher is attached to play Steve Jobs in the indie pic “Jobs,” which Joshua Michael Stern (“Swing Vote”) will direct from a script by Matt Whiteley.. EXCLUSIVE from the entertainment source: Variety. Ashton Kutcher to play Steve Jobs.
• Police Are Using Phone Tracking as a Routine Tool-
  nytimes.com
  - By ERIC LICHTBLAU
  

  Law enforcement tracking of cellphones is a convenient surveillance tool in many situations, but it is unclear if using such technology without a warrant violates the Constitution.
• OMGPOP CEO tweets that only employee not to transition to Zynga was the “weakest” one | VentureBeat-
  venturebeat.com
  

  Last week, GamesBeat reported that Shay Pierce was the only OMGPOP employee to decline a position with Zynga after it bought the Draw Something developer.
• Conan O’Brien Buys Mashable, Ousts Pete Cashmore as CEO-
  mashable.com
  - Conan O’Brien
  

  Hello, fellow Mashables. It’s Conan O’Brien, and I’ve got big news. Two hours ago, I purchased Mashable.com. I’ve taken it over. Why did I take it over? Very simple reason.
  I’m sick and tired of scanning the Internet looking for any news about technology: Devices, gadgets, what’s coming up, maybe even a rating system for gadgets that are out there. It doesn’t exist on the web and it’s high time it did.
  I go to the Mashable see the atrocious job they’re doing. So I decided it’s time for me to ta…  show all text
• Google Maps 8-bit for NES-
  youtube.com

Interesting story. Barter Books looks like my kind of book shop.
#tlw

Cross Posted from Google+

https://plus.google.com/101567686389173421706/posts/J5aLXy9z8k9

Tech news – March 28th 2012 to March 31st 2012:

• Not an April Fool – Charlie’s Diary-
  antipope.org
  - Charlie Stross
  There is an app, currently on the Apple app store as a free download, called Girls Around Me.
  A couple of days ago, computer journalist John Brownlee wrote an essay about it explaining why he found it disturbing. I’d like to propose that it is symptomatic of a really major side-effect of our forced acculturation into Facebook’s broken model of human social interaction—a broken model shared by all the most successful social networks, by design—and that it is going to get much worse, until it kil…  show all text
• Current TV Dismisses Keith Olbermann – NYTimes.com-
• mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com
  - By BRIAN STELTER
  

  Current TV said Friday afternoon that it had terminated the contract of its lead anchor, Keith Olbermann, scarcely a year after he was hired to reboot the channel in his progressive political image.
• Look how high this robot can jump!-
  kottke.org
  - Jason Kottke
  I followed a link to this video from Twitter. “Oh, a small jumping robot,” I thought, “I bet it hops over a chair or something.” Not even close. Check this out:Boston Dynamics is at it again…they did the Big Dog and cheetah robots as well. What are the odds that they change their name to Cyberdyne Systems in the next few years? (via @jcn)
  Update: I did a quick calculation…if a 6-ft-tall human could jump as high as this robot relative to its height, they could jump 315 feet into the air, h…  show all text
• From Twitter – RT @vergeTweetDeck taken down after user was allegedly able to access ‘hundreds’ of other accounts http://t.co/a5otYqhh
• Check out tonight’s CNET panel with top Silicon Valley investors | Bootstrap – CNET News-
  news.cnet.com
  - Paul Sloan
  

  Join us for our first CNET Community Series, where we’ll be talking all things startups.
• Who is the Route 29 Batman? This guy. – Rosenwald, Md. – The Washington Post-
  washingtonpost.com
  

  The Batman pulled over last week on Route 29 in Silver Spring is a Baltimore County businessman who visits hospitals to entertain sick children. “It feels like I have a responsibility that’s beyond a normal person,” he says.
• Wind Map-
  hint.fm
• BlueTales » JetBlue » Flight 191 Update-
  blog.jetblue.com
  - JetBlue
  There are lots of questions and comments about the incident onboard Flight 191 yesterday (the details of which are now a matter of FBI investigation) and what protocol we have in place for such scenarios. Here are the top 10 questions we’re getting and the facts as we know them:
  1. You’re saying it’s a “medical situation” but isn’t it a security issue? Initial reports indicated that Flight 191 was diverting to Amarillo due to a medical situation. As the events unfolded, it became clear that sec…  show all text
• Coping With Twitter’s Unfollow Bug | TechCrunch-
  techcrunch.com
  

  If you’re like me, you may have noticed that Twitter may be arbitrarily, randomly, and haphazardly, unfollowing people you fully intended to follow. Similarly, if you’ve ever noticed your friends and contacts unfollowed you, it may have caused a sense of confusion, dread, or self-insecurity. Before one spirals into a series of apologies or deep-depression, it’s likely not your fault, (whew!).What’s causing this? I’m not sure, so I asked my proper contacts at Twitter who responded “This is a bug…