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Morning Brief: Russia Bans YouTube, Amazon?s New Kindle, Motorola Earnings
from Mashable!
(2010/7/29 9:26)
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This series is brought to you by HTC EVO 4G , America’s first 4G phone. Only from Sprint. The “First to Know” series keeps you in the know on what’s happening now in the world of social media and technology. Welcome to this morning’s edition of “First To Know,” a series in which we keep you in the know on what’s happening in the digital world today. We’re keeping our eyes on four particular stories of interest today. YouTube banned in Russia over Racist Video A Russian court has demanded that a Russian ISP block access to YouTube , as well as the Internet Archive and three online libraries, for hosting extremist videos and writings by Adolf Hitler, respectively. Russia joins a growing list of governments who have blocked access to the video hosting site, including China , Brazil, Indonesia , Iran, Morocco , Pakistan , Tunisia, Turkey , Saudi Arabia, Syria, Thailand and the United Ara ...
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Opera Mini Serves One Billion Daily Page Views
from Mashable!
(2010/7/29 5:31)
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Despite the fact that popular smartphones such as the iPhone and Android already have great web browsers, Opera’s Java ME-based mobile browser Opera Mini is constantly growing. According to Opera, on July 25th it served one billion page views. The mobile browser, which recently dropped the beta tag from the already quite polished version 5.0 , has been growing steadily over the past couple of years. In June 2008, it was serving 100 million page views every day; in June 2010, this number was 910 million. Opera Mini’s distinguishing feature is its compression technology, which compresses web page content up to 90% on Opera’s servers before sending them to the actual device, which saves time and bandwidth. To try out Opera Mini, point your mobile browser m.opera.com . Reviews: Opera , Opera Mini More About: opera , opera mini , web browser For more Mobile coverage: Follow Mashable Mobile on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook ...
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The New Kindle: Smaller, Faster, Cheaper
from Mashable!
(2010/7/29 2:50)
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Today, Amazon announced the newest generation of Kindle, its popular e-reader. As hardware is wont to do, the newest version of the Kindle has become smaller and lighter while retaining its 6-inch reading area. Contrast on the screen has improved by 50%, and page turns are 20% faster. Storage on the device has doubled, and battery life is up to an entire month. And for you type geeks, new custom fonts and hinting on the device mean that words and letters will be more crisp, clear and natural-looking. What more consumers will be interested in, however, is the price on the WiFi-only version of Kindle: a cool $139 , which undercuts Barnes & Noble’s Nook e-reader by $10. Kindle with 3G wireless connectivity will still retail for $189, and Kindle’s larger, newspaper- and magazine-oriented DX model is selling for $379. The new devices will ship to customers in more than 140 countries and 30 territories starting on August 27. We last saw some si ...
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Google Makes Custom Web Typography Ridiculously Easy
from Mashable!
(2010/7/29 2:15)
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Google has once again given an excellent new tool to designers and developers (and even CSS-savvy “common folk”) who long for better, more diverse typefaces on the web: a cool Font Previewer that makes adding a new font to your site as simple as copy/pasting a few lines of code. Back in May, Google rolled out its Font Directory and the Google Fonts API. The idea was that these tools would make it simpler for designers and devs to embed a wider range of fonts in their sites and applications. The previewer takes a few steps out of that process by giving you an idea of how a given typeface will look on your site; letting you adjust the font size and weight; letting you tinker with the leading, kerning and tracking; generating a number of drop shadows if you require them; and generating the code you need to make the magic happen. It’s pretty hot. Here’s what it looks like: If you click “Toggle controls,” you can see what ...
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5 Ways Facebook Questions Can Be Improved
from Mashable!
(2010/7/29 1:21)
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Facebook’s newest feature , Questions, has the potential to bring social Q&A into the mainstream. But like most beta features and apps, Questions is somewhat fragmented, and suffers from usability issues and apparent bugs. It could also benefit from a more seamless and connected integration across the social platform. Perhaps most notably, the feature could be more effectively integrated with Facebook Pages, which are used by millions of users and brands worldwide. To better engage their audience and customers, brands and publishers will look to take advantage of the feature with their pages – a place they have built their following, their social Facebook hub. Though Facebook told Mashable’s Ben Parr that brands will eventually be able to answer questions using their pages, the current functionality is limited and disjointed. Because the new feature is still in beta and not yet available to all users, we thought we’d provide ...
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YouTube Banned in Russia Over Racist Video
from Mashable!
(2010/7/28 22:59)
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A court in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Russia has demanded a Russian ISP block access to YouTube because the site hosted “Russia for Russians,” which was judged to be an extremist video. The court’s decision also applies to the Internet Archive and three online libraries, Lib.rus.ec, Thelib.ru and Zhurnal.ru, all of which were found to host writings by Adolf Hitler. With this ruling, Russian authorities join a long list of governments that have blocked access to YouTube at some point or another, including China, Brazil, Indonesia, Iran, Morocco, Pakistan, Tunisia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates. YouTube material has also been censored in the U.S. and U.K. Generally, these bans are instituted because the videos on the popular hosting site show something a government would rather its citizens not see, from state police brutality at a protest to unflattering depictions of its leadership to “immoral” or s ...
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With Zuckerberg Gone Android, Will Facebook Get Better Mobile Apps?
from Mashable!
(2010/7/28 22:08)
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Android users, rejoice! Facebook CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg will now be forced to feel your pain. The Android app for Facebook could be charitably described as less functional than the iPhone app. We’re sure there are good reasons for this, the greatest of which is likely market share. With iOS-running phones composing more than half of all smartphones, according to recent research, it’s in Facebook’s best interest to focus on this segment first. Still, for the ever-growing number of Android device users who also would like a little Facebook mobile action, the pared-down feature set of Facebook for Android makes us feel neglected — the redheaded stepchildren of Facebook mobile users. But now that “Zuck” is one of us, all that’s about to change… right? Historically, Facebook has made fairly few gestures toward the Android platform. It launched its official Android app last fall and rolled out an SDK f ...
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Charity Just Got More Daring with New Website
from Mashable!
(2010/7/28 21:30)
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This post is part of Mashable’s Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here . The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. Name: MyDunkTank Quick Pitch: Anyone can do a dare to raise money for a cause they support, and their friends and family can vote with their dollars for the dare one has to do. Genius Idea: There are already plenty of sites like JustGiving out there that help you get donations for a cause by hosting events or just straight up asking for dough, but MyDunkTank makes things more fun and lighthearted by making it into a dare . It goes like this: You go to the MyDunkTank website and name the charity you want to raise money for and how much you want to raise, then make a short list of dares that you’re willing to do. Tell your friends, family and colleagues about it, and they’ll eac ...
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Microsoft Has a New Take on Street-Level Maps [VIDEO]
from Mashable!
(2010/7/28 20:13)
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Microsoft is working on a new technology, dubbed Street Slide, aimed at reshaping the street-level mapping space currently dominated by Google Street View and Microsoft’s Bing Streetside. The company plans to present the technology at SIGGRAPH 2010 later this week. The big advantage of Street Slide is that it allows users to position and change the viewpoint of the camera, rather than relying on the limited view panorama that current technologies utilize. Multi-perspective is the name of the game with Street Slide and looking at the demonstration video, the difference between the old method and the new method is immediately apparent. Check out this Street Slide video: While the improved contextual viewpoints of Street Slide could be useful in any context, the real benefit is on the mobile side. MIT’s Technology Review spoke with the founder of EveryScape, a startup that captures panoramic imagery of buildings, who has alr ...
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QR Codes Used to Help Clean Up the Gulf
from Mashable!
(2010/7/28 19:30)
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BP may have been able to cap the oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico, but cleanup efforts are really just beginning. In an interesting intersection between technology and social activism, QR codes could prove instrumental in helping ensure that the Gulf is fully restored. Nonpartisan activist group Women of the Storm is rallying public support around Gulf restoration. They’ve started the celebrity-backed Be the One campaign to get signatures for their petition, which states: “I demand that a plan to restore America’s Gulf be fully funded and implemented for me and future generations.” ScanLife, makers of mobile barcode scanning technology, has stepped in to support the cause and they’re bringing QR codes to the rescue. ScanLife created a QR code that, when scanned, directs users to a mobile site where they can watch the Be the One video (embedded below) and sign the petition. Plus, a giant version of the QR code was put on ...
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