Cyrcle is a bit hard to define. It's a Kickstarter project. It's an augmented-reality device. It's a creature of social media. Its maker Symplio calls it an "intelligent decorative object."
We met Cyrcle's prototype predecessor Rymble last year. The new incarnation is pretty different, though they both share a circular shape and a similar desire to bring social-media notifications into the real world. … Read more
Alas for those excited by a video seemingly showing an eagle's unsuccessful attempt to carry off a child: it's not real.
"A shadow analysis revealed some pretty severe inconsistencies," said Kevin Connor, president of Fourandsix, an imaging forensics specialist. "It appears to be a fake."
Just as Fourandsix was digging into the matter, a Montreal school said animation students were behind the video. It "was made by Normand Archambault, Loic Mireault, and Felix Marquis-Poulin, students at Centre NAD, in the production simulation workshop class of the Bachelors degree in 3D Animation and Digital Design," a statement from the center said. "Hoaxes produced in this class have already garnered attention, amongst others a video of a penguin having escaped the Montreal Biodome." … Read more
Offensive or controversial messages posted to social networks might not lead to prosecution if users show a little remorse, the U.K.'s Crown Prosecution Service said today.
In a 14-page guide (PDF) published today on prosecuting cases related to social-media use, the CPS said that while some posters might publish "grossly offensive, obscene, or false" information on Twitter or Facebook that they could be prosecuted for, they can escape such issues if they quickly remove it from the site.
"If a message is taken down very swiftly and there is remorse, then it may not be proportionate to have a criminal prosecution," Keir Starmer, director of public prosecutions, said today in an interview with the Guardian. "It is not a defense that you have sobered up, but it is relevant that whatever the material was, it was taken down pretty quickly when the person realized it was inappropriate."… Read more
As the old Internet saying goes, "If you use something for free, you are the product for sale."
Facebook and its shiny new acquisition Instagram seemed to have taken that maxim to its logical extreme when Instagram announced new terms and conditions yesterday granting it the ability to license users' photos for display by advertisers without user consent and without compensation.
Whatever Instagram's actual plans for our photos -- artfully filtered iStock photos? sponsored posts of latte art? -- or the full legal implications (some argue that Instagram already owned your photos), the ramifications of the terms … Read more
Whether you love them or hate them, memes -- culturally relevant multimedia often enhanced with a witty caption -- are here to stay.
In an attempt to crown the king of all that is viral, the meme maniacs at the site Know Your Meme analyzed internal page views, search interest on Google Trends, covers, and even parodies to suss out the top memes of 2012. … Read more
You can't visit too many museums at 3 a.m. in your underwear, but The Big Internet Museum welcomes visitors at any hour, in any attire. Appropriately, the new museum dedicated completely to the Internet exists online only.
The newly opened museum houses seven wings, each devoted to a different category spanning past to present.
In the history wing, visitors can take a nostalgic scroll back to early search engine AltaVista and JennyCAM, Jennifer Ringley's 1996 popular personal Webcam site. The technology wing touches on Usenet, HTML, and Lycos, among others, while the meme wing rounds up such classics as Star Wars Kid, Numa Numa Guy, and Rickroll. Other wing topics include social media, peripherals, gaming, and audio-visual (emoticons, Napster, YouTube). … Read more
There's a certain beauty to the Festivus pole. It's tall. It's undecorated. It's made from aluminum, a material with a high strength-to-weight ratio. It doesn't have the maintenance needs of a Christmas tree and its plain, unfussy look thoroughly captures the spirit of Festivus. Though Festivus isn't celebrated until December 23, Google is already getting in on the holiday action.
When you google the word "Festivus," you get all the expected search results. There's a link to Wikipedia. There's a link to a place to buy Festivus poles. And, hello... what's this, Google? There's a virtual Festivus pole over on the left side of the screen. Scroll down and you reach the base.… Read more
Offering a blessing to his many followers, the pope's first tweet quickly traveled far and wide through the Twittersphere.
In the first few hours, the tweet picked up more than 38,000 retweets and was tagged as a favorite by nearly 13,000 people.
The first tweet from the head of the Roman Catholic church:
Dear friends, I am pleased to get in touch with you through Twitter. Thank you for your generous response. I bless all of you from my heart.We're coming close to the doomsday of Mayan calendar/Nibiru lore and there's a huge, mountain-size asteroid in the neighborhood of Earth this week. Coincidence?
Of course it is. Sorry, apocalypse fans. The 3.4-mile-long asteroid known as 4179 Toutatis will pass within 18 lunar distances of Earth on Wednesday, December 12, but won't require sending Steve Buscemi, Ben Affleck and friends to take it out. … Read more
A new initiative in London will give passengers free Internet minutes in exchange for watching adverts en route to their destination.
Startup Eyetease has gotten approval from the Transport for London to roll out a new scheme for the city's iconic black cabs that will allow drivers and passengers to connect to the Internet for free in exchange for viewing ads.
Dubbed CabWiFi, the "ads for access" model makes passengers watch a 15-second advert in exchange for 15 minutes of Wi-Fi time. Drivers are given a separate login for the service, which the company touts as a way for cabbies to offset some of the roaming charges that are inflating drivers' monthly phone bills. … Read more
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