Twitter

Twitter as local news station? Yes, please

If Twitter looked inward to bring me the most entertaining or educating information unfolding around me, I'd be one happy camper. The company is in the unique position of showing me what my neighbors, and even my local newscasters, think is most interesting right now.

The information network may already be testing such a tool for local discovery. The company reportedly wants to surface the most relevant tweets nearby, as determined by spikes in related activity. Twitter even piloted the feature in Boston around the time of the tragic Boston Marathon bombings, according to AllThingsD.

The Boston example, though … Read more

The great Twitter 'text-your-parents-you're-a-drug-dealer' experiment

Twitter might well be a repository for half-truths, halfwits, and even the half cut, but sometimes it has its uses.

One consists of trying to get your followers to provide some entertainment.

How can one not commend Nathan Fielder, star of Comedy Central's "Nathan For You," for creating art in action with the help merely of his followers, their phones, and their parents?

He took to Twitter and made a very simple request. He asked his followers to text their parents accidentally that they had drugs for sale and to screenshoot their reactions.

The text they were to send read: "Got 2 grams for $40." A price not to be sniffed at. They were then to offer an oopsie that the text had gone to the wrong recipient.… Read more

Twitter may soon tell you what's going on nearby, right now

If you've ever wondered what people near you are tweeting about in real-time and thought that might help you find cool things going on nearby, Twitter may soon offer exactly that feature.

According to AllThingsD, Twitter may well be working on new features that would show tweets from people near you.

"Twitter is in the process of testing a new feature that lets you discover tweets from people within a certain distance of your location," AllThingsD said it had been told by multiple sources. "The idea is to surface relevant activity based on where you are … Read more

Twitter for Mac gets Retina display support and renewed commitment

After nearly two years of neglect, Twitter has finally refreshed its Mac desktop application with a few new features.

Thursday, the company released a Mac app with simplified photo-sharing options, support for Retina displays, and 14 new languages.

"Now Twitter is even more vibrant and detailed on the highest resolution Mac notebooks," Ben Sandofsky, product lead, wrote about the Retina addition. "With this update, Tweets will be clearer and sharper, creating a more vivid experience."

The enhanced application and accompanying blog post, which promises additional improvements, should allay some concerns around the application's imminent end. … Read more

Sunil Tripathi, falsely linked on social media to Boston bombings, found dead

Sunil Tripathi, the Brown University student falsely identified by people posting on Reddit and Twitter as a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings, is dead.

The 22-year-old's body was recovered from the waters around India Point Park in Rhode Island. In a post on Facebook, Tripathi's family confirmed Tripathi's death and offered the following note:

As we carry indescribable grief, we also feel incredible gratitude. To each one of you-from our hometown to many distant lands-we extend our thanks for the words of encouragement, for your thoughts, for your hands, for your prayers, and for the love … Read more

Bill Clinton joins Twitter (for real this time)

I can only hope he was influenced more by Stephen Colbert than by Anthony Weiner.

Whichever it was, Bill Clinton is now officially on Twitter. As himself.

Within what seemed like minutes of his arrival, he garnered more than 198,000 followers, all of whom, no doubt, will be hanging on his every syllable.

You may recall that the president was inveigled recently by Colbert to joining Twitter against his own volition. Colbert even opened the @PrezBillyJeff account without the president's apparent knowledge or approval.

Former President Clinton freely admitted to Colbert he was worried about tweeting and getting … Read more

Twitter Music founder leaves to join Jelly, a new startup

The man responsible for helping lead the team that built Twitter's music app has reportedly stepped down.

According to AllThingsD, Kevin Thau is leaving Twitter to join a startup launched by Twitter co-founder Biz Stone called Jelly. Thau is said to be the new chief operating officer of the startup.

Last month, news first appeared that Stone was preparing to add Jelly to his line of startups. It's said to be a company that will most likely produce a product to be featured on smartphones and tablets.

Twitter hired Thau in 2009 to be a director of mobile … Read more

Busy fall for Apple, Xbox, and Amazon

CNET Update is out of breath:

Apple fans will have to wait until the fall for new "amazing" products, or so promises CEO Tim Cook.

Samsung fans will also be doing some waiting. The Galaxy S4 was said to hit stores this weekend, but the smartphone is facing supply issues -- and that's causing T-Mobile and Sprint to push back launch dates and only sell online. But you may be able to find one on Saturday in stores at AT&T, and on Tuesday at U.S. Cellular. [Read CNET's review here.]

For shoppers that … Read more

AP Twitter feed returns, minus many followers, after hacking

After spending the better part of a day offline -- following a hacking and fake tweet incident that caused a violent hiccup in the stock market -- the AP Twitter is back up and tweeting -- albeit, to far fewer followers.

The main Associated Press Twitter feed had almost 2 million followers Tuesday morning. That was before the Syrian Electronic Army apparently got hold of the account and tweeted the "breaking news" that a bomb had gone off in the White House, injuring President Obama. The hoax was almost instantaneously called out -- the formatting and channel used to send the tweet weren't consistent with AP standards. Also, it didn't go unnoticed that a live press conference happening at the time in the White House was uninterrupted by a bomb blast in the building.… Read more