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Sunday, June 19, 2011

47 New Digital Media Resources You May Have Missed (Mashable) : Technet

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47 New Digital Media Resources You May Have Missed (Mashable) : Technet

47 New Digital Media Resources You May Have Missed (Mashable)

Posted: 18 Jun 2011 11:52 AM PDT

Stephanie Buck Stephanie Buck – Sat Jun 18, 2:52 pm ET

This week's roundup delivers news, advice and trends aplenty. Searching for the next Facebook? Nervous about the security of mobile payment options? Eager to incorporate game-like incentives into your workplace? We're here to satisfy your curiosity and fill you in on all that you may have missed this week. Looking for even more social media resources? This guide appears every weekend, and you can check out all the lists-gone-by here any time.

[More from Mashable: First-Generation GPS [COMIC]]

Editors' Picks

Social Media

New Internet era beckons with company domain names (AFP)

Posted: 19 Jun 2011 02:13 PM PDT

by Bernice Han Bernice Han – Sun Jun 19, 5:13 pm ET

SINGAPORE (AFP) – A global body that charts the course of the Internet is set to vote in Singapore on Monday on a potentially revolutionary plan to open up new domain suffixes for private companies.

Under the changes to be discussed at a meeting of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), businesses would no longer be restricted to the list of generic top level domains (gTLDs) that include .com, .net and .org when they apply to register a website address.

Industry observers say global giants such as Apple, Toyota and BMW, to cite examples from various regions, could be in the vanguard of launching websites with their own domain names.

"New gTLDs represent one of the biggest changes to the Internet since its inception," said Michele Jourdan, communications manager for the ICANN.

"While they won't have a technical impact on the way the Internet operates, they could potentially change the way people find information and how businesses plan and structure their online presence," she told AFP.

ICANN, a non-profit body managing the Domain Name System and Internet Protocol addresses that form the technical backbone of the Web, is holding a six-day global meeting in Singapore to discuss a range of matters.

Its board will vote on Monday on whether to proceed with the new gTLD programme, and an ICANN source said approval was expected.

"Corporations may choose to apply for their own domain, offering them new possibilities for structuring their online and offline presence," said Jourdan.

"They may also offer corporations better brand control.

"Additionally, entirely new domains may come into existence that bring about new commercial opportunities."

But it won't come cheap.

It will cost a company $185,000 just to apply and there are a number of criteria that must be met before ICANN will give the nod for a firm to own the domain name of its choice.

The fee is needed to recoup the costs associated with the new gTLD programme and to ensure that it is fully funded, ICANN said.

It would also weed out opportunistic applicants seeking to resell domain names for a profit after buying them cheaply, a problem in the earlier days of the Internet.

According to the draft new gTLD applicant guidebook dated May 30, only "established corporations, organisations, or institutions in good standing may apply for a new gTLD".

ICANN will not consider applications from individuals or sole proprietorships.

Australia's Fairfax says paywalls necessary (AFP)

Posted: 19 Jun 2011 11:43 AM PDT

– Sun Jun 19, 2:43 pm ET

SYDNEY (AFP) – Australian media company Fairfax Sunday said paywalls were necessary for its business, days after rival publisher News Limited said it would start charging for some online access later this year.

Fairfax Media head Greg Hywood said the company, which publishes The Sydney Morning Herald and the Melbourne-based The Age, would introduce "nuanced" paywalls, but keep much content open to build its readership.

"We've said that our new app will be a paid product. We will have payment... perhaps behind some paywalls for very special material," Hywood told ABC TV.

"But we want to make sure that people have access to our brands, because if your business is creating audiences, you don't reduce your audiences by taking too much money upfront."

He said The Australian Financial Review, which already has "quite a high paywall", was being looked at to try to broaden access to its material for a wider audience.

Hywood said in the "post classified" Fairfax, the company would work differently to how newspapers had traditionally operated.

"I mean, fundamentally those little print classified advertising which made up the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age for a hundred-plus year, that business has gone online, and Fairfax has captured a portion of that, not all of that," he said.

"What we do with our business now across print and online and tablets is that we use our content, our journalism to create audiences. And the new model is about creating those audiences and creating advertising, not just in print, but across audiences."

He defended a restructure that will see sub-editing duties on The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Sun-Herald, and The Sunday Age no longer carried out in house but handed over to Pagemasters, a subsidiary of the Australian Associated Press news agency.

"What this is really about is a reallocation of resources," he said, adding that the savings made from production would be reinvested in the reporting, writing and design of the papers.

Earlier this month Rupert Murdoch's News Ltd said it would start charging for online access to national broadsheet The Australian from October, although some content will remain free.

The newspaper's paywall will be modelled on the media mogul's Wall Street Journal, offering a mix of free and subscription-only material.

Since Murdoch's News Corp. announced its intention to launch digital subscriptions in 2009 to counter shrinking newspaper circulation and eroding print advertising revenue, at least 50 papers around the world have begun charging for online journalism.

Why Android Has More Free Apps Than the iPhone (ContributorNetwork)

Posted: 19 Jun 2011 02:46 PM PDT

Jared Spurbeck Jared Spurbeck – Sun Jun 19, 5:46 pm ET
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It's official: There are now more free apps available in the Android Market than in the iTunes App Store. But is this really a good thing, for Android or Android phone owners?

On the surface, it seems like it. Who doesn't like getting free apps? When you look deeper, though, you realize that the reason there are so many free Android apps is one of the same reasons Android apps tend to be ugly: The extremely low barrier to entry.

Undiscriminating taste

As I explained in that article, it's a lot easier to get an app on the Android Market than it is to get one on the App Store. First, it costs less: A one-time fee of $25, plus $20 to sell paid apps, gives you Android Market access for life, compared to $99 per year for the App Store.

Second, the skills that it requires aren't as specialized. iPhone, iPad, and Mac apps are written in Objective-C using the Cocoa libraries, and are basically the only things in the world that use them. Meanwhile, Android uses Java. Java is extremely common, is taught in most colleges' programming courses, and is relatively easy to learn and to work with.

And third, the Android Market doesn't have any kind of approval process. To get on the App Store, your app has to be reviewed and approved by Apple, and screened to make sure it's not malware. In contrast, anything can be put on the Android Market. And while Google removes malware once it's found, its biggest defense is that apps have to ask permission to do anything to your phone. So if an app doesn't request phone privileges up-front, it can't call 900 numbers while you sleep (or something).

Caveat emptor?

For the record, I think Android's low barrier to entry is a good thing. It means more people can get started writing apps for it, or even do so on the side as a hobby. And not needing permission to upload an app means that app developers can get instant feedback, and can update their apps whenever they like. I even like the "requesting permission" thing, since it feels more respectful and less Big Brother-y than letting Apple control everything that goes on my phone. (This short, animated video on "trusted computing" explains what I mean.)

The thing is, Android's number of free apps isn't a feature, per se. It's a symptom, of Android's low barrier to entry. A lot of those free "apps" are wallpapers, ringtones, puzzle games featuring copyrighted characters, or even unfinished, personal projects. There is actually an app on the Market called This Is A Test, and its best feature may be its funny reviews. ("I can now breathe underwater! Thanks to this app!")

So the point isn't that free apps are bad, or that the Android Market is necessarily worse for users or developers than the iTunes App Store is. The point is that there's a reason for Android's inflated number of free apps, and it's not really something to brag about.

Jared Spurbeck is an open-source software enthusiast, who uses an Android phone and an Ubuntu laptop PC. He has been writing about technology and electronics since 2008.

New York Post website no longer permits iOS Safari to access it (Digital Trends)

Posted: 19 Jun 2011 06:02 PM PDT

Adam Rosenberg Adam Rosenberg – Sun Jun 19, 9:02 pm ET

new-york-post-app

Here's a strange development in the world of online news consumption. A switch has been flipped that now prevents iPad users from accessing the New York Post's web content in the iOS-powered browser, Safari. Non-iOS tablets can still navigate to the website and mobile phones, including the iPhone, can get into the mobile site. Navigate there in Safari for iPad, however, and you'll be redirected to a product page that asks you to grab the official New York Post app (via PaidContent.org).

The app itself costs $1.99, but you'll need a subscription if you want to read through regular content. The minimum you can spend is $6.99 per month, though $39.99 and $74.99 6-month and 12-month options, respectively, are also available. Print subscriptions don't include access to the digital content and vice versa, so if you want your Post served fresh daily both ways, you'll need to pony up two times.

Or you could also, you know… not. For the time being at least, this paywall is restricted to iPad users in the Safari browser. All smartphones and non-iOS tablets golden, but even if all you have is an Apple tablet, there are still options.

A number of third-party web browsers are available in the App Store. While Safari is tops for the platform, a few of these others — Atomic Web Browser comes to mind — are perfectly functional and easy-to-use, with the added benefit of including a settings option for changing what's called the user agent so websites detect a browser other that iPad Safari. If you're using a jailbroken tablet all you need is a little app called User Agent Faker (available on Cydia), which essentially does the same thing for Safari. Alternatively, you could just get your news elsewhere.

Well-Educated but Obnoxious Cell Phone User Ejected from Train (ContributorNetwork)

Posted: 19 Jun 2011 09:44 AM PDT

Marilisa Kinney Sachteleben Marilisa Kinney Sachteleben – Sun Jun 19, 12:44 pm ET
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High five to the New York Metro North train employee who asked the loud, offensive cell phone user to tone it down. Thumbs down to the cell phone user who informed the train employee that she was "too well educated" to be asked to quiet down and stop using the F-bomb. Methinks the lady doth protest too much.

The NY train passenger was caught on cell phone ranting to the train employee who had asked her to quiet down. Numerous times, the rider repeated that she was not "some little hoodlum". That's a bizarre and slanderous comment to make about kids. Kids aren't the only people who inappropriately use cell phones. Clearly, from her use of the f-bomb, kids aren't the only ones to use foul language. Kids learn bad habits from adults.

Several times, the woman refers to herself as a well-educated woman. She rudely asks if the train employee is aware of how many schools she's been to. Vulgar cursing and an ivy league education make strange bedfellows. Even in plebeian high schools, cursing is verboten. It's unfair expect to have better behavior than adults. My grandfather always said that you could tell how cultured a person was by the amount or lack of cursing in their vocabulary.

Regardless of how well-educated she is, the woman seems to have missed the lectures on common sense and common courtesy. She's basically saying, "I am educated, therefore the rules don't apply to me; actually, the reverse is true. The rules apply to you, even more so because you have learned how to communicate properly.

You can watch in the video how rude and obnoxious the woman is even when confronting the train attendant. Did she learn nothing about problem-solving at her many schools? Children are taught in preschool not to scream and abuse each other when settling minor playground differences. Sounds like "well-educated woman" needs to go back to the basics.

It's good to see public transportation employees cracking down on loud cell phone users. Another woman was escorted off a train when she talked for 16 hours in a loud, carrying voice. I screamed with laughter at the description of riding with 16-hour-talker Lakeysha Beard: like being in "the fifth circle of hell". No wonder everyone cheered when authorities decided to "throw mama from the train." Danny Devito and Billy Crystal would have loved it.

Some of us parents are scrupulous about behavior expectations for our children in public. We don't allow our children to be loud, disruptive or disrespectful. We expect them to speak in a reasonable tone. Then along comes some adult who talks like a sailor and babbles loudly and incessantly. The only good thing that can be said is that it provides a good negative example. I always tell my kids: "See that? That's how I don't want you to act."

People who talk loudly on cell phones or in public are generally exhibitionists. They want everyone to hear their conversations. They crave attention. I like people well enough, but I'm not that interested in my fellow man that I want to hear every detail of their conversation. I'm one of those people who get annoyed with public displays of private issues. It makes me want to smash the cell phone and plug the yap-hole with an apple.

"Well-educated woman" was fortunate in that she chose a patient, professional train attendant to rant to. I'm sure the rest of the passengers wanted to launch her bodily from the train on her well-educated rear end.

Marilisa Kinney Sachteleben writes from 22 years parenting four children and 25 years teaching K-8, special needs, communication, adult education and homeschool.

Sync up your own music to keep motivated when working out with BeatBurn (Appolicious)

Posted: 19 Jun 2011 10:30 AM PDT

Google follows through on ‘mobile first’ philosophy (Appolicious)

Posted: 19 Jun 2011 09:00 AM PDT

Google buys DVR company SageTV: Google TV upgrade coming? (Digital Trends)

Posted: 18 Jun 2011 09:02 PM PDT

Andrew Couts Andrew Couts – Sun Jun 19, 12:02 am ET

sage-tv-google-google-TV

Industry watchers received a shock Saturday night with news that Google has purchased DVR software and set-top box company SageTV. The announcement came via an email sent to SageTV customers and a near-identical statement posted to the company's website, which has ceased all functionality aside from a landing page that explains the acquisition.

"[A]s the media landscape continues to evolve, we think it's time our vision of entertainment management grows as well," said SageTV in a statement. "By teaming up with Google, we believe our ideas will reach an even larger audience of users worldwide on many different products, platforms and services."

SageTV goes on to explain that it believes Google's "developer efforts…stimulate innovation across the web." The two companies also have a "shared vision for open technology," which will help SageTV "advance the online entertainment experience."

In its email to customers, SageTV explained that its store has been entirely shut down, but customer support for its DVR products "will continue." The SageTV forum will remain up and running, the company said.

Neither the price Google paid for SageTV nor any other details about the sale have yet been announced.

Started in 2002, SageTV has produced versatile DVR software that works with Mac OS X, Windows and Linux operating systems. The software's fexibility makes it possible to turn almost any computer with a TV tuner card into the primary hub of a home entertainment system.

SageTV software accepts nearly any audio, video or photo file format tossed its way, so a machine loaded with SageTV becomes one of the most powerful consumer products available. Some popular features included Internet video and Netflix support; commercial auto-skip and clean, easy navigation. And since the company has also produced set-top boxes that can play media directly from a USB drive, SageTV became a hit amongst the tech-savvy crowd.

Google's purchase of SageTV ignites curiosity as to whether its technology (and dev team) will be used to revitalize Google TV, an Internet TV software that has been panned as an "underwhelming" product.

We've been hearing for a while now that Google TV would get a much-needed upgrade. We didn't realize, however, that it would come from this neck of the woods. That said, it makes sense for Google TV to get a dose of placeshifting functionality, which the integration of SageTV would inject into the product. Here's to hoping Google doesn't squander something good.

Watch a video about SageTV software:

Penney's shopping experience could be transformed (AP)

Posted: 19 Jun 2011 01:58 PM PDT

By ANNE D'INNOCENZIO, AP Retail Writer Anne D'innocenzio, Ap Retail Writer – Sun Jun 19, 4:58 pm ET

NEW YORK – Imagine the possibilities of J.C. Penney in the future: An iPad enables one shopper to mix and match shirts and slacks without having to undress. A teen sends a mobile photo of a skirt to her father, who pays for it without leaving home by using his smartphone.

Ron Johnson, the man who helped make Apple stores hip, will take over the CEO helm at J.C. Penney from Myron Ullman III in November. Johnson has declined to discuss his plans for the retailer other than to say he wants to "reimagine" the store. But industry watchers say they expect him to borrow from Apple's playbook to completely transform the retailer, increasing Penney's mobile and Web efforts and changing everything from the way customers pay for clothes to how employees are trained.

"Johnson's skill set matches Penney's need set: customer experience, branding and innovation," says Craig R. Johnson, president of retail consultant Customer Growth Partners. "If you can introduce one quarter of Apple's coolness, that will do a lot to make them a mall destination, instead of a mall sidebar."

With Johnson as Penney's CEO, the retailer is in an enviable position as other merchants have struggled to replicate Apple's excitement in its stores. During Johnson's 11 years at Apple as senior vice president of retail, Apple has grown to more than 300 stores in the U.S. and abroad and has become the gold standard among retailers looking to make their stores hip and exciting.

Sales associates are trained to not just hawk products, but to be problem solvers and cheerleaders. For instance, Johnson has been credited for creating the popular Genius Bar, where customers can get hands-on technical support. And when shoppers walk out of the store with a newly-launched product, sales representatives applaud.

That strategy has translated into packed stores. Apple said it attracted 71.1 million visitors to its stores in its latest quarter, more than the 60 million who flocked to Walt Disney Co.'s four biggest theme parks for the entire year, according to Themed Entertainment Association.

Penney, based in Plano, Texas, could use a boost. Its performance has lagged key rivals as its core middle-class customers have been among the hardest hit by economic woes. Penney's average household income is $45,000, compared with $65,000 at Kohl's and $75,000 at Macy's, says Deborah Weinswig, retail analyst at Citigroup Global Markets.

Last year, revenue at Penney's stores open at least a year rose 2.5 percent, compared with 4.6 percent for Macy's and 4.4 percent for Kohl's. Sales at stores open at least a year is a key measure of a retailer's financial health. Penney's total revenue climbed to $17.76 billion in fiscal 2010, up from $17.55 billion in 2009, but it's still below the $19.9 billion it generated in 2006.

To spur sales, Penney updated its merchandise. Since Ullman became CEO in December 2004, Penney has added more trendy offerings, including Sephora cosmetics boutiques and lines such as Cindy Crawford Style home furnishings. It's also the only department store selling MNG by Mango, a European clothing chain.

But in its quest to go after hipper brands, analysts say Penney neglected its stores. With the merchandise updated, they say they expect the new CEO to focus on revamping the stores and expanding Penney's mobile and Web efforts, which so far have made it a leader in technology among its peers.

Ullman last year held a meeting for its board of directors at Facebook's headquarters in Silicon Valley to teach them about the power of social media. That same year, Penney became the first major retailer to enable shoppers to buy merchandise on its Facebook page without leaving the social media page.

Kiosks in Penney's stores — 42-inch touchscreen fixtures that allow shoppers to order merchandise not available in the stores — are also more interactive than the ones in its peers' stores. Penney's kiosks allow customers to email messages about an online item, for example.

Penney also became the first home furnishings and clothing retailer to allow customers to receive mobile coupons. "Penney has really become focused on tying in the mobile experience back to their stores," says Lori Schafer, executive adviser at SAS Institute Inc., which creates software for major retailers.

Schafer says she expects Johnson to push Penney even further in mobile technology, particularly embracing a program to convert cellphones into so-called digital wallets with which people can make purchases. She also expects Penney to look at new ways to identify the most loyal customers as they walk in the store — and take care of their shopping needs — if the customer grants permission.

Initially, Johnson will not take over operation of Penney's stores and some other responsibilities that Ullman will retain when he becomes executive chairman. The duties Johnson will oversee immediately as CEO include merchandising strategy, marketing and product development.

Shares soared 17.5 percent on Tuesday, the day Penney announced it had poached Johnson. But they have since lost 3 percent, closing at $34.29 per share on Friday on the news that Johnson would not assume all the responsibilities of the CEO role immediately.

The company has declined to give a timeline for when Johnson would assume all CEO duties. Burt Flickinger III, president of retail consultancy Strategic Resource Group, says the arrangement could last two years.

Flickinger says such a division of duties is rare, but it will afford Johnson time to get acclimated to the company. In the meantime, Flickinger said he expects Johnson will have immediate influence on all areas of business.

"It's going to be collaborative," he says. With rapid-fire changes in store technology, Penney can't afford to hold Johnson back, he added.
at 10:16 PM

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