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Saturday, August 6, 2011

New App Searches Your Social Graph for the Right Contact [INVITES] (Mashable) : Technet

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New App Searches Your Social Graph for the Right Contact [INVITES] (Mashable) : Technet

New App Searches Your Social Graph for the Right Contact [INVITES] (Mashable)

Posted: 05 Aug 2011 12:49 PM PDT

Sarah Kessler Sarah Kessler – Fri Aug 5, 3:49 pm ET

The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. Name: Knod.es

[More from Mashable: Share Your MySpace Memories [OPEN THREAD]]

Quick Pitch: Knod.es searches Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook for the contacts who are likely to have the answer to your question.

Genius Idea: Analyzing public posts to find who frequently discusses a given topic.

[More from Mashable: Volunteer Matching Service Helps You Donate Your Professional Skills]

Snapgoods is a startup that connects people who want to rent or borrow something with the people in their social networks and neighborhood who are willing to lend it out. As with most new online services, the site makes it easy to reach out to your social graph for help with the task. "Know someone with a tent in New York?" I recently asked my Twitter population from the site. "Will pay up to $50 for three days."

But it's unlikely that this posting will result in a tent.

"There's just such a low conversion, when you sort of push into your stream "hey has anyone ever...? Or, hey, does anyone have a...?" Snapgoods co-founder Ron Williams says.

Williams's solution, which he and his co-founder put online about six weeks ago, is called Knod.es. Instead of posting an open-ended question to your social feeds, Knod.es helps find the people in your network who would be best to ask. It does this by searching the public activity of your contacts on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

When you search for "tent," for instance, the web app looks for people who have mentioned tents. It's also easy to search for people who have talked about and live in a location or who have worked at a specific company. Once you've located the appropriate contacts, you can message them all in one swoop -- even if they're not Knod.es users.

The private beta version of the web app was cut off at about 400 users, but its creators are planning on incorporating the technology into the Snapgoods platform and opening up an API for other third-party sites who want to use it. Just as Twilio gets paid by lending its back-end group messaging technology to companies like GroupMe and Fast Society, Knod.es would charge for calls to its API. Williams also sees potential for an independent Knod.es app with a freemium model.

Knod.es is not the first application to help sort the social graph, but it's take on the problem is slightly different. Aardvark, a Q&A platform that Google purchased in 2010, works your network to find the right answers from the right people, but won't give you a list of contacts for a given topic like Knod.es does. Sonar shows you how you're connected with the people in the room, and LinkedIn will map your entire network.

It's hard to opine on whether or not Knod.es will become the next Twilio while it's still in what Williams calls "nascent ugly baby form" and private beta, but in the day that I've been using it, at the least it has made a handy source finder.

Up to 100 Mashable readers can access the private beta by clicking this link.

Would you use a tool like this in your professional life? What online services do you think would be enhanced with this feature?

Image courtesy of istockphoto, drewhadley

Series Supported by Microsoft BizSpark

The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark, a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Disney publishing exec discusses company’s animated Android experience (Appolicious)

Posted: 06 Aug 2011 01:00 PM PDT

Google Android Makes Childproof Tablet Possible (ContributorNetwork)

Posted: 06 Aug 2011 01:26 PM PDT

Jared Spurbeck Jared Spurbeck – Sat Aug 6, 4:26 pm ET
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Apple's iPad 2 is the tablet of choice for most people. But it's not always suited to sharing, and its thin metal-and-glass construction might not be the best thing to give a young child ... whether she's prone to dropping things or putting them in her mouth.

Fortunately, Apple isn't the only game in town when it comes to tablets.

Enter the Android

The programming code to Google's Android operating system is freely available online. You can check it out by clicking here, if you're into that kind of thing. The people at Vinci are, and they used it to create their own tablet for toddlers: The Vinci Tab.

Only Google's approved partners are allowed to use the programming code for Honeycomb, the tablet version of Android. That's why Vinci used the programming code for the latest smartphone version, the same way that Barnes and Noble did for the Nook Color e-reader tablet. Because Vinci and Barnes and Noble don't need to ask Google's permission, they can make Android do some surprising things ... like create a tablet specially designed for readers, or even one that's childproofed.

But what does a tablet that's made for kids look like?

Let's check off the obvious items first. It'd have a smaller screen, made out of tempered glass, with rubber bumpers and things to keep it from breaking when (not if) it is dropped. It'd be safe for your child to put in his or her mouth, and would even be safe to eat off of -- because, let's face it, your child will sooner or later.

It'd have a child-friendly interface, with huge on-screen buttons in primary colors, and apps made for kids and their parents. It wouldn't have Internet access, not even through Wi-Fi, and it'd cost less than an iPad 2.

The Vinci Tab looks like it delivers on all counts.

I haven't seen any reviews of it yet, since it won't be released until Wednesday. But you can pre-order it now, starting at $389, and there are specs and pictures and videos up on its site.

The biggest thing I'm concerned about is its app selection. The iPad 2 already has tons of apps designed for early childhood and schoolkids, whereas Android tablets have basically none. (There are Android phone apps, but they don't work quite as well on a tablet.) That means the people at Vinci will have to build their catalog essentially from scratch, like how Barnes and Noble is with its Nook Color -- if you don't make a Google-approved tablet, you don't get to use the Android Market.

There's a case to be made for people like Vinci building a childproof case of some kind for the iPad 2, instead. But then, the iPad can't meet everyone's needs. Including, perhaps, your kids'.

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.

Hacker drone launches airborne cyber attacks (AFP)

Posted: 06 Aug 2011 09:54 AM PDT

by Glenn Chapman Glenn Chapman – Sat Aug 6, 12:54 pm ET

LAS VEGAS (AFP) – Computer security specialists showed off a homemade drone aircraft Friday capable of launching airborne cyber attacks, hijacking mobile phone calls, or even delivering a dirty bomb.

Rich Perkins and Mike Tassey built the bright yellow Wireless Arial Surveillance Platform in a garage from a used US Army target drone that they customized to find mobile phones and Internet hotspots.

"It will fly a plotted course and return to base," Perkins said while showing the WASP to AFP at a DefCon hackers gathering in Las Vegas.

"We loaded it up with the ability to attack Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GSM cellular networks."

WASP can grab packets of data being sent over the air on wireless networks, or use unsecured hot spots as gateways through which cyber attacks can be launched on computer systems.

The drone can grab GMS mobile phone identification numbers that can then be used to bill outgoing calls. It can also let hackers impersonate cell phone towers and eavesdrop on people's calls.

Second-hand drones such as that used for WASP can be bought online for about $150.

The rest of the parts were purchased by mail-order for a total tab reaching $6,200, not counting the tremendous number of hours spent working on the project started in 2009.

Perkins said the 14-pound (six-kilogram) drone was built to put the computer security industry on notice that the components are available for such "do-it-youself" creations, which could be used for good or evil.

WASP could find mobile phones in disaster areas, potentially leading rescuers to survivors. It could also fly over a disaster zone to act as a mobile phone tower enabling calls.

On the evil side, WASP could help slip into a company's computer networks through unsecured wireless networks set up in cafeterias or other spots for the convenience of customers and employees.

The modified drone could also identify key executives by their mobile telephones and then track their movements to look for data-stealing opportunities, such as working on a laptop connected wirelessly to the Internet at a cafe.

"I can take the various pieces of your digital life -- Bluetooth headset, cell phone, Wi-Fi -- and find the least secure place you exist and attack you there," Perkins said of WASP.

Such a drone could also carry a small payload, opening up the potential for smugglers to use it or to serve as a targeted biological or nuclear weapon in a terror attack, its creators warned.

"I really fear a policy reaction that stifles research," Perkins said.

"Let's look at how to protect from the bad guys doing the same thing without telling us," he urged.

Perkins and Tassey displayed their creation to security industry professionals here for a major Black Hat conference this week before taking it to DefCon, the world's largest hacker gathering that kicked off Friday.

Authorities wouldn't permit WASP to fly over populated areas such as Las Vegas, but video taken from the drone during a flight over a rural area in the United States was posted online at rabbit-hole.org.

Missouri Teachers Protest New Social Network Bans (ContributorNetwork)

Posted: 06 Aug 2011 01:46 PM PDT

Starbucks Does Battle with Free Wi-Fi Abusers (ContributorNetwork)

Posted: 06 Aug 2011 12:18 PM PDT

Jason Gallagher Jason Gallagher – Sat Aug 6, 3:18 pm ET
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COMMENTARY | Laptop loungers and Starbucks squatters should be ready as the coffee giant takes the offensive. Reports are circling the Internet with regards to a few Starbucks in New York covering up electrical outlets. Of course, the reason the outlets are being covered up is to discourage the folks who use the coffee retailer's free Wi-Fi as an office and plug-in their laptops or other mobile devices. Now users, or abusers, will have to rely on their battery power to get them through the day, and the whole thing makes perfect sense.

One of the big problems with the free Wi-Fi abusers are they take seats away from other customers. You know, the kind of people who pay about $2 for a cup of coffee and would like to sit down and chat while they partake of their iced or hot beverage, while it is still iced or hot. Still, blocking the electrical outlets is probably not the first step Starbucks has taken to get loungers out of the area or at least purchase a second cup of coffee.

Starbucks could have solved the issue any number of ways. Aside from limiting free Wi-Fi time and other retail base approaches, including banning laptops, putting covers on the power outlets was probably the cheapest way to go. While every free service has some abusers, the problem is not prevalent in every Starbucks location. However, the chain has shown at least some restraint in not punishing every customer for the common courtesy violations of a few.

While the move may raise a few eyebrows, it makes sense for the coffee house not to pay for the electricity used to charge or run a laptop over the course of a day. The feeling of entitlement to let the store serve as personal office space for the price of a beverage is borderline ridiculous.

No matter how large and successful, Starbucks is place of business that exists to make money. Unless the organization starts to sublet chairs, stools and power outlets (which might be a great idea), folks should drink their coffee and move on. Sure hanging out is okay to a degree, but eight hours is beyond the realm of what could be considered acceptable. Of course, any retail location might have second thoughts is several products are purchased over that time frame.

Jason Gallagher is a former travel professional and long-time Pennsylvania resident. These experiences give him a first-hand look at developing situations in the state and everything included in the travel industry from technology to trends.

Recargo founder on the synthesis between apps and electric vehicles (Appolicious)

Posted: 06 Aug 2011 10:00 AM PDT

Bumpy Road developer on creating iOS games with a soul (Appolicious)

Posted: 06 Aug 2011 04:00 AM PDT
at 9:40 PM

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