Astronaut on the ISS snaps photo of the Southern Lights (Yahoo! News) : Technet

Astronaut on the ISS snaps photo of the Southern Lights (Yahoo! News)
Facebook: Hot, Not, Or Lukewarm? [OPINION] (Mashable)
Phone thief suspect sends victim a friend request (AP)
How Twisted Games maintains a straightforward approach Android (Appolicious)
Three Android Forks that Exist Today (ContributorNetwork)
For Ness, restaurant discovery is just an appetizer (Appolicious)
In MasterCard's Future, You Can Buy Things by Waving at Your TV (Mashable)
William Shatner Addresses "Star Trek" Vs. "Star Wars" [VIDEO] (Mashable)
Windows 8 Arrives, But Apple's Not Eclipsed Yet (The Atlantic Wire)

Astronaut on the ISS snaps photo of the Southern Lights (Yahoo! News)

Posted: 16 Sep 2011 05:56 PM PDT

Facebook: Hot, Not, Or Lukewarm? [OPINION] (Mashable)

Posted: 16 Sep 2011 05:12 PM PDT

Lance Ulanoff Lance Ulanoff – Fri Sep 16, 8:12 pm ET

Facebook has three-quarters of a billion users and shows no sign of slowing down. Just this week it introduced a very Twitter-like and Google+-like function -- "Subscribe" -- and it is the social destination for millions of Americans, many of whom still do not tweet and never had a MySpace page. Yet there are whispers that Facebook's best days are behind it, and that it could be the "next MySpace" (or Yahoo). As far back as 2010, there was talk of Facebook fatigue. Some teens said they would quit, though they didn't know where else to go. Now some suggest that those who forgo Facebook may head over to Google+, once it's out of its closed beta.

In my household, Facebook is still the dominant social platform: three out of four household members use it exclusively. I use Twitter and cross-post to Facebook (which may annoy anyone who subscribes to me on Facebook and follows me on Twitter). Yet each one of my family members spends part of his or her Facebook time grousing about the service. The constant changes, the ever-more-convoluted privacy settings and the surprise interface updates lead to endless frustrations. My wife, in particular, just wants to "post and go," but recent update changes make that virtually impossible.

The reality, though, is that we often complain about the things we love and use most. No one in my house has requested a Google+ invite. This is not surprising; virtually none of their friends or family -- except me -- are on Google+.

Asking Google+

I spend a bit of time on Google+ each day, and it occurred to me that most of the early adopters on Google's social platform are likely also Facebook users. So I asked them if Facebook is still hot or not, and why (note: I asked this question before Facebook's "Subscribe" update).

The consensus: Facebook is running cool to lukewarm. Considering I asked the question in the echo-chamber that is Google+, this response is hardly surprising. But many of the comments hit upon what I see as Facebook's key faults and hurdles it must jump over the next three to five years.

One commenter said Facebook, which has added a number of new features in recent weeks, is finally "stepping it up" in the face of growing competition from Google+.

Those who still think Facebook is hot did admit that the game may change when "Google+ opens up". A few hedged their bets, saying that Facebook was lukewarm, but also "sitting at its peak of interest." I guess they expect Facebook to topple from its perch at any moment.

Reality Check

There were, however, some who could see outside the Google+ bubble. Antonio Moro wrote: "[Facebook is ] still King of the hill, very hot, and since G+ started: hotter as it's pushing new features faster than ever. I still prefer to use G+, but this doesn't matter."

There were other begrudging admissions of Facebook's dominance. Allan Petersen wrote, "I wish I could say "Not" with a straight face. Unfortunately, it's so much more intertwined with current online culture than MySpace was. And they're continually pushing updates. I say 'warm.'"

Many said that despite the encroachment of brands, fan pages and confusing updates, they will stick with Facebook because their friends show no interest in moving to another social platform. The decline of platforms like Friendster and MySpace suggest that what people say and what they actually do may not be totally aligned.

Some like Tom Dignazio said the MySpace analogy is off -- or at least years away from being reality. "There is no real sign that FB is hurting any way," said Dignazio. Others said it's not a matter of Facebook being Hot or Not as it is "a signal of evolution. Facebook can't be the bright shiny thing all the time." opined Shane Rhyne.

Shane is right, of course: nothing remains in the spotlight forever. Facebook is simply not the hot, fresh new thing. But the lack of pure heat doesn't mean Facebook is going away. Few of us get excited about Sears, but the retail store survives, even in the face of competition from online megastores like Amazon.com. A little less heat, and a lot more focus on what its users want, is probably what Facebook needs anyway.

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Phone thief suspect sends victim a friend request (AP)

Posted: 17 Sep 2011 10:40 AM PDT

– Sat Sep 17, 1:40 pm ET

GREELEY, Colo. – A Colorado man is accused of stealing a woman's cell phone and then sending her a friend request on Facebook.

The Greeley Tribune reported Saturday ( http://bit.ly/nnpJ7L) that the victim awoke early one morning in her Greeley home to see a man standing over her bed. When she screamed, the man grabbed her cell phone and fled.

She says she later received a Facebook friend request from a man she identified as the intruder.

Police say they located the man by tracking signals from the stolen phone and text messages to one of the victim's friends.

Authorities say 22-year-old Juan Gonzales Jr. was arrested on suspicion of burglary and theft. No phone listing could be found for him and it wasn't clear if he had an attorney.

___

Information from: Greeley Daily Tribune, http://greeleytribune.com

How Twisted Games maintains a straightforward approach Android (Appolicious)

Posted: 17 Sep 2011 09:00 AM PDT

Three Android Forks that Exist Today (ContributorNetwork)

Posted: 17 Sep 2011 06:56 AM PDT

Jared Spurbeck Jared Spurbeck – Sat Sep 17, 9:56 am ET

Contribute content like this. Start here.

So you've heard about how South Korea is going to make its own, possibly Android-based open-source smartphone OS, and how China's Baidu search engine is planning an Android fork. It's true; the inevitable forking of Android is starting in earnest, as company after company (and possibly the occasional government) takes Google's open-source programming code and runs with it. And since the vast majority of Android's code is licensed under permissive, BSD-style licenses instead of the "copyleft" GPL, they don't even have to give anything back.

What you may not know is that there are forks of Android that already exist, and devices that have already been made that run them. Some of them aren't for sale yet, and some of them aren't for sale anymore. But others are thriving, and showing how using that open-source code makes building tech gadgets much easier.

Here are the three biggest Android forks so far:

China Mobile's OPhone

Ah, OPhone. It held such promise at one point. It was even going to find its way to North America, and was going to support Windows Mobile and Symbian apps (for some reason).

But it fizzled out sometime in 2010, as Sherman So explains in the Asia Times Online. Part of the problem? Since it was a fork, it didn't have Google apps or the Android Market, both of which are proprietary (not open-source) Google services. Instead, it had its own market, which China Mobile took "about half" of the revenue for. That probably explains why it only got up to 600 apps.

Worse? Since it was basically Android, but with "improvements," it was always a few months behind Google's version. In essence, OPhones were to Android smartphones the way Android tablets are to iPads; generic-brand competitors, with almost no apps and little to set them apart.

Barnes and Noble's Nook Color

Here's a more successful Android fork. Instead of jumping through Google's hoops to make a certified tablet, Barnes and Noble just took the code to the "Froyo" version of Android and made it into a polished e-reading experience.

Besides being an e-reader, though, the Nook Color is also a multitouch tablet, half the size (and cost) of the iPad. It has its own app market, plus developer guidelines for porting traditional Android apps to it. And there are ways to turn it into a normal "Honeycomb" Android tablet, for enterprising do-it-yourselfers.

Amazon's upcoming Kindle Tablet

So you've heard about it, have you? If not, you may be in for a surprise when it comes out. Not too big of one, though, since it's basically Amazon's version of the Nook Color.

In Amazon's case, though, it's got a much bigger selection of books, movies, and music online, plus an Android "Appstore" that's off to a great start (even if it abuses developers).

What successful forks have in common

It may be too early to tell if Amazon's tablet will be successful. But what it and the Nook Color seem to have in common is that neither are "Android" tablets. Instead, they use the Android code under the hood, so to speak, and use it to create their own world-class experiences.

The Nook Color isn't another wanna-be iPad. It's a Nook Color. And Amazon's Kindle tablet will be a Kindle. Both are brand names in their own right ... not just cheaper versions of Apple's gadget. Or "Android+" (as the States-side port of China's OPhone was known).

For Ness, restaurant discovery is just an appetizer (Appolicious)

Posted: 17 Sep 2011 06:00 AM PDT

In MasterCard's Future, You Can Buy Things by Waving at Your TV (Mashable)

Posted: 16 Sep 2011 09:19 AM PDT

Sarah Kessler Sarah Kessler – Fri Sep 16, 12:19 pm ET

If a prototype from MasterCard ever becomes a commercial product, you'll be able to order and pay for a pizza by waving at your TV from the couch. This integration with Xbox Kinect is just one of several mobile payment technologies that MasterCard displayed at a showcase for journalists Thursday.

While the focus of the event was Google Wallet -- a payment app for which MasterCard is an exclusive launch partner -- MasterCard also showed off ideas it has for mobile payments in the future.

Google Wallet combines multiple credit cards, loyalty programs and Google Offers into one place and allows customers to pay with these accounts by swiping phones at a checkout terminal. MasterCard's prototypes, however, extend the functionality of mobile payment technology far beyond the checkout line.

[More from Mashable: Kuapay Lets Mobile Users Pay With QR Codes]

A prototype app called QkR, for instance, initiates payments from just about anywhere. The app reads QR codes from posters or a TV screen and responds with an option to purchase an item. Like popular song-identifier Shazam, it can also pick up a cue from TV signals that pull up a relavant shopping opportunity.

In another demonstration, the app reads an NFC tag on the table of a fast food restaurant and allows users to view the menu and place an order directly from their smartphones.

Most impressive -- or frightening, depending on how you look at it -- was the Xbox Kinect prototype. To purchase a product on TV, users simply wave their hands at an icon in the corner of the screen. They can then select purchasing options like size and quantity with the same movements. After they check out, the receipt is sent to the QkR app.

"It doesn't necessarily even have to be something that the programming is selling," explains MasterCard senior software designer Stephen Elder.

Another application of this tech involved being able to pull up shopping menus at any time using a gesture or voice command. Elder demonstrated this by putting his hand to his mouth in an "I'm hungry" gesture. The TV pulled up a take-out menu and he ordered a milkshake without moving from in front of the TV.

According to MasterCard, there is no timeline for introducing these prototypes as commercial products. The Xbox Kinect feature, for instance, will be much easier in a future where TVs and other devices, not just the Xbox Kinect, come with wave-to-play technology. MasterCard would also need to convince TV broadcasters to add appropriate metadata to TV signals before either the Kinect or audio features would work.

For now, the prototypes are a small taste of how mobile payments could transform the experience of buying anything -- and how dangerously easy it could become.

Photo courtesy of Flickr, photo.bugz

This story originally published on Mashable here.

William Shatner Addresses "Star Trek" Vs. "Star Wars" [VIDEO] (Mashable)

Posted: 16 Sep 2011 03:39 PM PDT

Christina Warren Christina Warren – Fri Sep 16, 6:39 pm ET

Each day, Mashable highlights one noteworthy YouTube video. Check out all our viral video picks.

[More from Mashable: The Evolution of Music in 3 Minutes [VIDEO]]

For sci-fi fans, a battle has been brewing between Star Trek and Star Wars for 35 years.

[More from Mashable: 8 Star Trek Gadgets That Are No Longer Fiction]

William Shatner has decided to weigh in with his own thoughts on the subject. Using his official YouTube page, the socially savvy actor opines on why Captain Kirk totally owns Luke Skywalker and crew.

What do you think? Let us know.

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Windows 8 Arrives, But Apple's Not Eclipsed Yet (The Atlantic Wire)

Posted: 17 Sep 2011 02:42 PM PDT

Ted Mann Ted Mann – Sat Sep 17, 5:42 pm ET

The first hands-on glimpse of Windows 8, Microsoft's latest version of its legendary operating system. The reviews are out, and PC Magazine notes, there are a lot of them on Twitter.

Professional reviewers are weighing in, too, beyond the question of whether this marks the death of Flash, to take up what the system feels like to use. The new suite is "radically different," according to ABC News, which gave the new program a glowing write-up.

Related: Hold Your Excitement for Microsoft's New Blue Screen of Death

Some see a major rivalry coming with Apple. Windows 8 is designed to work on desktops, tablets and mobile devices. Will that mean that Windows will now see as frequent tinkering and updates to its mobile product line as users have received from Apple? A good question.

Related: It's Going to Take More Than Windows 8 to Kill Flash

International Business Times administers a splash of cold water. At least for the time being, the publication writes, the market for tablets and operating systems thereon belongs to Cupertino, not Redmond. Apple's dominance with the iPad is so great that rumors of an iPad 3 have been "shut down," this piece notes. Why rush one to market when the iPad 2 is still flying off the shelves as-is.

Related: It's Never Worth Fighting with Fanboys

Windows 8 may be radically different, but it will have to trigger radical changes in consumer preference to change the current balance of power for the tablet market.

Technet

Saturday, September 17, 2011