Hugo Chavez Asks Fidel Castro to Join Twitter

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Controversial Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez said during a visit to Bolivia that he would like to invite Bolivian President Evo Morales and Cuban political leader Fidel Castro to join him on Twitter, according to Reuters.

Chavez joined Twitter on Tuesday, taking the username @chavezcandaga. His arrival on Twitter was a surprise, in one part because only 30% of his country has Internet access (though that figure is far higher than it was before he took office) and in another because he raised concerns about Twitter just two months ago, calling it a potential “tool of terror.”

Chavez — who describes himself as a Bolivarian soldier, a socialist and an anti-Imperialist — said he would use the site to spread Bolivarian revolution. Castro and Morales are two of his strongest allies in anti-American sentiment.

Chavez has acquired more than 100,000 followers since signing up. “This has been an explosion,” he said. Of Twitter in general, he was quoted by Reuters saying: “The potential this has … it’s not capitalist, it’s not socialist, it depends on how it is used.”

So sit tight and you might soon see the South and Central American political leaders retweeting one another.

Tags: bolivia, cuba, evo morales, fidel castro, Hugo Chavez, politics, social media, social networking, twitter, Venezuela

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Real power of tablets: they are social devices -> Racing Game Turns iPad Into iPhone-Controlled Gaming Console [Games]

http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/r-BUHYiQG7s/racing-game-turns-ipad-into-iphone+controlled-gaming-console

With Padracer you can pretend that you're playing a racing game on a gaming console that consists of an iPad as a display and iPhones as controllers. Heck, you can even make the obligatory vroom-vrooom-eeeeek sounds. More »


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Geniale toepassing voor kleine spelers -> Socialijs: de ijscoman als location based service

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Kijk even naar buiten en er valt maar één conclusie te trekken: de zomer is in aantocht. De tijd van het buitenleven is weer aangebroken. De komende maanden zullen we weer massaal de parken en pleinen opzoeken, om daar van de zon en gezelligheid te genieten. Het is ook het moment dat de venters hun stalletjes en ijscokarren weer oppoetsen om de parkhangers en dagjesmensen van de nodige versnaperingen te voorzien. In Utrecht is deze zomer een nieuw gezicht te zien in dit gezelschap van verkopers. IJscoman Marten Schuurman probeert zich met zijn start-up Socialijs namelijk een plek te veroveren in het hart van de Domstedelingen. Op zich is een nieuwe ijscoman niet zo bijzonder. Socialijs zet echter verschillende sociale kanalen in om op het netvlies van de Utrechters te komen. Vanaf Koninginnedag zal Marten met zijn ijscokar door Utrecht fietsen en via Foursquare, Twitter, Facebook en Hyves is precies te volgen waar je terecht kunt voor een sociaal tussendoortje. Lees meer over: Socialijs: de ijscoman als location based service.

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Layar Launches Its Augmented Reality Content Marketplace


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Layar Launches Its Augmented Reality Content Marketplace

layar_logo_apr10.jpgDutch mobile augmented reality (AR) developers Layar announced today the launch of the world's first mobile marketplace for AR content, bringing a new model for the monetization of mobile AR to the Android and iPhone platforms. Anyone looking to take advantage of the excitement behind AR experiences can now create AR content, syndicate it on Layar's platform and benefit from its use by charging users a small one-time fee to access it.


Sponsor

layar_store_apr10.jpgThe Layar Reality Browser is accessible on the iPhone 3GS and eleven different Android devices, and has been downloaded over 1.6 million times. Users of the application can select from various content layers, such as nearby tweets, Wikipedia articles or even local businesses, and can locate them by holding their phone in their field of view. Using the phone's GPS, accelerometer and compass data, the application can place markers on the screen to show where various objects exist based on their locations in the real world.

Previously, these various content layers have been entirely free to use, but now with the implementation of a content marketplace business can create branded AR experiences and sell them through Layar. The application uses PayPal to process the transactions, and right now the buying of layers is only available in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia.

Some of the paid content layers launching with the platform include tour guides, home buying guides and augmented greeting creators. One layer, which sells for $1.95, displays recent criminal activity from SpotCrime.com in over 300 U.S. cities, and another provides an augmented park map for Disneyland and Disney World at a price of $3.45.

One of the more unique layers available on the platform allows music fans to discover the actual geographic locations where some of the most famous album covers were photographed. Perhaps this layer will help fans of the growing "sleeveface" photography meme take their creations to the next level.

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Facebook’s New Social Plugins: 50,000+ Websites in One Week

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Facebook’s New Social Plugins: 50,000+ Websites in One Week

Phase one of Facebook’s strategy for world domination: complete. Facebook has announced that over 50,000 websites have integrated Facebook’s new social plugins in just one week. The plugins are a core component of the company’s new Open Graph initiative.

Last week, Facebook launched the Open Graph API and social plugins during its F8 conference in San Francisco. The complex protocol and API create a more personalized web browsing experience, all through Facebook. Social plugins in particular allow users to interact with other websites (for example, “liking” them) without even logging in. This has been a point of contention, confusion, and even government scrutiny.

None of those issues have stopped the rapid growth of Facebook’s Open Graph, though. Last Wednesday, Facebook launched with 75 partners. Now there are over 50,000 websites on board — that’s nearly 300 websites adding Facebook social plugins per hour. Clearly Facebook’s 425+ million users have enticed website owners to jump on the Open Graph bandwagon.

Social plugins are just the first step in Facebook’s ambitious plan to become the central nexus of the web. With this kind of adoption success, it’s tough to find any scenario where Facebook doesn’t take over the web.



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Second Life Economy At Record High


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Second Life Economy At Record High

secondlifelogo.pngThe world economy may still be firmly in the toilet but the economy inside the virtual world of Second Life is doing fine. Better than fine, in fact. Q1 of 2010 was a record-breaker.

In a post on the Second Life blog, Tom Hall, Chief Product Officer for SL owner Linden Labs, said user-to-user transactions in the immersive world spiked 30% over last year to $160 million, breaking all previous company records.


Sponsor

Like most virtual worlds and online games, Second Life uses a "virtual currency," in this case the Linden Dollar. This is an in-game token currency that must be purchased with legitimate moneys and can be used to buy things inside the environment, or converted back into real-world lucre. In-game objects can be bought and sold (and profit can be made) and users can program new objects to sell, from shoes to cars and beyond.

The company itself makes money in part by assessing a transaction fee on in-game commerce.

Additional high-points for the company included included the fact total sales on Xstreet, the Second Life marketplace, reaching $2.3 million, an 82% increase year-to-year and a 24% increase over the previous quarter. Total Linden Dollars exchanged on LindeX, the in-game currency exchange, totaled $31 million, a 9% increase over the previous year, and monthly unique users with repeat logins peaked in March at 826,214, a 13% increase year-to-year and an all-time high.

usersl.jpgHall said the money the company invested in customer acquisition was the hinge his economy turned on. Infrastructure improvements included a new viewer and data center. He also noted that Valentine's Day was the single largest day on their virtual currency exchange, Xstreet and theorized that the success of the movie Avatar, which was heavy on immersion, might have inspired a new wave of people to try it.


Discuss

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Virginia the Centenarian and her iPad

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Virginia the Centenarian and her iPad

100-year-old Virginia Campbell, who had lost much of her ability to read and write due to advancing glaucoma, is the most recent iPad convert.

Her iPad, given to her by her kids and grandkids, has allowed her to read again. In the video below, you’ll see that she quickly grasps how to use the device.

Original title and link for this post: Virginia the Centenarian and her iPad

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Paypal To Offer In App Purchases On iPhone and Android [Updated]

http://thenextweb.com/mobile/2010/04/24/paypal-offer-app-purchases-iphone-android/

Paypal To Offer In App Purchases On iPhone and Android [Updated]

Updates at the foot of the article.Paypal To Offer In App Purchases On iPhone and Android [Updated]

During  an informal meeting at its Amsterdam headquarters Paypal has announced it will be facilitating In App Purchases in iPhone and Android applications.

According to Paypal Benelux Country Manager Dennis van Allermeersch, Paypal has managed to come up with a solution that is acceptable to Apple, Allermeersch noting: “We have found a way, Apple is OK with it”.

Android users will also be able to use Paypal as a payment method in the Android Market, adding an alternative to Google Checkout transactions.

At the time of writing there are very few details explaining how Paypal’s surprising new service will work. It seems incredible that Paypal have managed to gain approval from both Apple and Google to provide a payment method that directly competes with proprietary services on both Android and iPhone devices.

Paypal will launch their In App payment service in Q2 to the US, Canada, UK, France, Italy, The Netherlands and Australia.

We have contacted Paypal for more information, watch this space.

Paypal To Offer In App Purchases On iPhone and Android [Updated]

Update: Boxcar creator Jonathan George reached out to us to explain the iPhone In App payment system which Paypal refer to as its “iPhone Library” will be used to facilitate payments for physical goods and services, not for virtual purchases as first thought.

George was present at last weeks iPadDevCamp in San Jose, where Paypal was advertising its iPhone Library. He speculates that Apple approved the service as it would compliment its virtual In App purchase system, providing tools that Apple doesn’t currently provide for iPhone owner.

Paypal explain how iPhone Library operates on its Paypal X Developer Network:

With our iPhone library, you’ll be able to start accepting payments for physical goods and services in a matter of minutes. Whether you’re looking to replicate a storefront you have online or you’re making something unique for the mobile device, this library can help you get paid. You won’t need to collect financial information or make users go to your website to complete a purchase. With our library, we’ll take care of the payment flow and you can keep focusing on making those great apps. Here’s how it will work. You’ll call a method to tell us how much you want to charge and who the money should go to. We’ll then slide up a view for the consumer to confirm the payment. When it’s complete, we’ll slide this back down.

Paypal To Offer In App Purchases On iPhone and Android [Updated]

Paypal also linked to a video of Osama Bedier, VP, Product Development. PayPal demonstrating the service:

We have been unable to confirm whether the service will be launching on Android, we are awaiting a response from Paypal.

Jonathan George suggests that iPhone Library is Paypal’s answer to Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey’s new payment startup Square. What do you think? Can you see this new service changing the way we buy goods via our smartphones?

[Source - iPhoneClub]

Original title and link for this post: Paypal To Offer In App Purchases On iPhone and Android [Updated]

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The State of Online Word of Mouth Marketing [STATS]

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The State of Online Word of Mouth Marketing [STATS]

In a session yesterday at Forrester’s Marketing Forum, Forrester analysts Josh Bernoff and Augie Ray presented research findings on peer influence and word of mouth marketing. Some of the statistics were surprising, and the presentation was rife with practical tips for marketers we thought worth sharing.


Influencers are Diverse


Ray said that when marketers think about targeting influencers, they tend to think of them “like a stew”: tasty, but undefined. He advises thinking about them instead as a “delicious 3-course meal” in which it’s important to savor the flavors of each. He outlined a Peer Influence Pyramid that breaks down influencers into three types: Social Broadcasters (at the top), Mass Influencers (middle), and Potential Influencers (bottom of the pyramid).

Social Broadcasters are few in number but great in scale — they are the top bloggers, most well-connected individuals, and have a lot of followers looking to them for news and advice on the latest and greatest. They have scale but lack trust, in the sense that their followers will click on the links and recommendations they share but still perform their own evaluation of the data — this makes Social Broadcasters better suited for awareness than preference.

At the bottom of the pyramid are the Potential Influencers — this is where the trust really is. These are the proverbial “average consumer” who have primarily networks of people they actually know in an offline context (friends, family, peers). These networks are rich with trust, and make up 84% of the total population of the pyramid.

In the middle are the Mass Influencers, who make up only 16% of the pyramid but account for 80% of the influence impressions about products and services. Ray says of this group, “you can’t ignore the minority that creates the majority of the influence.” You also need different strategies to reach the different types of influencers.