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Automatically generated social networking status updates

By Darren Quick

22:43 November 15, 2009 PST

Ahhh, social network status updates. How would we know what breathtakingly exciting (or mind-numbingly boring) activities our friends and family are up to from one moment to the next without them? And if you sometimes find it’s a chore just reading these missives, spare a thought for those people writing them. But soon, by combining networking and messaging platforms with emerging ambient intelligence systems that use sensors and smart objects to create awareness of users’ whereabouts and activities, such status updates and other social information could be generated automatically. Read More

Pure Sensia DAB/WiFi touchscreen radio

By Jeff Salton

00:08 September 22, 2009 PDT

Not long ago, radio manufacturers had only to worry about the basic look of their devices. Rarely were new stations added, reception methods hadn’t changed in a long time and, generally, smaller was better. Sure, they had to combine an alarm clock in some models, but that wasn’t too difficult. Now a radio has to be a veritable Swiss army knife of appliances, and this is where the new Sensia from Pure excels. Its list of features includes a large color touch screen display, DAB, FM stereo and digital radio with full Band III, wireless media streaming, input from iPods/iPhones and MP3 players, and Pure Apps that let you connect with Facebook, Twitter, Picasa and thousands of podcasts. Read More

Kodak ups the ante in the pocket video wars with the Zi8 1080p HD cam

By Alan Brandon

20:01 August 1, 2009 PDT

Kodak is trying to out-flip the Flip with its latest pocket digital video cam, the Zi8. Aimed squarely at the heart of the hot compact video market, the Zi8 outdoes the Flip Ultra HD with 1080p recording, electronic image stabilization, an SDHC card slot, and an external mic jack. Plus it'll shoot 5-megapixel stills, track faces, and is designed to perform better in low-light conditions. Read More

Self-destructing online messages could save your job, your relationship, your bacon

By Jeff Salton

23:40 July 23, 2009 PDT

If you’ve got nothing to hide there’s no need to read to any further. But if you’re worried about someone digging up something from your past – and we’re talking non-criminal here – which may influence or damage job prospects, relationships, your social or professional life, then good news is at hand. The University of Washington (UW) has developed Vanish – a prototype system that places a time limit on information uploaded to any web service through a web browser. Electronic communication sent using Vanish - such as e-mail, posts on social networking sites and chat messages - would have a brief lifetime and then self-destruct, becoming irretrievable from all websites, inboxes, outboxes, backup sites and home computers. The University says that not even the sender could retrieve them. Read More

How to get rid of quizzes (and other crap) from your Facebook news feed

By Loz Blain

21:53 May 24, 2009 PDT

Most users have come to accept the new Twitter-style Facebook home page - but one thing continues to infuriate: all the annoying quiz and application updates in your news feed. But all is not lost if you are sick of learning "what Simpsons character" your friends are - here's a quick and easy way to make those annoying quizzes disappear from your news feed. Read More

Healthmap.org – charting global public health threats

By Mike Hanlon

01:03 May 15, 2009 PDT

Tapping the Internet – including personal Web searches, news reports, blogs, chat rooms and social networking sites – is fast becoming a way to get a complete, up-to-the-minute view of public health threats, say researchers from the Informatics Program at Children’s Hospital Boston (CHIP) in a Perspectives article published Online First by The New England Journal of Medicine on May 7, 2009. In an accompanying sidebar, they describe the use of HealthMap.org – a freely available Web site that aggregates, categorizes, filters and displays real-time information on emerging infectious diseases – in tracking the current H1N1 swine flu outbreak.


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Pencasts let you spruce up your website with a few doodles

By Darren Quick

21:48 May 12, 2009 PDT

Even in the digital age, there are still some cases where the pen is mightier than the keyboard. Scribbling a quick diagram or making a few quick handwritten notes can convey some information much more effectively than a slab of text. That’s the reasoning behind Livescribe’s Pulse smartpen, a computer in the shape of a pen that not only digitally captures handwriting, but simultaneously records audio and synchronizes it to the writing to create what it calls “pencasts”. Now Livescribe is taking pencasts to the next level with a social media tool that enables them to be embedded within any website or blog. Read More

AOL’s Socialthing aims to simplify your digital life

By Darren Quick

22:24 May 4, 2009 PDT

Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter are designed to make keeping in touch with friends and family easy, but as the list of such sites continues to grow, the task of keeping up to date with all that data can quickly lead to information overload. "Lifestreaming" applications designed to simplify the process by aggregating data from multiple sources are now emerging. AOL's Socialthing is the latest lifestreaming app to join the ranks of FriendFeed, Tumblr.com and the recently announced Vine from Microsoft. Read More

Microsoft wants us to hear it on the Vine

By Darren Quick

04:00 April 30, 2009 PDT

With the Facebook and Twitter social networking juggernaut rolling ever onwards, Microsoft is looking to jump on the bandwagon with its new social web app called Vine. While sites such as Facebook and Twitter use the global span of the internet to let users connect with people from all corners of the globe, Vine makes its focus local, concentrating on keeping users in touch with family, friends, activities and major events in their community, including disasters and emergencies. Read More

The ultimate in top-tier social networking: Facebook for the filthy rich

By Darren Quick

01:27 March 17, 2009 PDT

Groucho Marx famously said he wouldn’t want to be a member of any club that would have him as a member. That means he probably wouldn’t have been rushing to join Affluence.org, even though he’s one of the select few with would’ve had enough cash to meet the entry requirements. Described as, “Facebook for the filthy rich”, by its founder, Scott Mitchell, Affluence.org requires members to have a verified net worth of at least USD$3 million or an annual household income of USD$300,000. Read More

Facebook homepage goes Twitter-style, users go bananas

By Loz Blain

00:03 March 16, 2009 PDT

Social networking site Facebook is rolling out its second set of major interface changes in the last 12 months - accompanied by the usual cries of protest from its user base. The most notable change is the new live feed page, which gives a long list of status updates - which will soon include not just mutual friends, but updates from one-way "fan" relationships you may have with bands, brands and celebrities. Sound familiar? Is Facebook the new Twitter? Read More

Comment on Gizmag with your Facebook account

By Tim Hanlon

00:38 January 31, 2009 PST

In our ongoing quest to make commenting on Gizmag as easy as possible, we've implemented Facebook Connect, so now you can comment on our articles using your Facebook account. Just click the "Connect with Facebook" button in the "Post a Comment" area beneath an article, and regale us with your savvy commentary, safe with the knowledge that no one will be able to impersonate you, or accuse you of not being who you say you are. Read on for a list of the articles that have generated the most discussion on Gizmag. Read More