Monthly Archives: May 2012
Is Twitter slowing down?
(CNN) — With all the Facebook news lately — the flat IPO, the regulatory interest, the Chan-Zuckerberg wedding — it’s highly possibly you’ve forgotten all about Twitter.
If so, you’d be like most Americans.
Only 8% of online Americans check their Twitter feeds on an average day, according to survey results released Thursday by the Pew Center for Internet American Life.
That’s up from 2% in November 2010 and 5% in August, the group says, but it’s nowhere near the numbers Pew tallies when it asks about online social networks in general. In February, the group asked Americans if they “use social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn or Google Plus.” Sixty-six percent said yes.
Article source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/edition_technology/~3/nhPAmPOhVMk/index.html
What Cook’s comments reveal about Apple’s future
(Wired) — When Apple CEO Tim Cook took the stage at the All Things Digital Conference Tuesday night, he wasn’t just answering questions from Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher — he was also dropping hints about the future of Apple’s product roadmap.
Sure, a lot of his answers just regurgitated the same pat, familiar themes we’ve heard from Cook and other Apple executives: The iPad is taking the world by storm. The iPhone’s doing great. The iPod has been the gateway drug for a new generation of Apple and Mac users.
But even Tim Cook can’t completely stick to the script. During his interview, he teased a few interesting tidbits — which we present here along with analysis on what his words
Article source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/edition_technology/~3/IFN-GVfsWfA/index.html
RIM’s patents could be worth billions
Late Tuesday, the company said it expects to post an operating loss for the current quarter, a sign that BlackBerry sales are falling even faster than analysts expected. On Wednesday, the company’s stock hit its lowest level since 2003, the year RIM went from making two-way e-mail pagers to smartphones.
The stock has fallen 93% since their peak in 2008. Since then, the BlackBerry’s dominance as the smartphone for on-the-go business people has been eviscerated by Apple Inc.‘s iPhone, and more recently, by phones running Google Inc.’s Android software. Research firm IDC says BlackBerrys now account for 6.4% of the global smartphone market, a third of what they had two years ago.
In that time, the company’s financial performance has suffered. RIM reported a 25% revenue decline in the latest fiscal quarter, to $4.2 billion from $5.6 billion. For the full fiscal
Article source: http://rssfeeds.usatoday.com/~r/usatoday-TechTopStories/~3/fph_ZZYuEtg/1
Quri app lets you make money while you shop
You go to the supermarket for milk, eggs and the usual supply of grocery items. But during this particular visit you have a separate purpose: to make sure that jars of baby food or barbecue sauce are stocked, priced properly and where they should be on aisle shelves.
A San Francisco startup called Quri wants to help consumers “monetize everyday experiences,” in the words of co-CEO John Mecklenburg. At the All Things Digital conference, Quri unveiled EasyShift, a free iPhone app and cloud-based analytics application that helps deliver real-time retail intelligence for brands while earning shoppers a few bucks.
When you sign up or log in through Facebook, you see pins on a map, each representing what Quri refers to as “shifts.” For a sum of money, typically $3 to $8 and paid to your PayPal account, you are asked to visit a retailer,
Article source: http://rssfeeds.usatoday.com/~r/usatoday-TechTopStories/~3/-adsj5aGOMY/1
SpaceX Dragon capsule splashes down
Space station astronauts detached the cargo capsule from the International Space Station in the early morning with the 58-foot robot arm aboard the orbiting lab. A series of rocket firings lowered the capsule’s orbit from 230 miles high, allowing it to re-enter the atmosphere and parachute to an ocean landing at 11:42 a.m. ET, more than 560 miles southwest of Los Angeles.
The re-entry was reminiscent of Mercury and Apollo capsules returning to Earth in the era before the space shuttle, although it relied on three boats, two NASA spotter planes and a barge to retrieve the capsule, instead of the U.S. Navy.
“Welcome home,
Article source: http://rssfeeds.usatoday.com/~r/usatoday-TechTopStories/~3/R7Jd49O-EwE/1
