There are no shortage of location-based services launching this week at SXSW in Austin, Texas. Many of them allow you to “check-in” places to let others know you are there. So how do you differentiate between then and decide which to use? Well, here’s one good way.

CauseWorld, is a free iPhone and Android app that lets you check-in places, but it has an added real-world bonus: big brands give money to charity when you do so. And this week at SXSW, CauseWorld is teaming up with TechCrunch to offer double point (which they aptly call “karma”) when you check in to one of over 50 venues around Austin (I’ll paste the full list at the bottom of the post), including the Austin Convention Center (where SXSW is held).

We’ve covered CauseWorld, which is the first offering from the soon-to-launch ShopKick, a few times now. It’s a great product because it takes an area that is red hot right now, location-based check-ins, and converts it into good deeds in the real world. For example, if you check-in at a store, you may earn 20 karma points. As you continue to accumulate these, you can turn them into real dollar donations for causes such as water in Sudan or trees in the Amazon. Brands such as Kraft Foods and Citi are currently giving the donations based on what users choose to trade their karma points for. The best part is, you don’t even have to buy anything — you simply check-in at various venues and earn the points. And again, this week at SXSW, checking-in with the app at a bunch of venues will earn you double karma points.

And like any good service with a gaming element, there’s a leaderboard to show who has donated the most karma points. And yes, checking-in can earn you badges, such as the TechCrunch one show in this post.

So if you’re going to be in Austin for SXSW this week. Or really, if you just want to do some good with your mobile device, check out CauseWorld. Find it in the App Store here, or in the Android Market (on your Android device).

Below find the 54 participating double karma Austin check-in spots:

1. Aces Lounge
2. Alamo Drafthouse
3. Amsterdam Café
4. Austin Convention Center
5. Austin Music Hall
6. B D Riley’s Irish Pub
7. Barbarella
8. Beso Cantina
9. Bob Bullock Theater
10. Buffalo Billiard
11. Café Mozart
12. Carver Museum and Cultural Center
13. Cedar Door
14. Chupacabra Cantina
15. Chuy’s
16. Clay Pit
17. Club Deville
18. Cuba Libre
19. Dirty Dog Bar
20. Elysium
21. Emo’s
22. Emo’s Annex
23. Flamingo Cantina
24. Hyde Park Bar & Grill
25. Iron Cactus
26. Karma Lounge
27. Kenichi
28. Kerbey Lane
29. La Zona Rosa
30. Lambert’s Downtown
31. Lustre Pearl, Lustre Pearl Bar
32. Malaga, Malaga Tapas & Bar
33. Malverde
34. Mellow Johnny’s
35. Molotov Lounge
36. Moonshine Bar and Grill
37. Opal Divines
38. Palm Door
39. Red 7
40. Red Eye Fly
41. Rudy’s Country Store and BBQ
42. Rusty Spurs
43. Salt Lick BBQ
44. Spider House Café
45. Stubb’s BBQ
46. Stubbs
47. The Belmont
48. The Best Wurst I
49. The Highball
50. The Scoot Inn
51. Uncorked Tasting Room
52. Velveeta Room
53. Victory Grill
54. Vortex Repertory

Foursquare means business. The 1-year-old startup now has a huge brand — Starbucks — using its platform to test out an experimental customer rewards program.

Starting today, frequent Starbucks visitors who check in at retail locations using Foursquare will earn customer rewards. Although there’s no financial incentive or free coffee to begin with, customers can unlock the “Barista badge” after five checkins.

Of course that’s just the beginning; the coffee behemoth plans to use Foursquare as a testing ground for alternative reward strategies and to unlock “the pulse of the experience” for each store.

If you think this is a straight-up play to offer location-based mobile coupons, think again. The New York Times Bits Blog writes that the company is “hoping to use Foursquare to provide even more meaningful prizes, like invitations to special events, photo-sharing or online reputation scores.”

As Starbucks figures out how best to leverage the checkin, we have to step back and appreciate the magnitude of this decision. With Starbucks on board, there’s no question that Foursquare has all the tools necessary to appeal to — and reach — a mainstream audience. Plus, now that a second company (the first was Tasti D-Lite) is tapping into Foursquare as a loyalty program platform, the additional proof of concept will pave the way for other businesses to follow suit.

[img credit: Bits blog]

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Reviews: Foursquare

Tags: foursquare, MARKETING, starbucks

Danas je tačno 10 godina kako imam računar. I danas se sećam, 11. mart 2000. godine, 21:34 uveče i burazov profesor informatike mi donosi jaku Pentium dvojku na kućni prag. Verovatno sam jedini tada znao da će taj dan da mi promeni celokupni život od tada, i zbog toga brižno zapamtio datum i vreme ne bih li nekada u budućnosti to slavio kao neki jubilej. 10 godina to svakako jeste.

I zaista promenio mi se promenio život. Računar bih kad tad dobio to stoji, ali tajming kupovine računara je bio idealan kako su se tek javljale tehnologije koje su omogućavale da kreiramo sve i svašta. Krenuli su prvi sajtovi, tezge, online prijateljstva, Internet je postajao sve brži i jeftiniji, a danas smo tu gde jesmo i bavimo se čime se bavimo a sve je to usko povezano sa računarima. Verovatno se sećate onih priča s početka 2000tih, gde su svi spominjali računare kao posao budućnosti i kako će tu biti para. Sećam se i da sam, kako nisam nikom mogao da objasnim šta je to FON, obično govorio Informatika, računari, nešto oko kompjutera i svi su kapirali da je to nešto od čega će moći pristojno da se živi. Danas živimo tu budućnost, poznavanje rada na računaru je ekvivalent pismenosti u savremenom društvu, kao što je Facebook mlađim generacijama pandan ličnoj karti (ako nisi tamo ne postojiš neki vole da kažu).

Druga lična revolucija je nastala u trenutku kada sam kupio “mališu“? Netbookovi su bili potpuni hit prošle godine, te sam se i ja podvrgnuo trendu, a zajedno sa Telenor internetom ispunio i svoju LWP (laptop wireless priroda) filozofiju. Ležaljka na Adi, ledena kafa i posao svakako deluju mnogo više motivišuće od svakodnevne kancelarijske atmosfere. Kreativa traži promenu, a mobilnost je upravo i omogućava.

Tehnologija nas je promenila, dala nam ono svoje najbolje i uvukla duboko u svoje okrilje. Kad sam menjao paket sad na mobilnom (a to sam radio u petak što je klasičan fail), četiri dana sam bio bez mobilnog. Dovoljno vremena da shvatite koliko ste vi zavisni od ovih stvarčica. Sa kevom se nikad ne bih čuo jer nikad nisam kući, a nisam siguran ni da bih uspeo da sa nekim dogovorim gde i kako da se nađemo, jer mobilni su nam dali tu fleksibilnost da u svakom trenutku možemo da menjamo planove, što verovatno i nije toliko dobro. A da ne pričam kako bi bilo bez nevidljive braće Googlea i Wikipedije onda kada se sa ortacima kladimo u pivo ko je kad rođen, koliko je visok ili koliko je poena da na nekoj tekmi… Znam da ima sve ovo i svojih mana, ali neka, ne bih da se menjam, volim svoje spravice :)

Ispričaj tvoju laptop priču

Obzirom da je jubilej red je da se počastimo kako dolikuje. Zajedno sa Toshibom, u okviru njihove akcije “Bez obzira na sve garancija” podeliću 4 Toshiba S20 Camileo kamere onima koji ispričaju najzanimljiviju laptop priču u komentarima. Akcija se nekako super pogodila sa ovim jubilejom, a pored mene učestvuju i Goran i Miloš pa bilo bi cool da učestvujete samo na jednom mestu da se ne biste ponavljali. Priča treba da ima 1000-1500 karaktera, dakle ne previše ali opet da dočara neki zanimljivi trenutak sa svojim laptopom. Bilo da je to ono čuveno padanje sa stomaka dok ste zaspali gledajući omiljenu seriju, nevolje sa flat kablom, ili iskopavanje blaga iz tastature totalno je na vama, a siguran sam da imate neku zanimljivu anegdotu. Akcija traje od danas do 5. aprila kada ću iščitati sve komentare i odrediti pobednike, pa onda zajedno uz piće negde da proslavimo. Možda 7 dana kasnije, kada budem slavio još jedan jubilej, a vi pogodite koji je ;)

Osvoji Toshiba s20 camileo kameru i na FB

Povodom otvaranja web shopa prošli tjedan pokrenuli smo proljetno fotkanje na Facebooku i Twitteru! Kroz pet dana objavili smo teme po kojima ste fotografirali zanimljive, duhovite i često neobične slike.

U tih nekoliko dana poslali ste nam preko 70 fotografija kojima su se bavili naši stručni suci, profesionalni fotografi. Bravo tviteraši!

Kako bismo vam mogli poslati poklone za najbolje fotografije, kontaktirajte nas na Twitteru privatnom porukom sa svojim podacima. Poklone dobivate do kraja mjeseca, a možete ih podignuti i u našoj ljekarni!

Prvi dan (5. ožujka) – Proljetni pogled s vašeg radnog mjesta

Zelenu kavu poklanjamo za ovu fotografiju Ivanu Sararu!

Drugi dan (6. ožujka) – Vaša lagana subota na kavi, placu ili u prirodi!

La Claree Oliv’ organic kremu za lice poklanjamo Mariju Kladariću!

Treći dan (7. ožujka) – Topla šalica kave, čaja ili…

Noni sok za bolje zdravlje poklanjamo Tihani Reljić Taroofie!

Četvrti dan (8. ožujka) – Njoj za Dan žena

Pillowhead jastučić poklanjamo Kreši Bodalcu!

Peti dan (9 ožujka) – #volimsnijeg ili #mrzimsnijeg

“Blogersku kremu” (L’erbolario) za ovu fotkicu poklanamo Ivani Blazoti!

On November 19th, 2006, Nintendo launched its fifth home console to the world. The Nintendo Wii was both ridiculed and praised for its unique controller system — the Wiimote — which detects movements in three dimensions.

Three and a half years later, the Wii has dominated the market, shattered sales records, and put its two main rivals, Microsoft and Sony, on the defensive. Both companies are responding with motion-based controllers of their own though.

Microsoft has generated some big buzz with the revelation of Project Natal, a new camera-based system that requires no controller, just the movement of your body to function. And yesterday, Sony officially announced PlayStation Move, a controller setup that utilizes a camera and a remote-like controller to interact with the screen.

Here’s the question we have for all of you gamers: which next-generation controller system excites you more: Microsoft’s Natal or Sony’s Move?

Our poll for this week’s web faceoff ends on Sunday, March 14th at 12:00 PM PT. Let us know your choice, and don’t forget to leave your opinion in the comments!

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PlayStation Move in Action

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Project Natal Announcement

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Tags: microsoft, Natal, Nintendo, playstation, playstation move, project natal, sony, Wii, wiimote

Apple fanatics will be able to place their iPad orders at 5:30 AM Pacific time (8:30 Eastern) tomorrow, Friday, March 12th. The pre-orders will be available through Apple.com, and are expected to ship in the United States next month — April 3rd to be precise.

The Unofficial Apple Weblog learned about the pre-order time after it asked Apple for the information in an e-mail.

Let’s assume you’re the sort of person who wants an iPad; if so, you can still wait for the launch date and pick up an iPad at your local Apple store (or at Best Buy a little bit after launch). However, there’s a possibility that it will sell out and you’ll be left hanging. If this scenario worries you, you’ll want to place your order online to be sure you get one before your friends and colleagues. You know, if you’re into that kind of one-upmanship.

But if you’re the sort of person who thinks the device is more hype than substance, you can go ahead and sleep in tomorrow.

Are you going to be up bright and early for the iPad pre-order? Let us know in the comments.

Tags: apple, Apple Tablet, ipad

Da li se IT-jevci mogu opustiti i družiti? Ima li prostora za prijateljsko ćaskanje ili se svi međusobno gledaju kao „ljuta“ konkurencija?

Postavim sebi često ovo pitanje, a verujem da i mnogi razmišljaju o tome, bez obzira o kojoj branši je reč. Za one koji se bave informatičkom delatnošću uvreženo je mišljenje da su nekonvencionalni u pogledu dress code-a, retko pokazuju emocije (pogotovo sreće i zadovoljstva), uglavnom su „čudaci“ i slično. Sigurno ima istine u tome, ali čini mi se sve manje. Ustvari, zaposleni u sektoru IT-a su sasvim opušteni, pristupačni, prilagodljivi ljudi.

Složili se vi sa mnom ili ne, u prilog činjenici da se i u svetu informatike nađe vremena za provod, govori i nedavno održan SKI skup „hard“ i „soft“ profesionalaca na Jahorini. Preko 80 učesnika – vendora, distributera, partnera – družilo se tri dana bez incidenata bilo koje vrste (verbalnih, fizičkih…) Sa kakvim je ko utiscima otišao, ne možemo sa sigurnošću reći, ali emocije nezadovoljstva niko javno nije izrazio.

„Formalni“ deo skupa je bio organizovan na principu zimskih igara, gde su učesnici podeljeni u 6 ekipa, koje su bile formirane po poznatim svetskim proizvođačima opreme i softvera. Takmičenja su obuhvatala igre na snegu, ali i zanimljive sadržaje u samom hotelu, kao i veliki IT kviz. Većina učesnika se pokazala kao pravi timski igrači, takmičarski duh je itekako bio prisutan, konkurentske ekipe su međusobno pokazale visok nivo tolerancije (nećemo računati izuzetke, kojih je bilo malo i na kraju smo se svi vratili pevajući, bez obzira na konačan ishod.

Neformalni deo  sastojao se od slobodnog vremena posvećenog skijanju, plivanju, šetnji kroz šumu, odmaranju, poseti Sarajevu… svako je mogao da odabere ono što mu najviše prija. A uveče su svi bili u „obavezi“ da prisustvuju „niskokaloričnoj“ večeri, a zatim i svirci do sitnih sati. I… svi su izdržali i bili krajnje opušteni i prijateljski raspoloženi.

Zanimljivost… Redovni čitaoci POSITIVE blog-a setiće se da sam pre nešto više od mesec dana napomenula kako bi ova godina mogla biti godina priznanja, nagrada, pohvala… Izgleda da sam bila u pravu. Kolega Saša i ja smo za 5. godinu učešća na pomenutom skupu prijatno iznenađeni prigodnim poklonima od strane organizatora, što potvrđuje moja predviđanja.

Napunili smo „baterije“, vratili se orni za posao, nadamo se da nas entuzijazam neće napustiti, a ako i popustimo, pa iz IT-a smo, zamenićemo „baterije“ !

LivingSocial, once one of the top Facebook app developers but is now focused on online daily deals, has raised a warchest of $25 million from investors in a Series B funding round.

LivingSocial, based out of Washington, D.C., is the creator of the Visual Bookshelf, Pick Your 5, and Polls Facebook applications, all of which were popular during the Facebook app development gold rush that occurred in 2007 and 2008. Since then though, the company has shifted its focus on the lucrative market of daily deals — one dominated by Groupon, which garnered over 2 million U.S. visitors last month alone. Essentially the website promotes one big deal per city per day, mostly via a daily email newsletter.

To compete with its bigger competitor, LivingSocial has assembled a $25 million warchest from U.S. Venture Partners, Grotech Ventures, and Revolution, LLC (owned by former AOL CEO Steve Case). The company says it will use the funds to expand its LivingSocial Deals platform into more cities, starting today — Denver, Raleigh Durham, San Diego, and Chicago are all now get daily deals. The latter is interesting because Chicago is the home turf of Groupon.

The daily deals market may not be all that sexy, but it has proven to be profitable and popular. It makes sense that more companies want a piece of the pie that Groupon currently dominates. With $25 million, LivingSocial is now on par with the $30 million Groupon recently raised. A daily deals war looks to be brewing.

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Reviews: Facebook

A new study from security firm Barracuda Labs provides some interesting insights into the state of the Twitterverse. Unfortunately for the microblogging startup, the stats say that most of its users aren’t very active.

The study looked at around 19 million Twitter accounts (PDF) in order to figure out how people are using Twitter. It started with one assumption: An active or “True” Twitter user has at least 10 followers, follows at least 10 people and had tweeted at least 10 times. By that definition though, only 21% of Twitter users are active users.

There’s a great deal of interesting data in the breakdown. Only 26% of Twitter users had 10 followers or more by December 2009, while only 40% were following 10 people or more (in fact, a majority of Twitter users, 51%, were following less than five people).

In terms of tweets, the report estimates that 34% of Twitter users hadn’t tweeted even once, while a whopping 73% of Twitter’s users tweeted less than 10 times. That means nearly all of the tweets on the social network were coming from about one-fourth of the userbase. Power users dominate.

Barracuda Labs also analyzed Twitter’s growth over time, and the numbers are consistent with previous reports that show while Twitter grew like wildfire in early 2009, it has dramatically slowed down in recent months. Going back further to early 2008, the report estimates that the microblogging tool grew by just 0.31%. However, with the quick rise of media coverage and the influx of celebrities such as Oprah and Shaq, Twitter use grew by 20% in April 2009 before dropping off to 0.34% growth in December 2009.

While the news isn’t stellar, it isn’t all bad for Twitter — these metrics are moving in the right direction. A full 79% of users had less than 10 tweets in June 2009, but that number dropped to 73% by December. Eighty percent of users had less than 10 followers in June 2009, but that percentage dropped to 74% by December. If that trend continues, you’ll hopefully see a more diverse and active Twitterverse going forward.

[via MediaMemo]

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Reviews: Twitter

Tags: Barracuda Labs, followers, stats, trending, twitter

Reporters Without Borders released its annual report [PDF] on online access today. They call it Enemies of the Internet, and it shows a world where online censorship, intimidation and worse is increasing.

It's not surprising that as access to the Internet expands, more and more dictators and tyrants will try to suppress it. But what's troubling about this year's report is the inclusion of two democratic countries: Australia and South Korea.

Sponsor

Both countries were included in the report's Under Surveillance list - a sub group of the main Enemies list.

Australia's proposed online filtering system is something RWB says it has "never before seen in a democracy." Additionally, in the state of South Australia it's now against the law to be anonymous online if it's in the context of an election.

In South Korea, a new censorship law allows for five-year prison sentences for anyone found using the Internet "to disseminate false news intended to damage the public interest." The same law requires online visitors to register their real name and national ID card number when visiting sites with more than 100,000 members.

Here are a handful of the worst violators of online freedom of expression on the Enemies of the Internet list:

Burma

Two high-ranking government officials have been sentenced to death for having e-mailed documents abroad. Net censorship is a serious matter in Burma. Massive filtering of websites and extensive slowdowns during times of unrest are daily occurrences for the country's Internet users. The legislation governing Internet use - the Electronic Act - is one of the most liberticidal laws in the world.

China

As its polemic with Google and the United States on the Internet's future unfolds, China continues to intensify Web censorship, faced with an increasingly forceful online community.The much-vaunted promises made by organizers at the open ceremonies of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games have proven to be mere illusions for the world's biggest netizen prison. Expanded dissemination of propaganda, generalized surveillance and crackdowns on Charter 08 signatories are commonplace on what has become the Chinese Intranet - with significant consequences for trade.

Egypt

More than a mere virtual communications tool, the Egyptian Internet has become a mobilization and dissension platform. Although website blocking remains limited, authorities are striving to regain control over bloggers who are more and more organized, despite all the harassment and arrests.

Iran

Iran, one of cyber-censorship's record-holding countries, has stepped up its crackdown and online surveillance since the protests over the disputed presidential reelection of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on June 12, 2009. The regime is demonizing the new media, which it is accusing of serving foreign interest.While a dozen netizens are serving out their terms in Evin Prison, bold Internet users are continuing to mobilize.

Saudi Arabia

An emerging bloggers' community is up against harsh censorship. These bloggers are confronting the traditional forces of Saudi society, which are attempting to prevent the Internet from becoming a forum for free discussions. Saudi Arabia is one of the first countries to have been authorized to write Internet domain names in Arabic.The Internet penetration rate, currently estimated at about 38% of the population, is rising. How- ever, it is still one of the most repressive countries with regard to the Internet.

Syria

Syria is reinforcing its censorship of troublesome topics on the Web and tracking netizens who dare to express themselves freely on it. As a result, social networks have been particularly targeted by omnipresent surveillance. The promised technological improvements are slow to materialize. The authorities' distrust of the potential for dissident online mobilization may be playing a role in this delay.

Vietnam

The progress made by Vietnam in the domain of human rights, which allowed the country to become a member of the World Trade Organization in 2007, is nothing but a distant memory. As the 2011 Communist Party Congress draws nearer, the regime is muffling dissident views on the Internet, and its first target is critics of the country's policy toward China.

Discuss

What do you do when you first fire up your browser? Most probably, you log into various sites that require a username and password – Facebook, Gmail, Twitter and the like. For me, personally, it’s quite a chore, as I need to log into over 10 different services before I start doing anything.

Now, Mozilla sets out to alleviate this issue with a new Firefox plugin called Account Manager. It currently doesn’t do much; it recognized that you’ve signed in into a website and displays an icon that says that yes, you’re indeed signed up under that username. However, Mozilla has ambitious plans for online identity management from within a browser. From their blog post:

“Your Web browser, as your most trusted relationship in your life online, has nearly perfect knowledge of everything you do on the Web. We envision a world where your browser will play an even more active and critical role in helping you control and shape your online experience. To realize this vision, we need to increase the browser’s understanding of your online identity and provide a platform for building new capabilities that securely take advantage of this rich, dynamic set of data that represents the digital “you.””

The account manager is available as an early, experimental alpha version, and it works only with Yahoo!, Facebook and Google, as well as some of Mozilla’s sites that require login, such as Bugzilla. Hopefully, in the future we’ll see features that really make switching between different user accounts and sharing content on various social networks easier and more streamlined.

Tags: account manager, facebook, Firefox, Google, mozilla

Location based social networks - are you over it already? It feels like location is all we ever hear about anymore, especially this week leading up to SXSW.

We're excited about location too; see our enthusiastic write-ups What Twitter's Geolocation API Makes Possible and The Era of Location as Platform Has Arrived. But it's getting a little ridiculous. We offer below a few thoughts to consider about all this location madness.

Sponsor

1. That Phrase: "Location, Location, Location"

   You're going to hear journalists use it far too much. Want to know where it came from? Language sleuth William Safire investigated for the NYT last year and concluded that the phrase was probably first used in a 1926 real estate classified ad in the Chicago Tribune: "Attention salesmen, sales managers: location, location, location, close to Rogers Park." Don't you feel more savvy now?

2. Too Many Startups?

   We're under embargo on almost all of them, but we can tell you there are at least 25 companies making location-related announcements at SXSW this week. Probably more. The Dunbar number of startups in a particular market, if you will, is something like 5. More than that and most people stop taking new entrants seriously. It's one thing to offer different technologies along the value chain of location, but sharing your location and aggregating messages by things like hashtag are two very crowded niches right now. One of my favorites is SitBy.Us, an app that lets you see where your Twitter friends are sitting in a conference session. That's pretty cool.

   You've got to wonder if and when Location will Jump the Shark and what consumer exhaustion for it might mean for the long-term prospects of the market. Everyone wants to be "the Twitter of SXSW 2010" but the fact is that SXSW represented a statistically insignificant increase in Twitter usage, historically speaking.

3. Location Startups "Not Playing Nice"

   There are loads of ways to post your location but it's very hard to get a feel for who exactly is where. SimpleGeo launched a site called Vicarious.ly today that aggregates check-ins across scads of services, all around Austin. It doesn't work very well, though. SimpleGeo's Matt Galligan told us today that the site is really just a proof of concept and that our perception that these startups aren't playing very nice together is very true. "And it's a real shame," he told us. It's hard for a 3rd party service to clearly identify whether these competing services are really talking about the same location, for example. No one tells their users what users on competing services are up to in the same location. Gowalla's Josh Williams says he doesn't know what the problem is and that Gowalla is very open about user data by open standards.

   Update: Galligan pinged us after publication to clarify: "I mostly meant the problem with venue data was because of how awful the *business listings* market is. There's certainly issues with non-connecting venue data but it's a *very* hard problem to solve, so I don't blame them right now. It can, however, be solved in the future."

4. We Need Cross-Service Venue Tracking

   If you're thinking of going to a place, or you're there and wonder who else is, what you need is a place where you can see who has checked in there across all services. For the place to be at the center of your experience, not the service. Michael Arrington says the new AOL Lifestream lets you track particular locations, but that service only supports Foursquare among location services. What we need is something like that across any and every check-in service. That's the kind of thing that data standards can enable.

   Google's Chris Messina told us that the Activity Streams standard has a namespace for "place" and would probably add support for GeoRSS soon, but that so far Google Buzz is the only location service that seems to be supporting it.

5. Gowalla Doesn't Get Enough Love

   Gowalla's API is read-only, meaning that 3rd party apps can't publish check-ins to the service like they can to Foursquare. Gowalla says they are working on it, but they are the underdog already and this isn't helping. AOL's cool new Lifestream product, for example, only supports Foursquare, not Gowalla. That's a real shame. You know what's nice about Gowalla, though? You can see who has checked into a place and when, even if they aren't friends of yours. That's not something that's easy to do with Foursquare at all. It's also much prettier than Foursquare and uses peoples' full names, instead of grade-school-style first names and last initials. Gowalla's API just isn't seeing the adoption that Foursquares is, though. Have you seen Avoidr.org for example? That's pretty funny stuff and it's built on top of Foursquare.
   

   The above is for illustration purposes only. I like both these guys just fine.

6. Imagine the Future, It's Going to Be Different

   If location based services ever become popular with the mainstream, every urban area might end up looking like the Foursquare map of downtown Austin this weekend. That means services are going to have to come up with creative and interesting new ways to make that data usable day-to-day and not overwhelming.

   Likewise, when you think about the future, imagine Facebook being a player in this market, because they are going to be soon. It's possible that Facebook and Twitter could be where all these other services meet-up. Brightkite has different features than BlockChalk but we can see what our friends are doing across any of these apps on Facebook, perhaps. And Facebook is where your mom checks-in, if she's not an early adopter.

   Finally, will location tracking be persistent? Loopt right now uses mobile carrier tie-ins to track your location constantly and expose it to a circle of trusted friends. Is that something that all services will enable in the future? Gowalla CEO Josh Williams told us "no way" does he think that will be the dominant model, but Adam Duvander, author of the forthcoming book Mapscripting 101, says he agrees with Loopt: that the value in persistent location tracking will be so compelling that everyone will end up going for it in the end, once proper privacy settings are figured out.

   What do you think, do you think persistent location tracking is the future of location based services?

   These are some of the things I'm thinking about location this week.

   Discuss

   
   

   
   

If you’re a gamer, you might have heard about yesterday’s news about the PlayStation Move, Sony’s answer to the Wii Remote and Microsoft’s upcoming Project Natal motion controller. In a demonstration yesterday, the company showed off the device, which utilizes remote-like controllers and the PlayStation Eye camera to capture your movements and turn them into actions on the screen.

We’ve seen plenty of screenshots and heard a lot about the controller’s capabilities, but we wanted to find out for ourselves whether it really could make the PlayStation more competitive with its counterparts. That’s why I decided to take the system for a test drive here at the Game Developer’s Conference (GDC) in San Francisco, California.

Did it live up to expectations? Could it challenge Nintendo and Microsoft in gaming? I’ve got some thoughts on the matter:

---

PlayStation Move: Sony Played It Safe

---

First, a little bit about the PlayStation Move: it is a two-part control system. First are the handheld controllers, which act essentially as Wiimotes. The main controller comes with a lighted color ball on the top though — this is an essential component for the second part of the Move: the PlayStation Eye camera, which tracks your movements on screen. Combined, you get a controller system.

When I held the remote-like device in my hands and actually got to play with it, I immediately became aware of two things: its accuracy and its augmented reality features. It feels just a little more precise than a Wiimote with the MotionPlus controller. Because it uses the camera rather than the senor bar that the Wii utilizes, it can more accurately catch your motions. It also translates them onto the screen with your face on the TV.

I was impressed with the augmented reality aspect of the PlayStation Move more, though. The lighted ball on my controller turned first into a paintbrush, and then a fly swatter. It didn’t have the lag that a lot of other systems deal with, which made the experience enjoyable.

Is it that much better than the Wii, though? To be honest, I think the answer to that question depends on how developers use the PlayStation Eye camera to enhance their games. If they focus on the controllers, then it’s just a fancy Wiimote. If it focuses on bringing you into the game via the camera, then there are some real possibilities.

In the end though, Microsoft’s Project Natal is still going to garner the attention and the hype, as it is a bolder step into motion control. Sony essentially played it safe with the Move, while Microsoft’s implementing an all-or-nothing strategy with Natal.

Here is me in action with the PlayStation Move:

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PlayStation Move Demo Video

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Tags: games, gaming, microsoft, Natal, Nintendo, playstation, playstation move, project natal, sony, video games, Wii, xbox

Fascinated by the cloud and what it means for the future of Web apps, social gaming, open-source and the after life? Then you have plenty to keep you busy if you are heading to SXSW this year.

This is part of a series of ReadWriteWeb guides to SXSW Interactive 2010. If this guide isn't your cup of tea, be sure to check back for more information soon!

Sponsor

Can You Run a 'Serverless' Business?

This discussion looks like one of the better cloud panels at SXSW. It features panelists such as Amazon CTO Werner Vogels, who is there to discuss how cloud computing platforms have evolved so that it is possible to run a ''serverless'' business with confidence.

Accessibility: What It Is For and Where It is Going

How does the cloud affect accessibility? Will cloud-computing allow for a metaphorical curb cut out, allowing access to rich Internet applications? Ahhh - another example of how cloud computing is affecting all aspects of our word.

From the SXSW guide:

"Could a Software as a Service (SaaS) model deliver assistive technologies as a cloud-based service? The National Public Inclusive Infrastructure (NPII) is trying to do just that. As a facilitator for more rapid deployment of assistive technologies and a means to prototype new business models for emerging assistive technologies, AT could become part of an extensive infrastructure of readily available, electronic curb cuts that allow for seeamless access for a broader range of users than have been included to date."

Drupal in the Cloud!
Pantheon is an open-source cloud hosting initiative for the Drupal development community. Josh Koenig will examine "The Cloud" as a concept, look at the marketplace for cloud services, and dig into what it takes to build an application on a cloud-based platform.

Our Interactive Culture Clouds

Were not sure about this one. Looks like it's made for SXSW with its discussions about how business and love meet. We're uncertain how the cloud plays into this one but just about everything does these days, doesn't it? Next!

You Developed the Content -- Now Build The Hardware

The cloud is sending developers back to the labs to rethink and build new hardware that fits the wave of cloud-based applications in the market. Cool! From the SXSW Guide:

"This presentation discusses how software/content developers can use open-source hardware to build devices that integrate tightly with their applications."

Become Immortal: Understanding the Digital After Life

Now talk about ghosts in the machine. Just think, when we die our identities will float in cloud networks all over the world. This may be the most philosophical discussion around cloud computing that we see at SXSW. It's time to explore the digital beyond!

Finally, can one man be a cloud? The cloud is just about anything at SXSW so a man on a bike with a wifi hotspot in his backpack must qualify. Look for "The Jason Cloud," as you walk the streets of Austin. Considering AT&T's service, you may want to hire a bike taxi and follow Jason around for a few days.

Discuss

We’ve added a fair bit to Blogger over the years, but one thing that’s been constant for some time has been our collection of templates. While a number of talented designers around the web have offered their own fresh and interesting designs that you can apply to your Blogger blog, our stock set has grown a bit stale, and you’ve noticed. You let us know — in the forums, on Twitter, sitting next to us on airplanes, even from across the counter at a Harvard Square stationary store, and we’ve been listening.

Today we’re taking a big first step in improving not just our template designs, but all the ways that you can customize the look and layout of your blog. We even made a video with jaunty music to show it off:


Here’s what we’re launching today to Blogger in Draft:

• 15 new, highly-customizable templates from our design team, split into four families: Simple, Picture Window, Awesome Inc, and Watermark
• One-, two-, and three-column layouts for each template, with complete control over the size and arrangement of the columns
• Hundreds of background images and patterns from iStockphoto, the leading microstock image marketplace

Try it Now
Go to http://draft.blogger.com/ to log in to Blogger in Draft. (If you’ve never been there before, Blogger in Draft is just like regular Blogger, except with new, in-development features like this one.) Click on your blog’s “Layout” link to go to the Layout tab. The link to the Template Designer is at the end of the row of sub-tabs.


You can use the live preview to see your new template without affecting your blog. When you find a new look that you’re happy with, just click the “Apply to Blog” button to publish it to the world. Note: You can backup your existing template ahead of time by going to Layout > Edit HTML. We recommend this if you have a customized blog design that you might want to go back to.

Classic template blogs: If you have a “Template” link or tab instead of “Layout,” you’ll first need to switch from Classic to Layouts before you can try out the Template Designer. Go to Classic > Customize Design and follow the instructions there. You’ll need to switch to one of our old templates first, but then you’ll be able to use the Template Designer to pick a new one.

Tips from the Blogger Team

• Get your links to match a background image quickly by using the Background panel’s “Main color theme” to adjust all of your blog’s colors at once. This works particularly well with Simple’s second design.

• With a three-column footer, you can fit in several gadgets to interest your readers after they’re done reading your post. For inspiration, read Derek Powazek’s post, “Embrace your bottom!”

• If you’re using our new Pages feature, put the Page List gadget in the wide section at the top of your blog. We’ve added unique tab designs to all of the new templates.
• Many of the patterns in the background image picker are semi-transparent, to let your blog’s background color show through. Look for the “transparency page curl” to see which patterns these are.
• The Attribution gadget (added to the footer by all new templates) is there to give credit not just to the designer and artist of the background image, but to you as well. Edit its settings by clicking “Edit” on Layout > Page Elements to add your own authorship or copyright information.

Get Involved

• Show off your new design on Twitter by tweeting your blog’s URL with the hashtag #newbloggertemplate. We’ll be looking for creative designs to feature in upcoming blog posts or as Blogs of Note.
• We’re taking feature requests. Let us know what else you’d like to see with our Google Moderator page. (And don’t worry: uploading your own background image is already filed and at the top of our list!)
• To report bugs or discuss the Template Designer in more detail, start a thread on our discussion forum. Include “Template Designer” in the subject so we’ll be sure to see it.
• Do you design templates for Blogger? Join our template designer group for documentation and discussion on working with the new templates, as well as details on how to get your designs into the Template Designer.

Over the coming weeks and months we’ll be adding new features, templates, and images guided by the feedback we hear from you.

Miscellaneous Notes

• The Template Designer is not supported on Internet Explorer 6, nor, for that matter, are the new templates. While we’ve made an effort to ensure that they’ll still be readable, the new designs are not going to look particularly attractive on IE6. We strongly encourage the very small number of bloggers and readers still using IE6 to upgrade to a more modern browser. For more information about browsers, visit Google’s What Browser? site.
  
• The rounded corners and drop shadows used in several of the templates may not be visible in older versions of some browsers. Opera users will need to wait for Opera 10.5, currently in public pre-alpha release. IE7 and 8 users will not see these effects within the Template Designer, but will see most of them on the live blog itself.
• From within the Template Designer you can only move gadgets around, you can’t add, delete, or change their settings. Those features are still on the Layout > Page Elements page.
• Some gadgets, such as Poll, Reactions, or third-party Google Gadgets will not reflect color changes in the live preview but will after the template is applied. Others, such as Followers and AdSense, will not change colors automatically at all. It may be easiest to remove and re-add these gadgets to refresh their palettes, though you could also tweak the colors by hand by editing their settings.
• Customizations to widget templates will be cleared when applying a new template to preserve the new layout. If you have made changes to your widget templates, save them first by going to Layout > Edit HTML and clicking “Download Full Template.” You’ll be able to copy them back in as needed after you apply your new template.

The official Foursquare account just sent out a tweet letting everyone know that today is already the service’s biggest day ever. This is interesting since it’s actually the day before the SXSW conference kicks off in Austin, Texas.

According to the tweet, Foursquare broke 275,000 check-ins (the previous record, set last Friday) for the day “hours ago.” This means they’re very likely well past 300,000 now and perhaps even higher. To put that in some perspective, just a month ago, Foursquare set a record with 1.2 million check-ins for the entire week. And that was double was it was the month prior. At today’s rate, Foursquare would be doing well over 2 million check-ins a week.

Today happens to be the first birthday of Foursquare, so they shared some numbers earlier. The service now has over 500,000 users, they’ve given out over 1 million badges, there are over 1.4 million venues in the system, with over 1,200 specials available. And in total, there have been some 15.5 million check-ins. But that was before today’s record numbers.

While there are well over a dozen location-based services launching something at SXSW, the main two competitors vying for users’ time are expected to be Foursquare and Austin-native Gowalla. For its part, Gowalla noted that it was “Amazing to watch the Gowalla action on the eve of SXSW. AMAAAAAAZING!,” earlier today. Both recently revamped their websites, and both yesterday launched their new iPhone apps. And judging from the Vicarious.ly data provided by SimpleGeo, both are absolutely on fire right now and could go nuclear this weekend.

Update: Gowalla has a range of just about every possible venue you can imagine for SXSW and so far (again, the day before the conference), they’ve seen 352 check-ins at the SXSW Badge Pick-Up alone.

Koristim Linux već skoro deceniju, a u poslednje vreme sve više ljudi oko mene istražuje razne distribucije, pa reših da kažem što šta na tu temu. Naime, danas među cyber populacijom vlada neka moda da se furaju Linuxi i to ovi fancy sa Compiz Fusion efektima, a polovina tih ljudi ne zna ni šta je Linux, ni kako radi. Da se razumemo, nemam ništa protiv fancy GUI-ja i ostalih eye-candy efekata, čak ih i ja koristim u velikoj meri, ali konzola je i dalje najmoćnija alatka u UNIX svetu. Pa da krenem redom…

Šta je Linux i čemu on služi?

Verovatno ste već negde čuli sledeću opisnu ‘definiciju’:

Linux je besplatna zamena za Windows.

Kao prvo, Linux ne mora biti besplatan. Najčešće jeste, ali ne mora. To što je “zamena za Windows” samo je posledica njegove popularizacije među širim narodnim masama i to najčešće jer su mnoge firme posle masovne akcije legalizacije softvera u Srbiji rešile da pređu na ‘besplatna’ rešenja umesto da plate papreno skupe licence za softver koji su do tada koristile. Verovatno ste videli i sipmatičnog pingvina Tux-a, koji je maskota Linux kernela

Dakle, Linux je dvojaki pojam koji se odnosi na Linux kernel – osnovu slobodnog (i besplatnog) operativnog sistema zasnovanog na UNIX arhitekturi, ali i na celu grupu distribucija operativnih sistema koji su zasnovani na tom kernelu. Ispravan naziv za takve distribucije je GNU/Linux, jer uz sam Linux kernel u paketu idu i mnoge softverske biblioteke, alati i programi koji potiču iz GNU projekta, međutim ustaljeno je da se naziv Linux odnosi na ceo paket.

Linux svoje korene vuče još iz 1991. godine, kada je finski student Linus Torvalds pokrenuo njegov razvoj kao hobi projekat. Danas, posle dve decenije postojanja, Linux predstavlja osnovu operativnih sistema na milionima PC računara, servera, klastera, super-računara, mrežnih uređaja, mobilnih telefona i svakakvih drugih spravica širom sveta. Evo i dela Usenet poruke koju je Linus poslao u avgustu te davne godine:

I’m doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won’t be big and professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones. This has been brewing since april, and is starting to get ready… It is NOT protable (uses 386 task switching etc), and it probably never will support anything other than AT-harddisks, as that’s all I have .

Možda znate, možda i ne, ali i:

Google Android je baziran na Linuxu

Filozofija slobodnog softvera

Kao što već pomenuh, Linux je slobodan operativni sistem objavljen pod GPL licencom, što znači da svako može besplatno da ga koristi, umnožava i menja. U svetu softvera, programi se mogu distribuirati u dva oblika:

• izvorni kod (source code) – kada imamo uvid u sam kod koji je programer pisao i koji tek treba prevesti u binarni oblik da bi se isti izvršio;
• binarni paket (binary) – kada samo dobijemo izvršni oblik programa, bez uvida u način njegovog rada.

U zavisnosti od programskog jezika, neki izvorni kodovi ne moraju biti prevedeni (kompajlirani) u izvršni (binarni) oblik, već se interpretiraju u letu. No to nije previše bitno za ovu priču, tako da ćemo ostaviti za kasnije. Poenta je da za potpunu slobodu deljenja, umnožavanja i eventualne izmene softvera moramo imati originalni izvorni kod, pa se softver koji se isporučuje sa izvornim kodom naziva “softver otvorenog koda” (open source software).

Richard Stallman (RMS) je 4. oktobra 1985. godine pokrenuo Zadužbinu za slobodni softver (Free Software Foundation) kako bi propagirao slobodni softver. Slobodni je prevod od engleskog “free“, što se može protumačiti i kao besplatn, što ne mora da bude slučaj mada najčešće jeste. Da ne bi dolazilo do zabune oko toga, danas se češće koristi termin “liberal“.

Slobodan softver otvorenog koda (Free and open source software) skraćeno se obeležava sa F/OSS, FOSS ili FLOSS (free/libre/open source software). Više detalja oko naziva “free softver / open source” možete pročitati na Wikipediji. Većina linux distribucija u potpunosti poštuje GPL licencu i sadrži samo FLOSS.

Linux distribucije

Iako danas ima na stotine Linux distribucija, sve se mogu svrstati u 3 glavne grane jer se većina zasniva na jednoj od tri najstarije distribucije. Osim po pedigreu, distribucije se mogu grupisati i po vrsti paketa (načina distribucije programa) koje koriste, što ponovo zavisi od toga na kojoj su distribuciji zasnovane:

• Debian – deb paketi
• Slackware – tarball paketi i izvorni kod
• RedHat – rpm paketi

Ove glavne distribucije važe za stabilne i pouzdane, pa se koriste tamo gde se zahteva neprekidan rad sistema i uptime od preko 99%. Kako se na njihovoj pripremi i održavanju provodi dosta vremena, njihove nove verzije izlaze najčešće u ciklusima od po godinu dana. Desktop korisnicima koji žele nove stvari na svom računaru to baš i ne odgovara, pa češće koriste njihove prerađene verzije čije se nove verzije objavljuju u proseku duplo češće. A za one koji ne vole previše da se petljaju sa sistemom, već vole da je sve spremno OTB (“odmah po instalaciji“) postoji i treći nivo distribucija koje su bazirane na prethodnim i najšeće samo donose kozmetičke izmene i drugačija početna podešavanja. Evo hijerarhije nekih popularnijih distribucija:

• Debian
  • Ubuntu
    • Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Edubuntu…
    • Linux Mint
    • gOS
  • Knoppix
    • Damn Small Linux
    • Backtrack
    • Dreamlinux
  • Linspire
    • Freespire
  • SimplyMEPIS
• Slackware
  • SuSE
    • openSUSE
    • Arch*
  • Gentoo
    • Sabayon Linux
  • Slax
• RedHat
  • Mandriva
    • PCLinuxOS
  • RedHat Enterprise
    • CentOS
    • Scientific
  • Fedora
  • Yellow Dog

Za pretragu detaljnijih informacija o Linux distribucijama, posetite poređenje na Wikipediji, a grafik sa istorijskim razvojem možete naći ovde. Nezaobilazna stranica za upoznavanje sa raznim distribucijama je i DistroWatch – sajt koji prikuplja informacije, vesti, statistiku popularnosti distribucija i sl.

Kako odabrati pravu Linux distribuciju

Večito pitanje među korisnicima Linux operativnog sisetma je “Kako odabrati pravu distribuciju?“. Kako ne postoji odgovor na pitanje “Koja je Linux distribucija najbolja?“, jer svaki ima neku svoju svrhu i svoju ciljnu grupu, najbolje je da prvo pokušate sami sebi da odgovorite na pitanja:

1. Koja će biti funkcija tog Linuxa? server, desktop, istraživanje…
2. Kolika su Vaša predznanja i iskustva u radu sa računarom? početnik, napredni korisnik, profesionalac…
3. Koliko ste spremni da odvojite vremena i energije za učenje nečeg novog?
4. Imate li pogodan hardver na kome će Linux biti instaliran?
5. I još koješta slično…

Kako svaka distribucija ima neku svoju filozofiju rada i način na koji se određene stvari rade, najbolje je da isprobate na neko vreme par distribucija i vidite koja Vam leži. Ukoliko nemate ideju odakle da krenete, evo dva testa koji Vam mogu pomoći u tome:

• Linux Distribution Chooser
• PolishLinux.org Distro chooser

Linux konzola

Ukoliko želite ozbiljnije da se bavite Linuxom, ono što ćete pre ili kasnije morati da savladate do nekog nivoa je rad sa konzolom. Neke osnovne stvari uopšte nisu teške i nemojte da Vas plaši to što se komande zadaju kucanjem na tastaturi umesto kliktanjem mišem. Već sam pisao kako je to jednostavno u Fedori, a ni[ta komplikovanije nije ni u drugim distribucijama. Sažeti pregled Linux komandi sa istorijom možete naći i na srpskom jeziku. Za sve naprednije stvari najbolje je da konsultujete neku detljniju literaturu, a tu su:

• Bash Guide for Beginners
• Linux Command Directory
• Linux Shell Scripting Tutorial – A Beginner’s handbook
• Advanced Bash-Scripting Guide
• Linux Documentation Project Guides

Zašto Linux?

Ako se i dalje pitate žašto bi koristili Linux, daću Vam nekoliko razloga zbog kojih bi u najgorem slučaju trebali bar da ga probate.

• Ideologija – Ako pogledamo na istorijski razvoj, primećujemo da je Linux krenuo kao projekat iz hobija, a danas se koristi na milionima uređaja širom sveta. Setimo se da je Linux i dalje nekomerzijalan, pa će Vam biti jasno da je u pitanju kvalitetan proizvod koji se već dve decenije drži svoje ideologije o slobodi i otvorenosti, a to podržavaju i giganti IT industrije (IBM, Intel, Google…)
• Sigurnost – Pored toga što je sistem projektovan na način da bude siguran i zaštićen, statistika govori sve: Na Windows platformi godišnje se registruje na desetine hiljada novih virusa, dok je na Mac-u i Linuxu svega par desetina od kojih nijedan nije rasprostranjen i opasan za široke narodne mase. I pored toga, skoro sve Linux distribucije dolaze za besplatnim firewall-om i antivirusom. Ne morate se brinuti od raznih napasti na Internetu, a podaci na hard disku računara mogu biti kriptovani kako im niko drugi sem Vas ne bi pristupao.
• Cena – Za početak sam OS je besplatan, a uz njega i hiljade programa raznih namena. Za većinu standardnih potreba nećete morati da dokupite nijedan program. Na primer, kancelarijski računar, prenosni računar, server ili desktop mašina može koristiti sve programe iz repozitorijuma distribucije potpuno besplatno.
• Performanse i resursi – Većinu Linux distribucija možete instalirati i na starijim i slabijim računarima. Iz novijih će biti iskošišćena sva njihova snaga, a starima će biti udahnut novi život kroz upotrebljivost na brojne načine. Koji god stari računar da imate, možete instalirati neku od distribucija na njega i koristiti ga kao internet klijent, media player, kućni server, ruter ili šta god Vam padne na pamet…
• Jednostavna instalacija – Nekada je instlacija bilo kog operativnog sistema bila posao za stručnjaka. Danas je stvar potpuno drugačija i siguran sam da bi svako mogao da se snađe sa instalacijom jednog savremenog Linuxa. Pored toga što je sama instalacija uprošćena do maksimuma, prevodi na skoro sve svetkse jezike ruše sve barijere u strahu od korišćenja računara.
• Reinstalacija OS-a – Gotovo da nikada nećete morati da reinstalirate operativni sistem svog računara. Dok korisnici Windowsa moraju povremeno da “ubiju sistem” da bi “digli novi sistem“, u Linuxu to ne postoji. Sistem se instalira na jednu particiju, programi na drugu, a Vaši lični podaci i podešavanja na treću. Nova verzuja sistema se automatski najčešće dobija kroz ažuriranje (update) sisetma, a u slučaju potrebe za ponovnom instalacijom (novi hard disk ili sl.) svi podaci i podešavanja sistema se veoma lako prebacuju.
• Instalacija i update programa – Skoro da nikada nećete morati da tražite instalacije programa po Internetu ili proveravati da li je izašla nova verzija. Svi programi se u vidu paketa organizuju u repozitorijume (riznice) odakle se automatski instaliraju u Vaš sistem na svega par klika mišem (ili jednom komandom u konzoli).
• Defragmentacija diska – Ako ste nekada radili defragmentaciju diska znate koliko je to dosadan posao i koliko dugo traje. Fajl sistemi u Linuxu brinu se samostalno o fragmentaciji i organizovanju datoteka na samom fizičkom hard disku pa će sistem u svakom trenutku raditi na optimalan način.
• Dodatni programi – Svaka Linux distribucija dolazi za stotinama, a neke čak i sa desetinama hiljada programa. Većinu stvari koje Vam zatrebaju naći ćete na instalacionom disku  ili kroz repozitorijume na serveru Vaše distribucije.
• Vizuelni izgled – GUI ili ono što vidite je na većini distribucija standardno doteran da izgleda bolje od bilo koje verzije Windowsa. KDE, na primer, posedovao je mnoge funkcije koje su u Windows dodate tek posle par godina u Visti. Da je Linux par godina u prenosti ispred Windowsa, pokazaće Vam i ovaj video klip. I pored svega toga, sve što vidite na ekranu (a i ono što ne vidite) se može podesiti da izgleda ili radi na koji god želite način.

Za one koji bi još malo da se raspitaju “Zašto je Linux bolji?“, postoji poduža lista na raznim sajtovima na Internetu pa se družite sa Google-tom

GNU/Linux nije samo operativni sistem, već predstavlja duh zajedništva, slobode, deljenja i kreativnosti, a pre svega mogućnost izbora…

Last night, Reuters released their social media policy, which includes instructing journalists to avoid exposing bias online and tells them specifically not to “scoop the wire” by breaking stories on Twitter.

The strict instruction makes it clear that even though news continually breaks on Twitter first — especially in disaster scenarios — Reuters journalists are to break their stories first via the wire and not on Twitter.

The social media policy in question also addresses a number of other Twitter, Facebook, and online concerns, offering up instructions and recommendations whenever possible.

For example, journalists are advised to get manager approval before using Twitter for professional purposes, have someone double-check their tweets before posting, avoid disclosing personal biases (especially political), and to separate professional and private activity with separate accounts.

The policy as a whole is a fascinating read and exposes that Reuters, as a media organization, is torn between encouraging employees to use social media and the realization that the online behaviors of their staff put them at risk, a sentiment expressed in the comment that these tools, if misused, could “threaten our hard-earned reputation for independence and freedom from bias or our brand.”

In their eyes, a reporter that exposes their political leanings on Facebook, even privately, is no longer free from repudiation. A journalist that follows sources on Twitter or friends them on Facebook risks sharing those identities with the competition.

What’s interesting, though, is the idea that social media poses a threat to the traditional news cycle and notion of journalism has been around since the days when blogging first surfaced. As other news organizations, reputable or not, continue to break stories on Twitter and even mandate social media usage, it will be interesting to see whether or not Reuters can maintain their relevance and position atop the news chain.

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Reviews: Facebook, Twitter

Tags: media, Reuters, social media, social media policy, trending

Random video chat site Chatroulette is a pop culture smash right now, and while it’s easy to assume its days are numbered, it’s a lot of fun to immerse yourself in the little subculture building around it. Despite the increasing negative press, there’s almost as much heart on the service as there is genitalia. Well, maybe not quite. But there’s some heart, really!

These videos are proof. We picked four that incorporate footage from Chatroulette, and two bonus videos that are about the site. In all cases but one, we tried to pick videos that were good-spirited and fun, not malicious or twisted — not an easy task, actually, since most of the Chatroulette videos on YouTube are a little messed up.

Enjoy this collection, and if you have any to add, tell us in the comments!

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1. “Dance or GTFO”

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This is the simplest of the videos. There’s no gimmick here. The author of the video placed in front of the camera a piece of paper with a drawing of the Peanut Butter Jelly Time dancing banana that went viral ages ago, and a note suggesting that the person on the other end dance or move on. The people in this feel-good montage danced.

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2. “If You Turn Your Head, I Win”

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Here’s another one involving a written note. This guy wrote “If you turn your head, I win” sideways and kept a tally, among other things. He got lots of smiles and thumbs up. It seems like people actually log onto Chatroulette to be pranked a bit, so they don’t mind!

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3. Auto-Tune the Chatroulette

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When you mix together two of the hottest YouTube culture trends, you get our favorite video on this list — an (allegedly) improvised song using the same sort of tech they make Auto-Tune the News with. The author of the video “sings” jokes about the people he talks to as he moves from connection to connection.

We were pleased to hear that it wasn’t all insult comedy; too many Chatroulette videos out there are malicious, but this one’s a delight.

Oh, and the author is wearing an “I’m On a Boat” t-shirt, which alludes to the comedy sketch that features T-Pain, who’s partially responsible for all this Auto-Tune madness.

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4. Star Wars Stormtrooper

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The geek behind this video sent out an image of a Star Wars storm trooper and used a collection of storm trooper sound effects (including the infamous Imperial March) to entertain folks on Chatroulette. Every reaction you see in this video is a positive one. He even runs into another person wearing a Star Wars mask.

Be warned, though, that this video has some explicit language.

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BONUS: Chatroulette Explained

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We covered this a few days ago, but in case you missed it, the author of this video tried a few things to explain the phenomenon of Chatroulette and how it works.

A little sample: When he logged on, he was “nexted” within just a few seconds 19 out of 20 times. When an attractive girl sat in front of the camera instead, 9 out of 10 people stayed to talk to her for at least a couple of minutes, or until she nexted them.

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BONUS #2: Jon Stewart Surfs Chatroulette on The Daily Show

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The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
Tech-Talch – Chatroulette
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Reform

This is another one we already wrote about. The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart made fun of the mainstream media coverage of Chatroulette by taking a fake spin on it to chat with reporters like Katie Couric and Brian Williams. It’s funny — check it out.

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Reviews: YouTube, news

Tags: chat, chatroulette, jon stewart, live video, the daily show, video