Dish adds Pandora to Hopper Whole-Home DVR system

Dish adds Pandora to Hopper Whole-Home DVR system

Tired of walking from room to room, bringing your Entourage with you via your minty fresh Dish Hopper? Well, now you can sit down, relax and enjoy a hot cup of your favorite tunes from the same box. Dish has introduced the popular Pandora music service into its Hopper Whole-Home HD DVR System. So, you'll be able to pull up tracks, create playlists and all the usual recommendation delights you've come to expect from the personal radio service. We'd normally make Pandora's Box about this time, but we're already knee deep in the Jane's Addiction back catalog...

Continue reading Dish adds Pandora to Hopper Whole-Home DVR system

Dish adds Pandora to Hopper Whole-Home DVR system originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Apr 2012 09:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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from Engadget http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/20/dish-adds-pandora-to-hopper-whole-home-dvr...

Forget ‘Local’ – Now, All Politics Are Social [INFOGRAPHIC]

Forget former Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill’s oft-repeated maxim, “all politics is local.” In the 2012 race for the White House, all politics are social.

People are posting political news, op-eds and their own opinions across their myriad social profiles on Facebook, Twitter and other platforms. As it turns out, the type of political content you share and the way you interact with others’ shared content depends very much on your political leanings.

For example, liberal voters are more likely to use the Internet and social networks in general than their conservative brethren. Liberals also defriend people more often than others because they post disagreeable material or because they just post about politics too often.

SEE ALSO: On Twitter, The Primary’s Over and It’s Obama vs. Romney

People on the extremes of either side are more willing to click the “like” button on political content, and they’re more likely to friend someone who shares their political views.

For more, check out this infographic, courtesy of OnlineColleges.com:


Do you agree with these results, or are you an outlier? Let us know in the comments below.

More About: 2012 presidential campaign, Facebook, Politics, Social Media, social politics, Twitter, US

from Mashable! http://mashable.com/2012/04/20/politics-are-social/?utm_source=feedburner&utm...

Early Stage Funding Poised to Rebound from Q1 Dip

Venture capitalists were prudent and calculated with their investments in the first quarter of 2012. A MoneyTree Report released this morning by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the National Venture Capital Association(NVCA), and Thomson Reuters, shows declines in investments made to younger companies and an increase in money given to those in later stages. Moving forward, however, we could see this trend turn completely around.

According to the report, the total amount of money that venture capitalists spent on seed and early stage investments dropped 9 percent and 31 percent respectively.

Meanwhile “investments into companies in the Later stage of development experienced an increase, rising 11 percent and accounting for 40 percent of total dollars invested during the first quarter of 2012.”

Companies seeking capital for the first time were the hardest hit by the hesitant venture capital atmosphere. “First-time financing [...] dollars decreased 22 percent to $783 million in Q1, the third lowest level in survey history.”

Tracy Lefterhoff, global managing partner of PwC’s venture capital arm in the US, attributes these drops to “a lackluster fourth quarter in the public markets.” But she offers hope to younger companies who sought funding in Q1. “Given that we saw an improvement in the public markets during the first quarter, we could see VCs return to placing their bets on seed stage companies in the coming quarters.”

So, if your startup struggled to collect venture capital funding these past few months, don’t stop trying.  There are greener pastures ahead.

[image via andrewchenblog]

from BostInno http://bostinno.com/2012/04/20/early-stage-funding-poised-to-rebound-from-q1-...

Nick Denton wants to turn the online media world on its head

Over the past couple of months, Gawker Media founder Nick Denton has made it clear that he doesn’t like blog comments very much, and that includes the ones on his own sites such as Gizmodo and Jezebel. He said so during an interview at South by Southwest, where he called the long-held idea that comments could somehow capture the intelligence of a site’s readership “a joke.” So Gawker is remaking comments from the ground up, Denton told GigaOM in an interview in his SoHo office on Wednesday — and the vision behind the changes that will be rolling out soon is nothing less than a reinvention of what the company is about, and also an attempt to literally flip the world of online content on its head.

This isn’t the first time Gawker has tried to fix commenting: the site got a lot of attention several years ago for launching an ambitious new commenting system that was supposed to offer readers an incentive system to encourage good behavior — a little like the membership model that other sites, including the New York Times, have adopted, which awards readers benefits for posting good comments. But Denton says now that this system actually turned out to be a massive mistake, and that all it did was encourage social-media gurus and professional commenters to game the system in order to get rewards:

It was a terrible mistake. It doesn’t work because people game it — and the people who game it are the people with time and social-media expertise, and those are not the people with information or insight. What person who actually has a job and a reputation… would give a f*** about getting some little badge like they’re in high school? It’s patronizing.

Everyone becomes a moderator of their own comments

So what is Gawker’s solution? The new commenting system, which Denton has hinted about but not revealed the details of, is designed to give everyone their own platform for commentary and discussion, one in which they control who they listen to or who they dismiss. And that includes the sources involved in a story at Gawker or Gizmodo or any of the other sites. That, Denton hopes, will appeal to people who don’t currently comment on blogs because doing so feels like “asking someone to go down to Occupy Wall Street and plunge into the mob and start shouting. No reasonable person is going to do that.”

In particular, Denton hopes that handling comments in this way will encourage the subjects of stories to become involved in rebutting these reports directly on the site, instead of calling him to rant at him about them. “I want to take all of those people and I want to have them in the discussion,” he says. “I want to see the story evolve and see the rebuttal, and the rebuttal to the rebuttal.” Not only does that produce drama — something Denton admits he has a fondness for — but he believes it could also help to get at the truth, broadly speaking.

Now I can say: your rebuttal will be given as much prominence as the original piece — we will respect you, we will protect you from the mob and we will let you say your piece. It’s great because it adds drama, and it keeps our writers honest.

Denton wants to reinvent how online media works

But Denton doesn’t just want to reinvent commenting; he wants these changes to be part of reinventing online journalism itself, by turning the traditional story model on its head. While many outlets treat comments and the discussion around a story as an afterthought, something that gets tacked on once the story is finished, Denton said he sees it not only as as the beginning of the story — but as the most important part. He said he even wants to take the discussion around a story that editors at Gawker engage in via private IMs and chats and make all of that public, as a way of sparking discussion.

This was actually the original vision behind Gawker: Denton said he noticed the discussion and gossip around a story in the newsroom or at the bar when he worked at the Financial Times was often far more interesting than the story itself — and he wanted to turn that discussion into its own form of media. In a similar way, the commenting changes are designed to make discussion among writers (who he said will be encouraged to spend far more time in the comments section) and readers and sources far more prominent, in some cases to the point where they become the story.

What’s interesting about Denton’s vision is that plenty of media sites both traditional and digital-only talk about how the “conversation” is the important thing, and how engaging the reader is a valuable tool for uncovering the truth, something that has been accepted wisdom since The Cluetrain Manifesto was published over a decade ago — but very few sites actually follow through on this promise.

Can Nick Denton manage to make Gawker into a poster child for that principle, and not only save comments and internet discourse but pave the way for the future of online media? And will anyone actually take him up on his offer to spend their day at Gawker moderating their own discussion? Stay tuned.

Post and thumbnail images courtesy of Flickr user Jeremy King

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from GigaOM http://gigaom.com/2012/04/20/nick-denton-wants-to-turn-the-online-media-world...

How George Takei Went From Star Trek to Social Media Superstar


Actor and Internet sensation George Takei turned 75 on Friday.

For nearly 50 years, George Takei has been famous for his portrayal of Hikaru Sulu on the original ’60s television show Star Trek. Takei appeared as Sulu for three seasons and six subsequent movies.

After Star Trek, Takei continued to act and perform voice-overs. Yet, like many members of the cast, his identity remained synonymous with Star Trek. It wasn’t until Takei started his Facebook page on March 23, 2011 that his fame took on a whole new dimension.

Takei posts funny photos, memes and other positive content to Facebook multiple times a day, and these posts see massive engagement.  Many of his posts are submitted by readers. With 1,624,780 likes on Facebook and 348,019 Twitter followers, Takei has reinvented himself as social media celebrity. (For the record, his Star Trek co-star William Shatner has roughly 145,000 Facebook likes.) While Takei has amassed a sizable following on social media, his rate of engagement might be his most impressive digital achievement.

It’s not uncommon for one of Takei’s posts to receive up to 50,000 likes and 30,000 shares. There are very few celebrities who regularly see engagement numbers as high as Takei’s. Even Rihanna, the most liked person on Facebook, doesn’t hold a clear advantage over Takei when it comes to engagement.

Rihanna boasts 54 million Facebook likes — roughly 53 million more than Takei — yet her posts attract similar engagement numbers. Takei’s Facebook fans are an extremely responsive group.

Rihanna recently posted a clip from her new movie Battleship, which received roughly 20,000 likes and 1,800 shares. By comparison, a recent video from Takei doing a “Happy Dance” received 30,000 likes and 10,000 shares.


How Did George Takei Become a Social Media Superstar?


The simple answer is: Takei knows his audience very well.  While he has expanded his following through strong involvement in the gay rights movement (his It’s Ok to be Takei initiative, for instance) and Asian American groups (he is on the board of the Japanese American National Museum), his core fan-base consists of Star Trek fans who appreciate Takei for his self-aware humor.  Takei gives his audience exactly what they want, which regularly includes Star Trek jokes and other references from geek culture.

SEE ALSO: George Takei Brings Peace to Sci-Fi Geek Feud [VIDEO]
It has been established that positive posts are far more popular on Facebook than negative ones.  Takei seems to understand this. He puts a cheerful spin on his Facebook posts and tweets — and his audience is clearly responding.

@GeorgeTakei You make me smile everyday, thank you. Have a marvelous birthday Mr. Takei!

— Wendy C (@meeknowit) April 20, 2012

 

@GeorgeTakei Happy birthday, sir. Thank you for making me smile most days, and for disliking Twilight as much as I do.

— Nancy Clanton (@NancyClanton) April 20, 2012

 

Take a look at some of the best posts from George Takei.  Also, help us wish him a happy birthday below!


Bad Touch


"From a fan. Oh, myyy!"

Click here to view this gallery.


Wish George Takei a Happy 75th Birthday


  • Create a photo, meme or graphic to wish George Takei a happy birthday. Be creative and make your image embody the Takei style of humor.
  • Upload your photo to Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, Instagram or the photo-sharing service of your choice, and drag and drop it in the picture widget below, OR
  • Tweet your photo to @mashablehq with the hashtag #MashTakei.
  • We will gather the entries and post them in a gallery for George Takei to see.

Use your own image or one of these to create your Takei birthday wish:


Thumbnail courtesy of Flickr, Gage Skidmore.

More About: features, George Takei, internet memes, memes, Star Trek, trending

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from Mashable! http://mashable.com/2012/04/20/george-takei-social-media/?utm_source=feedburn...

Band to Take Requests via Text During Upcoming Concert


Music acts nationwide are getting more creative with technology during live performances when they roll into town for concerts. Case in point: Rock jam band Umphrey’s Mcgee, which is gearing up for a digitally interactive concert event next week that allows audience members to engage with the band in real time via text messages.

Fans will be able to directly text the band song requests during the show, as well as answer questions posed by the group and even recommend when it’s time to switch up the instruments.

Called the UMBowl — “UM” for the band names’ initials — it’s modeled off of the Super Bowl with the inclusion of four quarters. But each quarter has its own interactive theme. Held in the band’s hometown of Chicago, the third-annual event will take place on Friday, April 27 at the Park West concert venue.

“We wanted to create an event that is collaborative, interactive and unlike any other concert people have been to before,” Umphrey’s McGee keyboardist Joel Cummins told Mashable. “People are always using their phones, so we wanted to include that as a part of the concert experience to facilitate voting for songs and interaction while we are playing.”

A screen on stage will display texts from fans, so Umphrey’s McGee can reference them to the audience or adjust the set list accordingly.

The first quarter is dubbed the “All Request Quarter,” where fans choose the set list and dictate instrument switches and solos. The band will also ask questions and fans can text in their responses.

The second quarter is devoted to different themes, scenes and concepts that fans can request through texts. Quarter number three — which comes after a brief intermission — is the “Choose Your Own Adventure” round, where the band will poll fans on what they should do next and the final act is dedicated to improvisational songs that can be swayed by text requests, such as “let’s hear more drums.”

There is a 15 to 20 minute intermission between each quarter.

The band prides itself as staying tech-savvy on and off the stage.

“We are also very active on social media sites, especially Twitter,” Cummins said. “About 20 years ago, musicians were up on a pedestal and in a fortress somewhere else, but now artists can interact with fans on a personal level anytime, anywhere. We love that. Technology can help create a more intimate experience and also make for more dedicated fans.”

Umphrey’s McGee also hopes to stream its live shows online in the future.

“You are only reaching a small portion of the population when doing a concert,” Cummins said. “When a concert is online and you’re going into people’s homes, you increase your audience tenfold.”

Although Umphrey’s McGee has been touring to promote their latest album “Death By Stereo” — and will be also appear at upcoming festivals including Bonnaroo in Tennessee and the Catalpa Music Festival in New York City alongside Black Keys and Snoop Dogg — the band will be holding a five-day summer music camp in the Catskill Mountains to instruct and jam with 150 fans.

Do you think more artists should incorporate technology into live performances? Is this the future of seeing your favorite band in concert? Let us know in the comments.

More About: Entertainment, Music, smartphones, Social Media

For more Entertainment coverage:


from Mashable! http://mashable.com/2012/04/20/umphreys-mcgee-umbowl/?utm_source=feedburner&u...

Forget Dollar Shave Club; Buy the Same High Quality Razors for a Third of the Price [Video]

Remember Dollar Shave Club? It's the service that delivers fresh razors to your doorstep, monthly, for a fraction of the cost of the grocery-store equivalent. They had a killer viral video (above), but their high quality razors? Looks like they come from an online store called Dorco, and guess what: Buying directly from Dorco, you get the same great razors for about a third of the cost of Dollar Shave Club. More »


from Lifehacker http://lifehacker.com/5903771/forget-dollar-shave-clubbuy-the-same-high-quali...

US Small-Scale Nuclear Reactor Industry Gains Traction In Missouri

trichard writes with this quote from an AP report: "Ameren Missouri is vying to be the first utility in the country to seek a construction and operating license for a small-scale nuclear reactor, a technology that's appealing to utilities because of the smaller upfront costs and shorter development lead times. The small reactors, about a fourth or less the capacity of full-size nuclear units, are appealing to the nuclear industry because they could be manufactured at a central plant and shipped around the world. By contrast, building nuclear reactors today is a more cumbersome process that must be done largely on site and takes years."

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from Slashdot http://politics.slashdot.org/story/12/04/20/1726208/us-small-scale-nuclear-re...

Worried you’ll outgrow the cloud? You’re not alone.

If you think about it, Netflix’s metamorphosis into a company that runs its infrastructure completely atop cloud-based resources is truly remarkable. It’s a very large company with a very large IT operation and, presumably, a rather large bill in the mail every month from Amazon Web Services. Engineering effort aside, the fact that Netflix has decided it’s worth it to pay the cloud computing premium is the most amazing part. With many companies, the bigger they get, the faster they come down from the clouds.

Case in point: Yottaa. The web-optimization startup, which also launched its own CDN service in March, is transitioning its network into a hybrid model of cloud-based and physical servers after launching in the cloud exclusively. It’s a significant shift considering the company was actually a finalist in the 2010 Amazon Web Services Start-Up Challenge and touted its cloud-based approach when the company launched last April.

Don’t get me wrong, the cloud-only model has served Yottaa well. Its network is actually spread across multiple providers, including AWS, Microsoft and Voxel, and that distribution helped the company reroute traffic to avoid any major downtime during last year’s four-day AWS outage. And even as it moves to a hybrid model, the cloud still has benefits. “We can literally scale to hundreds of thousands of machines in a matter of hours,” said Yottaa Founder and CEO Coach Wei.

As the company grew, however, cost, performance and security issues meant Yottaa had to decrease its cloud dependency:

  • Cost: According Wei, it’s easy to get started in the cloud — you can spin up only as many servers as you need at any given time and don’t have to invest in 100,000 physical servers to match Akamai’s architecture — but “when you get to a certain scale, it’s actually not cost-effective anymore.” For Yottaa, which is serving 100 million unique visitors across its network every month for more than 80,000 web sites, that time has already come. Actually, Wei said, Yottaa always planned to move to a hybrid architecture, but even still he was surprised at how much the cloud could cost. Before he started Yottaa, he’d never thought about paying a million dollars a year to AWS.
  • Performance: The performance trade-offs in the cloud can be problematic, too. Wei said network performance is the biggest problem for Yottaa, as it’s typically about 50 percent slower in the cloud and variable at that. You never know what type of performance you’ll get at any given time. If someone else is using a lot of bandwidth, your service might suffer. And while some cloud providers throttle bandwidth at 100 Mbps per user, Wei said, “at the high end of the scale, that’s just way too low.”
  • Security: Wei notes all sorts of security problems with cloud computing, but the major one is the inability to use tried-and-true physical appliances for security. Not only do physical appliances provide a lot in terms of traffic-monitoring and load-balancing, but they can store thousands of IP addresses for SSL certificates on a single box. A cloud provider, Wei said, might only give you a handful of IP addresses.

With its new hybrid model, Yottaa still leverages the cloud when necessary — like when it would be faster serving an Australian end-user through a cloud provider there than a physical server in the United States — but it targets physical resources whenever possible. Its network now includes cloud and/or physical servers in 24 cities across the globe.

Yottaa isn’t alone in its transition to a hybrid architecture after a cloud-heavy beginning. Zynga, for one, famously reversed its AWS-to-internal-cloud usage ratio from 80-20 to 20-80. Fellow gaming startup Digital Chocolate also moved a good portion of its operations back onto internal infrastructure. At a larger scale, you see similar requirements of cost, performance and customization driving web platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to build their own data centers.

Of course, for every company (or several companies) that decides to switch from a cloud-centric architecture, there’s a Netflix or Animoto that decides to stay all in the cloud. It’s really a matter of knowing what’s best for your business. We’ll talk all about ideal infrastructure choices at our Structure conference in June, which includes top executives from Zynga, Amazon and Netflix among others.

Image courtesy of Flickr user Thomas Claveirole.

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from GigaOM http://gigaom.com/cloud/worried-youll-outgrow-the-cloud-youre-not-alone/?utm_...