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Google TV apps for TNT, TBS leak out briefly, reveal authenticated streaming on the way


We're still waiting for Google TV products to officially get their big update with Honeycomb and access to the Android Market, but compatible apps are already leaking out. NewTeeVee points out a couple from TNT and TBS (which also allow Google TV streaming from their websites) that briefly appeared and will let pay-TV subscribers stream episodes directly over the internet, similar to the iOS apps both networks have already rolled out. Turner confirmed the existence of the TV Everywhere apps, while Google expressed its hope to see more authenticated apps like these and the existing HBO Go access on the platform, as opposed to simply ending up blocked. That's bad news for cord-cutters hoping for an online only machine, but with the majority of viewers still hooked into satellite, cable or IPTV it may be the only way to make Google TV a viable platform right now. All signs point to the update arriving at the end of this month, we should find out more about these apps and others like them then.

Google TV apps for TNT, TBS leak out briefly, reveal authenticated streaming on the way originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Sep 2011 18:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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How to Enable the New Facebook Timeline NOW



You’ve been hearing about all the wonderful new Facebook features, and like us, you’re probably super-eager to get started with them.

If you’re willing to go through a series of eight steps, you can get into the brand-new Facebook Timeline right now.

Simply follow the instructions in our gallery below, and suddenly you’ll be basking in a new world of Facebook goodness, just like the developers are. Follow the instructions carefully, and good luck.

First, you’ll need to go to the Facebook developer page, which is a part of your Facebook account. Make sure you’re logged into your Facebook account, and then simply follow this link to get started.


Step 1


1. When you get here, click "allow."


Step 2


2. Click "create new app"


Step 3


3. Name it whatever you want, and give it whatever namespace you'd like -- it doesn't matter. Click the checkbox "I agree to the platform privacy policy." And then click Continue, pass the security check by filling in the Captcha, and you'll be ready for the next step.


Step 4


4. After you've verified yourself as a human, you'll reach this screen, where you'll need to click "Open Graph" on the left side.


Step 5


5. You'll see the next screen, entitled "Get Started with Open Graph" -- fill in anything you want (it doesn't matter) in those fields under the heading "start by defining one action than one object for your app." Click Get Started.


Step 6


6. On this screen, do nothing except scroll to the bottom and click "Save Changes and Next." Do the same thing on the next screen.


Step 7


7. You'll be taken to this screen. Wait a few minutes, and then go to your Facebook homepage. That's where you'll be invited to enable Timeline. Be patient at this point -- sometimes it requires you to wait before the changes take effect.


Step 8


8. When you go back to your Facebook homepage, you'll see this. Success! Click Get It Now, and you're in!


You've Done It!


Here's where you fiddle with your timeline, set it up the way you like it, and when you click Publish Now, your Timeline goes live. Or, you can wait until Thursday, September 29, 2011, and it'll go live on its own. If you want to get into your timeline from another computer, the address for this developer's version is located at this URL: http://on.fb.me/ptpPx0 and of course [yourusername] is your own Facebook user name.

[via CNET]


More F8 Coverage:


More About: Facebook, How-To, Open Graph, timeline


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5 Ways QR Codes Could Shake Up the 2012 Election



The only question hotter right now than which Republican candidate will face President Obama in the 2012 election is: What new technology will define the race?

Next year’s candidates will be expected to increase their digital presences beyond major platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and the president’s social network, My.BarackObama.com (MyBO). So, what channels are politico tech geeks watching?

With millions of potential voters using mobile devices, strategists would be remiss to write off QR codes as a risky early-adopter consumer trend untranslatable to the political space.

SEE ALSO: HOW TO: Use QR Codes for Event Marketing

“What we notice in the political space is that it’s three to five years behind your normal corporate brand area,” says George Alafoginis, a digital strategist for Washington D.C.-based New Media Strategies and former deputy director of new media for the Republican National Committee. “One of the exciting things about 2012 is that we have the opportunity to close the loop between online activities and real-world events,” he adds. “We’re seeing individuals rely on their phones, and QR codes present an optimal framework for that. There’s an opportunity for campaigns to reach out to mobile-savvy individuals and transmit a message that will lead to an activation.”

There is great potential in branding candidates, fundraising and collecting supporters’ data using QR technology. Consider how its campaign implementation could yield results.


1. Field Organizing


In 2008, the Obama campaign doubled down on its field operations. Using technology and MyBO, supporters were able to organize registration drives, canvas door-to-door to recruit potential voters, and phone bank from home. By the 2010 midterm elections, conservative organizers were using the Twitter hashtag #tcot, rumored to be the early rumblings of the Tea Party. They ultimately moved to organizing tools like MeetUp, which fueled their big ballot box wins in various Congressional races.

However, there’s nothing like in-person interactions to attract new supporters. This cycle, QR codes could serve as an on-the-street campaign that instantly recruits supporters to rallies, speeches, visibility events and canvassing. The key is to make sure the QR code allows for action – such as connecting with a supporter in another state, pledging to canvass or phone bank, engaging candidates or celebrity surrogates, or receiving cool merch.


2. Donations


The spotlight was on small donors throughout the 2008 fundraising effort. These donations were largely collected via email solicitation. Imagine how this type of outreach could be bolstered via real-life interaction.

Formerly, a canvasser would target a neighborhood, campus or street festival, and ask for supporter pledge cards. He or she would assume responsibility for collecting and delivering those funds. Instead that canvasser could solicit $5 donations via a direct mobile QR transaction. The experience would also be social: the contributor instantly shares her donation across social networks and encourages friends to match her donation.


3. Endorsements


Campaigns are always looking for ways to utilize their celebrity supporters. QR codes could be a chance to get creative: Provide access to exclusive content, such as funny or moving videos, tweets, pics and merch from a celeb. With more codes emerging that integrate specific design art, celeb supporters will also have access to tailor-made QR images specific to their sentiments and brand identities. That means they’ll be more encouraged to share across their networks and with fans at live events.


4. Merchandise


Candidates should tack a QR code to their yard signs, bumper stickers, T-shirts and other physical campaign promotions. Like past inclusion of Twitter and Facebook handles on promotional materials, by election day 2012, QR codes will be a cultural norm.

Why not make cross-promotion more personalized and action oriented? If college kids are heading to a football game, they could be waving team pendants that sport candidate QR codes, not to mention posting pictures on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Gowalla, etc. By regionalizing the QR code’s look and the reward, the merch turns making a statement into a measurable social action for like-minded individuals.


5. Get Out the Vote


In several states, like Colorado, it’s possible to register to vote online. QR codes could be a valuable tool for campaigns looking to tap into voting blocs once thought difficult to reach. Think about it this way: Since 2008, about one-third of young voters have moved and need to re-register at a current address, according to U.S. census data. Likewise, research indicates that millions of highly-sought after Hispanic voters are accessing mobile devices.

Reaching out to these groups using viral QR code campaigns would make registration more accessible to potential supporters – especially to those who grew up with iPhones, and therefore, may not even know how to register via snail mail. States with online registration policies will likely see an uptick in participation this cycle, but QR codes developed by campaigns and third-party advocacy groups like Rock the Vote and others, can maximize the tool to bolster awareness efforts.

While the measurable effectiveness of these opportunities remains relatively unproven for large-scale campaigns, we’re seeing candidates experiment with the potential. Consulting groups are popping up too, offering services aimed at political campaigns.


One thing is certain: The tech-fueled election of 2008 changed political campaigning forever. And even though the pace of change in developers’ garages far exceeds that of Washington, strategists know they’ll need to take advantage of tech in 2012.

“Both parties have done a good job of recognizing there’s a shift in how we communicate and receive information,” says Alafoginis, adding that he is advising his political clients to incorporate QR in their tactical arsenal. “If I’m running a campaign I’m trying to use tools best suited to get my candidates elected.”

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, 221A

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Facebook Changes Again: Everything You Need To Know



As we predicted, Mark Zuckerberg’s keynote at the f8 conference in San Francisco Thursday introduced some of the most profound changes seen on Facebook since its inception. So many changes, in fact, that it can be hard to keep track. So here’s a handy-dandy guide.

1. You’re going to get a Timeline — a scrapbook of your life. In a complete overhaul of its ever-evolving profile page, Facebook is introducing Timeline. This is a stream of information about you — the photos you’ve posted, all your status updates, the apps you’ve used, even the places you’ve visited on a world map — that scrolls all the way back to your birth. It encourages you to post more stuff about your past, such as baby pictures, using Facebook as a scrapbook.

The further back in Timeline you go, the more Facebook will compress the information so that you’re only seeing the most interesting parts of your history. You can customize this by clicking on a star next to a status, say, or enlarging a picture.

Timeline is in beta now, and will be opt-in to start. In the long run, it will become the new default profile page.

2. You don’t have to just Like something — now you can [verb] any [noun]. Remember when all you could do to something on Facebook — a video, a comment, a product, a person — was Like it? Pretty soon that’s going to seem laughably antiquated. The social network has launched Facebook Gestures, which means that Facebook’s partners and developers can turn any verb into a button.

So you’ll start seeing the option to tell the world you’re Reading a particular book, for example, or Watching a given movie, or Listening to a certain tune. In turn, as many observers have pointed out, this is likely to lead to an explosion of oversharing — and far more information on your friends’ activities showing up in your news feed than you probably cared to know.

3. Facebook apps need only ask permission once to share stories on your behalf. Although not as big a deal as the Timeline, this tweak may be one of the more controversial. Previously, apps had to ask every time they shared information about you in your profile. Now, the first time you authorize the app, it will tell you what it’s going to share about you. If you’re cool with that, the app never has to ask you again.

But you don’t have to worry about this app stuff clogging your news feed, because …

4. All “lightweight” information is going to the Ticker. Status updates, photos from a wedding or a vacation, changes in relationship status: these are the kinds of things you want to see from your friends when you look at your news feed. Who killed whom in Mafia Wars? Who planted what in FarmVille? Not so much. So that kind of trivial detail has been banished to the Ticker, a real-time list of things your friends are posting now that scrolls down the side of your screen.

5. You can watch TV and movies, listen to music, and read news with your friends — all within Facebook. Starting today, thanks to a whole bunch of partnerships, there are a lot more things you can do without ever having to leave Facebook. You can watch a show on Hulu, listen to a song on Spotify, or check out a story on Yahoo News (or Mashable, via the Washington Post‘s Social Read app). The ticker will tell you what your friends are watching, listening to or reading, allowing you to share the experience with them by clicking on a link.

The upshot: a brand-new kind of media-based peer pressure. On stage, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings — a launch partner — revealed that he had only just decided to watch Breaking Bad because Facebook’s Ticker told him a colleague was watching it. Netflix’s own algorithm had been recommending the show to him for years, but that was never reason enough for Hastings.

6. Facebook has more users and more engagement than ever. We got two interesting nuggets of information out of Zuckerberg (and the Zuckerberg-impersonating Andy Samberg): Facebook has hit 800 million users, and most of them are active. The social network just saw a new record for the most visitors in one day: an eye-popping 500 million.

Indeed, the whole impression left by the event was that of a confident, fast-evolving company that is becoming ever more professional, and Zuckerberg’s stage show bore more than a little resemblance to an Apple keynote. It’s going to be interesting to see what Google+ can do to keep up.

More About: f8, f8 2011, Facebook, Google, mark zuckerberg


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Two-Stage, Clustered Water Rocket Reaches Over 800′


We’ve covered the water rockets of George Katz and Air Command Water Rockets before. Now comes this impressive video of another of his two-stage rockets with cluster motors achieving altitudes of over 800′! As usual, great slo-mo and on-board video footage. Since it’s Plastics month, and people are asking what fun, cool, useful things they can do with plastic water bottles, here’s something very cool!

There is tons more information available on Air Command about building such rockets, what parts you need, flying tips, etc.

More:

Hydrogen-Oxygen Bottle Rocket

Awesome DIY Water Rockets with Drop-Away Boosters

via MAKE
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Twitter Begins Accepting Political Ads


Twitter on Wednesday started accepting political ads and announced a sales team dedicated to the category.

The company ran its first such ad today, a Sponsored Tweet from GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney. (See below.) Romney is one of a small group of candidates and national party committees that Twitter is working with on a pilot program for the effort. Those partners will also run ads in coming weeks. The ads will be distinguished from other advertising by a purple “Promoted” icon and a Federal Election Commission disclaimer.

Twitter’s new political sales team will be run by Peter Greenberger, who until recently ran political sales for Google.

The 2012 presidential election has gotten under way in earnest. The FEC estimates that candidates for the 2008 presidential election spent $1.8 billion on ads.

What do you think of Twitter’s decision? Let us know in the comments.

Image courtesy of Flickr, Shawn Campbell

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