Welcome to this morning’s edition of “First To Know,” a series in which we keep you in the know on what’s happening in the digital world. Today, we’re looking at three particularly interesting stories.
Strongest Solar Storm Since 2005 Hits Earth
A huge eruption on the Sun has caused the strongest solar storm since 2005. The Earth is currently being showered with high-powered solar particles, but the storm is near its peak or it has already peaked. Besides possible communications and satellite interference, the storm is likely to cause beautiful auroras.
NBC News Launches NBC Publishing
NBC News has entered the publishing business with NBC Publishing, a new arm that will focus on digital publishing and video ebooks. The new venture will also be a platform for authors who source their work with NBC’s resources. Publishing veteran Peter Costanzo will be the creative director of NBC Publishing and Brian Perrin will be director of digital development. Both will report to general manager Michael Fabiano.
Dutch Court Says Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Is Legal
Apple has suffered a setback in what seems to be a never ending legal battle with Samsung, as a court in the Hague rejected Apple’s request for a nationwide ban of Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. The tablet is cleared for sale in the Netherlands (and probably Germany) but the patent war rages on in many other markets.
We do a lot of work with CEOs at Holland-Mark, and some of that work is focused on helping them understand, use, and leverage social media to advance their business agendas and personal brands. We’ve learned a few things along the way about what works in bringing a CEO up to speed on Twitter et al, and about the value of a CEO who “gets it” to the business they run.
If your CEO is something short of Lauzon-esque in his or her mastery of the medium, here’s the best advice we have.
1. Start with empathy.
Business is tough on us middle-aged white guys these days. We’re just cavemen. We don’t understand your “retweet,” or what all this “Like” stuff is about. Facebook is something we worry about our kids using. Your ways are strange to us.
But we’re not about to admit that to your punk-ass. Remember that odds are you’re dealing with somebody who’s just a little embarrassed to be out of the loop at this point. Make them feel at ease. Take the edge off by breaking the ice in private, offering to sit down over coffee, and just help get them “set up.”
Be helpful, and be patient. Don’t judge.
2. Build a personal channel.
Social media starts with listening, and one key to getting a CEO rolling in it is to create a feed worth listening to. We start with and focus on Twitter, just because it’s easy and the behaviors are so universal once you adopt them.
So what’s your CEO interested in? What magazines does he/she read? What celebrities is he/she into? Which competitors is he/she worried about? Ask a bunch of questions like that, sit down together at a conference table, and after creating a basic profile just start following the best sources for that information. Make it easy, demystify the process. But really focus on creating a feed they see value in, and want access to.
3. Get the plumbing sorted out.
Next up is to provide that access… from their browser, and from their phone. Not “a” browser, and not “a” phone. Modify their browser home page to drop them in every day. Add a Shareaholic plug-in to it, and make sure the username and password are stored in it. Do the same with the phone, even if it takes some fumbling and effort.
Stupid little problems with the plumbing of social media end up derailing senior people from the medium, because they hit a roadblock – a forgotten password, an unknown function – and have no idea how to get around it. Anticipate and neutralize those problems, before they happen.
4. Help do it, do not just watch it.
Remember not to show him/her how to do things, but to let him/her struggle with the little details about how to tweet, reply, DM, RT, use hashtags, indicate location, and post a picture. These things seem easy because you’ve done them a thousand times, but you’ll need to coach your CEO through them patiently, and resist the temptation to take over the keyboard.
5. Reinforce the behavioral change.
If you take this approach, I promise you’ll have a great meeting, and that all will be unicorns and rainbows at the end of it. But as is so often the case… if you don’t follow up, the fragile sprout of social proficiency will perish in the stale manure of old habit.
Promote your CEO’s new Twitter address across the company, so he/she starts to see people following. @ and D him/her periodically, and check in if you don’t get a response. Ask for questions, ask how things are going. Suggest topics, and reinforce the idea that in the end it’s just about sharing whatever he/she finds interesting during her day, in a way that benefits the people interested in her.
It ain’t rocket science, people. But it is a change in behavior, and as any Biggest Loser contestant can tell you, changing your behavior takes some work.
If you need a little more help, check out the below, which we produced for our CEO Series a few months back. And if you’d like a printed copy, hit me up on Twitter.
Sure, on YouTube, you’ve got your IGN and G4 videos that keep you updated with the latest in gaming news and technological eye candy. But what about the deep cuts lurking within the rest of the gaming section? The platform is full of speed runs, time trials, reviews and play-throughs by lifelong gamers who have cult followings.
These are the elite of that set. Promoted by some of the best gaming websites, such as ScrewAttack and Machinima, these gamers are known for bringing in-depth knowledge, radical gameplay and a dash of humor for good measure. Some of them are gonzo, some are straight-laced, and still others are so mind-blowingly ridiculous that they can border on NSFW. What you won’t see here is the same hot video game everywhere you look: from old-school classics to underground indie games, every platform gets its moment in the spotlight.
If you’re a gamer and you haven’t already done so, add these five picks to your channel subscription feed as soon as possible. I promise that you will not be disappointed.
Is there a YouTube gaming star that you love the most? Let us know in the comments.
CineMassacre founder James Rolfe has been subjecting himself to the horrors of the gaming world for the last eight years, first as the Angry Nintendo Nerd and now as the Angry Video Game Nerd. His series, a partner venture with Screw Attack, tackles some of the worst titles in history (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde for NES) with a wholehearted rage. The AVGN chugs Rolling Rock and swears heavily, making for great laughs and some horrible flashbacks for childhood gamers.
Twitter announced languages read right to left would be coming to the Twitter Translation Center, beginning with Arabic, Farsi, Hebrew and Urdu. Twitter will become fully available in those four languages later this spring, once volunteer translators have completed their work.
The company said in a blog post Wednesday it has made sure tweets and hashtags will work in right-to-left languages. It also says it’s “made changes behind the scenes to give right-to-left language speakers a localized user experience,” although it doesn’t specify the changes.
As someone who often types in a right-to-left language, I can attest that programs often have alignment/justification bugs with oppositely-oriented text. It will be interesting to see how Twitter’s hashtags adjust.
The company’s translations program, powered through a network of 425,000 volunteers, has helped make Twitter available in 22 languages to date — Traditional Chinese, Indonesian, Portuguese, Italian, Filipino, Finnish, Norwegian, Polish, Turkish, Danish, Malay, English, French, Korean, Swedish, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Hindi, Japanese, German, Russian and Dutch — all of which are read from left to right.
Aside from Thai, the four right-to-left languages added to Twitter are the only languages in the translation center for which Twitter is not available.
Twitter does not need to be available in a specific language for you to tweet in that language. All you need to do is type your message in your language of choice. For example, many people tout Twitter’s organizing power in the Arab Spring; however, those Arabic-speaking and tweeting users must interact with the site in a non-native language.
Are you looking forward to Twitter in Arabic, Farsi, Hebrew or Urdu? Do you think it will help grow the microblog’s member base in the Middle East and South Asia?
Thsrs offers a very simple online service. It bills itself as "the shorter thesaurus," offering you less lengthy synonyms for a long word. Perfect for language snobs who'd rather change their choice of vocab than abbrev8, it's also available as a browser plug-in.
Boxee is bringing live TV to the Boxee Box with its new live TV add-on and version 1.5 of the Boxee software. The company hopes that the combination of the $49.99 Boxee Live TV dongle and a Boxee Box will appeal to users looking to cut the cable cord.
We’ve had a chance to use the Boxee Live TV tuner alongside the 1.5 software update. Does the combination of over-the-top and over-the-air (OTA) content help users make the jump?
Can OTA and Online Content Replace Cable?
In its marketing and press information, Boxee is really going after cord cutters — those that are giving up cable television and instead getting all of their content from over-the-top online services and subscriptions.
Making the transition is easier said than done, according to previous cord cutting studies. Sure, tons of content is available online or through subscription services, but access to live television content streams is almost always restricted to cable television subscribers.
This is fine for certain types of television shows, but the real-time element of social TV has made watching live TV much more attractive.
The biggest roadblock for many potential users is that these services make using the TV more complex. It’s fantastic to turn on Roku, Apple TV, Boxee Box or Blu-ray player and start browsing for movies and TV shows via Netflix, Vudu, Amazon, iTunes or Hulu Plus, but none of them are, like live TV, already streaming content when you first turn them. Flipping on a channel and vegging out in front of the couch is simply more of a chore with these services.
This is the barrier Boxee wants to break down. By offering access to live OTA content through the same interface and using the same remote as the connected device, Boxee is promising the best of both worlds.
Setting Up
The Boxee Live TV tuner is a USB dongle that plugs into the back of the Boxee Box. On the opposite end of the USB cable is a coaxial port. This can be attached to a coaxial input or to an included antenna.
Our set came with a digital cable and a coaxial signal that allows a TV without a cable box to view the digital OTA signals. For testing purposes, we also used Boxee’s included antenna. Depending on your area, you may need an amplified HDTV antenna for maximum channel access.
Setup is easy. Simply plug in the Live TV adaptor into the back of the Boxee Box. Then, follow the on-screen instructions for setup.
After selecting the type of connection you’re using, the system scans the antenna or coaxial airwaves for channels that it can find and display. We found that selecting “cable” as an input option yielded no results, however using “antenna” even when using the coaxial running through the walls, worked perfectly.
After finding your channels, selecting the new “Live TV” icon from the top of the Boxee menu brings up live television.
Rarely has the process of setting up OTA-to-computer or HTPC systems been as simple or problem-free as it is with the Boxee Box. Boxee has taken a page out of TiVo‘s playbook when it comes to ease of setup. That’s a good thing.
Watching Live TV
Watching channels via Boxee is similar to watching them directly through an antenna or using an adapter from Elgato or other TV-to-PC devices.
There is an on-screen guide showcasing what’s currently on, as well as upcoming programming. In a nice social twist, Boxee also shows you how many people are watching a certain channel, as well what your friends are watching.
You can also share what you’re watching to Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter. Boxee also has a new Live TV Timeline app for Facebook that uses the new social gestures to easily share what you’re watching. (This can also be turned off for users that don’t want to share their viewing habits.)
When you’re finished watching live TV, you can exit the app and return to watching content from the Internet or a local home network.
The best part of Boxee Live TV is the ability to switch between live TV and Netflix or networked content. This is a stumbling block with other devices, such as the Logitech Harmony.
The only downside is that all the live channels have to come in over-the-air or through coax. There are a lot more channels available this way than one might expect, but it still means that most of your favorite channels could be off limits.
Boxee will hopefully make agreements with major cable companies to provide special cable boxes — boxes that are essentially a Boxee Box and a regular digital cable solution. That would be the holy grail.
For users who primarily watch live content on the major networks, however, the experience is top notch.
Boxee 1.5
To use Boxee Live TV, you need to upgrade to Boxee 1.5. This release has been in testing and in beta for the past month or so and it’s an evolution to the excellent Boxee update the company released last spring.
In addition to supporting live TV, Boxee 1.5 also has an updated interface that makes browsing different types of content more seamless.
The Future of Boxee and Connected Platforms
Over the course of nearly three and a half years, Boxee’s software — and later the Boxee Box — have evolved from a software layer into something that is much more like an appliance
Boxee 1.5 was released for Mac and PC last month and it is the last stand-alone version of the software that Boxee will release. While this is sad news for HTPC and build-it-yourself fans, it represents the realities of the current connected device market.
The connected living room and connected ecosystems have been a constant promise on the tech horizon but that potential has yet to be fully realized. We should have been further along by now.
The biggest hurdle that connected device makers face — besides getting access to content — is managing to pull together an experience that isn’t too much work for the user.
For too long, the convergence of the computer and the television has meant that the resulting device acts too much like a computer. A decade ago, TiVo was on the right track and very few companies have managed to adequately raise the bar.
Even Apple has struggled to find a way to make the content experience seamless on the bigger screen.
Boxee comes closer to any other solution we’ve seen. The all-in-one nature of the device is a huge boon and the growing support for subscription services is top notch.
We’re not ready to cut the cord just yet but Boxee with Live TV is our favorite connected device experience for those looking to make the leap.
Founding a company is cool, but working out of your apartment, well, isn’t cool. Investors aren’t going to take you seriously when you pour them a cup of coffee from your one-pot brew and conference calls are best held at a desk, not on a couch. Whether you’re a CEO, developer, web designer or even a fire-eater, Boston’s got its fair share of coworking spaces to get the job done – from traditional offices to creative spaces to accelerator programs. Not to mention, the collaboration is killer — and you just can’t get that at home with Jerry Springer playing in the background. Here’s 11 coworking spaces you should get to know around town.
Offices
Bocoup Loft – 355 Congress St., Boston
Located just a five-minute walk from South Station, the Loft is an open source hacker space located in the Bocoup offices that also hosts a variety of meetups.
Dogpatch Labs – 1 Cambridge Center, 6th Floor, Cambridge
The Cambridge location of Dogpatch Labs is one of its four international coworking spaces offering desk space, bandwidth, coffee and snacks to aspiring entrepreneurs. Dogpatch Labs describes themselves as “frat houses for geeks.” Love it.
Geek Offices – 1035 Cambridge St., Suite 1, Cambridge
Geek Offices has 10,600 square feet of cubicle space, private offices and work tables to rent on a daily or monthly basis for both individuals and companies. Memberships are also granted internet access, coffee, printing and 24/7 access.
Space With a Soul – 281 Summer St., Boston
Space With a Soul does “mission acceleration” for local nonprofits, focusing on constantly engaging its tenants with organized lectures, informal lunch conversation and other shared services.
Intrepid Labs – Kendall Square
Complete with a full time office manager, coffee and snacks, Intrepid Labs is a newly opened coworking space specializing in ‘later’ stage companies. Oh, and apparently there is a roof deck. Yes please.
Workbar – 711 Atlantic Ave, Lower Level, Boston
Their tagline, “come for the space, stay for the community” should be the model of every cowokring space around town. Workbar offers a range of memberships from full time to nights and weekends. They also offer “Lunch & Learn” sessions to keep you up-to-date on hiring practices, financial management and marketing strategies for startups.
Artisan Spaces
Fringe – 9 Olive Sq., Somerville
Fringe is home to 13 small businesses and artist studios, ranging from press printing and photography to web design and custom bicycle design. The latest Fringe development that we’re obsessed with? Cuppow.
Headquarters Boston – 12 Channel St, Boston Launched earlier this month by Marty Walsh of Geekhouse Bikes, Headquarters Boston is a 25,000 square-foot space designed for artisans and other creative types, and Walsh is currently looking to fill their space. The Innovation District location is killer and Geekhouse Bikes would be a fantastic company to work with. Apply within.
Artisan’s Asylum– 10 Tyler Street, Somerville
The number one reason this coworking space kills it? Fire-eating. No lie, this place has fire-eating lessons for those inclined to obtain that rare skill. Gentlemen, Valentine’s Day iscoming up – what better way to impress a lady?
Accelerator Programs
TechStars– 1 Cambridge Center, 6th Floor, Cambridge TechStars Boston is one of five national TechStars programs, in which entrepreneurs compete for three months to pitch their companies to angel investors and VCs and secure seed funding. TechStars is intense and an honor to be a part of. Not to mention, over 82 percent of TechStars alums are still running active companies.
MassChallenge – One Marina Park Dr., Suite 14, Boston
MassChallenge is a non-profit that hosts the largest startup competition in the world. Competing for a share of $1 million, MassChallenge fosters mentorships, learning and growth among new companies in Boston. Also, BostInno calls MassChallenge home, and take our word for it: the views are stunning.
Of course, this is the NFL, so the sanctioned Pro Bowl tweets will have some caveats. Rovell says that players “will not be able to tweet from personal devices” and instead will have to use a computer station set up on each sideline. Additionally, Rovell cites the NFL’s Brian McCarthy as saying that the league is not considering changing its stance on in-game tweets during the regular season.
The Pro Bowl is the NFL’s all-star game — less of a game and more of a show — so it stands to reason that the league is willing to make changes to its official social media policy in this case.
Still, we have to question the rationale of “designated computer stations.” Rovell tweets that these stations are unsponsored, which means there doesn’t seem to be a fiscal motive to limiting the type of device. Maybe it’s just us, but this doesn’t feel like the league is really ready to embrace social media. After all, if players have to go to a certain area and use a computer, doesn’t that limit the “realness” of the messages they send to fans?
In any event, progress is progress. What do you think of the NFL’s decision? Let us know in the comments.
Paramount became the first studio to offer UltraViolet-based movies this week, with the launch of Paramount Movies. With this new service, users can purchase a film in either digital or physical form, and automatically store a copy of it within Paramount's cloud-based digital locker. This effectively allows you to stream a film to any iOS device, though support for Android and Windows Phone remains unavailable (as does compatibility with most set-top boxes). It's all part of DECE's "buy once, play anywhere" ethos, though it should be noted that the studio's UV offerings are somewhat limited. At the moment, Paramount Movies boasts about 60 titles, all of which are available at comparatively steep prices: $20 for HD quality movies, and $13 for SD versions. Check it out for yourself at the source link below.
Twitter has released the official stats showing the activity of its users during President Obama’s State of the Union address on Tuesday, providing an interesting insight in how the Twittersphere reacted to various parts of the speech.
During the event, Twitter promoted five official hashtags: #jobs, #manufacturing, #energy, #education and #fairness. Unsurprisingly, those were among the hottest topics of the day, with #education being number one with 35,972 tweets.
The highlights of the event, in terms of Twitter traffic, were Obama’s mention of Steve Jobs, the part about energy and the President’s “Spilled Milk” line, which caused less than enthusiastic response from the listeners.
According to Twitter, the top tweeter on the Democrat side was Gabrielle Giffords. “Team: Last year, a seat for Rep. Giffords was left empty between Reps. Flake & Grijalva. This year, they sit beside her. #bipartisan,” she tweeted during the address.
The top tweeting republican was Aaron Schock, who tweeted: “The top 5% pay over 58% of all income taxes. These are job creators. Mr. President, when is it enough? #4jobs.”
We followed the event as it unfolded on Twitter, and you can now see Twitter’s official stats in the image below.
Did you tweet during the address? If so, what parts prompted you to take to Twitter? Tell us in the comments.
Social TV analytics startup Bluefin Labs has raised $12 million in a Series B round of funding, which means the company will be expanding its resources to help TV networks and marketers keep track of how audiences are responding to shows via social media sites.
Time Warner Investments led the round with participation from new investor SoftBank Capital and return investors Redpoint Ventures and Lerer Ventures.
Bluefin Labs is best known for its flagship product, Bluefin Signals, an analytics platform that analyzes and organizes social media conversations about U.S. national television. The dashboard interprets the social media response — including tweets and Facebook posts — to more than 11,000+ TV shows and 346,000+ individual airings of those shows. It looks at 5 billion public-facing social media comments each month and then pairs those comments with more than 2.5 million minutes of linear TV time.
Although the product debuted in July 2011, Bluefin Labs was founded in 2008 and came out of the MIT Media Labs, with the goal of applying machine learning and cognitive science to the broader goal of understanding how audiences respond to TV shows and ads.
Companies that use the platform — which include mix of television networks, marketers and agencies such as CBS, MediaCom and MTV — gain access to social data about TV shows and commercials to inform the buying and selling of TV media.
Bluefin Labs said in a press release that it plans to use the new financing to accelerate growth of its sales and client services efforts. The company will also “continue to invest heavily in technology and R&D [research and development] to lead further innovation in the field of social TV analytics.”
“We are witnessing a huge shift in consumer behavior, as people now naturally turn to social media to voice their opinions about what they are watching on television,” said Deb Roy, co-founder and CEO, Bluefin Labs. “We are continuing to build out Bluefin’s services that allow us to provide enhanced data which enables our clients to glean more of an understanding of their audiences and target consumers.”