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Time Warner Cable is preparing for TWC TV IPTV streaming on Roku boxes

Time Warner Cable may bring TWC TV IPTV streaming to Roku boxes soon

Time Warner Cable's TWC TV streaming TV service has already arrived on iOS and Android 4.0, so what's next? According to information we've received, the next stop should be connected TV platforms, starting with the popular Roku media streaming boxes. We already got a glimpse of TWC TV on an HDTV during CES 2012 when it was being demonstrated at the Panasonic and Samsung booths, and were told at the time that it could launch on "multiple platforms" later this year. While company personnel are currently being briefed on compatibility with Roku the launch could still be some time off, as previous preparations for rollouts like streaming to PCs came months ahead. We contacted reps for the company about the plan and received a "no comment" in response, so there's nothing in the way of official word just yet. Either way, if all you want to do is ditch the bulky cable box for a diminutive hockey puck, it seems like 2012 could finally be the year.

[Thanks, Anonymous]

Time Warner Cable is preparing for TWC TV IPTV streaming on Roku boxes originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Apr 2012 19:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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from Engadget http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/27/time-warner-cable-twc-tv-roku/

LinkedIn arrives on the iPad

Well, who could have seen that coming? LinkedIn has released version 5.0 of its iOS app and the big feature is that it now natively supports the iPad. LinkedIn is currently the world's third largest social media site with 150 million members in over 200 countries.

On the iPad the LinkedIn app is divided into three sections: "You," "All Updates," and "Inbox." "You" allows you to easily view your profile, post updates, see who's viewed your profile, and add contacts. "All Updates" is the real meat of the app. It's a beautifully designed interface that allows you to see all your contact's updates, see what they're sharing, and read headlines and articles from LinkedIn Today's news feed. Finally, "Inbox" is, of course, your LinkedIn mail which allows you to read your messages and accept new invites.

As I've written before, it's cumbersome to view the LinkedIn website on an iPad, so the addition of iPad support to the already beautiful iPhone app is more than welcome.

LinkedIn 5.0 is a universal app and a free download.

LinkedIn arrives on the iPad originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 26 Apr 2012 08:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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from TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog http://www.tuaw.com/2012/04/26/linkedin-arrives-on-the-ipad/

60 Minutes to a More Efficient Social Business Strategy


Josh S. Peters is the co-author of TwittFaced, and is the social media manager at The Search Agency. Follow him @JoshSPeters.

Every company should run a quick social media audit each quarter to make sure content is properly optimized and every aspect of their social presence aligns with their brand. The great news is that it shouldn’t take more than an hour to perform.

This 60-minute audit is different from a full social business audit. You’re not looking deeply at goals, competitors, engagement rates, campaign efficiency, or ROI. The purpose of this is to address the kind of company maintenance issues that often get pushed off into the distance and are then forgotten. Addressing these small issues should help you build a better, more effective, and well branded social media presence. Here’s what you should cover.


1. Refine Your Design


The design of your social media profiles is part of your branding. This is why you should make sure to customize your backgrounds, avatars, and profile images so that they reflect your brand.

When it comes to a profile image, use the same one on all social media platforms to promote consistency. Check out Apple Vacations social profiles for a good example of this. They have a great looking Apple taken from their company logo that has a nice modern feel and is consistent across all of their properties.

Also, when you create your main company image make sure to give it a descriptive label, such as YourCompanyName.png. Do not upload something generic like “small_cropped_profile_image_3456789.png.” The reason is simple: A descriptive label helps your SEO.

Finally, keep in mind that your page backgrounds on platforms like Twitter are a good place to advertise yourself. So, when possible, add links to all of your social profiles in the design.


2. Fill Out all Important Pages


The profile, bio, and about pages are very important from an SEO perspective because that is where search engines pull the meta description that shows up in search results. This is also, usually, the first thing people read when they want to learn more about a company.

Always fill these pages out completely, and make sure that they contain keywords that are relevant to your business. For example, if you’re in interior design, that should be one of the key phrases listed. This will make it easier for people to find you on traditional search engines as well as social search engines.

In addition, double check phone numbers, dates, pricing, and email addresses to make sure they are up-to-date and the same across your various pages. You should also link to your other social profiles from these pages.


3. Gauge Online Engagement


Looking at your engagement on social platforms is a quick way to gauge if you could be doing a better job of interacting with your audience. Make a list of any potential issues you see and set aside some time to figure out how best to address them.

Next, scan your profile walls for engagement opportunities. Did you miss anything worth addressing? If so, take some time to respond, whether it’s directly on the wall or via private message.

Run a search for your company name on social media platforms, major search engines like Google and Bing, and on at least one service like NameChk. You essentially want to look for any red flags and imposters.

Then run a second search for your brand name and words like “love,” and “hate.” This will give you a sense of the kind of pages that come up were a customer or client to do the same kind of search. Also, it will help you see if there are any comments worth addressing. Make a note of any positive or negative issues you want to investigate at a later date. If possible, save those searches or subscribe to them via RSS so you don’t miss anything in the future.

After looking at the engagement on your profiles and mentions of your brand identify, take some time to jot down ideas for addressing them. For example, are there common themes that you could answer with a blog post or campaign?


4. Look Over Internal Accounts


This particular part of the audit could be tricky, depending on how your company is set up. The upside is that once you do this a few times, you will start to develop a process for addressing any issues that come out of the audit.

First off, ensure all login information for company accounts is current and in a secure location accessible to those who need it. It’s a good idea to use the same email address for all social accounts, but use something like social@thecompanyemail.com or yourcompany@gmail.com. That way your social profiles aren’t tied to a single employee and you’ll always have access. I had a client whose marketing manager left on bad terms and no one could access the social accounts. They were all tied to the ex-manager’s personal Gmail account. It took two months to get access and change everything.

Also, review internal policies and guidelines for employee social media usage, and check public employee profiles for compliance. If an employee’s account is set to private, don’t worry about it unless you suspect issues. If it’s been a while since you’ve circulated your policy, send it out, along with a few reminders on how to remain compliant.

Next, review training materials. Double check privacy policies and instructions on how to post to platforms. The reason: you want to make sure that the next time you have a training class you aren’t using outdated information.

This audit outline is by no means complete, it’s a starting place. Each time you go through this process you’re going to discover things you do and don’t want to look at and end up evolving it into something that fits your needs. Just like everything you do in social media, make this your own.

More About: business plans, contributor, corporate social media, features, Social Media

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from Mashable! http://mashable.com/2012/04/25/60-minutes-to-a-more-efficient-social-business...

Mophie juice pack powerstation PRO: A big gas tank for your gizmos

ImageWe test a lot of external power packs here at the top-secret TUAW labs, most of which are just powerful enough to top off an iPhone or iPod touch. But what if you need enough juice to top off a couple of iPhones or an iPad? That's where Mophie's new juice pack powerstation PRO (US$129.95) comes in handy. Read on for a full review and a chance to win a juice pack powerstation PRO.

The juice pack powerstation PRO is to most external power packs as a gasoline tank truck is to the tank in your family car. It has a capacity of 6000 mAh, which is over four times the capacity of the 1432 mAh battery in your iPhone 4S. Imagine being able to completely charge an iPhone 4S four times from the powerstation PRO, and you have a pretty good idea of its capabilities.

That won't completely recharge a new iPad, which has a huge 11666 mAh battery, but it will extend the operating time by another five hours or so. The original iPad battery (6600 mAh) and iPad 2 battery (6930 mAh) will see almost a doubling in operating time from the juice pack powerstation PRO. The pack pumps out energy at 2.1 Amps, about what you'll get from the standard iPad power brick.

The powerstation PRO is incredibly well-built -- in fact, it's IP-65 rated, which means that it's protected against dirt, sand, and water. Sure, you won't want to bring it into a bathtub with you, but it could probably withstand the spray from a shower as the charging and output ports both have their own watertight seals. The entire power pack is made of aluminum and steel with a rubber-like impact resistant exterior.

Size-wise, the powerstation PRO is only 2.63" x 4.53" x 1.03" in size and weighs 7.6 ounces. It's small enough to fit in a pocket, although I wouldn't recommend putting into a pants pocket unless you don't mind getting strange looks. A set of four LEDs on the front of the case act as a "fuel meter" to tell you the charge level of the powerstation PRO.

How did the powerstation PRO work? Just great. I didn't have a chance to drop it down a hill and into a river like the guy in the video below, but I was quite impressed with both the speed with which it charged my iPhone and the rugged looks of the case.

And now for a giveaway! To enter, just fill out the form below completely and click on the submit button. Only one entry per person, and you must follow the rules:

  • Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older.
  • To enter, fill out the form below completely and click or tap the Submit button.
  • The entry must be made before April 30, 2012 at 11:59PM Eastern Standard Time.
  • You may enter only once.
  • One winner will be selected and will receive a mophie juice pack powerstation PRO valued at US$129.95
  • Click Here for complete Official Rules.

Mophie juice pack powerstation PRO: A big gas tank for your gizmos originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 26 Apr 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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from TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog http://www.tuaw.com/2012/04/26/mophie-juice-pack-powerstation-pro-a-big-gas-t...

Study Suggests the Number-Line Concept Is Not Intuitive

An anonymous reader writes "The Yupno people of New Guinea have provided clues to the origins of the number-line concept, and suggest that the familiar concept of time may be cultural as well. From the article: 'Tape measures. Rulers. Graphs. The gas gauge in your car, and the icon on your favorite digital device showing battery power. The number line and its cousins – notations that map numbers onto space and often represent magnitude – are everywhere. Most adults in industrialized societies are so fluent at using the concept, we hardly think about it. We don't stop to wonder: Is it 'natural'? Is it cultural? Now, challenging a mainstream scholarly position that the number-line concept is innate, a study suggests it is learned."

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from Slashdot http://science.slashdot.org/story/12/04/25/2357257/study-suggests-the-number-...

Travelling Salesman, Thriller Set In a World Where P=NP

mikejuk writes with this excerpt from I Programmer: "A movie that features science and technology is always welcome, but is it not often we have one that focuses on computer science. Travelling Salesman is just such a rare movie. As you can guess from its name, it is about the Travelling Salesman problem, more precisely about the P=NP question. Written and directed by Timothy Lanzone, and produced by Fretboard Pictures, it should premiere on June 16. As the blurb to the movie trailer says: 'Travelling Salesman is an intellectual thriller about four of the world's smartest mathematicians hired by the U.S. government to solve the most elusive problem in computer science history — P vs. NP. The four have jointly created a "system" which could be the next major advancement for humanity or the downfall of society.'"

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from Slashdot http://idle.slashdot.org/story/12/04/25/1519208/travelling-salesman-thriller-...

Hulu’s Media Owners Take Bigger Stake in the Company [REPORT]


A new report indicates that Comcast, Disney and News Corp. will soon own even more of the streaming television service Hulu.

According to Bloomberg, Providence Equity Partners — the one non-media conglomerate invested in Hulu — is close to selling its 10% stake in the company to the other owners. The companies behind ABC (Disney), NBC (Comcast) and Fox (News Corp.) each own a 27% stake in the Hulu.

Providence invested $100 million in Hulu back in 2007. Bloomberg‘s sources say the firm will get $200 million for its share. Not a bad return on a five-year investment. The $200 million sale would give Hulu a $2 billion valuation.

Less than a year ago, Hulu’s owners were considering selling the over-the-top (OTT) and subscription streaming service. The fact that the three majority owners are now going to invest more in the company underscores just how much the online video and streaming space has changed over the last six to eight months.


Hulu Flourishes in New Content Wars


Last July, I wrote about the content battle taking place between TV Everywhere and OTT online streaming. Since then, that battle has only expanded, as cable networks have launched their own OTT offerings and content owners have signed more robust TV Everywhere deals.

As a result, Hulu (like Netflix) has had to shift its focus from simply licensing content and branch out into original content creation.

Hulu started playing with original reality programming in 2009. Earlier this year, the company launched its first scripted series, *Battleground.”

Moreover, Hulu is flipping the switch on the licensing model and syndicating its original programming to traditional television outlets.

That focus — coupled on improvements to the ad platform and support on more devices and set-top boxes — has helped Hulu gain premium subscribers. More than 2 million users now subscribe to Hulu Plus, the company’s $8 a month offering. This is a far cry from Netflix’s 26 million streaming users, but it shows that Hulu is catching on.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto,

More About: hulu, netflix, subscription streaming, tv everywhere

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from Mashable! http://mashable.com/2012/04/26/hulu-sells-stake/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_me...

We’ve got hard data: Netflix really is killing Nickelodeon

With kids channel Nickelodeon suddenly experiencing double-digit ratings drops in the fourth quarter last year, a debate began swirling as to whether streaming of the Viacom-owned channel’s shows on Netflix was dispersing its audience.

That discussion has broadened quite a bit in recent months. Last week, for example, The New York Times pondered whether the most recent viewership declines for the Big Four broadcast networks were in part attributable to on-demand viewing through digital platforms including Netflix and Apple’s iTunes. Conversely, last month, TV analysts wondered whether the record season-premiere numbers for AMC’s long-running series Mad Men were partly the result of new viewers discovering the older seasons of the series on Netflix.

On Thursday, Bernstein Research’s Todd Juenger released some hard data on these pressing issues. Collaborating with his former employer, digital video recorder maker TiVo, Juenger and his Bernstein colleagues found that among homes that regularly stream Netflix programming, viewing of linear kids’ channels — and not just Nickelodeon — took a hit.

“Turns out, Netflix streamers watch just as much traditional TV as non-streamers,” Juenger wrote in his report. “However, there is a significant share shift among streamers. Kids’ networks (not just Nickelodeon) and syndicated shows are getting severely whacked.”

For the study, Bernstein pulled out about 9,500 Netflix streamers and 9,500 non-streamers from a sample of about 35,000 TiVo set-top users.

Analyzing viewership of the two groups over the first quarter, Bernstein found that usage among streamers of Nickeloden’s flagship channel dropped 6 percent from the year-over-year average; viewing also declined a whopping 11 percent for Nick Toons and Teen Nick. For non-streamers, ratings actually grew 2 percent for Nickelodeon, 5 percent for Nick Toons and 26 percent for Teen Nick (a huge 37 percent differential).

Among streamers, ratings increased 11 percent for Disney’s boy-targeted XD channel, but they grew far more — 27 percent — among households that don’t stream. The dynamic was the same for the Time Warner Inc.-owned Cartoon Network, which saw viewership increase by 9 percent among the streaming group but 12 percent among non-streamers.

Conversely, Netflix’s claim that it’s a source of “catch-up” viewing for serialized cable dramas like AMC’s Mad Men, Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead seems to carry some weight, with Bernstein finding that AMC’s ratings grew 86 percent in Q1 for streamers but only 71 percent for non-streamers.

Also positively impacted: the Big Four broadcast networks. Bernstein found that ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC each performed better slightly among households that stream (see chart).

However, Bernstein also discovered that Netflix viewing made consumers much less likely to watch repeats of shows in off-net syndication, with the streaming group declining in off-net viewing by about 19 percent compared to 9.7 percent for non-streamers.

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from GigaOM http://paidcontent.org/2012/04/26/weve-got-hard-data-netflix-really-is-killin...