If you’re a regular Twitter user, you know about Twitter Trending Topics. It’s that list of keywords that appears in the right hand column of Twitter.com, on the homepage, and on Twitter Search. It’s a global system that gauges the thoughts of all of Twitter’s users.
But that’s just it – it’s limited to just global trends. It does not drill down to what Twitter users near you care about. Knowing what San Francisco twitterers are talking about would help you find events or gauge the local response to major news.
The solution’s finally here, though: Trendsmap, a new mash-up of Twitter, Google Maps, and What the Trend that maps out Twitter trends at the local level.
This new service, created by the people behind RetailMeNot, takes Twitter trends and maps them out all the way to the local level. Yes, you can see what Twitter users are talking about in London, San Diego, or the state of California.
Trendsmap goes so much farther than that, though. Clicking on any of the trends will bring up information on the volume of tweets for that word, a description of the trend (via What The Trend), and relevant multimedia and links. Trendsmap has a screencast that dives into some of its best features:
We’re impressed with Trendsmap, and we’re not alone: even Google is a fan of the new mashup. Just play around with it and you’ll see why it’s one of the best Twitter mashups we’ve ever come across.
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Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Tuesday, 8 September 2009
ThisWeKnow: New Semantic Web App Tames Massive Data Sets from Data.gov
ThisWeKnow: New Semantic Web App Tames Massive Data Sets from Data.gov: "
Data.gov launched in May this year to make huge data sets of information from federal agencies available in machine-readable formats. While incredibly valuable, these data sets are not particularly useful in their current format to anyone but researchers, statisticians, sociologists, developers, or others used to parsing databases searching for trends.
At least for geographically relevant information, ThisWeKnow provides one use case for the data sets. Users can enter the name or ZIP code of any community and get details on all kinds of factors, from violent crime to companies releasing pollutants.
Each search for a location will generate a page of 'factoids,' as ThisWeKnow calls them. Single sentences that express statistics about the community, these factoids can be clicked for deeper digging, as seen below, or can be shared on Twitter by clicking the 'tweet this' links on the page.
Developed by a consortium of three different organizations (web app shop and data analysis firm GreenRiver.org, web design studio Sway Design, and semantic web database company Intellidimension), ThisWeKnow is written in Ruby on Rails. It communicates via SPARQL to an RDF database. The source code is available under an MIT license at GitHub. Users can also see the SPARQL query that generated the information on any particular page of the site.
Out of the box, ThisWeKnow presents interesting information; however, we are interested to see how the developers proceed to offer more options for sorting, comparing, and visualizing the available data.
GreenRiver.org managing director Michael Knapp addressed our desire for more granular data in an email, saying, 'The presentation of these data at the town level was somewhat arbitrary - we figured it would be more recognizable to end users than block groups, etc. We needed to combine numerous data sets which present data at very different spatial aggregations, and of the 9 or 10 databases we've loaded, only one used coordinate data... Our vision is to have numerous facets into these data, including time (history), issues, etc., in addition to place-based 'factoids'.'
In its first phase of development, the ThisWeKnow team has focused on a handful of spatially focused data sets from six different agencies in the Data.gov catalog. Ultimately, they hope to make the entire Data.gov catalog available to the public and give developers an API to access the data, as well.
Data.gov launched in May this year to make huge data sets of information from federal agencies available in machine-readable formats. While incredibly valuable, these data sets are not particularly useful in their current format to anyone but researchers, statisticians, sociologists, developers, or others used to parsing databases searching for trends.At least for geographically relevant information, ThisWeKnow provides one use case for the data sets. Users can enter the name or ZIP code of any community and get details on all kinds of factors, from violent crime to companies releasing pollutants.
Sponsor
Each search for a location will generate a page of 'factoids,' as ThisWeKnow calls them. Single sentences that express statistics about the community, these factoids can be clicked for deeper digging, as seen below, or can be shared on Twitter by clicking the 'tweet this' links on the page.
Developed by a consortium of three different organizations (web app shop and data analysis firm GreenRiver.org, web design studio Sway Design, and semantic web database company Intellidimension), ThisWeKnow is written in Ruby on Rails. It communicates via SPARQL to an RDF database. The source code is available under an MIT license at GitHub. Users can also see the SPARQL query that generated the information on any particular page of the site.
Out of the box, ThisWeKnow presents interesting information; however, we are interested to see how the developers proceed to offer more options for sorting, comparing, and visualizing the available data.
GreenRiver.org managing director Michael Knapp addressed our desire for more granular data in an email, saying, 'The presentation of these data at the town level was somewhat arbitrary - we figured it would be more recognizable to end users than block groups, etc. We needed to combine numerous data sets which present data at very different spatial aggregations, and of the 9 or 10 databases we've loaded, only one used coordinate data... Our vision is to have numerous facets into these data, including time (history), issues, etc., in addition to place-based 'factoids'.'
In its first phase of development, the ThisWeKnow team has focused on a handful of spatially focused data sets from six different agencies in the Data.gov catalog. Ultimately, they hope to make the entire Data.gov catalog available to the public and give developers an API to access the data, as well.
About a Quarter Of Facebook Users Connect Via Mobile Phones
Facebook's quest to become the social operating system of the Web is driven by how many how many other Websites and apps tap into the social network through Facebook Connect. The mobile Web is a big target for Facebook. Back in March, it made Facebook Connect available to iPhone apps, since those are the most fully featured and popular. Today, it took another step in expanding the reach of Facebook Connect to any mobile phone with a Web browser.
Called Facebook Connect For Mobile Web, it will let any mobile site accept Facebook IDs for sign-on, grab social data from Facebook with permission from the user, publish items into their Facebook stream, and more.
Android Market Now Over 10,000 Applications Strong
Android Market Now Over 10,000 Applications Strong: "
In the mobile OS world, Google’s Android is still a challenger but with the amount of devices that will be running the system that are due to come out in the coming months alone in combination with its open approach it is definitely a contestant to watch closely. The success of Apple’s App Store for the iPhone / iPod Touch is often measured by how many apps have already been developed for the platform (around 70,000), but since Google doesn’t disclose exactly how many apps are available through Android Market it was difficult to compare the two on that particular level.
But thanks to AndroLib, which provides a useful website where you can browse Android apps from your computer (unlike the Android Market website), we can conclude that there are currently at least 10,000 applications and games available on the platform today.
AndroLib’s latest stats show a total of 10,072 apps that were crawled by their system, the majority of which were free (64.2% to be exact).
The company is first to admit that there are probably more than the 10,000 applications they can track, but says there’s no better way to get an idea of how many applications are currently in the Android Market. The only time that type of information was disclosed that I can remember is when T-Mobile CTO Cole Brodman told PC World back in May that there were 2,300 applications in total available for the platform at that time.
Going by both numbers, that means the Android market has grown 4.4 times in size in just four months.
For the record, the Android Market was first announced on 28 August 2008 and was made available to users less than a year ago, on 22 October 2008. Priced application support was added for US users and developers in the US and UK in mid-February 2009, and UK users gained the ability to purchase priced applications on 13 March 2009.
Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
In the mobile OS world, Google’s Android is still a challenger but with the amount of devices that will be running the system that are due to come out in the coming months alone in combination with its open approach it is definitely a contestant to watch closely. The success of Apple’s App Store for the iPhone / iPod Touch is often measured by how many apps have already been developed for the platform (around 70,000), but since Google doesn’t disclose exactly how many apps are available through Android Market it was difficult to compare the two on that particular level.But thanks to AndroLib, which provides a useful website where you can browse Android apps from your computer (unlike the Android Market website), we can conclude that there are currently at least 10,000 applications and games available on the platform today.
AndroLib’s latest stats show a total of 10,072 apps that were crawled by their system, the majority of which were free (64.2% to be exact).
The company is first to admit that there are probably more than the 10,000 applications they can track, but says there’s no better way to get an idea of how many applications are currently in the Android Market. The only time that type of information was disclosed that I can remember is when T-Mobile CTO Cole Brodman told PC World back in May that there were 2,300 applications in total available for the platform at that time.
Going by both numbers, that means the Android market has grown 4.4 times in size in just four months.
For the record, the Android Market was first announced on 28 August 2008 and was made available to users less than a year ago, on 22 October 2008. Priced application support was added for US users and developers in the US and UK in mid-February 2009, and UK users gained the ability to purchase priced applications on 13 March 2009.
Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
Twitter, Facebook Just 'Virtual Ballrooms'
ools don't matter, and the best ones get out of the way, allowing people to connect more easily and effectively. That was my big takeaway from last Friday's second-annual Blog Potomac.
Obsessing about "what's next" in online services and technology saps too much valuable attention away from what's really important: connecting with people. We need to stop obsessing on what comes after Twitter and focus instead on how best to connect to, communicate with and relate to our clients, colleagues and consumers.
Here's why: The internet, with all of those fun time-sync tools, is supposed to make connecting with people more efficient. Social networks, blogs, microblogs and forums destroy the previously prohibitive barriers to efficient communications: moving people physically around the planet and making sure they're in the same place at the same time. But the downside of all of this efficiency is that too many of us lose track of the forest for the trees.
Derinlemesine Twitter Analizi – 1: Twitter’i Kimler, Nasıl Kullanıyor?
Derinlemesine Twitter Analizi – 1: Twitter’i Kimler, Nasıl Kullanıyor?: "
Twitter, internetin en popüler çocuğu olma yolunda gerçekten hızlı adımlarla ilerliyor. Sosyal ağ ve blog kavramlarından sonra internetin en etkili ve belki de en hızlı rüzgarlarından biri olan mikroblogging dönemini başlatan Twitter’ın son durumunu paylaşan bir analiz küçük mavi kuş hakkında çarpıcı bilgiler sunuyor.
Analize bakılırsa Twitter, en büyük çıkış yakaladığı dönem olan 2009′un ilk 5 ayında üyelerinin %72.5‘ini kazanmış ki bunu Twitter’ın Google Trend istatistiklerine bakarak da tahmin edebiliriz. Tweet’leyen kullanıcıların %65′i 25 yaş altında gösterilirken, bayanlar tüm kullanıcıların %53′ü erkekler ise %47’si olarak belirlenmiş.for more
Bu yazı Fırat DEMİREL tarafından yazılmış olup Webrazzi.com'da yayınlanmıştır.
Winwatch wants RFID tags in your next wristwatch -- what could possibly go wrong?
Winwatch wants RFID tags in your next wristwatch -- what could possibly go wrong?: "
Looking to simultaneously trick your employees into thinking you love them and keep better tabs on their whereabouts? If so, you should definitely look into handing out Winwatch-approved timepieces as 'performance incentives,' which should be sporting an oh-so-telling RFID tag in the near future. The Switzerland-based outfit has just announced plans to patent an RFID-enabled crystal gasket that would be placed in luxury wristwatches, and while they're pushing it as a way for companies to weed out counterfeit products, we're sure the privacy advocates in attendance can think of far darker applications. Samples are slated to start shipping out later this autumn, which means your window to snag a non-voyeuristic watch is hastily closing.
[Via ABlogToRead]
Filed under: Wearables, Wireless
Looking to simultaneously trick your employees into thinking you love them and keep better tabs on their whereabouts? If so, you should definitely look into handing out Winwatch-approved timepieces as 'performance incentives,' which should be sporting an oh-so-telling RFID tag in the near future. The Switzerland-based outfit has just announced plans to patent an RFID-enabled crystal gasket that would be placed in luxury wristwatches, and while they're pushing it as a way for companies to weed out counterfeit products, we're sure the privacy advocates in attendance can think of far darker applications. Samples are slated to start shipping out later this autumn, which means your window to snag a non-voyeuristic watch is hastily closing.
[Via ABlogToRead]
Filed under: Wearables, Wireless
Winwatch wants RFID tags in your next wristwatch -- what could possibly go wrong? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 04 Sep 2009 20:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Friday, 4 September 2009
What Keeps Us Online Late at Night: Porn, Games, and Chat
study of online behavior conducted by security firm Arbor Networks reveals that the prime time on the Internet may be later than you’d think. It also reveals the habits of late-night surfers, which boils down to surfing the web and watching videos (a large amount of which are adult content), chatting and gaming.
In what is perhaps the largest study of Internet traffic’s temporal characteristics, the folks at Arbor have used data from the Internet Observatory and analyzed weekday application traffic flowing through 110 geographically diverse Internet service providers. What they’ve found is somewhat surprising: US Internet traffic is at its peak at 11pm EDT, and it stays relatively high until 3am in the morning.
Once upon a time, Internet traffic peaked somewhere around 8 AM, when most people come to work. But people are obviously surfing just as much, or even more, from their homes.
for more
In what is perhaps the largest study of Internet traffic’s temporal characteristics, the folks at Arbor have used data from the Internet Observatory and analyzed weekday application traffic flowing through 110 geographically diverse Internet service providers. What they’ve found is somewhat surprising: US Internet traffic is at its peak at 11pm EDT, and it stays relatively high until 3am in the morning.
Once upon a time, Internet traffic peaked somewhere around 8 AM, when most people come to work. But people are obviously surfing just as much, or even more, from their homes.
for more
Tracking System Benefits Pakistani Infants, Doctors
A collaborative program is helping doctors track and treat the incidence of pneumonia in their patients by scanning NFC-based RFID tags on infants' bracelets.
By Claire Swedberg
Aug. 31, 2009—RFID-enabled cell phones and ID bracelets can help doctors provide infants with better and more efficient care through the sharing of data among several dozen doctors and facilities, according to a study currently underway in Karachi, Pakistan. Thousands of infants in that city have been participating in a study the frequency of pneumonia occurrence, while their health record is being tracked by health-care workers using phones to scan passive 13.56 MHz RFID tags embedded in ID bracelets.
for more
By Claire Swedberg
Aug. 31, 2009—RFID-enabled cell phones and ID bracelets can help doctors provide infants with better and more efficient care through the sharing of data among several dozen doctors and facilities, according to a study currently underway in Karachi, Pakistan. Thousands of infants in that city have been participating in a study the frequency of pneumonia occurrence, while their health record is being tracked by health-care workers using phones to scan passive 13.56 MHz RFID tags embedded in ID bracelets.
for more
Wednesday, 26 August 2009
Under-the-skin ID chips move toward U.S. hospitals
VeriChip, the company that makes radio frequency identification--RFID--tags for humans, has moved one step closer to getting its technology into hospitals.
The Federal Drug Administration issued a ruling Tuesday that essentially begins a final review process that will determine whether hospitals can use RFID systems from the Palm Beach, Fla.-based company to identify patients and/or permit relevant hospital staff to access medical records, said Angela Fulcher, vice president of marketing and sales at VeriChip.
VeriChip sells 11-millimeter RFID tags that get implanted in the fatty tissue below the right tricep. When near one of Verichip's scanners, the chip wakes up and radios an ID number to the scanner. If the number matches an ID number in a database, a person with the chip under his or her skin can enter a secured room or complete a financial transaction.
for more
The Federal Drug Administration issued a ruling Tuesday that essentially begins a final review process that will determine whether hospitals can use RFID systems from the Palm Beach, Fla.-based company to identify patients and/or permit relevant hospital staff to access medical records, said Angela Fulcher, vice president of marketing and sales at VeriChip.
VeriChip sells 11-millimeter RFID tags that get implanted in the fatty tissue below the right tricep. When near one of Verichip's scanners, the chip wakes up and radios an ID number to the scanner. If the number matches an ID number in a database, a person with the chip under his or her skin can enter a secured room or complete a financial transaction.
for more
Identity Badge Worn Under Skin Approved for Use in Health Care
he Food and Drug Administration has cleared the way for a Florida company to market implantable chips that would provide easy access to individual medical records.
The approval, which the company announced yesterday, is expected to bring to public attention a simmering debate over a technology that has evoked Orwellian overtones for privacy advocates and fueled fears of widespread tracking of people with implanted radio frequency tags, even though that ability does not yet exist.
for more
The approval, which the company announced yesterday, is expected to bring to public attention a simmering debate over a technology that has evoked Orwellian overtones for privacy advocates and fueled fears of widespread tracking of people with implanted radio frequency tags, even though that ability does not yet exist.
for more
Monday, 11 May 2009
Anthropology: The Art of Building a Successful Social Site
"In anthropology it's very clear that the environment that you create influences people and how they behave", Spolsky explained. "People will come into the environment and behave according to what you built in certain subtle ways; ways that you probably didn't think about."
He points to the Scalinata della Trinita dei Monti, or the Spanish Steps to further his point. "They were built to be stairs," he said, "from the Spanish Embassy at the base, up to the Trinita dei Monti at the top." Instead, they've become the "living room" for backpackers in Rome. "Partially it has to do with the steps being the perfect comfortable height to sit on," he said, but also, they provide a fantastic view of the Piazza di Spagna at the bottom.
"This was completely non intentional," he explained. "Similarly, the user interface you create for your applications will influence how people behave."
for more
He points to the Scalinata della Trinita dei Monti, or the Spanish Steps to further his point. "They were built to be stairs," he said, "from the Spanish Embassy at the base, up to the Trinita dei Monti at the top." Instead, they've become the "living room" for backpackers in Rome. "Partially it has to do with the steps being the perfect comfortable height to sit on," he said, but also, they provide a fantastic view of the Piazza di Spagna at the bottom.
"This was completely non intentional," he explained. "Similarly, the user interface you create for your applications will influence how people behave."
for more
The Social Semantic Web
About social semantic web
The Social Semantic Web
View more presentations from John Breslin.
Finding Experts on the Web with Semantics
finding experts
Finding Experts on the Web with Semantics
View more presentations from John Breslin.
Sunday, 10 May 2009
Twitter - Threat or Opportunity?
Twitter has something that is completely different from any other service of the same genre – it can work as an add-on to other tools online. That’s right – we can consider Twitter as an upgrade to the user’s needs and purposes online. Better yet, Twitter can work towards a company’s objectives and even a fellow website purposes. Consider the following examples:
- Digg – Digg is a Social Bookmarking website. What Twitter does is, instead of having all sorts of digital scrap on the top popularity links due to having the same “credible” individuals posting and using convenient titles such as “TOP 10 MICROSOFT vs. APPLE and IPHONE PICTURES” (all the basic keywords to attain first place on Digg’s homepage), Twitter allows the users to select the people most in tune with their preferences and just check the postings and links placed by them. Yes, I said it’s not a Social Bookmarking service, but the fact is that more users are using Twitter to share their common interests and “work” related information. Which leads me to my next point;
- Linked In – A professional social network, Linked In is probably one of the best sources of information for head hunters to find their targets. It’s like an online résumé. But what Linked In lacks (or simply users don’t use it to that purpose) is information regarding the involvement of the target with the type of job he has. Is he a simple Joe who just does his 8 hours of work and doesn’t do much more or is he this information powerhouse that would be valuable for the company? Simple – if this person has a Twitter account, you can check just the type of information he shares and is interested in simply by following him and checking who he is following. Sure, you can always say that the Linked In target is not exactly Twitter’s target, but consider that most Twitter users are professional above 35 years-old.
- MySpace and Facebook – Here’s the bigger issue. How to mashup Twitter and these two while the first two have a service that sort of works the same way Twitter does. Well, consider this – how much stuff do you have on your wall to check? With Twitter, you can focus the attention towards where on the Profile you want people to look at without all the crowded information about the Quizzes you did.
- Youtube – Having recently added a Twitter sharing button, Youtube has definitely discovered the potential in Twitter for it’s business. Twitter users are used to follow up links and, like I mentioned before, are more prone to go to a link to Youtube placed by a trusted followed source that on any other place.
for more
- Digg – Digg is a Social Bookmarking website. What Twitter does is, instead of having all sorts of digital scrap on the top popularity links due to having the same “credible” individuals posting and using convenient titles such as “TOP 10 MICROSOFT vs. APPLE and IPHONE PICTURES” (all the basic keywords to attain first place on Digg’s homepage), Twitter allows the users to select the people most in tune with their preferences and just check the postings and links placed by them. Yes, I said it’s not a Social Bookmarking service, but the fact is that more users are using Twitter to share their common interests and “work” related information. Which leads me to my next point;
- Linked In – A professional social network, Linked In is probably one of the best sources of information for head hunters to find their targets. It’s like an online résumé. But what Linked In lacks (or simply users don’t use it to that purpose) is information regarding the involvement of the target with the type of job he has. Is he a simple Joe who just does his 8 hours of work and doesn’t do much more or is he this information powerhouse that would be valuable for the company? Simple – if this person has a Twitter account, you can check just the type of information he shares and is interested in simply by following him and checking who he is following. Sure, you can always say that the Linked In target is not exactly Twitter’s target, but consider that most Twitter users are professional above 35 years-old.
- MySpace and Facebook – Here’s the bigger issue. How to mashup Twitter and these two while the first two have a service that sort of works the same way Twitter does. Well, consider this – how much stuff do you have on your wall to check? With Twitter, you can focus the attention towards where on the Profile you want people to look at without all the crowded information about the Quizzes you did.
- Youtube – Having recently added a Twitter sharing button, Youtube has definitely discovered the potential in Twitter for it’s business. Twitter users are used to follow up links and, like I mentioned before, are more prone to go to a link to Youtube placed by a trusted followed source that on any other place.
for more
How to Listen for Opportunities on Twitter
You’ll note there are all different kinds of variations on how you can narrow your search, including:
- Specific words, phrases, hashtags (#gnomedex, for example).
- Locations and proximities.
- Time spans.
- From specific users.
- With happy or sad emoticons. :) :(
- With links.
And more.
Evolution of a Facebook-Killer
Plenty of people have been wondering about which company might come along and dethrone Facebook. What if the answer is so obvious that you wouldn't notice until all the pieces came together?
What if the answer is Google: Maker of Gmail, Picasa, YouTube, Blogger, Maps, Latitude, Docs, Calendar, Gtalk, and now Google Voice--some of the best-designed, well-connected apps on the Web. Unlike social Web's golden child Facebook--which released a flimsy API that ginned up some okay apps, and a whole lot of crappy ones--Google built its network from the bottom up.
for more
What if the answer is Google: Maker of Gmail, Picasa, YouTube, Blogger, Maps, Latitude, Docs, Calendar, Gtalk, and now Google Voice--some of the best-designed, well-connected apps on the Web. Unlike social Web's golden child Facebook--which released a flimsy API that ginned up some okay apps, and a whole lot of crappy ones--Google built its network from the bottom up.
for more
Tools and Applications For Linked Data
What are the things on the web that we can't do easily now?
- Finding the most relevant research papers.
- Finding papers on new topics in which you may not know the correct keywords
- Finding the optimal hotels when traveling
- Optimal travel from start to finish
- Track threads on news
- Mashup applications
- Analyze scientific datasets
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