The Best Smartphone

The Chat Room: Kanye’s Movie Is Really Happening

Posted by Trendsighter on May 19th, 2012

Kanye West talks a big game, but he’s backing up the promise he made on Twitter to release a sci-fi short film on seven screens.

Meanwhile, A woman in India decided to divorce her husband based on his Facebook status, while in the U.S. a hapless Facebook user found his status “liked” by an unexpected number of people.

Steve Wozniak signed on to help Aaron Sorkin write about Steve Jobs in an upcoming movie, and Tyra Banks is turning to the Internet to revive interest in “America’s Next Top Model.”

Kanye Gears Up for Donda Film Debut

Kanye is debuting the movie at the Cannes Film Festival next week.

West first announced his intentions to create the film, as well as the Donda tech collective, on a semi-coherent Twitter rampage, so many people dismissed the idea as a passing whim. The film, called “Cruel Summer,” will premiere on May 24-25, and admission is free at Cannes with an RSVP.

It is set in 2016 and, according to its press release, it is inspired by the upcoming G.O.O.D. Music album of the same name.

Facebook Privacy Snafu Inspires Laughs

Ross Brah, a Facebook user who clearly doesn’t understand his privacy settings, got the surprise of his life when over 118,000 people “liked” one of his statuses.

This wasn’t the work of an ImprovEverywhere troupe, but rather a genuine viral incident. Brah’s Facebook status, which contained salty language, questioned how people with whom he had no mutual friends could “like” his status.

Apparently it tickled the fancy of a sizable portion of the Facebook community, because within days the number of people “liking” his status grew exponentially. Hopefully this inspires users to make sure they know how their privacy settings function.

Woz to Advise on Sorkin’s Steve Jobs Movie

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is supposedly acting as an advisor for the upcoming Steve Jobs biopic penned by “The Social Network” screenwriter Aaron Sorkin. Wozniak will function as an expert on both Jobs and the technical aspects of his rise to fame.

Sorkin told reporters he does not plan on writing a straightforward biopic, but he’s not certain exactly what approach he is going to take while writing the film.

As long as he doesn’t cast Ashton Kutcher, he’ll probably make fans happier than the minds behind the rival Steve Jobs biopic, “Steve Jobs: Get Inspired,” an independent film already in production.

“America’s Next Top Model” Turns to Online Voting

For the 19th season of “America’s Next Top Model,” the audience will vote online, the first time the modeling competition will let viewers weigh in on the winner.

After so many seasons, the show is likely looking for a new way to appeal to its Internet-savvy target demographic.

Several cast members from “ANTM” will not join Tyra Banks for the upcoming season, including longtime judges Nigel Barker, J. Alexander and Jay Manuel, so the show may be trying to win back fans unhappy with the shakeup.

Indian Woman Blames Facebook for Divorce

A woman in India filed divorce papers based on her husband’s Facebook profile, citing how her husband kept his Facebook relationship status set to ‘Single’ as a primary reason for the marriage’s nullification.

The couple was only married for two months, and the man insists he simply forgot to update his Facebook page amidst wedding preparations.

The woman, an IT professional, sought to divorce her husband in family court, but the judge was not convinced by her reasoning, and ordered the couple to undergo six months of therapy.

The Chat Room: Kanye’s Movie Is Really Happening originally appeared at Mobiledia on Fri May 18, 2012 3:46 pm.

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5 Ways Facebook’s IPO Affects You

Posted by Trendsighter on May 18th, 2012

Facebook’s initial public offering started trading on NASDAQ today, with individual stocks going for $ 38 a share. Analysts expect the IPO will generate around $ 16 billion on opening day, and Wall Street scions and market novices alike are eagerly following the stock’s performance. Here’s why you should, too:

1. It Will Affect Your Privacy

Facebook is an enormously popular website, but how will it translate that popularity into money for investors? The social media giant’s biggest asset is its wide collection of personal information, and though the company probably isn’t going to risk alienating its user base by doing anything too extreme, it is likely to try to find a way to dip into that resource to increase profits.

As Rep. Ed Markey (D., Mass.) explained, “To respond to the demands of profit-hungry shareholders, Facebook will be under increasing pressure to squeeze revenue from its most valuable asset — the vast treasure trove of personal information it’s collected on users.”

But don’t worry too much — any attempts to capitalize on personal information will meet intense scrutiny from lawmakers and consumer groups.

2. It Means More Ads

One of the perceived weaknesses of Facebook’s stock stems from the company’s inability to monetize its mobile platform. Facebook has yet to find a way to deliver ads to its mobile users, but that is likely to change due to pressure from investors.

Unlike the privacy issue, where any major attempts

5 Ways Facebook’s IPO Affects You originally appeared at Mobiledia on Fri May 18, 2012 1:54 pm.

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The Chat Room: Do We Really Need to Make Calls on Flights?

Posted by Trendsighter on May 17th, 2012

Some frequent fliers may delight to hear they can use their phones in-flight, while Iranians can’t see the Persian Gulf on Google and they’re less than pleased about it.

Facebook sugar daddies are surprisingly elusive creatures, and now that Eduardo Saverin may be banned from the U.S., there’s slimmer pickings.

Meanwhile, Steve Jobs became a children’s icon — at least for those with iPhone-loving parents.

Virgin Airlines Okays In-Flight Phone Use

Passengers aboard flights on Virgin’s Atlantic route, including the London-New York flight, will be able to use their phones to make calls and send texts in flight, which may offer the airline a leg up on competition, especially since JFK-Heathrow is a popular business route.

The service will begin with certain limitations — only six people at a time can make calls, though everyone can text — and at first, only passengers with certain service providers will be able to get a connection.

For U.S. fliers, T-Mobile is the selected carrier, although all passengers will have to turn off their phones once they come within 250 miles of U.S. airspace.

Iran’s New Enemy: Google

The Iranian government is furious at Google for removing the name of the Persian Gulf from its mapping services, and plans to sue the search engine giant to have the title reinstated.

No word yet on why Google removed the name — it may be a glitch, because “Persian Gulf” still shows up in Google Earth, and the U.S. recognizes the body of water as such.

Iran’s neighboring Arab countries have taken issue with the name of the Persian Gulf in the past, preferring to call it the “Arabian Gulf,” so Iranian officials are likely hypersensitive because they see the name diss as Google taking the side of its enemy countries.

Steve Jobs Comes Alive in Children’s Book

“Who Was Steve Jobs,” an illustrated children’s book detailing the successes of the late Apple founder, is now available for purchase at bookstores and online (including through Apple’s iBookstore, appropriately).

Part of an ongoing series on inspiration people, the Steve Jobs book focuses on Jobs’ positive accomplishments and is aimed at children in grade school.

The book is available for $ 5, and the “Who Was” series also covered luminaries like Walt Disney and J.K. Rowling, so Jobs is in good company.

Facebook Founder Kicked Out of U.S.?

Eduardo Saverin, the co-founder of Facebook, made waves this week when the media learned he plans to renounce his U.S. citizenship to live indefinitely in Singapore. Saverin, a Brazil native who immigrated to the U.S., may be doing so to take advantage of the tax breaks Singapore offers on the eve of Facebook’s IPO. Analysts estimate Saverin could save millions doing so.

But Saverin, portrayed by Andrew Garfield in “The Social Network”, may end up banned from re-entering the U.S. if the government verifies he chose to renounce his citizenship for tax purposes.

Saverin and his lawyers are fighting to prove the billionaire is not making the decision to save money, but the timing of the announcement may hurt his case.

Single Facebook Millionaires Wanted

One San Fransisco-area writer went in search of Facebook “sugar daddies” and gold-diggers who pursue them, but she had a hard time uncovering any blatant examples of a for-profit dating scene.

The writer did uncover some “techie hot-spots,” including expensive hotel bars and wine bars. Barstaff said women often waited around these locales until a financially confident Silicon Valley-type picked up their tab, though the writer did not see the behavior first-hand.

Perhaps when the IPO happens it will be easier to spot the men flush with new-found riches?

The Chat Room: Do We Really Need to Make Calls on Flights? originally appeared at Mobiledia on Thu May 17, 2012 3:44 pm.

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In Brief: Apple, Publishers Prep for E-Book Showdown

Posted by Trendsighter on May 16th, 2012

A U.S. District Court judge said Apple and five major publishers must face allegations of price fixing, rejecting their bid to dismiss a civil class action lawsuit against them.

In Brief boils down complex events to give you the heart of the matter — today and what it means for tomorrow — clearly and simply.

Legal action concerning e-book prices is mounting against Apple and its publishing partners. The U.S. Department of Justice last month announced a separate settlement with three publishers, Simon & Schuster, Hachette Book Group and Harper Collins. However, no settlement was reached between Apple, Macmillan and Penguin, and the government said the three must face complaints that they colluded to maintain high e-book prices.

What’s Happening: The complaints are based on how Apple prices its e-books for its iPad. The Cupertino, Calif. company opted to sell books using an agency model, or prices the publishers wanted them sold for, and it agreed to do so, taking a cut of the profits.

Amazon, on the other hand, set its own prices, and sold books at a lower rate, which pleased shoppers but caused publishers to lose money. Eventually, Amazon raised its prices as well, after the top publishing companies began selling more of their books through Apple.

What It Means: The Justice Department and the class action civil suit both say the same thing — that the publishing houses and Apple conspired to use the agency model against Amazon, which was monopolizing the e-book market at the time.

For their part, Apple, MacMillan and Penguin all say the agency model of publishing allows publishers to offer more choice and flexibility when it comes to pricing their work.

What it Really Means: Amazon had been on top of the publishing market for a long while, and the publishers and Apple say Amazon’s pricing model will force smaller publishers out of business. Further, most publishers believe they’ll eventually have to accept whatever royalties Amazon deems proper to pay them, instead of getting full royalties for their work.

Amazon can afford to offer the books at lower prices because of the quantity it sells, and for now, it pays publishers the full royalty fee. However, the remaining publishers may believe that if the lawsuit goes on — and they lose — Amazon will have the power to lower their revenues once it no longer has to compete with Apple for e-book sales.

Amazon still sells the most e-books, but competitors such as the iPad and the Barnes & Noble Nook are eating away at its profits, and the retail giant will do what it needs to in order to keep its customers.

What’s Next: U.S. District Judge Denise Cote, saying the lawsuit can continue, appeared to side strongly with consumers against Apple and the remaining two publishers, which does not bode well for their chances if a settlement isn’t reached.

Cote ruled that she believes Apple blocked e-books from competing in the open market by “[helping] the suppliers to collude, rather than compete independently.” She didn’t make a ruling in the case itself, but her strongly worded ruling leaves little doubt that if Apple wants to keep profiting from e-book sales, it may have to move away from the agency pricing model and base its plans on Amazon’s example or come up with something different.

The Takeaway: Cote’s ruling means the class-action suit will proceed, unless the remaining book publishers and Apple try to settle, which would save an untold amount in legal fees. While Apple doesn’t often settle legal cases, the book publishers may have little choice, given the financial difficulties the industry is facing.

Meanwhile, the three publishers who have settled are still in the lawsuit, but they are negotiating with states to give refunds to people who bought e-books. The other two publishers, while appearing to stand their ground, may decide it’s more economically feasible to offer customers similar refunds, leaving Apple alone to face federal collusion charges.

Apple may have difficulty defending itself from the federal allegations. The late Steve Jobs himself fueled speculation over aggressive moves made by publishers, telling the Wall Street Journal “publishers may withhold their books from Amazon” if they’re unhappy with the way the company prices publications.

Although Jobs died last October, Apple still follows most of the standards he set while he was alive, and it may not take much more than his statements to the Wall Street Journal to convince a jury that his company worked with publishers to not only set prices, but to earn a huge profit from e-book sales in return.

Apple is unlikely to stop working with publishers to sell e-books. The stakes are too high as people shift from reading paper copies of their favorite publications to enjoying them electronically. However, Apple may have to accept a much lower profit margin if the courts find it worked with publishers to set book prices higher and to keep them away from Amazon as well.

In Brief: Apple, Publishers Prep for E-Book Showdown originally appeared at Mobiledia on Wed May 16, 2012 4:09 pm.

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The Chat Room: Bikinis Made Out of IPods

Posted by Trendsighter on May 15th, 2012

A bikini made of old electronics stirred up controversy about women in tech, while one man used body modification to wear his iPod in an unusual way.

Freddie Mercury sang to adoring crowds, despite being dead, while Alan Rickman’s mundane daily deeds became a source of amusement.

Meanwhile, generous Twitter users donated their unused characters to a good cause.

Bathing Suit Made From Old Electronics Sparks Debate

Jennifer Shannon and Andi Cheung designed a provocative bikini made of outdated bits of electronics and created a magazine mock-up to spark a debate on how women occupy the tech sector.

The photos of a model wearing the deeply impractical swim wear, accompanied by statements like “Women have their own strengths, like fashion” are pushing buttons online.

The artists behind the photoshoot wanted to point out the marginalized position women still occupy in the tech sector, but some bloggers are taking their satirical product literally.

Hologram Freddie Mercury Rocks a Crowd

A holographic image of flamboyant, beloved Queen front-man Freddie Mercury appeared at the Dominion Theater in London.

The deceased Queen superstar performed to honor the 10th anniversary of the “We Will Rock You” musical, alongside members of its cast.

Guitarist Brian May prefers to call the image an “optical illusion,” and expressed regret that the Tupac hologram at Coachella happened first, as the band has tried to bring Mercury’s visage to the stage using technology for some time.

Slow-Mo Alan Rickman Gets Big Laughs

Set to a dramatic score, some Alan Rickman super-fan created a slow-motion video of the venerable British actor preparing tea for himself in a sparsely decorated room.

Rickman is largely silent throughout the nearly-seven-minute film, although after four minutes pass, he begins to look directly in the camera and slowly raises his hand to hail the cameraman.

Hopefully someone can mash up tea-sipping Rickman and the slowed-down, drunk-sounding Jeff Goldblum clips for more comic mayhem.

Literally Stuck to His IPod

Body piercer Dave Hurban invented what he calls a “strapless watch” by implanting four metal studs into his wrist and affixing an iPod to his skin with magnets. Hurban works at a tattoo parlor, so he was well-equipped to try out the unusual procedure.

The heavily pierced and tattooed innovator showcased his novel arm accessory on YouTube, explaining how other could get a similar look.

Over 900,000 viewers watched the clip in about two weeks, illustrating other people are interested in getting the unique body modification.

Donate a Tweet

A new program called Hashtags4Heros takes unused Twitter characters and adds messages about the Wounded Warrior Project, which helps wounded veterans. The program wants to raise awareness about WWP through these charity tweets.

Hashtags4Heros is a Twitter application created by defense contractor Raytheon, a supporter of WWP’s message. Users who want to give a one-time donation, but don’t want to have their leftover Twitter characters taken all month, can tweet directly from WWP’s website.

The app originally aimed to donate 30,000 Twitter characters by the end of Military Appreciation Month, but due to its overwhelming success, it bumped the goal up to 300,000 by Memorial Day.

The Chat Room: Bikinis Made Out of IPods originally appeared at Mobiledia on Tue May 15, 2012 3:02 pm.

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Using Viruses to Charge Your Phone

Posted by Trendsighter on May 15th, 2012

Scientists have developed virus-powered electrical chargers capable of harnessing energy from footsteps, a milestone in the continuing advancement of green mobile technology.

The stamp-sized generator, created in Berkeley Labs, relies on the piezoelectric M13 virus to produce electrical charge when pressed. Fitted to shoe soles, it may one day allow users to power mobile electronics as they walk.

The key to improvements lies in modifying the harmless virus, whose rapid reproduction and natural orderliness make it ideal for bioengineering. But M13 is not alone in its power-producing capabilities, as researchers around the world are demonstrating in their rush to develop green mobile charging technology.

Last week, 24-year-old Anthony Mutua of Kenya announced a shoe-powered cell phone charger that also generates electricity under pressure. Mutua’s $ 46 device, slated for mass production, relies on a thin crystal chip to extract power from footfalls.

InStep NanoPower, a company created by University of Wisconsin students Tom Krupenkin and Ashley Taylor, is also joining the race, seeking to market thermodynamically powered “in-shoe” technology by 2013.

Besides using chip-fitted shoes to charge cell phones, scientists are developing clothing and exercise machines that can extract electricity from human movement.

The U.S. military is working to develop movement-sensitive e-textile fabric for its soldiers that will allow them to charge mobile devices in the field without cumbersome cords and wires.

Even concert-goers can benefit from such technology, using piezoelectric shirt pockets to harness vibrations from drums and guitars to charge cell phones.

And German-made Silverback “Starke” bicycles, along with treadmills at England’s Green Heart Gym, now use movement-generated energy to power portable batteries and LED lights.

Developments like these herald a new era in mobile technology. Movement-powered cell phones will likely reduce the need for fossil fuel-based electricity, resulting in less environmental pollution as well as promoting human health with increased exercise.

Furthermore, in today’s gadget-centric world, green charging technology may enable users to stay even more digitally connected than they are now. This development would certainly benefit the entire mobile market, which may see higher profits as a result of their products’ ability to organically keep a charge.

Currently, the prototype virus-powered device produces one-fourth the voltage of a triple A battery, only enough to run a small LCD. As Berkeley scientist Seung-Wuk Lee joked, “Do not expect this virus-based device to run your water heating unit.”

But Lee, along with Byung Yang Lee and Ramamoorthy Ramesh, are still experimenting in hopes that the virus-coated generator will revolutionize the mobile industry.

“Because the tools of biotechnology enable large-scale production of genetically modified viruses, piezoelectric materials based on viruses could offer a simple route to novel microelectronics in the future,” Lee predicted.

Using Viruses to Charge Your Phone originally appeared at Mobiledia on Mon May 14, 2012 3:47 pm.

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Charge Your Phone With Your Shoes

Posted by Trendsighter on May 14th, 2012

A Kenyan man invented a shoe-powered charger for phones, joining other inventors in making mobile technology greener and more independent of traditional infrastructure.

24-year-old Anthony Mutua developed a thin crystal chip that fits into shoe soles and generates electricity under pressure.

The $ 46 device connects to a user’s phone via a thin extension cord, ultimately allowing people to charge their mobile batteries while going for a walk. Mutua says the chip fits into all footwear except bedroom slippers and will last for almost three years provided the shoes don’t wear out first.

Mutua first unveiled a prototype at the Science and Innovation Week in Nairobi and has since patented the idea in preparation for mass production. He predicts the device will prove popular as a commercial enterprise, as people can use it to charge several phones during one walk.

Mutua’s chip joins similar cell phone charging inventions that may soon “greenify” the mobile market.

Tom Krupenkin and Ashley Taylor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, for example, developed similar “in-shoe technology” that harnesses the thermodynamic power generated from footsteps. The engineering students have already founded a company called InStep NanoPower and plan to sell the device in 2013.

Besides shoes, concertgoers’ t-shirts are now capable of powering their cell phones, as demonstrated last year during England’s Glastronbury festival. The shirts captured sound vibrations and produced electricity using a piezoelectric pocket to reboot attendees’ mobile phones.

Solar solutions, like Ralph Lauren’s mobile charging backpack and Vivian Muller’s solar panel Bonsai charger, are becoming increasingly popular with cell phone owners in sunny climates.

And the German company Silverback recently unveiled a line of “Starke” bikes that harness pedal power to charge smartphones during long rides as the need for connectivity continues to grow in places where traditional power sources are scarce.

Charging solutions like these not only help the environment by encouraging exercise and decreasing electrical consumption, they may also prove vital in countries lacking solid infrastructure.

In Kenya, for example, mobile phones are already helping citizens navigate health and safety issues, but many villagers lack the constant power supply needed to keep their phones at full battery.

In countries like India, too, government-run electrical lines are often unreliable and costly, making it difficult for very poor people to keep their phones working.

A shoe insert like Mutua’s may change all that, by giving users direct control over their power usage. And once people can harness energy from their footsteps, they can use this power to change their circumstances.

Charge Your Phone With Your Shoes originally appeared at Mobiledia on Fri May 11, 2012 2:30 pm.

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More to Memes Than Meets the Eye

Posted by Trendsighter on May 13th, 2012

Even if they’re just LOLcats or Rebecca Black, memes have more impact than you think.

Ever get forwarded a funny video or spend time clicking through silly images from friends and co-workers? You’ve probably had plenty of contact with Internet memes just from casual Web browsing, but may not know who starts these fads — or if anyone can stop them.

Most people have encountered memes online, and they’re becoming an integral part of pop culture, often more widely viewed than popular TV shows and films, giving them a powerful impact that belies their sometimes throwaway nature.

There’s more to memes than meets the eye, and as the Internet and technology become an essential, integral part of everyday life, we’re just now starting to understand their power and impact.

What’s in a Meme?

Richard Dawkins coined the term meme, pronounced “meem,” in 1976 to describe the spread of ideas — “a unit of cultural transmission.” The reference gained traction on the Internet in the 2000s, with viral videos and images spreading swiftly with help from Internet forums 4Chan and Reddit.

Memes are contagious — someone sees something funny, say, a picture of a dog wearing a ballerina costume, and sends it to friends. The picture continues to tickle friends and acquaintances, and its audience grows exponentially, at a rapid pace, powered by the Internet and now mobile technology.

Meet the Human Memes

Some memes are photos or illustrations of famous people, but others prominently feature regular folks who end up achieving Internet fame or notoriety. Who doesn’t remember the groggy kid slurring his way through a conversation with his parent on the ride home from the dentist? This clip shows how videos posted by amused parents are catapulted to the national consciousness, seen by millions when the parents intended them only for a few dozen family friends.

Meme survivors recently convened at a panel meeting at MIT, featuring Paul “Double Rainbow” Vasquez and Nate Dern, the Redditor-turned- “Huh?” guy. ROFLCon gathers these online celebrities together to discuss the impact of memes on popular culture.

Over the past five years, the subjects of memetic viral videos have reached significant levels of fame. For instance, Rebecca Black, a teenager whose parents paid for her to record a vanity music video, “Friday”, became a national punchline. The video’s amateur production values and lyrics, coupled with Black’s earnest delivery, amused Internet commentators, who circulated the clip on forums and blogs.

By the time the major news outlets picked up the story, “Friday” had already been seen by 30 million people on YouTube, been subject to countless remixes, and made Black a household name. Since YouTube generates revenue, Black wound up making a decent chunk of change on her video, though she became a laughingstock doing so.

Black courted fame by paying for and releasing a music video. Even if she did not expect the reaction, she set out to evoke some sort of public response. But many human memes have little control over how they shoot to fame, inadvertently feeling the glare of the spotlight.

Antoine Dodson found himself on the radio and national news after being interviewed for a local news team after the attempted rape of his sister. Although the situation was no laughing matter, Dodson gave a spirited interview, and a team of Internet jokesters called “Remix the News” turned the clip of Dodson explaining what happened into “Bed Intruder”, a catchy song. Dodson made enough money from iTunes and donations from fans to move out of the housing projects, showcasing how savvy Internet stars can parlay their fame into fortune.

More recently, the Internet exploded with chatter about “Ridiculously Photogenic Guy,” a man snapped looking utterly put together while running an intense race. Like Dodson, the man in the picture did not court fame — it just sort of fell into his lap.

“Ridiculously Photogenic Guy,” a.k.a Zeddie Little, spoke with reporters about the incident, and took his new-found fame in stride. Dodson also enjoyed the perks of his newfound notoriety, landing a reality TV show. So even though these two had no control over their success as memes, they ended up enjoying the fruits of the experience even more than Rebecca Black, who put herself out there but ended up being treated with derision instead of amusement.

Sometimes memes take a turn for the out-and-out nasty, and end up hurting the feelings of an innocent person. This is especially clear in the case of Heidi Crowter, whose childhood picture went out without her permission or knowledge and people mocked her for her perceived lack of intelligence.

Crowter, who has Down’s Syndrome, only recently discovered the cruel images, and her family and friends are fighting to get them taken down by petitioning Facebook and other sites where people shared the images. But they have an uphill battle ahead of them, as the meme spread quickly, leaving a long trail to clean up.

A photo posted to a site supporting people with disabilities was snatched by vicious pranksters and taken totally out of context, which demonstrates just how out of control memes can get.

The problem with memes, though, is it is incredibly difficult to trace them back to their origin point, and even harder to find all the pockets of the Internet they’ve reached.

How Do They Spread?

With an astonishing array of content available on the Internet, how do certain moments, images and clips shoot to fame while others stay anonymous?

Zachary M. Seward at the Nieman Journalism Lab highlighted the similarity between memetic spread and biological processes, explaining “memes in political reporting can be tracked with methods drawn from bioinformatics and genetic sequence analysis.” Videos go “viral” because the way they spread is reminiscent of viruses, and the research Seward discusses indicates memes are so similar to biological dissemination they get tracked in a related fashion.

Some say memes spread because of their inherent value, but this conclusion is too simple and does not take into account how certain power-wielding people manipulate the flow of information to push certain memes to the forefront of Internet culture.

If an image or idea gets picked up by bigger news sources, moving from Tumblr to the Huffington Post, for example, its chances of going viral skyrocket. Sometimes notable bloggers push memes into the spotlight, like when Perez Hilton or Videogum’s Gabe Delahaye choose to write about them. Determining what makes a surefire viral video is almost as impossible as controlling the spread of a successful one.

Meme researcher Susan Blackmore calls Internet memes “temes”, or ideas spread through technology. She also compares their spread to opening Pandora’s box — once a meme takes hold, it is impossible to squelch.

What Does This Mean?

Memes can impact the lives of people, as detailed above, but they also affect society at large, spreading ideas and information rapidly. The Obama administration jumps on opportunities to use social networking because of its ability spread information quickly, and to the desirable 18-to-34 demographic.

Meanwhile, politicians like Hillary Clinton have discovered it’s best to go along with it when you find yourself caught in a meme. She gamely submitted her own entry to “Texts from Hilary,” a blog celebrating her cool-headed persona. Of course, Clinton’s meme portrayed her in a positive light, so it was likely easier to go along with than it would have been if the meme tried to insult her.

The stickiness and persistence of memes may demand some new digital citizenship skills to keep meme-making a humorous, positive experience. As people understand the origins of these images, they could be better informed, and as a result, better able to refrain from memes that poke fun at innocent people.

Users can tap Facebook and social networks to help curb the spread of offensive memes, if users report them. No single person can quell the tidal wave of attention memes get, but to be good netizens, individuals can refuse to take part in spreading those types of cruel-hearted images and videos, at the very least to make more time to enjoy the truly hilarious ones.

More to Memes Than Meets the Eye originally appeared at Mobiledia on Fri May 11, 2012 3:01 pm.

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The Chat Room: Some Women Prefer Smartphones to Sex

Posted by Trendsighter on May 12th, 2012

Young mothers may be a little too fond of their smartphones, a study revealed, with some preferring to talk on their phone instead of, and while, having sex.

Meanwhile, the British Prime Minister is woefully disconnected from Internet lingo, while another British man proved much more tech-savvy by saving the life of a bird with his iPhone.

Young Mothers Texting Their Way Through Intimate Moments

A survey reports 12 percent of young mothers use their smartphones during sex, meaning this isn’t just a handful of incidents, but a fairly commonplace occurrence. Whatever happened to romance?

The Nielsen survey, called “Moms and Media 2,” did not reveal what these ladies were doing on their smartphones during the act — checking into their bedrooms on FourSquare?

At the same time, the survey shed some light on Millenial smartphone habits, indicating 81 percent of young mothers use their phones frequently for online shopping, while almost a quarter use the phone in the bathroom.

U.K. Prime Minister Not Laughing Out Loud About “LOL”

British Prime Minister David Cameron thought “LOL” meant “lots of love”, not “laughing out loud,” and used it to sign off on e-mails until an aide filled him in on the Internet slang.

While British English and American English have widely disparate slang, text-speak is nearly universal, and now U.K. papers are having fun ribbing the Prime Minister for his lack of Internet savvy.

The anecdote came out during the Leveson inquiry, an investigation into a hacking scandal. Former tabloid editor Rebekah Brooks couldn’t resist revealing Cameron’s slang naivet�.

Is Siri Secretly Working For Nokia?

Siri may have reached self-awareness, because she’s spouting off some answers that don’t treat the iPhone too nicely.

When users ask Siri what the best smartphone is, she points them in the direction of Nokia’s Lumia 900, despite the fact that Siri only works on the iPhone 4S. The voice assistant draws her answers from outside websites, and since the Lumia 900 received positive customer feedback, she recommends it first.

At least this proves Apple isn’t tampering with Siri’s search results, though the mobile technology giant may want to fix this hiccup in future versions.

Man Saves Bird With iPhone

A bird-loving U.K. tree surgeon, Leon Timms, used his smartphone to potentially save a bird’s life.

Timms found a distressed chaffinch while he was working on a tree, and he decided to coax the bird back to health by finding an app that offered chaffinch bird noises. The unlucky avian perked up after hearing the sounds of his brethren, and recovered.

The chaffinch banged its head on a solar panel. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds advises putting birds who appear injured from banging their heads in a calm place to recover, and this app may have helped soothe the bird.

Twitter Addicts Exceed Daily Limits

Twitter’s official daily limit is 1,000 tweets a day — something most people don’t know about, because it requires near-constant tweeting to reach the threshold.

Some super-tweeters, however, encounter problems when they reach their limit, winding up in “Twitter jail” with their account temporarily suspended.

Corporate customer service accounts managed by several people, along with a few journalists, can avoid the limit by getting “whitelisted” by Twitter, which means they can do it as much as they want. Ordinary enthusiasts like Thom J., who regularly exceeds the limit, on the other hand, have to wait it out until their accounts reactivate.

The Chat Room: Some Women Prefer Smartphones to Sex originally appeared at Mobiledia on Fri May 11, 2012 3:41 pm.

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5 Reasons Sprint Needs the Evo 4G LTE

Posted by Trendsighter on May 11th, 2012

Sprint will launch the HTC Evo 4G LTE on May 18 for $ 200, and all indications are it’s the kind of device the carrier can use more of.

The Evo 4G LTE is powered by Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and features a 1.5-gigahertz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor, a 4.7-inch display and an 8-megapixel camera. The device is the latest in Sprint’s successful line of Evo phones. The carrier has seen great success with the iPhone, so why does Sprint need more phones like the Evo 4G LTE?

1. The Promise of LTE

Technically, the name of the Evo 4G is a bit deceiving. Sprint hasn’t launched its LTE network yet, so the device will be running on 3G out of the box. But when the nation’s third-place carrier does go live with LTE later this year, devices like the Evo 4G are the ones users will want to have in their hands.

Verizon and AT&T are way ahead of Sprint when it comes to LTE rollout and devices, but handsets like the Evo 4G make sure the second the carrier’s network is up to speed, Sprint’s users will be also.

2. Great Specs, Good Price

At $ 200 with a two-year contract, the Evo 4G isn’t the cheapest smartphone customers can get at Sprint, but it’s one of the best values. The Snapdragon S4 processor is powerful enough to perform nearly all tasks even the most demanding smarpthone users will put it though and the 4.7-inch display provides a really media friendly experience. Did we mention the LTE capability?

3. Great Camera, Great Battery Life

Two of the things customers care most about when shopping for smartphones is the camera’s quality how long the device will run before it needs another charge. The Evo 4G delivers on both fronts.

The device’s lens captures sharp pictures, whether the target is far away or up close. Critics have also given HTC’s new camera software rave reviews, with features like Continuous Shooting and a HDR function for taking photos in areas with harsh light.

Meanwhile, the 2000 mAh battery is above industry standards and the processor is designed to preserve as much juice as possible.

4. The Latest and Greatest

The Evo 4G is part of HTC’s One line revamp of its smartphones. It comes with the new HTC sense and runs on the latest version of the Android operating system, making it one of the most up-to-date devices on Sprint’s network.

5. It’s Not the IPhone

The iPhone has done great things for Sprint since the carrier started offering the device last October. However, that’s not an excuse for Sprint to shortchange the rest of its smartphone catalog. Many customers who are not fans of the iPhone want to buy a top-of-the-line device and the Evo 4G is just that.

For Sprint, offering the iPhone is simply an exercise in staying relevant among its peers, not making money. The company has put itself in debt by striking a deal with Apple to sell the device and won’t make money on it for years. That’s not the case with handsets like the Evo 4G.

The Bottom Line

Devices like the Evo 4G help make Sprint’s catalog of phones eclectic and balanced. The promise of LTE support, coupled with its top-tier specs and other great features, make it a good alternative to the iPhone, and Sprint needs more of those.

5 Reasons Sprint Needs the Evo 4G LTE originally appeared at Mobiledia on Fri May 11, 2012 12:09 pm.

Mobiledia