Adrianne jeffries

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Designer Unveils Future Phone Thought Experiment at Mozilla Labs

Designer Unveils Future Phone Thought Experiment at Mozilla Labs

An extremely creative designer has taken a throwaway idea hatched in February 2009 all the way to an impressive 3D rendering of an “Open Web phone” that will make your eyes sparkle.

Originally, designer Billy May conceived of a dynamic OLED keyboard to improve the BlackBerry Storm, with a shifting set of symbols that appear on the actual keys…

Data in the Cloud Still Governed by Obsolete Privacy Laws

Data in the Cloud Still Governed by Obsolete Privacy Laws

The Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) was enacted in 1986 to protect user data from government oversight and significant portions haven’t been updated since.

That’s a problem, advocates say, because the law is now completely outdated. The law currently gives more protection to data you store locally and less to data kept in the cloud…

Groupon Still Growing Ridiculously Fast

Groupon Still Growing Ridiculously Fast

The startup Forbes called the “fastest growing company ever” is still growing fast. August data from Web analytics firm comScore showed Groupon’s unique visitors increased 23% from July to August, meaning it grew the fourth-fastest out of the top 250 largest properties on the Web.

Groupon’s cofounder and 30% owner Eric Lefkofsky also made…

So-Called “Worst Website in Government” To Be Rebuilt With Drupal

So-Called “Worst Website in Government” To Be Rebuilt With Drupal

The Federal Communications Commission, which regulates communication technology including the Internet, was once credited with having the worst website in federal government.

But the agency is committed to upgrading its technology under the leadership of Microsoft veteran Steven VanRoekel. The FCC has been beefing up its developer offerings and…

Facebook Founder Doesn’t Want the Web To Die

Facebook Founder Doesn’t Want the Web To Die

Last month, Wired magazine set off a furious debate with a feature titled: “The Web Is Dead. Long Live the Internet.” The crux of the argument was that people are spending less time on the open Web and more time using apps.

It’s undeniable that apps are in vogue. But does that mean the open Web – the one we access through a browser – is dead…

4G and the Future of Mobile Streaming Video

4G and the Future of Mobile Streaming Video

Mobile video is exploding. According to Cisco, mobile video will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 131% between 2009 to 2014 as people access more YouTube, Netflix and high-bandwidth material on their mobile devices.

But imagine what will happen to mobile streaming video as the next generation of high-speed wireless networks and devices…

Netflix Turns a Blind Eye to Illegal Use by School Libraries

Netflix Turns a Blind Eye to Illegal Use by School Libraries

Schools have been illegally showing videos in schools for educational purposes forever. But now universities are taking advantage of Netflix rentals and streaming video to supplement their media collections.

The practice recently gained attention after some first person accounts of the cost-saving wonders of Netflix showed up in a library trade…

Google Instant Hasn’t Changed the Way We Search, SEO Firm Claims

Google Instant Hasn’t Changed the Way We Search, SEO Firm Claims

Some speculated that Google Instant would drastically change the way people search by letting users see results for their queries as they typed.

That shift hasn’t happened yet, according to an analyst at Conductor, a company that provides search engine optimization tools to marketers. “It doesn’t appear to be having a significant impact on how…

No Need to Keep a Light On When Your House Knows Where You Are

No Need to Keep a Light On When Your House Knows Where You Are

The phrase “Internet of Things” got to be an overused misnomer even before the technology had a chance to become common, but at least we’re on to everyday use cases: a developer has arranged for his thermostat to turn on when he’s home and switch off when he leaves.

Hans Scharler’s thermostat keeps dibs on his location, the outside temperature…

Social Media Jobs Are a Bright Spot for Recent Grads

Social Media Jobs Are a Bright Spot for Recent Grads

The demand for community management and other social media careers is growing fast – even at a time when the recession seems poised to double dip and more than 9% of the population is unemployed.

Social media is the one job sector in which recent college grads are having luck, reports Newsweek, and universities are adding social media classes in…

Competitors Seize on Groupon’s Recent Slipups

Competitors Seize on Groupon’s Recent Slipups

Groupon is one of the hottest tech companies out there right now; Forbes called it “the fastest growing company ever.”

But Groupon is getting so big that it’s bound to make a few missteps, and it was hit by two doozies today. A photographer posted a completely fraudulent offer and a cafe owner wrote a scathing blog post about Groupon’s sales…

Geofence Your Friends With Footprint Feed

Geofence Your Friends With Footprint Feed

We usually talk about geofencing for advertisers, where a customer’s proximity to a business can trigger a text message or push notification. But geofencing for individual users is just fun – if not more.

Footprint Feed is a mobile app that lets you set up feeds to share your location with people you know through Facebook, Twitter, RSS or specific…

Google, Microsoft Employees Are The Most Social, Report Says

Google, Microsoft Employees Are The Most Social, Report Says

Google and Microsoft are the #1 and #2 most social corporations, according to a new report by NetProspex, a social media sales and marketing contact database.

Tech companies dominated the list, but not exclusively. Other companies in the top 25 include Amazon.com, Best Buy, Apple, Williams-Sonoma, Gap, Electronic Arts, Pulte Homes, and Walt…

Blip.fm Dominates Social Music Mindshare While Users Bash Apple’s Ping

Blip.fm Dominates Social Music Mindshare While Users Bash Apple’s Ping

A new study of online discussion around social music sites shows Apple’s Ping is the least-talked about among Spotify, Rdio, Blip.fm and Pandora. Of the relatively little being said about Ping, 43% is negative, 3% is mixed and 54% is positive, according to the study by Infegy, which analyzes “chatter” from millions of sites on the Web.

Infegy…

Google Tries Its Hand at Good Design With Swooshier Image Browsing

Google Tries Its Hand at Good Design With Swooshier Image Browsing

Google announced a new, swooshier format for showing photos on Place Pages, its listings for businesses and landmarks. Photos are now displayed in a lightbox layered over the screen, with a simple slideshow navigation similar to Google Reader – Play and Fast Flip from Google Labs.

Google is not known for smooth design, but it seems to be trying…