Monday, July 9, 2012

The 10 Commandments of Social Media Etiquette | PCWorld

The 10 Commandments of Social Media Etiquette | PCWorld: "Social media opens up a window into our friends' lives--and sometimes, that window shows us far more than we want to see. You know the type of stuff I'm talking about: cringe-worthy confessions about sexual shortcomings, bodily functions, or personal hygiene mishaps. For Zuck's sake, can't we keep some things to ourselves?

The concept of TMFI--Too Much Facebook Information--isn't only about embarrassing info. Oversharing can be as simple as posting your every thought and action, whether it's details of your daily jog or photos of your favorite burrito. We get it: You like Chipotle. We've seen beans and cheese before. Spare us the photographic evidence."

Saturday, July 7, 2012

When computers listen to music, what do they hear?

When computers listen to music, what do they hear? When computers listen to music, what do they hear? - Ideas - The Boston Globe: "Soon after the release of the first iPhone five years ago, an astonishing new ritual began to be performed in cafes and restaurants across the country. It centered on an app called Shazam. When the phone was held up to a radio, Shazam would almost instantly identify whatever song happened to be on, causing any iPhone skeptics in the vicinity to gulp in bewilderment and awe.

There was something unspeakably impressive about a machine that could listen to a snippet of a random hit from 1981, pick out its melody and beat, and somehow cross-reference them against a database that seemed to contain the totality of all recorded music. Seeing it happen for the first time was revelatory. By translating a song into a string of numbers, and identifying what made it different from every other song ever written, Shazam forced us to confront the fact that a computer could hear and process music in a way that we humans simply can’t."
'via Blog this'

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Where the World’s Tweets Come From, Visualized

If you've ever wondered where all the world's tweets come from, wonder no more. This visualization, put together by researchers at the Oxford Internet Institute, shows the origins of the entire globe's tweets.

The data set comprises a sample of 20 percent of the planet's geocoded tweets taken during a week-long period in March of this year. In total, that amounts to 4.5 million data points. The data (click on the image for a larger version) shows that the most prolific twitterers—for geocoded tweets, in absolute terms—are the United States, Brazil, Indonesia, the UK, Mexico, and Malaysia, in that order.

Monday, July 2, 2012

The Flaming Lips Beat Jay-Z's World Record

The Flaming Lips Beat Jay-Z's World Record: "The Flaming Lips have successfully beat out Jay-Z's world record during the 0 Music Awards performances this past week.

The band performed in eight cities in the Mississippi Delta on Thursday over the course of 24 hours. But unlike Jay-Z, the band traveled by bus, whereas the rapper went by private jet."