Here’s what the public had to say about the “new” iPhone 5

Yesterday, we expressed our slight disappointment over what the iPhone 5 turned out to be, causing quite a discussion in the comments section. Well, perhaps we are a bit too spoilt when it comes to smartphones. At the end of the day, it is up to the regular consumers to determine what the new device is all about.

The popular comedian and TV show host Jimmy Kimmel and his crew have prepared a handy video of what the public thinks of the “new” iPhone 5. As you know, Apple’s latest smartphone is not yet available to the public, so the TV show team used an iPhone 4S.

The public reaction is nothing short of hilarious. See for yourself below.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

West coast, best coast: The startup scene hits the Northwest this week for Portland Digital eXperience

This week, Portland debuts its startup festival, Portland Digital eXperience, to showcase local innovation and offer a platform for industry discussion.

SXSW has come to epitomized startup culture. For all its faults – which generally run along the lines of launch overhype and an overwhelming amount of events and parties (to be filed under “First World Problems”) – the Austin-based festival has firmly made its name as the place where the worlds of digital, social, and startups collide.

Now, Portland, Oregon, is ready to give the similarly-spirited Austin a run for its money. This week marks the opening of Portland Digital eXperience, a startup and social festival that will run alongside MusicfestNW.

Though smaller and admittedly wetter than Austin (with the exception of this past SXSW, which I can vouch for being engulfed in a nearly permanent torrential downpour), Portland has become synonymous with innovation, creative talent, and ingenuity – and yes, hipsters and PBR. But don’t forget that this is where legacy names like Intel, Nike, and Wieden + Kennedy are headquartered. And a slew of new and notable startups have begun to follow in those prestigious footsteps: Urban Airship, Geoloqi, Lensbaby, Trapit, Vizify, and Grove all call Portland home.

And thus, Portland Digital eXperience is rising out of the short-lived North by Northwest festival’s ashes to focus in on the growing energy in the city. There will be speakers from Flipboard, Tumblr, Spotify, as well as more local names from outlets including Chirpify, Grove, and Cloudability, all on hand to cover both the intensely unique Portland spirit as well as larger industry trends. Events include a Startup Crawl through Portland’s Pearl District and Old Town neighborhoods, as well as a music hackathon to round out the festival.

The mix of big names with promising startups harkens back to some of SXSW’s earlier days, before mass chaos made attending more than a handful of events a near impossibility – a pain point many of us are more than willing to tolerate for what the show has to offer. That said, spreading this wealth can only mean more exposure for startups and more access for the rest of us.

Portland Digital eXperience starts tomorrow, September 5, and runs through September 8. You can still pick up passes here, which are also good for access to MusicfestNW shows. We’ll be attending Portland Digital eXperience and bringing you startup, social, music news, and everything that’s sure to fall in between this week. 

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

The lesson for political tweeters looking to be heard? Stay positive

The shape of online discussion of politics is changing as we head towards this year's Presidential election, with social media users apparently preferring to see something positive instead of their leaders going in for the kill.

When it comes to successfully using social media during the upcoming US Presidential Elections, the key word is, apparently, “positivity.”

That may seem somewhat counter-intuitive considering the increasingly-negative campaigns on both sides of the political divide, what with birther references and third-party tax avoidance allegations, but it was one of the key take-aways from a briefing held at this morning’s Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida, sponsored by the National Journal.

Appearing at the panel were representatives from Twitter, Facebook and Google Politics, in addition to the digital director of the Romney campaign, Zac Moffat, with the National Journal‘s Major CGarrett and CBS Morning News‘ Norah O’Donnell acting as moderators. Under discussion, the state of the political race in terms of digital outreach, and the ways in which the traditional narratives about political campaigning online aren’t necessarily true in today’s social media. For example, the importance of followers or fans is overstated, the panel agreed; instead, what truly counts of the amount of engagement the campaign has with those people. “It doesn’t matter how many people are following you if they’re not engaging,” said Moffat, going on to say that “success” is measured in the Romney campaign by the number of people talking about or sharing a particular topic at any one time.

(For what it’s worth, it’s estimated that the amount of tweets discussing Romney and Obama are expected to reach a comparable level within the next few weeks; currently, the President has the edge, but it’s changing rapidly. A few months ago, Obama was leading Romney in terms of Twitter chatter by a factor of four to one, despite the Republican primaries making news for the presumptive nominee. Clearly, Romney must be doing something right.)

Of course, that metric is also somewhat flawed; Twitter’s Adam Sharp pointed out that more tweets had been sent about this year’s Republican National Convention before today’s opening than had been sent about the convention during its entire length in 2008, pointing out that there’s just been a general uptick in conversation around political topics – indeed, all topics on Twitter since the last presidential election.

Overall, Sharp said, the messages that get the most retweets and generate the highest amount of discussion on Twitter are positive ones, and not messages drawing attention to the shortcomings or disagreeable policies of opponents. Whether or not that will continue to be the case as the race continues and doubtless becomes more argumentative in person remains to be seen; after all, as Sharp added, the tone of conversation between partisan onlookers is affected by that of the elected officials that they follow. There’s a pointer to the future of political conversation in general, I suspect. If campaigns want more respectful campaigns, they’ll have to lead by example…

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com