Rockmelt social browser launches on iPad offering a ‘fast and fun’ mobile experience

If you fancy a new kind of web browsing experience on your iPad, check out Rockmelt, a Safari "fast and fun" alternative with social media at its core.

Alongside Firefox, Safari, IE and Chrome, Rockmelt is but a small player in the world of web browsers, but with the introduction of its new browser for iPad, that could be about to change.

Founded by Eric Vishria and Tim Howes in 2009, Rockmelt set out to provide a “fundamentally better web experience” by building a browser around how people use and interact with the web today, with a social media focus at its core.

Its ambition has inspired a number of backers to get involved, including venture capital firm Andreeson Horowitz, helping the California-based start-up to raise $40 million to date.

Now it’s moving from desktop to mobile with the launch of a free iPad version that maintains its social media focus, creating a mobile web browsing experience which is more touch than type and a breeze to use.

Imagine a coming together of Flipboard and Pinterest, creating a browser populated with content from your Facebook and Twitter feeds. Scroll down the image-heavy front page until something catches your eye, tap on the item and away you go. Read it without formatting or tap the specs at the top and view the content in its original form on its webpage.

Once you’re done, perform a two-finger pinch to lose it and return to your main page or swipe to the right to save it for later.

You don’t have to go for content from your own social media feeds – tap the browse button at the top of the screen and choose from a long list of other categories, including business, cute, geek, news, science and shopping.

Being a browser with social media at its heart, there are sharing options aplenty. Buttons for Facebook, Twitter and email are all within easy reach, but Rockmelt goes one step further, offering so-called emoticodes such as like, lol, want, wtf?, aww, and hmm for a one-tap response that makes a statement without having to pull up a keyboard.

Yes, it is a browser, so at the top there’s a window where you can tap in an web address if you really must, or a word or phrase to initiate a search on Google. Chances are, however, you’ll be too busy tapping away on the endless streaming content to think about heading elsewhere.

According to a blog post announcing the launch of the app, it took a team of developers eight months to create Rockmelt for iPad, with its main aim to make it fast, fun to use and easy to share content. “It is an entirely new way to explore the web, built for you and your iPad from the ground up,” it says in the post.

It’s definitely worth checking out. If you’re a frequent user of, say, Flipboard, you’ll get what it’s about pretty quick. If you’re coming straight from Safari, it might take a little longer to get your head around. For many, however, it may soon become the iPad browser of choice. You can find out more about it here. 

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

SportStream brings its second screen app to the iPhone

SportStream continues its mission to connect fans with socially-sourced sports data with its new iPhone app.

If there’s any market that’s primed for the social, second screen experience, it’s sports. What with the stats, player news, fantasy teams, and of course, heavy dose of trash talking, the two are made for each other. That’s not to say there isn’t still plenty of friction in this space, but developers are doing their damndest to figure out how we want to use social platforms and mobile devices to enhance the experience of watching sports.

And today, one of the biggest names in this market, SportStream, is taking another step into the thick of it with the debut of its iPhone app. At the moment, SportStream is available via Web or iPad app, but the team has wisely noticed that plenty of users are content to multitask during TV watching from the palm of their hands as well: A recent Pew report found that more than 50 percent of adults use their phones while watching television.

“People watch sports in real-time: The don’t DVR,” says co-founder and CEO of SportStream Bob Morgan. “They want to see outcomes, share their comments and trash talk in real-time, too. This creates a very interesting opportunity for second screen experience. Our primary goal is to provide fans with the best content for every game, while connecting them with each other.”

The SportStream iPhone app brings with it everything available in the iPad and Web versions — commentary, sideline reports, and game stats. Except these aren’t sourced from what you’re already seeing on TV; it’s all aggregated from sports personalities’ and experts’ social media accounts. If that makes you raise a skeptical eyebrow, consider that Packers guard TJ Lang’s Twitter slam against the replacement NFL refs quickly became the most retweeted post of all time. There’s an inarguable connection between fans and sports figureheads, be they players or pundits, and it’s being made using social platforms.

In addition to features like Twitter and Facebook sharing (with some slick focus on trending hashtags focused on your content and improved technology to filter out any irrelevant social noise), SportStream’s recent integration with Are You Watching This?! (RUWT?!) also shows up in the new iPhone app. RUWT?! is an algorithm-based system that alerts users when games get exciting — it’s supposed to keep you from beating yourself up for turning the TV off during that assumed blowout only to hear the next day that your team made an epic comeback (points at self).

SportStream, which launched in June, has been building fast. The iPhone is an interesting next iteration, given the startup’s early tablet focus. “We’ve seen tablet and Web browser use as fairly similar — it appears users have one or the other open during games,” Morgan tells me. “This isn’t too surprising given the research in this area. With the launch of the iPhone app, we’re very interested to see how people interact with the app on their phones, while on the go. One of the most interesting things we’ve seen is how low latency game information and commentary is on Twitter. This makes for a really rich, 360-degree view of a game.”

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Shazam now recognizes 160 television channels to enhance TV viewing experience

Shazam announced its foray into providing auxiliary content to enhance your television viewing experience in over 160 channels.

Shazam, boasting over 250 million users worldwide, announced today that the app will now support television programming on just about any channel, at any hour.

You may have noticed during American Idol, the Super Bowl, or the London Olympics that a Shazam icon would appear at the bottom corner of your TV screen, during a participating commercial or programming. If you’ve ever bothered to press on “Touch to Shazam,” during a show, additional information about the programming would pop-up on your mobile device. With today’s announcement, Shazam users will be able to access complimentary content through over 160 participating television channels and its users won’t be required to own any cable or satellite television subscriptions.

A Pew Research study from its Internet and American Life Project, which we reported on earlier, is evidence to the growing demand by consumers for additional content that accompanies the television viewing experience. In fact, 52 percent of adult cellphone owners will supplement their television watching with their smartphone. 

Now for those of you that use the Shazam app used while watching television, you’ll be able to find further details about the show that you’d otherwise be forced to tediously Google. Shazam’s television integration will determine what music is playing from the show’s soundtrack, what actors and actresses appear in the program (including other shows that the actors have appeared in), and relevant links to the show’s IMDB and Wikipedia pages, and the official website. You’ll find some interactive and social features that you could access during the downtime during commercials including the latest celebrity gossip about the show and stars, trivia about the show, and a live Twitter feed where viewers can read or weigh in on what other fans are saying about the program.

And if it’s a sporting event that you’re watching, in lieu of cast information you’ll be provided stats, scores, and schedules.

“Over the last year, Shazam has been testing and learning what works by building dozens of custom interactive second-screen experiences for select television shows and events,” Shazam Chief Revenue Officer, Doug Garland, said in a statement. “We’ve applied what we’ve learned to our newly expanded service, and will continue to work closely with our network partners and show producers to build special, unique second-screen experiences for their tent-pole television events and many of the most popular shows on TV.”

Shazam’s also doing what it can to boost its own social integration, a necessity for most apps today. In the coming weeks, Shazam also make its way on your Facebook newsfeed and Timeline when your friends are tagging the shows that they’re watching.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Portland Digital eXperience: Spotify, Shazam, and the toppling of traditional music consumption

At Portland Digital eXperience, new-wave music products Spotify and Shazam defend their services against an aging industry.

Given its scheduling along side MusicfestNW, one of Portland Digital eXperience’s most anticipated keynotes was the Dave Allen-moderated discussion on the science of music discovery with Shazam and Spotify. And given that nature of the very indie-friendly music festival and Portland’s inarguably hipster, screw-the-man spirit, you can assume the discussion erred toward the tense side.

As a bit of background, Allen is a musician, formerly worked as director of Consumer Digital Audio Services for Intel, and now runs independent record label Pampelmoose. So suffice it to say he takes some issue with how the current state of mainstream music discovery and consumption is working.

Right after panel introductions – which consisted of Allen, Peter Szabo from Shazam and Jason LaCarruba from Spotify, the tough questions started — mostly targeted at Spotify.

First up, Allen had to ask Spotify where those 50 million users it told the Wall Street Journal it planned to get way back during its stateside launch. “I think we’re doing really well getting those users. We’re always trying to launch new features to do that,” LaCarruba said, mentioning the relatively new Radio feature, which he works on (and says will be getting better).  

That said, he admitted that Spotify definitely has not hit the 50M mark; it has 15 million globally, four million of which are paying customers.
Which prompted this comment from Allen: “Your valued at $4 billion. How can that be?”

Shazam, which wasn’t hit quite as hard with the “how dare you!”s, had some impressive numbers to report. The app currently has 35 million users and is adding two million a week. “It’s one of those apps when people first get a smartphone, they download,” Szabo reasoned.

Of course, Shazam has been around longer than Spotify and is a more diverse service.

Piracy and artists’ rights couldn’t go untouched, either. For all their inherent problems, one thing the streaming services — and arguably products like Shazam — bring to the table is that they fight illegal downloading. Both Szabo and LaCarruba generalized a bit here, but reasoned that by cutting down on piracy so largely, it’s paving the way for a better future for artists’ pockets.

As you can assume, Allen had a lot to say about this. Of course, he’s not the only one: Since Spotify’s launch, indie labels and artists — and even The Black Keys — have called out Spotify for hurting musician’s bottom lines. “My last check was $17. Thats not funny,” Allen told the crowd. “I make no money from streaming.”

The defense? Basically, that at least it’s progress against piracy, and that the more people who decide to pay for streaming services like Spotify, the more money will come in. That there’s fun and experimentation in this new music technology and that it’s going to find a sweet spot at some point. And to Shazam’s credit, nine percent of mobile listens lead to a purchase — so there is a proven correlation between discovery and buying there.

Allen’s response? Not good enough.

For starters, he reiterated that streaming platforms can’t honestly think of themselves as a viable way for musicians to make money — and the conversation quickly took a turn into the current generation of music discovery and curation disrupting the old. There were plenty of references about how people used to buy albums and not just singles, about vinyl, about the lost human influence of the DJ — it became fairly clear that instead of a discussion about the science of finding and listening to music, we were watching a tug-of-war between the old and the new.

Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of problems with our current state of content consumption, but I feel more comfortable placing that blame on the labels and rights holders versus outlets connecting users to music. And it’s because they don’t want to change, they want things to continue as they have been — and that’s something consumers simply won’t settle for anymore.

“My friend doesn’t have to make a mixtape and bring it to me to introduce me to new music — it’s so much more immediate,” says Szabo; to which Allen replied: “I liked the old way.”

Complaining about this “inhuman” experience is warranted, sure, but then you’re tackling a much bigger beast, and that’s the digitalization of nearly all our interactions. It’s not just music — it’s talking to people, buying food, the work office; all of these things have been transitioned thanks to technology.

Jury’s still out on how well the new music models will find compromise for users, artists, and labels; it’s a lot to attempt. And there are no shortage of imperfections along the way — but there’s simply no going backward from here.

Source : digitaltrends[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

Facebook update offers smoother, faster iOS app

Facebook's latest update to its iOS app offers a faster and smoother user experience -- one that many have been waiting for.

Facebook has answered our prayers for a less clunky app with an update release of its iOS app. The 5.0 version is available now for all iOS users.

Much of our Facebook app woes are attributed to the mobile app’s lag and response time when attempting to do just about anything, from opening a new page to scrolling down through your newsfeed. All that is in the past as Facebook has rebuilt the app from in the Objective-C programming language rather than HTML5, resulting in a shortened loading rate when performing essential tasks.

“We’ve rebuilt the app from the ground up, so now the app opens much faster and your news feed and notifications load right when you open Facebook,” wrote Mick Johnson, product manager of Facebook in a blog post announcing the update.

When we updated our Facebook app, we noticed that while the mobile pages load much faster without getting caught up on a loading screen, there’s still a slight delay of a few seconds before the newsfeed or profile page fully loads. But the response time should definitely quell many complaints, and loading time will still depend on your network.

While the app’s interface mostly remains unchanged, you’ll notice a bar at the top of the newsfeed screen which indicates the number of new stories that are pending your perusal. It’s a minor welcoming feature that you may have seen with Twitter and LinkedIn’s apps.

Among the more noticeable updates are the photos. When tapped open up immediately, photos will maximize to the full dimensions of your screen. The comments, likes, and other information are situated on the bottom of the screen, and overlap the image. You can close the photo by selecting, “Done,” or swipe down on the image.

Improvements have also been made to its Messenger app. You can send photos to friends by selecting the “plus” button next to your chat box. In the top right hand corner of a conversation page, a button with three dots will open up a page where you can customize how often you’d like to receive alerts notifiying you of a new message, create a group conversation, and locate where in the world a friend is provided they’ve enabled location sharing on Facebook.

While Facebook has struggled with its mobile strategy, the update to its iOS app will come as a relief for its users, and increase engagement with the application. It is a first look at a renewed, mobile-centric company that’s finally restructured its product development process to release updates to its mobile apps in conjunction with the desktop edition.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Samsung opens Apple-style store in Sydney, short walk from Apple store

Samsung has just opened its very first Experience retail store in Australia, though visitors may find the new shop reminds them of another one located just around the corner.

When Samsung looked around for ideas on how to design its Experience retail store, it’s not hard to work out from where it drew much of its inspiration. It’s the minimalist design, the tables showing off the latest gadgets and devices, the blue-shirted employees, the overall look and feel – and to think that in San Jose right now a nine-person jury is discussing whether Samsung is a “copyist”.

After opening its first North American Experience retail store in Vancouver last month, the Korean company has now moved into a new site in Sydney, Australia, just a short walk from – you guessed it – an Apple store.

Bedecked with smartphones and tablets – including its new Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet – as well as a wide range of accompanying accessories, the new store has a light and airy look, judging by pictures posted by the Sydney Morning Herald’s technology editor, Asher Moses.

Moses reports Samsung as claiming the store was “all its own idea,” though of course the similarities between Samsung’s new store and Apple’s equivalent aren’t lost on Moses. “Everything from the store layout to the sales staff to the products and even the packaging and promotional material is uncannily Apple-esque,” he notes.

When asked about the look of the new store and its similarity to Apple’s design, Tyler McGee, vice-president of telecommunications for Samsung Australia, conveniently failed to address the issue. “Well, if you look at our layout this is the layout that we use around the world and it’s about basically giving the consumers the opportunity to interact, learn and play with our devices,” he said.

There is one part of the Apple story that it’s safe to say the Korean tech company is out to copy, and that’s the huge success of its retail business. Last year alone, the Cupertino company’s 377 stores around the world racked up sales totaling an impressive $16 billion.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Hulu website gets new look, includes bigger artwork and improved navigation

Hulu has given its website a makeover, creating a more visually appealing experience while improving navigation of the site.

Online video service Hulu rolled out a new look for its website late Tuesday. The company said the aim was to come up with a more visually attractive site while making it easier to discover new and interesting content.

In a blog post detailing the new look, Rob Wong, Hulu’s VP of product, wrote that the site was now using “larger, more vivid artwork to feature last night’s TV episodes and new additions to Hulu.”

He continued, “We’ve also implemented a new tray-style format to make it easy for you to browse and discover content. And for logged-in users, we highlight the ‘Shows You Watch’ to make it super easy to jump directly to the shows you are already enjoying on Hulu.”

A little way down the new-look homepage you’ll be able to find the week’s most popular episodes on Hulu, together with recommendations based on your viewing history.

With ‘staff picks’, Hulu employees get the chance to suggest their favorite TV shows, movies and videos to users on the hunt for something new.

Site navigation has also been revamped. “Use the ‘Browse’ menu to easily jump to popular content, content recently added to the site, specific networks, recommendations and more from any page on Hulu,” Wong wrote in his post. An updated search box at the top of the page also enables users to move around the site more easily.

Wong called the changes to the website “just the beginning,” promising to implement more updates according to feedback and how people use the site.

The new design is being rolled out gradually over the next few days, though impatient types can check it out now by clicking here.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Disney’s ‘Physical Face Cloning’ produces the ultimate photo-realistic robots

Disney Research found a way to replicate the human face onto a robot for a more realistic robot experience.

It seems, over time, our robots are becoming more and more human-like. They can walk like humans, talk like humans, and perform tasks like humans. The one thing they haven’t really been able to successfully do, though, is look like humans. They are metal and mechanical. Achieving the human look is difficult. There are so many complexities in the human form.

If you think about it, robots probably shouldn’t look like humans. A human-like robot would certainly freak everyone out. If robots looked like us, we would constantly feel like a robopocalypse is on our horizon.

But it would be fun if we kept these human-like robots to a minimum and used them for specific things. And that’s exactly what Disney is planning on doing.

Disney Research in Zurich, Switzerland, just developed a new process of robot making that enables a physical human face to be cloned onto a robot. The process is called “Physical Face Cloning,” and it involves the scanning of a human head. Once the human head is scanned, the coordinates and expressions are recorded onto a 3D program. It uses measurements of skin elasticity and skin thickness to create a realistic mold of the face with silicon.

The robot face looks eerily accurate. Even the wrinkles and fine lines are portrayed on the robot. The robot is also capable of accurately portraying emotions like sadness, happiness, and anger.

Disney is planning on using the robots in its theme parks to add “realism to the interactive characters.” With advances in artificial intelligence, perhaps we’ll be ask the robots questions and see the robot reply with human-like emotions and expressions, like mechanical versions of Siri.

There’s no word yet on when the robots will be released, but this video demonstrates the complicated process involved in making them:

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com