It seems it’s not just high school and college students and budding entrepreneurs getting in on the social networking thing. No, the CIA, FBI and Secret Service, along with other government agencies will soon have access to A-Space–a sort of classified MySpace/Facebook site.
Dash, makers of the Dash Express GPS unit, recently opened up their API so that developers could create applications taking advantage of the device’s GPS and cellular network connection. One of the newest additions to the Dash software catalogue has been Dave Zatz’s Twitter app, which not only allows you to download the latest 20 posts from your friends’ but to auto-compose messages containing anything from personal text and your address, street, city, state, latitude or longitude, to links to Yahoo! or Google mapping.
Check out the videos of the Dash Express Twitter app after the cut
Well, first off the parental controls that everyone threw a fit about not to long ago. Then add to that the Xbox originals and social networking features.
Are you unable to secure dates or friends on your own? Can you not trust your human friends to help your out? Why not turn to man’s best friend?
The SNIF Tag System tracks your pet’s whereabouts and stores information not only about your pet but you as well. After that all you need do is take your pet for a walk. When they come in contact with another SNIF (Social Networking In Fur) member it uploads the information to the site so you can get in touch with the owners and become as close as your animals.
This nifty little digital camcorder has an amazingly small size and a form factor perfect for holding in your hand. It’s so small in fact, that it’s the world’s smallest 720p HD movie camera. The geniuses at Sanyo even threw in a quick standby mode that allows the camera to go from standby to filming in 1.3 seconds.
You can take pictures and record movies with this multi-colored camera. Both video and still images get stored on either an SD or SDHC card. Like I said, it will do 720p video or you can shoot stills at 7.1MP.
So for our useless gadget of the day award, we have the Panasonic Pixi. Basically what this thing does is act as a sleeve for a cell phone and then provides some half-retarded interface for using the cell phone’s camera, screen, and internet connection.
It is intended to be used with Mixi, which is apparently the Japanese equivalent of MySpace. I assume there is only one phone that it is intended to be used with as well since there is only a single hole for the camera, a single hole for the screen, and an integrated dock of some sort within the device. Last I checked all three of those things rarely (if ever) matched up on more than one model of phone.
M:Metrics just did a study to see how many people were using their cell phones to view social networking sites. The numbers were admittedly low, but in context I was surprised.
I personally have tried accessing MySpace and YouTube both on a couple of basic phones, and it just don’t work, like someone starting a daycare and don’t like kids. So I would assume that if they did their study and eliminated the phones that were incapable of accessing such sites, and then further eliminated phones that were on networks that were unable to access the sites, the percentages at least would probably come out different.
Apparently social networking site Facebook, made popular by college students everywhere, has went and made some sort of iPhone portal. Vincent has been trying it out and has come away very impressed – even to the point where he’s considering using Facebook just to enjoy the app!
They accomplished this splendid performance/appearance combo by using JavaScript to avoid page refreshes. Other than that it’s basically just moving some things around, like for instance, the navigational buttons, they are now located at the top and appear, from the picture, to be scaled for the iPhone. Then there is the option to click on anyone and have their profile, wall, or photos show up.
So you’re out there in the real world (scary isn’t it) trying to find that special someone, but you can’t ever seem to find the courage to chat up a total stranger. Now, imagine that you had a monkey that could help you break the ice. No, not a real monkey, but more of a robot monkey. Echo Robotics is hoping that this is exactly what you’ve been waiting for.
Essentially what the Echo Robot does is store personal information about you that can be exchanged with other Echo Robots to determine if you’re a good match for each other. The monkey (or any number of different animals) then informs you through a series of movements that the other person may in fact be someone you’d want to get to know.
Perhaps I’m too old to be shocked, but Amber’s revelation over at Shiny Shiny that she used to attend Traffic Light Parties while at university has stunned me to the core. Amber, you minx! I dare not ask what colour sticker you wore, although perhaps your name gives it away… Anyway, these days you’re apparently nobody in the A-List celebrity world if you’re not sporting a Swedish Singelringen; yes, this simple hoop of tinted acrylic and silver broadcasts to the world that you’re single and perhaps even looking.
With every ring having its own serial number, linked to an online profile page, you can publicise yourself and your love of the single life/”availability” and arrange sordid assignations. There are supposedly already 30,000 wearers spread across 17 countries, and it’s growing by around 5,000 a month. For all the talk of “broadcasting your singledom”, however, there’s no real tech involved; it would’ve been good to see some sort of wireless profile number swapping going on. Oh well. Entry to this pseudo-exclusive club runs to £29.95 ($59).
Singelringen [via Shiny Shiny]
SlashGear Japan
