Posts tagged Looks
64 Billion Plays: What Online Music Looks Like Today (Infographic)
Jan 20th
In 2011, we collectively listened to 64,876,491,602 songs on the Internet. Whether it was on YouTube, SoundCloud, Rdio or MySpace, the citizens of the Web listened to quite a lot of music last year. Bands and musicians made over 3 billion new fans, who viewed artist profiles over 16 billion times. These are just a few data points recently released by Next Big Sound, a startup that tracks the popularity of music and individual artists across a range of digital music providers and social services.
Digital music only continues to grow and mature, as streaming services explode, Internet radio companies go public and developers begin using the power of open APIs to mash up sounds and services. SoundCloud alone saw 231% growth last year, while Twitter saw a 104% increase in music-related activity.
Sponsor
The top artists on the Web are mostly unsurprising. You knew that people can’t get enough Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber, for better or worse. Rihanna. Katy Perry. Adele. No shockers there.
What’s interesting, though, is how the Web is paving the way for unsigned, independent artists to reach levels of popularity that rival major label acts. This is especially true on SoundCloud, where unsigned artists flock to upload their recordings. But even across the larger Web, three unsigned artists broke into Next Big Sound’s “Social 50″ list, which chronicles, the 50 biggest artists across all of the social and music sites that they track.
These numbers, while impressive, should be taken with a grain of salt. Next Big Sound has gone to great lengths to pull data from sources like YouTube, Rdio, Last.fm, Pandora, SoundCloud and several others. One service missing from their list is Spotify, which just launched in the U.S. this past summer and has seen enormous growth since then. Still, it looks like they’re using a pretty hefty sample of online music data to draw their conclusions. You can take a closer look at their methodology. if you’re curious.
View full post on ReadWriteWeb
Stop SOPA: What A Blacked Out Internet Looks Like
Jan 18th
The Internet is fighting back.
Today, hundreds of websites including some of the largest and most influential sites in the world are going black to fight the Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect IP Act. The two acts would give unprecedented power to the government of the United States to order blocking and takedown notices of foreign websites found to be infringing on copyrighted material such as movies and music. The drumbeat is loud and most of the U.S. technology industry has come out against SOPA/PIPA.
Today’s blackout is akin to a “sit-in” protest. It is extreme but non-violent or threatening and once the point is made the players will move on to other forms of protest. Google has blacked out its logo on its homepage, Wikipedia is denying (top picture) access to entries and Reddit is giving facts about SOPA and what you can do to stop it. What does a blacked out Internet look like? Take a look at the screenshot below.
Sponsor
Google’s top lawyer, David Drummond, explains why the search giant is censoring its homepage and logo in a blog post on the company’s official blog.
Fighting online piracy is extremely important. We are investing a lot of time and money in that fight. Last year alone we acted on copyright takedown notices for more than 5 million webpages and invested more than $60 million in the fight against ads appearing on bad sites. And we think there is more that can be done here–like targeted and focused steps to cut off the money supply to foreign pirate sites. If you cut off the money flow, you cut the incentive to steal.
Because we think there’s a good way forward that doesn’t cause collateral damage to the web, we’re joining Wikipedia, Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit, Mozilla and other Internet companies in speaking out against SOPA and PIPA. And we’re asking you to sign a petition and join the millions who have already reached out to Congress through phone calls, letters and petitions asking them to rethink SOPA and PIPA.
The community at Reddit has been the driving force behind choosing Jan. 18, 2012 as the day to black out the Internet. The initiative has been a success, dragging many of the top sites on the Web into the protest. Reddit has one of the most informative blackout pages with FAQ, video and calls to action.
Craig’s List
The original Web classifieds section has joined the protest with a link to an “About SOPA” page that helps educate users and gives easy action items for sending a letter to your Congressperson.
WordPress
The popular WordPress homepage that would normally show the top trending sites within the company’s domain shows a series of would-be websites that have been censored. When clicking on those sites, users are brought to this page urging users to write Congress top stop SOPA/PIPA.
Mozilla
The open source organization and makers of the Firefox browser urge users to “protect the Internet.” The site features a prominent “take action now” button and gives reasons as to why Mozilla opposes SOPA/PIPA.
MoveOn.Org
Political activists MoveOn have joined the fray. Its blackout is being paid for by its political action committee and is not endorsed by any party or candidate.
Media Organizations
Of prominent media members and pundits, few have been as influential or outspoken as Tim O’Reilly, founder of O’Reilly Media. He has written multiple times over the last week about how SOPA/PIPA are dangerous bills and why he opposes them. While many news sites have not taken the extreme measure of actually shutting down today (ReadWriteWeb included), O’Reilly has blacked out his entire site to protest SOPA.
TechCrunch has edited its masthead to oppose censorship and help educate people on SOPA.
We at ReadWriteWeb are not blacking out today. We feel the community is better served if we report on the activity around the SOPA/PIPA protests and educate our readers about the bills. See our SOPA 2012 topic page for more information.
View full post on ReadWriteWeb
SNSD’s Seo Hyun and Lee Yun Hee Same Coats, Different Looks – KpopStarz
Dec 28th
 KpopStarz |
SNSD's Seo Hyun and Lee Yun Hee Same Coats, Different Looks
KpopStarz by KpopStarz Reporter Lee Yun Hee, who is gaining big popularity for innocent image, and SNSD's Seo Hyun are wearing same coats, but having different appeals. The Camel Cape that Seo Hyun was wearing in the JTBC 'SNSD and Dangerous Boys' is becoming a … |
View full post on SEO – Google News
If It Looks Like Google Sitelinks Have Expanded, It’s Just Your Imagination
Dec 19th
Despite what you may see in Google’s search results these days, the search engine tells us that, no, there’s been no expansion of Sitelinks recently. We’ve received emails here at Search Engine Land HQ and seen tweets asking about the appearance of Sitelinks on sub-pages that…
Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
View full post on Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
YouTube Looks To Educate With YouTube For Schools – ReelSEO Online Video News
Dec 13th
 India Today |
YouTube Looks To Educate With YouTube For Schools
ReelSEO Online Video News The following is an index of our more popular video search engine optimization (Video SEO, VSEO,… Many of us here at ReelSEO are still settling back into our routines following the awesome SMX West… We had the privilege of speaking with Bruce Clay … Revive and Leverage Ad Space With Buy Real YouTube Views YouTube Redesign Calls for Video Search Engine Optimization Services |
View full post on SEO – Google News
Facebook’s Updated Android App Looks a Lot Like its iPad App
Dec 7th
Today Facebook announced that it is launching an update to its Android app that it is “two times faster than previous Android apps.” This update looks a lot like the Facebook iPad app, all the way down to the Nearby option, which was previously called Places and, previous to that, Check-In. Messages and notifications start at the top of the screen, which should make navigation around the app much simpler. The menu is now located on the left-hand side of the app. Users don’t have to switch back-and-forth from the Home screen just to see events, news feed and messages and other features. Now everything is located in one space.
Slowly but surely, the world’s biggest social network is beginning to converge its platform UIs. The big question is, will users like the new UI?
Sponsor
Historically, Facebook has been slow to update its Android apps. When Facebook finally does update the apps, it packs in a lot.
Zuckerberg has gone on the record as admitting that Facebook’s Android apps have always “been a little behind”. The update will be available for download soon in the Android Market. With the shift toward HTML5 and the convergence of platform UIs, this seems likely to change.
Speaking of Android, the long-rumored Facebook phone will run a modified version of Android. It is slated to launch sometime in the next 12-18 months.
What do you think of the Facebook user interface? Tell us in the comments.
View full post on ReadWriteWeb
Seo In Young looks dazed & confused upon arrival in Singapore – allkpop
Nov 28th
 allkpop |
Seo In Young looks dazed & confused upon arrival in Singapore
allkpop by leesa86 – 15 mins ago On November 28th, singer Seo In Young posted a hilarious photo of herself dazed in the Singapore airport. In the caption, he exclaimed, “Singapore! I'm here at MAMA! A very confused me at the airport“, and shared the photos … |
View full post on SEO – Google News
Vevo Looks For New Ad Deal With YouTube – ReelSEO Online Video News
Nov 24th
 ReelSEO Online Video News |
Vevo Looks For New Ad Deal With YouTube
ReelSEO Online Video News The following is an index of our more popular video search engine optimization (Video SEO, VSEO,… Many of us here at ReelSEO are still settling back into our routines following the awesome SMX West… We had the privilege of speaking with Bruce Clay … |
View full post on SEO – Google News
Draft W3C Standard Looks More Like ‘Please, Do Not Track’
Nov 18th
Last December, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission called upon leaders in the Web browser industry to develop technological means to enable servers to comply with federal guidelines – which are likely to become laws – mandating that they refrain from implementing any kind of behavioral tracking for individuals who explicitly opt out of all tracking. Although lawmakers two years ago envisioned a system where each server asks each user for her explicit permission, the preferable alternative would be for a user who simply never wishes to be tracked, to never be asked.
The challenge for the industry is to implement such a provision on HTTP, a stateless transfer protocol. For a server to keep track of whom it’s not supposed to keep track of, it might be best to have a tracking system. But that may end up being illegal, so W3C is instead considering a kind of handshaking protocol.
Sponsor
The second working drafts of W3C’s Tracking Preference Expression protocol and Tracking Compliance and Scope protocols, published Monday, are in large measure placeholders for a myriad of issues that have just now been discovered, let alone needing to be resolved. It’s clear at this early stage that very little has been decided, but participants in the discussion are moving forward with the following basic principles: A new field expressing the user’s desire not to be tracked, should be added to the HTTP header. This way, a server sees the user’s wishes and settings prior to making any kind of response.
But from there, the option is being opened for the server to issue challenges in response. For example, would the user consent to tracking if the data was being kept only by the originating server, instead of sending it to a third party tracking service? Perhaps the user doesn’t know which service that is, so the server may respond with a link to a policy document on its Web site explaining the legal relationships between itself and its ad partners. From there, the user may be able to grant an exception – to say, “In this case, I’ll trust you” – or to continue her resistance to being tracked.
But the door is being left open for the server to respond with an exception of its own. Technically, it’s a way for the server to enter into a bargain with the client (user) which says, “Either you let my service track your behavior or I won’t let you in.” Yet one of those placeholders in this week’s version of the W3C document leaves the door open even further, with this question with response to the Tracking Response Header Field: “Does it indicate when a site believes it has an exemption from DNT, such that the user can react appropriately if it isn’t true?… The header could say I see that you say DNT, but I am tracking you for the following reasons.”
Again, nothing has actually been standardized at this point. But what’s being actively considered is actively engaging the user in the protocol delivery and exchange process – something beyond the simple binary state that some engineers started with.
Presently, some Web users are able to opt out of some tracking methods by virtue of browser plug-ins, which produce cookies using a de facto standard format that many servers will read, and some will pay attention to. There isn’t any law or rule that says how tracking opt-out cookies must be observed by servers. But that isn’t the biggest problem with the current system, says a Carnegie Mellon report on the relative viability of the current slate of plug-ins, released last month entitled “Why Johnny Can’t Opt Out” (PDF available here). As Pedro G. Leon and his fellow researchers wrote, users have trouble with current opt-out tools because they don’t understand what all this bargaining between server and user is supposed to be about.
“Many of the tools we tested provide insufficient feedback to users,” the report reads. “Participants were unsure of what it meant to be opted out and how they could tell whether opt-out was working. Participants who tested the browser cookie settings also had no mechanism for understanding what was happening behind the scenes unless Web sites didn’t work. DNT mechanisms also provided no feedback; however, there is currently no way for tools to confirm that DNT preferences are being honored. While AdBlock Plus did not provide explicit feedback, users noticed the absence of all ads on pages they visited and inferred that the tool was effective. In contrast, Ghostery and TACO users received notifications on every Web site visited about which companies were attempting to track them and whether trackers had been blocked. Users appreciated this feedback and gained an understanding of what the tool was doing.”
If Web standards bodies manage only to recreate the same scenario users are faced with today, there’s a danger that they’ll just leave their browsers in the default state – in which case, DNT could end up being mostly meaningless.
View full post on ReadWriteWeb
Yahoo’s Livestand Looks Really Nice, But It’s No Flipboard Killer
Nov 4th
Yahoo is getting super-serious about the role tablets will play in its future content strategy. On Tuesday, they launched IntoNow, an impressive social TV app for the iPad that marries the check-in functionality of GetGlue with the real-time content identification of Shazam. The next day, the company pushed out LiveStand, another iPad app, this one in the tradition of personalized news reading apps like Flipboard, Zite and AOL’s Editions.
The app, which comes in advance of Google’s own rumored offering, is pretty well-designed. It has less content sources than many existing players, but what it does have is formatted very nicely.
Sponsor
One of the first things you’ll notice about Livestand is that it’s built to support multiple users. For families who share an iPad or other tablet, that feature will be appreciated. An app that displays personalized content is only really useful to its original user, and lots of families share tablets. The feature won’t be necessary for everyone, but it’s nice to know it’s there.
Pretty Layouts, But Limited Content to Fill Them
Rather than being a direct copy of the much beloved Flipboard, Livestand crosses that popular app with something more like AOL’s Editions. It’s a personalized content app, but it doesn’t pull content from your friends on Twitter and Facebook, nor does it let you plug in any old RSS feed your heart could ever desire. Instead, Yahoo has launched with a list of content partners, whose articles and blog posts are formatted in an attractive, magazine-style layout. From that list, which is anchored heavily by Yahoo’s own content properties, you can pick and choose sources that suit your fancy.
In putting it through its paces, we noticed a few minor areas that could use improvement. In some cases, the app only loads the first image in a given post. That’s unfortunate, because additional artwork could help make the lovely article detail pages look even lovelier. It’s downright unhelpful when the post we’re trying to read contains an infographic.
We hesitate to be too harsh, though. The thing did just launch yesterday, and on the whole it’s pretty solid.
For users who don’t necessarily want to trick their news-reading app out with any content source imaginable, Livestand is a worthwhile product. Users who are already happily settled in to an app like Flipboard, Zite or Pulse are probably going to stay there.
View full post on ReadWriteWeb
