The nominees for this year’s Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards–effectively the comics business’s Oscar’s–were announced Thursday night. (The actual award winners will be announced at this July’s Comic-Con International in San Diego.) Half the point of making a short-list of award nominees, of course, is to get people to argue about …
Apps & Web
YouTube Launches Live Streaming Content
It’s official: No longer will YouTube be the place you pore over pop videos resurrected from your wild-eyed youth, or scan viral videos of hilarious/adorable animals doing things that may or may not be hilarious or adorable. As of today, the site’s going real time, adding a new page focused on live streams:
Today we’re announcing the
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Pandora Android App Secretly Transmits Sensitive Data To Ad Companies
If you use Pandora’s Android app, beware: Pandora’s channeling your personal info to third party advertisers, including your birthdate, gender, Android ID, and GPS information.
Evidence for this first appeared in the Wall Street Journal earlier this week, which reported that the company was one of many smartphone app manufacturers …
Four Star Sperm Bank! (And Other Oddities Reviewed on Yelp.)
Yelp, the popular user-generated ratings site for local businesses, just added “sex clubs” to its growing list of categories. Pretty odd, right? Well, not so much. We tracked down a few of the even odder items reviewed on Yelp, including puzzlers such as a highly-esteemed sperm bank, an evening spent in jail, and (for one Texas town) a …
TWC, Viacom File Lawsuits Against Each Other Over iPad App
The ongoing fight between Time Warner Cable and Viacom over whether the former has the right to include Viacom channels on their iPad app is getting more serious…and more litigious. TWC has filed a request that a New York District Court rule its existing carriage agreement with Viacom allows it to stream Viacom’s channels on the …
The Facebook Fulcrum: Google’s 2011 Bonuses Hinge on ‘Social’
It’s the end of Google co-founder Larry Page’s first week back at the helm as company CEO, and it appears the game plan is still looking aggressive.
In a memo apparently sent out to Google employees, everyone’s 2011 bonus will grow or shrink based on how well the company does with its social efforts. Let’s just call this the Facebook …
Two Minute Video: Acer’s Dual Screen, No Keyboard Laptop
The $1,300 Acer Iconia laptop is certainly unique. The machine features two 14-inch touchscreens instead of the tried and true screen-and-keyboard combination, while retaining the same form factor as a standard laptop.
The bottom touchscreen is home to the Acer Ring, which is activated by touching all five fingers to the glass. …
Media-Addicted Students Struggle Through a Day Without Facebook
We’re addicted to media and technology. News at 11.
What’s unnerving, and a touch depressing, is what we say about it when we’re forced to disconnect, even if it’s only for 24 hours.
In a global science study headed by the International Center for Media & the Public Agenda and the University of Maryland, students in nine countries …
Yelp Reviews Sex Clubs? You Got It
In case you didn’t get the memo, Yelp has expanded — to sex clubs. First, there was the quest to find that ultimate hipster spot (if they hadn’t already deemed it too “mainstream”), but now it’s off to what happens in the dark, naughty crevices of the night.
It’s a little shady, clandestine, and above all else in the …
Official LinkedIn App Finally Hits Android Handsets
Android users can celebrate with another victory. After a long-awaited wait, the LinkedIn app has finally become available for the Android Marketplace. Now it’s possible to schmooze and network on the go.
Although the beta app launched back in December, the functionality was limited to very few features. Thankfully, the official …
The Comic Book Club: Nonplayer and Fear Itself
This is what happens when Techland goes to the comic book store: we end up discussing what we picked up. This week, Evan Narcisse, Douglas Wolk, Matt Peckham and Graeme McMillan talk about the debut issues of Nonplayer and Marvel’s crossover event Fear Itself.
GRAEME: So here’s how I described Fear Itself #1 to a friend this morning: …
We Can Now Talk to Computers with Our Minds
Using techniques usually reserved for identifying epilepsy in patients, a team of scientists at Washington University were able to successfully have subjects move computer cursors using nothing but their thoughts.
To make it work, the scientists first utilized a temporary surgical implant attached to regions of the brain that pertain …