YouTube turns six, sees 3 billion views per day
It's hard to believe but YouTube are celebrating their sixth birthday today and announced they receive more than 3 billion page views per day, a 50-percent increase over last year. Another impressive feat is that 48 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute, a 37-percent increase over the last six months and a 100-percent increase from last year. YouTube are congratulating the improvements to these numbers to their job of making the processing of uploads faster, increasing video length limitations, tweaking the homepage, etc.
YouTube was founded on Valentines Day (Feb 14), 2005 and by May 2005 they had launched YouTube.com. Since then the site has gone through various news headline grabbing problems, with intellectual property infringements and even after the impressive numbers, has yet to make a profit for Google since they acquired YouTube in 2006.
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Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 to ship with Android 3.1
Originally, Samsung's upcoming Galaxy Tab 10.1 was meant to ship with Android 3.0 but plans have changed. Instead of receiving the Android 3.0 and having to upgrade the Galaxy Tab 10.1 to Android 3.1 when you get it, it will now ship with Android 3.1 by default.
The Wi-Fi only version of the 10.1 will ship on June 8 in 16GB and 32GB sizes, with prices of $500 and $600 respectively. There's also an 8.9-inch version which will come in both 16GB and 32GB units, priced at $470 and $570 respectively. Samsung is quite proud of their new devices, touting them as the world's thinnest mobile tablets at just 8.6mm thick. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 weights just 595 grams while the Galaxy Tab 8.9 weighs in at 470 grams.
Both the 10.1 and 8.9-inch tablets pack quite the hardware punch, including support for HSPA+ network speeds of up to 21Mbps, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n. Also included is a 3-megapixel rear facing camera and a 2-megapixel front facing camera, providing seamless 1080p HD video. Both Tab's are powered by a 1GHz dual-core application processor and both tablets feature a 1280x800 resolution WXGA display.
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Twitter Officially Acquires TweetDeck
Twitter has officially won the race with Ubermedia to acquire TweetDeck, the third-party Twitter aggregator. I'm still curious how this is going to play out, as a 3rd-party Twitter app would undoubtedly compete with Twitter's official apps on desktop and mobile, as well as unique views of their social network- but hey, both parties seem pretty psyched about it. We'll start with Twitter's, followed by that of Iain. See the official announcements here and here.
In early 2008, a London-based programmer named Iain Dodsworth began thinking about how to organize everything happening on Twitter. His answer was TweetDeck, a groundbreaking dashboard for monitoring what people are saying in real-time. Today, we're pleased to announce that the TweetDeck team has joined Twitter.This acquisition is an important step forward for us. TweetDeck provides brands, publishers, marketers and others with a powerful platform to track all the real-time conversations they care about. In order to support this important constituency, we will continue to invest in the TweetDeck that users know and love.TweetDeck is a great example of a third-party developer that designed tools for the incredibly important audience of Twitter power-users and, in turn, created value for the network as a whole. As Iain's journey suggests, there is significant opportunity for developers who deliver insights that foster a more engaged Twitter user base. For TweetDeck's perspective on today's news, check out their blog here.
Now from Tweetdeck:
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Microsoft Unveils App Marketplace For Mango
Not entirely sure why Microsoft didn't announce this when they announced Mango, but hey, today it's confirmed: Microsoft Mango will have a Windows Phone Marketplace, just like Apple or Android.
Once again, I don't know what it is with tech firms and naming their operating systems after edible items, but the Mango update should bring a lot of new features and functionality to what has been a fairly silent contender in the mobile front. Check out the press release below for more info.
Yesterday at events all around the world, Microsoft unveiled the key features of the next version of Windows Phone, code named Mango. The demonstrations focused on Mango's ability to make it easier to connect and share with friends and family, take the Web beyond the browser and what we think is a smarter approach to apps. Matt Bencke blogged about the new beta developer tools for Mango and announced that we'd be adding a Web-based Windows Phone Marketplace with Mango. As promised, I'm providing some more detail. Also, if you're interested in taking a closer look at some of the new Mango features from a developer perspective, check out the new Channel 9 videos we're posting today featuring Andrew Clinick discussing the application platform, Ian Todd on communications and Jared Brown talking Search.
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More Sony hacking news, why aren't these hackers using their powers for good?
This is something I just don't understand, these hackers are targeting Sony - for whatever reason I don't care, that is not my business and I'm not employed by Sony. But, another hack has just happened and it appears Sony BMG Greece was hacked on Sunday using an SQL injection attack and lost more than 8000 customer records. LulzSecurity, known for hacking fox.com's login database are responsible and it seems that Sony just aren't really caring about the amount of attacks happening to them.
Now the question is, what are Sony doing? The message is clear, customers can't trust Sony anymore. Sophos Security researcher Chester Wisniewski wrote about the Greece intrusion, saying:
Sophos Security researcher Chester Wisniewski , who yesterday took a gentler tone when covering the Greece intrusion, this time firmly admonished Sony, writing:
Telstra to throttle mobile users after quota exceeded, all data plans are now virtually unlimited
Telstra has done it again, not only have they recently reduced pricing and increased value in their plans but they have now revealed plans to start throttling data speeds on customers mobile phones when they exceed their included monthly data allowance. This move is to avoid the "bill shock" phenomenon when customers go over their data allowance and receive a massive bill at the end of the month.
This move is not something new for the fixed-broadband world, with caps allowing x amount of GB and when exceeded, receive speed throttles to 64Kbps for example, the same speed as a dial-up connection. Telstra finance chief John Stanhope said that customers deserve to be able to enjoy the full capabilities of their Telstra mobiles on plans without fear of a large, unexpected bill.
By slowing data speeds once a customer has exceeded their data allowance, and not charging for the extra data, customers stay connected without fear of a hit to the hip-pocket.
Duke Nukem Forever Will Actually Ship June 14th
No, really. After 15 years of "development", we're finally going to get to see the title that everybody- well, by now, probably at least some people are waiting for. Gearbox Software and 2K reportedly confirmed that the development of the game was at long last completed. The game is set to ship internationally on June 10th, domestically on June 14 for PC, XBox 360 and PS3. Players that buy the Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition and/or pre-order the game itself will we treated to a special demo on June 3rd.
Christoph Hartmann, president of 2K Games, told IGN:
Duke Nukem Forever is the game that was once thought to be unshippable, and yet here we are, on the precipice of history. Today marks an amazing day in the annals of gaming lore, the day where the legend of Duke Nukem Forever is finally complete and it takes that final step towards becoming a reality.
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Dell unleashes new XPS 15z
Dell have finally released their aimed-at-the-Apple-MacBook-Pro notebook in the form of the Dell XPS 15z, a 15-inch, powerhouse of a system that looks virtually identical to the stylish-yet-expensive MacBook Pro. Dell's XPS 15z starts at a decent $999 and can be ordered today. The XPS 15z features both Core i5 and Core i7 options from the second-generation Core architecture, weighs in at 5.54 pounds and is under an inch thick.
Dell is making claims that it is the thinnest 15-inch PC on the market (key word there being PC). Display options come in the form of 1366x768 standard or the option of upgrading to a 1920x1080 screen. The XPS 15z can be optioned with 8GB of RAM and features the Intel HM67 chipset. Two GPUs are on the block here, the GeForce GT 525M with Optimus technology including 1GB of RAM. For those who want some oomph in gaming performance, the same GPU is offered but with 2GB of RAM.
Battery wise, we have an 8-cell, 64WHr polymer battery. Finishing off the notebook we have a plethora of details, a 1.3MP HD resolution webcam with digital array mic for video chat and recording, Wi-Fi in the form of the standard a/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0 and Intel Wireless Display tech. HDMI 1.4, mini DisplayPort, Gigabit Ethernet, three USB3.0 ports and an eSATA port. Finally, a 9-in-1 memory card reader and a great looking chiclet keyboard which is backlit and spill resistant. The trackpad also supports multi-touch with gestures.
GDC Online 2011 Advisory Board Full Of Pros
Seems like we're all just talking about conferences lately. The online version of the annual San Francisco Game Developer's Conference will occur in Austin, TX this fall, and will feature some pretty heavy hitters organizing it, including reps from Zynga, PopCap and even Blizzard that will be orchestrating all of the fun and, especially, games going on at the conference.
The conference will once again be in Austin, TX, from Oct 10-13, in the Austin Convention Center. More information at the GDC online website, and be sure to check out the press release below about some of the developers and luminaries advising and speaking this year.
SAN FRANCISCO - UBM TechWeb Game Network, organizers of the Game Developers Conference Online (GDC Online) are revealing the latest game industry leaders from the worlds of social and connected gaming to serve on both the Main Conference and Summit-specific advisory boards for the conference this year.
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EA To Broadcast E3 Press Conference On Spike TV
Electronic Arts announced today that they will be broadcasting their press conference, live from, ah, Spike TV of all places. You all remember Spike TV, right? It used to be called TNN and only showed reruns and the Grand Ol' Opry? And then it turned into something resembling a bastard child of the NASCAR channel and G4? Yeah, well, that's where EA's press conference is going to be, June 6th, 12:30PM PDT.
EA has already stated they're going to be showing a new Battlefield 3 Demo, gameplay from Mass Effect 3 (sick!) and "news on unannounced projects." So if you have American cable, tune your Tivo to Spike- otherwise...well, I'm sorry you don't have Spike TV?
Also, kids: please don't confuse Spike TV with the Spice Channel (not a food network).
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