Author: Josh Wolford

Back in September of 2012, Google released an app called Field Trip for Android. The app, a creation of Google’s Niantic Labs, was billed as “your guide to the cool, hidden, and unique things in the world around you.”

Today, Google has finally launched an iOS version.

Field Trip runs in the background of your phone, and it only makes itself known when you are near something interesting. Field Trip uses your location to trigger popup info cards on various places including landmarks, historical places, food, art, and more.

“The hyperlocal history experts of Arcadia and Historvius will unveil local lore in places you never expected. Trend-setting publications like Thrillist, Food Network, Zagat, and Run Riot will point out the best places to eat and drink. Experts at Sunset, Cool Hunting, WeHeart, Inhabitat, and Remodelista will guide you to the latest unique stores and products. Atlas Obscura and Daily Secret help you uncover hidden gems no matter where you are. Songkick and Flavorpill guide you to local music,” says Google.

Here’s the full feature list:

• Discover thousands of interesting places/experiences that fall under the following categories: Architecture, Historic Places & Events, Lifestyle, Offers & Deals, Food Drinks & Fun, Movie Locations, Outdoor Art and Obscure Places of Interest around you.
• Choose from three different modes to set frequency of Field Trip notifications. See “Field Trip” worthy places around you on a map, by tapping on cards in map view to pull up enthralling points of interest around you.
• Go on a Field Trip while you drive. Field Trip can detect when you’re driving and automatically “talk” about interesting places and experience around you.
• Came across an amazing story or restaurant? Mark it as a favorite to easily come back to it at any point.
• Capture the memory of a special place, by sharing a wondrous discovery through email and social networks such as Google+, Twitter and Facebook.
• Wondering where the gem that you recently discovered is? Find your discovered field trip cards in the “recent’ section.

You can grab Field Trip for iOS today.

As you may have heard, big changes are coming to your Facebook news feed. At an event today in Menlo Park, Mark Zuckerberg and crew unveiled the new news feed, which they describe as a closer step towards a “personalized newspaper.”

Old metaphors aside, Facebook’s new news feed is a big improvement, at least visually. It’s also shaping up to be a total timesuck (in a good way), but we’ll have to play around with it a little more to make that determination.

So you want it, right? Well, you can’t have it. Not yet. But you can put yourself on a waiting list and maybe get it faster than your friends.

Simply head on over to facebook.com/about/newsfeed, scroll all the way to the bottom, and click the big, green button that says to join the waiting list.

And there you go, you’re on the list!

And now you play the waiting game. Facebook says that this rollout will be slow and deliberate so that they can make sure that it’s all optimal when it finally goes live to everyone. This shouldn’t surprise anyone, as Facebook did the same thing with Graph Search earlier this year.

Facebook’s new news feed features large visuals with more impact across all fronts – friends’ photo uploads, albums, maps, news articles, and yes, ads. It also features content-specific feeds so you can sort what you see by categories like photos, games, music, and “all friends.” The new design is more fluid across all devices – both mobile and web, with the two borrowing elements from each other.

Today, at Facebook’s big new news feed event, Facebook unveiled a brand new news feed. And it’s all about photos and other visuals that makes for a much more media-rich experience.

“Our mission is to make the world more open and connected,” said CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and the “news feed is one of the most important services that we build.”

“Our goal…is give everyone in the world the best personalized newspaper.” Zuckerberg went on to say that it it should have a “broad diversity of content,” both globally and locally, and it should be “visually rich and engaging.”

Facebook says that the news feed is almost 50% photos and other visual content. And page posts is nearly 25%. “News feed needs to reflect this evolving face,” said Zuckerberg

First off, Facebook is putting photos front and center on the news feed. Albums also get a facelift, with better placement.

Articles posted in the news feed also sport bigger photos, more text description, and organizational logos that show you where the article is coming from.

Timeline snippets now appear inside the news feed when people friend someone or when people like pages.

Places snippets, as well.

Also, more prominence for third-party content like Pinterest. It’s also more photo-oriented.

When friends share a video, it’s now shown much bigger in the news feed. Friends who have shared it appear on the left, complete with profile photos. You can hover over these friends to find out more information.

“We’ve completely rebuilt each story to be much more vibrant and colorful and highlight the content that your friends are sharing. Photos, news articles, maps and events all look brighter and more beautiful,” says Facebook.

Like we expected, Facebook also unveiled new content-specific feeds: All Friends, Photos, Music, and Following (which will show you all the content from the pages you like and the people you “follow”).

The new desktop news feed experience will be very close to what you’ll get on mobile.

“With the new design, now Facebook has the same look and feel on mobile, tablet and web. For example, the left-hand menu is accessible anywhere you go on Facebook. You also have a way to jump right to the top of News Feed whenever new stories come in,” says Facebook.

So, Facebook wants a consistent experience and have borrowed elements from mobile to implement on desktop and vice versa.

The new news feed (desktop version) will begin to roll out slowly starting today.

Developing…

Ever wondered whether AC or DC hurts more? Thankfully, this guy decided to do the legwork so you don’t have to. Unless you really want to – but I can’t condone that. Ok, fine. Go lick a battery you masochist. That’s all I can suggest.

[Mehdi Sadaghdar]

A patent application from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg suggests that he, at some point, at least toyed with the idea of introducing a “paid profile” model that would allow users to customize what shows up on their profiles and, more importantly, get rids of ads.

The patent, US20130030987 A1, doesn’t actually mention “Facebook” in particular – instead goes with less-specific terms like “social networking environment.” But it was definitely filed by CEO Mark Zuckerberg, along with Facebook ads product director Gokul Rajaram and former Facebook product management director Prashant Fuloria.

The patent abstract cuts to the chase:

In one embodiment, a system includes one or more computing systems that implement a social networking environment and are operable to provide paid profile personalization functions to users. In particular embodiments, the user may select one or more social networking objects to replace advertisements or other elements that are normally displayed to visitors of the user’s profile page that are otherwise controlled by the social networking system. In particular embodiments, the user may edit elements on their profile page that are otherwise automatically generated and controlled in design and content by the social networking system. In particular embodiments, the user is billed on a recurring basis for profile personalization.

Key words: Billed, replace ads, edit elements.

The ad replacement model would see them replaced with popular photos or videos or the user’s choosing. The profile customization could come in this form (straight from the application):

“For example, after receiving a large number of comments or “likes” on a particular status message, the user may receive a dialog box prompting the user with the text: ‘Would you like to personalize your profile with this status message for 10 credits a month?’”

Notice the mockup below, that features “favorite memories” and videos on the right-hand side instead of ads:

A patent application doesn’t connote intent. There’s no reason to think that some sort of profile subscription offering is on the way any time soon. The patent, which was just published on January 31st of this year, was actually filed way back in July of 2011. That’s why all of the mockups feature a profile that looks severely outdated.

Having said this, the patent is there and it is clear about what it could do.

Despite what plenty of hoaxes have told you, Facebook will continue to be free. You’ll never have to pay a subscription fee to access the core service, or pay a fee to keep information private. But charging for customized profiles, or to get rid of those pesky ads? That is most certainly a possibility. Would you do it?

[h/t GigaOm]

On Wednesday (and into early Thursday), Kentucky Junior Senator Rand Paul led a 13-hour filibuster – the old-fashioned “talk until you can’t talk anymore” type. Paul, aided by a handful of other Senators, used exactly 12 hours and 52 minutes to delay the confirmation of John Brennan as CIA head. Paul stated that the filibuster was in response to the government’s drone program, specifically a clause that may allow the use of drones on American citizens on American soil.

And he live-tweeted the whole thing.

This, combined with the bevy of news coverage, led Rand Paul to gain an incredible amount of Twitter followers.

But just how many followers has he gained since yesterday? Over 40,000, actually.

TwitterCounter showed just over 96,000 followers for Senator Paul on Wednesday before the epic filibuster began. And as of the writing of this article, Paul has just over 140,000.

If you want to raise your influence on social media, it appears that a two-day filibuster isn’t a bad idea.

Thank you to my colleagues in the House & Senate, and to all the Americans who stood w/ me tonight in support of preserving civil liberties.

— Senator Rand Paul (@SenRandPaul) March 7, 2013

Today, at 10am PST, Facebook will kick off an event at their Menlo Park HQ. At the event, Facebook says that they will unveil “a new look for the news feed.” You can watch it live below.

Reports indicate that Facebook plans to debut content-specific news feeds that let users sort by photos, music, and maybe more. Facebook is also expected to put bigger images, including ads, in the new news feed.

The first YouTube mashup that successfully and hilariously reframed a classic film/TV show to fit a different style that I remember seeing was called “Shining,” and it used clever editing and a certain Peter Gabriel song to make the classic horror film look like a family comedy.

Ever since, I’ve loved this sort of thing. With the right music and editing, you can transform any piece of media into something completely different.

Take for instance this new trailer for Breaking Bad that re-imagines it as a mid-90s sitcom. It’s wonderful.

Breaking Bad has a long and storied history of being mashed up. For more, you could check out Pinkman, the Seinfeld mashup. Or maybe this amazing mashup with an old Mentos ad.

[via YouTube]

Today, Barnes & Noble’s Nook Media announced a bunch of new content licensing deals with some major players.

These deals will bring movies from Lionsgate, MGM, Paramount Pictures, Relativity Media, National Geographic, Little Pim, and Film Buff to the Nook HD and the Nook HD+.

“With the addition of these industry-leading studio partners, NOOK Video continues to expand its already robust offering, providing customers with an even wider selection of their favorite movies and TV shows,” said Jonathan Shar, Vice President & General Manager, Emerging Digital Content, NOOK Media LLC. “Combined with NOOK’s seamless UltraViolet™ integration, we are offering customers one of the most dynamic and accessible movie and TV show stores available.”

If you’re wondering what content, exactly, is coming to the Nook Video catalog – it’s some top-notch stuff.

The Hunger Games, the Twilight movies, Tyler Perry’s Madea Gets a Job, Skyfall, Rocky, Fargo, Flight, Paranormal Activity 4, Act of Valor, Safe Haven, House at the End of the Street; independent films from Film Buff’s catalog including Charles Swan and Exit from the Gift Shop; and TV shows like Mad Men, Border Wars, Great Migrations, Amazing Planet; as well as educational content via Little Pim, the leading foreign language learning program for young children, plus many more.

Barnes & Noble’s Nook division took a hit over the holidays and the company posted poor Q3 results. I guess snatching some great content for Nook Video is a start. I mean, it can’t hurt.

Spotify is opening up its closed beta for its new web player in the U.K., letting more people have access to the browser-based music streaming experience.

We first learned that Spotify was finally planning on launching a web player back in November of 2012. The player functions much like the desktop app, except it’s a bit more sparse, lacking app connections and some of the social features. It’s a barebones player that definitely gets the job done, however.

“We’re letting a number of users in the UK test out a beta version of our basic web player, which we’re gearing up to release later this year,” a Spotify spokesperson told The Next Web.

In January, Spotify axed music downloads in Europe.

The faster they roll out this web player around the world, the better Spotify is able to compete with the onslaught of streaming music competitors like Rdio, Rhapsody, and as we learned earlier this week, possibly some sort of big subscription service from Google’s YouTube. The beta expansion in the U.K. means we’re that much closer to a full launch in the U.K.

Although the web player is not technically available in the U.S. right now for most (accessing play.spotify.com simply redirects to the Spotify home page. But you can access it through what appears to be a loophole through a band’s Facebook page by clicking here.

Google has expanded its new public alert program to Japan, a country that is still feeling the effects of a massive hurricane and tsunami that hit two years ago.

Google Public Alerts, first launched in the U.S. following hurricane Sandy, are now available in Japan. Public Alerts provide pertinent information about natural disasters and other emergency situations inside Google Search, Google Maps. and Google Now.

This is the first country that Public Alerts have reached since its U.S. launch.

Now, when people in Japan search Google or Google Maps for information pertaining to an earthquake, let’s say, the alert info will appear on both desktop and mobile right at the top of the search. There will be a link inside the alerts that will let users access “more info,” which will include full disaster profiles from the Japan Meteorological Agency, among other stuff.

“We hope our technology, including Public Alerts, will help people better prepare for future crises and create more far-reaching support for crisis recovery. This is why in Japan, Google has newly partnered with 14 Japanese prefectures and cities, including seven from the Tōhoku region, to make their government data available online and more easily accessible to users, both during a time of crisis and after. The devastating Tōhoku Earthquake struck Japan only two years ago, and the region is still slowly recovering from the tragedy,” says Google.

The Public Alerts are also featured on Google Now, and are tailored to the user’s location. “For example, if you happen to be in Tokyo at a time when a tsunami alert is issued, Google Now will show you a card containing information about the tsunami alert, as well as any available evacuation instructions,” says Google.

Google says that they are looking to expand these Public Alerts to other countries soon.

Facebook has just announced that University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Chancellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann has joined its board of directors.

Desmond-Hellmann is the second woman to join the board in the past year, after Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg became the first woman to join back in June 2012.

According to Facebook, Desmond-Hellmann “oversees all aspects of the university and medical center’s strategy and operations. She previously served as president, product development at the biotechnology pioneer, Genentech. In this role, she was responsible for Genentech’s pre-clinical and clinical development, process research and development, business development and product portfolio management. During her 14 years with the company, Desmond-Hellmann brought numerous cutting-edge cancer medicines to market to help people battle the disease.”

Desmond Hellman, and M.D., also has a Masters in public health. She also serves on Procter & Gamble’s board.

“I’ve always been drawn to organizations that do ground-breaking work,” said Desmond-Hellmann. “Facebook has an ambitious mission and long-term vision of innovation that is transforming how people connect with one another. I’m proud to be part of a company that is serving such an important purpose in the world.”

Before Facebook added Sheryl Sandberg to the board, the company faced pressure from activists who said that Facebook’s all-male board was unacceptable in this day and age.

In the past, I’ve been critical of some of the more frivolous petitions to hit the White House’s “We the People” online petition site. A petition to build a functioning Death Star becoming so popular that it receives an official response? Not that exciting.

Then you have the totally batsh*t petitions like the ones from states that asked to secede from the Union or to deport Piers Morgan for expressing a view about gun control. What a waste of the platform, even if the platform is shallow and patronizing.

This petition does not qualify as frivolous. This is important.

A new petition with just over 5,300 signatures wants to change the U.S. National Anthem from the tired old Star Spangled Banner to R. Kelly’s 2003 hit “Ignition (Remix).

And they make a compelling argument:

We, the undersigned, would like the Obama administration to recognize the need for a new national anthem, one that even a decade after its creation, is still hot and fresh out the kitchen. America has changed since Francis Scott Key penned our current anthem in 1814. Since then, we have realized that after the show, it’s the afterparty, and that after the party, it’s the hotel lobby, and–perhaps most importantly–that ’round about four, you’ve got to clear the lobby, at which point it’s strongly recommended that you take it to the room and freak somebody. President Obama: we ask you to recognize the evolution of this beautiful country and give us an anthem that better suits the glorious nation we have become.

Since the White House recently raised the signature threshold to 100,000, we’re going to have to do some hard work to make this a success. I know we can do it guys.

Twitter has just announced a small update to both its iOS and Android apps, although the iOS app benefits more from it.

Across both apps (as well and mobile.twitter.com), Twitter has tweaked their search function to provide more context for topical tweets. Back in February, Twitter finally allowed users to unearth old tweets within search. Before, users could only pull up tweets up to about a week old, but now they can find tweets from months and month ago. Today’s update puts a “top tweet” at the top of searches for popular topics. Twitter says that this is chosen based on “relevance and engagement.”

You can now view more tweets from around the time period of the top tweets (which is usually older) by tapping “view more from this time.”

Twitter has also made a couple more improvements to the iOS app. The biggest one has to do with adding tweet context to in-app web browsing.

“When you open a link from a Tweet in your timeline, you’ll see that Tweet displayed at the bottom of the app’s built-in web browser. This provides additional context to the page you’re viewing, and makes it easy for you to retweet, favorite or reply to the Tweet as you’re reading an article or watching a video. If you don’t want to see the Tweet, simply tap the page and the Tweet will slide away from view. By pulling up or down on the tray icon, the Tweet will appear or disappear from view,” says Twitter.

They’ve also improved the autocomplete feature in search, added support for traditional Chinese, and removed support for video uploading via Mobypicture, Vodpod and Posterous.

In your “dude, seriously?” news of the day, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) have turned their sights on Ubisoft over some possible content from an yet-to-be-released video game.

PETA is upset that Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag may feature some form of whaling inside the game. They have released a statement calling it “disgraceful” to glorify the practice, which continues today.

Whaling – that is, shooting whales with harpoons and leaving them to struggle for an hour or more before they die or are hacked apart while they are still alive—may seem like something out of the history books, but this bloody industry still goes on today in the face of international condemnation, and it’s disgraceful for any game to glorify it. PETA encourages video game companies to create games that celebrate animals—not games that promote hurting and killing them.

The game, set to release on October 29th, will let players “relive the truly explosive events that defined the Golden Age of Pirates” by “captaining and customizing their own ship, searching for lost treasure, hunting rare animals and looting underwater shipwrecks.”

So, outrage.

Ubisoft’s response is pretty good:

History is our playground in Assassin’s Creed. Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag is a work of fiction that depicts the real events during the Golden Era of Pirates. We do not condone illegal whaling, just as we don’t condone a pirate lifestyle of poor hygiene, plundering, hijacking ships, and over the legal limit drunken debauchery.

Nobody is condoning whaling – but the game hasn’t even hit the shelves yet. C’mon, guys.

Google has just begun to roll out some significant changes to Google+ profiles that bring bigger cover photos, a whole new look for the “about” section, and a new tab for your reviews.

When you visit your profile today, you’ll see a prompt that says “Cover photos just got bigger” and asks you if you’d like to update yours now. The bigger cover photos now allow for 2120px by 1192px images.

“This way more images can be used as cover photos, and there’s more room for your selection to shine,” says Google’s Sara McKinley in a Google+ post.

Your “About” section has also received an update. It’s a completely new design that puts all of your separate pieces of information into their own color-coded cards. Each info card features its own “edit” button as well.

Lastly, a new “Reviews” tab has been added to the top of your profile alongside the ones for your +1s, YouTube videos, photos, and posts. As you would imagine, this tab houses all of your Google Local reviews.

“Highlight your favorite restaurants, or hide the tab completely via settings – it’s completely up to you,” says Google.

If you don’t see your new Google+ profile yet, be patient. Google says that it’s rolling out gradually.

Last week, after a poor Q4 earnings report, Groupon finally ousted CEO Andrew Mason after months of speculation.

Executive Chairman Eric Lefkofsky and Vice Chairman Ted Leonsis were tapped to head the “Office of the Chief Executive” and serve in his place until a replacement is found.

And it looks like that replacement will come from outside the company.

Bloomberg quotes two sources close to the matter who say that Groupon’s search for the next CEO is focusing on outside candidates. The board will hire a recruiting firm in the next couple of weeks and expect to have a new CEO in place within 3 to 6 months.

Only if that search fails to find a suitable replacement will the company’s board consider someone from inside the company, says the report.

Groupon has already ruled out both Lefkofsky and Leonsis as possible CEOs.

Just before Groupon announced that Mason was out as CEO, the company reported disappointing earnings. Groupon missed Wall Street estimates, posting a net loss of $81.1 million for Q4 although revenue was up 30%.

Upon Mason’s departure, Groupon stock rose sharply from $4.53 to as high as $5.10 in after-hours trading. Currently the stock sits as $5.64.

If you want to check-in on Foursquare more often, but think the process takes too long, today’s iOS update is for you.

Foursquare is now letting users check-in faster by employing a “tap and hold” feature in the app. Now, you can simply hold the place at which you’re checking-in (once accessed from the check-in icon at the top right) and Foursquare will check you in without taking you to the official check-in screen.

You can also tap and hold the blue check-in suggestion bar that pops up at the top of your feed when the app sense you’re nearby a certain location.

You’ll know it’s working by the green progress bar and the “Checking you in” status.

Although Foursquare has moved on to emphasizing other uses for their service (like as a true local search and discovery destination) and “moved beyond the check-in” as we all like to say, they still remind us that checking-in is vital to the service:

“Remember: each time you check in, you’re teaching us about the restaurants, bars, and shops you like, so we can give you even smarter recommendations in Explore. And now that it takes just a split-second, it’s even easier to check in everywhere you go,” they say.

The coverage of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s death wasn’t complete until someone brought the whipping of aliens and cancer cereal to the mix. Thankfully, Next Media Animation has stepped up to the plate. Kudos.

Check in on what dead-eyes and shovel-face are up to in this hilarious “honest trailer” from ScreenJunkies.

There’s more fun to be had at the expense of Twilight. Check out slapping fish, leftover cake, and more in last year’s awesome Bad Lip Reading of the original movie.