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'Syrian Electronic Army' hacks a BBC Twitter account

The Twitter account of the BBC weather service was hacked today, and hacker group the Syrian Electronic Army -- which supports Syrian President Bashar Assad -- is taking credit.

The BBC confirmed to Reuters that its account was hacked. The @bbcweather account was posting strange messages today, ranging in content but often mentioning Syria and Middle Eastern politics.

"Long Live #Syria Al-Assad #SEA," read one tweet. The group also claimed to have hacked @BBCarabicOnline and @Bbcradioulster as well. The BBC tweeted that the issue has been resolved.

The Syrian Electronic Army has claimed hacks before, including one on … Read more

Twitter turns seven, releases greatest-hits video

Twitter turns seven today, and to commemorate its birthday, the social networking service has released a video that highlights its many accomplishments, including surpassing 200 million active users.

The service has come a very long way since co-founder (and now patent holder) Jack Dorsey posted the first-ever tweet on March 21, 2006: "Just setting up my twttr."

Of course, it turns out that that tweet was not unique to Dorsey. Many Twitter employees tweeted the very same words that day, evidence of automated language on day one.

just setting up my twttr

— Jack Dorsey (@jack) March 21, 2006 … Read more

Talk on Twitter corresponds to higher TV ratings

This is a classic "which came first, the chicken or the egg" scenario: more talk on Twitter and higher TV ratings, or is it quality TV and more talk on Twitter?

Whatever the case, market research firm Nielsen has discovered that there is a correlation -- but not necessarily causation -- between Twitter and live TV ratings.

Using data from analytics platform SocialGuide, Nielsen found that 32 million unique people tweeted about TV in the U.S. in 2012. This may have led to Twitter being one of the top three variables aligned with TV ratings. The other … Read more

Oops! U.K. budget leaked on Twitter

The U.K. budget was leaked on Twitter today, granting politically minded surfers a sneak peek at George Osborne's number crunching ahead of time.

The key aspects of the chancellor's new measures -- including plans for the U.K.'s Internet speeds -- emerged early when London's Evening Standard newspaper tweeted its front page, which detailed the most crucial aspects of the annual ploy to make the U.K. more economically healthy.

The Standard posted an apology on its site, with editor Sarah Sands saying, "An investigation is immediately under way into how this front page … Read more

Twitter scores a patent for Twitter

If you're thinking about copying the way Twitter works, you might want to get a good lawyer: the technology at the core of the social network is officially patented.

As first reported by The Verge, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted Twitter a patent today for what it termed a "Device independent message distribution platform:"

A system (and method) for device-independent point to multipoint communication is disclosed. The system is configured to receive a message addressed to one or more destination users, the message type being, for example, Short Message Service (SMS), Instant Messaging (IM), … Read more

Twitter taking over the Middle East

Twitter may be on its way to striking it rich in the Middle East.

The information networking site has apparently developed an avid following in both Saudi Arabia and Turkey, the two countries that rank highest in terms of active Twitter user penetration, according to data published by GlobalWebIndex and analyzed by eMarketer.

Fifty-one percent of surveyed Internet users in Saudi Arabia and 39 percent of Internet users in Turkey identified themselves as active Twitter users. GlobalWebIndex surveyed more than 152,000 Internet users in 31 markets. An active Twitter user is defined as a person who has used the … Read more

Jack Dorsey on his childhood inspiration for Twitter

Twitter was partly inspired by the emergency dispatch center in St. Louis, Jack Dorsey explained to "60 Minutes" in a report that aired this evening.

A speech impediment as a child kept the Twitter co-founder at home a lot, where he would play on a computer and listen to the police scanner. He found himself fascinated by the short bursts of talking used by law enforcement and emergency personnel, which was the inspiration for the microblogging social network.

"They're always talking about where they're going, what they're doing and where they currently are," … Read more

Telly is more than just a Vine clone

Telly is a video app that gives you a way to shoot and share video with effects and watch popular videos posted to Facebook, Twitter, and Telly's own network.

Instead of a YouTube client or other video player, Telly shows you a feed of videos taken from your friends' posts on Facebook and Twitter, and those of other Telly users. If you follow celebrities, sports figures, or television networks on Twitter, you'll also get whatever videos they post as part of your feed. Basically, depending on your friends and who you follow, you'll have a place where … Read more

Jack Dorsey tells '60 Minutes' Twitter, Square creation stories

It might be hard to believe that emergency dispatchers in St. Louis were the inspiration for Twitter, but that's exactly the case, Jack Dorsey told "60 Minutes" recently.

This Sunday, Dorsey -- who co-founded Twitter and later co-founded Square, the mobile payments company -- will appear on "60 Minutes," recalling how listening in on radio calls between emergency dispatchers fueled his interest in the idea of very short-form communications (see video below).

During the episode, which will air Sunday evening on CBS (CNET's parent company), Dorsey will talk about growing up in St. Louis … Read more