Social networking

Vine adds front-facing camera functionality

Twitter said today that it has updated its stand-alone Vine mobile app to allow users to shoot video with both their front- and rear-facing cameras.

In a blog post, Twitter also said that Vine users now can tag someone in a post, meaning that people can, for example, shoot a video with a friend and add that person's name, or Twitter handle, in the post.

With the old version, users could only use the rear-facing cameras on their iPhones. Also, while it was possible to enter someone's name or Twitter ID in the associated text of a Vine … Read more

Twitter ads now available for all U.S. users

NEW YORK--Twitter on Tuesday opened up advertising on its site to all businesses and individuals, giving the company another avenue for generating money.

Twitter has allowed organizations to pay for promoted tweets and promoted accounts since last March, but it was on an invite-only basis. It now has given everyone access to its self-service advertising platform, Kevin Weil, Twitter senior director of product for revenue, said Tuesday at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in New York.

"Business has been on Twitter since Day 1," Weil said. "We're very excited everyone will be able to leverage Twitter advertising.&… Read more

Can Google Glass ever be fashionable?

When real, normal people get a hold of Google Glass, they might be fascinated.

Equally, they might be underwhelmed. Their sense of underwhelment might increase with every mocking comment they get from other real, normal people.

In any case, Google Glass won't be thrust into the real, normal world for a year. Or even more.

Meanwhile, we have to struggle with the knowledge that tech personality Robert Scoble wears his in the public toilets. During the weekend, he even posted an image of his hirsute, unsuited torso, complete with head and Google Glass on nose, in the shower.

Though … Read more

Leaked doc shows Foursquare's big plans for your check-in data

Foursquare's latest pitch to consumers may be centered on local search, but the 4-year-old company isn't straying far from its check-in roots to sell advertisers on why they should spend big on coming-soon ad products.

In May, Foursquare will introduce the first of two new ad types for advertisers hungry to capitalize on data the company has collected from 30 million users who have checked in at restaurants, bars, and other venues more than 3.5 billion times, according to a pitch deck obtained by Valleywag.

Oddly, the document just happened to surface on the same day Foursquare … Read more

Twitter may already have an app for Google Glass

If a now-deleted tweet is to be believed, Twitter may already have created an app for Google Glass.

That's TechCrunch's conclusion, at least, as the technology news site has a story up this afternoon positing that someone may already have sent a tweet from an obviously as-yet-unannounced Twitter app for Google Glass.

Is @mogroothmuddler beta testing an official Twitter for Glass app? Certainly looks like it. twitter.com/jonmarkgo/stat...

— Jonathan Gottfried (@jonmarkgo) April 29, 2013

In the photo that's embedded in the above tweet, it is possible to see that the tweet (assuming it actually existed) … Read more

Upstart.com aims to be a Kickstarter for college grads

When Dave Girouard worked at Google, he noticed a pattern. He met a lot of young people early in their careers taking the conservative route -- choosing a stable job in a big company instead of following their dreams, taking risks, and striking out on their own.

So Girouard, Anna Mongayt (also a former Googler), and Thiel fellow Paul Gu launched Upstart.com in 2012. Girouard describes it as a kind of Kickstarter for people. Instead of investing in a company or product, financial backers invest in a person and their potential over time. In return, investors receive a small … Read more

Jack Dorsey says Twitter 'not even thinking' IPO -- report

Although there has been much speculation in recent months that Twitter is ramping up for an initial public offering, company co-founder Jack Dorsey has suggested that nothing is imminent.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Dorsey reportedly said that Twitter "is not even thinking" about an IPO at the moment.

"A lot of people think of this as a goal you have to get to but it's a milestone," Dorsey told Bloomberg during an interview in New York. "If you think about it as a goal you're rushing towards it and then stop, and … Read more

Path marches past 10M user milestone

The secret seems to be out about Path, which today announced that it has more than 10 million users of its private social-networking applications for iOS and Android.

Path CEO and co-founder Dave Morin appropriately shared the milestone with a photo on his Path -- albeit publicly, instead of privately, for all the world to see.

Launched more than two years ago, Path has experienced the most pickup in recent months following the release of an updated application that supports member-to-member messaging and includes illustrator-crafted sticker packs. Last week, Morin told The Wall Street Journal that his application was adding … Read more

New Windows Phone ad has a laugh at Apple-Samsung fight

If you've never been to a wedding that ended in a punch-up, you really haven't lived.

There's always something so bracing in seeing people devolve to their true, animal state, drunk and flailing their fists.

Someone at Microsoft clearly has recent experience with such a thing, as the company Monday released a new ad that describes the constant spat between fanpersons of Apple and Samsung as a battle between two tribes of the insane.

We are at a wedding. Everything seems fine, until someone with a very large Galaxy phone gets in the way of someone with … Read more