Media

With one bold step Monday, Twitter took the photo filtering fight directly to Instagram.

Until yesterday, Instagram was the undisputed leader when it comes to mobile photo filtering and sharing. But with its release of a new version of its mobile app that enables filters, Twitter has launched a very credible challenge to the crown.

To be sure, Instagram has a massive lead, and a very passionate community. But Twitter has a nine-figure user base, and now that it is offering filters -- albeit just eight, while Instagram has 18 free filters -- it can begin to chip away at … Read more

Twitter said today that it was releasing a new version of its iPhone and Android apps that would allow users to filter their photos directly from their devices, a move that directly challenges Instagram's stranglehold on artistic photo sharing. But while the new Android version is already available, the iPhone version is not.

In its blog post announcing the new versions, Twitter said that, "Starting today, you'll be able to edit and refine your photos, right from Twitter. The latest versions of Twitter for iPhone and Twitter for Android introduce a few new ways to enhance the … Read more

Pirate Bay co-founder Gottfrid Svartholm Warg is being released from solitary confinement and moved to a different prison in Sweden to finish his sentence tied to his role in illegal file-sharing.

According to torrent site TorrentFreak, Warg is due in May to finish a sentence for his role in running The Pirate Bay, a resource for finding torrent files that can be used to download both legal and illegal content.

His detainment in solitary confinement apparently wasn't tied to the Pirate Bay case specifically. When he was deported from Cambodia to Sweden this summer, Warg was accused of hacking … Read more

Yahoo and the NBC Sports Group announced a content and promotion partnership this evening that combines the Web company's sports reporting with NBC's television presence and digital resources.

The alliance will include original video content that will appear on both Yahoo Sports and NBCSports.com, live streams of events such as "Sunday Night Football," and adoption of Yahoo Sports' fantasy platform as the exclusive game provider for NBC Sports' news and information site Rotoworld.

Financial details of the deal were not revealed. The two will maintain separate Web sites and newsrooms but will collaborate on big … Read more

Iran has launched a video-sharing site in its latest effort to provide alternative, government-sanctioned Internet services.

Dubbed "Mehr," the Farsi word for affection, the site aims to attract Persian-speaking users and promote Iranian culture, according to the About Us page reviewed by the Agence France-Presse.

"From now on, people can upload their short films on the Web site and access [IRIB] produced material," said Lotfollah Siahkali, deputy chief of Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting.

The Iranian government has been waging a battle against what it calls "inappropriate" content on the Internet. The government announced … Read more

Some thieves like to believe they have scruples. They even talk of honor among themselves.

Some, though, see an iPhone and just can't help themselves. Earlier this year, footage emerged of a man stealing an iPhone from a baby in a store. Yet even that pales with a theft that occurred in a Staten Island apartment building lobby.

William Washington, 38, is a quadriplegic. He has cerebral palsy. The only way he communicates is through an iPhone that he keeps on the tray of his wheelchair. He uses a special pointer attached to a headband in order to tap … Read more

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey may have dropped the first public proof that Twitter is getting ready to release its own photo filtering feature, a tool it hopes could help in its increasingly tense battle with Instagram.

A report published today by All Things D suggested that informed sources have said that Twitter plans to launch its photo filtering tool before year's end. A series of black-and-white photos tweeted by Dorsey today appear to have been created using Twitter's own photo hosting service, pic.twitter.com. That would mean that Dorsey, who has largely relinquished his operational role at Twitter, … Read more

Sometimes an invention comes along that makes you excited about the future.

For a long time, it seems that handcuffs have been stuck in the movies of old. They restrain you, but, odd for our interactive world, that's all they seem to do.

Might I tempt you toward futuristic handcuffs that will offer you a small involuntary judder?… Read more

Our lecture today is entitled "Ethics and the Holiday Spirit."

The question at hand is this: if you order an iPad from Best Buy and the company sends you five, what do you do?

Do you phone Best Buy and say, "Hullo, you've sent me four too many"?

Do you phone Best Buy and say, "Gosh, just wanted to thank you for the holiday gifts" -- and not mention which gifts you're talking about?

Or do you say nothing, do nothing, and hope Best Buy doesn't notice? … Read more