Category Archives: Handy tools and technology

Sky News uses CoveritLive for Crewe by-election debate

1 Reply

Sky News yesterday used live blogging service CoveritLive to host a debate between candidates standing in the Crewe and Nantwich by-election (thanks to Simon Dickson and his Puffbox blog for the tip).

Candidates Tamsin Dunwoody (Labour), Elizabeth Shenton (Lib Dem) and Edward Timpson (Conservatives) responded to questions directly from readers of the blog and Sky News’ host Martin Stanford.

The service is becoming increasingly popular with news sites: today the Lancashire Evening Post is liveblogging an afternoon from a local pub, while US newspaper the Grand Island Independent used the tool as a feedback channel during the redesign of its website.

Elsewhere Farmers’ Weekly is liveblogging ‘an afternoon in the life of the newsroom’ – a similar experiment to that conducted by the Liverpool Daily Post.

Read Journalism.co.uk’s interview with CoveritLive president Keith McSpurren.

TechCrunch: Data portability is the new walled garden

Leave a reply

Michael Arrington says the spat between Google and Facebook over the banning of Google’s Friend Connect is purely and simply about control of users and user information.

“Internet giants know that the days of getting you to spend all of your time inside their walled gardens are over,” he writes.

“So the next best thing is to at least maintain as much data about the user as possible, and make sure they identify with your brand while they are out there not being on your site.”

OpenID is becoming popular with developers as it allows users to log into sites with IDs taken from elsewhere – thus encouraging users not to move all their info wholesale.

Facebook and MySpace, he says, keep users happy and prevent them from moving all their personal info to other sites by allowing some portability so they don’t leave entirely.

“Not too portable, mind you.”

Google creates API for using Flash on its maps

Leave a reply

Google has introduced a API that will allow developers to use Flash when building Google Maps.

Aside from creating a speedier and smoother operation as users move around maps the new interface creates the opportunity for a more creative approach to map building and use. Have a look at the nice example on the Google Maps API blog.

“We knew that version 1 of any software project is not perfect, so we opted to split the interface and implementation. As a result, you can build against the current version of the API, and as we add enhancements and tweaks, your website benefits automatically from each update. When you wish to take advantage of new API functions, only then do you need to download the latest API and rebuild,” wrote Mike Jones, of Maps API Team, on the blog.

Mashable: Reuters frees content with new API

Leave a reply

Reuters Thompson is opening up the way people can use its content across the web by making available a limited range of non-commercial API opportunities (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/API) through the Reuters Lab.

Reuters could be looking to extend its distribution through this experiment as it will allow developers the change to build new editorial web-based applications using content from Reuters.

However, developers have to make requests to the lab for permission to develop new applications claims Mashable.

Shanghai Daily available on Amazon Kindle

2 Replies

China’s English language newspaper the Shanghai Daily has made its e-paper edition compatible with the Amazon Kindle.

According to the Daily, the paper is the first in Asia to launch an e-paper for the device – launched in November last year –  which downloads editions wirelessly and automatically.
The title joins other papers, including the Washington Post and New York Times, which have developed editions for the Kindle.

Velocix launches free multimedia content delivery systerm

Leave a reply

A digital delivery service for sites looking to host video, music or games online has been launched today with the creators claiming its as the first free service of its king.

The Velocix Accelerator delivery service provides can support the same media as current systems costing around £5,000 per year, the firm claims.

“Velocix is committed to disrupting the traditional CDN [Content Delivery Network] marketplace with breakthrough delivery performance, economics and control,” said Phill Robinson, CEO at Velocix.

The new offering includes a 500GB per month delivery allowance for file download and video streaming and is already being used by sites Fifzine and Uploaded.TV.

Press Gazette: Telegraph developer weekend: The possibilites of Google Earth

Leave a reply

Google’s Chewy Trewhella gave a presentation to the Telegraph developers day to show off the kind of things that can be done with the media giant’s Google Earth feature through developing mash-ups and apps that run in conjunction with the mapping technology.

Despite the possibilities open to developers through the service, Press Gazette says, he admits that Google have had problems keeping people interested in the technology.

BBC joins OpenID Foundation

Leave a reply

The BBC is to join the OpenID foundation – the body behind the system where website users can have one username across different participating sites.

The decision, announced by Jem Stone, portfolio executive for the BBC Future Media and Technology (FM&T) department’s social media group, on the BBC Internet blog, puts the corporation alongside Google and Yahoo, who have already adopted the scheme.

Similarly Telegraph.co.uk announced plans to introduce OpenID at the beginning of the year.

However, the system will not be immediately available on bbc.co.uk, Stone explained.

“However, at this stage, and wary of being named and shamed here, this doesn’t mean that we are going to immediately be offering OpenIDs on bbc.co.uk or even promising to do so. We would want to make absolutely sure that this is right for users, is secure and can be implemented properly across all the BBC’s many services.”

Stone’s thoughts are backed up by Ian Forrester, senior producer with the FM&T, who said in an email:

“If we were to do OpenID it would have to be pretty joined up, otherwise people would loose faith in the technology and have bad experiences. This is something I hear about some of the other (can anyone say on the bandwagon) OpenID providers.”

Bet Andreas provides slot machines for virtual coins and gives everyone a bonus of up to $300. Slot machines and casinos have more than 500 types of gambling games. BetAndreas Promotions – available bonus offers for regular and new players.

Newmediabytes: How to write web headlines that catch search engine spiders

1 Reply

Newmediabytes has some good pointers for those journalists and subs looking to get their online headlines perfectly attuned for the search engines to home in on.

Main points (click through for detailed definitions)

– Be clear and concise
– Plan headlines for searchers
– Include appropriate keywords and keyword phrases
– Include FULL NAMES of people and places where applicable
– Include DATELINES
– Keep headlines under 65 characters

The site also has a video of DetNews.com web editor Leslie Rotan talking about some things to remember when writing headlines for the web.

Good Stuff.

Brand Republic: MySpace gives advertisers more control with new platform

Leave a reply

MySpace has launched a trail advertising platform across its site aimed at giving advertisers great control over what they do across the social network.

The Community Builder platform allows advertisers them to build and customise campaigns.

The platform also providers analytics to help gauge performance.