| Telkomsel's new unlimited messaging plan gives Indonesians an alternative to BBM Jul 30th 2012, 19:39  As far as monopolies go, word on the interwebs is BlackBerry holds a pretty major one with its own BBM in Indonesian territory. According to DailySocial, though, that all could be changing soon thanks to Telkomsel's newly introduced all-you-can-message plans. The deal's fairly simple, the Indonesian carrier's bundling applications like Opera Mini, Line, WhatsApp and KakaoTalk in an unlimited package, with pricing starting at a mere 30,000 Rp (around $3) per month. Obviously, with the inclusion of a couple of the aforementioned apps, Indonesians could -- in theory -- also make calls without using their precious minutes, which is quite a good deal for under four bucks. In the end, it looks like it'll come down to how attached folks are to all those BlackBerry Messenger pins and whistles. Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Software Telkomsel's new unlimited messaging plan gives Indonesians an alternative to BBM originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Jul 2012 15:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink  The Next Web |  DailySocial | Email this | Comments | | US Census Bureau posts its first API, allows smartphone apps for the stat-obsessed Jul 30th 2012, 19:18  As much as the US Census Bureau has worked to embrace the digital space, its sea of data has been largely locked away from developers not keen on doing much of the heavy lifting. As of late last week, however, there's now a public app programming interface (API) for quickly putting all of that knowledge to work. Both mobile and web apps can hook into either the complete 2010 census or the 2006-2010 American Community Survey, bringing in basic demographics as well as more complicated subjects such as commuting habits and education. The Bureau sees the API leading to not just a more informed public, but to smarter government as well -- imagine a state government that knows the income levels by county through a custom smartphone app. Budding statistics hounds can request a key for API use right away, but if you'd rather just see what public access will mean in practice, you can check out an app gallery at the second source link below. Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Software US Census Bureau posts its first API, allows smartphone apps for the stat-obsessed originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Jul 2012 15:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink The Verge | US Census Bureau (1), (2) | Email this | Comments | | Former NSA official says agency collects Americans' web data, director denies charges Jul 30th 2012, 18:54  The NSA director, General Keith Alexander, is coming under scrutiny after he told a crowd gathered at the Def Con hacker conference that the spy agency "absolutely" does not collect data from and maintain files on American citizens. A former official stopped just shy of calling Alexander a liar, accusing him of playing a "word game." William Binney left the department in late 2001, when it became apparent to him that it planned to use the terrorist attacks on September 11th as an "excuse" to launch a data collection program that was already in the planning stages. Alexander for his part maintains that any data, be it web searches, Twitter posts or emails, collected from American citizens is merely incidental, and associated with intelligence gathering on foreign entities. Of course, Binney rejects this claim and testimony from Qwest CEO James Nacchio regarding the NSA's wiretapping program would seem to contradict it. ACLU attorney Alex Abdo, who was on the panel with Alexander, cast further doubt on the director's denial. He noted that loopholes in the law allow the NSA collect vast amounts of information on Americans, without them being the "target" of the surveillance. Since the agency can hold on to any data collected, it can retroactively build dossiers on citizens, should they eventually become the focus of an investigation. For a few more details, hit up the source link. Filed under: Misc. Gadgets Former NSA official says agency collects Americans' web data, director denies charges originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Jul 2012 14:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Wired | Email this | Comments | | Facebook improves photo viewing with larger images, takes cues from Google+ Jul 30th 2012, 18:29  Facebook has offered photo sharing in one form another since shortly after the site's launch, but while certain features have been added over the years, such as tagging and downloads, image formatting has remained mostly unchanged. Until today. Facebook has announced that it will roll out a new tool for thumbing through galleries across the site, presenting photos in a new square format with the option to "highlight" certain shots to increase their footprint on the page. Google+ users may recognize the format, which bears some resemblance to the tool on that site. We haven't seen the feature go live on Facebook just yet, but eager social networkers can preview it today at the source link below. Filed under: Internet Facebook improves photo viewing with larger images, takes cues from Google+ originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Jul 2012 14:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Facebook | Email this | Comments | | Editorial: NBC's Olympics and the steely grip of old media Jul 30th 2012, 18:00  Owners and stakeholders of Big Media have thick skins. So the persistent trending of #NBCFail, and the riotous reading that the tweet stream provides, is probably bouncing right off their leathery hides. For one thing, the complaints were surely foreseen. They are largely the same criticisms NBC withstood in previous Olympics -- over-curating, ill-placed commercials, tape delays, scandalously inane commentary, and a generally inferior Olympics presentation compared to other countries. The unspoken shrugging answer, of course, is financial. The lessons learned from that answer say things about how slowly institutional power inches into the future, the impatience of the digital class, brand ecosystem as a preeminent business battleground, and the ideology breakdown of the International Olympic Committee. Continue reading Editorial: NBC's Olympics and the steely grip of old media Editorial: NBC's Olympics and the steely grip of old media originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Jul 2012 14:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | |
