Why Won't Twitter Tweet These Tweets? [Twitter]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5912896/why-wont-twitter-tweet-these-tweets

Do this right now: Go to Twitter and type the words "get help." Or try "get hungry" or "get high" or "get laid." Really, any two-word pair beginning with "get" will do. Now send the Tweet. What's that? It vanished? Exactly.

Until just moments ago, I, like you (probably), had been naive to this snafu. It was Former Gizmodian John Herrman who shed light on the situation.

The "get" glitch, as it were, is actually an anachronism from an earlier iteration of Twitter as an SMS service. There are others, too. A whole list of text commands exists to this day, from which weird Twitter traps can be deployed.

Among them:
•WHOIS [username] - retrieves the profile information for any public user on Twitter. Example: whois jack or w jack, for short.

•HELP - texting help or info to Twitter will bring up helpful tips.

and, of course...
•GET [username] - retrieves the latest Twitter update posted by that person. You can also use g [username] to get a user's latest Tweet. Examples: get goldman or g goldman.

That the "get" command lives on is both surprising and not at all; get + ______ is such a seemingly common word pairing, but alone not enough to constitute an entire Tweet. (I guess?)

There are definitely other code artifacts elsewhere, besides on Twitter, but right now none come to mind. Do you know of any more like this? [BuzzFeed]

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Olympus adds 75mm f/1.8 portrait lens to Micro Four Thirds lineup

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/24/olympus-75mm-f-1-8-micro-four-thirds/

During our first encounter with the OM-D E-M5 in February, Olympus told us to expect several more lenses to launch throughout the year, including a 75mm f/1.8 variant suitable for portraits and a splash- and dust-proof 60mm f/2.8 macro. Well, that first optic will be coming sooner than you may have thought -- it's expected to hit stores this summer with an estimated price tag of $900. The lens offers a 150mm 35mm-equivalent focal length when paired with a Micro Four Thirds camera, and consists of 10 elements in nine groups, including three ED elements that assist with correcting aberrations. Everything else you need to know can be found in the PR after the break.

Continue reading Olympus adds 75mm f/1.8 portrait lens to Micro Four Thirds lineup

Olympus adds 75mm f/1.8 portrait lens to Micro Four Thirds lineup originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 May 2012 01:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google pumps cash into UK classrooms, will buy Arduino, Raspberry Pi sets for kids

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/24/google-teach-first-raspberry-pi/

Eric Schmidt has said that Google will make cash available through its investment into Teach First to buy Raspberry Pi and Arduino units for British schoolchildren. He was at the UK's Science Museum to talk about Mountain View's partnership with the charity, which puts top university graduates into schools to teach disadvantaged kids. The Android-maker wrote a cheque to fund over 100 places on the scheme, aiming to get bright computer scientists to reintroduce engineering principles to pupils. Mr. Schmidt hoped that with the right support, kits like the Raspberry Pi would do for this generation what the BBC Micro did three decades ago.

Google pumps cash into UK classrooms, will buy Arduino, Raspberry Pi sets for kids originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 May 2012 05:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LG's 55-inch OLED TV gets official design, possible â¬9,000 price tag (update 3: LG fills in more)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/23/lg-55-inch-oled-tv-gets-official-design-possible-9-000-price/

LG has been coy quiet about details of its 55-inch OLED TV since we saw its hyper-rich organic colors at CES, but it just nailed down a number of details at a Monte Carlo Monaco event. The 55EM9600 has seen its display base get visibly bigger now that the screen isn't being specially perched at a trade show, but the redesign and using a carbon fiber back has let it shed an extra millimeter of thickness, down to 4mm (0.16 inches). The steadier footing puts all the AV connectors at the back, while a trio of USB ports sit on the side for those who often share media from their cameras and flash drives. LG wouldn't give our Spanish team definite release info about the OLED set, but there's been repeated murmurs of a European price of about €9,000 ($11,313) and a possible release as soon as July, just inside LG's official target of the second half of the year. Certainly not the most frugal TV you can buy at this size if that's true, then, but it'll certainly get everyone's attention -- now where's our US details?

Update: There's now a swishy promo video below, plus some English language details at the source link.

Update 2: For those who'd like a bit more reading material, we've added the full PR after the break.

Update 3: LG has also helped settle some of the details that it can share at this early stage: July isn't looking likely, but the price could be on the sunnier side, tentatively edging closer to €8,000 ($10,063).

Gal lery: LG 55EM9600 press shots

Continue reading LG's 55-inch OLED TV gets official design, possible €9,000 price tag (update 3: LG fills in more)

LG's 55-inch OLED TV gets official design, possible €9,000 price tag (update 3: LG fills in more) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 May 2012 16:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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CHART OF THE DAY: Time Spent On Facebook Has Gone Flat* (FB)

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-facebooks-engagement-has-peaked-and-now-its-falling-2012-5

Note: This post has been edited from its original version, after we learned that the data we initially used was flawed. We have our original post below the chart, as well as an explanation.

Time spent on Facebook on desktop computers in the U.S. has been totally flat for the year, according to data from comScore. For a while now Facebook's engagement had been on the rise, but it appears to have hit a wall.

Part of the reason is that Facebook's users are going mobile, and spending their time there. This is bad for Facebook because it makes almost no money on mobile.

Note: This chart is flawed, comScore told us after we published. ComScore's previous data was unintentionally inflated due to existence of non-user requested URLs. However, ComScore has analyzed data since the beginning of the year using the same filters, and it tells us that the trend for Facebook is flat this year.

 

Follow the Chart Of The Day on Twitter: @chartoftheday

Original post: Time spent on Facebook on desktop computers in the U.S. has peaked and now it's falling according to data from comScore, via BI Intelligence.

BI Intelligence analyst Alex Cocotas attributes the drop to a "shift to mobile" as well as the rise of rival social networks like Tumblr, and Pinterest.

The shift to mobile is better than losing out to rivals, but it's bad for Facebook's business, because it makes significantly less money from mobile users than desktop users.

As for those rivals, take a look at Pinterest, which seems to have its own engagement problems. Our guess on what's happening there: The company got a lot of buzz, had a crush of new users, which inflated its numbers, and many of those people left.

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