Yesterday video-streaming site Ustream ran live video of local news broadcasts covering the earthquake in Chile and the ensuing Hawaii tsunami warning. Today Ustream announced that it has delivered 4.35 million streams related to the events.
Some streams were news station broadcasts, but some were live streams from cell phones on the ground.
The 8.8-magnitude earthquake hit Chile just south of Santiago at 3:34 local time yesterday. As a result, buildings collapsed and power went out in parts of Santiago — the airport was so badly damaged that it ceased operation, and the city’s Fine Arts Museum suffered serious damage. 500,000 homes have been damaged or destroyed, and at least 300 deaths have been recorded so far. More numbers are still coming in.
Tsunami warnings were announced all around the pacific, including in Hawaii, but in most cases the waves turned out not to be severe. However, the Chile town of Talcahuano was badly damaged by tsunami waves yesterday.
If these images and those posted to Twitter have moved you, you can still use social media to help. We’ve written up a quick list of ways you can easily donate to relief efforts either by text message or the web. Google launched a person finder, so if you have information about a missing person (or if you’re looking for someone) affected by the earthquake or tsunami, you can connect with others there. Finally, we’ve heard stories about people using Twitter hashtags to help one another find loved ones.
We’ve embedded a pre-recorded sample video of Ustream coverage below.
Tags: chile, chile earthquake, hawaii, hawaii tsunami, Live Stream, live video, streaming video, ustream
Here’s an interesting idea. The recently launched service Gatsby aims to connect locals on Foursquare who share the same interests.
The setup is simple. Sign up for Gatsby with your Foursquare account, which will add Gatsby as a friend, and tag yourself with your favorite interests — say, “Water Polo” or “Cranberries.” (Or, as the site’s screenshots suggest, “Cats” and “Circus”.) Then, continue on your merry way.
As you check in at your usual haunts, Gatsby will automatically determine if there are other Foursquare/Gatsby users in your area who share your affinity for cranberries, and attempt to connect you. When a potential match occurs, Gatsby sends a text message to both parties with the first names of each user and a list of the shared interests. If both agree to connect, Gatsby can also set up a temporary SMS relay so that the users can text each other (and potentially meet in person) without revealing their mobile numbers.
The idea is intriguing, and could really take location-based services to a whole new level by bridging the gap between semi-anonymous lists of check-ins and real-time, in-person social networking. However, meeting strangers face-to-face based on scant social network details is sure to turn some more cautious users away.
What do you think? Could this be the ultimate location-based ice-breaking service or a recipe for a big privacy nightmare? Let us know in the comments.
Tags: foursquare, gatsby, location-based, Mobile 2.0, social media, social networking, social networks
Sometimes when we are working in Flash or Flex, we need to work with the raw pixels of an object on screen. Maybe we want to create a lightweight component to pull in photos off the web, make intelligently scaled and cropped thumbnails of them, and display them in a smoothly scrolling rectangle. Perhaps we have a character animation where the assets come from an artist on a Sprite Sheet.
Whatever the reason, often times we need to take pixels from one place and draw them somewhere else, with or without transformation or effects. This requires, at root, that you create a BitmapData to accept these pixels and use its methods to "suck in" the pixels from some other place and put those pixels onto itself. While this sounds easy, I've found that it's not always intuitive to get from A to B, so I thought I'd see if I could fill in some of the holes between the various bits of information I have been able to scrounge on this topic.
In order to understand how to use BitmapData for "pixel pushing," you need to understand IBitmapDrawable. As a quick refresher, if you see "I" in front of a Class name that was created by Adobe, that means that it's not actually a "class". but an Interface. There's some debate about whether this is appropriate, but it's a handy thing to know, especially in this case.
I've talked about Interfaces before, but in a nutshell an Interface is a "contract" with a class. Essentially what it says is that when a Class implements an Interface, that methods defined by the Interface have to be defined in the Class. The programmer can then choose to make the implementation do anything that will fit the method signature. Interfaces can also define properties that all implementors must expose, but these have to be methods, which means that any properties defined in the Interface will need to be defined as getters and/or setters, and, again, the method implementation must adhere to the signature.
So, now that you understand that, take it and throw it out the window, preferably from several stories up. It won't help you understand BitmpaData, because in this case IBitmapDrawable appears to be what's known as a "marker interface." Which is a fancy way of saying, if it enforces any methods on its two implementors, these are not documented. That means that you and I have no way to do whatever it is that BitmapData does when it gets an IBitmapDrawable in an argument.
Two Classes implement IBitmapDrawable–BitmapData itself and DisplayObject. The good news is that these two classes will give you access to nearly every object you might want to copy pixels from. The bad news is that only one of the BitmapData methods (draw) takes an IBitmapDrawable as the source. All the rest, if they take a visual object at all, take only one Class–BitmapData.
It is actually possible to start out with a BitmapData in the first place, but in most cases you want to start out with an object that is a subclass of DisplayObject, such as MovieClip or Sprite. These are IBitmapDrawable, but not BitmapData objects (obviously).
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle once said "How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?" And herein lies the answer of how to solve this problem. Only one method–draw–takes an IBitmapDrawable as one of its methods, so that's the method we use to translate from an IBitmapDrawable to a BitmapData if in fact we need to use some of the other methods. The draw() method is actually extremely powerful. With creative use of the other arguments, you can do most of the things that the other functions can do.
That being said, the other methods zero in on exactly what you're trying to do and make your code much easier to decipher, not to mention that it's easier to figure out yourself what you need to do to get the pixels you want and put them where you want. So, if you really need to use the other methods, you're going to have to come up with a BitmapData object from somewhere to use as the sourceBitmapData of the method you're trying to use for this BitmapData. That imples that you need not one BitmapData, but two–the one you're drawing on and the one you're drawing from. And we already know how to get pixels from an IBitmapDrawable onto a BitmapData, which is to use the draw() method. So, to get the pixels from a DisplayObject into any of the methods that take a BitmapData, you simply create an extra BitmapData and use the draw() method to get the pixels from the DisplayObject, and then that BitmapData can serve as the sourceBitmapData for the other methods.
This process seems like a bit of a hack to me, but it's the only possibility I see at this point. If you know of a way that "cuts out the middle man," please use the Comments field to clue me in.
The process of getting instances of things is pretty straightforward in Flex, whether you create the instance in ActionScript or in MXML, so I'm going to focus on the process of creating the classes and getting references to them in Flash. This process doesn't seem to be detailed online anywhere, so I pretty much figured much of this out myself. Bear with me if some of the details are a bit off, and feel free to jump into the comments section if you know of a place where this is documented better.
It is possible to start out with a BitmapData, which seemed obvious to me after reading the 8BitRocket tutorial on tile sheet animation. Unfortunately, if the fla file was in the download for the tutorial, it didn't show up when I unzipped the file at my end, and so there was no way to see how the included png file became an instance of a custom Class that subclasses BitmapData. So here's how I make the translation from a graphic file to a BitmapData subclass.
First, open the File Menu. What you're looking for is "Import to Stage" or "Import to Library." If you want to have your BitmapData already on the stage for you to operate on, select "Import to Stage." If you intend to only instantiate your BitmapData through ActionScript, select "Import to Library." Don't worry if you select the wrong one, because you can change your mind by deleting the instance from the stage or creating an instance by dragging from the library.
In order to be able to reference this asset from ActionScript, you need to right click it in the library and select Properties>Export for Actionscript. Note that the Base class is flash.display.BitmapData. The class name will default to the name of the library symbol, which will probably be the original graphic file name. It's probably not a good idea to have a class name with a "." in it, so change it to something else.
If you want to have an instance defined on the stage already, be sure to give it an instance name. Be aware of what your "declare stage instances automatically" setting is (Publish Settings>Flash>Actionscript 3>Settings), because this will determine what you need to do to avoid getting errors when you refer to your instance. If this is checked, you want to avoid a statement like public var myTileSheet:BitmapData, whereas if it is unchecked, you must declare the variable (in strict mode). The advantage to unchecking this option is that if you're editing your code in a tool with code completion, such as FlashDevelop, then code completion will pop up with the options appropriate to BitmapData objects, because you've told FlashDevelop the type in the variable declaration. Be aware that this variable must be public. You can't "hide" instances that you let Flash put on stage for you by declaring them private or protected.
If your instance is not defined on stage, you can simply create a new one by a statement like public var myTyleSheet:BitmapData = new(MyTileSheet).
Whichever method you use, your shiny new MyTileSheet does not need to be on the Display List in order for you to use copyPixels(), draw(), or any of the other methods to copy its pixels onto the BitmapData you're preparing for display.
If you're wondering how all this plays out in Flex, the Embed statement will create the Class for you, and presumably the base class will be BitmapData. However, most of the things I've done in Flex with a Class defined this way, Flex has handled for me so I've never needed to look at that.
If you have an external graphic fle or swf, use flash.display.Loader to load the asset. The main thing you need to remember is that you need to wait for the loader to dispatch a "complete" event to let you know that the load was finished. The "thing" that was loaded will be accessible through the loader's content property, which is of type DisplayObject.
MovieClip is probably the easiest one. You just define the MovieClip in the library, as you would normally do, then check "Export for ActionScript" and "Export in Frame 1" in the MovieClip properties. All the same caveats apply to where and how to declare the instance variable that I discussed for BitmapData.
Depending on what is going on inside your MovieClip, you may need to call stop() or goToAndStop() to make sure you're capturing the frame you want.
This one was pretty puzzling for me, until I got some help from my "tweeps." You can't actually directly create a Sprite in the library. Instead, you create a MovieClip symbol, and when you "Export for ActionScript," change the Base class from MovieClip to Sprite. I'm not sure if you'd want to use this option to get a static asset to use as a BitmapData source, but it's a useful technique to know, and one I've never seen written down (except on Twitter).
So we've figured out how to get our assets into the library. Now they're there, we know how to get a reference to them, and what we need to do to draw their pixels to a BitmapData. There's only one thing left to do, which is add it to the Display List. So don't forget to call addChild(myTileSheet), or you'll never see the fruits of your labor.
Performance of copyPixels vs. Sprite Pooling Utility Functions for DisplayObjects CrossDomain Display Object Hack
This past week it seems Twitter was all about entertainment, with Justin Bieber, the Olympics, and the Jonas Brothers on the tips of everyone’s fingers.
Our friends at What The Trend have provided an overview of the most tweeted topics this past week. Because this is a topical list, hashtag memes and games have been omitted from the chart.
For the avid tweeter, it may come as no surprise that the young Canadian pop star Justin Bieber continued to trend this week, hitting the top spot. With all eyes on Vancouver these past two weeks, the Olympics ranked high as fans continued to cheer their nation’s teams and discuss NBC’s coverage of the games in the U.S.
Continuing in entertainment, pop singers The Jonas Brothers rose in the ranks this week thanks to a campaign by Chilean and Argentinian fans urging the group to visit their countries. And the new Martin Scorcese film Shutter Island starring Leonardo DiCaprio has scored big points with fans and critics alike.
Rounding out the set was plenty of discussion of Tiger Woods’ public apology for his marital infidelity on February 19th, a surge of support from fans of the South Korean band Super Junior, and a lot of chatter about Twitter itself as it was been plagued by more phishing attacks in the last few days.
You can check past Twitter trends in our Top Twitter Topics section as well as read more about this past week’s trends on What The Trend.
Tags: social media, Top Twitter Topics, trends, twitter, twitter trends, What The Trend
Not getting Twitter updates today? It’s not just you — a number of users have reported the same, with blogger Dave Winer saying his Twitter account has been stalled for eight hours.
Popular Twitter app TweetDeck added, “Apparently Twitter is having problems: No Twitter timeline updates for several hours for many users,” linking to a post by TheNextWeb that reported the same.
A Twitter search for “Twitter timeline“, meanwhile, confirms that the issue is affecting a number of users.
Are you having Twitter timeline issues today? Let us know in the comments.
Tags: timeline, twitter
While some people may amass large numbers of porcelain figurines or miniature replica cars, we’ve got five far cooler collectibles for those of a more geeky nature.
From vinyl to plush, we bring you five social media-, online- and tech-themed items that will not only show your affiliation to all things geek, but who knows, could end up being worth something in years to come.
Peruse the list below and let us know which item you’d chose to grace your desk in the comments.
This adorable blue bird is a real-life representation of the Twitterrific Mac Twitter client from Iconfactory and would look super-sweet perched on your desk. Around 4 inches tall, Ollie “loves to chat about what’s going on” according to his makers. There are two Ollies available — a vinyl version for just under $20, and a flocked vinyl option for $26.95. Now all we need is a Fail Whale to complete the set.
Cost: From $19.95
Android fans get not one but 12 different versions of the cute robotic logo to collect. Kicking off with the standard green effort, there’s also a “worker” version with shirt and tie, an albino option, and some “super rare chase editions” to look out for. Designed by NYC artist Andrew Bell, each vinyl figure stands 3 inches tall and features a rotating head and arms.
Cost: Approx $7.25 each
Fans of Mozilla’s open source browser can show their love with this official plush toy. Technically, it’s actually a red panda, as that’s what a “firefox” actually is. The 9-inch stuffed toy comes with “cuteness guaranteed” according to Mozilla, and proceeds from sales benefit the Mozilla Foundation. Now can we have a big-eared Fennec fox next?
Cost: $12.08
The trademark black turtleneck, the jeans, the glasses; “Plush Jobs” is unmistakable in his Steve-ness, and could work equally well for Apple fanatics and haters — the latter of which could easily find some Voodoo uses. From LEGO-loving Apple fans PodBrix, Plush Jobs stands at 17 inches tall and was created because the makers “always wanted a cuddly Jobs doll” so figured “other people might want one too.” The first 500 have already sold out, but PodBrix promises to make more.
Cost: $27.99
Tux, the logo for Linux, famously created by Larry Ewing, has seen many real-life incarnations as varied as plushies and squeezy stress toys. But we think the best is the Gwin range from October Toys that gives the little open source penguin his own “army” full of wonderful, wacky, colorful characters as designed by a variety of artists. The vinyl Gwin range stands at around 2.5 inches tall with a limited number released, so if you see one you like, you know what you need to do.
Cost: From $10 each
- Twitter Gift Guide: 15 Ways to Shop for the Twitter Obsessed - Mac Gift Guide: 10 Buying Ideas for Apple Fans - 10 Great Digital Gifts for Social Media Lovers - 10 Romantic Gifts for Your Beloved Geek
Tags: android, apple, Firefox, geek, Gifts, Linux, List, Lists, nerd, shopping, shopping list, steve jobs, toys, twitterrific
The Android Market may still lag behind the iPhone App Store in terms of variety and quality, but there is something to be said for the Android operating system’s extremely tight integration with existing Google products, and the wide choice of devices and carriers.
There’s no question that the iPhone has many wonderful apps, but Android’s smart syncing with existing tools, interesting Android-only experiments coming every day from Google employees, and its open marketplace model have yielded some tools that may give the average iPhone user pause.
If you’re looking for a change, or you’re in the smartphone market and still weighing the pros and cons, consider these Android-only apps and how they might fit into your work, play, and mobile lifestyle.
There’s no denying that the iPhone OS is a gorgeous piece software. But when it comes to the home screen, “you get what you get, and you don’t get upset,” to quote a nursery school mantra.
Android is completely open-source, which means that apps can change the functionality and appearance of the OS, if you permit them to. This isn’t always good for safety, but it’s great for customization.
OpenHome is one of the leading customization apps available on the Market. It functions as a replacement for the default home screen, into which you can load customs skins, icon packs, and fonts — many of which are freely available in the Market and created by other users.
In addition to the look and feel of your OS, OpenHome also allows for other custom tweaks including soft keyboard improvements and widget modifications.
Imagine a world where you never have to listen to another voicemail again. That’s almost what you get when you set up Google Voice and utilize the Android app. Google Voice lets you keep your existing mobile number, but will forward your missed calls to a generated Google number that you can check on the web, in your e-mail, or via the app.
The service automatically generates voicemail transcription that is usually accurate enough to get the gist of what the caller is saying. Instead of getting a voicemail on your phone, you’ll receive and e-mail (or text message) with the transcription.
The app then lets you scroll through your messages visually, like an e-mail inbox, and stream the audio messages from the web as needed, all without wasting precious mobile minutes.
There are certainly other great voicemail alternatives for the iPhone (and Voice is available as a web-based service), but Google Voice’s deep integration with Gmail (you can also enable audio playback within web e-mail messages) makes it a great compliment to your hand-held arsenal of communications tools.
Google Voice is still an invite-only service at the moment. You can request an invite from Google here, or hit up your friends on social networks for one.
Classic gamers rejoice! NESoid is a Nintendo ROM emulator for Android that actually works. The app itself is software that interprets ROM files — the format of choice for hacked console games. Assuming you’re loading a worthwhile ROM file from your SD card, the gameplay is really smooth.
The lite version of NESoid is free, but prevents you from loading a “saved-state” of a game. The full version will cost you $3.49 and unlocks this feature.
Most ROMS are not exactly kosher in terms of copyright, so we’ll leave it at your discretion whether you want to actually track down the games. This is likely why console emulators have not made it through the stringent App Store approval process, but are now appearing in Android’s more liberal Market.
If you’ve got an eye on your stock portfolio 24/7, Google Finance can be a useful tool for getting customized, real-time quotes.
The Android app syncs directly to your Google Finance portfolios and streams live data right into your hands by way of quote updates, charts, and financial news.
Android is currently the only mobile platform with an official Google Finance app.
Google Listen is a unique offering from Google Labs that functions like a search engine and subscription tool for podcasts across the web. If you’re on the train and realize you’ve forgotten to download the latest episode of NPR’s This American Life, simply fire up Google Listen, search for it, and stream it immediately, from the source.
Google Listen effectively eliminates the need to download podcasts or connect your handset to your computer. And with subscription options built in, once you find a show you like, you’ll never miss an episode while you’re on the go.
Last but not least, the utility of the fully integrated Gmail and Calendar apps that come built-in to the Android OS cannot be overstated. One of the core reasons why any Gmail or Google Apps user should go Android is that the handset will complete your suite of cloud computing productivity tools.
Because of the intrinsic link between your Android phone and your Google account, the mobile functionality of Google apps like Gmail and Calendar are seamless. Draft an e-mail on your phone and it is instantly viewable in your drafts folder on the web. Update an appointment on the web Calendar, and it’s reflected on your phone seconds later.
Android users also enjoy the built-in functionality of shared calendars, Gmail labels, threaded conversations, and “Send As” accounts if it is configured in your settings.
If you live and work out of your Gmail inbox, an Android handset is the perfect extension.
- 7 Mind-Blowing Free Android Apps - Free Multiplayer Android Games [3 of the Best] - 3 News Apps for Android Compared - The Best Free Twitter Apps for Android - 30 Android Apps to Watch - 8 Android Apps Worth Paying For (And Some That Aren’t)
Tags: android, apps, gaming, gmail, Google, google apps, google finance, Google Listen, Google Voice, iphone, List, Lists, Mobile 2.0
If you’re looking to pitch in to the relief effort for Chile after this morning’s massive earthquake, we’ve gathered some of the web’s best channels for humanitarian aid and reconstruction efforts.
While the death toll is not expected to grow anywhere near the numbers of the Haiti quake, Chile will still require support for the many who are now homeless, and funds for the rebuilding of infrastructure.
If you have the means, we encourage you to donate through one of the channels below.
As with the Haitian relief efforts, the Mobile Giving Foundation has launched a text messaging campaign for micro donations, and the four major U.S. mobile carriers, Verizon, At&T, Sprint and T-mobile, have waived text messaging fees for donations.
To text your support: 1. Text the word “CHILE” to 25383 to donate $10 on behalf of the Habitat for Humanity
2. Text the word “CHILE” to 20222 to donate $10 on behalf of World Vision
3. Text the word “CHILE” to 52000 to donate $10 on behalf of the Salvation Army
4. Text the word “CHILE” to 85944 to donate $10 on behalf of International Medical Corp.
If you want to donate a larger amount directly to a non-profit of choice, consider these organizations that have active relief efforts underway.
1. American Red Cross — the American Red Cross International Response Fund helps victims of crises such as the Chile and Haiti earthquakes. If you wish to designate your funds to a specific crisis, you’ll need to mail in your donation.
2. Americares — funds go exclusively to the Chilean earthquake (and tsunami relief, should further tragedies occur)
3. Google Crisis Response, with channels benefiting UNICEF and DirectRelief International – use your Google Checkout account to donate instantly to these charities
4. World Vision Disaster Response Fund - your money goes towards relief efforts for global disasters worldwide (not Chile specifically)
Do you know of other non-profits mobilizing aid for Chile that we missed? Add them with donation information in the comments.
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, tipografico
Tags: chile, chile earthquake, donation, donations, social good, texting, trending
With Twitter phishing attacks in the news last week, it’s perhaps unsurprising that musician Jason Mraz (@jason_mraz) has seen his Twitter account compromised today.
Mraz’s account is currently sending out links to a Cost Per Action offers site that appears to add $9.99 to your phone bill if you follow through with the request. There’s some social engineering going on here too, with the Tweets reading: “Here is the quiz. whoever beats my IQ of 97 will win the ipad and get to be in my newest video”.
The hack was confirmed on Mraz’s Facebook page minutes ago, with an update reading: “**IMPORTANT** someone has hacked into Jason’s twitter account. Don’t believe anything that is tweeted until we have access back into the account!”
Hat-tip: Arthur Baynes
Tags: jason mraz, mraz, twitter
Version 2.1 of the Android operating system (which currently powers newer handsets like the Nexus One) may be coming to older Android phones in the U.S, according to a report. This corroborates some earlier rumors, and comes despite speculation that 2.1 simply wouldn’t fit on older hardware like T-mobile’s G1 handset.
The rumor is being reported by Taylor Wimberly of Android and Me, who cites “inside sources familiar with the matter.” Wimberly also notes that not all of the features of the Nexus One will make it to the older phones, such as Live Wallpaper, and that certain handsets may require a clean data wipe before installing 2.1 via PC interface (a departure from previous over-the-air updates that Android users have enjoyed).
Given that the most crucial user data stored on Android phones is generally in the cloud (e-mail, contacts calendar) and other apps and files can easily be backed up via SD card, a system wipe in exchange for a shiny new OS seems worthwhile. But questions remain about how older hardware will handle some of the heavier features of 2.1.
If the rumors are true, it would be great news for early adopters of Android who now long for the updated features of the Nexus One.
What do you think? If available, would you upgrade your old Android phone to 2.1, or simply purchase the newest hardware when you’re ready?
Tags: android, G1, Google, Mobile 2.0, nexus one, rumor, rumors
