social

After the hacking collective Anonymous launched a Twitter campaign pledging to go after the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba, the U.S. military barred all Wi-Fi access on the base, according to the Associated Press. All social media, including Facebook and Twitter, also has been banned.

Army Lt. Col. Samuel House told the Associated Press that the shuttering of the base's Wi-Fi was because of Anonymous' public plans to "disrupt activities" at the military prison.

While no disruptions have yet been reported, according to the Associated Press, Anonymous has promised to make good on its threats.… Read more

As I sat through the last half hour of a nearly 4-hour keynote, sweat pouring through my shirt, my attention waned. Most people's did. Where were the gadgets? Last year, Google seemed like the hottest (or, most conversation-starting) hardware company around. This year, the only hardware mentioned was the 3-month-old Chromebook Pixel. I wanted new, weird products: watches, new evolutions of Glass, crazy convertible tablets. I wanted to see what Google's next products are.

Yet, you can see the message. In the people wearing Glass -- of which I was one, sheepish, awkward. In the customized, personalized Maps. … Read more

Twitter and NBA Digital have partnered to stream in-tweet video highlights of some of the NBA playoffs' most exciting plays.

The deal, which was first reported by Bloomberg, comes just days after a similar arrangement between Twitter and ESPN. In that arrangement, Twitter users will have access to replays from soccer, the X Games, and college football.

Twitter said that the NBA highlights will be sponsored by Sony Pictures Entertainment, Taco Bell, and Sprint Nextel.

QR codes haven't exactly set the world on fire, yet most people know what they are, and most phones can scan them, either out of the box or with a third-party app.

The Findables Case takes that idea to heart by emblazoning a unique QR code on each hard-plastic shell, the idea being to use that code to share information about yourself or help recover your lost phone.

In other words, your case can now take the place of your business card, while at the same time offering good Samaritans a means of contacting you (that doesn't involve poring through your address book).

When someone scans the code, they'll see one of three profiles (chosen by you via a companion app or the Findables Web site): Business, Social, or Lost.… Read more

Pheed, a social-networking service designed to meet all the multimedia needs of today's mobile user, has launched its application for Android.

The Android release trails Pheed's official debut back in November on Apple's iOS platform.

Since then, the Los Angeles-based bootstrapped startup has racked up "a few million users," around 20 percent of whom are teens ages 15 to 17. And more than 42 percent of app users are between the ages of 17 and 22, which means Pheed is already immensely popular with high schoolers and college kids and may be one of the … Read more

"Thank you for sharing" takes on an entirely new meaning when using social media. Most of the people who use Twitter, Facebook, and other social networks intend their posts to enlighten, amuse, or inspire their friends and followers. It doesn't always work out that way.

For businesses, Twitter is primarily about customer relations, but this can backfire, too, as Customer Think's Trish Miller points out in the Top 10 Twitter Mistakes of 2012.

The first time you sat behind the wheel of a car you didn't just turn the key and head for the freeway … Read more

A more granular approach to how Firefox has implemented the controversial "Do Not Track" setting leads off the changes to Firefox 21, which updated on Tuesday. Also in the browser is support for more social networks including MSN Now and a "Firefox Health Report."

More options for the Social API, which debuted at the end of last year with Facebook Messenger integration, allows Firefox 21 (download for Windows | Mac | Linux) to work with MSN Now, Cliqz, China's Weibo, and the Japan-only Mixi. While there's no doubt that they're not even on a scale … Read more

A Facebook app that mimicked the real-life lethal game of Russian roulette in deleting user accounts apparently did not leave the social network fired up.

Social Roulette, which launched Saturday, gave players a one-in-six chance of deleting their own Facebook account, a form of social suicide, if you will. If you lost (or won, depending on your level of exasperation with social networking), the app would delete all aspects of the user's account, including posts, likes, photos, and friend connections, before deactivating the account.

According to its description, the app was intended for people looking to burn their Facebook … Read more

If you like sports highlights but spend more time on social networks than watching TV, Twitter and ESPN are going to do their best to meet your needs.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Twitter and ESPN plan to announce tomorrow a deepening of their existing relationship, agreeing on a pact under which the leading sports channel will unveil a wide variety of highlight clips in its tweets. The videos would be available on Twitter "shortly after" they take place live.

Naturally, the new arrangement -- which expands on a pact signed in December under which ESPN began … Read more