By Cynthia Herbert :: 12:07 AM
Pinterest, the virtual pinboard and social media sharing website, has announced that it is updated its iPhone app, and introduced new apps for iPad and Android devices.
The apps were made available for download at Apps.Pinterest.com late on Tuesday night.
While Pinterest has had an iPhone app for some time, the Android community has been very vocal about the need for an app for their devices. The Pinterest development team said in a blog post that they have “made sure the app works well on Android phones and tablets, regardless of your device’s cost, speed or screen size.”
For the iPhone, Pinterest has redesigned the app to make it speedier, and has also introduced a 2-column layout that lets users see more, so that they can locate pins easier.
August has been a busy month so far for Pinterest, as the service dropped the invitation requirement last week, and is allowing anyone to register and start pinning.
Below – Android Pinterest app:
By Gilbert Falso :: 10:32 PM
Klout Re-Tools Scoring Algorithm
On Tuesday, the company rolled out updated scores for all of its users and began pushing out an updated Klout interface that focuses not on Klout score, but the individual posts as well. Mashable
Margaret Thatcher Dies (On Twitter)
A Twitter account dubbed @OfficialSkyNews falsely tweeted that former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had died, setting the Internet ablaze with momentary confusion as users waited for verification of the news. NY Daily News
Uber Car Service Hits a Snag in Boston
On its blog today, Uber revealed that a letter came from the Division of Standards of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, ordering it to stop operating in that area. TechCrunch
Twitter Co-Founders Show Off Collaborative Publishing Tool
The company led by Twitter co-founders Ev Williams and Biz Stone, today showed off a collaborative publishing tool called Medium. All Things D
By Cynthia Herbert :: 2:26 PM
Social media and Internet influence tracker Klout has released changes to its scoring and ranking algorithm today that changes the way users scores are computed.
The company has increased the number of variables that it takes into account when coming up with score numbers. Before, Klout only took about 100 variables of a social media user’s online presence into account when scores were factored. Now, the service looks at over 400 variables. This adds up to 12 billion data points each day, across seven popular social media networks.
While Klout still looks at overall numbers of followers and friends, the data is now weighed more on who you are interacting with and what you are saying online, rather than just focusing on sheer numbers.
In addition to the online world, Klout also claims to look at your real-world influence, and factor that into your overall score as well. For instance, if you are important enough to have your own Wikipedia page, that might get your ranking pushed a little higher.
When Klout users log into the service for the first time after the change, they will see the following screens that detail some of the changes:
By Cynthia Herbert :: 2:16 AM
Auto insurance company Progressive has raised hackles on social media today for the way they handled the case of one of their customers who died in an auto accident in 2010.
Comedian Matt Fisher posted this account of his sister’s fatal accident on his Tumblr blog early on Monday, and the news spread like wildfire. Fisher was angry that the insurer denied his sister’s policy claim, and then used its own attorney to bolster the case of the other side. It’s a circuitous story, but Fisher lays it out well.
Progressive is fanning the flames by copy-and-pasting the same boilerplate legal response to every direct @ message they receive on their Twitter account. Through the use of Tweet lengthening service TwitLonger, Progressive posts, “This is a tragic case, and our sympathies go out to Mr. Fisher and his family for the pain they’ve had to endure. We fully investigated this claim and relevant background, and feel we properly handled the claim within our contractual obligations. Again, this is a tragic situation, and we’re sorry for everything Mr. Fisher and his family have gone through.”
On Progressive’s Facebook page, angry comments from customers, including from those who have recently cancelled their insurance with the company, flooded the page on Monday night. Below, is one of the images posted to Progressive’s Facebook page.
By Gilbert Falso :: 11:56 PM
Progressive Insurance displays heartless side on Twitter:
With a title as provocative as “My Sister Paid Progressive Insurance to Defend Her Killer In Court,” comedian Matt Fisher’s Tumblr post was bound to get attention. Gawker
Facebook hoodwinks developers with app security lies
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission says Facebook duped application developers into paying $375 for a phony security authentication, the latest to come out of the privacy investigation Facebook settled on Friday. Venture Beat
HuffPost Launches Huff Post Live
Today The Huffington Post launched its web television operation, HuffPost Live, an online news video hub that asks a lot of the watcher compared to the average TV network. The Atlantic Wire
London 2012 – The Numbers Behind the First Social Media Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympics marks the first time that social media made a big splash with international sports fans. Twitter, Facebook, and other social networks have seen an explosion of engagement, and even traditional media outlets like BBC Sports took part in the digital revelry. The Verge