Author: James Mowery

If there is one thing that Android really needs to have happen, it is that advertising needs to remain positive on the platform. This it true for two reasons: it gives developers incentive to develop for the platform and it provides developers income, from which they might not be getting from application purchases. But the recent news could be disheartening for those who are looking to jump in and develop free, ad-supported applications for Android. The news is that ad impression growth has slowed on Android. Even more interesting is that it is rated to be roughly the same as iOS, with both platforms…

Twitter has been known to push the envelope on social communication and interaction. Twitter is even credited for heavily influencing things like the Iranian elections. But all of the amazing things Twitter has accomplished could be for nothing if the company loses sight of what is truly important. And although Twitter has avoided the Fail Whale for quite awhile, it might not only creep back into the spotlight, but it could also become a permanent figure of Twitter’s being. Unfortunately, the reality is that Twitter is changing at a hot clip these days, and while many of the changes have been for…

We already know that Facebook is huge, but now we have true visual feedback to how impressive the Facebook empire really stands. It is massive. And it is clear that all of Europe and the Eastern United States have too much time on their hands. But what is even more impressive is that the above picture isn’t actually wasn’t supposed to look like our world, but it does anyways. Paul Butler, a Facebook intern who should clearly earn a job at the company, took a data set of over ten million friendship connections and plotted those connections to city points on essentially a black digital image canvas, and…

The founder of Wikileaks, Julian Assange, has been set free on bail by the British courts today. The conditions of his bail were that another hearing would be held on January 11, 2011. The $300,000+ bail was posted with help from many supporters (including several celebrities) who donated the money to have his bail posted. All of this comes at the height of a rape investigation and secret U.S. cables being leaked into the wild. Although there is still some debate about whether Mr. Assange will be charged in the U.S. for allegations of espionage, the Wikileaks founder will surely be happy that he can…

It’s not every day you get to re-imagine what the desktop computer will look like, especially in an age where mobility is taking over. However, courtesy of some brilliant thinkers at the Media Computing Group at Aachen University in Germany, the desktop computer is looking brand-spanking new and totally awesome. It even has a curve to it. It’s called the BendDesk. By utilizing two projectors, three cameras, and a few IR-LEDs, the BendDesk can interpret touch and manipulation on a surface that is reminiscent of a touch-based screen on a desktop operating system. But this one appears to work very…

Google has a present for those want access to sophisticated data with relation to our very own planet. It’s called Google Earth Engine, and it is Google’s attempt to better the world through scientific research. Users are free to explore this data right in their browser, and there is much more data on the way. So what is Google Earth Engine? Well, in Google’s words, they sum it up like this: Google Earth Engine brings together the world’s satellite imagery—trillions of scientific measurements dating back more than 25 years—and makes it available online with tools for scientists, independent…

PayPal. It’s one of the most well-known methods of transferring money online (even though it might be the most frustrating). It’s an American establishment that saw amazing growth the with rise and purchase by eBay. Now not only is it a way for millions to transfer and get paid, it is sometimes the lifeline that helps supports many websites’ existence for paying the bills, primarily in the form of donations. But PayPal took that away from Wikileaks, and now The Pirate Bay wants users to retaliate. On The Pirate Bay’s latest blog posting, the company calls for PayPal users to take away the one thing…

For so many years, mankind has faced a huge conundrum: how does one take photos above the water and below it at the same time? Thankfully, we could now have an answer. And the most awesome part is that it is called the UNDERABOVE. Wait, I lied. That isn’t the most awesome part. The awesome part is that it accomplishes two things: it looks like something man created to destroy humanity, and it takes photos of below and above the water synchronously with dual-lens technology. It’s obvious why they would do the former, but not quite so sure why they would want to do the latter. I’m guessing Hollywood has run…

Smart phone users love Google maps, as they should. It wasn’t too long ago when Google added turn-by-turn navigation, resulting in the anti-climactic killing of GPS manufacturers around the world. But now it is about to get even more interesting when Google releases Google Maps 5 for Android. On top of the feature list: we’re going to get 3D buildings! Initially, it doesn’t sound that mind blowing, until you realize the potential: people can potentially stare at the smart phones while walking with the GPS enabled and avoid running into mammoth-sized buildings, drive without ever taking their…

Four hours. This is the amount of time I spent playing Minecraft today. But I had only intended to load up the game to take screenshots for this very article; obviously, that didn’t go as planned. However, I managed to break away, at least long enough to write this article, but I’m already missing it. Why? What makes this game so different than any other? And why would a hardcore gamer like me even bother? Trust me when I say that I never thought a game about blocks, zombies, and building things — with no apparent objective whatsoever — could be so addictive. The concept is simple and the objective…