Tag Archives: twitter

Who Owns Your Online Music and Book Collection When You Die?

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Bruce Willis

While you were having your BBQ’s this weekend, music bloggers around the world were all busy talking about who owns the rights to our online music and book collections once we die. This may seem like a gruesome topic for such a pleasant holiday weekend, but it all started when one International writer reported that Bruce Willis, yes the actor, was going to challenge Apple about the rights to his iTunes account after his death.

Trade reporters wrote that the Die Hard actor has a huge online music collection. This issue recently came to light when he was updating his wills and trusts. He regards his music as one of his most valuable assets. It is not necessarily what the music costs, but the sentimental value of his personal picks. Rumor has that the collection is worth tens of thousands but it might be higher than that.

Being that social media is a place where everyone chimes in, Willis’s current wife, Emma Hemming, tweeted that her husband was not going after Apple. Don’t quote me but I think someone said she and Bruce have no idea how this rumor got started. No one can verify if that was the real Emma Hemming, but that is not what everyone is now concerned about. Americans want to know who actually owns the downloaded music collections from iTunes?

It is not easy getting an answer. All reporter and blogger inquiries into Apple have so far gone unanswered. Twitter can’t even tell if Emma Hemming is Emma Hemming. They have no real way of knowing. Most people I spoke to about this situation over the weekend and from what I have read, said the only way we are really going to get an answer is to have the actor, who plays big screen action roles, lead the way. Apple will more likely pay attention to Willis, than us.

A British newspaper reporter, one of the first to bring up the entire subject, said Willis was concerned that the rights to his music collection would be “passed back to Apple, entitling his children to nothing.” It was also mentioned that the actor wanted it definitely documented that his children hold the legal rights to his music.

Long time music writers noted that when you download a music track from the iTunes store, you are really renting the content under license. Your next question should be, “Does that apply to music and books from Amazon?” The legal community is sure to have a field day with post-mortem music and book rights as more intellectual property is purchased through online stores.

A Blow-By-Blow Apple Vs. Samsung Live Blog Feed

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This is the perfect time to show everyone who reads Digidame what a “live blog feed” looks like. A “live blog feed” is a blow-by-blow description of news in the making. Bloggers go to an event and report the news in short sound bites. They constantly post info like they are writing for a news scroll on CNN. “Live blog feed” is also called “micro blogging.” People do it all the time on Twitter.

Today I was waiting for the verdict in the Apple vs Samsung case. I decided to watch the result on CNET, a popular tech site, because two reporters were situated in the courtroom in San Jose. They took turns pounding out the events as they were happening. We all now know the results. A jury awarded Apple more than $1 billion in damages after finding that Samsung infringed a series of Apple patents on smartphones and tablet computers.

I started watching CNET on my laptop when I received an alert that the verdict was in. The following is how the events unfolded. Start from the bottom and work your way up to the final dollar award. It started at 6:37pm and ended at 7:13pm.

The typos are real. No one stops to proof.

7:13 PM | by Josh Lowensohn Big win for Apple here today.
7:12 PM | by Josh Lowensohn 515 – yes. 914 – yes
7:12 PM | by Josh Lowensohn Has Apple proven by a preponderance of the evidence that Samsung has violated Section 2 of the Sherman Antitrust Act by monopolizing one or more technology markets related to the UMTS standard?
7:10 PM | by Josh Lowensohn 941 patent – claim 10 – no. claim 15 no.
7:10 PM | by Josh Lowensohn 516 patent – no & no
7:10 PM | by Josh Lowensohn iPod Touch 4th Gen – 711 patent claim 1, no. 893 patent – no. 460 patent claim 1, no. 46
7:09 PM | by Josh Lowensohn iPhone 4 ‘516 patent NO. Claim 16 no.
7:08 PM | by Josh Lowensohn 460 patent iPhone 3gs
7:08 PM | by Josh Lowensohn 460 patent claim 1 – iPhone 3GS NO
7:08 PM | by Josh Lowensohn 711 – iPhone 3G – NO
7:08 PM | by Josh Lowensohn 460 patent on iPhone 3G – NO
7:07 PM | by Josh Lowensohn Replenish – $3.350M
7:07 PM | by Josh Lowensohn mesmerize $53.123M
7:06 PM | by Josh Lowensohn Tab 10.1 Wi-Fi- $833K
7:05 PM | by Josh Lowensohnn Galaxy S i9000 0
7:04 PM | by Josh Lowensohn If you answered “Yes” to any of Questions 21-22, and thus found that any Samsung entity has infringed Apple’s unregistered iPad/iPad 2 trade dress, has Apple proven by clear and convincing evidence that the Samsung entity’s infringement was willful?
7:02 PM | by Josh Lowensohn We’re going to 19…. now
7:01 PM | by Josh Lowensohn Samsung Electronics Co. (SEC) – YES to fascinate, Si900, 4G, S2 Showcase, Mesmerize, Vibrant . NO to captivate, conntinuum, charge, Epic 4G, galaxy prevail, S2 AT&T, S2 i9100, S 2 Tmobile, S2 Epic 4G touch, SKyrocket and Infuse 4G.
7:00 PM | by Josh Lowensohn If you found the unregistered iPhone 3 trade dress protectable and famous, for each of the following products, has Apple proven by a preponderance of the evidence that Samsung Electronics Co. (SEC), Samsung Electronics America (SEA), and/or Samsung Telecommunications America (STA) has diluted the unregistered iPhone 3 trade dress?
6:56 PM | by Josh Lowensohn D’889 Patent no
6:54 PM | by Josh Lowensohn D’087 Patent – YES for Galaxy S 4G and Vribant, NO for Galaxy S AT&T, Epic 4G touch, Skyrocket, and Infuse 4G
6:53 PM | by David Hamilton Apple’s D ‘889 patent: Relates to the industrial design of a tablet computer.
6:52 PM | by Josh Lowensohn Yes for captivate, droid charge, epic 4g, fascainate, S i9000, S 4G, S showcase i900, Gem, indulge, S 4G, and Vibrant
6:51 PM | by Josh Lowensohn Telecom America: Yes for galaxy s 4g and vibrant, no for S2 AT&T, S2 epic 4g touch, skyrocket
6:50 PM | by Josh Lowensohn For each of the following products, has Apple proven by a preponderance of the evidence that Samsung Electronics Co. (SEC), Samsung Electronics America (SEA), and/or Samsung Telecommunications America (STA) has infringed the D’087 Patent?
6:49 PM | by David Hamilton The “yes” answers here, by the way, mean a finding of infringement by Samsung.
6:48 PM | by Josh Lowensohn 915 patent claim 8 – yes for captivate, conniuum, droid charge, exhibit 4g, fascinate, galaxy prevail, galaxy s 4g, S AT&T, Tmobile, Galaxy Tab 10.1, indulge, infuse 4g, nexus, transform and vibrant. No for replenish.
6:45 PM | by David Hamilton Continuum, Droid Charge, Exhibit 4G, Facsincate, Galaxy Prevail, S 4G, Galaxy S 2 AT&T, Galasy S 2 Tmobile, Gem, Induldge, INfuse 4G, mesmerize, Nexus S 4G, transform and Vibrant, NO for intercept and replenish
6:43 PM | by Josh Lowensohn Yes for captivate, fascinate Jx, galaxy previal, galaxy s, galaxy s 4G, galaxy SII i1900, Galaxy S2, Galxy Tab. Gem, Infuse, Mesmerize, NExus S 4g, Transform.
6:40 PM | by Josh Lowensohn Apple Inc. vs. Samsung Electronics Co LT, Samsung America Inc, Samsung Telecomm LLC.
6:39 PM | by charles.cooper Love this tweet from Danny Sullivan: After the verdict gets read, I really want someone, judge or jury, to say, “One last thing….”
6:39 PM | by Josh LowensohnAnd the foreman is a male, older. ID’d simply as juror no. 1.
6:38 PM | by Josh Lowensohn There’s a hell of a lot of room for error here, in case that isn’t clear. There are about 700 questions and other checkboxes that needed filling out.
6:37 PM | by Josh Lowensohn Okay, here we go folks.

Politics On Social Media

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USA Today ran a story the other day that said if you want to run for the President of the United States you better be on social media. Most politicians are making their important political announcements on Facebook and Twitter before traditional media.

Since many of you are not on Facebook and Twitter, I decided to bring Facebook and Twitter to you.

I did a little research and found a list of politicans who frequently use Facebook and Twitter. Don’t ask me why Paul Ryan is listed twice. I don’t make the lists but let me explain the numbers.

F—Facebook fans
If there is no F, that means the person is not on Facebook
+—the followers on Twitter today
T—the total number of followers on Twitter
Last number is the total reach on Facebook and Twitter

After you view the list of the 20 people I found, be sure to see recent political tweets from Romney and Obama.

#1
Barack Obama
F 27,754,142
+ 24,490 Today
T 18,484,176
46,238,318

#2
Paul Ryan VP
F 369,993
+ 7,980 Today
T 80,432
450,425

#3
Mitt Romney
F 4,052,321
+ 5,757 Today
T 837,031
4,889,352

#4
Paul Ryan
F 189,663
+ 183,640
373,303

#5
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Politician
F 2,104,636
+ 2,516 Today
T 2,552,903
4,657,539

#6
UK Prime Minister
+ 1,981 Today
T 2,061,265
2,061,265

#7
Hugo Chavez
+ 1,916 Today
T 3,305,268
3,305,268

#8
Queen Rania Al Abdullah
F 1,067,437
+ 1,424 Today
T 2,241,002
3,308,439

#9
Shashi Tharoor
+ 1,092 Today
T 1,443,084
1,443,084

#10
Nelson Mandela
+ 885 Today
T 212,435
212,435

#11
The British Monarchy
F 580,233
+ 529 Today
T 375,789
956,022

#12
Sarah Palin
F 3,464,345
+ 513 Today
T 816,346
4,280,691

#13
Al Gore
F 81,158
+ 370 Today
T 2,475,254
2,556,412

#14
Cory Booker
F 97,629
+ 284 Today
T 1,177,710
1,275,339

#15
Nicolas Sarkozy
F 772,171
+ 243 Today
T 285,571
1,057,742

#16
Kevin Rudd
F 70,657
+ 235 Today
T 1,140,498
1,211,155

#17
Newt Gingrich
F 293,848
+ 234 Today
T 1,466,114
1,759,962

#18
Gabrielle Giffords
F 146,714
+ 217 Today
T 93,499
240,213

#19
John McCain
F 882,719
+ 193 Today
T 1,739,489
2,622,208

#20
Sarah Brown
+ 188 Today
T 1,199,265
1,199,265

If there is an ‘h” sign in front of Obama or Romney’s name that means the comment was posted today and how many hours ago.
The date means which day the post was tweeted.

Mitt Romney

1h Mitt Romney‏@MittRomney
If your priority is creating more jobs and putting more people to work, that’s what we know how to do. #RomneyRyan2012

11h Mitt Romney‏@MittRomney
Higher unemployment, declining incomes, and crushing debt is not a new normal. America needs a comeback http://mi.tt/R4leel

11 Aug Mitt Romney‏@MittRomney
RT @PaulRyanVP Join America’s Comeback Team tomorrow in Waukesha, WI. Doors open at 4pm, RSVP and get tickets here http://mi.tt/P1ltEb

11 Aug Mitt Romney‏@MittRomney
On the deck of the USS Wisconsin with @PaulRyanVP. Excited to share our vision of a brighter future http://mi.tt/P8Unsk #RomneyRyan2012

11 Aug Mitt Romney‏@MittRomney
I am proud to announce @PaulRyanVP as my VP. Stand with us today. http://mi.tt/Romney-Ryan #RomneyRyan2012

10 Aug Mitt Romney‏@MittRomney
.@BarackObama can’t run on his record. America deserves better than a president who will do anything to stay in power http://mi.tt/MI1B4q

Barack Obama

2h Barack Obama‏@BarackObama
President Obama’s response to the drought affecting the U.S. is all hands on deck: http://OFA.BO/N2BGGb

3h Barack Obama‏@BarackObama
FACT: Paul Ryan endorsed a bill that would ban several common forms of birth control, including certain birth control pills.

4h Barack Obama‏@BarackObama
Make sure the women in your life know: Paul Ryan supports banning all abortions, even in cases of rape or incest.

4h Barack Obama‏@BarackObama
FACT: Paul Ryan would turn Medicare into a voucher program, forcing seniors to pay up to $6,350 a year more in health care costs.

5h Barack Obama‏@BarackObama
FACT: Paul Ryan supports writing discrimination into the Constitution with an amendment banning gay marriage.

6h Barack Obama‏@BarackObama
FACT: Paul Ryan voted against repealing the discriminatory policy of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

A Do-It-Yourself Digital Funeral

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I grew up believing that you judged a person’s life by the size of his or her funeral. I remember when I was 13, there were over 25 cars in the procession at my grandfather Jake’s funeral. When we were sitting Shiva someone said, “That was a really good funeral. A lot of people showed up.” I felt so proud. Over the years I have been to small and large funerals. I snickered at the small ones thinking. “The guy was no good.” I also remember counting the ‘get well” cards in the hospital room when my mother was sick. We would make a list of the do-gooders. Those who did not send one were carefully recorded as “shitheads” and were no longer considered part of the inner circle.

That was 44 years ago. A lot has changed since then. When my mother was 58 and my father died, she started to realize that her favorite and most important sport, “people collecting” was not all that important. The same woman who was the centerpiece of my old neighborhood, now only wanted to be with her closest girlfriends. That threw me for a loop because I was a second generation “people collector.” Sometime after that, I started to feel the same way as my mother. When she died (pieces of me died too) a tough skin formed around me as my brother and I opted for a grave side ceremony for a limited group. I felt I had grown up and didn’t need a lot of people getting in my way when all I wanted to do was think about the loss of my mother.

That was my attitude for the last seven years until today. We attended a funeral for my friend’s father. It was at Riverside Chapel on the upper west side and there had to be over 1000 people in attendance. It was in the main Chapel and no less than a dozen people got up to speak. The running time was over an hour. The accolades were plenty. Judging by the speeches of his four adult children, their spouses, the nine grandchildren, his law buddies and community leaders, my friend’s father deserved a standing ovation. They said everything he did was surrounded by a meal. When he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer six months ago, he said he was in the mood for “Chinese.”

I panicked sitting in the Chapel. Maybe I wanted a big crowd so others could see I wasn’t really a “bitch.” Reality set in very quick. I am a “bitch.” I worked hard at being a “bitch.” The years of dealing in the fast lane trains you to be a “bitch” or get “bitched” at. I am not saying that there is not a soft, giving side to me, but day- to-day I err on the side of bitchiness.

The big question is how am I going to be a draw when I am dead? I thought a lot about it today, then moved on to something else when I got back to the office. About an hour ago I was on Twitter when I spotted a tweet from my girlfriend last Friday announcing her father’s death. It was less than 140 characters and it simply announced his death and the funeral arrangements. I then saw the same post on Facebook and Linkedin. My girlfriend is well known in the digital community and one post from her was instantly recognized by hundreds, if not thousands of people. I am not going to ask her, but she probably did a few email blasts, text messaging and other social media call outs.

When I thought about it, I had received my notification by email. There is no question that my friend’s father deserved the attendance of every single person in that room. But for us late bloomers who are not so revered, we can put together a social media/marketing plan that can really pull in those numbers. I have to get more followers on Twitter, more fans on Facebook and more connections on Linkedin. Maybe, I can go after friends of friends and relatives of relatives. I can also join meetups, online book clubs, and take senior courses online. That could easily add another 100 or so. As you can see, I have a lot of work to do. If that is not a good reason to live a lot longer, tell me what is?

What’s The Story With Instagram?

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I don’t know about you, but I do not have any artistic talent. I can’t draw, paint, or sculpt. I always wanted to, but just don’t have the skills to create something that would be worthy of showing in public until now.

Along comes Instagram, a free photo sharing application for both iPhone and Android, which allows you to apply a digital filter to your mobile pictures that changes the entire look of the composition.

You can now create photos that just two years ago you could only do using expensive digital photo editing software, such as Adobe Photoshop.

Yesterday, I discussed how my cousin Milo changed the look of his photos with a new filter being offered by Olympus on their digital cameras. When I saw what he was doing, I quickly dug out my two year old digital camera — the Panasonic Lumix — to see if I could do the same thing. I abandoned my camera over a year ago when I found myself using the iPhone for most of my photo needs. As I quickly found out, since most of these filter features are so new, my two year old digital camera was now outdated.

Once again, a smartphone app comes to the rescue. There are many apps being offered today on iOS and Android formats that allow you to creatively alter photographs. One of the most popular apps is Instagram.  Instagram became widely popular because it offered the amateur picture taker the opportunity to alter photos in a number of different ways and instantly exhibit them on Twitter and Facebook. While Instagram photos can’t compete with the shots cousin Milo takes with his Olympus camera, it certainly is perfect for the average smartphone user who wants to get creative.

I guess that is why Facebook paid $1 Billion to purchase Instagram this past April.

Click on Instagram (shaded) above for some amazing facts about the company.

Straight shot taken by David Nieves

With Instagram’s Amaro Filter

Straight shot by David Nieves

With Instagram’s X Pro Filter

Chasing Croatia

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This is my fifth day on tour in Croatia with Smart Tours. We are also visiting Slovenia and Montenegro.

It was pretty amazing to find out when we first got here that I couldn’t get my daily fix of an iced Light Caramel Frappucchino. Starbucks has yet to convince this heavy duty coffee drinking country that they need to pay a few more dollars per cup for special blends.

Here is an article from the Croatian Times that spells it out.

http://www.croatiantimes.com/news/Business/2010-08-20/13237/Starbucks_%EF%BF%BDindefinitely%EF%BF%BD_postpones_its_arrival_in_Croatia_

They are pretty social in this neck of the woods. While Twitter is still not that popular, Facebook has made quite an impact. Everywhere you go you see “Follow Us On Facebook” ads.

Our young Croatian tour guide, Victoria, summed it up. “It is just a matter of time till Starbucks and Twitter make inroads here too. As much as I would like to, I can’t stop progress. I was appalled when I visited the United States earlier this year. I stopped for a cup of coffee in a Starbucks and couldn’t believe my eyes.

“No one was talking to each other. Everyone was either glued to their laptops or to their smart phones. No one looked up. Just tap, tap, tap away on their keyboards.

“Croatians are big coffee drinkers. We like our coffee strong. Unlike Americans, we also like to socialize while we drink coffee. Croatia has thousands of independent coffee shops that offer wireless but the mentality of the people here are just different. Many of us want to keep it that way.”

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TO TWEET OR NOT TO TWEET, THAT IS THE QUESTION

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 While many folks around my age bracket and older like Facebook, most have not joined Twitter. I am not sure why, other than they don’t understand the benefits. I am going to tell you in plain and simple terms why you should join. It is great for researching people and topics. Most of the younger generation is on Twitter because they use it as a vanity stage or they actually discuss important topics, both personal and business with each other. It has become their main news source and there are good reasons why. The digital community is all about participating in the making of the news, not necessarily sitting back reading about it. 

For example, one Twitter user sees an airplane actually land on the Hudson River. Instead of dialing 911, he or she posts it on Twitter and the word spreads faster than anyone can imagine. A 911 operator can even be one of the people on that person’s Twitter list. The next thing you know everyone springs into action. Everyone does their part to report the news or do something about it. You are no longer idly sitting by, picking your nose, wondering what is going on. You are now getting a blow by blow account of the developments just as if you were on a news team. Unless you have experienced this, you just can’t imagine the excitement and euphoria you get, especially if you have helped save lives. 

 

The other benefit that I think is so important, yet rarely gets talked about in my generation, is that you can search the tweets (opinions) of people you most respect and actually post your thoughts for them to see as well. All you have to do is post their their Twitter name preceded by the @ sign (e.g., @digidame for my Twitter account) on your post and when they search he or she will see your comments. Do that long enough and there is a good likelihood that those people will start following you. I almost fell over when Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks and big time investor in startups, actually answered one of my tweets. I walked around for the rest of the day feeling like I was actually somebody. The important thing to remember is that @TwitterName signs are for people and #hashtag signs are for topics.

I would strongly suggest that you start using the search area on Twitter before you start discussing or ranting a topic. The search area is called Discover and it is wonderful because it features the important stories of the day, activities, trends, who to follow, categories to browse, and the place to find friends.  Just this morning I read a story that the Discover tab on Twitter is getting an update. I love learning that because that always means good things. In this case the Discover tab is going to present content that Twitter says is even more personalized and meaningful to the user. “To do this, Twitter has incorporated additional personalization ‘signals,’ including tweets that are popular among the people that a user follows. The new design shows who tweeted about particular stories/content after which the user can view, reply to, retweet and favorite said tweet. The update will be rolled out over the coming weeks.” See more information on Cynopsis.  

If you have any questions about getting started on Twitter, leave a comment on DigiDame or email me. If I don’t know the answer, I will get someone quickly who will answer you. Remember, we are all a part of the digital revolution. Getting info should be instantaneous. 

To ease you into the Twitter process, here is a story Time magazine wrote about the most important people to follow. Somehow I trust you to find your own. It won’t take you too long to get your own online circle of friends. And when you do, you will be socializing with Tweet meetups in your neighborhood, but that is just an option. I do promise you that your life reading the news is going to change forever. You will never pick up a print publication again.