Searching for Sadness in New York: Is the Foursquare API Living Up to Its Potential?

As explained in this blog post, Foursquare needed a way for its business staff to run reports based on its data without slowing down production servers and without learning technologies such as Scala and MongoDB. The company decided to make its data available to business staff through a Hadoop cluster hosted by Amazon Web Services. Foursquare's data miners could then query it using Hive, which provides a SQL-like query language for Hadoop.

As a proof-of-concept the company has produced a report on the rudest cities in the world, based on the number of tips that contain profanity. Which is pretty cool (apart from the assumption that profanity use = rudeness). But it makes me realize just how under-utilized geolocation APIs are.

Sponsor

Here are the results of Foursquare's profanity-mining:

And here's how Foursquare's data analysis system works:

Some more practical applications, from a business standpoint, for data mining staff might include determining:

Which venues are fakes or duplicates (so we can delete them), what areas of the country are drawn to which kinds of venues (so we can help them promote themselves), and what are the demographics of our users in Belgium (so we can surface useful information)?

Of course, this sort of check-in data is solely in the hands of Foursquare's internal users. But it makes me wonder whether you could pull together information like this through the Foursquare API if you build your own data warehouse for analysis.

I wonder what services like Fourwhere (which we covered here) could learn by caching all the data retrieved from location various APIs and running sentiment analysis on it. What could MisoTrendy (coverage) tell us about a venue based long-term trend patterns? Is there something in Foursquare's terms of service that prevents people from doing this? I guess we're back to that old question what would you do with the massive data sets produced by persistent location tracking?

Update: MisoTrendy's Andrew Ferenci explains the limitations:

1. You would not be able to pull and process historical data like 4SQ did from their production databases and log files (only real-time data/ hard for small web app to run queries that generate 1bn records) 2. If you use something like Google Apps Engine you have lots of limitations on DB and backend processing (only 80-90K hits before you have to start payinh) 3. Most third party applications would only be able to pull real-time data from 4SQ API, so no backend processing.

However, if you decided you want to create an application to do pull similar data starting today, you would definitely be able to, but not as the same historical breadth.

Techincally, its all feasible with some limitations. Misotrendy was built using Google Apps Engine with a Python backend. There are limitations for the DB and backend processing because you cannot use Ruby on Rails with this setup.

This feels like it could be the first steps towards accomplishing what was described in the opening lines of the Headmap Manifesto:

there are notes in boxes that are empty

every room has an accessible history

every place has emotional attachments you can open and
save

you can search for sadness in new york

Discuss

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TUAW's Daily App: Sticky

I'll say this: Sticky is an original one. It's sort of a platforming game, though there are no real platforms involved. You play as a little orange blob named Sticky, tasked with saving the world from invading black blobs that slowly move from one side of your iPhone's screen to the other. Sticky can defeat these enemy blobs by bouncing on their heads, so it's your job as a player to catapult him back and forth around the little levels in order to hit the bad guys exactly right.

The game is fun, cute and intuitive, and while it's pretty easy to beat the individual stages (at least until power-ups and more obstacles get added into the mix), each stage also rates you out of three stars, so you need to race against time to try and grab a perfect rating as well. Hardcore gamers will want to clear out all of the levels, while younger (or just more casual gamers) can bounce Sticky around and still enjoy playing.

Full Game Center (and Crystal -- Chillingo is publishing) integration extends the experience, and the fact that it's only US$0.99 means it's probably worth a try if you're interested. It probably won't pull me away from Tiny Wings completely, but it's another fun casual experience.

TUAW's Daily App: Sticky originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 28 Feb 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Vodafone explains network outage

Vodafone has detailed some of the reasons behind its network outage today, which led to the loss of signal to many of its customers.

The provider says this break in (which happened in Basingstoke) was the first of its kind on a site, and that it has already managed to restore a significant portion of customers' signal:

"We had a break in last night at one of our technical facilities which resulted in damage to some of our equipment," said Vodafone.

"[The break in] happened between 1.00am and 2.00am this morning. Our network control centre was immediately alerted as were the police, and some specialist network equipment and IT hardware was stolen.

"Loss of service is mainly confined to parts of the M4 corridor and some areas either side."

'Only' hundreds of thousands

The network refuted claims that millions of customers were left bewildered and without service, saying the number affected was reasonably small:

"That figure is grossly exaggerated ? several hundred thousand may have been affected. We have over 19 million customers.

"Voice services are now largely back up and running and we expect to be back to normal this afternoon.

"All our sites are protected by high level security systems - we're reviewing these with the police in the light of last night's break in."

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Appropriate Behavior on the Top Social Networks - The Definitive Guide

Filed under: Humor, Tech, Exclusives

Someone sends you a friend request. Your palms get sweaty. What should you do? You begin to freak out.

Don't panic! I'm here to help. Every social network is different, and that's why I've compiled this impressive handbook for online etiquette.

LinkedIn

Admit that your "government grant" is just your weeklyunemployment check, and get yourself a job. The number one way to find employment in this recession is to Linked-In every single person you've ever met.

A guy who bought your bike on craigslist? Definitely, that's a business transaction! The dishwasher at the Condé Nast cafeteria? You've got to start somewhere! Grandma? She knows someone at Leisure World, whose niece might know someone!

Once you've Linked-In hella peeps, you'll have so many job offers you won't know which one to take.

Facebook

You should only Facebook people you'd get a cup of coffee with. You definitely don't want random strangers inviting you to their poetry slams.

You want people you're actually friends with inviting you to their poetry slams. Even if you don't attend, you'll have something to talk about when you get a cup of coffee with them.

"Sorry I couldn't make it to your poetry slam, I had to judge a macramé contest."

And they'll know you were telling the truth, because they'll see the "judging a macramé contest" status you posted.

Facebook is truly the future of friendship.

MySpace

MySpace differs from LinkedIn and Facebook, because you use it to connect with people you've never met. This is the best way to expand your screamo band's fanbase.



This chart reveals that after two months, screamo bands?? using MySpace will see a major surge in famousness.

This will lead to an increase of 19-year-old goth babes getting onto your tour bus. Once they're aboard, proceed to add these girls on MySpace. More friends equals more famousness.

Always remember to show a commitment to your fans by writing "Thanks For The Add" on their pages.

Twitter

You should only use Twitter to follow celebrities. Famous people say way more exciting things than regular people.

When Shawn Pearlman tweets "going to eat tacos" I am like "whatever." But when Ashton Kutcher tweets "going to eat tacos" I am like "Who's Ashton getting tacos with? What kind of tacos is he getting? Will he use cash or credit? How much salsa will he use? Will he order a horchata because the tacos are too spicy?"

Twitter unequivocally proves that celebrities are better than us.

Foursquare

In deciding who to friend, first ask yourself: who thinks they're only acquaintances with you, but you know is really your future best friend forever?

Once you've figure that out, you can begin to lurk their every move. Track them down at the movie theater. Run into them at the ice skating rink. Wave hello at the food court. Flirt with them at Bikram Yoga.

They don't know that when they friended their sister on Foursquare, it was really you.

Tumblr

On Tumblr you should only follow people who reblog things they saw on TV.

With the new technology of the internet, traditional mediums like television are slowly becoming extinct. We can't have people creating and disseminating their own entertainment. We need our entertainment trickled down from network executives kowtowing to advertising interests! Our entire capitalist society will collapse if we have nobodies creating original content on their own!

People who reblog things they saw on TV last night are doing a service to America and God.

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The secret of Berlin's shine | Charlotte Higgins

Our orchestras would be as great as the Berlin Philharmonic if only they weren't worked so hard

In the horn players' dressing room at the Philharmonie, the home of the Berlin Philharmonic, there is a poster from an old marketing campaign. The slogan is "128 virtuosi, one orchestra". With other orchestras, this would be a cliche. With the Berlin Phil, it feels accurate. With five concerts in London last week, the Berlin Philharmonic has spent the longest period in the city since the arrival of its British chief conductor, Sir Simon Rattle, in 2002. For those lucky enough to hear any of these concerts, it has been a thrilling musical experience.

Not only that, but it has been a week of enjoyable learning of the talents of particular players. For, unusually, this is an orchestra that does not come across as a mass of anonymous musicians, but as a collective of extraordinary individuals, whose singular talents have not been blurred and tamed by overwork or cynicism. Which is why Stefan Dohr, the principal horn player, was the subject of a Guardian leader last week. And why I am not the only one who has been gripped by the heart-stopping playing of principal viola Amihai Grosz, who performs Mahler symphonies as if they were string quartets ? and quartets as if symphonies. Then there is Jonathan Kelly, the superb British principal oboe player, who followed Rattle from Birmingham.

This visit has asked of audiences: what would it take for London to field an orchestra as great as this? An orchestra in the international super-league, as excellent as those of Berlin and Vienna; an orchestra that defined the cultural identity of London, a source of pride way beyond its regular audiences?

The answer partly lies in its musicians. London's symphony orchestras ? the London Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra and the Philharmonia ? are, like the Berlin Phil, composed of virtuosi. But they work under entirely different conditions. The Berlin Phil players are treated like the elite that they are. London players, frankly, work like drudges. One of the Berlin Phil players told me of their shock when she undertook freelance work with a major London orchestra. An intensive rehearsal in the morning was followed by a recording session for a film score in the afternoon, then a concert in the evening. Is it any wonder that London players do not seem to play with the fierce passion, of, say, Grosz, when their schedule ? necessary to scrape a living ? is so punishing? All eight of England's symphony orchestras cost the public purse less than the Berlin Phil. Is our model lean, mean, and brilliant value? Or are we squeezing musicians so hard that we are cheating them ? and audiences ? of the chance to shine as bright as the Berlin Philharmonic?

If one were designing London's orchestral landscape from scratch, it certainly would not look as it does, with three very good but not Berlin-beating orchestras, all struggling to define themselves as distinctive. The LSO, resident at the Barbican, and the LPO and Philharmonia, at the South Bank, were founded in very different times: the LSO, the country's first player-run orchestra, in 1904, the Philharmonia in 1945, and the London Philharmonic in 1932, at the dawn of an age, now lost, of lucrative recording deals. If one started with a blank sheet, one would surely create one, or perhaps two, super-orchestras (since London has two concert halls), each given sufficient funding to fulfil its potential.

Arts Council England announces funding to arts organisations next month. The three London orchestras receive about �2m each a year. Whether the arts council would dare to remove cash from one or two to beef up a single "super-orchestra" is uncertain. It would be logical, if perhaps impossible. But one thing is certain: Britain's musicians do not lack Berlin-style flair; only the conditions to give it full expression.

• Berlin Philharmonic
• Classical music
• Simon Rattle
• Arts funding
• Arts policy

Charlotte Higgins

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

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Rim?s Tyler Lessard responds to Jamie Murai

p2pnet view P2P:- Yesterday, we ran an open letter from Jamie Murai (right), a disenchanted (to considerably understate the situation) would-be developer of apps for the RIM PlayBook.
His missive put the cat among the pigeons in a way we’ve never seen before at p2pnet.
In the space of six hours, the post had more than [...]

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Microsoft Donates to Geohot?s Cause Against Sony

Take that Apple! Microsoft has allegedly donated money to the famous iPhone hacker Geohot for his legal battle against Sony. In case you didn’t know by now, George “Geohot” Hotz is in a legal�skirmish�with Sony because he jailbroke the PS3. Since Geohot represents the jailbreak community, he obviously isn’t on Apple’s good list. Perhaps Microsoft [...]

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The App Store effect

Apple recently had its 10th billion app download through the App Store. That?s almost two apps for everybody on the entire planet! Of course, we?re talking about iPhone, iPad and iPod touch apps here, but how is the new Mac App Store doing? A day after it launched Apple announced it had 1 million downloads already, but we?d imagine that a lot of those downloads were for the popular free app Twitter, which launched on the same day as the store.

It?s been well documented that the first App Store turned a lot of developers into App Store millionaires virtually over night, but has the same thing happened on the Mac App Store? Prices for apps on the Mac are usually a lot higher than on an iOS device, which I think is fair, since Mac apps generally have a lot more features and functionality, which requires longer development time, etc. Of course, that means you won?t see the same huge numbers of downloads, since the apps are generally more expensive. Or will you?

It seems that the Mac App Store is working the same magic as the iPhone App Store. Pixelmator has recently blogged about how they have earned $1 million in 20 days following its launch on the store, for example. And there are more success stories, too. Broken Rules have an interesting graph of the sales of its app And Yet It Moves, calling it ?our best launch ever?. Littlefin, RealMac Software and Evernote have all posted similar App Store success.

Autodesk held a press briefing late yesterday to update reporters on their Mac business and revealed that "in just three weeks, the Mac App Store edition of SketchBook Pro has sold twice as many copies as the prevision edition did for the entire year."

That's not bad. It seems that Apple's App Store is proving to be a huge success no matter what platform it runs on.

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Ellen Puts Justin Bieber's Hair Up for Sale on eBay for Charity

Filed under: News / Politics, Weird, Own It, Television

So unless you've been living under a rock this week, you probably know that Justin Bieber recently trimmed his famous head of baby hair and changed up his look. Fine.

He also made an appearance on Ellen, where he gave her a lock of his hair in a signed box as a birthday gift. Instead of keeping his precious DNA on a mantle in her home, which I'm sure was tempting, Degeneres has put the hair up for sale on eBay and plans to donate 100% of the proceeds to The Gentle Barn, a not-for-profit animal rescue organization.

Bidding is currently at $6,700, but with six days left until the sale closes, I'm betting this lock of hair is gonna go for even more.

So all you Beliebers out there, get bidding. Do it for the cats.

• link:// Bieber's Hair on eBay
• via:// Blame It on the Voices
• related:// Justin Bieber Says 'Like' 63 Times in an 11 Minute Interview

 

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Appropriate Behavior on the Top Social Networks - The Definitive Guide

Filed under: Humor, Tech, Exclusives

Someone sends you a friend request. Your palms get sweaty. What should you do? You begin to freak out.

Don't panic! I'm here to help. Every social network is different, and that's why I've compiled this impressive handbook for online etiquette.

LinkedIn

Admit that your "government grant" is just your weeklyunemployment check, and get yourself a job. The number one way to find employment in this recession is to Linked-In every single person you've ever met.

A guy who bought your bike on craigslist? Definitely, that's a business transaction! The dishwasher at the Condé Nast cafeteria? You've got to start somewhere! Grandma? She knows someone at Leisure World, whose niece might know someone!

Once you've Linked-In hella peeps, you'll have so many job offers you won't know which one to take.

Facebook

You should only Facebook people you'd get a cup of coffee with. You definitely don't want random strangers inviting you to their poetry slams.

You want people you're actually friends with inviting you to their poetry slams. Even if you don't attend, you'll have something to talk about when you get a cup of coffee with them.

"Sorry I couldn't make it to your poetry slam, I had to judge a macramé contest."

And they'll know you were telling the truth, because they'll see the "judging a macramé contest" status you posted.

Facebook is truly the future of friendship.

MySpace

MySpace differs from LinkedIn and Facebook, because you use it to connect with people you've never met. This is the best way to expand your screamo band's fanbase.



This chart reveals that after two months, screamo bands?? using MySpace will see a major surge in famousness.

This will lead to an increase of 19-year-old goth babes getting onto your tour bus. Once they're aboard, proceed to add these girls on MySpace. More friends equals more famousness.

Always remember to show a commitment to your fans by writing "Thanks For The Add" on their pages.

Twitter

You should only use Twitter to follow celebrities. Famous people say way more exciting things than regular people.

When Shawn Pearlman tweets "going to eat tacos" I am like "whatever." But when Ashton Kutcher tweets "going to eat tacos" I am like "Who's Ashton getting tacos with? What kind of tacos is he getting? Will he use cash or credit? How much salsa will he use? Will he order a horchata because the tacos are too spicy?"

Twitter unequivocally proves that celebrities are better than us.

Foursquare

In deciding who to friend, first ask yourself: who thinks they're only acquaintances with you, but you know is really your future best friend forever?

Once you've figure that out, you can begin to lurk their every move. Track them down at the movie theater. Run into them at the ice skating rink. Wave hello at the food court. Flirt with them at Bikram Yoga.

They don't know that when they friended their sister on Foursquare, it was really you.

Tumblr

On Tumblr you should only follow people who reblog things they saw on TV.

With the new technology of the internet, traditional mediums like television are slowly becoming extinct. We can't have people creating and disseminating their own entertainment. We need our entertainment trickled down from network executives kowtowing to advertising interests! Our entire capitalist society will collapse if we have nobodies creating original content on their own!

People who reblog things they saw on TV last night are doing a service to America and God.

Tweet

• related:// The Noob's Guide to Tumblr

 

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Enter Issue 230's competition!

Greetings MacFormat readers! We've got a fantastic competition for you in issue 230! One lucky winner will get a Mac mini and a copy of Microsoft Office for Mac 2011. But that's not all ? five runners-up will each bag themselves their own copy of Office for Mac 2011.�

So what are you waiting for?�Click here to enter, and good luck!

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iPhone Video Game Handheld Gamer - Smartphone, Mp3 Case

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*Please be sure to read my announcement and/or policies for questions about shipping and production times*

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Spot washable with cold water and mild soap.

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PLEASE SPECIFY THE MAKE AND MODEL OF YOUR PHONE (iPhone 3, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 other Smart phones or devices etc...) IN MESSAGE TO SELLER AT CHECKOUT.


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As all my items are personally handmade when ordered. Current production time is 5 days from payment. Items typically ship the next day after production Monday-Friday (excludes Holidays) via USPS First Class or First Class International Mail. There is no tracking available on International mail, if you would like a faster or different service please contact me Prior to purchase for a quote.

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The silly season: Two fun, fan-made videos of the iPad 2

With all the buzz of anticipation of the iPad2 expected release on March 2nd I thought it would be fun to put up a couple of videos circulating the Internets on just what to expect.

The first one by Exkild is a full and detailed explanation of all the new magical features of the new 27" device. My favorite part of this 6:45 tour is expaining the new features in iTunes which will automatically download good music, delete bad music and if it finds a song by Justin Bieber, it self-destructs.

The second one is a 1:45 action movie opus made by Evan Larimore, a guy who is really into movies. A huge iPad2 with the eye of HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey descends from space and wreaks havoc in the hand-held style of Cloverfield.

Take a look. They're bound to give you a chuckle or two.

Continue reading The silly season: Two fun, fan-made videos of the iPad 2

The silly season: Two fun, fan-made videos of the iPad 2 originally appeared on TUAW on Fri, 25 Feb 2011 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The X Factor live tour ? review

O2, Dublin

Well, there's no doubt that the machine works. The X Factor tour, robbed even of the dubious shocks and spontaneities of the televised competition, is as sleek and slick as an otter's pocket. And someone's doing something right to bring this much sugar-joy to so many people, even if the collective age of the ? goodness, what, 100,000 wildly happy people ? probably came to about the same as that of a night in Ronnie Scott's.

Goodness, they were young. It's an odd sight to watch a seven-year-old boy waving a big foam finger, in time to "She Bangs" or "Sex Up My Fire" or some such, towards a flaming stage full of illegally skimpy dancers while simultaneously rubbing his eyes with 10pm tiredness.

Is it a "nice" machine, though? Oh, I don't think so. First, it's in an O2 Dome, enough said. Second, there's no host: just giant side-screens flashing on between acts to boom out the X Factor music with ripe bombast, show clips from the worst auditions so we can laugh all over again, and ask for answers to trivia questions (at �1.50 per text plus usual mobile charges, naturally). The whole thing reeked of micro-management, of course: and they must be aware that, for all the labelling of pretty much all the standards as "soul" or "rhythm and blues" there was as much genuine soul or blues in this cattle-herd of a night ? and I mean herding of the acts as well as the audience ? as in the average piece of office equipment. Get up, I feel like a fax machine.

But I can't be too sneery because I am acutely aware I am so far from the target demographic. What then of the music? There was a lot of Cher Lloyd, now red of hair, stomping in trainers and tutu. She and Paije Richardson were popular openers, and have morphed (as have most) into true pros. Soon, it was time for Katie Waissel, and she impressed: coy, gentle, talented. As, hugely, did Rebecca Ferguson: my goodness that girl can sing, and actually did bring a little soul, along with some lovely black dresses, to proceedings. She will last, surely, longer than any of the others.

Despite their appearance sending the audience into meltdown, boyband One Direction were confusing, because, um, how do I put this, they can't all sing very well. These guys are being touted as the next big thing, redolent with talent and charm. On this appearence, they make mid-period Boyzone look like the Rat Pack. And nice home lass Mary Byrne, despite a reception of the type that wouldn't have disgraced Nuremberg, is, it has to be said, no Susan Boyle. Oh, the sentences you find yourself writing.

Part of the problem, oddly, is that I missed the catfighting, the tabloid expos�s, the sulks and tantrums for which at least two of these acts are famous. It's weird, this phenomenon: after decades in which TV stole the stars of music hall and theatre, leaving those venues struggling, now the well-watched travails of the contestants are filling these O2 cathedrals of popcorn greed, vast crowds traipsing through the rain to a real venue to see them because they've been on the telly. Well, bits of them. The telly competition was devised to make money by showing weaknesses, tears, personalities. The tour is designed to make money by precisely obliterating these and all other traits. Call me cynical, but I've got nothing on Cowell's mob.

What must backstage here be like, I had earlier thought, given the infightings and jealousies of the competition, as they await their next solo turn ? and I suddenly realised probably very dull: they'll be being forced into knitting or spelling bees or something, made to behave, for money, which is OK as it goes, but one aspect was unforgiveable. Not even final act Matt Cardle ? the third genuinely impressive singer after Katie and Rebecca ? actually had the X-factor enough to break with orders and introduce even the dancers, let alone the four-strong band who had all night produced both good and bad songs with phenomenal skill. The lowliest rackety pub band knows to do this, to an audience of five damp drunks.

But an unmemorable night? Oh no. The memory of sitting, still damp from the Dublin smirr and aching from emergency dental work, behind many pairs of giant pink flashing rabbit ears, and a zillion tweenies filming from their videophones with the squint-eyed concentration of Antonioni, while watching Wagner murder the I had thought unmurderable "Love Shack", will live a long day.

• The X Factor
• Television

Euan Ferguson

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

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Survey: 85% of Employees Under 25 Use Personal E-Mail Accounts for Work

This week the email management company Mimecast released the results of a survey of more than 2,400 corporate email users. The survey found that 85% of what Mimecast dubs "Generation Gmail" - employees 25 years old and younger - have used personal email accounts to send work-related documents.

The main reason these workers turn to personal email seems to be the attachment size limits of their official work email accounts. As we've reported, Palo Alto Networks found that Web-based file sharing such as Megaupload is also very popular in the workplace.

Sponsor

I ran into this frequently when I worked in IT. Google can provide much larger attachment sizes and mailbox sizes than most enterprise IT departments can. It's not mentioned in the data that Mimecast released, but I also noticed that many employees used personal accounts for work because they didn't have offsite access to their company email. At most places I've worked VPN access is not granted to all employees. But many users want to correspond with work contacts when outside of the office.

Mimecast emphasizes that using personal email accounts puts corporate information and intellectual property at risk because it exists outside of IT's control. However, Chief Scientist Nathaniel Borenstein - one of the creators of the MIME protocol - sympathizes with the rule breakers. "The results show that workers frustrated with corporate restrictions are using personal email accounts in order to maintain productivity," he says.

What can organizations do to reduce the bleeding? I would suggest:

• Up the limits of email attachments either by increasing the capacity of on-premise email systems or by adopting cloud email.
• Implement an official external file sharing system such as those offered by companies like Box, Huddle and Memeo. One place I worked had a company FTP site for sharing large attachments, but it was too difficult for most users.
• Give most employees access to offsite email.

The attempts to curb the use of personal email or third-party file sharing sites will prove futile when employees have a decent alternative.

Discuss

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