Twitter Adds Email Notifications For Retweets, Favorites

Twitter will start sending emails out letting you know when a follower retweets or favorites one of your tweets.

The company tweeted the news earlier today via the @Twitter account. Currently, users receive email notifications when they get new followers or receive direct messages.

Some users may find it helpful to know when a tweet of theirs has been particularly appreciated. For the others, email notifications can be disabled under if they'd rather not receive email notifications for different events. To opt out of receiving emails from Twitter, go to "Settings," then "Notifications" and "Activity."

The move may be part of Twitter's effort to encourage its users to be more engaged with the service and check it more frequently. Some studies have cast doubt on how many of Twitter's over 200 million users are actually tweeting on a regular basis.

Sony BMG Site Hack Exposes User Data

Sony has suffered yet another online attack that has exposed users' information, including their names, email addresses, and usernames.

As Sophos blog Naked Security initially reported, the Sony BMG Greece music site (SonyMusic.gr) was successfully hacked and the attackers later shared the data they recovered about the site's registered users, which was eventually posted in an online forum.

Hackers have repeatedly targeted Sony over the past several weeks. The company admitted earlier this month that attackers successfully breached its PlayStation Network and compromised the personal information of over 100 million users in what is likely the largest attack of its kind.

RIM Investigated For Possible Securities Law Violations

Research In Motion (RIM) is being investigated for possible violations of securities law by law firm Holzer Holzer & Fistel, Reuters reports.

The firm is examining specifically whether statements about the company's business between December 16, 2010 and April 28, 2011 were false and misleading. In particular, the firm is looking into whether RIM knew that it was having problems with an old product line that negatively affected the company's business, and failed to disclose these problems.

RIM stocks have dropped over 38 percent since Februrary. The same law firm launched an investigation against Palm in March for releasing misleading statements about demand for its products. 

via BGR

WSJ: AT&T, Verizon Ambiguous About BlackBerry PlayBook

Just a few days after the BlackBerry PlayBook’s one-month birthday, the nation’s top two carriers are still pretty ambiguous in their adoption of the device. AT&T has yet to approve the BlackBerry Bridge app, which turns the tablet into a portal to any BlackBerry smartphone. Meanwhile, Verizon still isn’t convinced it should carry the RIM tablet, at all.
In response to a Wall Street Journal inquiry about Verizon’s stance, Verizon spokeswoman Brenda Raney noted that “nothing has changed,” and offered no time frame as to when the decision would be made. Back in March, before the PlayBook’s launch, RIM included Verizon on its list of carriers to offer the 7-inch slate. Also on that list were AT&T and Sprint, despite the fact that none of them have begun selling the tablet.

AOL CEO Tim Armstrong: Paid Content Can Work

TechCrunch editor Michael Arrington took the stage today to interview AOL CEO Tim Armstrong. It was actually at TechCrunch Disrupt New York last year where Armstrong first approached Arrington about buying TechCrunch. We all know how that worked out.

Armstrong and Arrington touched on a variety of subjects, including AOL’s agressive content strategy. While AOL’s content has remained free, Armstrong does seem to think that a paid content model can work. “It’s a matter of how you do it…but I’m a long term believer in paid content as a strategy.” As he cautions, AOL’s news content doesn’t have a price right now, and Armstrong didn’t reveal any future plans for a paywall but it’s certainly interesting to see that he isn’t totally against the strategy.

College Guys Who Reference Alcohol On Facebook Have More Friends [STUDY]

Undergraduate men who often mention or post photos of alcohol have more Facebook friends than those who don’t, according to a study that will soon be published in the American Journal of Men’s Health.
The study combed through the public profiles of 225 male undergraduate students at one university for references to alcohol, including photos that contained an alcoholic drink — not just a cup — and specific textual references. It found that 85.53% of the profiles contained at least one reference to alcohol. On average, they contained 8.5.
Men older than 21 made about 4.5 times as many references to alcohol on their profiles than younger men did. And the number of references a man posted significantly correlated with the number of Facebook friends.
How students reference drinking on Facebook is of interest to those who want to prevent collegiate alcohol abuse. The study cites research published in 2002 that shows the strongest influence of alcohol consumption rates among college students is perceived peer use (which often exceeds actual peer use). Another suggests that media may exceed traditional peer influences for forming peer social norms.
“Our hypothesis is that because alcohol in college students is a predictor of social acceptance, there could be a similar correlation in the social networking world with alcohol references…[posting alcoholic references] might be a mechanism for peer acceptance,” says Katie Egan, who led the research as an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin in 2009.


source : mashable

Gmail Chat & AIM Are Now Interoperable

AOL and Google have taken their instant messaging partnership to a new level with complete interoperability among AIM, Gmail and Google Talk.
Gmail users have been able to access their AIM account through Google Talk since 2007, but AIM accounts couldn’t message Google Talk accounts and vice versa. The juggling of two IM accounts has limited the usefulness of AIM within Gmail. Google announced in blog post, though, that the two companies have made some interoperability changes to their chat clients.
The first big change is that AIM users can now send messages to their Google contacts and vice versa. This works no matter which client a person is using, so they can IM a friend that uses AIM via Google Talk, Gmail, iGoogle, Orkut or any other Gtalk client. Gmail users will now see a prompt asking them to add their AIM buddies directly to Gtalk. Users will have to add @aol.com to the end of the AIM contact they are trying to add to make it work (e.g. screenname@aol.com).

The Real Strength of Apple Retail: Change

On the 10th anniversary of Apple Retail, it is amazing to consider the great success that the company has had with a program many thought was doomed to fail. Many point to the generous profits that Retail contributes to Apple’s bottom line. Some point to the astounding dollars per square foot that Apple generates in their stores. Those accomplishments are the results of tremendous success, a somewhat predictable result when you have amazing products to sell. But part of the secret to that success can be attributed to Apple’s openness to change.

Video of The Week : Epic Camera Battle Subs Gunshots For Snaps

An ad for a camera store that’s sweeping the web this week gives a whole new meaning to the term “point and shoot.”

This commercial for The Camera Store depicts a battle between photographers in which cameras are subbed in for guns.

Suggested topics for discussion regarding the possible deeper meaning behind this vid: 1). How some believe that pictures capture your soul, 2). The sometimes vicious nature of the paparazzi, 3). The fierce competitive nature of the photography field.

YouTube Matches Congress Members For Debates On New Town Hall Platform

YouTube is matching up members of Congress for debates on hot issues in a new channel launching Wednesday.

The channel, dubbed YouTube Town Hall, is filled with debates surrounding the budget, economy, energy, Afghanistan, education and health care. Initially topics were chosen by popularity on Google News and Google web search over the past year, but YouTube plans to accept questions from viewers in the future.

Each debate features two members of Congress who explain their points of view on the given topic in videos made especially for the Town Hall channel.