All posts from The Next Web

Palm/HP has released a beta version of the webOS 2.0 SDK, as well as APIs and a look at a few interface features.
Due out later this year, webOS 2.0, will, according to PreCentral, include these new/improved/re-branded features (as well as most likely many more):

Palm’s multitasking ‘card’ metaphor is getting a refresh with Stacks
Universal Search is getting majorly beefed up with ‘Quick Actions,’ will be opened to developers, and rebranded as Just Type
Apps can have custom Touchstone at-a-glance views with Exhibition
Synergy is opening up to developers
HTML5 and Javascript support is much improved
Hybrid PDK/SDK apps will be fully supported

So “Stacks” will be webOS 2.0’s multi-tasking interface, “Just Type” will be its universal search plus a new “Quick Actions” function that will direct the OS to do tasks, “Synergy” will be will include APIs for devs to create email/contacts/calendar apps, and the new OS will add better HTML5 and JavaScript support. Overall, sounds interesting (especially when you think about it in terms of a HP tablet) and we highly suggest that if you’re really interested you read the entire PreCentral post, which is pretty comprehensive.
Image: PreCentral
Original title and link for this post: webOS 2.0 APIs, beta SDK and features surface

Some years are just rough, and for Mark Hurd 2010 has been catastrophic. Squeezed out of HP following an ugly sexual harassment case, the former titan is losing his gilded position on the board of News Corp as well.
How did it happen? He was not nominated for re-election, meaning that he is not being fired outright, but will be allowed to expire like a bad bill on the desk of an ambivalent governor. Whatever zenith Hurd was hoping to swing his star to, that race is over.
If you missed the genesis of the fiasco, Hurd behaved very inappropriately with a certain staffer, enough so that HP launched a private investigation into the matter. From our previous coverage:
HP CEO/President Mark Hurd has resigned following sexual harassment allegations by a former HP contractor. [..] the HP board of directors launched an independent investigation into the former CEO’s behaviour after correspondence was sent to outside legal counsel back in June 29.
The consultant is said to have been collaborated in various marketing services for the company and whilst there were no sexual harassment violations, Hurd’s actions are said to have contravened HP’s Standards of Business Conduct policy.
Goodbye Hurd, at least you did well in some capacity when leading HP. You are hardly what News Corp. needs though, and they know it.
Original title and link for this post: No More Mark, Hurd Leaving News Corp. Board

This story is breaking, we are updating.
And Digg kept up the poaching game popular in the Valley, stealing Matt Williams from Amazon, his home for more than a decade, for their CEO slot.
This concludes Digg’s executive shuffle, from Jay Adelson, to Kevin Rose, and now to Williams, who we suspect will be a long term fixture at the company.
This announcement is not a surprise, Rose himself hinted before that a new CEO was just around the corner.
More as it comes.
Story and image via TechCrunch.
Original title and link for this post: This Is Digg’s New CEO: Matt Williams

This may not come as a shock to many, but Twitter’s “Who to follow” feature isn’t perfect. Since it launched recently, many Twitter users have complained that “Who to follow” often just suggests people that users have previously simply followed and then unfollowed sometime in the past.
This morning, however, the service seems to have taken a step backward (hopefully temporarily) by increasing offering suggestions to users of people they already follow.
While this problem has been noticed by some users recently, it really seemed to pick up this morning, as we noticed many tweets complaining about this apparent malfunction, and a quick Twitter search for “Who to follow” shows plenty of people having the same issue:

We’ve emailed Twitter for comment, but the company does not usually comment on “user statistics” as it puts it. In the meantime, if you are really annoyed with the suggestions, you can do this hack (there are a few others) and remove them from your sight on Twitter.com
Original title and link for this post: Twitter’s “Who to follow” suggesting people users already follow

TNW Quick Hit
Notes For Later is a bookmarklet that will email you a reminder about a site you were browsing
Love It: Easy reminders are win.
Hate It: Needs a way to add your own notes to the email. More email? Ouch.
Overall: 4/5
The Details
When you’re browsing sites, it’s easy to forget what it was that caught your eye in the first place. Sometimes you’ll want to follow up on a site later but sorting through bookmarks can be a pain. Notes For Later looks to solve that by giving you a bookmarklet that, when clicked, will email you a note about the site you were visiting.
The beauty of Notes for Later is in its simplicity. However, that’s also what kept it from getting a perfect score at the moment. The only information that is sent to your email is the website address, the time that you were visiting it and any text that you highlighted on the page. It would be awesome to have the ability to add your own notes for context.
Otherwise, it’s a really handy service that requires nothing more than a click. We like that. Just make sure that, if you’re a Gmail user, you set your Notes for Later to a high priority…

Original title and link for this post: Notes for Later: A bookmarklet to remind you of where you’ve been browsing

There is a common thought that internet people hate to pay for things, which lead to an explosion of free apps and services that we called Web 2.0. That was the only price that people were supposed to be willing to pay. Sometimes however, that maxim is dumped on its head.
There is a project on Kickstarter raising funds to complete a documentary film on ThePirateBay’s three founders and their stories. It had a goal of $25,000 that it was trying to reach in a month. In three days it shot past that goal, and is now approaching 1000 backers and $30,000 in funding.
The film, according to its maker “is not a fan movie about the Pirate Bay, neither is it a journalistic piece on copyright conflict. It’s an observational, character driven film about three guys whose hobby homepage became the embryo of a global political movement.”
That everyone who watches the movie is going to torrent it is perhaps the irony for the cake’s icing. Either way, TBD AFK (ThePirateBay Away From Keyboard) is going to be well funded, and coming out in the future. How soon? The sad part of that question is that it depends what happens next for the three founders. According to TorrentFreak:
Now that the funding is in, Klose can hire a professional editor and studio to complete the film. That said, the final premiere date depends on several other factors, most importantly how the upcoming appeal of The Pirate Bay trial plays out.
Whatever the outcome of the trial, the film trailer looks great. I’ll have some popcorn ready when the film is released, and you are all invited.
Original title and link for this post: The Pirate Bay Movie Is A Go

Foursquare users have been able to check-in at bars and restaurants to receive free meals, drinks and discounts, grabbing some free swag at some venues.
What would you say if you could grab yourself a new Foursquare badge simply by checking-in at your local STD clinic? This is what MTV and Foursquare are looking to do.
As part of a September promotional US-based campaign entitled “GYT: Get Yourself Tested”, MTV hopes that by incentivising Foursquare users with a special version badge, it can help “remove the stigma attached to getting checked out for STDs.”
The campaign has run in previous years but this is the first year that location-centric service Foursquare has been used to help stop the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.
Whilst we applaud the idea of raising awareness of sexual testing, and making steps to remove the taboo behind getting tested, I don’t think having a STI badge on your Foursquare wall will be quite the catalyst that MTV hopes it will.
In this case, I would be happy to be wrong.
Original title and link for this post: MTV To Reward STD Checkups With A Foursquare Badge

Gowalla, my personal favorite check-in service of choice, have updated their previously less than great BlackBerry app, taking version 1.0 out of beta and making it available to all.
Some of the features of Gowalla for BlackBerry version 1.0 include, the ability to add pictures to spots, keep track of virtual items, check-in to and share your favorite spots with Facebook and Twitter contacts.
The Gowalla blog post expands on the release:
“Brand-new improvements to the Gowalla app for BlackBerry rolled out over the weekend, including:

Trips
Items
Take and post photos
Ability to post threaded comments

We’re pretty stoked with this latest version of our BlackBerry app, enough so that we’re deeming it out of beta and bestowing the title Gowalla 1.0 on it!”
Gowalla differs from the check-in app that most hear about, Foursquare, by focusing on a more visually appealing design and gaming element to its application. With Gowalla you can find virtual items when checking in, trade them for items left at spots where you check-in and earn signature stickers with grand designs checking-in to famous spots or completing trips to locations.
With Facebook for BlackBerry lacking “Places” at present, it is my opinion that if you want to venture into the land of checking-in when on the go, Gowalla is your best option.
You can get Gowalla for BlackBerry version 1.0 below.

Email a download link to your Blackberry
Direct Download (follow this link from your Blackberry)

Are you a Gowalla user?  If not, do you use Facebook “Places,” Foursquare, another service, or combination of several?
Original title and link for this post: Check-in with fruit as Gowalla version 1.0 for BlackBerry now available.

Staples, one of the world’s leading office supplies retailers, is to stock the Kindle, Amazon’s hugely successful e-reading device in more than 1,500 of its US stores, according to Reuters.
The deal, which will see the $139 version of the Kindle, the 3G model and the Kindle DX going on sale, is Amazon’s attempt at getting its e-reader in a number of different retail locations, taking a direct aim at Barnes and Noble’s Nook, which is currently on sale within its own stores but also at Best Buy.
Amazon has already reached a deal with Target to start selling the Kindle in its stores, starting back in April, helping to drive sales of the device to over 5 million units since its launch in 2007.
We know that the newest Kindle models are selling well, so well that Amazon simply can’t stock enough of them. A move into bricks and mortar stores will allow customers to interact with the device before purchase, helping to increase casual sales that were previously unavailable.
Original title and link for this post: Staples To Sell Amazon’s Kindle

Profession
a paid occupation, esp. one that involves prolonged training and a formal qualification : his chosen profession of teaching | a lawyer by profession.
Job
a paid position of regular employment : jobs are created in the private sector, not in Washington | a part-time job.
In his book “Hackers and Painters” Paul Graham describes his uneasiness with the question often prompted at formal meeting “So what do you do?”. People asking this question generally expect an easy answer which opens the door to casual conversation. But what if you are like Paul Graham who is an author, developer entrepreneur, investor and blogger and probably a lot more? His solution? Whenever people asked him that question he replied “I’m developing a new version of LISP”.

Although the story is funny I’m not sure it will make you very popular at parties. And sometimes you don’t actually want to scare people away (as that answer surely did) but give an honest and short answer. The problem is, there is no short description to what most of us do these days.
In fact, it will only get worse. For a while now we have been moving from the Job 1.0 into the Job 2.0 phase. In the Job 1.0 era life was simple. You were born, studied something (in college or on the street) for about 10 years and then star practicing what you learned until you retired. When people asked you what you did you answered ‘Plumber’, ‘Architect’, ‘Photographer’ or ‘Dentist’ and people would know what you were talking about.
We will always have Plumbers, architects, photographers and dentists. But it is more likely they will be like waitresses in Los Angeles. Yes, that women serving you coffee is a waitress but she is also an actress, model and dancer. Your dentist might also be a photographer and blogger.
The Job 2.0 era gives us all an opportunity to have more than one profession at a time. Plumbers don’t just do plumbing anymore. They have to be in marketing and PR as well and offer more related services than just plumbing to satisfy market demand. Architects aren’t just designing buildings anymore. They also design cities, furniture, books and gadgets.
Why is that? Why don’t people stick to one profession anymore? there are two reasons why.
The first is the internet and the second is our increased proficiency in everything. Although it is still pretty hard to become a brain surgeon or master violin player there are a lot of tasks that don’t require a lifetime of study anymore. Want to learn how to edit videos? Get iMovie. Want to create 3D effects for movies? Get a copy of Adobe After effect, dedicate 3 weeks to learning it and get working.
Our tools are becoming increasingly more powerful but also easier to learn. The learning curve for a lot of skills has decreased immensely over the past years.
Of course learning how to use a tool doesn’t make you a skilled master yet. Learning how to use Apple’s Garage Band software doesn’t make you Madonna yet. This is where the second reason for the Job 2.0 era comes in; The Internet.
With our new communication tools we don’t need to become madonna. Madonna became Madonna because MTV made her world famous 20 years ago. There could only be one Madonna. Now, with the internet at your disposal you don’t need millions of fans to be a star. You just need a small but loyal following. Do you have 10.000 fans? Thats enough for a record contract and your own first album. Just sign up at *** and ask all your followers to invest $5.
Madonna wouldn’t have been anywhere without MTV and the big record labels of the time. She might have been able to gather 10.000 fans but how would she have been able to communicate with them? Send them a postcard?
The Job 2.0 era makes us multi talented project managers. All we need to do is find our own, and unique, audience. We don’t need millions of fans, just a few thousand loyal followers. The real talents of the future won’t be able to introduce themselves properly when the question “What do you do?” is asked. That question will slowly fade away an be replaced with the more useful “What are you doing?”.
Original title and link for this post: Job 2.0 – The End of Profession

Google’s massively popular video sharing website YouTube has penned a deal with MLB Advanced Media, the media and internet subsidiary of Major League Baseball, providing Japanese baseball fans with on-demand, full-length MLB games via its website.
The deal is YouTube’s biggest premium sports partnership to date and will allow Japanese MLB fans to catch highlight reels of every game from both the 2009 and current seasons on the MLB.JP’s YouTube channel. The videos shown will be ad-supported but will be completely free to view, going online within 36 hours of completion.
YouTube will look to capitalise on the opportunities offered by ad-supported sporting coverage, an initiative that first gained momentum when YouTube partnered with the Indian Premier League (IPL) to stream live cricket matches and highlight coverage.
MediaPost writes that ad-supported video will become the fastest growing of YouTube’s three primary revenue streams, with eMarketer estimating that ad-supported mobile video revenues will reach a 60% compound annual growth rate (GAGR) over the next 4 years.
With YouTube recently adding full-length feature films to its website, negotiations for sporting coverage might give us a look into how Google will move forward in talks with major Hollywood studios as it continues to mull over the possibility of pay-per-view video rentals.
Apple looks set to announce its offering on September 1st, it could be an exciting time for the consumer as Google and Apple look to move into the televisual market.
Original title and link for this post: YouTube signs biggest premium sports partnership in MLB Japan deal

You can’t move without seeing either a shot or additional information on the yet to be announced Samsung Galaxy Tab. For those of you living in the US, or anywhere with CDMA mobile networks, you may be pleased to know that the rumoured CDMA version of the Galaxy Tab is no longer a rumour and is almost certainly Verizon bound.
BoyGeniusReport received a leaked screenshot of Verizon’s stock database, with a clear mention of the Samsung Galaxy Tab in amongst a number of other search results. The model number seems to tally with the mention of a number of smartphones and tablets in Verizon’s leaked roadmap, adding further credibility to the leak.
That said, we only have two days until Samsung take to the stage at IFA 2010 in Berlin, all will become clear then.

Original title and link for this post: Samsung Galaxy Tab Will Feature CDMA, Verizon Bound