Some six months ago, we had a small conniption over an augmented reality application for Twitter on the iPhone. With the release of Twitter’s geotagging API, however, users were bound to see more and better AR apps for the popular microblogging service. Twitter 360 has just come up on our radar, and it looks like a dream from the outset. But will its features live up to user expectations? Sponsor Back in the day, we wrote of TwittARound, “You can see live tweets around your location and you can even see how far away they are. To accomplish this, TwittARound uses a combination of the iPhone’s compass and its accelerator-enabled GPS to determine the location of tweets and then layers those on top of a live video feed.” Sadly, Apple wouldn’t allow the app in the App Store and would only work on a jailbroken 3GS. How, then, does this new hotness compare? First, it’s not a full-featured Twitter client. The team plans to add more features as time goes by, but with so little time between the official geotagging API’s announcement and this application’s debut, we’re clearly looking at a case of “launch early, launch often.” On startup, the app updates a user’s location automatically, and it also allows for an “invisible mode” during which the user isn’t discoverable through digital means. For users who have enabled the geotagging feature in Twitter, the app annotates tweets with location information. That users’ friends can then see, via augmented reality, the location from where that user’s last tweet was posted. The Latest Tweets mode shows the latest tweets of followed users and the location from where they were posted. When a tweet is selected, the users sees a blue arrow indicating the direction and distance to the location from where the tweet was posted. In Locate my Friends mode users can find their friends, again with a blue arrow showing the distance and direction to a friend’s location. Moreover, Twitter 360 plays nicely with Google Maps: Currently, the app is available on 3GS devices only. And yes: It’s made it to the App Store . Check out this nifty demo video, and let us know what you think in the comments: Discuss

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New Twitter AR App Powered by Geotagging API

Through the bravery and efforts of people such as our good friend Drew Olanoff and the LIVESTRONG campaign, many social media users are much more aware of cancer and what this disease does to the body, mind, soul and community. Today, on World AIDS Day, we’d like to direct your attention to a few folks on the social web who are facing lives with HIV/AIDS and have made the same brave choice to share that experience with the rest of us. Read on for bits and pieces of their stories as well as feeds and lists that will keep their struggles and triumphs in your thoughts. Sponsor Shawn Decker’s ShawnandGwenn.com Decker, who is a public speaker educator and advocate, blogs with girlfriend Gwenn Barringer about his own struggles with the virus and the challenges of being in an HIV-asymmetrical couple. With the success I’ve had keeping my numbers stable, I broached the topic of trying one week on, two weeks off meds… My reason for wanting a longer break has been absent-mindedness and lethargy… It’s especially frustrating on the days when things just aren’t clicking in the old nugget; like when I wake up feeling exhausted instead of rested or, in the middle of a shower, I wonder if I’ve already washed my hair or not. This tends to happen after a couple of days on meds. Steve Schalchlin’s Bonus Round Schalchlin is one of the first HIV/AIDS bloggers, beginning his blog in 1996. Also a songwriter, Schalchlin put his story into music that his partner, playwright Jim Brochu, turned into The Last Session , a musical about a man’s struggle with AIDS. In Flash Forward, some of the characters are saying, “The future saved me.” I remember when I could see my future. And like this character, there was a certain comfort in knowing I had only just so much time and no more. I’m reminded of the old Chinese saying about how a child who dies has the longest life and an old man, the shortest. I know that that state of mind, of perfect freedom, is available. I know it is because it’s only a state of mind. Having gone there, I know what it feels and tastes and smells like. The question is whether I have to know when I’m gonna die to get there again. Kenn Chaplin’s My Journey With AIDS Chaplin is a blogger who faces AIDS and is a survivor of childhood and adult trauma and adult-diagnosed mental illness. When diagnosed with HIV in 1989, and AIDS a few years later, it was suggested that I probably had a maximum of ten years to live. In fact I did nearly die of cryptospoidiosis which my doctor still talks about with a sense of marvel. It only seemed logical that I should accept the reality, with countless friends dying around me, and try to live into death with as much grace as I could muster. What I asserted was realism some friends took to be pessimism. One I think of in particular eventually drifted away as, it seems to me, she could neither tolerate what I believed to be reasonable thoughts of dying nor the fact that my health was, to her, no longer of imminent concern. James McLarty-Lopez’s Still Arriving McLarty-Lopez is a young, recently married gay man. His blog references medications he takes, side effects he experiences and his general feelings about this part of his life. Chad and I last night were discussing Justin’s passing. While very sad it was only a matter of time… I have been tired many times. I have been weak many times. However, through the times in the valley I have always said “I want to live.” In comparison, Justin too said he wanted to live, the difference being, he waited far too late to make that decision. He was only 24 and ravaged with HIV and AIDS defining illnesses. Who knows why Justin never really sought treatment? Perhaps the stigma of having HIV stopped him. Perhaps he just didn’t want to have to acknowledge the fact he had it. The only person who could have answered that is gone. Speculation will neither ease the pain nor bring him back. Now it’s about remembering his smile and moving on with the lesson of I want to live. To subscribe to a 12-blog feed of blogs from folks living with and writing about HIV/AIDS, click here . Also, we’ve put together a Twitter list of people who live with HIV/AIDS and people who medically treat, advocate for and work with HIV/AIDS sufferers. What better way to observe World AIDS Day than by actually reading the words and understanding the challenges of those who actually live with AIDS or HIV and are unashamed and courageous enough to share those stories with us? Discuss

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Positively Social: Blogging & Tweeting with AIDS/HIV

While startup companies are often asked about their monetization and member strategies, it’s rare that they’re asked how they plan on changing the world. At today’s Supernova Conference in San Francisco, speakers attacked the subject of social chance and how it applies to business models, technological expertise and mass distribution. Sponsor First up, director of Havas Media Lab Umair Haque, gave his presentation, “Constructive Capitalism.” Haque believes that only 5% of those within a given industry measure themselves in what he describes as “thick value”. He explains that one of the legacies of our economic downturn is the realization that our understanding of profit is based on “thin value” – a model that has not addressed economic harm from profit and growth. Haque’s answer to changing the current economic system is to change the way we think about profit. By employing radically different strategies and value sets, companies change the level of competition and instill “thick value” in entire industries. Pioneering blogger and entrepreneur Anil Dash drills down to one such strategy. His latest endeavor Expert Labs is a project that crowdsources expertise from the tech entrepreneur community to answer the questions of policy makers. Dash explains, “If we think outside of our insular communities and use a language that is respectful for all, we can create really transformative things.” Dash hopes that by finding new ways to filter expertise we can broaden the depth of information reaching those who make world changing decisions. After giving a number of examples on how tools of production and distribution have been democratized through innovative technologies, Wired editor-in-chief and author Chris Anderson exclaimed, “If the past decade was about finding new post-institutional social models on the web, the next decade will be about applying them to the real world.” It’s that time when we look back at the past year and reflect on our achievements and failures. As a startup entrepreneur, investor or technologist, how have you taken new business strategies and ideas of social change and applied them to your everyday work? Let us know in the comments below. Discuss

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How Startup Companies Can Change the World

December 1 marks World AIDS Day , and every major social site around the Internet has come together to spread awareness about the disease, its transmission and available treatments. Thanks to efforts from Facebook, Google, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube, AIDS is a more visible topic today than perhaps at any other point in the history of World AIDS Day. Read on to see what each site has done and the impact this joint campaign is having on users. Sponsor YouTube Live Streams a Concert with Alicia Keys In partnership with the singer’s foundation, Keep a Child Alive , YouTube is live streaming an Alicia Keys concert starting at 8 p.m. Eastern/5 p.m. Pacific. The site is also asking suers to donate $5 toward medication and other support for these sufferers. The site is also hosting and promoting this video about the Lazarus Effect, the seemingly miraculous results seen in HIV/AIDS patients given two pills of a specific medication – pills that are available at just 40 cents a day: Flickr Asks How Users Are Living With AIDS In a blog post and a group dedicated to those living with HIV/AIDS, Flickr asked its community of users to print a PDF emblazoned with the words “Facing AIDS” and incorporate it in a photograph to share with the world as part of an initiative with AIDS.gov . Facebook, Google and Twitter Go (RED) Both Facebook and Google have announced they’re working with (RED), a brand that helps raise awareness and money for the fight against AIDS in Africa. Google set up a page just for today’s events for users to learn more about the global effort to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS, to find volunteer opportunities in their area, to get involved with the ONE Campaign, to purchase (RED) products as holiday gifts and to unite with others at the Global Network of People Living with HIV. Facebook asked users to change their profile pictures to (RED)-themed avatars, shop for (RED) products and join the (RED) Facebook page. And Twitter, our generation’s megaphone, encouraged users to tweet certain terms, @usernames and hashtags, which would turn tweets red and have certain outcomes. For example, for tweets containing #red, @joinred, 40 cents, AIDS, World AIDS Day, HIV and #laceupsavelives would change the color of the text and help raise awareness with users across the site. At press time, AIDS, HIV and World AIDS Day were all trending topics on Twitter. The site is also offering a red profile theme. Twitter co-founder Biz Stone wrote that the site would be partnering with (PRODUCT)RED to raise funds, and 100 percent of funds raised would be used to help AIDS sufferers in Africa. What Does a Social Media Campaign for AIDS Really Do? In a Facebook blog post , (RED) CEO Susan Smith Ellis wrote, “Our success is very much owed to the emerging world of social media that exploded, just when we needed it. Like social media itself, with (RED) the power is not so much in the act of one individual but in the incredible power of the collective acts of individuals. In just over three years, over 1.5 million people have joined (RED) via a range of social media.” Indeed, today’s efforts are a testament to the collective power of social media – and the power of all platforms united in the name of a single cause So, what does all this social media buzz do for real-world sufferers and their families? Ellis wrote of the (RED) campaign, “In three year… people’s choices have resulted in $140 million being contributed to the Global Fund, with 100 percent of that money going directly to helping fight AIDS in Africa. Millions of people like you together have created this impact. “But it’s bigger than dollars. This money flows directly to AIDS grants that have already reached more than four million people with testing, counseling, AIDS treatment and services – programs that truly change lives.” Discuss

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Facebook, Google & Twitter Unite for World AIDS Day Around the Web

What exactly from Office Web Apps and Office Mobile 2010 can you use on your mobile right now and what will be available when the product ships next spring? Mary Jo Foley does the best job of outlining what is happening here. Let’s take a sky high look and see if we can make sense of things so you know what to do if you really have an interest in giving Office a try on the mobile. Sponsor First of all, Office Web Apps is now in beta and available for download. It is free. Here is the first point of confusion and in our book goes to the heart of the issue. The Office Web Apps you download today is NOT the Office Web Apps that will ship next spring. What you download today is actually the business version, which is the paid version of the product. We expect that if you download the application today then you will have to download a new one when the REAL Office Web Apps launches next spring. Let’s move on to the next issue. What is exactly available with Office Web Apps ? According to Foley, it works with the following phones and apps: * IE on Windows Mobile 5/6/6.1/6.5 * Safari4 on iPhone 3G/S * BlackBerry 4.x and newer versions * Nokia S60 * NetFront 3.4, 3.5 and newer versions * Opera Mobile 8.65 and newer versions * Openwave 6.2, 7.0 and newer versions Hold on one more time. There is more we need to explain. According to Foley, you can only view documents in Office Web Apps. You can not write to

Dominic Pouzin is a worldly, smart guy. After doing school and internships in France, the UK, South Korea and India, he moved to Atlanta where he took a job in the NBC (Nuclear, Bacteriological, Chemical) protection field. “I designed statistical models, programmed robots, and implemented access control stations for nuclear plants,” Pouzin says on LinkedIn. He left that field to become a software engineer at Microsoft and this week launches his own startup company with a collection of former Microsoft co-workers. The new company is called Data Applied and offers “data mining in the cloud” – it applies automated algorithms to large sets of data in order to extract patterns, preconditions and outliers. Commercial licenses cost under $500 and are aimed to bring the kind of power to sales, marketing, engineering, social sciences or non-profit organizations that only banks and insurance companies used to be able to afford. Sponsor There’s a Data-Centric World Emerging Data visualization tools are not uncommon online and there’s a growing number of large data sets available for analysis these days. Microsoft unveiled a marketplace for data sets last month called Dallas . GigaOm’s Stacey Higginbotham says data represents a big part of Microsoft’s hope for the future. “Microsoft isn’t just selling software anymore,” she writes, “it’s selling itself as a clearinghouse for information.” Higginbotham points out similarities between Dallas and a startup we’ve covered here extensively called InfoChimps . Amazon started offering large sets of public data through its Web Services division last year as well. We’ve got high hopes that social networking data will be made more available for aggregate analysis, as a bird’s-eye-view of society’s interactions. We’ve written here before about how all of this data to be analyzed may or may not be put to good use ( Web 3.0 Might Be Really Stupid ) and Nicholas Carr recently wrote a provocative blog post about the consequences of data-driven recommendation on free will and human thought. You’ve Got the Data, Now What? Countless organizations have data sets of their own but that doesn’t make extracting valuable information from them easy. Microsoft itself unveiled a similar looking service last month called Pivot , but it’s invite-only for now and not thoroughly explained. We’re familiar with DabbleDB , but Pouzin says Data Applied takes things much further than data visualization. “Simple reporting and dashboards are boring,” Pouzin says. “They force analysts to manually visualize all possible combinations in the hope of finding some interesting facts. We do that automatically!” Data Applied performs a whole lot of data visualization functions as well, it’s social and offer a multitude of related features while running on one or more computers. Can it really pull unforeseen patterns and meaning out of large sets of data, though? That sounds like a tall order to fill, but if enough numbers can be crunched that the mind of a human consultant is in fact unneeded – then Data Applied could be bringing to market a very valuable service. Discuss

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Ex-Microsofties Launch $500 ‘Meaning Machine’ For Large Data Sets

Press release distribution can be a very helpful marketing tool for your business. Unlike blogs or social media, the press release is a more formal approach to marketing that is used by millions of companies. People have been writing press releases for years, and now that you can publish and distribute them online for a very low cost, they are becoming more popular.

Press releases need to be newsworthy. You can’t just write a press release saying that your website is running a sale on shoes without making it sound important and pressing. One great way to use press releases when you have no milestones to report is to report on issues related to your business or company, and then use the resource box to include your company information and website link.

No matter how you use it, press release distribution can be a great way to market your business. You just need to make sure that you find the right topics, the right outlets, and the right time to release these types of documents. Headlines should be catchy, and the content should be direct.

There are new types of tools that people are turning to in order to market their businesses effectively. Nonetheless, there is never too much or anything too good about a press release. This type of marketing is a timeless classic, and will likely be around for many years.

When you use press releases in your business, you need to make sure that you are using the best channels to distribute them. You also need to be certain that you are using keywords that will generate good search results for anything that you publish. Your business is going to look bad if your releases do, so keep that in mind.

Press release distribution can do wonders for your business, especially when you have customers or interested people who aren’t so into blogs and newer forms of social media. Make sure that you take advantage of this.

It’s all about using an array of marketing tools to reach out to your target audience. If that means that you use press releases to reach some and blogs to reach others, then so be it. Press release distribution might be an old craft, but it isn’t dead yet.

To learn more about press release distribution or to find your own marketing solutions for business, you can visit www.Majon.com today.