It was the okay-est of times, it was the meh-est of times. From the election of the first American social media president... to a nod to social media from the mainstreamiest of mainstream media ( Oxford Dictionary, for god's sake! )... it's been a big, tumultuous sprawling toddler of a year, prone to tantrums and potty accidents but adorable nonetheless. Here, then, is 2009 the way it was meant to be remembered... in doodles. Sponsor More Noise to Signal. Discuss
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2009 In Social Media: A Cartoon Review
Ever since finding myself the happy owner of a Droid (+1 for early Christmas presents), I've found myself increasingly interested in the app market for Android-powered devices. As has been noted in many iPhone/Droid sudden-death-round comparisons, the latter languishes in quality and quantity of available applications. Perhaps in an effort to increase Droid's competitiveness in the market, the powers that be have created a new section of resources for Android developers . Let the games (and other apps) begin! Sponsor In the new Resources tab of the online Android SDK documentation , devs can now access technical articles, some pretty detailed tutorials, a breakdown of platform versions, common tasks, troubleshooting tips, a community across groups/IRC/Twitter channels and a library of code for sample apps - just what a mobile/smartphone dev would need to get started. The list of sample code now includes: API Demos Bluetooth Chat Contact Manager Home JetBoy Lunar Lander Multiple Resolutions Note Pad Searchable Dictionary Snake Soft Keyboard Wiktionary Wiktionary (Simplified) The Android dev team has also taken their most popular developer blog posts and turned them into a series of technical articles ranging in scope from backward compatibility issues and future-proofing apps to layout tricks and text-to-speech uses. Currently, around 10,000 applications exist in the Android Market as compared to the (roughly) eleventy bajillion apps in the Apple App Store. Hopefully, these resources will help this open-source mobile development platform take off, allowing Android's available applications to become a selling point for Android-powered devices rather than a point ceded to Apple in the smartphone wars. Discuss
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Android Developers: Here's Some Sample Code & Tutorials
The New Oxford American Dictionary announced its Word of the Year today and like everyone else, the organization is keeping an eye on the internet. Its selection? unfriend - verb - To remove someone as a 'friend' on a social networking site such as Facebook. Has Oxford Dictionary made the right selection? ReadWriteWeb's Founder Richard MacManus thinks not. I disagree with him; I think this is a very valid Word of the Year. We make our cases below and invite you to cast your vote in a poll. Sponsor Richard MacManus, ReadWriteWeb founder: "I think that's an odd choice for word of the year, as all the trends indicate there has been more social networking activity this past year - not less, as 'unfriend' implies. Facebook and Twitter have both rocketed in popularity in 2009. I'd suggest that more people have left MySpace and migrated to Facebook, than unfriended people on Facebook. "I also think that 'unfriend' is an ugly word, so for that reason it shouldn't be Word of the Year. What's more, I don't think my Mum or Dad would be familiar with the term 'unfriend.' Perhaps my father will pop into the comments and tell us for certain. But I look forward to the results of the poll!" Do You Think "Unfriend" is a Good Word of the Year? ( online surveys ) Marshall Kirkpatrick, ReadWriteWeb lead writer: I think "unfriend" is a very appropriate word for the year as it fits with the way people are becoming more sophisticated in their social networking. People are deciding to do some editing of the friends lists they rushed naively into. 7 out of the top 10 searches performed on the Facebook Help Center page are about getting rid of your own social network profiles or your friends. Admittedly "unfriend" isn't one of those words, but you get the idea. It's easy in this new web to sign up for things, getting overwhelmed and ignoring streams of information is par for the course. But choosing to cancel receipt of a person's updates? That's a meaningful move. People fall for those "see who's searching for you" ads on social networks all the time. You'd better believe they appreciate the control that unfriending gives them. I'll bet that just about anyone online, no matter their level of technical knowledge, could tell you these days what it means to "unfriend someone." What do you think? Discuss
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Unfriending: Are People Online Shedding Friends? (Debate)
