TechBlog

With competition in the Web browser field having transitioned from cold to boiling in less than a year’s time, Mozilla suddenly finds itself playing catch-up against not only Apple and Google, but Microsoft as well. In March, the organization realized it needed to completely make over Firefox 4 if it wanted to remain feature competitive against a fast-rising Google Chrome. In a live presentation yesterday, Mozilla Firefox director Mike Beltzner admitted that his group’s March roadmap, which involved an interim release of Firefox 3.7, had too many steps. Now the group has decided to straighten out its path by grafting version 3.7’s main additions onto a point release Firefox 3.6.4, and shifting gears to focus on version 4.0. ...

A new study from Carnegie Mellon University shows that analyzing data from Twitter yields the same results as conducting a public opinion poll. We’re willing to bet it probably costs less, takes less time and annoys fewer people, as well. A CMU team from the computer science department looked at sentiments expressed in a billion Twitter messages between 2008 and 2009. The researchers then use simple text analysis methods to filter out updates about the economy and politics and determine if the overall sentiment of the update was positive or negative. The CMU team found that people’s attitudes on consumer confidence and presidential job approval were similar to the results generated by well-reputed, telephone-conducted public opinion polls, such as those conducted by Reuters, Gallup and pollster.com. ...

Despite ongoing questions about privacy, Facebook’s new social plugins continue to expand their footprint across the web, with the company announcing on Tuesday that more than 100,000 websites have now deployed them. The plugins –- which allow websites to add Facebook-powered social features without requiring users to log in –- were announced less than a month ago at Facebook’s developer conference, and attracted more than 50,000 publishers in the first week. ...

“What would people most like to see in 3D? Probably a naked lady.” Those are the words of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, whose magazine will soon include a centerfold playmate photographed naked and in 3D. The 3D centerfold will appear in the June issue, which hits newsstands this Friday with 3D glasses included. The subject of the photos is 51st Playmate of the Year Hope Dworaczyk. Consider this a grab for attention more than anything; Playboy editorial director Jimmy Jellinek was quoted by MSNBC saying, “In today’s print environment you have to create newsstand events.” The environment he’s talking about is one in which Playboy circulation has dropped almost 60% in just four years. ...

Foursquare is moving to make the list of “Places” one sees when one loads one’s mobile app of choice more relevant. The company announced this morning that it has recently made changes to improve its algorithms for serving up this data, taking into account things like time of day, proximity, and popularity of the venue in determining which places to show you. This should be a welcome change for users of Foursquare. As the service has taken off in popularity, it’s also seen an increase in venues that “you are very unlikely to check into” –- Foursquare’s words for the abundance of user-created venues popping up that are only relevant to a small number of people (if anyone, “Ostrow Castle” not withstanding). ...

We need a native iPad app for Facebook but until Facebook HQ gets around to making one, the next best thing has just arrived via social media aggregator sobees. sobees for Facebook [iTunes link] is an iPad app that lets you manage your Facebook experience in a native app designed to take advantage of the iPad’s enlarged screen. The app, which is free through the end of May, provides many of the features that Facebook fans have been looking for in an iPad app. This includes the ability to: ...

We know, we know — you don’t give a damn about celebrities and what they’re tweeting about (neither do we — especially when they’re narcissistically freaking out about a Twitter bug that everyone was victim to), but when someone does something creative with these 140-character pearls of not-quite-wisdom, we’re admittedly amused. Enter, “Celebritweets Theater.” We’re already fans of Odessa Begay’s inspired “Museum of Modern Tweets,” in which the artist composes surrealistic pictures of the strange things famous people say. “Celebritweets Theater” is basically a horse of the same color — short cartoons that tell the story behind the tweet. A dude that goes by “KCS Cougar” draws these cartoons for celebrity news site Wonderwall, and they have a rather Dr. Katz-esque vibe. I’ve embedded my favorite — which mocks Lady Gaga — below.

Square is a mobile credit card transaction application founded by Jack Dorsey of Twitter fame. The app became available for the iPad about one month ago, and now it’s also available for the iPhone, iPod Touch and Android devices. The app is free, but in order to work, you need a small credit card reader that connects to the iPhone via the 2.5mm headphone jack. The app looks beautiful and has lots of nifty features, such as SMS receipts, the ability to track of your sales online, as well as tip and tax calculation. However, in its current iteration it also has certain drawbacks; for example, you cannot delete or refund transactions. ...

With Clearwire and Sprint pushing for mobile WiMAX coverage in 80 U.S. markets by the end of 2010, and promising three new WiMAX-powered smartphones in the near future, it’s easy to lose sight of the wireless technology as a solution for rural residential broadband. Today, Kansas Broadband Internet (KBI) announced it is moving ahead with the construction of its own WiMAX network with PureWave as the exclusive hardware provider. The finished network will cover 18 counties, and more than 12,000 square miles. With only 33 residents per square mile, Kansas is one of the United States’ ten least densely populated states. ...

Macro Monday Theme: Life is Hard Credit cards and debt make life hard. It seems so easy at the time, but after time, you realize what a mistake it is. Strobist: Canon 430ex II at 1/4 power through a softbox camera left. Triggered with a Cactus V4.” Macro Monday Theme: Life is HardCredit cards and debt make life hard. It seems so easy at the time, but after time, you realize what a mistake it is.Strobist: Canon 430ex II at 1/4 power through a softbox camera left. Triggered with a Cactus V4.” ...