A renowned British climber has taken Twitter to a new high, firing off the first tweet from the peak of world’s tallest mountain.

Kenton Cool used the terse text message to plug a slick new Galaxy S II smartphone made by Samsung, the South Korean consumer electronics giant that backed his ninth ascent to the top of Mount Everest.

“Everest summit no 9! 1st tweet from the top of the world thanks to a weak 3G signal & the awesome Samsung Galaxy S2 handset!” the mountaineer said in a tweet.

Nepal telecom carrier Ncell installed a mobile signal receiver at the base of Everest late last year, but it had been unclear whether its range extended to the peak.

A blog post at Cool’s website proclaimed his latest climb a success and promised more details as Cool made his way back down.

AFP

Paola Totaro in London

February 15, 2011

The US government’s legal hunt for Julian Assange will begin in a magistrates court in Virginia today when its Attorney General seeks a disclosure order on Twitter to obtain the names, dates and locations of anyone using its services to communicate with WikiLeaks.

However, the Herald has been told Twitter intends to fight the order, claiming it is too broad and breaches its right to protect the confidentiality and free speech of its users.

The new demands could affect thousands of individuals all over the world, including Australia, Britain and the US.

A court order was sent to Twitter on December 14 by the US Attorney’s Office in Alexandria, Virginia, demanding details about the accounts of Mr Assange and Private Bradley Manning, the army intelligence analyst suspected of supplying classified information to WikiLeaks.

The US is trying to build a conspiracy case that Mr Assange solicited the leaks.

The other Twitter accounts known to have been targeted are those of Icelandic MP Birgitta Jonsdottir, Dutch hacker Rop Gonggrijp, and US programmer Jacob Appelbaum. All have worked with WikiLeaks.

According to a WikiLeaks source, the new tactic is an “attack on the right to freedom of association – a freedom that the people of Tunisia and Egypt, for example, spurred on by information from WikiLeaks, have found so valuable”.

Twitter should be congratulated for challenging the court orders, the source said.

There is serious concern among Mr Assange’s legal team that other internet companies, including Google and Facebook, may have buckled under the US Patriot Act and surrendered their information without contest.

The anti-terrorism legislation provides a shield for secrecy and it is expected that there will be a public demand by WikiLeaks today asking the other internet companies, including Yahoo, to “explain their position”.

The US move against Twitter has led Geoffrey Robertson, QC, who leads the British defence team, to take on the advice of the celebrated Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz, famous for defending O.J. Simpson, Claus Von Bulow and Patty Hearst. The two lawyers have known each other for many years.

Mr Assange will not appear in the Virginia court as he remains on strict bail conditions in Britain as he awaits his appeal against a European arrest warrant for his extradition to Sweden on allegations of rape.

Mr Assange’s legal team have made clear already that as an Australian who is not alleged to have done any wrong on American territory, US courts have no jurisdiction over him.

The decision on the extradition will be brought down on February 24 after three days of argument in a London magistrates’ court last week.

Whatever the decision from the London court, both sides have said they will appeal it to the High Court.

Under the European arrest warrant requirements, this must be done quickly, probably by Easter.

The Herald was unable to contact Twitter for comment.

Sourced & published by Henry Sapiecha

Nearly four out of five women and three of five men say they believe texting, Facebook and other social media tools for staying connected cause new couples to jump into bed faster, a survey released this week has found.

However, only around 38 per cent of women say they have actually slept with a date any sooner because of digital intimacy, according to the 1200 women and men who participated in the third annual sex survey by Shape and Men’s Fitness magazines.

Smartphones and laptops are the new toys that lead to the bedroom, it said, with almost 80 per cent of women and 58 per cent of men saying social media tools leads to sex much faster.

Texting is the number one way lovers stay in touch, the survey found, with men texting 39 per cent more often than phoning and women 150 per cent more.

Even before the magic begins, 70 per cent of women and 63 per cent of men use Google and other online tools to screen potential dates.

A full 65 per cent of those polled said they had been asked out by text and 49 per cent through a Facebook message.

Once the relationship clicks, 72 per cent of women report scouring a current partner’s ex-girlfriends’ Facebook pages.

Even in the heat of passion, some people just can’t get enough of their digital devices, the survey found.

When a call or text comes in during sex, a full 5 per cent of respondents said they glance to see who is calling and 1 per cent say they stop to answer the phone.

And when the spark is extinguished, digital dumping is the new way to break up, with 43 per cent of women and 27 per cent of men reporting getting a text along the lines of a dear John “It’s not you, it’s me”.

For the heartbroken, the internet keeps hope alive, with 81 per cent of all respondents saying they won’t de-friend an ex on Facebook and 75 per cent admitting to constantly checking a former sweetheart’s page.

Sourced & published by Henry Sapiecha

Running out of cereal is usually a problem that one must face on his own. But when David Berkowitz awoke to the dilemma one morning this October, he got some support from an unexpected source. After reading a tweet about his irritation, Edge Shave Gel sent him enough cereal that it should be a very long time before he runs out again.

“I’m still eating the cereal they sent me, so the positive brand association continues,” says Berkowitz.

Since September, 234 people have benefited from similar random acts of kindness from the @EdgeShaveZone Twitter account. As part of Edge’s Anti-Irritation Campaign, a team of two devotes its full-time efforts to seeking, responding to, and relieving irritation across Twitter(), much of which is conveyed using Edge’s #soirritating hashtag. The team has given out everything from iPads and computers to megaphones and dancing panda YouTube() videos in their efforts to “solve irritation.” One woman tweeted that she had voices in her head that were speaking in Spanish — Edge responded with the gift of a Spanish/English dictionary.

In about three months, @EdgeShaveZone has gathered about 1,500 followers, the #soirritating hashtag has been used about 6,800 times, and attention from numerous media outlets has contributed to mounting buzz — all of which likely contributed to Edge’s decision to continue the campaign throughout 2011. Mashable() recently spoke with the team at Edelman Digital, that runs the campaign, about the factors that have contributed to its success.

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Using Twitter, Not Changing Twitter

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When was the last time you used Twitter to rave about a product you use every day? Most of us do that quite often. Designing a Twitter campaign that both promotes a brand effectively and fits the platform can be challenging. Instead of trying to change the way that people use the platform, the #soirritating campaign builds on top of what Twitter users are already doing: complaining.“We picked Twitter because we noticed that a truth about Twitter was that people were always talking about how irritated they were about things, and we have a product that matched that truth, which was anti-irritation, so that was a good place for us,” says Katie Facada, the copywriter who composes tweets for @EdgeShaveZone.

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As is typical for the microblogging company, it made the announcement in Korean. In its blog post, Twitter() revealed that it chose Korean as the next language for launch because the number of Twitter users from Korea has increased tenfold in the last year. That’s an astounding growth metric.

Not only is Twitter.com now translated in Korean, but so are the official Twitter Android and iPhone apps. It has also launched a recommended user list of Korean users, including actor Park Joong (@moviejhp) and novelist @Oisoo.

Twitter now supports seven languages. The others include Spanish, Italian, German, French, English and Japanese.

Louisa Hearn

January 11, 2011

Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter have brought together Queenslanders hunting for up-to-the-minute information on the devastating floods afflicting the sunshine state.

As Queensland Police work around the clock to keep the public informed on the movement of flood waters, they have also turned to these popular sites to publish updates and combat myths and rumours, as citizens post photos, updates and words of encouragement to one another.

Although Queensland is issuing information through its State Disaster Management Service website, some web services have been disrupted with Brisbane City Council’s flood flag map unable to cope with the high demand for updates on road closures and evacuations.

As a consequence, Facebook and Twitter have become a crucial lifeline as Queensland Police publish regular bulletins about the flood waters, warnings of road closures, and evacuation procedures.

The official Queensland Police Service Facebook page is also serving as a noticeboard for those with local information.

On the page, desperate requests for new information on affected areas are being answered by those with firsthand knowledge, while others have offered lodgings to evacuees, and posted messages of support and advice on everything from which bridges are closed to safe locations for leaving evacuated pets.

“I have no money to give. I do have a dry house and a spare room (my 3 yr old will bunk in with us and you can have her queen bed),” wrote one on the QPS page.

The same official police updates are also being relayed via Twitter, which many private citizens and media outlets have retweeted, adding their own comments and photographs of the unfolding disaster under various hashtag categories including #qldfloods #thebigwet and #bnefloods.

Posts such as: “Been told to go home from Eagle St office,” and “People going nuts swarming grocery stores to ‘stock up,”‘ give outsiders a small glimpse into events as they unfold. Other posts caused unnecessary panic in the afternoon after relaying false information, leaving Queensland Police to undertake a mythbusting exercise.

Some of the false reports included a panicked message that Brisbane CBD was being evacuated and the public transport system has closed down.

Other Twitter users also attempted to stem the panic.

“People saying 45 minutes until Brisbane CBD is underwater! Please stop causing unnecessary panic,” wrote one.

“Incorrect tweets about Brisbane transport and airport closing have caused needless panic. Please be responsible”, said another.

In spite of the confusion, most tweets that were posted sought to help rather than hinder with some even offering neighbours free access to their WiFi networks, according to technology website itnews.com.au.

Flooding has also affected some landline and mobile telephone services in parts of Queensland. “One of the biggest issues we’re facing is the damage caused by flood water. In some cases we simply cannot gain access to sites to repair damage and will have to wait for flood waters to recede so we can safely access some parts of the network,” said Telstra on its website.

For more information visit the Queensland Government traffic and travel website or phone 131940

Sourced & published by Henry Sapiecha