Obama #1 on Twitter

While John McCain is still learning how to use email (we're not kidding), his U.S. Presidential competition has completely mastered the micro-blogging service Twitter.

This month, American presidential candidate Barack Obama dethroned Kevin Rose from Digg.com and became the most popular person on Twitter. According to Twitterholic, a website that measures the "followers" of Twitter accounts, Barack Obama has over 58,000 followers.

Obama's closest Twitter competitor is Kevin Rose with 56k followers. Robert Scoble, CNN Breaking News and Leo Laporte help round out the top 10.

Someone not in the Twitterholic top 10... John McCain. In fact McCain isn't even in the top 100. The only serious McCain Twitter account we found has a little over 1,000 followers. A truly pitiful showing for someone who is running for president.



Here's a 101 primer on Twitter and tips on how to explain it. If someone who personally knows John McCain is reading this, please print the article out for him (because you can't email it to him yet).

Tutorial: How to Explain Twitter to Your Grandma

And if you are feeling wild, you can follow @methodshop on Twitter here.


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ROCKETON Interview Posted

Steve Hoffman and Eric Hayashi are certainly well-rounded interactive entertainment executives. Their bios are full of so many impressive entertainment and gaming companies that it will make your head spin. Combined, Steve and Eric have worked at Vivendi Universal Games, Virgin Interactive, Infospace, Hasbro Interactive, Sega and Atari.

So what did Steve and Eric do with all that experience? What was the culmination of this vast interactive knowledge? In 2007, Steve and Eric joined forces with Naomi Kokubo and co-founded ROCKETON, a new type of multiplayer social experience that spans the entire web.

Instead of having to go to a separate site or use a specific application like Second Life, ROCKETON turns the entire Internet into a virtual world for browser based avatars. Think of ROCKETON like Second Life + PMOG with a twist of Facebook and a dash of StumbleUpon. It's a Web 2.0 evolutional twist on virtual reality.

MethodShop was lucky enough to get some time with Steve and Eric and grilled them pretty hard about ROCKETON. A link to the full interview is below. Enjoy.

Interview: ROCKETON's Steve Hoffman and Eric Hayashi

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iPhone 3G Launch Problems

The long awaited iPhone 3G was released on Friday, July 11th. But what should have been a happy and joyous day for iPhone fans, ended up being an exercise in frustration for many.

After waiting in line outside of Apple Stores for hours (or even days), some consumers then spent up to 7 hours inside because of "network problems" that slowed or even halted the activation of new iPhones.

The iPhone 3G line outside the Manhattan Apple Store on 14th Street at 12:52PM.
Estimated wait time was ~4 hours.


Apparently Apple's authentication servers weren't prepared to handle the amount of global network traffic from new iPhone 3G activations. Network slowdowns were first reported after stores opened in Europe. The network then came to a halt after US East Coast stores opened. By the time American West Coast stores had started selling iPhones, Apple's servers just couldn't take it anymore and started crashing. It was AT&T's insistence that all phones get activated in the store that caused the problem. During last year's iPhone 1.0 launch Apple had everyone activate their own phone at home through iTunes.

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Digg.com Launches New "Recommendation Engine"

Digg is rolling out a new recommendation engine this week. The new feature's goal is to help users discover content from like-minded individuals amid the clutter of the 16k+ stories submitted to Digg.com each day.

You know how when you are browsing Amazon.com and the site suggests related products based on what you are viewing and what you've already purchased? This new Digg feature works kind of the same way. It analyzes your previous "diggs," or stories you've voted for, then lets you know what other users with similar tastes have recommended.

If you want to know more, Digg execs Kevin Rose and Anton Kast go into detail about how it works on the Digg blog.

Rose will also probably explain the new feature during his next Diggnation podcast.


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Developers and Consumers Get Ready for Apple's iPhone App Store

A massive new online business is scheduled to launch on July 11: Apple's App Store - an online hub for third party iPhone and iPod Touch applications.

Beginning later this month, developers will begin to upload apps to the store accessible by iPhone users or to a new section of the iTunes Store, sharing revenue from app sales with Apple in a 70/30 split. These apps will be in addition to the 1,700-odd apps already developed for the iPhone's Safari web browser.

One of the games people are looking forward to playing is Super Money Ball. Sega's Ethan Einhorn showed off Super Monkey Ball on stage at the WWDC. According to Einhorn, after 8 weeks of development, the developers have created 110 stages.

The new 3G, GPS-enabled iPhone should open up a world of possibilities for clever developers in the realms of gaming, entertainment and enterprise applications.

In related news, the AOL Radio app for the iPhone won for Best Entertainment Application at the 2008 Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), providing users free access to over 350 online radio stations (including 150 local CBS radio stations) and more than 200 AOL Radio channels.

Other WWDC iPhone App winners:

Best iPhone Game:
Enigmo by Pangea Software

Best iPhone Social Networking App:
Twitterrific by the Icon Factory

Best iPhone Productivity App:
OmniFocus by the Omni Group

Best iPhone Healthcare & Fitness App:
MIM from MIMVista

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iPhone 3G and WWDC Announcement Predictions

There's no doubt that an iPhone update is imminent. But while nearly everyone has agreed on that, nobody knows anything definite about the specifics... except that the new iPhone will be compatible with the Microsoft Exchange email services. There's a link on the main Apple.com iPhone page where you can apply to be a beta tester.


In regards to the iPhone, here's what we know today:

• Apple.com lists the iPhone as “Currently Unavailable.” Stock is so low that you can't buy it. Usually a good sign that a new model is coming out soon.
  
  
• Apple continues to make iPhone sales deals across the globe. Netherlands, Hong Kong, Singapore, India and Australia were all announced with the last few months.
  
  
• A 3G settings screen was found by hackers in the latest firmware update for the iPhone.
  
  
• The new iPhone will most likely be unveiled during Steve Jobs’ keynote speech at Apple’s WWDC (World Wide Developers Conference) on June 9th.
  
  
• AT&T is prohibiting retail-store employees from taking vacations between June 15 and July 12, claiming that they’re expecting a “heavy selling period”. They implemented a similar policy last year for the iPhone launch.
  
  
• AT&T executives have said numerous times that all of their smartphones (the iPhone is one of the) will support 3G networking soon.
  
  
• The Apple Stores have been out of stock of the iPhone for weeks. And people are forming daily lines outside Apple stores that still have a few iPhones in stock.
  

And according to MethodShop.com, here are some rumors about what Steve Jobs might announce at the WWDC on June 9th

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Bob Dylan's 5 Best Albums

I was at my local bar the other night and someone asked me if I were ever to be stranded on a desert island and could only bring 5 Bob Dylan albums, which ones would I bring?

I couldn't answer him right away, and not because I had already had a good buzz after drinking four bottles of Miller Lite (note: I'm a lightweight), I had to think about that for a while because I really love Bob Dylan. Wait, let me rephrase that, I REALLY LOVE BOB DYLAN! For anyone even remotely aware of American pop culture over the past 40 years, it would be tough to miss the direct impact and lasting influence of Dylan's songs. I needed time to get back in touch with ALL things B-O-B!

So after spending a WHOLE week revisiting all my Dylan albums in iTunes, I compiled these 5 as the very ones I'd like to have with me if I were stranded on a desert island. And with this list I hope I can introduce the genius of Dylan to people walking around now who've never heard of the guy, or have no awareness of him beyond simple name recognition.

So if I was stranded on a desert island and could only have 5 Bob Dylan albums on my iPhone, which ones would I bring? Here's my list...

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