As you all may know, Facebook has released the Timeline and making it part of everyone’s view.

I’ve been running the Timeline, like a number of other early adopters, for a few months now and really think that it is a great culmination and view of what your shared, digital life looks like. We can talk privacy and opt-in and opt-out concerns later – for now lets just talk about the cool photos and videos we’re all sharing on Facebook.

Well, to make those photos and videos standout even more, and connect with your viewers Facebook has worked collaboratively with Definition 6 to create the Timeline Movie Maker.

After opting in (see told you the privacy conversation would come up…), the app generates a movie based on your greatest hits, attempting to capture the highlights of your Facebook experience through the years by surfacing pieces of content with high levels of engagement.

It’s similar in format to the video Facebook made to introduce Timeline at the F8 conference in September featuring Andy Sparks.

It’s also reminds me alot of the Intel Museum of Me app that was introduced about a year ago.

Timeline Movie Maker will initially be available in English, French, Spanish and German, and will have five music soundtracks from which people can choose to create their minimovie. People can also customize their music selection, images, videos or check-ins at the end of the first automated video view.

“Timeline is about sharing the key moments of your life with your friends and family,” said Paul Hernacki, chief technology officer at Definition 6. “Timeline Movie Maker is evaluating highly engaged content in a chronological fashion, choreographing a user’s personal journey on Facebook, with content that has the most engagement and uses comment analysis to identify key life moments and where the user is tagged.”

Go here to create your own Timeline Movie. Click here to go check out mine.

[source AdAge]

THE Tech Scoop - Your World and the Technology That Goes With It

It has empowered many individuals with the resources that they may not have been able to acquire otherwise.

However, the Internet has also deepened the divide of American individuals. This infographic by Online IT Degree highlights some reasons as to why this may be.

THE Tech Scoop - Your World and the Technology That Goes With It

What is Pinterest? It’s a social network like Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus but it’s based on sharing (or pinning) cool, fun or interesting images. The interface is simple, intuitive and generally speaking, it’s a fun site to be on and look at. Everything from luscious food to home design and eco tech to cool fashion is highlighted on the site by members. If you recently signed up for Pinterest, below we share three tips for new users.

1. Fill Out Your Profile

When you first sign up, take a moment to fill out your profile page. This includes the usual such as your name and email plus an About section with a picture, your location, a website if you have one and whether you want to have your Facebook and Twitter accounts cross-linked. This is essential for when others want to follow you and or get to know you better. But I would say at the very least add a picture to your profile as this shows up throughout the site.

2. Follow Others -

Like many social networks you’ll have way more fun when you follow others. You can add followers in a few ways. One is via the Invite feature directly on the site, or via the Facebook connect feature Pinterest has under your profile page. As you become more familiar with the site and find cool new Pins, you can also follow other members you like on the site. The more members you follow the more fun you will have and the more items you will come across.

3. Use The Pin Browser Button -

A fast and easy way to Pin items is to install the browser based Pin It button. This way when you come across something cool on the web you wish to share on Pinterest, you won’t have to leave the page, simply press the Pin It button on your browser. It’s free, simple to use and a great way to share freely from wherever you happen to be on the web.

Pinterest is a fun and active social network perfect for those who are visually based. Try our three tips above and make the most of this extremely popular new media darling.

Guest post contributed by Missy who runs a fuel card comparison site and loves to write about cool new social networks like Pinterest.

THE Tech Scoop - Your World and the Technology That Goes With It

But when you have an executive team that has been caught up in all the nonsense they have as of late, and a new executive team running marketing campaigns such as this #BeBold one – man it hurts.

I do like the pretty colors in the infographic though.

Your thoughts?

THE Tech Scoop - Your World and the Technology That Goes With It

Buffer allows you to schedule tweets for release at certain times of the day so you don’t flood your followers at any point.  It was great if you were browsing the web and working at a computer.  However, if you were working or reading on your iphone or ipad, it was not as easy to schedule and manage your buffered tweets from those devices.

Where to get it - App Store.

Do you use buffer or any similar tweet scheduling service?   Please share in the comments.

THE Tech Scoop - Your World and the Technology That Goes With It

Now that I have moved over to a MacBook Air I’m especially intrigued by this latest Kickstarter project, that was at MacWorld|iWorld last week. It’s from an organization called LandingZone and after only a few weeks listed on Kickstarter, they’ve reached their target numbers and are going forward with production.

Here are the specs

• Total of 4 USB 2.0 ports; no need to attach a separate USB hub
• Built in 10/100T Ethernet port; no more dongles for the Ethernet or fumbling with the cable
• Built in Mini DisplayPort capable of driving resolution up to 2560×1440
• Built in locking port compatible with all the Kensington Locks; now you can secure your MacBook Air
• Two models to support either the 11″ or 13″ version of the MacBook Air (2010 or later)
• Beautifully designed and engineered for simplicity, elegance, reliability and functionality (patent pending)
• Comes with US power adapter which accepts wide range of input voltage (100~240 Vac)

Since they’ve already reached funding goals, the early adopters have gotten the sweet pricing deal. So for the rest of us, it looks like LandingZone is going to charge $200 for both the 13 and the 11-inch models of the dock. Shipping is expected to as early as February for the 11-inch and March for the 13-inch model.

Yeah – I’m getting one of these.

THE Tech Scoop - Your World and the Technology That Goes With It

Vidify is a neat, fully featured app that one of our writers found out about recently at the LA AppShow.

What Vidify does is simply the task of creating high quality video from your iDevice.

Vidify automatically edits music videos and montage videos on the fly using the footage from your camera roll and a soundtrack from your iPod/iPhone library.

“When we share personal videos, we’re sharing a story, and music can play a big role in communicating that narrative. When we developed Vidify, it was important that people had the option to tell their story to their favorite music, or to music that was deeply imbedded in the app,” states Ian Noe, co-founder of Nice Labs. “Users will be blown away with how a touch of a button results in creating a story that seamlessly blends from moment to moment as the music plays. It literally looks just like you spent hours editing it.”

What’s awesome – there’s NO editing required. Simply select your videos and your song and Vidify does the rest.

Specifics:

• Use any video on your camera roll from any source
• Use any track from your iPod library as a soundtrack
• Fully licensed Featured Music Library with music by independent artists
• Instantly share videos with your friends using Facebook, Youtube and email
• Play wirelessly on your Apple TV
• Fast processing times using the iPhone’s built in hardware
• Create sharp hi-res videos (HD 720p)

Note: You’ll obviously want to be aware that using commercial music in your video will get rejected by YouTube. I hear that Facebook is also sending notices to people for using copyrighted, commercial audio in video montages – just be aware !!

Here’s video showing exactly how easy Vidify is to use.

Now the fun – we at THE Tech Scoop are running a little giveaway for your very own copy of Vidify. Enter the contest by following the instructions below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good Luck !

THE Tech Scoop - Your World and the Technology That Goes With It

The successor to the popular Wii console will integrate a popular touch-card technology into its controllers. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said the device will use NFC, or near field communication, standards that are widely employed in tap-and-go train passes and other payment systems worldwide.

“It will become possible to create cards and figurines that can electronically read and write data via noncontact NFC,” Iwata said in a speech, a copy of which was posted on Nintendo’s web site.

“Adoption of this functionality will enable various other possibilities such as using it as a means of making micropayments,” he added.

The Nintendo chief said final details about the Wii U will be announced at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, a major annual game exhibition to be held this year in June in Los Angeles.

The Wii U has a large controller that is similar to a dedicated handheld console, with a touchscreen, motion detection and camera. Its small screen can be used to supplement games played on TVs or replace the larger display entirely.

Speaking about related Nintendo technologies, Iwata added that Nintendo is working to expand StreetPass and SpotPass, the peer-to-peer platforms of the device, which let users communicate and compete via their 3DS consoles. The company is also working to expand its fledgling online shop for the device.

Looks like I may have an original Wii up for sale soon.

THE Tech Scoop - Your World and the Technology That Goes With It

Sad but true – textbooks will be a thing of the past now that technology giant Apple unveiled 3 new apps that will improve education.In this modern age of technology, students tend to get bored using their school books. But since iPads have become a popular trend among everyone especially the youth, Apple believes that it can be a great learning tool to help the students in their education.

The technology company aims to make students study harder and learn more by integrating the textbooks into the iPads through these 3 new interactive apps. There’s no need to bring several heavy books for different subjects. A portable iPad will replace them all and will actually offer some more.

Apple introduced iBooks 2, an app that will definitely change the way students learn in their classroom. Since this app is free, everyone can download it. iBooks 2 will make the textbooks more fun and interactive by offering features such as videos, photo galleries, 3-D models for Science classes, Q&A sections, ability to search for information quickly, and multitouch gestures among others.

The interactive textbooks will be made using another free Mac app called iBooks Author. This app makes it easy for book publishers to create textbooks as it includes several templates to choose from, easy controls as well as other features for customizing each book. The textbooks can then be downloaded from iBookstore for affordable prices, ranging from $14.99 or less.

But Apple isn’t done yet. It also will offer another amazing app for teachers and professors alike. Called iTunes U, this free app allows teachers to do a lot of things with their iPads such as making lectures downloadable for students, posting messages, creating assignments and many more. It is definitely a one-stop place for your students.

With these 3 new apps, change in the educational system is inevitable. But I think it’s good to embrace change especially if it’s for the better.

[via MSNBC | image via 9to5mac]

Related articles

• Estimated 350,000 iBooks textbooks downloaded in three days (tuaw.com)
• iBooks Textbooks Commentary (macstories.net)

THE Tech Scoop - Your World and the Technology That Goes With It

From friends to enemies – the relationship of the two pioneering companies has turned sour as they are both battling lawsuits over a number of patent infringements filed by one another.

But Kodak is truly experiencing a series of unfortunate events. After Kodak filed patent infringement lawsuits against Apple earlier this year, the photography firm has also filed for bankruptcy – something everyone has been expecting to happen. The company has seriously struggled to increase their sales soon after the digital cameras were introduced.

Kodak Inc., the pioneering company in the photography industry, has assets worth $5.1 billion and debts amounting to $6.8 billion. It is now seeking for bankruptcy protection to keep the company afloat. Citigroup has agreed to lend $950 million to help finance Kodak’s operations during the company’s struggling times.

But Apple, recognized as the most admired company by Fortune 500 in 2011, asked the bankruptcy court to prevent Kodak from using the disputed patents as loan collaterals. The company, which introduced the iPhone and iPad, claims that the patents actually belong to them.

Back in the 1990s, the two companies joined forces and worked together to come up with something innovative. At that time, Apple stated that it has disclosed some confidential digital technologies to Kodak with an agreement that whatever modifications or improvements made to these technologies, Apple still has the exclusive rights over them.

The battle between these two giants is expected to continue.

[via TUAW]

THE Tech Scoop - Your World and the Technology That Goes With It