:: LNR Journalism ::

Wikipedia revision differences in page 'Mitt Romney'? Juxta Commons compares versions

Juxta Commons :: Juxta is a tool that allows you to compare and collate versions of the same textual work. Juxta Commons is an online space powered by the Juxta Web Service that lets you collate sets and share visualizations with your peers, like the "Mitt Romney" page.

HT: Brian Keegan, here:

Very cool tool from @juxtacommons for comparing revisions of Wikipedia articles. juxtacommons.org/shares/j8FOpT/… via @niemanlab cc @wikiresearch

— Brian Keegan (@bkeegan) December 19, 2012

Read Staff, Juxta Commons, juxtacommons.org

Hacks & cool tools: The jQuery HTML5 audio, video library

jPlayer :: jPlayer is the completely free and open source (GPL/MIT) media library written in JavaScript. A jQuery plugin, jPlayer allows you to rapidly weave cross platform audio and video into your web pages.

Read Staff, jPlayer, jplayer.org

Hackathon entrant Appetize.co lets you record in-app video demos

TechCrunch :: Appetize.co allows programmers to add one line to their code that can simulate button presses and swipes. You can then play these movies back in the app itself during demonstrations.

A report by John Biggs, techcrunch.com

How Apple and Google could make QR codes mainstream

TechCrunch :: QR codes make a lot of sense. One of the most challenging things about the gluttony of digital offerings is bridging the gap between the digital and physical world. Mobile devices present the opportunity to do this better than ever. If I’m standing at a store, and they want me to follow them on Twitter, mobile devices allow me to follow them immediately, as opposed to waiting until I get home to do it. QR codes simplify it even more.

A report by Brenden Mulligan, techcrunch.com

Tool used here qrcode.kaywa.com (helps you to generate QR codes like the one above)

Mark the date: October 24th, 2012: QR World Expo, London

Cambridge University Press launches an API for its dictionaries

TechCrunch :: Cambridge University Press just launched a new API that is meant to make it easy for developers to add data from a variety of the organization’s dictionaries to their own sites and mobile apps.

A report by Frederic Lardinois, techcrunch.com

Gradually moving away from Twitter: Announcing Watermark and App.net integration

Note: Watermark/Tweet Marker Plus is a paid service to manage tweets (archive, save, ...). It also allows you to search the tweets of your friends.

Manton.com :: I'm renaming Tweet Marker Plus. Its new name — to better reflect its gradual move away from Twitter and syncing — is Watermark. As part of the relaunch it immediately gains a new feature: App.net posts. You can now add an App.net account and it will download any posts from your friends, making them available for search. Watermark is already storing tens of millions of tweets, and I'm excited to start adding App.net posts to that archive as well.

A report by Manton Reece, www.manton.org

HT: Josh Ong, TNW

The White House: Online petitions system 'We the People' now open source

The White House :: I'm thrilled to announce that we are publishing the source code for We the People, the online petitions system that has been a popular way for the public to connect with the White House over the past year.

[Macon Phillips:] There is so much that can be done to improve this system, and we only benefit by being able to more easily collaborate with designers and engineers around the country - and the world.

A report by Macon Phillips, www.whitehouse.gov

HT: Nieman Lab

Evan Williams, Biz Stone reveal 'Medium' - Jalees Rehman: But do we need it?

CNN :: There's yet another way to post writing and photos and share them with other people online. Medium is a new blogging tool for people who feel constrained by Twitter and overwhelmed by Blogger or Tumblr. Its founders are Evan Williams and Biz Stone, who co-founded Twitter and Blogger, so they know about blogging, both long and short form.

A report by Heather Kelly, edition.cnn.com

Discussed here:

Fragments of Truth :: When we look at our Twitter feeds, Facebook updates or the millions of blog posts that are generated, it is difficult to claim that the quality of information being exchanged is improving. However, improving the quality of exchanged information seems to be a rather lofty goal and it is not clear that a new platform will necessarily achieve that. "Medium" will apparently rely on two key principles: Rating and Organizing.

[Jalees Rehman:] Do we need another information sharing platform?

An opinion piece by Jalees Rehman, fragments-of-truth.blogspot.de

Jalees Rehman on Twitter

Cyberhoarding: The 5 best services for saving stuff online

VentureBeat :: Five content-saving services have hit the market, but only the fastest and easiest to use will win. My organizational obsession led me to pit my favorite organizational apps, and a few I’ve barely used, against each other to figure out which reigns supreme. To wrangle years of newspaper clippings, recipe cards, photos, and videos into an organized space, I decided to put Evernote, Springpad, Clipboard, Bitly’s Bitmarks, and Minilogs, a new link-saving service, to the test.

A review by Sarah Mitroff, venturebeat.com

Visible Technologies' social media monitoring: Multiple projects, regions or languages

The Next Web :: On the same day social data company DataSift announced it was targeting Wall Street with two key finance hires and a New York office, Visible Technologies has rolled out a new version of its social media monitoring platform, allowing users to access data across multiple projects, regions or languages.

A (non-critical) product description by Paul Sawers, thenextweb.com