A new service called SocialEyes allows you to carry on video calls with your Facebook friends or with people who share common interests.  The service was launched at the Demo Conference in Palm Desert, Calif on Monday.  In his post about the service, CNET’s Rafe Needleman describes it as blend of  ”Skype and FaceTime features with Facebook’s social graph.”

Listen to Larry’s One Minute Tech Talk segment on SocialEyes

Listen to full 2 minute, 30 second interview with SocialEyes Co-founder and Chairman Rob Glaser

by Larry Magid

I find it ironic that TV screens are getting bigger and smaller at the same time. Like a growing number of households, our living room is endowed with a big-screen TV yet I also watch video on my laptop, my iPad and occasionally even on my Android phone.

And when my wife and I do plop ourselves down in front of the TV, some of what we watch comes via our satellite dish (for other people it could be cable or an antenna) but increasingly, we’re viewing content that’s streamed via the Internet.

My young adult kids don’t even have TVs in their apartments. They watch everything on their PCs and sometimes their smartphones.

It seems that, for the foreseeable future, we’re going to have a mixture of form factors and sources for the video we consume, and with all those choices, time spent watching traditional TV is bound to keep shrinking. A 2010 study by market research firm Morspace found that 52 percent of U.S. viewing time is spent on “live” TV. For 18-34 year olds, it’s only 41 percent. By live, they mean watching TV in real time, not necessarily live programming.

The gradual decline of TV watching didn’t start with the Internet. The VCR, which enabled us to choose from thousands of titles from the shelves of the now endangered neighborhood video store, gave people their first major alternative to what could be found by turning the dial.

Now there’s almost no end of options when it comes to what we view and where we view it. For the most part, that’s a good thing because it forces everyone in the media business to up their game in an effort to get our attention. Broadcasters (and by that I include media delivered via cable and satellite) will have to come up with compelling reasons to get us to tune into live TV. TV makers will have to continue to dazzle us with better screens and speakers so that they blow away the experience we get from our smaller devices.

Companies that stream media will have to increase the amount of content they offer, especially if they want people to pay monthly subscription fees. In the meantime, makers of mobile equipment — including tablet PCs — are having to make sure that the quality of their screens and audio systems are up-to-par.

That’s certainly the case with the iPad, which is a great way to watch video.

I know we’re not typical, but viewing patterns at my house have changed dramatically since we connected a Roku to the TVs in our living room and bedroom. The Roku (starting at $60) lets you stream Netflix, Amazon and numerous other “channels” of Internet video.

We almost never watch DVDs anymore, and we rarely watch movies on HBO or Showtime, though we do enjoy some of the exclusive programs offered on those channels. Most of the movies and a growing number of the TV shows we watch are streamed to the TV from Netflix via the Roku. It doesn’t (yet) bring us current episodes of shows, but there are plenty of old shows that I never got around to watching when they were on TV. (My wife and I are working our way through eight seasons of “Monk.”)

When we want to watch newer movies, we pay to stream from Amazon’s video-on-demand service and, last week, Amazon added another option for video streaming. Anyone who subscribes to the company’s $79 a year Prime service can now stream movies and TV shows to their personal computer or Internet-connected TV for no extra cost. Prime is a service that gives you free two-day shipping and $3.99 per item overnight shipping on most items sold or distributed directly by Amazon.com. The streaming service isn’t nearly as extensive as Netflix (about 5,000 titles at launch compared to about 20,000 from Netflix), but I’m sure it will grow rapidly as Amazon negotiates deals with content providers.

About the only thing we can’t stream to our TV is live news and even that’s changing. In the midst of the Egyptian crisis, Roku started live-streaming Al Jazeera. It’s a niche market, but it’s a start.

Still, there are holdouts. Networks that let you watch programs on the Web block TV access to devices like Google TV. And Comcast’s great Web-based video-on-demand service works only on PCs and Macs. When I asked a Comcast executive why that was the case, he said it was because they want their customers to use the traditional cable service when watching TV, even though it’s OK for them to watch online when they’re sitting in front of a computer. An attitude like that will lead the company toward extinction. It’s time for consumers, not companies, to decide what screen to use for whatever program we want to watch.

This post originally appeared in the San Jose Mercury News

For the second time in about seven months, Consumer Reports has taken a swipe at the iPhone 4′s antenna flaw.

The non-profit organization’s review of the Verizon iPhone 4 which appears free on its site (not all CR reviews are available online to non-subscribers) points out that like the AT&T version of the iPhone 4, the Verizon model “has a problem that could cause the phone to drop calls, or be unable to place calls, in weak signal conditions.” In testing, the researchers at CR found that “covering tiny gaps in the metal band that runs around the skinny edge of the Verizon iPhone caused “meaningful decline in performance.”

The flaw only manifests itself in areas of marginal reception and — as the magazine points out — can be completely avoided by not touching that part of the phone or by placing a rubber bumper around the case to prevent such contact.

As a result of this flaw, the magazine has proclaimed that “we are not including the Verizon iPhone 4 in our list of recommended smart phones, despite its high ranking in our Ratings.

In general I’m a fan of Consumer Reports — I like that they are not beholden to advertisers and that they purchase the products they review. And I’m far from an Apple fan-boy. I don’t even own an iPhone — I’m an Android user.

But that doesn’t mean that Consumer Reports is right. While in the best of all worlds it would have been good if Apple had fixed the antenna flaw before issuing the new Verizon phone, the flaw is hardly a reason to avoid getting an iPhone. I’ve seen iPhone compatible bumpers on sale for as little as $8. Or you could learn to avoid placing your hand over that little gap.

If you are inclined to get an iPhone — whether through Verizon or AT&T — its good to know that this is a small problem, but it’s a very small problem compared to the broader problems that affect all cell phones. Cell phones are two-way radios an like all radios, good reception is never something you can take for granted. Every cell phone from every carrier will drop calls for a variety of reasons. True, this antenna flaw is a bit unique to the iPhone but it’s so easy to avoid that its not really a reason to avoid getting the phone.

Like Tom Cruise's character in Minority Report, we may all be using our hands to manipulate our PCs

CNET News is reporting that Microsoft will soon release a Software Development Kit (SDK) for using its Kinect motion sensor for the XBox 360 on Windows PCs.  The SDK will allow developers to create software that takes advantage of the device’s amazing ability to “see” how a person is moving their hands and other parts of their bodies.

The technology has the potential to revolutionize the way we interact with PCs, enabling us to use our hands and arms to point to where we want to put a photo on a screen or to interact with web sites.

In an online statement, Microsoft’s chief research and strategy officer, Craig Mundie, said that ““Microsoft’s investments in natural user interfaces are vital to our long-term vision of creating computers that are intuitive to use and able to do far more for us.”  He added, “the fruits of these research investments are manifesting across many of our products, Kinect for Xbox 360 among them.”

Google and Apple last week announced competing online payment systems to allow publishers to charge for content on digital devices. Apple’s system is designed to work with the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, while Google announced its will work with “tablets, smartphones and websites.” Presumably most of the tablets and phones will be running Google’s Android operating system but it’s possible that its system will also work on other mobile platforms.

One difference between the Apple and Google platforms is that Apple will charge publishers 30 percent of the subscription revenue while Google plans to keep only 10 percent. But perhaps more important distinction is the way the two companies plan to handle customer data.

On its website, Apple said that “customers purchasing a subscription through the App Store will be given the option of providing the publisher with their name, email address and zip code when they subscribe.” The key word is option. By default, only Apple will have that information. Google, which in general takes a more open approach to developers, will reportedly pass that information on to publishers.

The issue of access to customer information is important to the publishing industry, according to Nina Link, CEO of MPA — The Association of Magazine Media. In an interview, she said that “publishers have historically had relationships directly with the consumer and have access to data as they renew them year after year and as they offer them additional products that are targeted to their interests.”

Her concern with the Apple model is that “it now becomes Apple’s relationship and Apple’s data,” which she described as “problematic for us.”

I can see both sides of this issue. In Apple’s defense, there may be times when people don’t want a publisher to know who they are, just as they don’t want to pass on personally identifiable information to some websites they visit. They might be concerned that the publisher will send them spam or sell their e-mail address, or perhaps they have a reason to not want anyone to know they’re reading or viewing that material.

It’s not unlike using electronic shopping services where you entrust a company like Apple, Google or Amazon with your credit card information so you can buy from an affiliated merchant without worrying about that merchant getting access to your information.

However, the MPA’s Link said instances of magazines misusing customer data are “rare and far between.”

I wouldn’t have much of a problem with Apple’s approach if it weren’t for the fact that its IOS devices are a relatively closed ecosystem. Unless you “jailbreak” your IOS device, it’s very difficult to load in an app without going through Apple’s App Store. And that has given Apple a great deal of control over the apps that run on its platform.

That level of control has allowed Apple to censor apps for a variety of reasons, ranging from duplication of existing apps to its efforts to keep porn and malware from being used on its products. While that latter motivation may seem noble, it’s also presumptuous. Steve Jobs has a perfect right to keep legal adult content away from his own devices and those of his minor children, but I don’t see why he has a right to decide for the rest of us.

Admittedly, I feel more confident downloading apps from the Apple store than I do from the Android Marketplace because I know that Apple strives to protect users from malicious software. But that’s also true for Download.com(owned by CBS, my part-time employer) and other reputable Web-based download services. The problem with Apple’s solution is that Apple becomes the gatekeeper for all things consumed on its platform.

I’d have no problem with Apple’s approach if it were one of many ways to access content and applications for its devices. It’s fine with me that Apple gets to decide what products it carries in its brick and mortar stores, because there are lots of other retailers who sell accessories for Apple products or software to run on its Macintosh computers. But I would have a major problem if Apple were to prohibit people from distributing those products outside its stores.

As we adjust our eyes to the dawn of the mobile information age, I think back to the early days of the PC industry. When Steve Wozniak designed that first Apple II, he ingeniously included slots so that other hardware vendors could enhance his product. And like other PC makers, he and Steve Jobs also made it easy for software developers to write and market their own programs with no encumbrances from Apple. The same is true for Macintosh software. IBM and Microsoft also made no efforts to control developers, and they spawned a multibillion dollar software industry.

By now just about everyone knows that former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, shut down most of Egypt’s access to the Internet in an ill-fated attempt to stifle the protests that rocked his country. Libya has reportedly also cut Internet access to citizens during its protests.

But could the U.S. President do the same in the event of widespread unrest? Some critics of the Cybercecurity and Internet Freedom Act of 20100 (PDF) worry that it could.

For more, please see Declan McCullagh post “Internet ‘kill switch bill gets a makeover” at CNET News.com.  Here’s PC Magazine’s take.

LoseIt website helps you track calories consumed and burned

When I tweeted that I was on a new weight-loss regime, I got a reply from @JimFenton telling me about @Lose It App.  LoseIt is both a free website and an iPhone/iPad/iPod app that helps you track food intake and exercise.  I haven’t tried the iPhone version (I have an Android which they don’t currently support) but I am very impressed with the web version.

The site takes a no-nonsense approach to track the calories you consume and burn. It recognizes that 3,500 calories equals a pound of body fat and sticks to the science of weight control rather than relying on fads, points or other techniques that sometimes work but aren’t really necessary if you count calories.

I’m not going to do a comparison with other sites or apps in today’s post (may do that later) but what I like about LoseIt is its simplicity.  Type in a food or exersizse and it makes it simple to enter in the amount of food or time and it just logs it for you without undo work on your part.  It also has lots of reporting mechanisms and, for those of us who need reinforcement from our friends, it has a social aspect. You can email reports to friends or have the app (or site) send tweets or Facebook status updates with reports on  your exercise or changes in weight.

Lose It also works with the Withings Wi-Fi Body Scale to automatically track your weight. I have a scale on-order and will review it after I have a chance to try it out.

I find myself confused by today’s media landscape. It’s harder than ever to figure out what is a media company, what is a technology company and who is a journalist.

I thought about this last week after AOL announced it had acquired the Huffington Post. As a frequent HuffPost blogger and an even more frequent reader, I always thought of it as an online newspaper of sorts, complete with sections such as a front page, business, sports, technology and travel.

Although AOL has long had editorial content on its site and previously purchased editorial sites, including Engadget and TechCrunch, I still think of AOL as a technology company. That was certainly true back in the day, when millions of people used it as their onramp to the dial-up Internet. But it’s still true when you consider the popularity of their products such as AOL Mail and AOL Instant Messenger, or AIM.

In stories about the acquisition, some analysts talked about the value in the many comments Huffington Posts readers make in response to blog posts and news stories. Some posts generate thousands of user comments. In that sense, HuffPost is like an interest-driven social network. Comments aren’t just electronic versions of the old “letter to the editor,” but conversations between users as comments beget other comments.

There is nothing new about tech companies offering news. AOL rival Yahoo has long been a source of news and information for millions of users, though most of it is aggregated from other sources, such as wire services and partner news operations. Even Microsoft, via MSN, is a major news source and a former partner, with NBC, in the MSNBC cable news outlet. Until recently, NBC was owned by General Electric, but other than collecting revenue, it wasn’t clear whether there was any synergy. It’s now owned by Comcast, where there is arguably too much synergy, which is why government regulators insisted on some conditions before approving the deal.

I’m not sure whether Google and Facebook are media companies. Google doesn’t generate news stories, but Google News is a major conduit for accessing news from other sites. The algorithms it uses to decide which stories are important have an enormous impact on how many people view a particular story. In a robotic way, Google is a gatekeeper, like the front-page editor of a newspaper.

Facebook’s primary mission is to enable others to share their stories — newsy or otherwise. But the company last year launched Facebook Live, which webcasts videos that, according to the site, are supposed to be about Facebook and its “features, partners & employees.” But if you look at some of the recent programs, the interviewees include major newsmakers, such as former White House adviser Larry Summers and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Facebook executive Randi Zuckerberg recently traveled to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where she interviewed numerous luminaries and journalists like ABC’s Christiane Amanpour, who chatted with Zuckerberg about events in Egypt.

And then there’s the flip side. News organizations such as the Mercury News, the New York Times and my part-time employer CBS Radio News are developing technology products like iPhone apps, and thereby entering the business of software development.

There are other issues besides technology. I consider bloggers to be journalists, but worry that some don’t subscribe to the same ethical standards (such as disclosure of conflicts of interest) as most traditional journalists. Still, there is no law that says you have to work for a big news organization to be a journalist, and many bloggers do a great job of adding to our media diet.

And finally, there is the issue of WikiLeaks, which founder Julian Assange refers to as a journalistic organization. I’m not arguing that WikiLeaks hasn’t provided valuable information and I’m certainly not suggesting that Assange be tried for espionage, as some lawmakers have demanded. But I question whether an organization that makes raw data dumps available to the public is the same as a journalistic organization that adds value by sorting through and excerpting information to provide relevant facts and analysis. I would certainly consider WikiLeaks as to be a valuable source of information to journalists, just as Daniel Ellsberg was a valuable source to the New York Times when it published portions of the Pentagon Papers back in 1971.

Confusing or not, the media landscape is changing and those of us who make our living in it and depend on it for information will have to change along with it. My hope is that we maintain our enduring values while adjusting to the winds of change.

Government website offers warnings (Credit: OnGuardOnline.gov)

The OnGuardOnline.gov website, operated by the Federal Trade Commission, Justice Department, Homeland Security and other federal agencies,  is warning people to be careful around WiFi hotspots.  The agency says that users on public WiFi hotspots should only log in to websites that are fully encrypted.  Encrypted sites have an https at the beginning of their address and typically have a lock in the lower right corner of the browser.  The agency says that hotspots that don’t require a password are not secure and suggests you only use hotspots with WPA (not WEP) encryption. The WiFi Alliance recommends that you use WPA-2 if you have the option.

The agency offers the following advice:

• When using a Wi-Fi hotspot, only log in or send personal information to websites that you know are fully encrypted. And keep in mind that your entire visit to each site should be encrypted – from the time you log in to the site until you log out. If you think you’re logged in to an encrypted site but find yourself on an unencrypted page, log out right away.
• Don’t stay permanently signed in to accounts. When you’ve finished using an account, log out.
• Do not use the same password on different websites. It could give someone who gains access to one of your accounts access to many of your accounts.
• Many web browsers alert users who try to visit fraudulent websites or download malicious programs. Pay attention to these warnings, and take the extra minute or so to keep your browser and security software up-to-date.
• If you regularly access online accounts through Wi-Fi hotspots, use a virtual private network (VPN). VPNs encrypt traffic between your computer and the internet, even on unsecured networks. You can obtain a personal VPN account from a VPN service provider. In addition, some organizations create VPNs to provide secure, remote access for their employees.
• Some Wi-Fi networks use encryption: WEP and WPA are the most common. WPA encryption protects your information against common hacking programs. WEP may not. If you aren’t certain that you are on a WPA network, use the same precautions as on an unsecured network.
• Installing browser add-ons or plug-ins can help, too. For example, Force-TLS and HTTPS-Everywhere are free Firefox add-ons that force the browser to use encryption on popular websites that usually aren’t encrypted. They don’t protect you on all websites – look for https in the URL and the lock icon to know a site is secure.

Click Here for my 1-minute CBS News radio segment about the FTC report.  For more, check out the FTC’s Tips for Using Public WiFi

Security firm Trend Micro is launching its second annual “What’s Your Story” contest to encourage youth and others to submit short videos on Internet safety and privacy.

Categories include being a good online citizen, using a cell phone wisely, and maintaining your online privacy.

Read more at CNET News

Listen to a short (1:47) podcast with Larry Magid and Trend Micro’s Lynette Owens.

Contest to give away $10,000 -- Credit: Trend Micro