INSTAGRAM PHOTOS DISAPPEAR FROM TWITTER TIMELINE

Instagram photos are no longer visible in the Twitter timeline. Instead, users are seeing blank white space after clicking "view photo" from Twitter's web client and official mobile apps. We've been able to confirm the issue ourselves after seeing numerous reports surface on Twitter. 

Early last week, Instagram dropped support for Twitter cards, deepening the wedge between the two massively-popular social websites. CEO Kevin Systrom justified the move as the right thing for business and a way to steer users toward Instagram's new web profiles.

Systrom said that his company would "always" offer some level of integration with Twitter, but the minimal approach we're seeing today is undoubtedly less than what many had hoped for. Even after last week's news, photos had temporarily remained visible to some on Twitter — albiet in a rudimentary, cropped form. Today's disappearance has therefore led to newfound confusion among Instagram users.

THE WHITE HOUSE TO ROLL OUT PINTEREST ACCOUNT

After Barack and Michelle Obama joined Pinterest, the White House has followed suit with an account of its own. WhiteHouse44 is set to start pinning in earnest on December 17th, and posts will apparently "range from inspiring images and quotes to infographics that help explain key issues to details about the life inside the White House." Despite frequent criticism of the Obama administration's high level of secrecy, the move to Pinterest is said to be part of the drive to make this the "most open White House in history."

To that end, Pinterest users following the new account are invited to a December 17th event at the White House itself. Attendees will get to check out the House's Christmas decorations, meet the people involved in setting them up, and get involved in craft projects — all to be shared on Pinterest, of course.

It's unlikely to excite those who remember Obama's promise for an "unprecedented level of openness" in government, but in a world where politicians are still figuring out how to mix social media with the understandable need for discretion, we suppose it's a start.

MTN ZAMBIA SUBSCRIBERS HIT 3.5 MILLION MARK

Zambia continues to show promise in the telecom sector with MTN Zambia reporting that its subscriber base has increased to 3.5 million through the end of September.

The operator said in a statement that they believe this is due to its continued services that are being bolstered through new promotions and options for customers in the East African country.

MTN chief marketing officer Phillip Basiimire said it “may soon get the lion’s share of the mobile phone sector as income levels among working class Zambians continue to grow.”

MTN and other operators have been pushing for greater penetration into rural areas of the country in an effort to increase their customer bases and the efforts appear to be paying off - MTN’s recent statistics show a growing number of users are coming on board, many of them first-time mobile users.

Basiimire said “new products boosting its number of subscribers include mobile money,” adding that “while the company has invested over $200 million in its network roll-out of the past two years, $65 million was spent on improving its services.”

According to the Zambia Information and Communication Technology (ZICTA), MTN Zambia is the country’s fastest growing network, while the largest, Airtel, has slightly above four million customers.

IBM TO HELP STUDENTS WITH TECHNOLOGY SKILLS

IBM has announced an array of programs and resources to help students and IT professionals develop new technology skills and prepare for jobs of the future.

The initiatives include new training courses and resources for IT professionals, technology and curriculum materials for educators and expanded programs to directly engage students with real-world business challenges.
 

The new resources will help reduce a critical technology skills gap outlined in IBM’s 2012 Tech Trends Report released today.

The report, authored by the IBM Center for Applied Insights, found that only 1 in 10 organisations has the skills needed to effectively apply advanced technologies such as business analytics, mobile computing, cloud computing and social business.

In addition, nearly half of the educators and students surveyed feel there is a major gap in their institution’s ability to meet the growing demand for advanced technology skills.

“Having a highly skilled workforce is critical to an organisation’s ability to innovate, meet client demands and grow,” said Jim Corgel, general manager academic and developer relations, IBM. “In response to the growing IT skill gap, IBM is expanding its skill development programs in key areas such as cyber security, mobile computing and commerce.”

AMAZON LAUNCHES KINDLE CONTENT SERVICE FOR KIDS

Amazon is launching a subscription service for children’s games, videos and books aimed at getting more kids to use its Kindle Fire tablet devices.

Amazon.com Inc. plans to announce Wednesday that the Kindle FreeTime Unlimited service will be available in the next few weeks as part of an automatic software update.

Amazon said subscribers will have access to “thousands” of pieces of content, though the company did not give a specific number. Kids will be able to watch, play and read any of the content available to them as many times as they want. Parents can set time limits, however.

The service, aimed at kids aged 3 to 8, will cost $4.99 per month for one child. It’ll cost $2.99 per child for members of Amazon Prime, the company’s premium shipping service. Amazon Prime costs $79 per year for free shipping of merchandise purchased in the company’s online store.

Family plans for up to six kids will cost $9.99 per month and $6.99 for Prime members.

The Kindle already allows for parental controls through its FreeTime service. Parents can set up profiles for up to six children and add time limits to control how long kids can spend reading, watching videos or using the Kindle altogether. With the content subscription service, kids can browse age-appropriate videos, games and books and pick what they want to see. They won’t be shown ads and will be prevented from accessing the Web or social media. Kids also won’t be able to make payments within applications.

Amazon is launching the service as competition heats up in the tablet market among Apple, Barnes & Noble, Microsoft and Samsung. Amazon’s strategy is to offer the Kindle at a relatively low price and make money selling the content.

Offering a subscription service aimed at kids helps set the Kindle apart from its many competitors.

“We hope that our devices are really, really attractive for families,” said Peter Larsen, vice president of Amazon’s Kindle business

EXCLUSIVE: EDIBLE IPHONE 5 CASE, SELLS FOR $81

The saying goes that you can't eat your cake and have it; What if I told you that you can have your phone case and eat it, lmao; with $81 on an edible iPhone 5 case? It’s made of a rice cake, and rice cakes are very heavy, so that’s why shipping adds $15.

According to Japan Trend Shop’s product description:

Handmade from brown rice and salt by “Mariko”, this is one of the funniest and most original phone cases we’ve seen in a while. The Senbei Rice Cracker iPhone 5 Cover is literally part food, part phone case… and great in an emergency when you are desperate for a snack!

If you want a case that will provide 100% protection, don’t get this one. It’s literally made of rice so probably will break if dropped. However, then you can always eat it! A tongue-in-cheek design that shows the Japanese obsession with both tech and cuisine, we just love this!

It fits the iPhone 5. You’ve been waiting to upgrade; here’s your reason.

THE NEW GMAIL FOR IPHONE AND IPAD

Google has released version 2.0 of the app for iPhone and iOS, and while it’s not a complete reimagining of what Gmail should be like on a mobile device, it does look like a major advance.

At long last, you can hop back and forth between multiple accounts — up to five of ‘em. (You can’t, however, merge all of them into one unified inbox, as you can with iOS’s own Mail app.) The app also shows profile pictures of your correspondents, lets you accept Google Calendar invites and adds some Google+-related features. And when you search, it autocompletes your queries to speed things along.

Google has cleaned up the interface considerably, too: It’s one of the least-cluttered versions of Gmail I’ve ever seen on any platform, with a streamlined look, subtle animations and other touches which are clearly part of Google’s new emphasis on attention to detail. When you scroll down in your inbox, it automatically loads new messages on the fly rather than making you press a button or link; even full-blown browser-based Gmail doesn’t do that.

This still isn’t the iOS Gmail of my dreams. (For one thing, I’d kill for the option, available in desktop-browser Gmail, to automatically archive messages as you respond to them.) But it’s refreshing evidence that Google is capable of building first-rate iOS apps when it puts its mind to it. Every time it does, the oft-theorized notion that the company is intentionally holding out on iOS users to boost Android sounds more like paranoid fantasy. (I admit that I’ve sometimes indulged in it myself.)

Actually, Gmail 2.0 for iOS looks so good that it’s making Android fans jealous. It’s tough to think of a better testimonial than that.

UGANDA DEVELOPERS WIN MICROSOFT GRANT

Technology giant Microsoft has announced the winners of the second annual Imagine Cup Grants, a three-year, $3 million competitive grant program that provides students with funding and support to help transform their project into a social enterprise or nonprofit that will address a specific social issue. The Imagine Cup Grants are part of Microsoft’s YouthSpark initiative that aims to create opportunities for 300 million youth over the next three years.

A grant of $50 000 was awarded to Team Cipher256 from Uganda for their solution called WinSenga, a mobile app with Windows Phone and a special listening device to analyze fetal heart rates and record readings to the cloud using Windows Azure.

The grand prize grant of $100,000 was awarded to Team Graphmasters from Germany for their solution called nunav that reduces vehicle carbon emissions through an innovative navigation system.

The second place grant of $75,000 went to Team StethoCloud from Australia who developed a solution to diagnose childhood pneumonia. There were also grants of $50,000 each to Team Vivid from Egypt who built a mobile app to access medical records leveraging the cloud; and Team QuadSquad from Ukraine who created a solution that transforms sign language into verbal communication.

The teams used technologies that include Windows 8, Windows Azure, Windows Phone, Bing Maps, and more.

The grant winners were among the finalists at the Imagine Cup 2012 Worldwide Finals, a global competition that invites students to develop a technology, create a business plan and gain a keen understanding of what they need to bring their concept to market. The Imagine Cup Grants program takes the competition further by helping students turn their ideas into reality by creating a real business or nonprofit.

As part of Microsoft YouthSpark, the Imagine Cup Grants program is one way Microsoft is helping young people pursue an education, find employment, and foster entrepreneurship.

In addition to the cash awards, the grant packages include software, cloud computing services, solution provider support, premium Microsoft BizSpark account benefits and access to local resources such as the Microsoft Innovation Centers. Microsoft will also connect grant recipients with its network of investors, nongovernmental organization partners and business partners, and will work with the grant recipients to tailor individual support as needed depending on the progress each team has made so far with its project.

MICROSOFT REDESIGNS SOCL, OPENS ITS SOCIAL NETWORK TO THE PUBLIC

Microsoft is opening the doors on Socl, the mysterious social network project from its FUSE research group. As ZDNet reports, up until now the beta had been limited to a small set of users, but now anyone with a Facebook or Microsoft account is free to sign up.

The first thing we noticed on logging in was that the site has seen a major redesign since last November. Where it used to share a lot of design elements with Facebook, the new layout puts images front and center, with a continuously-scrolling two-column design that has a lot more in common with Pinterest. According to Lili Cheng, Fuse Labs’ General Manager, the team’s idea is to "democratize design and make beautiful posts."

Once you're logged into Socl, clicking the new post button gives you a "topic" text field that runs a Bing search for your chosen string. Next, you’re presented with a list of related images, links, and videos that you can paste into a Live Tile-esque grid layout. Also, when you're commenting on others’ posts, a link labeled "Riff on this post" will let you create a new post based on the same search, with a list of relevant links to incorporate courtesy of Bing.

So far, all of the issues we had with Socl at this time last year still stand — there are still no private interactions or curated groups along the lines of Google+’s circles. And despite Microsoft’s stated aim of combining search with a social network, Socl’s simple tagging system still isn’t the most useful way to find relevant content. The project is still a work in progress, but if you’d like to check out what the Fuse Labs teams have been up to, Socl is yours to test drive.

ABSTRACT CHRISTMAS TREE ELECTRIFIES BRUSSELS WITH SPELLBINDING LIGHT SHOW

An enormous abstract Christmas tree has been unveiled at the center of Brussels, though some are displeased with the city's modern take on holiday tradition. Created by French collective 1024 Architecture, the "Abies Electronicus" is an 82-foot steel-ribbed installation that replaces the real pine tree typically on display at the city's central square. 

Every night, the structure comes to life with a light and sound show, replete with shimmering lights, glowing cubes, and a mix of both holiday and industrial music. And unlike traditional trees, visitors can actually climb to the top of the Abies Electronicus for a panoramic view of the city.

The Aibes Electronicus went on display last week, but it's already come under fire from those who see it as a misguided attempt at political correctness. 

Nearly 25,000 people have signed an online petition against the tree, calling for officials to respect the city's "values and traditions." To some, the debate only underscores larger social issues in Belgium, where shifting demographics have resulted in often heated political tensions, but Councilor Philippe Close says his municipality was simply trying to add a new flavor to this year's holiday festivities. "What we want is just to modernise the pleasure of winter, of this Christmas market and all the image of Brussels," Close told the BBC.