Monday Microsoft announced KIN. A new Windows^®Phone with emphasis on the social user. The phone are a made in partnership with Verizon, Vodafone and Sharp. It will be available via Verizon in the US next month and via Vodafone in Europe in the fall.

The KIN reminds me of the Sidekick. It has a very basic interface. The phone is not cluttered by application and icons. It has a interface which allows you to create your own interactions with others in your social networks.

KIN 1 is a Clam Shell, KIN 2 is a slider they have a 5 and 8 megapixel camera, respectively, and each has a bright LumiLED flash. They have touch screens with a slide-out keyboards.

Social interaction is the focus of these phones. The user interface is unique in how it allows you to use the KIN SPOT (a small circle in the bottom center of the screen) to drag things you want to share. First you select the people you want to share with and drag their icons to the SPOT, you then drag the Video, photos, web pages, text messages, etc which you want to share to the SPOT and it send off your transmission.

An interesting aspect of the services on this device is the “Timeline”. There is companion software (Website??) which allows you to look back at your entire history and all the interactions and communication you have had, laid out as a timeline.

I’m interested to see the plans on these phones. One challenge for Tweens, or their parents (I know, I have two of them), is the monthly cost of a data plan. If these phones require a $25+ data plan, I think they are dead.

There has been some confusion around the fact that these are Windows Phones. People were looking for Windows Phone 7 and this is what was presented. The Windows Phone 7 (Series) phones will be available later this fall. This is another version of Windows Phone OS, based on Windows CE and the Zune platform. This phone will ship with all of it’s software in the ROM. There will be no applications to download, similar to a Zune.

I’ll post more once I actually get my hands on one of these devices, that is, if I can get it away from my daughters.

Twitter Spam: 3 Ways Scammers are Filling Twitter With Junk

Posted using ShareThis

This post really had me scratching my head about Twitter spam.

While I’m not sure if MySpace has reached it’s tipping point regarding it’s usefulness vs. it’s spam content. I’m not sure the services are to blame.

I currently do not have a problem blocking user accounts who I don’t know or care to follow\receive information from. I admit it can be slightly annoying to have to weed through request and block the ones you don’t want, but for most users it’s not that daunting of a task.

I think you see the biggest complaint about this from users with thousands of friends\followers. Frankly, I don’t see the point in having that many friends\followers. While I can choose to follow a favorite brand of mine on Twitter. I have no problem if they don’t friend me\follow me back. Why should they have to weed through my countless tweets? They shouldn’t. If they are looking to hear what I have to say about them, they can search for keywords pertaining to their brand or product.

I question the value of the service to users who follow thousands of twitter accounts. How is it possible to keep up with that much data and information. I would think once you reach a certain point you loose the value. Why would you friend users you do not know and open yourself up to DM spam?

I might be missing the boat here but I think in the race to see who can have the most followers or follow the most users, people are not getting the value the could out of Twitter and some of the other services. I think being more selective about who you friend and who you allow to follow you could make a big difference in your experience with Twitter and other social networks.

It seems there is some whining going on about the fact that certain people already have their Facebook Usernames.

I researched just a few and see that the list is made up of a who’s who of the Social Industry.

I’m not sure why all the complaints. This is a courtesy to some of the biggest names in the industry and I think it’s expected.

Trent Reznor of NIN is “will be tuning out of the social networking sites” You can check out the full details in his post here