Mashable: Latest 24 News Updates - including “HP Discounts Envy 13; Is a New Ultrathin Laptop on Its Way?” |
- HP Discounts Envy 13; Is a New Ultrathin Laptop on Its Way?
- HTC Thunderbolt Photos Leak Ahead of CES
- Android Apps Double to 200K in 2 Months [REPORT]
- Disney’s Innovative Tech Makes Its Theme Parks More Fun
- New Site Lets You Create Gift Photo Albums With Your Facebook Friends
- iPad 2 Rumors: The Comprehensive Guide
- 1,000-Core Chip Could Make PCs 20 Times Faster
- HOW TO: Back Up Your Social Media Presence Before the Ball Drops
- 4 Social Media Marketing Predictions for 2011
- Groupon Raising Up to $950 Million in Funding [UPDATED]
- Win a Trip to Ford’s Focus Global Test Drive Event in Spain [MASHABLE AWARDS]
- HOW TO: Attract Early Adopters to Your Social Startup
- Nivea Unites Long Distance Couples Through Facebook Promotion
- The History of Tech via Google’s Book Data [CHARTS]
- Library of Congress Adds 25 Film Classics to Preservation Project
- “Eye-Popping 3D” Montage Personifies 2010 in Movies [VIDEO]
- Tech’s Biggest Win, Flop and Surprise of 2010
- Suit Charges Apple Shares Personal Data with Advertisers
- “Tron” Still King on Twitter, Despite Box Office Rivals
- 8 Educational Gadgets That Make Learning Fun
- Now You Can Review AT&T on Facebook, Sort Of
- New Jersey Mayor Uses Twitter to Help Residents Through Blizzard
- HOW TO: Customize the New Facebook Profile
- Ikea iPhone App Toasts New Year’s Eve
- Sears and Kmart Launch Movie Download Service
| HP Discounts Envy 13; Is a New Ultrathin Laptop on Its Way? Posted: 29 Dec 2010 04:10 AM PST      Remember Envy 13? It was HP’s answer to Apple’s Macbook Air – a stylish and capable yet ultrathin and ultraportable laptop, and now HP has slashed its price to only $999, after a $450 instant rebate. The real news here is the possibility that HP is trying to get rid of its remaining inventory and make room for a new ultrathin laptop, and it wouldn’t be too far fetched to assume it might show it next week at CES. The Envy 13 has been around quite a while now, and it currently isn’t even featured on HP’s official Envy page, which is now populated by 14”, 15” and 17” models. Now, the Envy 13 is a decent pick for the price, with an aluminum chassis, a 13.1”, 1366×768 screen, an 1.6GHz Intel Core2 Duo CPU, 3GB of DDR3 RAM, a 250 GB, 5400RPM hard drive and 2 USB ports. [via CNET] More About: discount, Envy, envy 13, HP, laptop, rebate, thin laptop For more Tech coverage:
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| HTC Thunderbolt Photos Leak Ahead of CES Posted: 29 Dec 2010 01:06 AM PST   HTC Thunderbolt, the first LTE phone to land on Verizon, has been pictured in all its 4.3” glory. Besides the humongous screen, other interesting features of note is the kickstand on the back with Google branding and the slightly disappointing fact that, according to Droid Life which came into possession of 12 images of the device, it will only feature a single core CPU. It’s also worth noting that the device is visually nearly identical to the HTC Desire HD. We’ll likely find more about the device next week at CES. As far as the significance of LTE (Long Term Evolution) goes, it’s the widely adopted 4G-ready mobile network standard that will finally enable mind-numbing data transfer speeds (in its current state, it theoretically offers peak download rates of 326.4 Mbit/s) on our mobile phones.  Reviews: Google, HTC Desire HD Deals More About: android, Google, htc, LTE, Thunderbolt, verizon For more Mobile coverage:
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| Android Apps Double to 200K in 2 Months [REPORT] Posted: 28 Dec 2010 10:30 PM PST   It was just over two months ago when the Android Market surpassed 100,000 apps, and now according to AndroLib, the store has unofficially broken the 200,000-app barrier. Apparently the effort to expand the Android Market to more than 20 countries is paying off. It took the store almost two years to get to the 100,000-app mark, but just 63 days to double that. With that 200,000-app milestone under its little green robot belt, the Android juggernaut can boast about its plethora of apps as it basks in the glow of being the top-selling smartphone operating system. Regardless of its market position, according to Androlib, more than 2.5 billion Android apps have been downloaded since its opening in October, 2008. That’s phenomenal. However, the Android Market has a long way to go if it wants to match the variety of Apple’s App Store, now with more than 300,000 choices. One thing’s for sure: Android is popular among Mashable readers. In our poll earlier this month, Android devices were the most wanted, towering over second-place iOS devices by 41.2% to 30.6%. Reviews: Android, Android Market, App Store, Mashable More About: android, Android Market, Androlib, apps, downloads, iOS For more Mobile coverage:
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| Disney’s Innovative Tech Makes Its Theme Parks More Fun Posted: 28 Dec 2010 09:29 PM PST   Those “imagineers” at Disney World know waiting in line too long can spoil your fun. That’s why they’ve created ingenious ways to cut down on wait times at Disney’s enormously popular theme park. According to The New York Times, Disney has combined high technology with imagination to track visitors and keep them constantly entertained. Nestled inside a high-tech command center that could double as a set on a James Bond movie, technicians monitor banks of cameras, using color-coded mapping software and an array of secret tracking and counting techniques that monitor the numbers of visitors in the rides and restaurants of the theme park. If those cameras and sensors detect, for example, that lines at the Pirates of the Caribbean ride are getting too long, they can dispatch more boats to move additional visitors through. If the ride’s already running at its maximum capacity, they can direct a “cast member” playing Captain Jack Sparrow to pop out of one of the discreetly placed doors and distract the bored visitors. Some of the rides, such as Space Mountain, are equipped with 90-second video games to keep people occupied until they’ve made it to the front of the line. And, there are iPhone apps available that notify visitors where they can find a cast member playing Sleeping Beauty, who will be more than happy to sign autographs. Disney has always been secretive with its technology, but somehow The New York Times was able to find out that future plans for the Disney parks might include wristbands with chips inside that transmit the visitor’s name, credit card number and favorite Disney characters. This will enable guests to pay for drinks and fun with a swipe of that wristband and even have robotic characters inside some of the attractions call out their names. And that’s just the stuff they’re telling us about. Creepy? Maybe. Innovative? Definitely. Image courtesy Engadget More About: Crowd Control, disney world, Imagineering, theme parks For more Tech coverage:
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| New Site Lets You Create Gift Photo Albums With Your Facebook Friends Posted: 28 Dec 2010 08:34 PM PST   The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.
Quick Pitch: Keepsy's platform allows Facebook friends to collaborate on scrapbooks and to pitch in for group gifts. Genius Idea: The equivalent of a birthday card on Facebook generally consists of about 100 “happy birthday” wall posts from friends and family. Keepsy hopes to offer a more thoughtful alternative through its collaborative album-making platform, which launched on December 15. Whoever has the idea to create a birthday scrapbook can invite their Facebook friends to create pages using Facebook photos, text tools, and provided templates. The platform automatically highlights which friends are mutual between the creator and recipient to make this part easy. When friends create their pages, they can also choose to chip in for a group gift — either a hardcover physical version of the book that costs $29.99, or for an Amazon gift card. Digital scrapbooking and group gift buying have both been done before. Products like Apple’s iPhoto or Shutterfly could easily be used to create a similar gift album, and eBay launched a group-buying app in November that also leverages Facebook. But Keepsy is the first company, to our knowledge, that has combined the two. It’s an effective combination. Planning a group gift is usually a pain, but Keepsy makes a gift that is both easy to coordinate and personal. Since the photos and the friends required for the project are already on Facebook, starting an album takes about five minutes. One challenge for cofounders Peter Weck and Blake Williams is that their first product is a birthday album. Since there’s a surprise component involved, all conversation about the gift album remains between the friends working on the project. Keepsy can’t communicate through public wall posts or in other ways that might attract new users but ruin the surprise. According to Williams, that’s why expanding to other types of albums, such as class yearbooks or wedding albums, is the startup’s first priority. It’s also looking to add more gift card relationships like the one they have with Amazon. These relationships, along with the physical albums, will be Keepsy’s main source of revenue. Dave McClure, James Hong, Tim Connors, and other angel investors have agreed that the idea has potential, investing a total of $1.1 million over two rounds of funding.  Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Bliz Sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark
Reviews: Facebook, iPhoto, iStockphoto More About: facebook, Keepsy, Photos, scrapbooking, startup For more Startups coverage:
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| iPad 2 Rumors: The Comprehensive Guide Posted: 28 Dec 2010 07:36 PM PST   It’s nearly impossible to keep up with the chatter surrounding the iPad 2. Every day it seems like there’s a new rumor about a new model, a new launch date or even a USB port. It’s a bit overwhelming. That’s why we decided to scour the web for the most prominent iPad 2 rumors and create a comprehensive guide detailing what we think is likely to be in the next generation of the iPad. We’ve picked out our top ten rumors and provided not only our analysis, but the percentage chance a specific iPad 2 rumor will actually come to fruition. We’d bet money on some of these rumors (two cameras), while others will only happen when pigs learn how to fly (the mythical 7-inch iPad). Without further ado, here is our comprehensive guide to the iPad 2 rumors: Rumor #1: There Will Be Three Versions of the iPad 2 One of the biggest rumors sweeping the web recently is that there will be three version of the iPad 2. One will be Wi-Fi only, one will support Wi-Fi and UMTS, the 3G technology utilized by AT&T Mobility, and the third model will support Wi-Fi and CDMA, used by Verizon Wireless for its 3G network. In other words, there will be a Verizon iPad. According to DigiTimes, Apple will be shipping the Wi-Fi, UMTS and CMDA iPad 2 models in a 3:4:3 ratio, specifically because nearly 2/3 of current iPad shipments are 3G models. There are currently two models of the iPad, a Wi-Fi version and a Wi-Fi + UMTS version that works exclusively on the AT&T network in the U.S. This rumor makes total sense: Apple wants to expand the reach of the iPad and adding a CDMA model for Verizon would compliment a Verizon iPhone perfectly. Recently, Verizon started selling the Wi-Fi iPad with the Verizon MiFi 2200. We’re sure Verizon would much rather sell a CDMA iPad instead. Likelihood of Happening: 85% Rumor #2: iPad 2 Will Have a Front and Back-Facing CameraEver since the iPhone 4 was released, there have been multiple reports claiming that the new iPad will finally come with a front and a back-facing camera. The primary reason cited for the change from the original iPad is Facetime. In order for Facetime to succeed as a product, Apple needs to flood the market with as many Facetime-capable devices as possible. We expect Apple to rectify its biggest omission from the original iPad with the next generation model. Likelihood of Happening: 99% Rumor #3: Slimmer, Lighter and Retina DisplayEarlier this month, Reuters was told by its sources that the new iPad would be slimmer and lighter than its predecessor and would have a “better resolution display than the first iPad.” Well, duh. Apple always tries to make its products slimmer and lighter. Just look at the iPhone’s evolution or the new MacBook Air for proof. It’s also a no-brainer that the iPad 2 will support Retina Display. Likelihood of Happening: 99% Rumor #4: The iPad 2 Will Have a Flat BackThis week there has been buzz about the 2nd generation iPad sporting a flat back after a supposed third party case was leaked to the web. There’s no way that case is real, and you can take that to the bank. Why? Because Apple never releases the specs for new products to third party accessory makers — they’ve been burned too many times by leaks from third parties to make that type of rookie mistake. This was completely apparent with the launch of the iPhone 4. There were no third party cases available at launch because none of the manufacturers knew the dimensions of the device. So trust us when we say the supposedly leaked iPad 2 case is total crap. With that said, we wouldn’t be surprised if Apple did decide to make the back of the device flat. It makes more sense ergonomically. Still, the new iPod touch has a curved back, so it’s anybody’s guess what Apple plans to do. Likelihood of Happening: 40% Rumor #5: iPad 2: Now With Wide-Range Speakers? Another rumor, this one from a Japanese blog, claims that the iPad 2 will not only have a thinner bezel, but that it will have a wide-range speaker covered with a metal mesh that will have far greater speaker capabilities. This rumor kind of makes sense, given that there’s a greater need for the device to project sound. The iPad is a family device, and in order for a family to enjoy a movie together on the iPad, it needs to have decent speakers. We expect an upgraded speaker. Still, we agree with Engadget: the source has no track record and should be taken with a grain of salt. It won’t look like Mac Otakara’s CG render. Likelihood of Happening: 50% Rumor #6: The iPad 2 Will Have a USB PortThis rumor, courtesy of the Chinese publication Economic Daily News, claims Apple’s new tablet will have a USB port so it can connect to other devices. This would be a huge development because it would allow for the easy movement of files and information from USB drives and peripherals like printers or mice. Unlike some of the other rumor sources on this list, Economic Daily News has a good track record. As PC World points out, they were the first ones to figure out that Apple was building a tablet, not a netbook. DigiTimes has also reported that the next generation iPad will sport a USB port. Frankly, we’re not sure how much truth there is to this one, but it could happen. We just wouldn’t put our money on it. Likelihood of Happening: 33% Rumor #7: The iPad 2 Will Have a Dual-Core CPU An analyst for Rodman & Renshaw made a stir just before Christmas by saying that the next generation iPad and iPhone will utilize a dual-core processor powered by two 1GHz ARM Cortex A9 cores. A dual-core processor would give the iPad 2 and iPhone 5 far greater multitasking capabilities and would be a significant development in mobile technology. The iPad 2 wouldn’t be the first mobile device to utilize a dual-core, though. That honor goes to the LG Optimus 2X Android smartphone. Do you really think Apple’s going to let Android beat them? No way. Likelihood of Happening: 75% Rumor #8: Non-Smudge Screen & GyroscopeWe won’t dive into these rumors too much, but suffice it to say, a screen that smudges less and an iPad that supports gyroscope functionality and apps just makes sense. Likelihood of Happening: 90% Rumor #9: A 7-Inch Version of the iPad?We’ve heard multiple rumors claiming that Apple is not only building a 9.7-inch version of the iPad 2, but it’s also making a smaller, 7-inch model. The thinking is that a smaller model would be cheaper and more useful in certain situations. Well, forget it. In an epic rant during Apple’s most recent earnings call, Steve Jobs himself shot down the possibility of a 7-inch iPad. The reason, he said, was that there simply wasn’t enough screen real-estate for creating great tablet apps. “While one could increase the resolution of the display to make up for some of the difference, it is meaningless unless your tablet also includes sandpaper, so that the user can sand down their fingers to around one quarter of their present size,” Jobs said during the earnings call. In other words, the 7-inch iPad isn’t happening. Likelihood of Happening: 2% The Big Question: When Will the iPad 2 Launch?Cameras, Facetime, a new speaker and a dual-core processor are all great potential additions to the iPad, but what we really want to know is when we will have one of the next generation iPads in our hands. Nobody can seem to agree on when it will launch. We’ve heard that the new iPads are coming in January (exactly a year after the original iPad’s launch), but we’ve also heard March and April. The release date of the iPad likely depends on the launch date of the Verizon iPhone. Apple is unlikely launch the iPad 2 and the Verizon iPhone at the same event, so if the Verizon iPhone comes out in March, we expect the iPad 2 in January, and if the Verizon iPhone arrives in January, then don’t expect the iPad 2 until March. If we had to venture a guess, we’d say the new iPad will come out of the shadows in March, but it’s likely Apple hasn’t set the launch date for the next generation of its tablet, so it could come at almost any time. Reviews: Android More About: apple, facetime, iOS, ipad, iPad 2, iphone, iphone 4, Tablet, trending For more Tech coverage:
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| 1,000-Core Chip Could Make PCs 20 Times Faster Posted: 28 Dec 2010 06:13 PM PST   Scottish scientists have built a 1,000-core processor, claiming it will run 20 times faster than today’s chips while using less power. Dr. Wim Vanderbauwhede led a research team at the University of Glasgow to create the futuristic processor using a programmable chip called a field programmable gate array (FPGA). Instead of the built-in circuitry of conventional desktop computer chips, these processors can be customized. So with some extremely clever programming, the research team was able to divide the processor into 1,000 cores, each capable of its own computation. To give you some perspective, the fastest consumer processors such as Intel’s Core i7 top out at six cores. According to the Daily Mail, the 1,000-core processor processes 5 gigabytes data per second, and that’s “20 times faster than modern computers.” The researchers gave each one of the cores its own dedicated memory, speeding it up even more. Remarkably, they were able to leverage all this extra speed and power without using more energy. Because they’re using those more energy-efficient FPGAs, Dr. Vanderbauwhede calls them “a greener option.” Will we be seeing these processors in our laptops anytime soon? Not exactly. The team will present their research at a symposium next March, but according to Vanderbauwhede, “I believe these kinds of processors will only become more common and help to speed up computers even further over the next few years.” Image courtesy Flickr/Oliver Hammond Reviews: Flickr More About: 1000-core processor, computing, Glasgow, research, scientists For more Tech coverage:
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| HOW TO: Back Up Your Social Media Presence Before the Ball Drops Posted: 28 Dec 2010 02:57 PM PST   Remember how we were all freaking out on New Year’s Eve, 1999, convinced that the world as we know it would end — at the hands of machines, of course? Well, we weathered that storm and then some. Still, as we shamble forward into the next decade, it might be prudent to take pause and take stock of the years behind us. Translation: Back up your stuff. Think of it as stockpiling food and building a fallout shelter for the 21st century. We have a ton of information, photos and memories scattered around the web that we would be loathe to lose, and while it’s unlikely that the entire Internet is going to come crashing down in the next week or so, it still might be wise to put some of that stuff in an iron box for safe keeping. Read on, and Christina Warren and I will show you how to… … Back Up Your FacebookWe’re coming pretty close to living our lives on Facebook — it’s our photo album, diary and mailbox, all in one — so why leave all that info up to the whims of the all-mighty servers? This October, the social network got hip to data portability after it started allowing users to download their profiles — photos, statues, updates, videos and all. The process is really too simple to forgo. Here’s how you can stow away your social life for safekeeping: 1). Go to Account Settings, 2). Click on “Download Your Information” and allow Facebook to download your info, 3). Wait for an e-mail that will let you know your info is ready (it takes a while, what with all the stuff you probably have on Facebook), 4). Go through the security test that allows you to download your info (kudos on that one, Facebook), and, voila, your profile is ported to your desktop in a nifty folder. Do this before you go through with that New Year’s resolution to make your profile less scandalous — you know, for when you’re old and gray and full of sleep and nodding by the fire. … Back Up Your Tweets Yes, the Library of Congress is now hoarding tweets, but that doesn’t do much for the casual user looking to keep a log of his own mundane musings, now does it? Thankfully, you’re got some options. There’s TweetStream, which lets you back up your data as well as mine it for information and statistics. (Be warned, this service takes a looooong time to gather your info). And if TweetStream doesn’t strike your fancy, TweetScan, a site we covered back in 2009, will track your data back to 2007, and, using OAuth, will even grab your timeline, tweets from friends and direct messages. Pinboard, a paid, Delicious-like (RIP) tool, also lets you store your tweets — you can also back up or archive tweets from other usernames or from hashtags, as well as add favorites from a username and turn links embedded in tweets into bookmarks.  … Back Up Your Blog After Tumblr’s epic outage the other week, we showed you all how to back up your blogs. Well, we’re just going to reiterate that right now, along with some solutions for WordPress as well. Remember how you felt when your mom threw away all your old journals, crammed to the margins with angsty poetry? Well, that’s not a feeling one would like to replicate later in life (unless it was relief — in which case, disregard). TumblrLast year, Tumblr launched a backup app that allows users to save their blogs so that they can be viewed on any computer, burned to a CD or hosted as an archive of static HTML files. The app is super easy to use: Simply download, enter your Tumblr sign-in info and save your blog to your desktop (it looks like the below screenshot). You can launch the app and backup more info every time you post as well. Note, this app is only for Mac OS X (10.5 or higher), but there are other options for those who use different operating systems. WordPress If your blog or website uses WordPress, grabbing a backup file of all your posts, pages and comments is easy. In the WordPress dashboard, just go to Tools, Export and choose what types of posts you want to export. If you want a backup of your entire WordPress database, the excellent WP-DB-Backup plugin can make scheduled database backups for your WordPress site at intervals you choose and even e-mail you the backup file. … Back Up Your Photos If you’re like millions of Internet users, you probably upload most of your photos to a photo-sharing site like Flickr or Facebook. While you’re backing up your blog entries, tweets and Facebook messages, it might be a good idea to go ahead and archive all of your photos, too. If nothing else, this is a great way to destroy the evidence from that sorority beer bong tournament in college. Flickr is a great service and in terms of reliability, it’s consistently solid. What’s less consistent is the whims of its parent company, Yahoo. If the Delicious debacle has taught us anything, it’s that Yahoo isn’t afraid to sell off or shut down a service with millions of daily users. Lots of apps and tools let you back up your Flickr photo stream, but a quick, fuss-free way to unload years of photo uploads is the Adobe Air app Flump. The app works on Mac, Windows and Linux and downloads a copy of each photo in your stream to a folder of your choice. Be aware that while this will grab each and every photo, tags, titles and photo sets are not preserved. There a few other alternatives if you’re willing to invest more time in the process, but Flump gets the job done. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, matspersson0 Reviews: Delicious, Facebook, Flickr, Internet, Linux, Tumblr, Windows, WordPress, adobe AIR, iStockphoto More About: facebook, flickr, social media, tumblr, twitter, WordPress For more Social Media coverage:
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| 4 Social Media Marketing Predictions for 2011 Posted: 28 Dec 2010 02:24 PM PST   Tim Ferriss is an angel investor (Twitter, StumbleUpon, Evernote, etc.) and author of the #1 New York Times bestsellers The 4-Hour Body and The 4-Hour Workweek. In his spare time, Tim has doctors stab pen-sized needles into his thighs. Ah, social media marketing. Fewer things are so lavishly spent on, yet so poorly measured. Here are a few predictions for 2011 related to where the smart money and dumb money will go. Special thanks to a number of high-volume retail experts for their insights, including Ryan Holiday, director of marketing at American Apparel. Read on for our predictions and let us know in the comments what you think social media marketing will look like in the year to come. 1. YouTube Beats Yahoo — Video Will ConvertYouTube is the second largest search engine in the English-speaking world. That’s right: YouTube is bigger than Yahoo. Zappos, as one example, added simple videos of people holding shoes and moving them around to its sales pages and increased conversion rate from 6% to 30%. When I look at the traffic sources for my book trailer on YouTube, the biggest referrer isn’t my own blog. It’s The Huffington Post. I customized the video and text content to a niche (but sizeable) outlet that didn’t exist two years ago: Huffington Post Books. With proper targeting and syndication, this 50 second video almost immediately propelled my book from an Amazon rank of approximately number 150 to 30, now stabilizing at number four in all books. We used RankForest to track this sudden change.  The 50-second length was deliberate and was also later edited to 30 seconds for in-video advertising on YouTube. At least 30% off all the video views (more than 6.3 million) on my main YouTube channel come from search or organic referrals. By putting up videos, particularly on YouTube, you open up a whole channel for sharing and connecting to the biggest word-of-mouth platform in the English language. 2. The Full Resurrection of E-mailGroupon has an e-mail list of at least 15 million strong in the U.S. (the company says it’s 30+ million if you include international), which goes to show that a true permission asset can be worth nearly $6 billion on the bidding table. E-mail addresses are a safer long-term investment than social media features. Think about all the money companies spent advertising their MySpace pages in 2007. Even on Facebook, your direct messages to fans are relegated to a second tier inbox no one reads. This is something you don’t have to worry about happening in e-mail marketing. Among 20- to 35-year olds, at least, their physical addresses change more frequently than their e-mail addresses. The smarter marketers will budget “social media” acquisitions based on lifetime value (or a set duration, like 6 months’ retail purchases) of e-mail addresses. One major retailer did the math and learned that an e-mail subscriber is worth roughly $20 a year in annual online revenue. Knowing this number allowed the retailer to:
There are companies like Opt-Intelligence that can be paid a CPA (cost per action) for what are called “co-regs.” Co-reg example: If you’re signing up for an account at NYTimes.com, and it says “Get 4 issues of Golf Magazine FREE!” someone paid for that because they knew it will make money based on lifetime value. After the above-mentioned retailer quantified what an e-mail subscriber was worth, the company was able to double its subscriber base in less than eight months. The majority of that growth came not through spending money upfront, but from the redirection of already existing resources in ways that weren’t possible before calculating that number. Let’s say that added 500,000 e-mail addresses, each worth $20 in 2011; that means an additional $10 million in revenue with no significant capital outlay. Aaron Ray uses the same tactics for the “free agent bands” (major acts who’ve left a label) at The Collective. He figures out how many tickets you sell through your fan club, how many downloads come from your e-mail list, and how much traffic you can drive through Facebook and Twitter. It’s critical for two reasons: 1) For accurate revenue/sales/attendance predictions, and 2) As ROI metrics to justify investments for growth. This also allows loss-leader campaigns. Even if the math on a Groupon deal is razor thin, a smart retailer (online or offline) can acquire e-mails through a special form they set up and add an extra $20+ per transaction, per our hypothetical example. Many companies can afford to give product away for “free” if they have the right metrics. Most companies don’t, which leads us to number three. 3. Large Companies Will Waste Money on Vanity Metrics There’s a difference between “actionable” and “vanity” metrics. Just because your competitors are on Foursquare doesn’t mean that you should be. Could it make sense? Sure, but you should run the numbers — the right numbers. Impressions, page views, and undefined terms like “engagement” are at best gameable and at worst meaningless. Some social media consultancies define their success metrics well (including, in rare cases, “engagement”), but beware the services that don’t. Remember that those who got rich in the gold rush weren’t panning for gold; they were selling pick axes. Apple isn’t chasing Facebook updates, and Steve Jobs isn’t worried about getting blog posts up before noon. Apple’s doing just fine, as are many companies quietly focusing on the tools they know best. “Actionable” need not be expensive. The conversion from SlideShare to purchase from my WordPress blog, both of which were free, helped me to sell more than 4,000 books on Amazon in less than 12 hours. If you’re spending more than $5,000 per month for insight, make sure you’re getting actionable data that you can at least correlate to sales. Much of social media is trackable, despite the noise. Don’t get tricked with new lingo or you’ll end up with an embarrassing motto straight from here. 4. Ads & Conversation Will Impact Different Conversion RatesI recall once seeing a Zynga billboard while driving up the 280-N from the San Francisco airport to downtown San Francisco. There was no tagline, and I joked to my passenger, who was in the financing and IPO business: “I’m not sure who that’s intended to sell.” He laughed and responded with “Dude, that’s not for end users. That’s to get the attention of the bankers driving from SFO to downtown.” Remember, you can have multiple audiences for your ads. At American Apparel, many of its best known ads ran in obscure publications or in short bursts on niche websites. Millions of people know about them, however, because blogs thought they were so interesting that they wrote articles about them. In that case, the press was the audience and the public only indirectly so. The public was a later side effect, but not the first target. One good test of whether your advertising can become a conversation: Would people notice if your ads stopped running? Clickthrough rate is not going to answer that question. This is why advertisers should start monitoring chatter about their content and come up with ways to track and value that. You also need be able to think big picture so you can know that sometimes negative chatter is still a good thing (it means people get emotional about what you do). Does this violate the actionable metric rule in my third point? Not at all. It’s another feedback loop and easily measurable, whether in press mentions (including blogs) specific to an ad, or even product development impact. For developing product, Amazon is well known for “working backward” from internal press-release response. That is, it starts with the reaction or response from its intended audience and designs its advertising messages — or products — backward from there. Google also used this approach by launching Google News without chronological or geographic filtering, only afterward responding to requests and implementing the chronological feature. There was a ton of debate and fighting internally for both features, and they let the market decide. “Listening” isn’t enough. Tracking the number of Twitter mentions tells you nothing. The bigger question is: What are we trying to build or accomplish, and how will we digest and use this data? If you nail that, you can nail your competition to the wall. They’ll be too busy chasing the latest shiny web service. More Business Resources from Mashable:
Images courtesy of iStockphoto, grapix, Silberkorn Reviews: Facebook, Google, MySpace, Twitter, WordPress, YouTube, foursquare, iStockphoto More About: 2011, analytics, business, campaigns, e-mail, MARKETING, metrics, predictions-2011, social media marketing, trending, youtube For more Business coverage:
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| Groupon Raising Up to $950 Million in Funding [UPDATED] Posted: 28 Dec 2010 01:17 PM PST   Groupon has filed for a Series G funding round that authorizes it to raise up to $950 million, according to a new report. The new round of funding comes just weeks after the group-buying website rejected a $6 billion acquisition offer from Google. According to VC Expert, Groupon filed for a certificate to authorize the Series G round last week (an amended certificate of incorporation) and will be filing another document next week outlining the exact amount it intends to raise. We’re working to get our hands on those documents now. If the report is accurate, Groupon’s post-money valuation would be somewhere between $6.4 billion to $7.8 billion. It’s not clear who is participating in the round, nor is it clear how far along Groupon is in the fundraising process. However, today’s news lays the groundwork for what could be one of the biggest venture capital rounds in history. We have reached out to Groupon for comment. Update: Mashable can confirm that Groupon filed a 22 page document for stock restatement on December 17. We are working to get a copy of the full document. Reviews: Mashable More About: funding, Google, groupon, trending For more Business coverage:
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| Win a Trip to Ford’s Focus Global Test Drive Event in Spain [MASHABLE AWARDS] Posted: 28 Dec 2010 01:15 PM PST   This post is supported by Ford. Be one of the first 100 people to test drive the 2012 Ford Focus and receive $10,000 for the charity of your choice. One Mashable Awards attendee will win the last spot to the Focus Global Test Drive in Spain. Learn more about how to enter and win on Facebook.com/FordFocus.
One lucky Mashable Awards attendee will win the last spot to the Focus Global Test Drive in Spain. (Think Charlie's golden ticket! With less chocolate, more sangria.) You must be registered for the Mashable Awards in order to win so make sure you have your ticket to the Mashable Awards Gala. ![Register for Mashable Awards Gala at Cirque du Soleil Zumanity stage (Las Vegas - 2011 International CES convention) [Ticketed Event] in Las Vegas, NV on Eventbrite](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vABkCgTg9MUS17DbDCAQHZjpMm8SWxwyyx96PEiogRo8tm8nznYb3MgzBm_sRa5whG8s-hEwfr1F39VxluUw6U6_jASKrTuMh2ad_sDRQp99DYWlWPHQgkbQ=s0-d) The ContestNext February, 100 people from around the world will be flown to Spain for a unique and exclusive Focus Global Test Drive event. During the past few months, people have been applying on facebook.com/FordFocus for the opportunity to put the 2012 Ford Focus through its paces on multiple test tracks near Madrid. In addition, those selected will have the opportunity to receive $10,000 for the charity of their choice from the categories of hunger, education and environment/sustainability. Up to $500,000 will be given to driver-preferred charities. Not only will these select few be taking part in a once-in-a-lifetime experience, they will be doing good for an organization they are passionate about! How To EnterDuring the Mashable Awards, at the entrance of the New York, New York Hotel in Las Vegas, there will be a 2012 Ford Focus. Simply take a picture with the car and tweet the photo with the hashtag #FordCES. That's it! One lucky person will be chosen at random from all completed tweets. The winner will be announced live during the Mashable Awards gala by J Mays, Group Vice President of Design and Chief Creative Officer of the Ford Motor Company. The Mashable Awards Gala at Cirque du Soleil Zumanity (Vegas)In partnership with Cirque du Soleil, The Mashable Awards Gala event will bring together the winners and nominees, the Mashable community, partners, media, the marketing community, consumer electronics and technology brands, and attendees from the 2011 International CES Convention to Las Vegas on Thursday, January 6, 2011. Together, we will celebrate the winners and the community of the Mashable Awards at the Cirque du Soleil Zumanity stage in the beautiful New York New York Hotel. The event will be hosted by comedian Baratunde Thurston, The Onion’s Director of Digital, and the remix masters, Eclectic Method, will get the crowd in a party mood. The Awards Gala will also include acts and performances from our partner Cirque du Soleil Zumanity. Date: Thursday, January 6, 2011 (during International CES Convention week) Mashable Awards Gala Premier Partner:
Reviews: Facebook, Mashable, Twitter, foursquare More About: contest, ford, global test drive, mashable awards, mashable awards 2010 For more Social Media coverage:
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| HOW TO: Attract Early Adopters to Your Social Startup Posted: 28 Dec 2010 01:07 PM PST   Shane Snow is a Mashable contributor, cofounder of the new Contently.com, and infographic artist at Credit Loan, Wix, and Mint. One of the main challenges for social networks stems from a question ancient philosophers have debated for centuries: Which came first, the chicken or the egg? In social media, the dilemma often takes the form of, “We need users for our network to be useful, but users won't join the network unless it's useful.” A social network's utility is derived from the people belonging to it. The second great challenge in social networking is spreading to new users at a fast and sustainable pace, i.e. viral growth. Virality is the pot of gold every startup yearns for. It can't be obtained without first solving the chicken-and-egg puzzle. This month, a social startup called Hashable (no relation!) released an iPhone app after a few months in private beta. Hashable helps users make introductions and track their connections and relationships through "people checkins," using Twitter hashtags and e-mail. Without publicity, Hashable's private user base grew by itself to more than 5,000 members before the app officially launched. How does a new site like Hashable get past the chicken dilemma, when others can't? Hashable CEO Michael Yavonditte says he "looked at all the successful networks" when designing his product. "There are things to learn from all successful companies in adjacent spaces," he says. Here's a quick look at the science behind some of the most well-known social networks, and how they cracked the philosophical egg. How Facebook Did It: Start Small and ExclusiveWhen Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook in 2004, he positioned his social network as private and exclusive. Psychologically, this made users want to join, in the same way his fellow Harvard students were dying to join fraternities where all the "cool kids" were. (See the movie for a dramatization of this). Facebook was able to gather thousands of users — half the Harvard undergraduate population — in less than a month. It was immediately useful because the user base was instantly robust, and the site had features that facilitated interaction, keeping users coming back. Though Facebook is now a 500+ million user giant — and no longer exclusive at all — Zuckerberg got past the initial chicken-and-egg problem by going after a tiny subset of the potential users for his site and making them believe they were privileged to be part of it. Luxury brands use this psychology all the time. Websites like Gilt Groupe use "members only" tactics to get people interested in joining. As they say, people always want what they can't have. How Tumblr Did It: Make It Useful Even If You're Alone Micro-blogging platform Tumblr began as a nonthreatening way to keep an online journal. What made Tumblr really take off were social features like following and reblogging, but those features came well after Tumblr had a large following itself. Tumblr now averages millions of posts per day and billions of page views each month. It bypassed the chicken-and-egg problem because it started off as something that anyone could do by themselves: click twice to post anything on a blog. Thousands of users joined because it was useful to them; social features tacked on later fueled explosive growth. Other examples of social networks that used standalone utility to bypass the chicken problem to some degree include LinkedIn (a free place to host your resume online) and, for bands, Myspace (a free webpage to host your songs and announce shows). How Twitter Did It: Cater to Geeks and Influencers FirstTwitter may have been the social network most mocked by mainstreamers in the beginning, yet it now boasts more than 190 million accounts. Many of those accounts belong to the old mockers, moms and technoramuses who now talk about tweets on cable news — people who never would have adopted Twitter before the network effect took hold. Twitter solved its chicken/egg conundrum by focusing on acquiring tech-savvy early adopters who were influential among geeks. The site catered to them, marketed toward them and basically let the nerds run wild (letting members determine the way Twitter should be used, and then developing the site around those use cases). How Foursquare Did It: Use Game PsychologyFoursquare is a good example of a social network that is not very useful unless there are people to share it with. Founders Naveen Selvadurai and Dennis Crowley tapped into their video gamer roots and built a system that made users feel like they were playing a game rather than using a social network. Badges for visiting new places, points for using the app frequently, and the ability to stake claim to your favorite local spots and become a Foursquare "mayor" helped bridge the gap between "I have no friends on it, so why should I do it?" and "Aha, this is actually useful," once more people were on the service. Of course, Foursquare's successful use of games to grow its network gave rise to scads of imitators. Whereas some people have game mechanics fatigue by now, when done correctly, games work and will continue to do so. Repeating The Experiments: How Hashable Is Doing It In science, hypotheses are proven (or disproven) by repeating experiments and achieving identical results. Yavonditte and crew hypothesized that the success of the biggest social networks is scientifically repeatable. Here's how Hashable is testing that hypothesis:
 The ChallengeThe challenge of all social software is breaking out from tech insider circles and into the mainstream. Using the techniques that successful social networks have employed to break free of the chicken-egg dilemma, it's possible to repeat science and build an early adopter following. At the end of the day, however, in order to reach the mainstream, a social app has to have mainstream appeal. All the right techniques used with the wrong product is like a henhouse full of sick birds. If no one wants your chickens, it doesn't matter where they came from. Get the product right, however, and a few network-growing tactics can launch you on your way to Internet fame. Or wicked good omelettes. More Social Media Resources from Mashable:
Reviews: Facebook, Internet, LinkedIn, MySpace, Tumblr, Twitter, foursquare More About: facebook, foursquare, hashable, social networking, startups, tumblr, twitter For more Startups coverage:
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| Nivea Unites Long Distance Couples Through Facebook Promotion Posted: 28 Dec 2010 12:43 PM PST   Courtney and Chris, a couple whose long-distance relationship has survived two years over four continents, will get to reunite on New Year’s Eve in New York’s Times Square thanks to a Facebook-based promotion from Nivea. The couple (pictured) amassed 1,781 votes on Facebook, beating out another couple, Sophia and Thai, who are only 400 miles away from each other in Houston and New Orleans, respectively. But both couples will be whisked off to New York now that voting on the contest has closed. This is the first year Nivea, a presenting sponsor for the Times Square New Year’s Eve Celebration, has used social media for such a contest, says Magnus Jonsson, vice president of marketing for Beiersdorf, which owns the Nivea brand. The program, which ran December 1 to 23, netted 30,000 responses. Nivea began tying in with the Times Square New Year’s Eve event three years ago, when it gave away 25,000 samples from its Lip Care line to couples waiting to watch the ball drop. Last year, the brand asked couples to upload pictures of themselves kissing to raise money for Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. Reviews: Facebook More About: facebook, Nivea, promotions For more Business coverage:
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| The History of Tech via Google’s Book Data [CHARTS] Posted: 28 Dec 2010 11:54 AM PST   Since Google released its searchable word frequency database this month, it’s been used to consider everything from race in the 20th century to the classic chicken vs. egg debate. The Books Ngram Viewer pulls together data from almost 5.2 million digitized books that were written between 1500 and 2008. Users can search for words and short phrases to see how often and when they appeared throughout history. As many a linguist has pointed out, word frequency doesn’t necessarily reflect culture. But that didn’t stop us from playing around with what is possibly the most addicting nerd tool of the year to map out a brief history of tech. Technology = Computer You would think there would be a "technology" spike around mainstream electricity use, but it looks like "technology" only started getting the word usage it deserves in the computer age. Television, Radio, and the Internet It seems that television didn't so much kill the radio star as it did bring him to about its level. Robot Personally, I am devastated that the robot discussion peak appears to have passed. Hardware and Software People write more about programs than the machines they run on. Steve Jobs and Bill Gates Literature loves Bill. Apple vs. Microsoft Ngram is case sensitive, so sentences that start with "apple" could be included in what we read as the computer company's name. Operating Systems How many years before we write about Windows and Linux with equal frequency? Browser Wars Literature references seem to reflect market share, though Safari did get a bit of a boost from its homonym. Web Portals and Search Engines Before Google, search engines usually existed within web portals like Yahoo. Yahoo actually used Google search results until 2004. Social Media Books started to discuss social media around the same time as Twitter. Cat vs. Dog The Internet may love cats, but it looks like authors of non-digital content prefer to talk about dogs. More Tech Resources from Mashable:
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, FreezeFrameStudio Reviews: iStockphoto More About: books, charts, Google, google books, graphs, history, List, Lists, Ngram, tech For more Tech coverage:
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| Library of Congress Adds 25 Film Classics to Preservation Project Posted: 28 Dec 2010 11:27 AM PST   The Library of Congress has announced the 25 newest additions to the National Film Registry. These films — ranging from documentaries to westerns and sci-fi classics — have been deemed culturally significant by the National Film Preservation Board and the Library of Congress. The National Film Registry was created in 1989 as part of the National Film Preservation Act. The Library of Congress says that each title named to the registry will be “preserved for future generations, either through the Library’s massive motion-picture preservation program or through collaborative ventures with other archives, motion-picture studios and independent filmmakers.” The 2010 list was selected from more than 2,100 nominated titles and includes well-known classics like Airplane!, The Exorcist and The Empire Strikes Back, as well as lesser known films like Make Way for Tomorrow and Tarantella. The list of the 25 films the year the film as released:
Do you know of any films not on this or past lists that you think should be in the registry? The nomination period for 2011 is open now and you can submit up to 50 films to the Library of Congress. The LOC maintains this website highlighting some films that are not currently in the registry, in case you need some inspiration. We have also put together this gallery of 10 of the better known mainstream films on the 2010 list. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Eliz Kazan's first feature film, released in 1945. Airplane! Released in 1980, this film helped define the spoof genre and made Leslie Nielsen a star. All the President's Men Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford starred as real-life journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein in 1976. Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB George Lucas's 15-minute student film from 1967. The Empire Strikes Back The 1980 sequel to Star Wars is considered by many to be the best of the series. The Exorcist William Fridedkin's 1973 film continues to influence horror films today. Grey Gardens This 1976 documentary was adapted into an award winning HBO mini-series. Malcom X Spike Lee directed this 1992 biopic, starring Denzel Washington as Malcom X. The Pink Panther Peter Sellers stars in Blake Edwards' 1964 comedy. Saturday Night Fever This 1977 film not only made John Travolta a star, it embodies the disco-era. More About: films, Library of Congress, Movies, national film registry For more Entertainment coverage:
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| “Eye-Popping 3D” Montage Personifies 2010 in Movies [VIDEO] Posted: 28 Dec 2010 11:11 AM PST 2010 was certainly a big year for 3D at the box office. From Avatar to Alice in Wonderland to Toy Story 3 and TRON: Legacy, it was hard to find a tentpole film that wasn’t produced in “eye-popping 3D.” YouTube user kinoozg was nice enough to cut together bits for 37 different films for a two-minute tribute to “the future of cinema” — or as we like to call it, “how to get people to pay $14 per movie ticket in a down economy.” Whatever, you guys. Jackass 3D was awesome. [via Gizmodo by way of The High Definite] Reviews: Alice, YouTube More About: 3D, 3d movies, Film, humor, Movies For more Web Video coverage:
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| Tech’s Biggest Win, Flop and Surprise of 2010 Posted: 28 Dec 2010 10:02 AM PST   The Social Analyst is a column by Mashable Co-Editor Ben Parr, where he digs into social media trends and how they are affecting companies in the space. In 2010, we got the iPad, the Nexus One and Nexus S, the Facebook Open Graph, Gmail Priority Inbox, the fall of Digg, the iPhone 4 (and Gizmodo controversy), Google’s acquisition of ITA, the WikiLeaks phenomenon and the ascension of Mark Zuckerberg. How’s that for an eventful year in tech? And this list only scratches the surface of tech’s biggest stories. But while many companies rocked the tech world in 2010 (in both good ways and bad), only a few companies can lay claim to creating tech’s biggest win, its biggest flop and its biggest surprise. So which products and companies top the list? After browsing the Mashable archives and pondering the question over many cups of tea, I have come up with my list for tech’s biggest win, flop and surprise, along with runners-up in each category. As I am not the end-all for what’s hot in tech, I expect many people to disagree with my picks, so I encourage you to challenge my choices in the comments with what topped your own list. Tech’s Biggest Win of 2010: Apple iPad The past year was the year of Facebook and Apple. Both companies grew by leaps and bounds, increased their valuations by billions of dollars and made a significant impact on the world. Only one, however, established an entirely new market that it now dominates with an iron fist. It’s hard to believe that it hasn’t even been a year since Apple launched the iPad, a device that has turned the tablet form factor into a must-have. Apple is expected to sell 13.3 million iPads this year, up from… well, up from zero iPads in 2009. It’s not just the fact that Apple single handedly created a new multi-billion-dollar revenue stream, but that it’s redefining all of computing. Notebook sales have dropped since the iPad’s introduction. Apple accelerated the rise of HTML5 with its tablet device at the expense of Flash. Its influence is already affecting countless web apps. Oh, and it’s redefining the meaning of “mobile.” Apple isn’t done, though. The iPad 2 will arrive in the next few months, and its difficult to find any circumstance where it wouldn’t extend Apple’s supremacy over the market it created. Runner-up: The Facebook “Like” Button It took Facebook just one week to get the “Like” button on 50,000 websites. Now 10,000 new websites integrate with Facebook every day. Few things have permeated the web as quickly as the Facebook Open Graph and its ubiquitous “Like” button. In 2010, Facebook gained reach and interest data at a scale that has Google running scared. Tech’s Biggest Flop of 2010: Google Buzz Google Buzz doesn’t top my list of biggest tech flops because it had a spectacular crash-and-burn event, nor does it top my list because, along with Google Wave, it exposed the search giant as a mortal company with many flaws. No, Buzz’s failure tops my list because of the vast repercussions it will have on both Google and the web. With the exception of YouTube, Google has failed at social. Blogger, Orkut, Dodgeball, Picasa, Jaiku, Google Friend Connect, Google Latitude, Google Wave, and Google Knowl have either been shut down or dominated by upstart competitors like Foursquare, Facebook, WordPress and Twitter. With Google’s biggest attempt at social now a mere afterthought, nothing stands in Facebook’s way. The social network will eventually surpass its Silicon Valley rival both in terms of net worth and dominance of the web. Google will become the next Microsoft, profitable but unable to grow, and Facebook will become the next Google whose influence will be felt for years to come. Runner-up: Microsoft Kin Microsoft wrote off $240 million in costs due to the abysmal failure of the Kin phone, but it likely cost the company far more than that. Interesting in concept, a wave of bad decisions led to its quick destruction. Now Microsoft will try to wipe that failure from its memory with Windows Phone 7, the company’s challenger to the rise of Android and iPhone. It’s off to a slow start, but Microsoft has made it clear that it is in the mobile game for the long haul. Tech’s Biggest Surprise of 2010: The Rise of Groupon In April, Groupon was worth $1 billion. By November, it was worth $6 billion. In other words, the group-buying website’s average value is growing by more than $20 million in value per day. That makes it the fastest growing company in history. Chew on that one. Groupon now has more than 3,000 employees selling brands on the daily deal business model. And business is booming. Now the company is shooting for greatness after turning down Google’s $6 billion offer. The eventual Groupon IPO will be the most anticipated public offering since Google (unless Facebook beats them to the punch). Nobody could have predicted that Groupon and the group buying business model would explode like it did in 2010, not even Groupon’s founders. Local business and advertising has been changed forever by the flood of daily deals that now permeate the web. And remember this: We have yet to see the limits of the Groupon phenomenon. Runner-up: HP, Mark Hurd and Oracle HP was on track for record profits and a big push into mobile through its acquisition of Palm. Then CEO Mark Hurd shocked the tech world with his resignation after a sexual harassment scandal that played out for weeks in the tech press. Then Oracle CEO Larry Ellison brought Mark Hurd on board as co-president, sparking a fight between Oracle and HP and bringing their rivalry to a whole new level. Oh, and who would have guessed HP would choose former SAP CEO Léo Apotheker as its new CEO? We certainly didn’t. Bonus Surprise/Flop: Digg’s Total Implosion After writing this post, I had to add an honorable (but unfortunate) mention to the list: The dramatic fall of Digg from the social web’s graces. Remember when Digg was one of the web’s biggest traffic referrers? Remember when Digg users could take down a website or create a major controversy? Those days are over. In its place is a new version of Digg that its users hate. The heavy competition between publishers for the front page of Digg is gone, replaced by the rise of Twitter, Facebook and other social news tools. Digg gambled and it lost big. Now the company is just trying to survive. It’s a dramatic change from just a year ago, when it was one of the kings of the social media universe. Reviews: Android, Apple iPad, Digg, Dodgeball, Facebook, Google, Google Buzz, Google Wave, Jaiku, Mashable, Orkut, Picasa, Twitter, Wikileaks, Windows Phone 7, WordPress, YouTube, blogger, foursquare, google friend connect More About: apple, Column, digg, facebook, Facebook Like, Google, google buzz, groupon, HP, ipad, mark hurd, Opinion, oracle, Social Analyst, tech For more Tech coverage:
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| Suit Charges Apple Shares Personal Data with Advertisers Posted: 28 Dec 2010 09:40 AM PST   Apple and various makers of iPhone and iPad apps are the subject of a lawsuit alleging that they transmit users’ personal information to advertising networks without those users’ consent. The suit, filed on December 23 in federal court in San Jose, California, seeks class-action status. It alleges that the apps have access to “a huge amount of information about a mobile device user” such as contact lists, usernames and passwords, plus information about the user’s gender, age and income. The plaintiffs charge that sharing such information violates federal fraud and privacy laws and seek class-action status for Apple customers who downloaded apps on their iPhone or iPad between December 1, 2008 and last week. The suit, filed on behalf of Jonathan Lalo of Los Angeles County, alleges that Apple and the app makers are able to track consumers’ personal data because iPhones and iPads feature a global unique device identifier (UDID), a “string of electronically readable characters and/or numbers that is stored in a particular device or file.” Other parties named in the suit include Pandora, Dictionary.com and The Weather Channel. Apple could not be reached for comment on the suit. Reviews: Pandora More About: advertising, apple, pandora For more Business coverage:
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| “Tron” Still King on Twitter, Despite Box Office Rivals Posted: 28 Dec 2010 09:02 AM PST   Little Fockers and True Grit may have claimed first and second place at the Christmas box office, but TRON: Legacy is still tops on Twitter. Real-time social media tracker Trendrr evaluated the top three films at the weekend box office from December 23 to 27. Despite coming in third place at the box office, TRON: Legacy continues to generate nearly twice as many tweets as either Little Fockers or True Grit. Little Fockers grossed $30.8 million over the weekend and has a five-day total of $45.1 million. Critic favorite True Grit took in a truly impressive $24.9 million for the weekend — the best ever opening for a Coen Brothers film — and a five-day total of $36.8 million. The 10-day domestic tally for TRON: Legacy now stands at $88.3 million, with $20.1 million coming from the holiday weekend. On Twitter, TRON is still king, with an average of 1,000 tweets per hour regarding the film. Trendrr tells us that True Grit and Little Fockers barely managed to amass 500 tweets per hour, even on opening night.  It’s unclear what impact — if any — the weather is having on movie-related tweets, but the cold is having negative impact on the box office. The ongoing snowmageddon severely dampened box office receipts, which are down more than 44% from 2009. The Hollywood Reporter notes that theaters in New York City and Philadelphia reported 70% drops in ticket sales, while the expected windfall of Sunday moviegoers was thwarted by the worsening weather. Sentiment and Gender BreakdownLittle Fockers  True Grit  TRON: Legacy  Little Fockers might be box office champion, but True Grit seems to have the true momentum. Number of tweets side, the sentiment analysis provided by Trendrr shows that the film has the lowest number of negative tweets. Predictably for a western, True Grit had more than twice as many tweets from male users as female. This figure aligns with the box office 70/30 split for the film. Expect the gender ratio to balance out a bit more as the film continues to build critical and audience buzz. The family oriented Little Fockers had more female users tweeting than male, but the ratio split was still fairly close. The film also showed a positive sentiment of 68%, according to Trendrr, which is above the critical assessment for the third film in the Parents franchise. Did you manage to see any movies this weekend? Do your thoughts align with what Twitter is saying? Reviews: Twitter More About: box office sentiment, Film, little fockers, Movies, stats, Trendrr, TRON, tron legacy, true grit, twitter For more Social Media coverage:
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| 8 Educational Gadgets That Make Learning Fun Posted: 28 Dec 2010 08:52 AM PST The Education Tech Series is supported by Dell The Power To Do More, where you’ll find perspectives, trends and stories that inspire Dell to create technology solutions that work harder for its customers so they can do and achieve more. It’s not hard to grasp the concept that making learning fun can lead to better results, so we’re bringing you a selection of eight excellent gadgets that offer an educational take on play. Our curated list of techie toys spans all the development ages right from the womb to the tweenager stage, so whatever age your little one is, there should be something here to suit. Have a read below for eight great gadgets that make learning fun, and please share in the comments any educational gadgets, toys or games you’ve seen success with. 1. Bellybuds   Research suggests that unborn babies can hear audio from as early as 20 weeks. This means you can play your unborn baby soothing sounds, uplifting music, messages from far-off loved ones, stories and more. More importantly, the same research says that babies retain what they have heard in the womb for up to 12 months, meaning at the very least you can help teach them to recognize voices of those who are going to be important to them. Age Range: Pre-natal 2. Fisher Price Laugh & Learn Smart Screen Laptop How old were you when you got your first laptop? We’re guessing it wasn’t before your first birthday, unlike lucky recipients of this colorful faux computer. Described as a “baby-appropriate laptop,” it boasts nine easy-to-press keys that animate numbers, shapes, colors, object names and initial letters on the screen and offers activities and sing-along songs. The best bit however, is that the laptop is bi-lingual, so all the learning can be done in both English and Spanish. Age Range: 6 to 36 months 3. LeapFrog Chat & Count Phone This cute handset connects your little one with Scout (LeapFrog’s puppy pal) in order to exchange calls and voicemails as well as sing along to songs about counting and phones. In addition to the obvious early number sense, this helps develop your child’s pretend play and social skills. The fact that you can hand over the kiddie handset instead of your precious smartphone when Junior fancies a phone fix is, of course, just a bonus. Age Range: 18 to 36 months 4. Playskool Alphie “Who better to explore the world with than someone who’s new to it?” asks Playskool, summing up the premise behind Alphie, a robot on a field trip from his home planet to find out all about Earth. This, of course, means that as Alphie learns about the world around him, so does your rugrat. Lessons include letter sounds, shape sorting, cause and effect, vocabulary development and more. Age Range: 3 years and up 5. VTech V.Reader While grown-ups have their Kindles, Nooks and iPads, children have the VTech V.Reader. As an interactive e-book reader, the system boasts the engaging building blocks to take your child from a pre-reader to a confident and fluent reader. Stories come as downloads or cartridges offering fully narrated and animated stories, reading skill games and a dictionary. Age Range: 3 to 7 years 6. VTech MobiGo This handheld gaming system will greatly appeal to kids under 8 years of age with its cool colors, touchscreen and slide-out QWERTY keyboard. What they won’t know is that the content for the device is educational — as the child plays, he or she learns about colors, shapes, spelling, math, logic and more. Age Range: 3 to 8 years 7. Hexbug Nanos Hexbug’s Nanos are robotic creatures that are programmed to behave like real bugs. Beyond just satisfying childrens’ desires for creepy-crawlies, the Nanos teach kids about science. Children can design and build habitats for their Nanos and register them online (where there are more learning resources). The collectability of the range and pocket-money prices of the expandable system means you might also be able to use the Nanos as a way to teach Junior about the importance of saving up for something he wants. Age Range: 5 to 15 years 8. Mindflex MindFlex offers that rare quality — true wow factor — that we’re confident in saying will make any child sit up and take notice (if not develop a life-long love of physics and maybe even neurology). The object of MindFlex is simple: move a ball through obstacles. What’s wow is that you move that ball with your mind. We can’t think of a better way to teach children how powerful their brain is than this memorable family game. Age Range: 8 years and up Series Supported by Dell The Power To Do More The Education Tech Series is supported by Dell The Power To Do More, where you’ll find perspectives, trends and stories that inspire Dell to create technology solutions that work harder for its customers so they can do and achieve more. More Education Resources from Mashable:
More About: Children, education, Education Tech Series, gadgets, Kids, List, Lists, tech, toys For more Tech coverage:
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| Now You Can Review AT&T on Facebook, Sort Of Posted: 28 Dec 2010 08:26 AM PST   AT&T has announced a new feature on its Facebook Page that lets consumers rate its phones, but not its service. The wireless carrier worked with Bazaarvoice to give consumers the ability to read, share and submit product reviews on AT&T’s Facebook fan page. AT&T has offered product ratings and reviews on its own since 2008, but claims to be the first telecom to offer the ability to review via Facebook. AT&T’s Facebook Page currently features phones such as the HTC Surround, the Samsung Focus and the HTC Aria. Users can also rate accessories. In addition to aggregating the reviews into a starred rating (on a scale of one to five stars), the site also features comments from the reviewers. Although the site now features reviews of phones, there’s no mechanism to review AT&T’s service. The company recently was rated the lowest-scoring cellphone carrier in the U.S. by ConsumerReports, which surveyed 58,000 of its readers. Although he believes AT&T’s service gets a bad rap and is actually better than most people think, Roger Entner, head of telecom research for The Nielsen Co., says AT&T is wise not to let consumers rate its service on Facebook. “I think the reason they’re not doing that is it turns into a feeding frenzy of people that are not satisfied with AT&T’s service,” Entner says. Entner points out, however, that the type of phone can greatly affect a consumer’s reception on the network, so opening up that discussion is a good idea. “From this, they’ll be able to help consumers differentiate between devices that are better connected to AT&T’s network than others,” Entner says. “If I’m on device X, I’ll have a lot more problems than if I’m on device Y.” Bazaarvoice provides ratings and reviews to more than 1,000 sites, including Best Buy, Costco, Dell and Macy’s. Reviews: Facebook More About: att, Bazaarvoice, facebook For more Business coverage:
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| New Jersey Mayor Uses Twitter to Help Residents Through Blizzard Posted: 28 Dec 2010 07:36 AM PST   Mayor of Newark, New Jersey, Cory Booker is at it again — he’s been on Twitter since the start of this year’s “Snowpocalypse,” letting citizens know about the city’s cleanup efforts and personally digging out the cars of those in need. This isn’t the first time that Booker — the de facto main character of the documentary series Brick City — has used the micro-blogging service to help those who need aid. During last winter’s blizzard, Booker came to the rescue when Jersey resident Ravie Rave tweeted that her elderly father’s walk was in need of shoveling. This year, Booker is out in full force once more, keeping citizens up to date on the progress of cleanup, delivering supplies and getting Newark residents on the road again. What do you think of the mayor’s use of Twitter? Do you wish your local government was as tech-savvy as Booker? Reviews: Twitter More About: cory booker, government, twitter For more Social Media coverage:
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| HOW TO: Customize the New Facebook Profile Posted: 28 Dec 2010 06:43 AM PST The Better Profiles Series is supported by Gillette. Learn more about Gillette and its products at Gillette.com. Just when you thought you had mastered your Facebook account, the company redesigned profile layouts, giving you a lot to think about in terms of what you want to showcase and share with others. If you’re wondering how to make the most of these changes — and how to modify sections to have a little more control over what is displayed — here are some ways to put your best features forward. If you’ve already made progress on customizing your Facebook profile for the new layout, let us know about it in the comments. The Quick Summary   The new Facebook profile layout In the old days, we could type a summary bio of ourselves in a small box under our profile photo. We could control that space and add a URL if we wanted. Now that box is gone, and Facebook has placed a quick reference summary of key information about us pulled from what we input into our profiles. That could include employment, education, where you currently live, marital status, hometown and birth date. To edit what you see in that section, click on the Edit Profile button on the top right of your profile page. Most information in your quick summary is pulled from the basic Information, profile picture, featured people, and education and work sections. You don’t have a lot of options for what you show and don’t show. In order to remove employer, for example, you have to delete it entirely, as there isn’t a checkbox to show it or not like the “gender” category under the basic information section. If you decide you don’t want your employment or education information front and center at the top of your bio, your only option right now is to remove it. If Facebook decides to put in controls at some point, you can always add those details later. The Bigger RevealFacebook lets you reveal more about what you are doing, including classes you are taking, projects at work and other personal activities. You can even include who you’re doing these things with, tagging and linking to them in your activity description. Under the employer header, you will now see a link for "Add a Project." Click on that and you can name your project, add who you’re working on the project with, describe your project, then specify the time period.  Education history has also become more beefy. You can edit college/university and specify class year, who you’re taking the class with, concentrations and whether college or graduate school. For high school, you can edit your class year and who else is in your class. For both college/university and high school, you have the option to add the name of a class, a description of the class, and which friends are taking it with you. If you’re doing a lot of extracurricular things, under the activities and interests section, you can now edit your activities and add your friends with whom you’re engaging in those activities. Top Photos and Friend PhotosThe strip of photos across the top of your profile are the five images of you most recently tagged by others. This can be disconcerting to someone who wants more control over what photos they showcase on their profile. If you see something you don’t want featured, just hover your cursor over the image and click the tiny "x" on the upper right hand corner of the image. While this doesn’t remove the tag or the image from your photo area entirely, it is no longer placed at the top of your profile.  As always, you can still untag yourself from photos. If you really don’t want that photo appearing in your profile photo area, click on “Photos” and, immediately underneath the image, you should see a link to "remove tag." That doesn’t mean the image is gone forever but just that it is no longer appearing in your profile. You can also decide which friends to feature on your profile under Featured People. This feature includes your relationship status and link to your partner, your family members, and now featured friends. To remove anyone from this more prominent position on your profile, you have to delete them. To control which friends get top billing on your profile, you can create a new list or add an existing list or group rather than letting Facebook pull from your entire friends list.  Updating Your StatusWhile it may seem a bit counterintuitive, your status update box is only a click away. Tastefully tucked below the photos are your share options: status, photo, link and video. Gone is the lingering status update that remained at the top of your profile page until you posted a new thought. Where Did My Tabs Go? You may have added applications to your Facebook profile to enhance it, such as a SlideShare tab showcasing your PowerPoint presentations or a resume tab pulling in highlights from your LinkedIn profile. Those are now gone. This is part of Facebook’s larger plan that has been ongoing for months to remove third-party application tabs. The company cites "low usage" as the reason for the removal of these tabs as outlined in its Developers Forum. Getting Geeky With Your Profile Pics Not everyone is feeling discombobulated by the new Facebook profiles. Instead, some are "hacking" the system to create playful presentations that exploit new features, particularly the photo strip of five images at the top. The trick is to either use a large image (692 pixels wide or larger) and break it down into six smaller images that present the larger image like pieces in a puzzle, or to use images that combine in an interesting way when they appear across the top of your profile. Check out some of the creative photo displays on Facebook profiles (and some more here), and if you’re feeling really ambitious, try the step-by-step breakdown for hacking your own profile images. Are Old Profiles Gone Forever? The old Facebook profile layout There was a small window of time when people were able to revert their Facebook profiles to the old version by deactivating their account for a small amount of time then reactivating it. This little trick, however, no longer works — or at least, not consistently. Rather than stressing over the new look, find ways to embrace it. There are still folks out there who haven’t switched. If you are one of them, the main thing to consider about the new profile is whether or not you want more or less control over what is showcased on your profile. As long as you have the old version, you may want to stick with it if you prefer more control. At some point, however, the new profile will most likely become universal. The new Facebook profile changes might make you rethink why and how you are using your Facebook account. If you were just using it for friends and casual, personal communications, you may feel a little uncomfortable with your employment and education information taking a more prominent position. Just edit and delete if it’s really an issue. Otherwise, just go with the flow, and eventually you may not even remember what the old profiles looked like, and you’ll settle in to your new look on Facebook. Series Supported by Gillette The Better Profile Series is supported by Gillette. Learn more about Gillette and its products at Gillette.com. More Tech Resources from Mashable:
Reviews: Facebook, LinkedIn More About: better profile series, customization, customize, design, facebook, facebook profile, how to, layout, social media, trending For more Social Media coverage:
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| Ikea iPhone App Toasts New Year’s Eve Posted: 28 Dec 2010 06:27 AM PST Unless you’re selling champagne or hangover remedies, New Year’s Eve isn’t the biggest holiday for marketers, but Ikea is embracing the holiday anyway with an iPhone app that doesn’t appear to have much to do with furniture. The company’s Skal! app [iTunes link] treats consumers to a full-screen picture of a champagne bottle that appropriates your background scene and, when tilted, simulates the motion of liquid. If you then tap your iPhone to another’s, the app makes a clinking noise and exchanges names and profile pictures with your fellow toastee. Both cameras also capture the moment, which Ikea encourages you to share on Facebook. The app may be the first of its kind, but Ikea’s not the first marketer to use the iPhone screen to simulate a glass of alcohol. In 2007, Hottrix introduced an app called iBeer that featured a full-screen picture of beer, which poured when tilted and then disappeared, as if the user had consumed it. Hottrix later sued MillerCoors for allegedly appropriating the idea. Reviews: Facebook More About: IKEA, iphone app, new years eve For more Mobile coverage:
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| Sears and Kmart Launch Movie Download Service Posted: 28 Dec 2010 06:17 AM PST   Sears and Kmart have teamed up to offer their customers a movie download service called Alphaline Entertainment. The service uses Sonic’s RoxioNow platform for content delivery, which makes it quite similar to Best Buy’s CinemaNow (which is based on the same platform). The pricing, too, is very similar, as Alphaline Entertainment offers movie rentals for $3.99 and purchases at $19.99 for new releases. Sonic and Sears plan a multi-phase rollout, which should eventually make the service available from a variety of connected devices. Check the service out over at alphaline.roxionow.com; users outside of the U.S. shouldn’t bother as they’ll be greeted with an unsightly error message. More About: Alphaline Entertainment, kmart, movide download, Movies, sears For more Entertainment coverage:
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