Mashable: Latest 26 News Updates - including “iPad, Meet Star Trek”

iPad, Meet Star Trek
Global Pulse 2010 Wants Your Solutions to Global Challenges
Verizon iPhone: What We Know So Far
Gmail Adds OAuth Support for Safer 3rd Party Sign-ins
Yale Delays Switch to Google Apps, Cites Security Concerns
SeatGeek Predicts the Best Time to Buy Concert and Sports Tickets
SimpleGeo Launches As an iTunes for Geo-Data
Posterous Adds Dead-Simple Custom Domain Registration
“The Sims” Creator Developing TV Show with User-Generated Episodes
5 Free Ways to Identify that Song Stuck in Your Head
“Glee” Holds Online Casting Call on MySpace
5 Simple Social Design Tips From the Masters
EXCLUSIVE: “Scarface School Play” Creators on Manufacturing Viral Success [VIDEO]
iTunes 9.1 Released: iPad Syncing and iBooks Support Included
University to Provide iPads for All New Students
iPhone HD: The Next Generation iPhone? [RUMOR]
Twitter Unveils New Homepage [PIC]
Adobe Flash Now Officially a Part of Google Chrome
H&M Organizes Flash Mob to Promote Children’s Clothes [VIDEO]
Trololo Cat: When YouTube Memes Collide [VIDEO]
Xbox Live Suffers Connection Issues
FarmVille Addiction Can Get You Canned
How One Small Biz Turned Their Company Retreat Into Social Media Success
Flash Comes to the iPad… At Least for Advertisers
Foursquare, Gowalla and More on a Google Map [Apps]
What Social Media Ad Types Work Best? [STATS]
Folding Laptop Concept Will Make You Crave a Bigger Keyboard

Posted: 31 Mar 2010 12:57 AM PDT

In Star Trek, members of the crew are carrying a tablet-like device called the PADD, or Personal Access Display Device. It comes in many shapes and flavors – there’s even a horizontal one, but circa 2151, the device that was in common use looked pretty much like the thing we’ll be frantically testing this weekend: Apple iPad.

Now, Gizmodo has dug out an iPad app called Captain’s Log that actually makes it look very much like the PADD. The app lets you check your mail or social networking profiles, adding, besides the visuals, little details like the inevitable star date. Yes, it looks quite simple, but if you’re a Trekkie, this is the first app you’ll get.

Tags: Apple Tablet, ipad, mobile apps, Star Trek

Global Pulse 2010 Wants Your Solutions to Global Challenges

Posted: 30 Mar 2010 10:04 PM PDT

Global Pulse 2010 is a completely online virtual event running through tomorrow where you can participate in a global conversation whose stated goal is to “create innovative solutions to the most pressing social issues of our time.” Sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Global Pulse 2010 is also being supported by the U.S. Departments of State, Education, Commerce, and Health and Human Services.

The goals of the event are to bring participants from around the world together to discuss key issues and challenges in a number of different areas, from sustainability and global health to education and technological innovation — and beyond. Global Pulse 2010 is an opportunity to engage with like-minded socially-engaged participants and organizations to proactively seek out solutions to some of the planet’s biggest challenges, as well as to help inform U.S. foreign assistance and diplomatic strategies surrounding a wide range of major social issues.

After going through the registration process for the event, you can browse and contribute to a number of topically-themed forums called “Jams” hosted by accomplished thought leaders and senior business leaders whose expertise is used to help guide the discussion. Some of the forum hosts include U.S. CTO Aneesh Chopra, doctor, author and speaker Deepak Chopra, and a number of senior officials from USAID and the sponsoring U.S. Departments.

You can also follow Global Pulse on Twitter and track some of the discussion and participation via the hashtag #GP2010. Will you be participating in Global Pulse 2010? What do you think are the most pressing challenges of our time?

For more social media coverage, follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook

Reviews: Facebook, Twitter

Tags: activism, Events, Global Pulse, Global Pulse 2010, GP2010, social good, social media, USAID

Verizon iPhone: What We Know So Far

Posted: 30 Mar 2010 08:37 PM PDT

Yesterday the web was ablaze with new rumors that Apple is developing two iPhones, one of which would be for the Verizon network. Deep-seeded unhappiness with AT&T’s network only helped fuel the rumors across the web.

The reality though is that little is known about the supposed “Verizon iPhone.” Nobody knows if it even exists, and anyone who claims otherwise is lying to you (unless, of course, that person is Steve Jobs).

So, is Verizon getting an iPhone this year? Next year? Does it even exist at all? It’s time to separate rumor from fact and iterate what we know about the mythical Verizon iPhone thus far.

Signs Point to a Verizon iPhone … Eventually

There have been rumors for some time now that Apple would drop AT&T exclusivity, but it has yet to come to fruition. The chatter really started heating up last year when rumors surfaced that Apple and Verizon were already testing a 4G iPhone. Of course, nobody from either company has confirmed it.

Some rumors do match Monday’s Wall Street Journal report, though, giving the Verizon iPhone some life. The assertion that Apple has contracted to produce a CDMA-compatible iPhone for the third quarter 2010 matches the timeframe given in the WSJ for an iPhone on the Verizon network.

There’s more, too. According to TheStreet, a Qualcomm chip will power the Verizon iPhone. And yet more people say that T-Mobile will get the iPhone this summer.

Overall, it’s a hodgepodge of data points, but they seem to point to the eventual dissolution of AT&T-iPhone exclusivity and to the introduction of a Verizon iPhone. It would most likely come late this year or early next year, since production of the device wouldn’t occur until the third quarter of 2010.

And Yet Rumors Are Often Wrong

There is no guarantee that a Verizon iPhone will be announced in June or July — when Apple normally reveals new iPhones — or that Apple will even break AT&T exclusivity. Both the rumor that the iPhone would leave AT&T exclusivity during the iPad event back in January and the assertion that Verizon would carry Apple’s tablet were wrong. Whose to say that any of these other rumors are true?

While Apple may indeed be planning a Verizon iPhone, it can change its plans at any time for any reason. AT&T’s network could improve remarkably in the next few months or Verizon may not offer enough incentives to Apple to satisfy the tech giant — there are just too many possible scenarios.

The truth is that the only person who really knows the fate of the iPhone on the Verizon network is Steve Jobs, and he’s not talking. But the signs do point towards a Verizon iPhone appearing sometime late this year or next year.

Are you waiting for a Verizon iPhone? Would you switch carriers or phones for it? Do you think we’ll see one in the next year? Let us know what you believe in the comments.

Tags: apple, att, iphone, iphone 3Gs, verizon, Verizon iPhone

Gmail Adds OAuth Support for Safer 3rd Party Sign-ins

Posted: 30 Mar 2010 07:49 PM PDT

Google announced the addition of OAuth support in Gmail in a blog post today, which is a highly positive move that allows you to give third party applications access to the contents on your email without having to give them your password. You may be familiar with the term from Twitter, who added OAuth support back in April of last year.

Besides making a more secure Gmail environment, the news could be even more significant if it inspires a flush of innovation from third party developers to build custom applications on top of Gmail. Google itself occasionally adds experimental new functionality via Gmail Labs that users can opt into, but a secure OAuth sign-in platform could be a key feature that really promotes an explosion of Gmail apps from outside developers.

It remains to be seen if that Gmail app gold rush will take off, but at least one company is already taking advantage of the new OAuth feature. Syphir makes an iPhone application called SmartPush, which lets you define under what conditions an incoming email should trigger a push notification on your phone. As illustrated in the screenshot above, thanks to OAuth you don’t have to give Syphir your Gmail password in order to access your email. Online cloud backup service Backupify let us know they’ll be adding OAuth support for their Gmail backup service as well beginning tomorrow.

What do you think: will we see an explosion of third party Gmail Apps emerge? What kind of apps would you want to see built on top of your email?

For more technology coverage, follow Mashable Tech on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook

Reviews: Backupify, Facebook, Gmail, Google, Twitter

Tags: developers, email, gmail, Google, OAuth, software, Web Development

Yale Delays Switch to Google Apps, Cites Security Concerns

Posted: 30 Mar 2010 06:43 PM PDT

Yale University was set to switch over its campus from using Horde Webmail to Gmail and its complement of services included in the Google Apps for Education package, but officials in the Information Technology Services division have announced they’re putting that move on hold. The gradual transition to Gmail would have been ongoing through the year and completed by next spring.

According to the Yale Daily News, the original decision to switch over to Gmail was met with concerns and reservations from the faculty and administration. Several felt the decision had been made too hastily and without proper University approval.

Computer science professor Michael Fischer said the concerns included ideological issues, technological risks and downsides, security issues, and issues surrounding the way Google handles the data in its cloud. Each piece of information gets stored in three randomly chosen data centers around the world, and Google was unwilling to provide a list of the countries Yale’s data might go to — only a list of 15 countries where the data was guaranteed not to be sent. Said Fischer of the data issue: “Yale is an international, multicultural community of scholars. Students deserve to have rights to their information while on campus.”

For now, ITS will gather more input from the community on the issue before either moving forward with the plan or potentially shelving it. Do you think Yale has a point — does Google need to give organizations and businesses more control and information about the location and security of their data if they hope to see wider adoption of Google Apps?

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Reviews: Facebook, Gmail, Google, Twitter

Tags: education, gmail, Google, google apps, privacy, security, Yale

SeatGeek Predicts the Best Time to Buy Concert and Sports Tickets

Posted: 30 Mar 2010 05:51 PM PDT

This post is part of Mashable’s Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark.

Name: SeatGeek

Quick Pitch: SeatGeek is a free, innovative search and forecasting web application that helps users save money on sports and concert tickets.

Genius Idea: SeatGeek is a website that analyzes ticket sales for events and makes predictions as to the best time to buy in the resale market.

Ticket prices tend to fluctuate as events get closer; that’s based on a number of factors, but SeatGeek doesn’t go out of its way to explain the reasons for the fluctuations. Rather, it uses behind-the-scenes algorithms that the company claims lead to 80% accurate predictions of where ticket prices will go. Here’s a picture of the tools in action.

As you can see, SeatGeek tracks ticket resellers and compares their deals much like a site like Price Grabber does for consumer products. You can buy these through the SeatGeek website, or look at its predictions to decide when you’ll save the most money. There are also sharing options for Facebook, Twitter, e-mail and MySpace.

The New York-based site was launched just in time for the 2010 Major League Baseball season, but it works with other sports and concerts too. Visit each week and you’ll see top 10 lists for events, too.

1. Midomi

how to identify that song stuck in your head for free midomi

Midomi offers a wicked service that is just perfect for those tune-stuck-in-your-head moments. It lets you sing into the microphone and — even with our tone-deaf renditions of tunes — managed to isolate the tracks we were attempting to sing.

Although not advised if you’re in an Internet cafe, using the site is simple. Just hit the “click and hum or sing” box and do your thing. We found we had to shout, rather than sing (which is perhaps more an indication of the quality of our mic than the service) but the results were great.

Humming (or “duh-duh-ing” as is perhaps more accurate), it identified Tom’s Diner right away (somewhat randomly Fear of the Dark by Iron maiden came up second, but heck, the first option is what counts). Likewise, 10 seconds of Squeeze’s Tempted was no challenge for the service. It returned the song soon after we blared out the first two lines or so.

When Midomi identifies the song, it also offers a clip for playback so you can check it against the song in your head, rather than take its word for it.

And though we’re rating this service as best for humming/singing a song, it also went two for two when we played clips of the actual recordings into the PC’s mic.

Best for: Hummers

2. Musipedia

how to identify that song stuck in your head for free musipedia

Musipedia offers a wealth of ways to identify your music, from the super-simple keyboard tapping (which actually came up with squat for both our songs) to drawing the musical notes on a graph, to melodic contour search using the Parsons Code — in all, a good octave above our musical heads.

The other thing it offers, is a sweet Flash-based piano keyboard that lets you plunk out the music you’re trying to identify. After you hit the notes on the virtual keyboard, it will play them back to ensure it sounds roughly as you intended. Once the melody is set, you can ask the service to search.

While Musipedia seems to be focused more on classical music, it did correctly identify Tom’s Diner, albeit as the fifth suggestion down. Unfortunately, we could not get it to recognize Tempted.

We’re unsure if this is because Squeeze’s back catalog has not made it into the service’s database, but the site seemed to have no difficulty matching many “classical” tunes to the simple note pattern we’d laid down.

Best for: Musicians, Classical Music Fans

3. Tunatic

how to identify that song stuck in your head for free tunatic

Tunatic is offered as free downloadable software for PCs and Macs, rather than as a web-based service, although it does need an Internet connection to access the database to find the track.

With a super-simple, thumbnail-size interface, you simply click and blast your mic with the tune you want identified.

The results were interesting. Tunatic got both of the songs within seconds, but attributed them to artists that were not quite correct.

Tom’s Diner was attributed to music group DNA, who did make the song popular with their dance remix, but the song itself belongs to Suzanne Vega. Additionally, Tempted was attributed to Paul Carrack, a member of Squeeze, rather than the group.

These answers aren’t incorrect per se, but it’s worth pointing out that you might want to do a bit more research on top of a Tunatic result, which is as easy as clicking an arrow next to the response that opens a web page that includes links to buy the track and a Google search box with the term already entered.

Best for: Freeware Fans

4. Shazam

how to identify that song stuck in your head shazam

The Shazam music identifying service is available across a variety of mobile devices — some even come with the app pre-loaded. BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Android, and Nokia apps are all offered, but we took a look at the free option available in the App Store for iPhones and iPod touches.

The free version offers you limited functionality compared to the full $4.99 per month version, but it does let you “tag” (i.e., record and hopefully identify) five songs a month.

It’s really easy to use. Just download the app, load it up, and hit “tag now,” at which point Shazam “listens” for about 10 seconds before analyzing the track, identifying it, and offering an iTunes link to buy it, the ability to share it on Facebook and Twitter, to look up YouTube videos, see tour dates, and more.

You can even add a location to a tag, and if you’re not in an area where there’s cell coverage or Wi-Fi, the app will save the musical snippet until you are.

It worked perfectly on an iPod touch using Apple’s headphone/microphone to identify both Tom’s Diner and Tempted on the first try. We think having this on your mobile could be really handy if you’re out and about and catch a song that you like the sound of.

Best for: Mobile Users, On the Go

5. Name My Tune

how to identify that song stick in your head namemytune

Name My Tune is not the best option if you want instant answers, but it does offers really neat functionality in that its answers are from a community that you can get involved with.

The site offers two options — record your 10-second clip for others to identify (with the answer e-mailed to you when someone does) — and listen to recordings others have made.

You can do this second option via genre, and via era. So if you’re a 1960s blues bluff, you can listen to a narrowed down set of results in order to try and help your fellow netizens. Once you’ve identified a tune (which we did — the fairly recognizable Little Green Bag by the George Baker Selection from Reservoir Dogs) you simply enter the artist and title.

As for anyone recognizing our out-of-tune warblings into the mic, we’ve had no e-mails from the service as yet (hence our reason for stating it’s not the best option for those looking for instant relief), but we will update this post when we do with how long it took for an answer to come through.

Best for: Community-Minded Souls

For more technology coverage, follow Mashable Tech on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook

More tech resources from Mashable:

- 10 Must-See Google Street View Sightings
- 5 Must-See Google Easter Eggs
- 10 Fantastic Websites for Spotify Fans
- 4 Surprising Google Wave Uses
- Top 10 Modern Gadgets with Retro Styling [PICS]

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Elerium

Reviews: Android, Facebook, Google, Shazam, Twitter, YouTube, iStockphoto

Tags: List, Lists, Midomi, music, music apps, musipedia, shazam, trending, tunatic

“Glee” Holds Online Casting Call on MySpace

Posted: 30 Mar 2010 02:06 PM PDT

Today, MySpace announced that it is officially hosting the casting call for the hit TV show and is accepting submissions from now through April 26.

Would-be Gleeks between the ages of 16 and 26 can submit their audition video either by uploading their own pre-recorded video or choosing from a selection of MySpace Karaoke Glee hits on the Glee Auditions Official MySpace Profile.

The songs that users can audition to include:

“And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” – Dreamgirls
“Gold Digger” – Kanye West
“Rehab” – Amy Winehouse
“You Can’t Always Get What You Want” – The Rolling Stones
“Can’t Fight This Feeling” – REO Speedwagon
“Don’t Rain on my Parade” – Barbara Streisand
“Hate on Me” – Jill Scott
“Keep Holding On” – Avril Lavigne
“Lean on Me” – Bill Withers
“True Colors” – Phil Collins

Users that decline to audition can still share videos and post comments about their favorite submissions. While this isn’t the first online casting call for a major television show, it is one of the most immersive, especially for a scripted program.

If you think you or someone you know has what it takes to make it on Glee, start warming up your vocal pipes and adjust the white balance on your web camera!

I wonder if the Chatroulette guy will audition?

For more entertainment coverage, follow Mashable Entertainment on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook

Reviews: Facebook, Twitter

Tags: casting call, GLEE, myspace, tv

5 Simple Social Design Tips From the Masters

Posted: 30 Mar 2010 02:05 PM PDT

This series is supported by Wix.com, an online design tool that enables you to create your own Flash websites, social network layouts, and more, for free. Learn more about Wix here.

With so much content competing for users’ attention, it’s important for content creators to have websites or applications that are accessible, clean and interactive. For sites with a social media focus, a solid user experience is even more important because if users can’t easily navigate a site or connect with their existing networks, chances are, those users won’t return.

Joshua Porter, author of Designing for the Social Web defines social design as “designing for the social interactions between people using software.” As more and more of the web becomes social, it is becoming important to think about how your site and your content can best interact with an audience.

The methodologies and science behind user interface and user experience can be overwhelming for professionals, not to mention the content creator that just wants to have a site that can encourage interactivity with its audience. To help break things down, we talked to the experts and have come up with some simple social design tips that social media lovers can use to improve the look of their own online work.

1. Sometimes Less is More

Whitney Hess is an independent user experience designer based in New York. On her blog, Pleasure & Pain she writes a lot about user experience. In her fantastic post about Guiding Principles for UX Designers, Hess outlines things that designers and content creators need to consider.

One of her guiding principles for experience design is to limit distractions.

Hess writes:

“An effective design allows people to focus on the task at hand without having their attention diverted to less critical tasks. Design for tasks to be carried out consecutively instead of concurrently in order to keep people in the moment.”

In other words, don’t put every single widget and social plugin that you can think of on your site. It’s easy to think that doing this will increase the potential for interactivity, but in reality, it can just make a page too cluttered and too difficult to figure out. Make sure that every addition to your site has a purpose.

For instance, sharing buttons are a great way to let users spread your content around — but do you really need to have 100 different options? Why not focus on the sites that users are most likely to use (or that your own community uses). That way you can offer a way for users to share content, without overwhelming them with choices and complicated screens.

2. Encourage Social Network Linking Early On

The great thing about the social web is that it is easier than ever to let people integrate their existing social networks and profiles with your site and content. However, as Nik Fletcher from Realmac Software points out, this isn’t something that a lot of sites take into consideration.

Nik tells us:

“If your site encourages a user to link another social network to their account, why not prompt them to do so a little earlier on?”

Fletcher, who has worked on Mac applications like Socialite (a social networking client) and is the author and designer of the iPhone app Happening, which brings Yahoo!’s Upcoming service to the iPhone, knows the importance of integrating this sort of information early on.

Offering a way for users to create an account by using Facebook Connect or OAuth for Twitter is one way to make it easy for users to sign up for accounts. This is not only one less step for the user, it’s one less login to remember — which makes the chances of a user interacting with your content that much higher.

3. Words Matter Too

Christian Heilmann is a developer evangelist for the Yahoo Developer network. He pointed out something that is often overlooked by even the most talented designers: The importance of language.

An effective design isn’t just about having a great layout and being accessible, it also needs to communicate to the user and communicate its goals effectively. Heilmann says:

“If you built the best interface with ratings, up/down votes, comments and “tweet this” buttons but your language smells of 1980s PowerPoints and stock photography you are not going to be successful. Part of Flickr’s success was its language – which applies even to a larger degree to moo.com.”

Having the right language to communicate your goals can be the difference between a site that gains traction and a site that doesn’t. Words matter. Make sure your copy best illustrates your mission to your users.

4. Don’t Be a Control Freak

Dan Benjamin, the co-founder of Corkd.com and the creator of 5 by 5 — a podcasting network that has a strong designer and developer focus — points out the importance of inclusion.

Benjamin tells us:

“The key to a good social network, or any site with a social focus is inclusion. Making it easy for users to include others (and share content) and be included themselves is key.”

Like Fletcher, Benjamin is a big fan of making it easy for users to participate. However, he cautions against going too far:

“But there’s a fine line here: the users need to make these choices themselves. See Google Buzz for how to do it the wrong way.”

When offering users a chance to share and connect, it’s important that the user also remain in control. When Google Buzz first launched, it went too far because the developers didn’t think about some of the potential consequences of instantly connecting people with their social graph. Opt-out options were not clear enough. It took only a few days for Google to issue some privacy tweaks, but for some users it was too late.

5. It’s All About Context

On his blog 52 Weeks of UX, Joshua Porter lays out 10 Principles of UX. One of those principles is that “context is king.”

Porter writes:

“In an age when it is easy to create products and content quickly, the missing piece becomes context: how does what we create fit into the lives of the people we create it for?”

To that end, the best social designs are those that can connect best with their desired audiences. Christian Heilmann adds to this point, telling us:

“It is an interesting fact that social web products could revolve around any objects that people can get excited about and have an emotional attachment to.”

Heilmann cited Ravelry.com, a knitting and crocheting community that has a huge number of users, as a site that puts its social elements in context with the shared interest of the community.

Do you have any social design tips to share with other social savvy content creators? Let us know in the comments!

Series supported by Wix.com

Wix.com offers you a simple, powerful, drag & drop editing platform to create stunning Flash websites, social network layouts, and more, for free. You can choose from 100’s of high quality, professionally designed templates that are completely unique and customizable. Or, create your own design from scratch.

Upload image files, videos and mp3’s. Add Twitter, Facebook, and blog links with ease. Use a Wix domain or connect to your own. The options are practically limitless. With added e-commerce features, search engine visibility and other professional tools, Wix is the ultimate solution for creating and publishing spectacular web content for free. Start Creating!

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, kryczka

Reviews: Facebook, Flickr, Google, Socialite, Twitter, iStockphoto

Tags: designers, social design, UI, UX

EXCLUSIVE: “Scarface School Play” Creators on Manufacturing Viral Success [VIDEO]

Posted: 30 Mar 2010 02:01 PM PDT

As posited by several commenters, the “Scarface School Play” video that was uploaded to YouTube yesterday was not, in fact, a real theatrical performance. The video was created by director Marc Klasfeld of Rockhard Films, who also has directed videos for artists like Beyonce and Eminem, and was made public by Hung Nguyen of Sharethrough. Mashable contacted the duo via Skype to get the lowdown on the controversial vid.

Yesterday, we posted this now-viral video (it has been seen by more than 400,000 people on YouTube — the creators say one million) much to the outrage of many a reader who felt that the subject matter was upsetting and inappropriate — or just downright fake. Well, we heard you — loud and clear — and decided to answer your most burning questions about “Scarface School Play”:

1). Who made it?
2). Why?
3). Is it real?

Check out the video below for the answers. Also, the filmmaker and Nguyen assure us that this is not, in fact, Ray-Ban’s next campaign or anything of the like (i.e. They’re not selling anything.)

For more web video coverage, follow Mashable Web Video on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook

Reviews: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, scarface

Tags: viral video, youtube

iTunes 9.1 Released: iPad Syncing and iBooks Support Included

Posted: 30 Mar 2010 01:52 PM PDT

Let the iPad hype and excitement begin: Apple’s preparation for the launch of the iPad has kicked into high gear. Today, the tech giant released version 9.1 of iTunes, its vastly popular music, app, and now book-managing software.

The new update doesn’t do anything like radically change the iTunes interface. Instead, it is focused on providing support for the iPad, which launches this Saturday. The big addition in this software update is iPad syncing. Thus if and when you plug that glorious iPad of yours into your computer on Saturday, it’ll sync your computer’s music, movies, books, and other media with your tablet device.

There are a few other additions to iTunes worth noting. Support for iBooks has been included in this software update, providing you the ability to sync books you’ve bought between your iPad and your computer. Finally, there have been some changes to the Genius feature — now you can rename, rearrange, and remove mixes you create via the Genius feature.

In reality, today’s update is all about making sure that the iPad experience goes smoothly on Saturday. By releasing the software early, they can find and remove any final bugs before one of the most important product launches in the company’s history.

Reviews: iTunes

Tags: apple, iBooks, ipad, iphone, iphone app store, itunes, iTunes 9.1

University to Provide iPads for All New Students

Posted: 30 Mar 2010 01:02 PM PDT

Seton Hill University will supply a new Apple iPad and a 13″ MacBook laptop to every full-time student arriving at its Greensburg, Pennsylvania, campus in fall 2010.

The giveaway kicks off the small liberal arts university’s Griffin Technology Advantage Program, which aims to cultivate digital literacy among its students. It also marks a growing shift to provide students with e-books rather than textbooks.

Students will have complete access to the devices during classes and for personal use. They can download textbooks from the iBook Store, take notes, communicate and share files with professors, advisers and classmates, conduct research and engage in interactive learning experiences. No word yet on whether the expected profusion of gaming apps for the iPad will be banned during class time.

If one free iPad and MacBook wasn’t a large enough lure for prospective students, Seton Hill has also promised to replace laptops with new ones after two years that students can then take with them when they graduate. The university boasts an on-site IT department trained in Mac repair and will even loan students MacBooks while theirs undergo restoration.

But do students really need both an iPad and a MacBook? Will the graduates of less technologically progressive schools be at a disadvantage without access to these devices? Share your opinion in the comments.

[via: TUAW]

Update: We received notice from a student in the comments that Seton Hill is increasing its technology fee for students receiving the iPad. We have followed up with Seton Hill and will post further updates here.

For more Apple coverage, follow Mashable Apple on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook

Reviews: Facebook, Twitter

Tags: Apple iPad, education, Seton Hill

iPhone HD: The Next Generation iPhone? [RUMOR]

Posted: 30 Mar 2010 12:06 PM PDT

Engadget has received reports that the next generation iPhone will be called the iPhone HD. This comes a day after The Wall Street Journal posited on some rumors suggesting that Apple will release two different iPhones this year.

While the continuing “will they/won’t they” saga of the CDMA iPhone is far from resolved (and even the Journal is now hedging on the date of a CDMA entry), the name iPhone HD might actually have some merit.

Yesterday, after The Wall Street Journal posted its story, Daring Fireball’s John Gruber dismissively responded to the report — pointing out that it was virtually substance-free in terms of details. He then went on to dispense some information he has heard about the next iPhone.

Namely that:

It will be based on the A4-family CPU system (meaning it would be part of the same CPU family as the iPad)
The resolution would be doubled to 960×640
It would sport a second front-facing camera
It would support third-party multitasking

Now, how many of these rumors are true is unknown — but Gruber has a pretty good track record when it comes to info like this. Further more, Gruber finds the HD moniker plausible, especially in light of the double resolution display.

Engadget also reports that the iPhone HD (or whatever it ends up being called), will be announced on Tuesday, June 22. Historically, this date falls in line with past iPhone release dates.

iPhone HD, eh? Are you in or out? Let us know in the comments!

Tags: iphone, iPhone 4.0, iphone hd

Twitter Unveils New Homepage [PIC]

Posted: 30 Mar 2010 11:45 AM PDT

Twitter has just rolled out a new homepage that non-logged in users see when they visit Twitter.com. It features scrolling trending topics, "top tweets" (a tweet from Justin Bieber was the first one I saw… go figure), and a "who's here" with avatars of well-known users and brands that are on the microblogging service.

It’s not clear if the new homepage is live for everyone yet, but here’s a screenshot:

The last major overhaul to Twitter’s homepage came last summer, when the site rolled out a design that focused on trending topics. Unfortunately, that meant a homepage littered with quirky hashtags and Twitter memes (and Bieber) — perhaps not the most enticing for prospective users visiting the site.

Here’s what the old one looked like:

The latest homepage seems to de-emphasize the trending topics, and instead focus on popular users, in the form of tweets and the “who’s here” section. That would seem to represent a compromise between exerting editorial control over trending topics (which I’ve proposed) and painting Twitter in the right light to outsiders.

Are you seeing the new homepage? Let us know what you think of it in the comments.

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Tags: twitter

Adobe Flash Now Officially a Part of Google Chrome

Posted: 30 Mar 2010 11:09 AM PDT

Although Adobe Flash is already installed on virtually every computer, Google has announced that all downloads of its Chrome web browser will now include the plug-in.

Rumored since Monday, Google's blog post on the partnership adds a few details about what we can expect from the integration. One of the key benefits to Chrome users will be that they receive automatic updates of new versions of Flash without a separate download.

Google goes on to say that "improving the traditional browser plug-in model will make it possible for plug-ins to be just as fast, stable, and secure as the browser's HTML and JavaScript engines." As we noted yesterday, that's a different stance than Apple, who continues to leave Flash out of its plans, specifically for iPhone and iPad.

With Chrome continuing to add market share — at the expense of everyone else — it's a big symbolic win for Adobe, even if it doesn't necessarily mean a ton of more users (though, it does mean the company will be able to push its upgrades to millions of users in real-time).

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Tags: adobe, adobe flash, apple, google chrome, web browsers

H&M Organizes Flash Mob to Promote Children’s Clothes [VIDEO]

Posted: 30 Mar 2010 11:01 AM PDT

Here’s a nice foil for Philly’s recent spat of violent flash mobs: A bunch of adorable children spontaneously breaking out into a sick dance routine in San Francisco's Union Square. Yeah, they’re basically shilling for H&M — but the dance is rather impressive and deserves a look.

Utilizing flash mobs — which began as a kind of performance art – for marketing purposes is nothing new. Still, this live H&M commercial is a rather interesting example of how marketers are attempting to break into the cultural zeitgeist through all channels of social media.

Check out the video below and let us know what you think: Should flash mobs be used as a marketing tool?

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Tags: flash mob, MARKETING, social media, viral video

Trololo Cat: When YouTube Memes Collide [VIDEO]

Posted: 30 Mar 2010 10:11 AM PDT

This viral video of a cat’s response to its owner scratching its neck would be mildly amusing on its own, but mash it up with Russian singer Eduard Khil’s accidental viral hit “Trololo” and it becomes “epic,” as they say on the interwebs.

When scratched, the cat props its neck and head up in such a way that it becomes the spitting image of Khil in the Trololo viral video.

Cat videos are a staple of YouTube’s viral video culture, so this qualifies as a meme mashup. Both memes are going strong; the new Keyboard Cat video just hit the web recently, and Trololo has its own iPhone app now. Weird, wild stuff.

Trololo Cat

Trololo

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Tags: cat, humor, trololo, viral videos, youtube

Xbox Live Suffers Connection Issues

Posted: 30 Mar 2010 09:56 AM PDT

Modern Warfare 2’s “Stimulus Package” map pack for the Xbox 360 went live today. However, frustrated gamers have found that Xbox Live is having issues that are preventing them from enjoying the new purchase.

Xbox Support’s Twitter account is loaded with communications with customers about the problem, and the official support website at www.xbox.com/support is being bombarded by users. The company line is currently: “We’re aware of the issue and it is being worked on. Stay tuned for updates.”

Microsoft hasn’t said if the intense rush of Modern Warfare 2 downloads and connections is responsible for the server issues, but folks trying to play the game are either simply unable to connect or getting error code 80150019, which is given to users when the console is unable to access their “gamertag” account information.

We’ll say something here when Microsoft has an update.

Update: The matchmaking issues have been resolved but the Marketplace is still having problems.

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Tags: activision, call of duty modern warfare 2, DLC, downtime, gaming, microsoft, online games, stimulus package, video games, Xbox 360, XBox live

FarmVille Addiction Can Get You Canned

Posted: 30 Mar 2010 09:31 AM PDT

You may want to think twice about rushing into 7-11 to buy more FarmVille virtual currency. In what may be the first incident of the Facebook game costing someone their job, a politician in Bulgaria was removed from a city council committee because of sinking excessive amounts of time into FarmVille during meetings.

According to FOX 61 in Tennessee, the councilman – Dimitar Kerin – defended his game play by pointing to the fact his colleagues were also playing, so much so that they had reached a higher level him. Apparently that argument didn't hold weight with the majority of the counsel though, as Kerin was narrowly voted out by a margin of 20-19.

Kerin was reportedly warned about his behavior several times before his ouster. And while he might be the first FarmVille firing (on record), it points to the broader trend of social media misdeeds leading to problems at work. Last year, a study found that 8 percent of companies had dismissed employees as a result of their actions on social media sites.

[via socialtimes]

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Tags: facebook, farmville, social games, social media, Zynga

How One Small Biz Turned Their Company Retreat Into Social Media Success

Posted: 30 Mar 2010 08:54 AM PDT

Woothemes Ski Retreat Image This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

As a mostly virtual team with offices spread across three countries in two hemispheres, the entire WooThemes.com staff only gets together twice per year. During their first biannual corporate retreat of 2010, the company, which specializes in premium WordPress themes, saw a unique opportunity to use social media to connect with their customers and “eat their own dogfood,” so to speak, by testing out their own products in a real-world, and very public environment.

This year, the team met for a week-long, working ski trip in the Austrian Alps, which they decided to share with their customers and fans via social media.

The Goal

Part of the purpose of the WooThemes ski trip was, of course, for the normally distributed team to come together for some in-person brainstorming about the company and their products. However, another goal was to connect with their customers in a new way and show off how WooThemes’ WordPress themes and upcoming remote WordPress update iPhone app can work for small businesses in a real-world situation.

“We hoped that our followers would get to experience and partake in our mobile officing experiment. We wanted them to see a different side of WooThemes and hopefully also interact with us on a different level (compared to the standard customer / business relationship),” said Adii Pienaar, co-founder and CEO of WooThemes.

The Implementation

WooThemes was committed to using their own products in order to connect with their fans from the Alps, which had the two-fold purpose of showing off their products in a real-life environment and creating a closer connection with their customers.

They set up a special tumblog-style blog using a modified version of one of their WordPress themes called Woo on the Slopes. Team members also used their upcoming iPhone app, Express, to update their blog from the field, and used Twitter and Facebook to connect with fans, as well. “This gave [fans] the opportunity of interacting with us in real-time either via Twitter, Facebook or via the comments on the tumblog,” said Pienaar.

The blog consisted of a mix of work and fun posts, showing teasers of things the WooThemes team is working on as well as a peek into their holiday adventures in the mountains. They also used the campaign to push out a pair of coupon codes during the week.

Pienaar told me that they measure ROI based on traffic, Twitter interactions, and sales.

The Results

The campaign was a clear success, according to Pienaar, who told us that visits to WooThemes.com were up 55% and page views were higher by 13%. Perhaps even more impressive, visits from new visitors were up greater than 52%, indicating that the WooThemes campaign was being spread and reaching new potential customers.

“Traffic [the following] week (compared to the week on the Slopes) has decreased again, but there seems to be a lasting increase of about 10% in visits and page views from previous record levels,” said Pienaar, who also measured more than 2,700 mentions of the word “woothemes” on Twitter during their week-long campaign — the result of putting a focus on the social channel as a way to distribute their blog posts.

Most importantly, sales were up during the campaign week by about 14%. “Exclusive Slopes discount coupons generated almost 50 new sales during this period and compared to other time-based coupons we’ve issued in the past, there seems to be an increase in the CTR of the coupons of about 35%,” Pienaar said.

Takeaways

The WooThemes experience in sharing the corporate retreat on social media exposes five key lessons about social media that any small business can use.

Social media doesn’t have to be complicated to be successful. Two basic tenets of business social media use are be human, and be more transparent. The WooThemes campaign, though extremely simple, achieved both by putting a human face on the company and inviting fans and customers behind the scenes of their work (and play) process.
You can tie social media into anything — even things that you are already planning to do as a company. Said Pienaar: “The campaign paid for itself in the sense that we would have had to cover the expenses related to doing our bi-annual team meetup anyway, but because of all the positive influences from the campaign, we managed to turn what would otherwise just have been an expense, into an investment that will have future benefits.”
Know what you want to get out of social media before going into it. Because the WooThemes team had clearly defined goals about boosting customer interaction and forging more personal connections with their fans, they were better able to keep up a steady stream of new content during the week and gauge ROI when it was over.
Transparency builds trust, and trust can lead to sales. “I’d venture to say that our users now have a much better idea of who we are as a company and hence the future interactions should be more efficient, valuable and hopefully also profitable,” said Pienaar.
When you can, practice what you preach. Using your own products and following your own advice not only demonstrates their effectiveness, but also builds authenticity. “The best marketing strategy ever is to show your (existing and prospective) customers how valuable your products / services are by actually using them and implementing them in your own business. No amount of creativity or copywriting can ever replace the value from showing your customers how you use your own stuff to great effect,” wrote the WooThemes team in one of their posts from the slopes.

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More business resources from Mashable:

- Growing Your Business: 5 Tips From the Founder of Foursquare
- 5 Essential Apps for Your Business's Facebook Fan Page
- Web Entrepreneurship: Does the City You Live in Matter?
- 4 Elements of a Successful Business Web Presence
- HOW TO: Implement a Social Media Business Strategy

Reviews: Facebook, Twitter, WordPress

Tags: BLOGS, business, facebook, MARKETING, small business, social media, social media marketing, twitter, Wordpress

Flash Comes to the iPad… At Least for Advertisers

Posted: 30 Mar 2010 08:13 AM PDT

Although the iPad will not support Adobe Flash, thanks to the mobile advertising network Greystripe, advertisers can still serve their Flash-based ads on the new device.

Greystripe is now announcing its iFlash Ad Units product, which will let advertisers deliver Flash content to the iPad.

When we talk about what the lack of Flash means for the iPad, it is almost always in the context of video players, but that’s just one aspect of how Flash works on the web. Most major websites serve advertisements using some form of Flash.

For the iPhone and other mobile devices, mobile-optimized ad units can stand in for traditional advertising, and this often works better, as content is often reformatted for the best viewing experience. With the iPad, however, the 1024×768 screen means that displaying a mobile version of a site isn’t always going to make sense for the user or for the advertiser.

What Greystripe does is port Flash ad units into a format that the iPad can display. This means that bigger advertisers and publishers can have more control over the consistency of how their ads look across devices. Plus, Greystripe claims that iFlash ad campaigns outperform other online campaigns.

Monetize iPhone and iPad Apps

Greystripe also offers a way for developers to monetize their iPhone and iPad apps using the Greystripe platform. Greystripe has partnered with Adobe and acts as the ad solution for Adobe’s prerelease Packager for iPhone. Adobe Flash CS5 (which is already available for developers in prerelease and comes out in just two weeks) includes a tool that will let Flash developers port their Flash content to the iPhone.

So you can create content in Flash CS5, then port it with the Packager for iPhone, and then access it in XCode and submit it to Apple for inclusion in the App Store. Greystripe is the ad solution for this prerelease program. You can see how it works in this video:

The Future

For advertisers, having a way to port existing creatives to the iPhone and iPad certainly saves time and could potentially save money as well (maintaining separate ad units can be expensive and confusing for branding purposes).

With Flash CS5, Adobe is being smart by offering ways to port content to other formats. Having said that, bigger publishers and advertisers should probably invest in looking at other non-Flash-based advertising solutions, especially as more and more tablet devices enter the market. After all, just because a device is capable of running Flash doesn’t mean that Flash is still the best choice in terms of battery life and performance.

What do you think of technologies like this? Let us know in the comments.

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Reviews: Facebook, Twitter, iPhone

Tags: adobe flash, ads, apple, Flash, greystripe, ipad

Foursquare, Gowalla and More on a Google Map [Apps]

Posted: 30 Mar 2010 07:40 AM PDT

A new web app called Checkin Mania shows checkins from Foursquare, Gowalla, Brightkite and Yelp side-by-side — or at least it will. So far we’re only able to select Foursquare and Gowalla, but that’s still neat.

The app is based on Google Maps and works everywhere those individual services operate. When you visit Checkin Mania’s website, you’re presented with a map. Type in an address or a city and you’ll see the checkin locations from each of the location-based networks. Clicking on a venue gives a checkin count and lists the users who’ve checked in. The listings usually link to more information about the location from the users of each service.

It’s a basic app right now, but it’s helpful — it can be used to help you find new venues or to draw insightful comparisons between services. You can see how many checkins a location gets on Foursquare versus Gowalla, for example.

Unfortunately the Brightkite and Yelp tab selections are greyed out (the developer blames Brightkite’s check-in API and Yelp’s lack of one), but the app will obviously become much more interesting if and when they’re activated. The app was developed by Init Labs, and it has a Twitter account that you can follow, though at present you’d be among the first.

[via Fast Company]

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Reviews: Brightkite, Facebook, Foursquare, Google Maps, Gowalla, Twitter, Yelp

Tags: App, brightkite, Checkin Mania, foursquare, Google Maps, gowalla, location based social networks, yelp

What Social Media Ad Types Work Best? [STATS]

Posted: 30 Mar 2010 06:50 AM PDT

As time spent on social networking sites increases, advertisers are funneling more ad dollars into campaigns targeting users on those platforms.

But what type of ads on Facebook or other social networks work the best? To find out, Psychster Inc. teamed up with Allrecipes to determine which kinds of ads are most effective and whether the platforms advertisements appear on make a difference.

The study (embedded below) tested seven different types of ads on two different publisher websites, Facebook and Allrecipes. The ad types evaluated were: banner ads, newsletter subscription ads, corporate profiles with fans and logos, corporate profiles without fans or logos, get widgets, give widgets and sponsored content.

The Results

While sponsored content provided the most user interaction (and was the least likely to be perceived as advertising), it also triggered the lowest level of purchase intent and the fewest viral recommendations.
Corporate profiles are effective but they work better when users can become a fan of the profile and add a logo to their own page.
More people engage with give/get widgets than with banner ads, however widgets do not increase purchase intent or viral recommendations.
Regardless of format, the most effective advertisements were those that were related to the content on the publisher’s website (i.e. a soup advertisement on a cooking website).
Of the seven advertising types, banner ads and newsletter links were the most successful at encouraging purchase intent.

Surprisingly, the study suggests that banner ads may be the best choice for advertisers that want to push a product. However, for campaigns that want to build engagement, corporate profiles or sponsored content is the better option.

The Report

Your Thoughts

What do you think about this study? Do you think that ad placement has any impact? Let us know!

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Tags: advertising, facebook, psychster, statistics, trending

Folding Laptop Concept Will Make You Crave a Bigger Keyboard

Posted: 30 Mar 2010 06:07 AM PDT

For years we’ve heard that laptops are replacing desktops. Although laptops are conveniently portable, the little buggers (netbooks, especially) have the disadvantage of a cramped keyboard.

Enter this optimistic folding laptop concept from designer Yang Yongchang — it’s black, it’s sleek, it has a huge (perhaps even a little too big?) keyboard and some interesting design ideas, as seen in the images below.

The iWeb, as it’s called, is just a bunch of pretty images right now. But now that we have dual-screen laptops, this concept doesn’t surprise us at all. Perhaps the next step is a dual-screen, keyboard-folding laptop?

[img credit:Yanko Design]

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Tags: folding laptop, Hardware, iWeb

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Rabu, 31 Maret 2010