Jumat, 12 Maret 2010

Mashable: Latest 24 News Updates - including “Apple Store is Down, Prepare for iPad Pre-Orders”

Mashable: Latest 24 News Updates - including “Apple Store is Down, Prepare for iPad Pre-Orders”

Link to Mashable!

Apple Store is Down, Prepare for iPad Pre-Orders

Posted: 12 Mar 2010 04:06 AM PST

It’s finally here; the moment where the iPad actually comes into some sort of contact with the market. As we announced before, iPad pre-orders begin at 5:30 AM PT (in about 1:30 hours), and the Apple Store is currently down, indicating that pre-order forms will be available when it comes back up (and possibly something more – you never know.)

Of course, users won’t actually be able to fondle the device until April 3rd, but (besides giving fans and enthusiasts a chance to be one of the first people to own an iPad), this moment is exciting because from now on, Apple (and, hopefully, the media) will have some idea how well this thing actually sells.

Although the iPad has created an enormous hype, one mustn’t forget that the jury is still out on whether it’ll be a huge success or a complete flop. It’s not only a new device, it’s a new type of device, and we’re eager to see what kind of ripples it’ll do to the IT market.

Tags: apple, ipad


Firefox Account Manager Aims to Make Your Social Life Easier

Posted: 12 Mar 2010 01:04 AM PST

What do you do when you first fire up your browser? Most probably, you log into various sites that require a username and password – Facebook, Gmail, Twitter and the like. For me, personally, it’s quite a chore, as I need to log into over 10 different services before I start doing anything.

Now, Mozilla sets out to alleviate this issue with a new Firefox plugin called Account Manager. It currently doesn’t do much; it recognized that you’ve signed in into a website and displays an icon that says that yes, you’re indeed signed up under that username. However, Mozilla has ambitious plans for online identity management from within a browser. From their blog post:

“Your Web browser, as your most trusted relationship in your life online, has nearly perfect knowledge of everything you do on the Web. We envision a world where your browser will play an even more active and critical role in helping you control and shape your online experience. To realize this vision, we need to increase the browser's understanding of your online identity and provide a platform for building new capabilities that securely take advantage of this rich, dynamic set of data that represents the digital "you."”

The account manager is available as an early, experimental alpha version, and it works only with Yahoo!, Facebook and Google, as well as some of Mozilla’s sites that require login, such as Bugzilla. Hopefully, in the future we’ll see features that really make switching between different user accounts and sharing content on various social networks easier and more streamlined.

Tags: account manager, facebook, Firefox, Google, mozilla


Gaming Faceoff: Project Natal vs. PlayStation Move

Posted: 11 Mar 2010 08:29 PM PST

On November 19th, 2006, Nintendo launched its fifth home console to the world. The Nintendo Wii was both ridiculed and praised for its unique controller system — the Wiimote — which detects movements in three dimensions.

Three and a half years later, the Wii has dominated the market, shattered sales records, and put its two main rivals, Microsoft and Sony, on the defensive. Both companies are responding with motion-based controllers of their own though.

Microsoft has generated some big buzz with the revelation of Project Natal, a new camera-based system that requires no controller, just the movement of your body to function. And yesterday, Sony officially announced PlayStation Move, a controller setup that utilizes a camera and a remote-like controller to interact with the screen.

Here’s the question we have for all of you gamers: which next-generation controller system excites you more: Microsoft’s Natal or Sony’s Move?

Our poll for this week’s web faceoff ends on Sunday, March 14th at 12:00 PM PT. Let us know your choice, and don’t forget to leave your opinion in the comments!




PlayStation Move in Action



Project Natal Announcement



Tags: microsoft, Natal, Nintendo, playstation, playstation move, project natal, sony, Wii, wiimote


Lady Gaga and Beyonce’s “Telephone” Premieres on Vevo [VIDEO]

Posted: 11 Mar 2010 07:18 PM PST

Fresh off having the most popular music video in YouTube/Vevo's history ("Bad Romance" with 140 million views and counting), Lady Gaga's latest – "Telephone" – featuring Beyonce, has made its debut on the Web.

The video is choc-full-o Lady Gaga shock value, and at more than 9 minutes in length, could probably classify as a short film. Dating site PlentyOfFish somehow managed to get prominent placement (fast forward to 4:27 if you’d rather skip the rest of it).

Early indications are that "Telephone" will be every bit as popular as recent Gaga hits, with the song, its participants, and even a string from its URL already dominating trending topics on Twitter ahead of its official premiere on E! later this evening. It also briefly took Vevo — YouTube and the record labels new music video website — offline.

Here’s the embed for what could be the latest member of the 100 million view club (“Just Dance” also recently broke the milestone):

Update: It looks like someone might have jumped the gun at YouTube/Vevo, as the video seems to be going back and forth between private and public. Here’s a few images we were able to grab while we had it open:

Update #2: Vevo now tells us the video will be back at midnight ET.


Reviews: Twitter, YouTube

Tags: beyonce, Lady Gaga, music, telephone, trending, vevo, youtube


iPad Pre-Orders Begin at 5:30 AM PT on March 12th

Posted: 11 Mar 2010 05:00 PM PST

Apple fanatics will be able to place their iPad orders at 5:30 AM Pacific time (8:30 Eastern) tomorrow, Friday, March 12th. The pre-orders will be available through Apple.com, and are expected to ship in the United States next month — April 3rd to be precise.

The Unofficial Apple Weblog learned about the pre-order time after it asked Apple for the information in an e-mail.

Let’s assume you’re the sort of person who wants an iPad; if so, you can still wait for the launch date and pick up an iPad at your local Apple store (or at Best Buy a little bit after launch). However, there’s a possibility that it will sell out and you’ll be left hanging. If this scenario worries you, you’ll want to place your order online to be sure you get one before your friends and colleagues. You know, if you’re into that kind of one-upmanship.

But if you’re the sort of person who thinks the device is more hype than substance, you can go ahead and sleep in tomorrow.

Are you going to be up bright and early for the iPad pre-order? Let us know in the comments.

Tags: apple, Apple Tablet, ipad


PlayStation Move: We Take It For a Test Drive [VIDEO]

Posted: 11 Mar 2010 03:45 PM PST

If you’re a gamer, you might have heard about yesterday’s news about the PlayStation Move, Sony’s answer to the Wii Remote and Microsoft’s upcoming Project Natal motion controller. In a demonstration yesterday, the company showed off the device, which utilizes remote-like controllers and the PlayStation Eye camera to capture your movements and turn them into actions on the screen.

We’ve seen plenty of screenshots and heard a lot about the controller’s capabilities, but we wanted to find out for ourselves whether it really could make the PlayStation more competitive with its counterparts. That’s why I decided to take the system for a test drive here at the Game Developer’s Conference (GDC) in San Francisco, California.

Did it live up to expectations? Could it challenge Nintendo and Microsoft in gaming? I’ve got some thoughts on the matter:


PlayStation Move: Sony Played It Safe


First, a little bit about the PlayStation Move: it is a two-part control system. First are the handheld controllers, which act essentially as Wiimotes. The main controller comes with a lighted color ball on the top though — this is an essential component for the second part of the Move: the PlayStation Eye camera, which tracks your movements on screen. Combined, you get a controller system.

When I held the remote-like device in my hands and actually got to play with it, I immediately became aware of two things: its accuracy and its augmented reality features. It feels just a little more precise than a Wiimote with the MotionPlus controller. Because it uses the camera rather than the senor bar that the Wii utilizes, it can more accurately catch your motions. It also translates them onto the screen with your face on the TV.

I was impressed with the augmented reality aspect of the PlayStation Move more, though. The lighted ball on my controller turned first into a paintbrush, and then a fly swatter. It didn’t have the lag that a lot of other systems deal with, which made the experience enjoyable.

Is it that much better than the Wii, though? To be honest, I think the answer to that question depends on how developers use the PlayStation Eye camera to enhance their games. If they focus on the controllers, then it’s just a fancy Wiimote. If it focuses on bringing you into the game via the camera, then there are some real possibilities.

In the end though, Microsoft’s Project Natal is still going to garner the attention and the hype, as it is a bolder step into motion control. Sony essentially played it safe with the Move, while Microsoft’s implementing an all-or-nothing strategy with Natal.

Here is me in action with the PlayStation Move:


PlayStation Move Demo Video



Tags: games, gaming, microsoft, Natal, Nintendo, playstation, playstation move, project natal, sony, video games, Wii, xbox


Twilight Super Fan Goes Crazy Over “Eclipse” Trailer [Viral Video to Avoid]

Posted: 11 Mar 2010 03:30 PM PST

If you’re one of those folks who responded to news of the Eclipse trailer today with a disgusted, “No thanks,” you really won’t want to watch this.

Super Twilight fan and YouTube star NuttyMadam3575 recorded her reaction to the Eclipse trailer, unloading it to the Internet to the joy of many a video site. She did the same thing with the New Moon trailer, apparently, and garnered half a million hits.

If you have an extra six minutes or so (and some high-quality ear plugs), you could take a peek at her new video… or not. But now you totally are, because I told you not to. #reversepsychology


Reviews: YouTube, twilight

Tags: eclipse, Film, twilight, twilight: eclipse, viral video


12 iPhone Apps for Surviving Conference Season

Posted: 11 Mar 2010 02:52 PM PST

iphone sxsw imageAmybeth Hale is a Talent Attraction Manager with AT&T's Interactive Staffing team. She uses social technology to help drive awareness of job opportunities as well as interact with candidates. Connect with her on Twitter at @researchgoddess.

As conference season is upon us (including SXSW, of course), I began thinking about all the things one might need to survive and stay connected with a busy schedule of travel and networking. Personally, I’m headed to San Diego to attend both SourceCon and the ERE Spring Expo.

Then I remembered that I’m the proud owner of an iPhone, and that almost everything I’ll need to make it through is easily accessible and at the tip of my fingers. Here are some of the apps which I believe will help you navigate, stay connected, and meet new friends when you attend a conference.


Accommodations


1. Priceline Hotel Negotiator

Priceline iPhone App

If you’re the ultimate procrastinator and you haven’t yet booked a hotel, even on arrival at the conference, the Priceline Hotel Negotiator app is for you. It pairs a great deal-finder with some comic relief in the form of William Shatner, the Priceline Negotiator. Just load up this app and shake — you’ll get a chuckle and some sweet hotel deals within a radius of your current location.

Cost: Free


Connectivity


2. Free Wifi Finder

Free Wifi Finder iPhone App

So you’ve booked a hotel, but the room doesn’t offer complimentary WiFi (grr!). This app will use your location to find some local spots that offer free WiFi access. You can tailor your results from as near as 0.1 mile away, to as far as 40 miles. You can also filter results by categories such as libraries, cafes, airports, and hotels. You could probably couple this app with the Priceline app to make sure you don’t book a hotel room without WiFi in the first place.

Cost: Free


Local Stuff


3. RobotVision

Robot Vision iPhone App Image

Let’s say you’re in a city you’ve never visited before, and you want to find some cool stuff to check out. Sure, you could use Yelp, but where’s the augmented reality fun in that? My former co-worker Tim Sears created this app, and it’s a neat way to find anything from ATMs, to gas stations, to hospitals, to movie theaters. Better yet, you can also check out who else is tweeting around you locally, who is sharing Flickr images, and learn about local attractions via Wikipedia and Bing search functionality. Note, this app works best with the iPhone 3GS.

Cost: $0.99


4. Foursquare

Foursquare iPhone App Image

Foursquare is a great way to see who else is hanging out at the same locations as you, and the gaming element of earning badges for check-ins is just plain fun. You earn points for checking in to multiple places in one day and for being adventurous and going to new places. You can see what your friends have been up to, leave tips and to-do items for other travelers, and tweet out your locations so that others know what’s going on. At any social media-minded conference, there’s sure to be a lot of location-based networking to be done through Foursquare.

Cost: Free


5. Gowalla

Gowalla iPhone App Image

Gowalla is very similar to Foursquare in terms of location-based social networking, though I personally like Gowalla’s graphic layout better. Gowalla also allows the creation of user-generated “trips” that you can take, like the SEC Football Stadium Trip, or the Austin BBQ Bonanza (for those headed to SXSW). Again, you can see where your friends have been and also see who else is hanging out at your current check-in location. It’s a great way to meet and make new friends at a conference.

Cost: Free


Pics and Vids


6. TwitPic Uploader

TwitPic Uploader iPhone App Image

I fully intend to take a ton of pictures at both conferences I’m attending. Though I do intend to bring a fairly nice (and very large) digital camera, there’s no greater instant gratification than snapping a photo on your iPhone and sharing it with the world. The TwitPic app lets you do this in four simple steps: Choose a picture from either your camera or a photo album; Write a comment; Log into your Twitter account, and; Send away!

Cost: Free


7. Ustream Live Broadcaster

Ustream Live Broadcaster iPhone App

You want to share a really fun moment from the conference, but a still photo simply won’t do it justice. Or perhaps you want to share a little taste of a presentation, or do a live interview with another attendee. This app lets you stream live video from your iPhone directly through your Ustream channel. You can set it up to automatically tweet when you are live, as well as take instant polls from viewers. It’s an easy way to share some live moments with those who could not be there.

Cost: Free


Social


8. Facebook

Facebook iPhone App Image

This one’s a no-brainer. Who doesn’t have the Facebook app on their iPhone? Use it to keep up with your friends back home and share updates about your trip. Made a new contact at the conference? Just search for them in the app and add them as a Facebook friend.

Cost: Free


9. Brizzly

Brizzly iPhone App Image

I’ve only recently been introduced to Brizzly, but I really love it. For those of us who manage multiple Twitter accounts, this is a great alternative to trying to navigate the mobile version of CoTweet (which currently does not have an iPhone app). With Brizzly, you can connect to up to five Twitter accounts, as well as Facebook, and keep on top of everything. You can also save searches and upload photos. The only functionality I miss is the column layout from TweetDeck, but Brizzly certainly gets the job done.

Tip: Create your Brizzly account on a computer before you download the app, as it makes for quicker set-up on the iPhone.

Cost: Free


10. Glympse

Glympse iPhone App Image

Glympse is a really cool app that lets you share your location with others. But it’s more than just a geo-tagger — it shares your ongoing location. Basically, you can create and share your own “breadcrumb trail.” You can set it so that people will be able to access your location and follow your movements from within five minutes, and up to four hours. This is a great way to share which sessions you’re in with fellow conference-goers so they can easily find you.

Cost: Free


11. WordPress

WordPress iPhone App Image

Like a good blogger, I plan to push some content to my readers while I’m at the conferences. Now I can do that right on my iPhone. This app works with both .com and self-hosted WordPress blogs. You can moderate comments as well as add and edit your posts from this app. It’s a nice little travel tool for bloggers who may not always have access to laptops or WiFi.

Cost: Free


12. beamME pro

BeamME pro iPhone App Image

You want to stay connected with your fellow conference-goers, but you a) Forgot to bring enough business cards, or b) Decided to “go green” and skip the paper cards all together. BeamME lets you e-mail, text, or tweet all of your contact information to someone instantly. BeamME users can easily reciprocate and shoot their information right back. Plus, your contact info arrives in a manner which can be downloaded in a nice, tidy vCard format.

Cost: Free

Do you have any other favorite apps that would be great for conferences? Add them in the comments below!


More iPhone resources from Mashable:

- 10 Essential iPhone Apps for Runners
- 10 Best iPhone Apps for Dog Lovers
- Top 10 iPhone Apps as Judged by Mashable Readers
- 10 Fun iPhone Apps for Beer Lovers
- Mashable’s New iPhone App: Download Today!


Reviews: Bing, Brizzly, Facebook, Flickr, Foursquare, Gowalla, TweetDeck, Twitpic, Twitter, Wikipedia, WordPress, Yelp, cotweet, iPhone, ustream

Tags: brizzly, conferences, facebook, foursquare, gowalla, iphone, iphone apps, List, Lists, Mobile 2.0, sxsw2010, twitpic, twitter, ustream, wifi, Wordpress


LivingSocial Raises $25 Million to Take On Groupon

Posted: 11 Mar 2010 02:39 PM PST

LivingSocial, once one of the top Facebook app developers but is now focused on online daily deals, has raised a warchest of $25 million from investors in a Series B funding round.

LivingSocial, based out of Washington, D.C., is the creator of the Visual Bookshelf, Pick Your 5, and Polls Facebook applications, all of which were popular during the Facebook app development gold rush that occurred in 2007 and 2008. Since then though, the company has shifted its focus on the lucrative market of daily deals — one dominated by Groupon, which garnered over 2 million U.S. visitors last month alone. Essentially the website promotes one big deal per city per day, mostly via a daily email newsletter.

To compete with its bigger competitor, LivingSocial has assembled a $25 million warchest from U.S. Venture Partners, Grotech Ventures, and Revolution, LLC (owned by former AOL CEO Steve Case). The company says it will use the funds to expand its LivingSocial Deals platform into more cities, starting today — Denver, Raleigh Durham, San Diego, and Chicago are all now get daily deals. The latter is interesting because Chicago is the home turf of Groupon.

The daily deals market may not be all that sexy, but it has proven to be profitable and popular. It makes sense that more companies want a piece of the pie that Groupon currently dominates. With $25 million, LivingSocial is now on par with the $30 million Groupon recently raised. A daily deals war looks to be brewing.


Reviews: Facebook


Google Mobile Product Search Now Does Local Inventory Check

Posted: 11 Mar 2010 02:23 PM PST

Google Mobile Product SearchGoogle has announced the initial roll-out of a new feature for its mobile product search: Local inventory checks. This means that you can look for a product and then find out if a store near you has it in stock.

To try out the new “in stock nearby” feature, go to Google.com on your iPhone, webOS, or Android phone (basically anything that uses Mobile WebKit) and then select “Shopping” from the “More” link. As long as you have enabled your location, when you search for a product, it will let you know in the results if a store nearby has it in stock.

For instance, I want to get a new Blu-ray player for my bedroom, and I’m thinking about getting the LG BD-570. Searching for this tells me that Best Buy carries it and that it is in-stock nearby. When I click on that link, I get a listing of stores based on their proximity to where I am, and whether or not the product is in stock. From here, I can either get directions to the store or call them directly.

It’s a pretty cool concept, albeit limited with only a few stores in the program right now. It certainly adds a more useful element to local shopping, especially while on the go. We’d love to see this rolled into the Google Shopper app for Android too.

What do you think of being able to check inventory levels from Google? Do you use Google’s mobile product search? Let us know!

Mobile Search Shopping Image


Reviews: Android, Blu, Google

Tags: best buy, Google, Google mobile, Google Mobile Search, Mobile 2.0, sears, shopping, williams sonoma


Foursquare and Starbucks Team Up to Offer Customer Rewards

Posted: 11 Mar 2010 02:02 PM PST

Foursquare means business. The 1-year-old startup now has a huge brand — Starbucks — using its platform to test out an experimental customer rewards program.

Starting today, frequent Starbucks visitors who check in at retail locations using Foursquare will earn customer rewards. Although there’s no financial incentive or free coffee to begin with, customers can unlock the “Barista badge” after five checkins.

Of course that’s just the beginning; the coffee behemoth plans to use Foursquare as a testing ground for alternative reward strategies and to unlock “the pulse of the experience” for each store.

If you think this is a straight-up play to offer location-based mobile coupons, think again. The New York Times Bits Blog writes that the company is “hoping to use Foursquare to provide even more meaningful prizes, like invitations to special events, photo-sharing or online reputation scores.”

As Starbucks figures out how best to leverage the checkin, we have to step back and appreciate the magnitude of this decision. With Starbucks on board, there’s no question that Foursquare has all the tools necessary to appeal to — and reach — a mainstream audience. Plus, now that a second company (the first was Tasti D-Lite) is tapping into Foursquare as a loyalty program platform, the additional proof of concept will pave the way for other businesses to follow suit.

[img credit: Bits blog]


Reviews: Foursquare

Tags: foursquare, MARKETING, starbucks


3 Ways to Support the WeCanEndThis #EndHunger Campaign [SXSW]

Posted: 11 Mar 2010 01:43 PM PST

Mashable is proud to support the WeCanEndThis campaign, the Official Cause Project of SXSW.

WeCanEndThis offers the entire SXSWi community the opportunity to work together with Feeding America, Share Our Strength and Capital Area Food Bank of Texas to help solve a major social issue. There are three main ways to get involved: Commit, Brainstorm and Donate.

1. Commit to End Hunger: Go to WeCanEndThis.com and donate a “Digital Can.”

- Each digital can is a vote for your state

- Top 10 states receive 150,000 real meals each from Tyson Foods

- Last day to donate a “Digital Can” is March 18 at 5 p.m. EST

2. Brainstorm: Join the Cause Lab on Monday, March 15, where innovators from all disciplines can come to the Austin Suite (3rd floor of convention center) to solve three main challenges:

- How do we design a hunger-free community?

- How do we humanize hunger using data?

- How do we accelerate local action?

3. Donate: Donating money benefits Share our Strength, Feeding America and Capital Area Food Bank of Texas. The goal is to raise $25,000 to trigger a matching grant from the ConAgra Foods Foundation.

Bonus: Share and Follow on Twitter (@WeCanEndThis) and Facebook


Reviews: Facebook, Twitter

Tags: sxsw, sxswi, wecanendthis


How The Roxy Became the #1 Venue on Twitter [INTERVIEW]

Posted: 11 Mar 2010 01:24 PM PST

With over 26,000 followers, West Hollywood’s Roxy Theatre is the most popular club on Twitter. Just short of half a decade earlier, however, the fortunes of the historic venue and many of its neighbors on LA’s infamous Sunset Strip were waning and in need of serious attitude adjustment.

We had a chance to talk with Nic Adler, owner of The Roxy and the man behind the club’s transformation from “castle on the hill” to social media juggernaut, about how Twitter and other tools helped not only reverse the fortunes of businesses on the Strip, but build up a stronger, more vibrant local community.

If you’re a small business wondering how social media can be relevant to you, someone in public relations looking for creative ideas, or an organization looking to take your first steps into the waters of social media, you’ll want to read on for a resounding success story and a number of practical tips. If you’re a music fan, don’t touch that dial or miss a slice of history.


The Roxy’s Social Media Transformation


The Roxy Theatre has been graced by numerous musical legends in its 37-year history, from Motley Crue to Nirvana to Bob Marley to a venerable pantheon of who’s who in rock history. The Rocky Horror Show and Pee-Wee Herman were launched there, and the upstairs bar was a regular hangout for folks like John Lennon, Alice Cooper, Keith Moon, and John Belushi.

Fast-forward to the mid-2000s though, and the grunge scene had come and gone, displacing a good chunk of what was once perceived as an unstoppable draw to the Strip — one that had easily brought in locals and tourists alike. “The Strip has always been busy and always had relevance, but in the last 10 years we hadn’t had our best 10 years,” says owner Nic Adler, son of one of the club’s founders (Lou Adler, legendary manager and producer of artists including The Mamas & the Papas, Carole King, and Sam Cooke).

Part of the problem? The “velvet rope” mentality. “We on the Sunset Strip just thought we were on this golden hilltop, that we don’t have to listen. And we just created these walls around the venues, almost like these castles on the hill, and stopped talking with each other, and didn’t really participate with each other.”

What ended up turning the fortunes of not only The Roxy but a good chunk of other businesses on the Strip? A creative and unique social media campaign that began to build offline community using online tools. “We switched over to a blog format about three and a half years ago, and started to understand that there was this conversation going on. And that we could participate,” says Adler of their first steps into social media.


Local Business: Cooperation or Coopetition?


Early on, the club faced the question of how to approach their nearby neighbors and ostensible competitors for the time and dollars of Sunset Strip clientele. “We got on Twitter pretty early, May 2007, and we got up to about 10,000 followers. The Viper Room had just gone through some new ownership and they popped up and started tweeting. We had this conversation in the office, wondering ’should we retweet them?’ We have these 10,000 followers who would probably be into the Viper Room — do we do this ‘coopetition’ thing?”

Deciding to retweet them ended up being the best choice, because shortly afterward, a new bond was formed and other clubs on the Strip began to take notice. The Comedy Store down the street got on Twitter and joined the conversation, and “from there it just went from one business to the next, and it just grew. And because we had started this new relationship — a clean slate — it didn’t have anything to do with the bookers, or who had more people at their show, or anything. It was a whole new relationship that was created online with the clubs.”

Beyond revitalizing an audience of patrons (which we’ll talk more about in a bit), the Sunset Strip’s embracing of social media led to a regrouping of business owners who are taking a fresh approach to their local community. From creative adoption of Twitter and other tools, The Roxy and its neighbors discovered “we can revive ourselves and take a fresh look at what’s happening out there and not only get the actual customers back, but even affect the government — I know that sounds crazy, but literally, we go down to the city council meeting together and there’s 40 business there. And we’re all talking together and we’ve become a really strong voice within our city to get things done.”


Getting Creative With Twitter


Roxy Tweet

From rewarding loyal club fans to transforming customer service, Adler relayed some creative and unique initiatives that The Roxy and other businesses on the Strip have employed to great effect. A “Tweet Crawl” event was first held in July 2009, where several businesses partnered up to invite the Twitter community for an all-night mosey down Sunset Boulevard with free access to clubs, food and drink specials, and hidden prizes and giveaways handed out via clues on Twitter. Now in its third incarnation, the most recent Tweet Crawl grew the participating crowd from 40-50 up to around 100 crawlers. “Something I miss from my youth is seeing people walk on the Strip and go from business to business. So not only are we doing this community thing online, but we’re actually getting these people to go to these places.”

Another initiative, Club Rox, sold 100 “all-you-can-eat” annual passes to the club for $100 each. Buyers get as many shows per year as they want to attend, front-of-the-line access, a special custom drink menu, and half price deals on everything at the bar. The passes, only advertised on Twitter, sold out in three days and had a far more positive effect than Adler and his team expected. “It created this group of 100 people who are so passionate about The Roxy, and there are people who have come to over 20 shows already this year. We thought we were getting something maybe financially, but we ended up getting this voice of this group of people who are super positive about The Roxy and love music.”

The group avidly uses the Twitter hashtag #ontherox to represent themselves. “They’re one of our greatest assets. They talk about the shows all the time, they always tweet when they’re here,” says Adler.

Also just launched is the Sunset Strip VIP Pass program, which gives any customer staying at participating Strip hotels free front-of-the-line access to participating clubs. The initiative runs for the next six months through the summer, and encourages tourists on the Strip to stay in the area instead of hopping in the car to drive over to Hollywood or Universal City. “Personally I’ve done it a million times and it’s one of my favorite things to go see three or four bands in a night and hang out on the Strip,” says Adler of the VIP program.

The Real Sunset Strip is a weekly weekend Ustream show that aggregates the news and events of the week from around the various venues on the Strip. Photographers send in photos from the week’s events, celebrities come down for interviews, and Adler et al grab passersby on the street for short segments. Sometimes they’ll broadcast right from within the venue. “The club is going on but there’s a TV show happening right in the middle of it. That’s been a great way to tie the different businesses together.”

Adler had a robust Wi-Fi system put into The Roxy specifically to encourage patrons to livestream during shows, share photos from the club, and generally get content out surrounding what’s going on at the venue. Licensing issues prevent the club from doing the official livestream events it has long been interested in. Lots of companies are also interested in partnering on livestreams, but “you can’t get any bands to do it because they don’t have the right to give away their own music when they show up here, and who’s going to get a lawyer to go through contracts with all these bands?” So instead, the in-house Wi-Fi provides a platform for the audience to do their own livestreaming, and The Roxy will retweet the links. Adler says, “I’ll go down during the soundcheck and do 10 minutes of Ustream on the phone and people love it. They eat it up.”

And of course, giveaways are also a popular and frequent method of both bringing in repeat business and giving something back to loyal customers. Offers like “the next 5 people to hit us up get two pairs of tickets and VIP passes,” or “the next person to hit us up gets a month of Roxy shows,” often do well. The people who win are the ones who actually show up. They’re happy about the experience, and they tell their friends. “It’s a positive cycle that’s starting to happen not just at The Roxy but all over the Strip,” said Adler.


Other Social Media Tools


Roxy Facebook Image

While Adler doesn’t see more traditional methods of marketing going away any time soon — “We still have a publicist, we still have a street team that comes and picks up their fliers on Tuesday to distribute them. I don’t think you can totally write it off,” — he sees social media as essentially a no-brainer for businesses to get into. “It’s a [much] better way to do business. Be honest and keep that conversation going.” Nevertheless, it might not be any singular tool that will do the trick, and it behooves companies to investigate what methods their audience uses to find them and make sure they have a presence there. “People find you in many different ways, and you have to find out how people do that — it’s constantly changing.”

Tools like Foursquare are becoming more relevant especially to local business, although Adler still sees that as something “on the horizon. I would love that Foursquare were stronger.” Nevertheless, depending on the nature of your business, diving into emerging tools might help you reach the right audience. “With LA, it’s a different kind of market than Main Street America. If you have that person who’s on Foursquare, it’s usually someone that’s a first-adopter — someone that other people are listening to and watching to find out the next thing.”

Facebook is another staple these days, and Adler had great things to say about the social network’s ad platform and its ability to finely target a desired audience. “I discovered how amazing the ads are on Facebook. If I can get that target number down to 5,000 people, that’s who I want to be advertising to. I don’t think it really helps to go to 100,000 people; I think your ad gets lost. Getting very specific works.”

Still, Twitter remains a primary tool for The Roxy and other clubs on the Strip for a number of reasons, one of which is immediacy. A patron’s tweet about a weak gin and tonic earned her a visit from Adler and a complementary drink refresh. “It was kind of an awkward moment because she’s like, ‘Oh, are you stalking me?’ [laughs] But it turned into a good thing because she ended up being happy. It’s actually brought [customer service] at The Roxy to an amazing level … Having that relationship will really bring people back.”

Having a large number of followers and clout on Twitter also becomes a draw for the bands that play at The Roxy. “Our social media is starting to be a reason for bands to play here because they want that Twitter contest, or whatever influence we might have out there on Twitter — they want a piece of that. That part makes Twitter important.” Twitter is used to knit together the entire experience of a show as well. These days, many bands and their individual members are on Twitter, in addition to the audience. “We do maybe two or three actual tweets [per] day, maximum, and then the rest of them are really using other tweets to tell our message — whether it’s a fan that’s talking about the band, or the band talking about their experience, or connecting up the people who are thinking of coming to a show. It’s a little easier and faster to connect on Twitter than on Facebook.”

Mobility is also key, and access to Twitter from almost any phone, whether smartphone or not, simply makes it more accessible in that regard. “Facebook to me is someone at home, whereas Twitter I feel is someone on the go. They’re either coming to the venue or figuring out where to go — it’s more mobile.”


Advice for Local Businesses and How to Get Started


What if you’re a small business just trying to get started with social media? Adler had some good advice on how to dive in, and primary among the concepts is to start slowly. “It almost sounds old school now, but just starting with a blog was a huge step into everything. It’s like Twitter in slow-motion. For someone that is just coming into this, it teaches you about content.” It’s also a great introduction to bi-directional conversation for brands. “…the comments on the blog — it was my first time listening to what people had to say about what I was putting out there. It’s an awesome moment.”

Adler also speaks to defining your business’s personality as a key component in developing a voice online. “The personality — whether it is on your blog or Facebook or Twitter — make sure that the personality of your business is apparent. That’s a huge step for a lot of businesses because a lot of them don’t even know their personality … What if your business was a person? How would it act and interact with people? Most businesses probably couldn’t give you that answer. But I think defining that and learning what that is was a huge part of our growth here.”

Using Twitter to gather information is also a powerful way to bring the huge amount of new data that’s out there to bear on your business knowledge. “Being able to track the bands in the weeks coming up to the show is great. You can learn a lot about a band and their fans: What kind of drink specials should we have? Is this a Dewar’s crowd or a Bud Light crowd? There’s a lot of data out there we collect. Also when people leave, we want to hear that exit comment. And we’re the first to do something about it — if it wasn’t a positive experience, we want to fix it.”

Building an audience online also helps solve one of the problems that’s often referred to as a business’s number one fear about embracing social media: What happens if and when people are making negative comments? Building up a supportive community can help crowdsource a way of dealing with that. “If someone tweets something like ‘The Roxy is old,’ I can’t wait to retweet them and say, ‘anyone want to tackle this one?’ because literally 40-50 people will tweet back with supportive messages. So you have this awesome community that starts to back you once you define yourself.”

Overall, for businesses just getting started with social media, the key point is to start slowly. “Starting small was key for us. We went from a calendar-style website that was one page and hadn’t been updated in 2 years, to a blog and all of this.” At first, “I thought it was advertising — that doing the blog was an advertising tool. It turned out to not be that. It turned out to be more of a roadmap of what we should be doing and who we are.”

Nic Adler joins The Comedy Store’s Alf LaMont and The Viper Room’s Nathan Levinson at SXSW 2010 for a panel entitled “A Social Media Case Study of L.A.’s Sunset Strip” on Thursday, March 18 at 3:30pm.

Connect with The Roxy:
- On Twitter
- On their home page
- On MySpace
- On YouTube
- On Flickr

[Image Credit: Totallylikeduh!]


Reviews: Facebook, Foursquare, Netalab on Twitter, Twitter, ustream

Tags: blogging, BLOGS, business, interview, live music, MARKETING, music, roxy, small business, social media, twitter


Barnes & Noble to Launch E-Reader App for iPad

Posted: 11 Mar 2010 12:45 PM PST

Continuing with a very source agnostic digital book strategy, Barnes & Noble has announced it will soon be offering an e-reader app for the Apple iPad.

The app will be designed specifically for the iPad’s tablet form factor, and will join B&N’s existing e-reader app family already available for Mac, PC, iPhone , iPod touch, and BlackBerry.

In other words, although the company is selling its own Nook e-reader device, it doesn’t want to lock potential book customers into a single platform or device. The company says that the goal is “providing consumers any book, anytime, anywhere.”

Like the other existing apps, the iPad app will give users access to the Barnes & Noble e-bookstore with more than one million e-books, magazines and newspapers, plus access of course to its existing digital library. The company expects to officially launch the app around the same time the iPad will be available, which should be April 3 if the existing rumor has any truth to it.

As publishers continue to flock to the iPad, what’s your current take on the e-reader versus tablet war that’s brewing? Can the two form factors coexist, or will tablets like the iPad steal the thunder from e-readers?

Tags: barnes & noble, e-readers, ipad


Reporter Freaks Out on Air, Internet Laughs and Laughs [Randomly Viral]

Posted: 11 Mar 2010 12:28 PM PST

Live TV can be tough, especially if you’re in a cranky mood. Case in point: WVLT TV Volunteer News reporter Gordon Boyd, whose on-air freak-out has gone viral this week.

Reporting from a courthouse in downtown Knoxville, Tennessee, Boyd seems to be having a bit a trouble wrapping up a story about a harrowing sentencing. As he goes to deliver the final sentiment, he botches the line, saying gravely: “Staying and doing nothing is as heinous as doing at all.”

The slip of the tongue prompts the reporter to throw his notes to the ground, a snarl contorting his livid face. The best part of the video, however, is the anchor’s expression as the camera cuts back to the studio, and his ensuing explanation of the tantrum: “All right, we’re having technical difficulties we can see, a little frustration there…” Yeah, technical difficulties…

Check out the video below, as well as a few favorites from the annals of botched news reports:


Snowpocalypse



Giant Bird



Lizard Attack


[via Buzzfeed]

Tags: video, viral video


4 Fun and Crazy Chatroulette Videos

Posted: 11 Mar 2010 11:56 AM PST

Random video chat site Chatroulette is a pop culture smash right now, and while it’s easy to assume its days are numbered, it’s a lot of fun to immerse yourself in the little subculture building around it. Despite the increasing negative press, there’s almost as much heart on the service as there is genitalia. Well, maybe not quite. But there’s some heart, really!

These videos are proof. We picked four that incorporate footage from Chatroulette, and two bonus videos that are about the site. In all cases but one, we tried to pick videos that were good-spirited and fun, not malicious or twisted — not an easy task, actually, since most of the Chatroulette videos on YouTube are a little messed up.

Enjoy this collection, and if you have any to add, tell us in the comments!


1. “Dance or GTFO”


This is the simplest of the videos. There’s no gimmick here. The author of the video placed in front of the camera a piece of paper with a drawing of the Peanut Butter Jelly Time dancing banana that went viral ages ago, and a note suggesting that the person on the other end dance or move on. The people in this feel-good montage danced.


2. “If You Turn Your Head, I Win”


Here’s another one involving a written note. This guy wrote “If you turn your head, I win” sideways and kept a tally, among other things. He got lots of smiles and thumbs up. It seems like people actually log onto Chatroulette to be pranked a bit, so they don’t mind!


3. Auto-Tune the Chatroulette


When you mix together two of the hottest YouTube culture trends, you get our favorite video on this list — an (allegedly) improvised song using the same sort of tech they make Auto-Tune the News with. The author of the video “sings” jokes about the people he talks to as he moves from connection to connection.

We were pleased to hear that it wasn’t all insult comedy; too many Chatroulette videos out there are malicious, but this one’s a delight.

Oh, and the author is wearing an “I’m On a Boat” t-shirt, which alludes to the comedy sketch that features T-Pain, who’s partially responsible for all this Auto-Tune madness.


4. Star Wars Stormtrooper


The geek behind this video sent out an image of a Star Wars storm trooper and used a collection of storm trooper sound effects (including the infamous Imperial March) to entertain folks on Chatroulette. Every reaction you see in this video is a positive one. He even runs into another person wearing a Star Wars mask.

Be warned, though, that this video has some explicit language.


BONUS: Chatroulette Explained


We covered this a few days ago, but in case you missed it, the author of this video tried a few things to explain the phenomenon of Chatroulette and how it works.

A little sample: When he logged on, he was “nexted” within just a few seconds 19 out of 20 times. When an attractive girl sat in front of the camera instead, 9 out of 10 people stayed to talk to her for at least a couple of minutes, or until she nexted them.


BONUS #2: Jon Stewart Surfs Chatroulette on The Daily Show



The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon – Thurs 11p / 10c
Tech-Talch – Chatroulette
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show
Full Episodes
Political HumorHealth Care Reform

This is another one we already wrote about. The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart made fun of the mainstream media coverage of Chatroulette by taking a fake spin on it to chat with reporters like Katie Couric and Brian Williams. It’s funny — check it out.


Reviews: YouTube, news

Tags: chat, chatroulette, jon stewart, live video, the daily show, video


Reuters to Journalists: Don’t Break News on Twitter

Posted: 11 Mar 2010 11:29 AM PST

Last night, Reuters released their social media policy, which includes instructing journalists to avoid exposing bias online and tells them specifically not to “scoop the wire” by breaking stories on Twitter.

The strict instruction makes it clear that even though news continually breaks on Twitter first — especially in disaster scenarios — Reuters journalists are to break their stories first via the wire and not on Twitter.

The social media policy in question also addresses a number of other Twitter, Facebook, and online concerns, offering up instructions and recommendations whenever possible.

For example, journalists are advised to get manager approval before using Twitter for professional purposes, have someone double-check their tweets before posting, avoid disclosing personal biases (especially political), and to separate professional and private activity with separate accounts.

The policy as a whole is a fascinating read and exposes that Reuters, as a media organization, is torn between encouraging employees to use social media and the realization that the online behaviors of their staff put them at risk, a sentiment expressed in the comment that these tools, if misused, could “threaten our hard-earned reputation for independence and freedom from bias or our brand.”

In their eyes, a reporter that exposes their political leanings on Facebook, even privately, is no longer free from repudiation. A journalist that follows sources on Twitter or friends them on Facebook risks sharing those identities with the competition.

What’s interesting, though, is the idea that social media poses a threat to the traditional news cycle and notion of journalism has been around since the days when blogging first surfaced. As other news organizations, reputable or not, continue to break stories on Twitter and even mandate social media usage, it will be interesting to see whether or not Reuters can maintain their relevance and position atop the news chain.


Reviews: Facebook, Twitter

Tags: media, Reuters, social media, social media policy, trending


Pink Floyd Wins Legal Battle Against Single Track Downloads

Posted: 11 Mar 2010 11:01 AM PST

A judge has taken Pink Floyd’s side in a court battle between the band and its label, EMI, and digital downloads are at stake. The band says its 11-year-old contract only permits EMI to sell complete albums, not individual tracks, but the label has been offering downloads of individual songs through online services like iTunes.

The word “record” was used in the contract, which EMI believes implies physical media. Therefore, the label thinks that it can do whatever it wants as far as digital downloads go. The judge was quoted in Bloomberg saying, “There is nothing in the terms 'album' or 'record' to suggest they apply to the physical product only.” The court seems to support Pink Floyd’s goal to preserve the artistic integrity of its work.

This isn’t the first struggle EMI has had with artists over online content. Social media darlings OK Go recently ended their relationship with the label and announced that they’re forming their own label called Paracadute.

Fortunately for listeners who want individual tracks, this court development hasn’t prohibited EMI from making Pink Floyd songs available yet. That might happen later on, though.


Is the Album Dead?


Pink Floyd has always resisted singles, preferring to release complete albums intended for straight-through listening. And they’re not the only band that has complained about the shift in focus to singles that the online era has heralded. But even if you’re sympathetic to the artistic vision, it’s hard to see these sorts of restrictions as shrewd business moves.

Single tracks completely dominate digital downloads, and digital downloads make up the extreme majority of music sales now. It’s possible that the age of the album has all but ended. Do you still regularly buy complete albums online or do you stick with singles now? Discuss it in the comments and maybe we can figure out where the music industry is going.

Tags: EMI, itunes, music, pink floyd


Multitasking Headed to iPhone 4.0 [RUMOR]

Posted: 11 Mar 2010 09:59 AM PST

With iPad preorders officially starting tomorrow, attention has shifted to iPhone 4.0 software and what features it might bring to both the iPad and future iPhone models.

Apple Insider is now adding fuel to the long-standing rumors that the next big update to Apple’s iPhone OS will feature support for multitasking — that is, the ability for third-party apps to run in the background.

As anyone with a jailbroken iPhone knows, the multitasking limitation for third-party applications in the iPhone OS is purely artificial. Whether it is for security purposes, performance or battery life, Apple has chosen not to allow third-party developers (or even third-party Apple created apps) to run concurrently in the background.

This means that if you want to listen to Pandora while surfing the web in Mobile Safari, well, too bad. Of all the complaints levied against the iPhone, this is probably the one that impacts consumers the most. It doesn’t help that you can, for instance, use the iPod application while surfing the web or using other apps.

Push notifications have mitigated some of the need for many use cases for multitasking — but it’s not a true solution.


Multitasking in iPhone 4.0?


Even a year ago, the multitasking issue with the iPhone 3.0 OS wasn’t as problematic as it is now, in part because while competing mobile platforms did offer support for running third-party apps in the background, the competition from those platforms wasn’t as strong.

A year later, we have Palm’s webOS, the BlackBerry, Microsoft’s upcoming Windows Phone 7 Series, and of course, what many see as the iPhone’s biggest competition: Google’s Android platform.

For the iPhone to remain as enticing to developers as it is now (and in turn, as attractive to users), future versions of the software will need to support multitasking by third-party applications in some capacity.

AppleInsider says that its sources say Apple has developed a “full-on-solution,” but details about how that solution will be implemented and what rules applications will need to follow to address multitasking was not revealed.

Steve Jobs is famous for taking features out of a product if they don’t meet his standards. As a long-time smart phone user who has used devices on almost every major smartphone platform, I can attest to some of the very real problems that multitasking or excessive backgrounding can cause for those devices.

They include, but are not limited to:

Decreased Battery Life — More apps running at once means more CPU usage, which means battery life can be reduced.

Slowdowns, freezes, crashes — As a long-time BlackBerry user before I migrated to the iPhone, I remember the “three finger salute” reboot mechanism far too well. At least once a day (more often if I happened to open up my RSS reader or my e-mail was particularly heavy) I had to reboot my Berry in order to reset the memory cache and allow the device to work at a pace that didn’t resemble molasses. Android devices I’ve used have had this same problem (although not to the extent as my BlackBerry Curve) and homebrew Palm Pre developers have even written a tool that schedules phone reboots to handle the issue.

Switching apps can be awkward — This is probably one of the biggest challenges Apple will have to face — beyond just the technical tricks for implementing better resource handling and allocation — the mechanism used to switch between open applications can be cumbersome, depending on the type of application. With it’s one-button design, the iPhone will likely have to employ some sort of gesture for opening or accessing other apps — if indeed it implements multitasking the same way that BlackBerry and Android do.

Rumors about multitasking coming to the iPhone in a supported form have been swirling for literally years, so any report on whether or not it will be a reality in iPhone 4.0 is pure speculation.

That said, if Apple doesn’t address multitasking with its next big release, it risks falling behind other players moving forward.


Reviews: Android, BlackBerry Rocks!, Google, Pandora, iPhone

Tags: apple, iphone, iPhone 4.0, iphone os, multitasking


What Type of People Want iPads? [STATS]

Posted: 11 Mar 2010 09:24 AM PST

If you’re a Facebooker who’s lusting after the Apple iPad (so much so that you’ve joined a Fan Page), then chances are you’re aged between 18 and 25 and have an interest in popular culture — or so says RapLeaf, a company that analyzes social media stats to draw meaningful conclusions from the likes of Facebook Fan Pages.

RapLeaf looked at the top three Facebook Fan Pages (all of which are imaginatively named “The iPad”) to see if iPad fans could be easily grouped into a particular demographic.

The numbers are certainly there for such a study — the three pages together boast almost 98,000 members. While gender pretty much averaged out across all the pages, the age range came in at under Facebook’s average with 85% of overall fans 35 or under, and nearly 50% 25 and under.

iPad-owner-wannabes are also fairly social, with a third boasting more than 300 friends. Other Fan Pages they have joined include, in many cases (and perhaps unsurprisingly), iTunes, as well as other Pages related to caffeine, sleep, pop culture and humor.

What will be truly interesting to see as we edge closer to the April 3 iPad launch is how many of those 98,000 put their money where their Facebook fandom is and go out and buy the device.


Reviews: Facebook

Tags: apple, facebook, ipad, statistics


Web Entrepreneurship: Does the City You Live in Matter?

Posted: 11 Mar 2010 08:47 AM PST

city imageThis post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

One of the most powerful aspects of social media and the web is the fact that it isn't specific to any location. So long as you have an Internet connection, you can be halfway across the world Skyping, tweeting, and communicating with your friends. It has broken down barriers, given people the ability to work remotely, and made it so that your location doesn't have to determine your destiny.

Still, to discount location would be foolish. It's where we socialize and, for the most part, where we work. We grow to love (or hate) the neighborhoods and cities in which we live. And with the rise of smartphones and GPS, location-based social networks such as Foursquare and Google Buzz have been growing like wildfire.

Thus, I'm not surprised that a new debate has been raging in entrepreneurship circles over whether it matters where your startup is based. For web entrepreneurs, the perceived epicenter has always been San Francisco and the Bay Area – often known as Silicon Valley. With a huge collection of technology companies, venture capitalists, and talented engineers, many advocate moving to the area if you're serious about building a startup.

That mentality has been challenged recently by growing startup hubs around the globe. One of the ones making a lot of headlines is New York City's tech scene, which has been growing rapidly in recent years and includes startups such as Foursquare and VC firms like Union Square Ventures. Boulder, Colorado is also gaining traction due to the presence of Techstars, an early-stage seed venture firm.


Why Location Still Matters

location map image

While you have a lot of good choices for where to build your company, don't let anybody fool you into thinking that location doesn't matter; in fact, it does. Here's why:

• Different locations have different entrepreneurial support communities.

These are vital, because entrepreneurship can quickly become lonely and nerve-wracking without mentorship and support.

Talent pools around location. You will simply find more talented engineers in Silicon Valley, while you'll find a larger pool of financial minds in NYC and media moguls in Los Angeles. You can find talent anywhere, but the pool matters.

In-person meetings are just as important as they were five years ago. Being able to grab a coffee with a potential investor or partner is still going to be more powerful than Skyping or email.

With that said, it doesn't mean that San Francisco or Silicon Valley is the best place to start a web company.

Yes, in a lot of cases it can be because of the influx of money and talent, but there are a lot of other things you should consider, including:

Partnerships: Foursquare, an NYC-based company, has succeeded in striking a lot of great media partnerships, including ones with Bravo and The New York Times. Their location has surely helped: NYC simply has more advertising and media companies than other locations, and Foursquare has seized upon the opportunity it presents.

Talent: While engineering talent is prevalent in Silicon Valley, you need to consider what your startup is about. For example, Boston has a strong startup community with great scientists and academics that come from MIT and Harvard.

Happiness: If you live in a place that you simply hate, you are not going to be as productive. If your own needs aren't fulfilled, how can you expect to fulfill the needs of a startup and its employees? If I have any piece of advice for where to create your startup, it's this: make sure it's a place that will make you happy first and foremost, and then go from there.

Location matters for your startup, but it doesn't define success. Hard work, smart execution, and the right team are far more important. Don't compromise those things in your quest to find your perfect startup city.


More business resources from Mashable:

- 7 Essential Online HR Resources for Your Small Business
- Google Buzz: 5 Opportunities for Small Businesses
- 5 Ways to Avoid Sabotaging Your Personal Brand Online
- 4 Elements of a Successful Business Web Presence
- HOW TO: Implement a Social Media Business Strategy

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Matejay


Reviews: Foursquare, Google Buzz, iStockphoto

Tags: business, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, List, Lists, small business, startup


New Google Maps Mashup Exposes Chatroulette User Locations

Posted: 11 Mar 2010 08:18 AM PST

You can now see Chatroulette users’ locations, thanks to a new Google Maps mashup that pinpoints where in the world people are signing in to the voyeuristic video-conferencing service.

The new Chatroulette Maps website presents markers of users’ IP addresses on a worldwide map, meaning less anonymity than users have previously experienced (which may go some way to encourage folks to keep it in their pants).

Capturing screengrabs of the users, Chatroulette Map then adds them to the map using geo IP tools. The accuracy of tracking locations via IP addresses varies with the provider and area. It’s certainly not super precise technology, but in built-up areas with an ISP with an up-to-date database it can be up to 95% accurate, and elsewhere, certainly enough to get an idea of location.

Although Chatroulette uses Adobe’s Stratus platform, the actual webcam hook-up between two users is a peer-to-peer link, which means the user’s IP address is revealed by this direct means of connection.

Chatroulette Map says there are plans to make the images rateable, as well as filter out any NSFW content, but for now the service just offers a snapshot of Chatroulette users across the globe.

Anyone unhappy with being screengrabbed and mapped can get in touch with the site to have their marker and pic removed, provided they e-mail in a pic of themselves as proof.

Will this development put you off using Chatroulette? Do you see it as an invasion of your privacy? Let us know in the comments below.

[via Laughing Squid]

Tags: chat roulette maps, chatroulette


Conan O’Brien Launches TeamCoco.com to Promote 30-City Comedy Tour

Posted: 11 Mar 2010 07:49 AM PST

We now know how Conan O'Brien plans to leverage the huge swell of support he found online in the wake of being forced out at NBC: a nationwide comedy tour.

The comedian announced on his Twitter account this morning the launch of TeamCoco.com, where fans can buy tickets to one of 30 shows, kicking off in Eugene, Oregon, on April 12. The tour, fittingly enough, is called "The Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour," a reference to the deal he made with NBC that keeps O'Brien off the air until the fall.

A comedy tour has been rumored since shortly after Conan stepped down, and we suspected something might be in the works when he finally joined Twitter (and immediately found a huge fan base, and changed one random girl's life along the way). Now, Conan officially has an outlet to keep the momentum going while he determines his next move on TV.

Are you going to go see one of Conan's shows? Let us know in the comments!


Reviews: Twitter

Tags: conan o'brien, team coco, trending


The Twilight Saga: “Eclipse” Trailer Is Out [VIDEO]

Posted: 11 Mar 2010 06:51 AM PST

OK, Twilight fans, brace yourself because the first trailer for the upcoming third installment of the saga — Eclipse — is now available for your viewing pleasure.

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse is based on Stephenie Meyer’s novel Eclipse, and should be airing on June 30, 2010. However, you can have a taste of some action, and (of course) more of the vampire-werewolf-human (but-maybe-not-human-for-long) love triangle you’ve probably grown accustomed to in the first two movies.


Reviews: Eclipse

Tags: eclipse, twilight, video


Facebook Threatens to Sue Daily Mail Over Sex Predator Claims

Posted: 11 Mar 2010 06:28 AM PST

According to the Guardian and Global Dashboard, Facebook has threatened to sue Daily Mail over an article that wrongfully claimed Facebook makes it easy for older sex predators to approach and seduce minors.

Daily Mail’s article, which can (in edited form) be found here, was written by a former police detective Mark Williams-Thomas, and had originally been titled “I posed as a girl of 14 on Facebook. What followed will sicken you.” It contained the account of the author posing as a minor on Facebook, which, according to him, attracted sexual predators right away.

The problem? He wasn’t really using Facebook to conduct the experiment, he used a “different social networking site,” as explained in today’s update to the article, added at the bottom by Daily Mail staff. The full text of the update is as follows:

“In an earlier version of this article, we wrongly stated that the criminologist had conducted an experiment into social networking sites by posing as a 14-year-old girl on Facebook with the result that he quickly attracted sexually motivated messages. In fact he had used a different social networking site for this exercise. We are happy to set the record straight.”

Needless to say, this caused a strong response from Facebook, which is still referenced throughout the article. According to the Guardian, a UK spokeswoman for Facebook said that the company was considering legal action due to the “brand damage that has been done.” “If you were a Middle England reader and your child was on Facebook, this sort of thing would have a very serious effect on what you thought of us,” she said.

Facebook has a point here; besides the obvious erroneous reporting, the article details how someone posing as a 14-year-old girl would get messages from older men (more accurately, users whose Facebook profile indicates they’re over 18 years old), which cannot be done on Facebook. Therefore, Facebook can argue it has measures in place to prevent exactly the kind of behavior the article describes, unlike the unnamed social network the experiment was conducted on.

We’ve contacted Facebook’s UK PR representative on this matter but have yet to hear back.


Reviews: Facebook

Tags: Daily Mail, facebook


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