Mashable: Latest 29 News Updates - including “Apple iPad Launches Internationally, The Crowd Goes Wild” |  |
- Apple iPad Launches Internationally, The Crowd Goes Wild
- Hon Hai to Raise Salaries of Foxconn Workers
- Pete Cashmore Discusses Facebook’s New Privacy Settings on PBS [VIDEO]
- NBC and Time Warner Side with Flash in Apple-Adobe War
- DIY iPad Wall Mount [VIDEO]
- Facebook Leads in the Top 1,000 Sites [STATS]
- Create Playlists from Music Blogs with ExtensionFM
- The Internet Coos Over “Iron Baby” [VIDEO]
- One Laptop Per Child to Produce $100 Tablet
- The Future of Web Fonts
- “Glee” Tops Digital Music Charts
- Non-Profit Uses Foursquare to Raise Environmental Awareness
- Wired Sells 24,000 iPad Apps in One Day
- HOW TO: Start a Small Business Social Good Campaign
- It’s Official: AdMob Is Now Part of Google
- Facebook to Roll Out Q&A Feature
- Hands-On: Roku’s New Netflix Interface [PICS]
- Facebook Launches Developer Toolkit for Android
- Why Facebook’s Privacy War Is Not Over
- Publish2 Aims to Oust the Associated Press
- Apple iTunes Facing Antitrust Inquiries
- Nike’s “Write the Future” Ad Sets Viral Record [VIDEO]
- Baseball Team Offers Free Tickets to iPad Owners
- Why MySpace Can Still Win as a Music Destination
- Acer Unveils New Android Phone and E-reader
- Google Buzz Adds Reshare Option
- Fake BP Public Relations Twitter Account a Viral Hit [INTERVIEW]
- 5 Ways To Turn Your Traffic Into Valuable User Data
- YouTube Launches Platform for Crowdsourcing Suggestions
- iPads Start Arriving Early in the UK
| Apple iPad Launches Internationally, The Crowd Goes Wild Posted: 28 May 2010 04:47 AM PDT  
Reports from many of these countries mention long lines in front of stores, with some fans even spending the night in front of an Apple store to be one of the first to buy an iPad. This seems to be especially true for Japan, where the iPhone is by far the most popular smartphone on the market, and initial interest predicts a similar fate for iPhone’s big brother. According to recent reports, the iPad is sold out at most Apple stores, and some estimates say that Apple is selling 200,000 iPads per week. If this first day of international sales is any indication, Apple’s biggest problem in the following months concerning the iPad will be ensuring it has enough devices in stock. For more Apple coverage, follow Mashable Apple on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookTags: apple, Apple Tablet, international launch, ipad
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| Hon Hai to Raise Salaries of Foxconn Workers Posted: 28 May 2010 12:38 AM PDT 
Taiwan-based Hon Hai Precision Industry, the anchor of Foxconn Technology Group, claims the salary increase has been planned for some time, but doesn’t say when the raise will be implemented. The timing of the announcement is most probably tied to the suicides at the Foxconn factory, as another employee jumped to his death on Wednesday, bringing the total suicide toll in 2010 to ten. “It may help the suicide situation, because we workers just need money and the financial pressure on us is great,” a Foxconn employee said. In another effort to stop the suicides, Foxconn also said it plans to raise safety nets around the dormitories and factory buildings. Meanwhile, Apple, HP and Dell said they’re independently investigating the conditions in Foxconn’s factories. For more business coverage, follow Mashable Business on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Twitter Tags: apple, dell, Foxconn, HP, suicides
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| Pete Cashmore Discusses Facebook’s New Privacy Settings on PBS [VIDEO] Posted: 27 May 2010 11:14 PM PDT 
Mashable Founder and CEO Pete Cashmore appeared on PBS today to discuss Facebook’s response to user backlash. While he agrees that Facebook’s decision to simplify privacy settings was a good one, he thinks the company should have gone a step further and made its Instant Personalization feature opt-in instead of opt-out. To hear the full discussion, watch the video below. (Note: Pete appears at around 4:30). Do you think Facebook needs to go further to address users’ concerns? For more social media coverage, follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Twitter Tags: facebook, pbs, pete cashmore, privacy
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| NBC and Time Warner Side with Flash in Apple-Adobe War Posted: 27 May 2010 09:19 PM PDT 
According to the New York Post, NBC Universal, Time Warner, and other media firms have told Apple that they won’t reformat their video libraries in order to make them work on the iPad. Apple has famously banned Flash from the iPad and iPhone for a litany of reasons including stability, security, and a preference for the HTML5 standard. The ban doesn’t seem to phase executives at NBC Universal, Time Warner, and other media companies, though. Google’s very public embrace of Flash, culminating with its inclusion in Google TV, has emboldened these media companies to resist Steve Jobs’ demands. Why reformat your entire video library (not cheap) when Flash works and already dominates the web? Media companies and Apple need each other in the end, though. Apple has enormous distribution, thanks to the iTunes store and its popular array of products. Media companies have endless hours of content and provide Apple with a potentially lucrative revenue stream. Would Apple give up its crusade against Flash to secure the cooperation of media conglomerates? Somehow, we doubt it, but we don’t think this will be the end of the tension between media companies and the world’s most valuable tech company. For more Apple coverage, follow Mashable Apple on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Google, Twitter Tags: adobe, apple, Flash, HTML5, nbc, nbc universal, steve jobs, time warner
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| Posted: 27 May 2010 07:27 PM PDT 
YouTube user dim3m cooked up this DIY wall mount setup out of a VESA TV mount and an iPad case for a low-cost $40 articulating iPad stand. It looks like a nice flexible solution for hands-free media watching that requires little actual construction and won’t break the bank. Check out the video below for the mount in action, and the second video showcases the new and improved painted version with speakers. Have you seen any other creative custom locations for the iPad? Let us know! iPad Wall MountiPad Wall Mount 2.0[img credit: dim3m] [via Engadget] For more technology coverage, follow Mashable Tech on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube Tags: diy, ipad, wall mount
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| Facebook Leads in the Top 1,000 Sites [STATS] Posted: 27 May 2010 05:46 PM PDT 
The stats, which do not include data from Google.com and YouTube, detail the categories, users and page views for each of the top 1,000 sites on the Internet. They also tell which sites have advertising. Wikipedia and Mozilla.com are the only two sites in the top 10 that remain ad-free. Destinations such as Mozilla.com, Yahoo.com, MSN.com and Live.com sit high in the rankings due in large part to their status as default landing pages for various browsers. When it comes to non-Facebook social media properties, Twitter ranks 18th with 5.4 billion page views, Flickr is 31st with 1.8 billion views and LinkedIn sits in 56th place at 1.7 billion views. And the usual blogging sites make appearances, too. Blogspot is in 7th place, WordPress in 12th and Blogger in 53rd. Other popular destinations, according to Google’s report, are international web portals such as Baidu, Sina, 163.com and Sohu. Though relatively unheard of in American tech press, these sites are the online equivalent of our solar system’s Jupiter: enormous and a bit out of our reach. Bank of America and PayPal also made the list, coming in at 93rd and 39th, respectively. And in the news category we find the BBC, which was ranked 43rd with 2.5 billion hits, followed by the New York Times’ website, ranked 83rd with 600 million views. We think it’s pretty spectacular and surprising that Facebook has come to dominate global web traffic in just a few short years. Are any of these stats eyebrow-raising to you? For more technology coverage, follow Mashable Tech on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Flickr, Google, Internet, LinkedIn, Twitter, Wikipedia, WordPress, YouTube, blogger Tags: analytics, doubleclick, Google, stats, traffic
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| Create Playlists from Music Blogs with ExtensionFM Posted: 27 May 2010 03:57 PM PDT 
Quick Pitch: Turn the web into your personal music library. Genius Idea: ExtensionFM is an extension for Google’s Chrome web browser that indexes every MP3 music file you come across while surfing. There are countless free MP3 music blogs scattered around the web, and they’re a fantastic resource for lesser-known artists or promotional tracks from the big guys and gals. When you’re sorting through hundreds of pages of music links, it’s easy to wander away from a song you were interested in and lose it. ExtensionFM solves that problem by giving your browser a library tab that lists and sorts every song you’ve ever found a link to. The plugin is also useful as a sort of Pandora or Last.fm replacement. Any time you visit a website with several MP3 links, a streaming playlist is automatically generated. Just press a couple of buttons at the top of the browser and the songs will stream in sequence just like they would in an iTunes playlist or an online radio station. You can also play each song individually. The company behind ExtensionFM (Extension Entertainment, Inc.) was founded in New York City in March of 2010, and it has received investment from Spark Capital, Betaworks, Founder Collective and Dave Morgan. The team runs an ExtensionFM blog at http://blog.extension.fm/. Sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark
Entrepreneurs can take advantage of the Azure Services platform for their website hosting and storage needs. Microsoft recently announced the “new CloudApp()” contest – use the Azure Services Platform for hosting your .NET or PHP app, and you could be the lucky winner of a USD 5000* (please see website for official rules and guidelines)." Reviews: Chrome, Google, Last.fm, PHP, Pandora, iTunes Tags: bizspark, chrome, extension, extensionfm, music, software, startups, web browser
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| The Internet Coos Over “Iron Baby” [VIDEO] Posted: 27 May 2010 03:22 PM PDT  Iron Man 2 has been getting its share of online play lately — what with the millions of views the trailer racked up on YouTube, the iPhone app and all that augmented reality jazz. But what it has been lacking up until now has been a really stellar parody — featuring a baby. Don’t get me wrong, babies terrify me to no end, but this made-for-web short — courtesy of Canadian filmmaker Patrick Boivin — is pretty well done. It has also garnered more than 10,000 views in one day, which is no small feat. Check it out as your Thursday whimpers to a close. For more web video coverage, follow Mashable Web Video on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube
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| One Laptop Per Child to Produce $100 Tablet Posted: 27 May 2010 03:03 PM PDT 
The OLPC XO-3 tablet computers will debut at the Consumer Electronics Show in January. The hardware is being produced by Marvell using its Moby Platform, featuring a built-in camera for video conferencing, and support for 3D graphics and Flash. Marvell co-founder Weili Dai also told The New York Times that the first version of the tablet would be equipped with Google’s Android operating system. From the looks of it, the device will be ultra thin. OLPC’s Chairman Nicholas Negropante says the tablet will be part laptop, iPad and Kindle. He also hopes that the company will be able to produce 100% plastic devices by 2012, reduce the cost to $75 and include a dual mode display so that the tablet will work both in the sunlight and at night. Watch the video below for more information on the tablet. For more technology coverage, follow Mashable Tech on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Android, Facebook, Google, Twitter Tags: olpc, one laptop per child, tablet pcs
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| Posted: 27 May 2010 02:50 PM PDT 
Typography is an important design element that can drastically alter the look and even the feel of content. However, because of technical (and licensing) restrictions, dynamic fonts used on the web have been limited to a small subset of styles. On the positive side, over the last twelve months the landscape for web typography has changed dramatically. New technologies and services, including Google’s recently announced Google Font API, are making it possible for designers and developers to finally start experimenting with typography on the web. Where We’ve BeenThe history of typography and the web is long and often frustrating. Web-standards godfather Jeffrey Zeldman wrote extensively about web fonts and standards last year and provides a good overview of the situation. There have been two main barriers keeping variable font choices from reaching the web:
Until last year, these two issues pretty much left designers and font enthusiasts in a bit of a quagmire. Fortunately, things have changed and are continuing to improve. Where We’re GoingLast May, a service called TypeKit was announced as a way to help foundries become comfortable licensing fonts, while also offering web designers embeddable fonts for their designs in a way that could work across web browsers. TypeKit opened to the public in November and has since partnered with a growing list of foundries to give Typekit users a wider array of options.
Other web type services exist, like Kernest, Typotheque and Fontdeck (Fontdeck is still in private beta). Most of these services use JavaScript as a way to get around the fact that not all web browsers support CSS3’s @font-face selector and to also obfuscate the original font file. Last week, Google announced its Font API and the Google Font Directory of open source fonts that are free for developers to use in their designs. I spoke with Jeffrey Veen, founder and CEO of Typekit, via e-mail right after Google’s Font API announcement about what Google is doing, Typekit’s role in the process, and the future of type. At first, I, like many, assumed that the Google Font API was a swipe directly at Typekit. This isn’t the case at all. In fact, Typekit and Google worked together to get Typekit Font Events into the open source project WebFont Loader, giving designers complete control over how fonts are loaded. Additionally, Google’s web fonts can be accessed from Typekit, meaning that switching between services is very easy. This is what Veen had to say about working with Google:
When I asked Veen to expand on the biggest hurdles in getting foundries to embrace web licensing, this is what he had to say:
There Are Still Some HurdlesWhile Typekit and other web font services are pushing the adoption of web fonts forward as well as getting more and more foundries (and designers and developers) comfortable with using and licensing fonts for the web, the proliferation of more web fonts does lead to some additional hurdles. Last November, Tim Brown and Jason Santa Maria both wrote fantastic articles for A List Apart about web typography. Santa Maria discussed readability and correctly pairing fonts together. Brown talked about what the emerging web space means for how fonts are designed and the nuances of how different browsers render the same font.
From Tim Brown’s Nice Web Type These are important issues to take into consideration when you use fonts in your own designs. Just because you can use a script font to display your primary content doesn’t mean that you should. Save that for headings and accents, keep main content readable and clear. The world of web typography is quickly evolving but this evolution means that web developers and end users now have more choices than ever before. Do you use any web font services in your sites? Let us know! Series supported by Rackspace  Rackspace is the better way to do hosting. No more worrying about web hosting uptime. No more spending your time, energy and resources trying to stay on top of things like patching, updating, monitoring, backing up data and the like. Learn why. [Img credit: playgrounder.com] Reviews: Google, Internet Explorer Tags: fonts, google font api, typekit, typography, web development series, web fonts
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| “Glee” Tops Digital Music Charts Posted: 27 May 2010 02:44 PM PDT 
Nielsen estimates that 508,000 Glee-related downloads will have occurred during the week of May 23. So far, the show has driven a total of 7.3 million sales. The Rolling Stones’s reissue of Exile On Main Street also sold well online this past week, along with new albums from LCD Soundsystem and the Black Keys. FOX has deftly engaged Glee fans through social media, and the show’s popularity with viewers comfortable with tech could be partially responsible for its strong digital music sales. The network hosted a Glee casting call on MySpace, and promoted the new season with an interactive online trailer and a viral video featuring the character Sue Sylvester performing Madonna’s “Vogue.” Glee also got iPad and iPhone apps developed by Smule, the makers of Ocarina, Magic Piano and I Am T-Pain. For more entertainment coverage, follow Mashable Entertainment on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Twitter Tags: digital downloads, Fox, GLEE, music, Nielsen, sales, television, tv
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| Non-Profit Uses Foursquare to Raise Environmental Awareness Posted: 27 May 2010 02:26 PM PDT   Earthjustice, a non-profit public interest law firm, has blanketed San Francisco BART trains with posters that instruct riders to check in to the “Earthjustice ad” on Foursquare to help the firm raise money to support its wildlife protection initiatives. The posters take a critical look at environmental issues in the news, such as the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. That particular poster — as seen above — reads, “Use your cell phone to drill the oil industry.” For each Earthjustice ad checkin, a company donor with donate $10 to the cause in question — in this case, “unsafe oil drilling.” The effort is specifically targeted at younger audiences who don’t typically respond to messages in advertisements. The hope is that by combining a compelling and relevant message with the Foursquare checkin donation, the younger demographic will be inspired to take an active interest in environmental causes. For more social media coverage, follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter Tags: earthjustice, foursquare, MARKETING, social good
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| Wired Sells 24,000 iPad Apps in One Day Posted: 27 May 2010 02:07 PM PDT 
Geek mag Wired sold 24,000 iPad apps on its first day in the App Store. When GQ was released as an iPad app not too long ago, its demographic didn’t respond nearly as robustly. GQ has sold 57,000 copies of its iPhone and iPad apps combined over the past six months; apparently, the lad mag’s readers prefer hard copy to downloaded content. What do you think: Will significant numbers of non-geek readers ever prefer — and shell out for — a non-physical magazine? For more Apple coverage, follow Mashable Apple on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: App Store, Facebook, Twitter Tags: apple, conde nast, ipad, Wired
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| HOW TO: Start a Small Business Social Good Campaign Posted: 27 May 2010 01:57 PM PDT 
If you go online, watch TV or listen to the radio, you've probably heard about the Pepsi Refresh or Chase Community Giving Projects; two huge campaigns from mega-conglomerates that are using social media to raise money and do some good. It's no secret that people are more inclined to purchase from companies who are working to improve our world. Cause marketing is a great way to both draw people to your company and create good will. And it's definitely something small businesses can take part in, too. In the days before social media, companies relied on TV, radio and print advertising to get their message out. Now companies are changing their focus, and trying to "go viral," attempting to generate enough buzz so people will spread their messages through various social media platforms. The goal is exponential growth in a short period of time. Small businesses can also create a cause campaign that will go viral, but it doesn't just happen overnight. Here are some helpful tips for business owners to create their own successful cause campaign. Choose a Smaller Charity There are over 1.5 million non-profit organizations in the United States alone. Yet businesses, small and large alike, tend to pick the big name charities to benefit from their campaign. This may not be the best choice for a small business. According to public records, in 2009, Susan G. Komen for the Cure raised $139,225,891 in contributions and grants, for example. Much of that money might of have come from the endless number of companies offering $1 to the charity for each new Facebook fan — a popular cause campaign in 2009. With so many companies pledging to a single charity, you need to make yours stand out. Unless you can convince the large non-profits that you will be able to raise a significant amount for their organization, they probably won't be interested in actively working with you. Individuals tend to be less motivated to rally behind larger non-profits because they often feel their small contribution won't make enough of an impact. People want to feel their contribution counts, however small it may be. Liking a Fan Page for $1 donation to a powerhouse charity likely won't be as inspiring as giving the same small amount to a smaller charity that might be perceived as more in need of the money. Work With The CharityThe key words being: Work With. Many businesses run cause campaigns and the charities benefiting aren't even aware of it. This means your business is missing out on buzz from the charity and its supporters. Contact the charity before you start the campaign. If they're willing to work with you, ask what that charity needs most. While cash is always needed, smaller non-profits are also eager for other sorts of donations. "We provide after school programming for 28,000 children in Los Angeles, and we can always use things like tickets to events, sporting equipment, books, art supplies and computers in addition to financial support," said Catherine Stringer, Vice President of Development & Public Affairs for LA’s BEST. If the non-profit wants what you have to offer, they'll be motivated to get their online supporters involved and drive traffic to your campaign. After you pick a charity partner and find out what their needs are, provide information about that non-profit and why you're supporting them. This can be done in a newsletter, on your website and on the various social media platforms you're using. When people are excited and interested in a campaign, they are more likely to share it with their friends and family. Pick a Creative Campaign Simply offering $1 to a charity per fan may not be the most effective campaign for a small business. While this has worked in the past for companies like Volvo, which donated $1 per fan to Alex's Lemonade Stand, it might not be the right fit for a company that isn't so well known. Look at your company to see what you have to offer. Can you personalize items, or provide needed supplies to an after school program? Can you offer food to a homeless shelter or even round up some volunteers? USA Today gave away a full page, color ad worth $189,400 to the charity that could generate most tweets, with the hashtag #AmericaWants, this past April. It was a campaign that was both creative and effective. So think about what your business has to offer. Another way to increase your campaign's exposure is to reward individuals as well as the charity. Getting people fired up about your message is the perfect way to get your campaign to go viral. You can do this by letting people vote on which charity or charities you are going to work with, and providing prizes or personalized items to the individuals who helped share your message the most. Tell The World Everyone wants their campaign to go viral, but more often than not this doesn't happen without planting the viral seeds; cultivating and financing. Large corporations invest significant time and money getting their message out to the masses, and while small businesses may not be able to afford as much of either, it's necessary to invest what you can. It can be extremely costly to create and market the right campaign. Most small businesses don't have in-house developers to build platforms and applications, staff to promote and monitor campaigns and the right tools to select winners with fairness and accuracy. But there are some great tools that can help build, run and turn your campaign into a viral one. Consider utilizing Wildfire and Flowtown. Wildfire is a service that allows companies of every size to easily build and launch social media campaigns, with over 30,000 launched via the service last year. In fact, even big brands like Facebook, AT&T and Victoria Secret use this tool because it takes a complicated marketing plan and simplifies it. Wildfire co-founder and CEO Victoria Ransom has seen first hand how small businesses successfully use their service. "One of the most successful cause campaigns we've seen was for an animal rescue organization," she said. "The campaign was based around people uploading stories about their pets and why they love animals. This campaign received over 10,000 entries. Most big brands would be thrilled to get this and would spend a lot of money." Another great tool for small businesses is Flowtown, which you can use to reach your existing customers and alert them about your campaign. The way Flowtown works is simple — upload your company's e-mail lists to find which customers use social media and what sites they are on. After you've found your customers you can send a targeted e-mail through Flowtown to notify them. Reaching out to those who already subscribe to your business and believe in your brand is a great start. You may have brand supporters who are influential in social media, and it's smart to utilize what you have before you seek out new people. "One strong ambassador could be as powerful as a thousand people. A small business with limited resources should be looking for a maximum effect from minimum input," said Ethan Bloch co-founder and CEO of Flowtown. Don't Abandon ShipNow that you've put the time, energy and resources into launching a great cause campaign, make sure you stick with it. Once the campaign is over, continue to keep people excited about your brand through social media. A low budget cause campaign can be successful for small businesses, but it takes considerable time and effort to increase the odds. Even if your messages don't "go viral," you'll find that you still managed to alert more people about your company, and probably spread some good will too. For more social media coverage, follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookMore social good resources from Mashable:
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, hjalmeida Reviews: Facebook, Twitter, iStockphoto Tags: cause campaigns, charity, facebook, small business, social good, social media, twitter
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| It’s Official: AdMob Is Now Part of Google Posted: 27 May 2010 01:37 PM PDT 
More than six months ago, Google announced that it was acquiring AdMob for $750 million. However, a prolonged review by the FTC delayed the acquisition. Just last month, it seemed likely that the FTC would challenge the Google-AdMob deal. As you may now know, the FTC approved the acquisition, paving the way for Google to utilized AdMob in its war with Apple. The iPhone maker recently launched iAds, a direct competitor to both Google and AdMob, and Apple was cited as a major reason that the AdMob deal was approved. So what happens next? Google says that it will quickly integrate the teams and AdMob’s technology in order to keep competitive in mobile advertising. Google believes that mobile search, websites and apps are already key ways people access information. Just as it dominates web advertising through AdSense and DoubleClick, Google is looking to bring its competitive advantage to mobile phones everywhere. Now that the AdMob saga is done, it’s time to turn to the big question: Will Apple or Google win the mobile advertising war? For more mobile coverage, follow Mashable Mobile on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Google, Twitter Tags: admob, Google, mobile advertising
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| Facebook to Roll Out Q&A Feature Posted: 27 May 2010 12:50 PM PDT 
It’s also interesting to note that this app competes with Mahalo, owned by prominent Facebook-quitter Jason Calacanis, and with Quora, which was founded last year by former Facebook employees. If you’d like to beta-test the app, you’ll have to submit and answer three questions of your own first. These introductory questions will also give the feature a good running start in terms of content. On the app’s page, Facebook announces, “We think it will be as exciting as Facebook Photos and Facebook Events, but we need your help to make it great… You’ll be the first person outside of Facebook to use this product.” Beta testers are requested to “ask great questions and provide great answers about your favorite topics.” Facebook is trying to ensure knowledgeable, thorough answers by requiring participants to cite references when applicable and banning plagiarism. Beta testers will be brought to California to tour Facebook’s Palo Alto headquarters and meet the team that built Q&A for the network. And these days, no Facebook app introduction would be complete without a caveat about privacy. “Your expert writing will be seen by tens of millions of people,” reads the page, “including job recruiters.” We’re waiting to hear back from Facebook about more details, but here are some screenshots to hold you over until we get more information:
Do you think this new feature take off? More importantly, will it drive more search traffic to Facebook and establish the network as not only a social site but also a valuable repository of content? [img credit: Itamar Kestenbaum] For more social media coverage, follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Twitter Tags: facebook, q&a, questions, trending
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| Hands-On: Roku’s New Netflix Interface [PICS] Posted: 27 May 2010 12:22 PM PDT 
Roku and Netflix have always had a very close working relationship (the Roku player originally started as an internal Netflix project before being spun out to Roku) and with the new interface, Roku users can now access more Netflix content more easily. In addition to being able to browse by category — like you can on the PS3 and Wii — Roku’s Netflix app also has search functionality and recommendations baked right in. The icon for Netflix on Roku is also a bit more clean and nuanced.  When you click on the app for the first time, it will tell you that it has been updated and that you will be getting more features.  This is what the main screen looks like. The first area displayed is your current Instant Queue. As you scroll down, more rows of content, like Newly Released Movies, are displayed.   At the top of the screen is the new Search function, which is one of the really great new features. Rather than having to either browse through category feeds or use a computer (or iPhone or iPad) to add content to your Instant Queue, you can now search directly on Roku.  As you search, suggestions for films matching your search terms appear. For instance, I wanted to find Yojimbo, and after typing in “Yo” it came up as the first result.  Clicking on a result will take you to a results panel in the main window that feature films that match your query.  Clicking on a film displays basic data about the film, the average rating for the film (or your rating if you have already rated it) and the ability to either play directly or add to your Instant Queue. If you add to your queue, you can continue searching and browsing for content.  For television shows or other content that has multiple parts, the screen for selecting an individual episode has been recolored to match the rest of the interface. It still functions the same way.  The way content is played back hasn’t changed — and that’s a good thing. It’s simple and easy to use, as always. The new Netflix interface for Roku is probably the best Netflix experience on a dedicated device. Only Boxee, which has its own custom Netflix app, can match the interface and features that the Roku app now has. Roku owners, look for the update to hit your devices beginning at the end of the week. For more technology coverage, follow Mashable Tech on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Blu, Facebook, Twitter
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| Facebook Launches Developer Toolkit for Android Posted: 27 May 2010 12:01 PM PDT 
The Facebook SDK for Android is the first one for mobile that includes the new Open Graph API. While Facebook does have support for iPhone through Facebook Connect, it will eventually be replaced by a full iPhone SDK as part of the end of Facebook Connect. Facebook tells us that the iPhone SDK is in development and will be available “soon.” In a short blog post announcing the release of the Android SDK, Facebook pointed out that it includes OAUth 2.0 support and gives developers the ability to publish stories back to Facebook, in addition to access to the Open Graph platform. Facebook first demonstrated the new SDK at Google I/O last week, which could be the reason why it chose to focus on Android first. Still, the iPhone has more users and Facebook is one of the most popular apps in the iPhone app store, so we expect that the Facebook SDK for iPhone isn’t too far behind. For more mobile coverage, follow Mashable Mobile on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Android, Facebook, Google, Twitter
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| Why Facebook’s Privacy War Is Not Over Posted: 27 May 2010 11:44 AM PDT 
Although Facebook’s updates may defuse this latest privacy bomb, this is merely a temporary cease-fire: The company’s long-term goals will inevitably see it sparring with privacy advocates again in the not-too-distant future. That’s the topic of my CNN column this week. Check out the full column at CNN.com >>Tags: facebook, facebook privacy, mark zuckerberg, privacy, Zuckerberg
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| Publish2 Aims to Oust the Associated Press Posted: 27 May 2010 11:37 AM PDT 
So how will the Publish2 News Exchange compete with the news cooperative giant? By creating a “New Associated Press for the 21st Century,” a network that includes both free and paid content that enables news organizations to easily distribute their content to subscribed news media that can then publish the content in print or online. The new platform is currently in beta and will be rolled out this weekend, but users new to Publish2 can still register. Although the new platform is aimed at newspapers, several new media organizations (including Mashable) have signed up for content distribution. In a blog post announcing the new product, Publish2 CEO Scott Karp said, “We’re enabling newspapers to benefit for the first time from the disruptive power of the web, and from the efficiency of production on the web.” Content Distribution and SubscriptionThe News Exchange enables newspapers to replace AP content subscriptions with web content, and in exchange web producers are able to showcase their brands in print. As Karp points out, print publishing and distribution still drive newspaper operations, even its web production, which sometimes is nothing more than a dumping ground for stories from the day’s paper. The goal is to bridge the gap between print and web publishing, Karp wrote in his post. The platform makes it easier to distribute and subscribe to content through “newswires” set up by participating news organizations online through authenticated webfeeds, FTP, etc. For example, Mashable newswires include all of our site channels for specific topics, as well as a general newswire for all of our content. In a demo, Publish2 Director of News Innovation Ryan Sholin said print publishers are able to easily subscribe to a newswire and feed that the content into their print publishing content management systems. In setting up a newswire, news organizations can control who can use their content as well as how that content is used. Sholin also pointed out that some news organizations already have content sharing agreements in place. The News Exchange gives them a place to efficiently share that content with one another, he said.
Story Ideas and Budget ItemsAlthough content distribution is at the core of the new product, several other features make content sharing and production more strategic and efficient. For example, the Story Ideas feature enables news organizations to create specific ideas that have yet to be reported and produced as a way to pitch the idea to other news companies. It’s also a way for news organizations to put out a call for coverage on stories they don’t have the resources to report on at the moment, said Sholin. “Maybe one newspaper editor says they’d like an explainer on how offshore oil rigs work, then 18 more editors request that idea, too,” Sholin said. “Suddenly, other journalists in the system see it’s a popular request. There might be a nonprofit news org or even a freelancer with experience reporting on the topic who can answer the question and write the story.” If there is a big story that is coming up, and a news company wants to promote it, they can individually add the story with a summary as an upcoming story budget item that its subscribers should keep an eye out for. What’s Missing?Analytics: Because the News Exchange is still in beta and has yet to be rolled out, there are some missing features. The big one publishers will be concerned about is being able to track how your story is used by your subscribers. There’s no easy way of doing this — especially if a web story is being published in print — aside from, perhaps, the publisher sending a courtesy PDF showing where the story appeared. However, Sholin said a form of analytics will come. “We’re going to make sure news organizations know where their stories are published, when, how often, and if possible, what page in the paper they’re running on,” he said. The goal, he said, is to provide news orgs with data on how their content is used, and as News Exchange gets rolled out, Publish2 is going to play with different variation of analytics and reporting though it may require a manual effort from news orgs using the content. Photos and Tagging: Other features will include the capability to share photos and more easily find specific content through automated semantic tagging. Marketplace: Another feature that news organizations will likely be happy about that is in the works is Publish2 is planning for a marketplace that Sholin said will allow news orgs to set a price on subscriptions to their newswires or sell content a la carte. For more social media coverage, follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook
Reviews: Facebook, Mashable, Twitter Tags: digital media, news media, newspapers, publish2, scott karp
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| Apple iTunes Facing Antitrust Inquiries Posted: 27 May 2010 11:16 AM PDT 
According to several reports, the DoJ’s antitrust division has reached out to Universal, Sony, Warner Bros, EMI and several music services that compete with iTunes, such as eMusic. Feds have been asking preliminary questions about Apple’s pricing and competition, particularly with regard to Amazon’s music store. There are some concerns that Apple may be unfairly manipulating certain companies into not working with Amazon. Not long ago, Apple removed certain featured items from iTunes when the parent company selling them defected to Amazon for other promotions, namely Amazon’s “Deal of the Day.” Apple has just surpassed Microsoft in market capitalization; is it time for Apple to come under intense scrutiny and an antitrust investigation for one of its leading products, the way Microsoft did for Internet Explorer back in the Dark Ages? Let us know what you think. [img credit: yggg] For more Apple coverage, follow Mashable Apple on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Internet Explorer, Twitter Tags: Antitrust, apple, investigation, itunes
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| Nike’s “Write the Future” Ad Sets Viral Record [VIDEO] Posted: 27 May 2010 11:16 AM PDT 
It beat the previous record holder, another Nike ad called “Earl and Tiger” featuring golfer Tiger Woods after his heavily publicized return to the sport. Ad agency Wieden+Kennedy produced the ad, which was directed by illustrious Mexican filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu, who is best known for the critically-acclaimed film Babel. Nike VP Trevor Edwards was quoted in Advertising Age saying the ad is “among the best we’ve ever done.” “Earl and Tiger” reached 6.3 million views in its first week and “Write the Future” achieved 7.8 million. The fact that “Write the Future” beat “Earl and Tiger” is even more impressive considering the fact that the latter hit the web amidst the Tiger Woods scandal. The current count for this new video on YouTube is 9.4 million. The FIFA World Cup begins next month, and Nike’s advertising is capitalizing on the frenzy around the event. This video depicts soccer stars whose astounding athletic accomplishments and failures send waves through society, affecting world events and changing their own lives. “Write the Future”For more web video coverage, follow Mashable Web Video on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube Tags: ad, advertising, football, MARKETING, Nike, soccer, sports, viral videos, visible measures, wieden & kennedy, write the future, youtube
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| Baseball Team Offers Free Tickets to iPad Owners Posted: 27 May 2010 10:47 AM PDT 
“iPad Monday” is the Hudson Valley Renegades‘ attempt at capitalizing on the New York Yankees’ iPad ban. The short-season class A, minor league baseball team is inviting fans to bring their iPads to the ballpark every Monday night for the entirety of the 2010 season. Those that do will be rewarded with a free general admission ticket while supplies last. The team will also be taking the opportunity to offer social media assistance and educate iPad-owning fans. A ReTweet booth will be set up in the main concourse where fans can go for help with setting up or updating their Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare accounts. We’re assuming this means that Dutchess Park is a Wi-Fi-friendly zone. Of course, the bring-your-iPad-to-the-stadium initiative is just a gimmick to get press, but it’s a gimmick of the best kind and one that’s guaranteed to up fan attendance at Monday night games. The social media tie-ins are also a nice touch and speak to the organization’s ongoing commitment to digital ingenuity. [img credit: Renegades] For more Apple coverage, follow Mashable Apple on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Twitter Tags: Apple iPad, Baseball, social media, sports
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| Why MySpace Can Still Win as a Music Destination Posted: 27 May 2010 10:14 AM PDT 
Last October, MySpace reached an all-time low of 50.2 million unique visitors per month. That number has only gone down since (47.6 million in March). The site is hemorrhaging money, while a certain competitor extends its reach throughout the web, in spite of mounting privacy issues. After years of enduring seizure-inducing Flash animations and child predator scares, some ex-users seem glad to see it go. As the world of social media moves on though, there's at least one bit of the site worth keeping: MySpace Music. MySpace Music profiles remain the simplest, fastest way to check out a new band. On a site known for layout nightmares, they appear structured and informative, more so than their Facebook counterparts. Almost despite itself, the MySpace team has built an enduring template, one the company is now applying to gaming. Here are some reasons why I hope MySpace Music sticks around. Layout The biggest advantage MySpace music pages have over their Facebook counterparts is standardized layout. Yes, you read that right. Where artist pages are concerned, MySpace, not Facebook, offers the more predictable, easy-to-navigate design. While potential for endless customization remains, the one fixed feature is the most important: The music player. Let's look at an example. Take The National, a longtime indie favorite whose new album has garnered enough mainstream press for a number-three chart debut. Say you read a positive review and want to give their music a quick once-over. Go to their MySpace page and you find that ugly-but-familiar music player sitting in the upper right-hand corner. The same box sits in the same place on every artist's page, generally above the fold, with the newest songs on top. The untamed flexibility of MySpace profiles makes it difficult to find many things (coherent structure, for one), but not this. Now try the National's Facebook page. Right off, you're presented with a problem: What is their Facebook page? Search on Facebook itself and the site directs you to this Community Page, which is just the band's Wikipedia article. Follow the Facebook link on the band's website and you emerge at the iLike Facebook app (owned by MySpace, incidentally). The page shows three "Featured Songs," none of which are recent. Clicking "see more" displays their 150 top songs, which is interesting since the band has only released about 80 (duplicate entries account for the discrepancy). The standardized MySpace layout helps industry scouts as well. Marni Wandner of promotion firm Sneak Attack Media (Tom Petty, Against Me!) says that the consistent format plays a big role in the site's appeal. "You find a band on MySpace and you immediately know where the player is," she writes. "You know where to look to see what label they're on, you know where the tour dates are." Embeddable Player Examine song vs. artist numbers and you'll notice that some songs have higher play counts than the artist has profile views. For instance, "Tik Tok," one of the site's most popular songs, has garnered 33 million plays. Yet Ke$ha's profile has only been viewed 12 million times. Profile embeds account for much of the difference. With two clicks next to any song, the MySpace user can add it to his or her profile playlist. Placed directly below the profile image, the playlist enjoys prime real estate and it holds up to 100 songs. Of course, this may change if MySpace users take their social networking elsewhere. While artist profiles are buffered by the fact that you can listen to the music without an account, the same cannot be said for embeds. Without a MySpace profile, there’s no place to embed the music. Dire as the press makes MySpace's plight seem though, a mass music exodus won’t happen anytime soon. For now, the ability to embed songs plays an important role in the site's appeal. Artist Dashboard The more musicians use MySpace Music as their primary web presence, the more the site secures its position. Last year, MySpace made running an artist profile that much easier with the Artist Dashboard. The artist-only tool corrects a major disadvantage of MySpace pages: The dearth of information about who was viewing your profile. While most streaming sites allow you to view play counts, the Dashboard presents a surprisingly in-depth look at stats, demographics and usage patterns. A musician can view who's visiting his profile by age, gender and location, and can monitor how songs perform over time. In an age where artists and publicists micro-target their marketing campaigns, the relative wealth of information the Dashboard offers boosts MySpace's competitive advantage. While the Dashboard doesn't reveal all — it notably lacks information about where visitors clicked in from — a higher level of detail increases the likelihood that a struggling artist will make MySpace Music his online home. The more MySpace narrows the gap between a site profile and a private domain, the more artists will forgo a website in favor of a simpler-to-run MySpace page. Being one of many destinations for a band's fans won't save the site; being the destination just might. Now What?One concept is missing from all this: Social networking. Fans rarely interact with each other on artist pages. A cursory glance at the comment section at the bottom of the profile reveals that probably two-thirds of the comments are other bands hawking their wares. This apparent oversight may actually fit in with MySpace's broader plan. Back in December, the site had begun implementing Facebook Connect. This small but potentially game-changing move indicates the site may be ceding social networking to Facebook and transitioning to an entertainment portal. The recent announcement of their new gaming initiative makes this look even more likely. The question remains: Can MySpace Music survive the wider MySpace decline? Not unless it figures out a better way to keep visitors at the site. A non-user's typical visit might begin and end at one artist's page. When you're done with the band, you're done with the site. MySpace needs to guide users to similar artists, perhaps artists recommended by the band itself. There are too many obscure artists for a computerized system like Pandora to be effective, but personal tips from a favorite band, linked to the respective artist pages, might add an idiosyncratic twist. The page structure is there; MySpace Music just needs to connect the dots. For more social media coverage, follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookMore music resources from Mashable
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, AnikaSalsera Reviews: Facebook, MySpace, Pandora, Twitter, Wikipedia, iStockphoto Tags: music, myspace, social media
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| Acer Unveils New Android Phone and E-reader Posted: 27 May 2010 09:23 AM PDT 
The Android phone, known as the Acer Stream, will run Android 2.1 (though we’re sure it will be upgradable upon release), has a 1Ghz Snapdragon processor and 3.7-inch WVGA AMOLED touchscreen. Basically, it has very similar specifications to the Nexus One and the Droid Incredible. One user already has a hands-on demo of the Acer Stream available (see below). As for the e-reader, it has a 6-inch eInk display, an ISBN scanner so you can scan your paper books to then buy digitally, and an integrated keyboard.  The e-reader isn’t all that appealing but the Acer Stream could be a great addition to the Android phone space. What do you think of these new devices? For more technology coverage, follow Mashable Tech on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Android, Facebook, Twitter Tags: Acer, acer stream, android, ereader
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| Google Buzz Adds Reshare Option Posted: 27 May 2010 09:00 AM PDT 
Reshare is exactly what it sounds like — an option that lets Google Buzz users reshare any post in their stream with their own followers. Reshare is similar to retweet on Twitter, but with a few key differences. By default, the Buzz offering supports user comments and users can reshare items either publicly or privately. The reshared item will identify the original author and even include a complete list, or “reshare chain,” of the people who shared it. Reshare is actually a very sophisticated addition to the Google Buzz experience, and one that could help the product regain some of its lost luster. How to Reshare on GoogleThe reshare option is sandwiched betweeen “Like” and “Email” at the bottom of every Google Buzz item. You can click it to reshare the item with your followers and start a new conversation thread.
When you select “Reshare,” you can optionally add your own comment on the item. You can also then determine whether you want to reshare the item privately or publicly with your followers.  Once you reshare an item, it will be posted to your own timeline with attribution to the author and a link to the original post (this is the opposite of how the retweet function works on Twitter).  Once an item as been reshared, it will update to highlight each of the Buzz users who have shared it publicly and outline the chain of reshares.  Buzz: The Big PictureGmail Product Manager Todd Jackson tells us that the goal of Buzz is to help the company solve the communication challenges of e-mail. “Gmail should be the world’s best communication tool,” says Jackson. On that front, Jackson is confident that despite a dip in user activity — something he expected following the product launch — and initial privacy concerns, Buzz is doing quite well. He assures us that all the vital metrics are back on the rise, saying that there “millions of active Buzz users.” Jackson also points to measurable growth amongst heavy product users — those that check the Buzz tab more than 10 times per day. For more social media coverage, follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Gmail, Google Buzz, Twitter Tags: Google, google buzz, reshare, trending
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| Fake BP Public Relations Twitter Account a Viral Hit [INTERVIEW] Posted: 27 May 2010 08:57 AM PDT 
We were ardently hoping that “Terry” would drop the act (if it is, in fact, an act) and tell us who he really is. Unfortunately, homeboy kept in character throughout the entire e-mail interview, which we’re pasting below. We’re fairly certain that the real BP is not behind the account — the company said as much to CNN. In fact, it’s far more popular than the official feed; after launching last week, @BPGlobalPR has more than 55,000 followers, while @BP_America has just under 7,000. (Although someone apparently hacked into the official account today and posted a tweet from “Terry” that says, “Terry is now in charge of operation Top Kill, work will recommence after we find a XXL wetsuit. #bpcares #oilspill.” The tweet has since been removed). Check out our interview below and let us know what you think in the comments. “Hi Brenna! I really like being interviewed by women first of all. You know what I call men who are journalists? Pickledicks. LOL. The guys said I should be the one who does the interviews ’cause I’m the smartest, which is also why I do all the hard work. It does kinda suck, though, because the other guys have so much fun all day playing grab-ass and XBox and beer pong. Ah, well.” Why did you start this Twitter account?: “I work for BP Global PR. The reason we do PR is very simple, it’s the best job you can have. You see, corporations screw up all the time. They are very worried that the screwups are going to cost them a lot of money. They pay people like me a TON of money to make it look like they’re doing stuff, but really we don’t have to do much except talk. Our talking buys them time to figure out how they are going to sweep it all under the rug and go back to making lots of money. I get paid to talk and waste time and I get paid a lot. So why do we do this, because its our job and we love money!” How did you amass so many followers in such a short amount of time? What was the tipping point for you?: “We got a lot of followers because we’re really good at our job. Also Roger Ebert tweeted our tweet about how our oil wasn’t good for dolphins and a lot of people like him for some reason. To be honest, the review he gave Transformers 2 (my fave movie of 2009) was a little out of line, but whatever.”  Who runs the account? Is it just you or a few other people?: “We’ve got a real brain trust running the account. The other guys do most of the tweeting, but I do most of the work and I also do a lot of dares every day. I guess I’m kinda the star, so that’s pretty cool. I have my own Twitter I’m starting up @BPTerry, but I got so frustrated trying to get to the page today I gave up. Turns out I accidentally typed www.twitter.corn. The guys gave me hell for that one.” You appear to be selling “BP Cares” shirts via your Twitter account to benefit healthygulf.org. What’s the deal with that?: “I really messed up with the ‘BP Cares’ shirts. I wish we could drop it. Long story short, everyone was really mad at BP about the oil spill, so naturally we decided to make a ton of T-shirts to give to everyone to make them like us again. I got the design, put it in the T-shirt machine and I guess I spilled ink on it or something ’cause all the shirts are messed up. To make matters worse, I broke the controls and the thing wont stop making the damn shirts. No one can turn it off. Also, I signed some stupid paperwork that made it so I have to give all the money we make to www.healthygulf.org. I’ll tell ya, everyone was so pissed about this. We are literally losing thousands of dollars to them. The only reason I still have my job is cause I ate some oil on a dare.” How much time a day do you spend tweeting/interacting with followers? What has been the most interesting interaction so far?: “I work about five hours a day at BP headquarters and am always the last one in the office. Interesting interactions? Felicia Day liked our tweets; Alyssa Milano liked our tweets, too. I was hoping i could maybe meet Felicia or take her on a boatride through the gulf, but she hasn’t gotten back to us. Also, @Wired said some weird stuff about us, so we all decided they were pickledicks and we hate them.”  “I’ll admit I’m not that smart, but they write a magazine about computers. They use PRINT to talk about new technology. I mean, that’s some real pickledickery. I’ll bet those idiots write letters about e-mails. Also, right when we reached 50,000 followers we noticed a fake account w/ a bunch of typos and we had to call them out.” What kind of feedback have you been getting from the public?: Everyone thinks we’re funny. To be honest, we’re all mostly confused by that. We’re just trying to think of solutions for this stuff and report the news. But I’m told that we’re doing great. Hoping for a bonus so I can invent the hoverboard.” And, finally, who are you really? What’s your day job, where do you live and what are your goals with this Twitter account?: “This question doesn’t make sense. I’m Terry; I can’t tell you my last name because a lot of people hate us. I work for BP Global PR and my goal is to get paid and shut down this damn T-shirt machine. Thanks, Brenna. Btw, are u pretty? Hope so.” For more social media coverage, follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Twitter Tags: humor, trending, twitter
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| 5 Ways To Turn Your Traffic Into Valuable User Data Posted: 27 May 2010 08:15 AM PDT 
Even if you’re using an analytics solution like Chartbeat or Google Analytics, you’re probably leaving money on the table in the form of ungathered data that could lead to opportunities to engage with, cater to, and monetize users. If you’re looking for better engagement and deeper insights, the following are five types of actionable data and ways you can get it from your audience. 1. Urtak.com – Collaborative Polls  Urtak is a relatively new site that allows website owners and bloggers to collect information about what a community is thinking. It operates as essentially an ongoing flow of questions that can be placed as a widget on your site. But what makes Urtak unique is that readers contribute their own questions. “We’re trying to expand the idea of opinion information,” explains founder Marc Lizoain. “Right now we just have an idea of public opinion polls and political polls from time to time, but think about how opinions about things like Tiger Woods can change so quickly.” Gregg Carey, co-creator of the online newsletter The Toilet Paper, has used Urtak for the past nine months to measure priority on topics of interest. “The instant feedback and rolling question format feeds curiosity and quickly becomes somewhat addictive. Readers easily find themselves in a ‘just one more question’ situation.” He says on their first Urtak survey, Toilet Paper readers averaged 40 questions each. With users invited to contribute their own questions to the polls, “You get answers to questions that you wouldn’t even have thought to ask,” says Lizoain. “We have so many unanticipated insights and stories that it’s hard to single one out,” says Robert Gibralter, director of strategy for Both Worlds, which operates the South African video news site zanews.co.za. “It has helped us talk with our sponsors intelligently about our evolving community.” 2. Hunch.com – Census Data and Cross-blog Comparisons While most widely known for its powerful, Amazon-style “if you like this, you’ll like that” recommendation engine, Hunch also offers a widget that helps you extract demographic and psycho-graphic data that a cookie or JavaScript won’t. The widget asks 20 fixed questions, with a few fun ones mixed in. Co-founder and CEO Chris Dixon explains that the value in the fixed survey is found in the ability to compare them with other blogs and websites. “We want to show you, ‘here’s how your readers look on this spectrum,’” he says. Dixon notes that while there is value in asking your own questions, the ability to compare the same questions with other websites is also worthwhile. He continues that, “for some blog owners this might be part of an advertising sales pitch.” Hunch plans to enhance its widgets with data visualization in the near future. 3. Formspring.me – Qualitative User Insights Formspring is a 6-month old, explosively popular service that lets anyone ask you a question publicly. With 50 million visitors per month, the site caters to nearly any crowd, from rabbis to musicians, bloggers to high school kids. With a few clicks, adding a Formspring question widget to your blog or website can help you learn from and engage your community and provide insights for your business. “If you're a blogger, celebrity or brand,” says Co-Founder and President, John Wechsler, “now you know exactly what your fans/followers/users want to know about you or your products. This takes the guesswork out of blogging and communications — and makes talking to your followers and friends more powerful and direct.” 4. PollDaddy.com – One-off Polls & Survey Data If you’re looking for a robust quantitative survey solution (and are willing to pay a little money), PollDaddy is one of the most talked-about in the business. Yes, free survey solutions exist, but PollDaddy will let you export data, generate reports, and even manage Twitter polls. User uptake on polls and surveys can be surprisingly high, and PollDaddy generates some pretty nice visuals for the results. Though its free version is somewhat light on capacity (100 responses per month), the pro version is less than $20 per month. 5. UserVoice.com – Quick Site Feedback If you want to make delivering feedback on your site or blog as painless as possible, look no further than that little “FEEDBACK” tab that’s almost ubiquitous on the web these days. Powered by UserVoice.com, this cut and paste script allows you to instantly place a feedback forum on your site. Users can suggest and vote on features to add, bugs to fix, or suggestions for content and design. There are both paid and free options. ConclusionCarey sums it up when he says, “As publishers, we are data junkies and let our numbers really influence and guide our growth and topic selection.” He adds, “Knowing what our readers enjoy allows us to deliver really compelling content that our readers consistently engage with.” There are plenty of other solutions that exist for extracting this type of user data from your site. Feel free to share your own tips and experiences in the comments. Take our own Mashable Urtak, and add your own questions to it!
For more technology coverage, follow Mashable Tech on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookMore tech resources from Mashable:
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, 123render Reviews: Facebook, FormSpring, Google Analytics, Hunch, Twitter, iStockphoto Tags: analytics, bloggers, blogging, BLOGS, data, List, Lists, polls, stats, tech, web apps, website traffic, widgets
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| YouTube Launches Platform for Crowdsourcing Suggestions Posted: 27 May 2010 08:01 AM PDT 
Google Moderator, which launched in 2008, is one of the company’s lesser-known products. It allows a person to manage feedback and questions from large groups of people. Users submit their suggestions or questions via Moderator, and can then vote specific questions or suggestions up or down to bring the best ideas to the top. For the last six months, YouTube has been testing Google Moderator integration with a few select partners and events, most prominently during YouTube’s interview with President Barack Obama..  Starting today though, anyone can integrate Google Moderator into his or her YouTube channel. Channel owners can adjust features such as the dialogue, submission types and conversation length. Then channel viewers can respond with their own feedback or ideas. YouTube’s launching the new Moderator integration with 12 launch partners, including Stanford University, Howcast, singer Kina Grannis and YouTube star Michael Buckley. Stanford, for example, is using Moderator to have cadiologist Dr. Euan Ashley answer viewers’ questions about heart disease and genetic disorders (see video below). The goal, as YouTube News Manager Olivia Ma told me yesterday, is to give YouTube channel owners a better way to connect with their audiences. Google Moderator seems well-suited for that goal. While it is a niche product, we can see why YouTube’s decided to make it an option for all users. We’re sure we’ll see some unique uses for Moderator over the next few weeks. For more web video coverage, follow Mashable Web Video on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube Tags: Google, Google Moderator, youtube, YouTube Moderator
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| iPads Start Arriving Early in the UK Posted: 27 May 2010 06:27 AM PDT 
UPS delivered the iPad to the workplace of one lucky Stephen, located in Hatfield Heath, Essex. "I swear the launch was today," was all the delivery person said. Interestingly enough, recently the shipping date for the iPad in Apple’s UK online store changed from “May 28″ to “June 7″ and then to “June.” However, it seems that the customers who pre-ordered their iPads on the 10th or 11th of May can expect to see the device on their doorsteps on May 28, and — at least in one case — even a day early.  [img credit: Razorianfly] For more Apple coverage, follow Mashable Apple on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Twitter
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After a string of 
In response to mounting concern from users and the media, as well as 
It’s been spotted 
According to Google’s AdPlanner 
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Name: 
Remember that 
Over the last 15 years, web design and development has evolved tremendously. The introduction of CSS, advancements with HTML, the ever-increasing power of JavaScript, and technologies like Flash and Silverlight, have made the visual world of the 2010 web very different from the web from even five or six years ago. Except of course, for typography.
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Will your iPad app sell like hotcakes or will it flop? If you’re like magazine publisher 
After more than six months of government scrutiny, it’s official: The Google mothership has finally absorbed mobile ad platform AdMob.
Facebook is starting to roll out a new Q&A feature to challenge a slew of sites, from newcomer 
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The U.S. Department of Justice has been making a few calls to record labels to ask some pointed questions about iTunes.
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Ray Padgett is a freelance music writer whose work has appeared in SPIN, The Celebrity Café and an upcoming Bob Dylan anthology. He runs the music blog 
Acer has announced a slew of new products today, including an 
After oil started spewing into the Gulf of Mexico following the 
Face it: Most of us website owners don’t extract as much value from our traffic as we could.
YouTube is looking to ramp up engagement between viewers and content creators through the integration of 
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