Mashable: Latest 28 News Updates - including “Facebook 2009 Revenue Was Almost $800 Million [REPORT]” |  |
- Facebook 2009 Revenue Was Almost $800 Million [REPORT]
- First iPhone 4 Camper Shows Up One Week Before Launch
- Starbucks Challenges Paper Cup Waste via Sustanability Design Contest
- The Motion Control Video Game War Has Only Just Begun
- Black Eyed Peas’ DJ Rocky Rock vs. “DJ Hero” Gamer Prod1gy X [VIDEO]
- Twitter Delays the Oauthcalypse Due to the World Cup
- MySpace Loses a Co-President
- 5 Free and Open-Source Software Alternatives for Small Businesses
- Manage Your Brand’s Social Media Presence with One App
- Attend One of Mashable’s 340+ Social Media Day Meetups
- Twitter’s New Ads Are Ingenious
- “Epic Mickey” for Wii Takes the Mouse on a Dark Adventure [VIDEO]
- Answering Entrepreneurs Questions About the PepsiCo10
- Twitter Down Again
- Why Facebook Can’t Genuinely Connect People
- HTC Incredible Bug Reveals Potential Privacy Nightmare
- Mashable’s SummerMash Tour 2010 – Tickets Now Available!
- Google Docs Changes Sharing and Privacy Options
- WordPress 3.0 Has Arrived
- Top 10 Beautiful Minimalist Icon Sets
- Fledgling Q&A Platform Formspring.me Integrates with WordPress
- HOW TO: Build A Twitter Strategy for Your Business
- 4 Free World Cup Apps for BlackBerry
- “Vuvuzela” Any Site on the Web [APPS]
- Stephen Colbert Joins the Battle Over the Word “Tweet” [VIDEO]
- 5 Extremely Addicting iPad Games
- Rock Band 3 Live Demo at E3 [VIDEO]
- Tablets Will Be Outselling Netbooks by 2012 [REPORT]
- Amazon Patents Social Networking System, Winks at Facebook
| Facebook 2009 Revenue Was Almost $800 Million [REPORT] Posted: 18 Jun 2010 03:51 AM PDT  
The number is significantly higher than earlier estimates of $500 million revenue in 2009, and even the projected $710 million revenue in 2010. Facebook, as usual, declines to comment on any of these numbers, but we know that somewhere in 2009. Facebook became cash-flow positive. “They are downplaying their performance. There’s no upside in getting people’s expectations high, it’s always better to go low,” said one of Reuters’ sources. It could be true: if Facebook is heading towards an IPO, it’s definitely better to be able to show big growth than to boast high numbers now, and end up unable to beat them after. If these new estimates are true, this is great news for Facebook, which has been on the ugly side of a privacy-related scandal that ended up reaching the cover of Time Magazine and had Mark Zuckerberg, the site’s founder and CEO, apologizing for the company’s misdeeds. As long as the earnings and growth is strong – and according to the latest numbers from Compete, Facebook is still growing quite fast – Facebook will have time to tinker and experiment with privacy to find out how far it can go before causing a backlash. For more business coverage, follow Mashable Business on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Twitter Tags: business, facebook, Revenue, social netoworking
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| First iPhone 4 Camper Shows Up One Week Before Launch Posted: 18 Jun 2010 12:29 AM PDT 
“Some would say I am crazy, but I say I’m a very determined fan. In fact I just might be one the biggest Apple fans you will actually meet. I have been the first costumer for this store since 2008 when the iPhone 3G was released. Normally I only camp out over night, but since I do not work due to the fact I am disabled with a seizure disorder and I am not in school at the point, I figure I just make it a fun experience and do it for a week,” Justin wrote on the MacRumors forum. The iPhone 4 is landing in Apple stores on June 24. Check out a video interview with Justin below. [Dallas News via Engadget] For more Apple coverage, follow Mashable Apple on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Twitter Tags: apple, camping, iphone 4
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| Starbucks Challenges Paper Cup Waste via Sustanability Design Contest Posted: 17 Jun 2010 10:06 PM PDT 
The winning entry (see below), which was chosen by a jury of designers, engineers and entrepreneurs out of a pool of 430 designs, was surprisingly simple: It’s a chalkboard. Customers who bring in a reusable mug can put a mark on the board, and every tenth guest receives a free beverage. “There are plenty of great reusable mugs out there,” the entry says. “But what people really need is an incentive to make the behavior change — a free cup of coffee and a bit of peer pressure.” Shaun Abrahamson of Colaboratorie Mutopo, the social production consultancy that organized the challenge, explained that the jury was looking for an idea that could be implemented to make a difference right away — which may explain why more creative concepts, like the 100% compostable cup made out of rice husk disposables or the barcode consumers could attach to reusable mugs to redeem rewards and gain social awareness, weren’t chosen. Colaboratorie Mutopo first began working on the contest in May 2009 in an effort to bring the best minds together to eliminate paper cup waste via design. Every year, 58 billion paper cups are thrown away, rather than recycled. 20 million trees and 12 billion gallons of water are used to make these paper cups — enough energy to power 53,000 homes, according to the Environmental Defense Organization. That doesn’t even include the resources involved in the coffee itself, which are enormous. “We rush in to Starbucks and grab a coffee without thinking about any of the consequences,” Abrahamson explained in an interview. ” We wanted to organize a forum where people could share their ideas [to solve the problem].” Starbucks sponsored the contest with $20,000 in prizes: $10,000 was awarded to the entry selected by the jury, and $2,000 was given to the five ideas with the most votes from the site’s community. Entries were posted between April 1 and June 1, during which time visitors to the site could leave comments which the designers could then use to improve their designs. “We were blown away by how far people… went to elevate [their designs] once they got feedback,” Abrahamson said. It’s not yet clear whether Starbucks will implement the winning entry — or any of the entries — to achieve the company’s goal of serving 100% of its beverages in reusable or recyclable cups by 2015. Even if Starbucks isn’t interested in incorporating any of the proposed ideas, Abrahamson said that his team is determined to find people and companies who are. “Obviously we’re hoping that [interest] comes from Starbucks,” he added. What do you think of the challenge and the winning design?  For more dev and design coverage, follow Mashable Dev & Design on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Twitter Tags: betacup challenge, crowdsourcing, design, starbucks, sustanability
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| The Motion Control Video Game War Has Only Just Begun Posted: 17 Jun 2010 09:28 PM PDT 
On November 19th, 2006, Nintendo launched its seventh-generation console, the Wii. The device was unlike any gaming console ever created, due to the wireless motion Wiimote controllers. While some ridiculed it for its lack of processing power or HD graphics, its tremendous sales and reach among casual gamers have made Nintendo the top dog in the gaming market. Now Microsoft and Sony are putting the focus on motion controllers with the Kinect and the Playstation Move respecitvely. But how will this three-way battle play out? Who will remain standing after the dust clears? Proactive vs. Reactive Even though the Xbox 360 came out first, the Nintendo Wii has been the undisputed winner of this generation’s console wars, at least thus far. Over 70 million units have been sold, compared to 40 million for the Xbox 360 and 35 million for the PlayStation 3. Nintendo took a major risk with its Wiimote system. Nobody had seen anything like it before in gaming, and nobody was sure that Nintendo’s focus on casual gamers would succeed. Its proactive approach though has paid off beautifully, and Microsoft and Sony are playing catch-up. Sony and Microsoft are tackling motion control in completely different ways, though. The PlayStation Move (which I’ve tried) uses a Wiimote-like controller and pairs it with a PlayStation Eye camera, which tracks your movement and puts it on the screen. But as I said back in March, Sony played it safe with the Move. My assessment is that it’s just a fancier and more accurate Wiimote. Microsoft, on the other hand, realized that it couldn’t win by just improving on Nintendo’s innovations — it had to go a step further. I’ve heard nothing but excitement surround Kinect and its controller-free technology. It essentially turns the Xbox 360 into a new console by reinventing the gaming experience. It’s Still Nintendo’s Game to Lose In a few month, the PlayStation Move and Xbox Kinect will be out in store shelves, along with the Wii and the Wii MotionPlus, which provides more a more accurate motion control experience. You can expect a huge amount of interest from consumers in all of these motion control devices. You should also expect the motion controller wars to last for years, not months. Nintendo has a huge lead. People still want Wiis and they still fly off shelves, especially around the holidays. The buzz and excitement around Xbox Kinect is going to hit fever pitch before its release. The PlayStation 3 has been recovering from its weak start with a “slim” version of the console, released last September. Overall, the landscape is becoming more competitive, and the technology involved in motion controllers is still young. However, while the PlayStation Move should fare just fine, don’t expect Sony to win the motion controller war — you don’t win by playing it safe. The ultimate battle will be between Nintendo and Microsoft, and it will last until the next generation of consoles emerges (prediction: Nintendo will come out with a new console first). It’s Nintendo’s game to lose, but Microsoft is going to put up one hell of a fight. It should make for some incredible games. For more business coverage, follow Mashable Business on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Twitter Tags: kinect, microsoft, Nintendo, Opinion, playstation, playstation 3, project natal, PS3, sony, Wii, wiimote, xbox, Xbox 360
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| Black Eyed Peas’ DJ Rocky Rock vs. “DJ Hero” Gamer Prod1gy X [VIDEO] Posted: 17 Jun 2010 06:52 PM PDT 
The DJ battle went down at the E3 convention in Los Angeles this week as part of a promotion for Gunnar Optiks, a company that makes “digital performance eyewear” for gamers and other folks who spend a lot of time in front of LCD displays. Don’t know DJ Hero? It’s a video game from Activision, the makers of the very popular Guitar Hero franchise. It comes with a DJ deck controller and features 93 original mixes and 102 total songs right in the box. So, who won — the old-school DJ or the video game DJ? Let us know in the comments. For more entertainment coverage, follow Mashable Entertainment on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Twitter, dj hero Tags: activision, black eyed peas, DJ, DJ Hero, dj rocky rock, e3, E3 2010, gaming, gunnar optiks, music, Prod1gy X, video games, xbox, Xbox 360
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| Twitter Delays the Oauthcalypse Due to the World Cup Posted: 17 Jun 2010 05:30 PM PDT 
Currently, there are two ways to connect to Twitter apps: basic authentication (where you provide your username and password) and OAuth, which lets users hand out “tokens” for access to applications instead of sensitive account data. Twitter intended to cut off use of basic authentication on June 30th — 12 and a half days away — and even launched a countdown clock for the occasion so that application developers were prepared. Since then, Twitter’s stability has been compromised due to critical mistakes setting up and maintaining the service’s internal network. It has resulted in constant downtime and fail whales. With so much happening, Twitter has decided to push back Oauthcalypse to August 16th, a full month after the World Cup ends. Here’s exactly what’s going to happen, according to Twitter’s Raffi Krikorian:
Summary: Starting on August 16th, Twitter will begin to limit the use of basic authentication until the 31st, when the switch to OAuth will be complete. Given the circumstances, delaying the OAuthcalypse is the right move for the company, but one has to wonder what other features and projects are being pushed back due to the massive failure of Twitter’s internal network. This month is turning out to be Twitter Hell. For more social media coverage, follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Twitter Tags: OAuth, Oauthcalypse, twitpocalypse, twitter, world cup, world cup 2010
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| Posted: 17 Jun 2010 04:19 PM PDT 
Jon Miller, the chief digital office of News Corp, revealed in a statement that Hirschorn decided to leave — he was not fired — and is moving back to New York. Here’s News Corp’s full statement:
MySpace has been having an executive shuffle for a long time now. Former Facebook executive Owen Van Natta was forced out just nine months after becoming MySpace CEO, and Co-founder Tom Anderson is essentially gone. And while the company has a solid strategy, its been on a sharp decline that shows no signs of stopping. Now MySpace will be led solely by Co-President Mike Jones. As TechCrunch points out, he’s likely to be named the CEO, placing all of the pressure on him to engineer a miraculous turnaround. The road isn’t going to get any easier though, as many employees may leave next month when retention bonuses are dished out to the company’s top talent. For more business coverage, follow Mashable Business on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, MySpace, Twitter Tags: Jason Hirschhorn, myspace
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| 5 Free and Open-Source Software Alternatives for Small Businesses Posted: 17 Jun 2010 03:23 PM PDT 
If you’re part of a small business, chances are you’re always looking for ways to save money. What many business owners and managers don’t realize is that they can get all the software they need to run a business — quite literally all of it in most cases — 100% free of charge. That includes operating systems, word processing programs, accounting software, email servers, graphic design programs and more. If you put in some time to do some research, you might find perfectly free software alternatives that work just as well as Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop, QuickBooks, and other better-known programs. Best of all, since FOSS is free to download and try, there’s no risk in testing it out. Take a look at some of these programs and see if a few of them would fit your business needs. You lose nothing by giving them a try, and if they are a good fit, you could save hundreds or even thousands of dollars in licensing fees and upgrades. 1. OpenOffice
OpenOffice is an open-source alternative to Microsoft Office and similar software suites. It’s absolutely free to download, and it contains programs for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics databases and more. The interfaces are familiar and intuitive; in other words, even if you happen to realize you’re not in MS Word, you won’t feel lost or not know which buttons to click to get your work done. It is available in many languages and works on all common operating systems. 2. GNUCash
GNUCash is a free program for personal and small-business accounting. It tracks bank accounts (including investments), revenue and expenses. Its features include tracking for customers, vendors, jobs, invoices, accounts payable, accounts receivable and detailed reporting, as well. You can import all your current data from programs such as Microsoft Money and Quicken, and you can also export data to spreadsheets, including Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. Since accounting software is so integral to a business’ bottom line, this might be something you’d want to test first before you make a full commitment to switching. If you’ve got a good grasp of other accounting programs, GNUCash will be second nature to you; however, if you’re new to such programs, reviews suggest you’ll still have a fairly easy time grasping its concepts, features and uses. 3. GIMP
GIMP is a free Photoshop substitute that will satisfy all but the most demanding professional graphic designers. If you need to make simple web graphics, retouch a few product photos, or create flyers or other marketing materials, this program should work nicely for you. It’s robust, and if you’ve used Photoshop or Photoshop-like clone programs, the interface and commands will be familiar to you. The images you create can be saved in an array of common formats, including PSD Photoshop files, in case you need to send your files to a Photoshop user. All in all, GIMP might be the single greatest money-saver on this list. It’s completely free, whereas a single Photoshop license — which you’ll need to pay for again each time Adobe releases a new version of the software — can cost hundreds of dollars per user. 4. Zimbra
If you want a Microsoft Exchange-level email program for your business, including web, mobile and desktop email clients, but you don’t want to pay the licensing fees, you might consider Zimbra as an alternative. Its FOSS version is free of charge and available for immediate download. It’s compatible with most operating systems, including Mac and Windows, and it includes an address book, a calendar, document support and a task-management app, among other features. This app also integrates natively with other mail clients, such as Outlook and Apple Mail. Lastly, Zimbra also uses a standards-based approach that supports POP, IMAP, iCal and more for importing email and calendar data from other programs. 5. Linux
Sometimes called GNU/Linux, this family of operating systems is versatile, free, easy to customize, stable, beautiful, frequently updated and — let’s say it again — completely and utterly free, regardless of how many devices or users install it. For years, there’s been the commonly held idea that Linux OSes are command-line intensive, difficult to use, easy to crash and generally for nerds only. Much of this “fear, uncertainty and doubt” has come from corporate entities that benefit most from these drastic misperceptions. While you might want to reach out for a little help when installing your Linux OS for the first time, you’ll be shocked at how simple and user-friendly a Linux distro (that’s short for “distribution,” the Linux term for version) can be. The interfaces are elegant and intuitive, much more so than even Windows or Mac for many users. If you’re concerned about not being able to find programs that will run on a Linux machine, you can run any Windows applications you need by using Wine, a Windows emulator: Clearly, installing an entirely new operating system is a bigger commitment than switching from MS Office to OpenOffice, but the rewards (and the short- and long-term savings) are much, much greater. If you’re hesitant about making the commitment, try installing a distro such as Ubuntu on a personal laptop or netbook until you get a feel for it and are confident it will work for your business. [img credit: seeminglee] For more technology coverage, follow Mashable Tech on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Adobe Photoshop, Facebook, GIMP, GNU, Linux, Twitter, Ubuntu, Windows, Zimbra Tags: foss, free software, gimp, gnucash, Linux, open source, OpenOffice, small business, zimbra
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| Manage Your Brand’s Social Media Presence with One App Posted: 17 Jun 2010 03:05 PM PDT 
Quick Pitch: The Awareness Social Marketing Hub helps marketers publish, manage, measure and engage with their marketing across key social media channels. Genius Idea: We’re living in the age of the social brand. Brands have accounts on sites like Foursquare, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and probably even have their own blogs. While each account may be manageable on its own, together they present even the best communications professionals with the daunting duty of updating, maintaining, participating with and tracking each of them. The Social Marketing Hub was designed to make the social media management and tracking responsibilities manageable for large enterprise organizations. The platform does so by presenting users with the ability to create content — photos, blog posts, video, files — and automatically post it to all or select social sites with just a few clicks.  These destination sites are referred to as channels, and the Hub supports updates to all of the following: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, WordPress, Flickr and Awareness-branded online communities. Of course, the Hub includes management for multiple accounts on each of the various channels. Perhaps the most rewarding aspect of the Social Marketing Hub is that marketers can manage all channel behavior — like viewing and adding comments or replies — inside their dashboards. So, you can watch the conversations happening on Facebook and Twitter and participate in all of them from a single place. For example, if there’s an inappropriate comment posted to your Facebook Page, you can remove it in the Hub. The Social Marketing Hub includes aggregate, channel and content-specific metrics. Users can look at views, click-throughs, comments, retweets, favorites and likes. The Hub also includes sentiment analysis for both comments and the commenters that created them. This handy feature should help brands better identify and address brand advocates and naysayers. In coming weeks, the Hub will also support integration with Foursquare. Foursquare will be added as a channel so that admins can choose to automatically publish content as tips to their Foursquare venues. This particular feature should appeal to larger brands looking to automate the tip creation process across all of their venues. The Social Marketing Hub is priced at $2,000 for the lowest subscription plan, which includes support for up to five channels. Disclosure: Awareness is a current sponsor of Mashable. Sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark
For more technology coverage, follow Mashable Tech on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Flickr, Foursquare, Mashable, Twitter, WordPress, YouTube Tags: MARKETING, social marketing hub, spark-of-genius
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| Attend One of Mashable’s 340+ Social Media Day Meetups Posted: 17 Jun 2010 02:42 PM PDT 
Last week, we announced Social Media Day — a global celebration of the revolution of media becoming social. Readers responded enthusiastically by signing up to organize or attend more than 340 meetups in 74 different countries. Today, we also launched Smday.com to help showcase the social discussions around the event with featured photos tagged with #smday on Flickr, tweets that include #smday, your Facebook comments, and, of course, the Meetup widget showcasing the events closest to your community. Our staff will be attending meetups in New York City, San Francisco, Atlanta and Austin, so come say hello (other cities may be added). If you’re not in any of those cities, you’re still in for quite a treat with some very impressive meetups scheduled from Barcelona to Sydney. In Los Angeles, for example, the organizers are using the day to benefit a good cause, with all the proceeds from the night’s festivities going to the local Hollywood Arts, an arts academy for homeless and foster care. Other cities, like Philadelphia, are using the day as a way to connect with the local social media community. Jed Singer, the organizer of the Social Media Day celebration in Philadelphia, told Mashable that he decided to participate because social media has changed people’s lives, and because it simply is worth celebrating. “I just love how social media tethers everyone together, and brings people closer in the real world. It’s amazing how far we’ve come from forums and message boards, to blogging, uploading video, microblogging, geolocating,” he said. “The fact that anyone can instantly publish anything to the web has really changed the world.” We’d also love to hear what you’re doing in the comments below or in the Facebook comments section on Smday.com. How To Participate:
Top 10 Meetups (Based on Attendance)
See the Closest Meetups to Your CityFor more social media coverage, follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Flickr, Mashable, Twitter Tags: Events, mashable, meetup everywhere, smday, social media day
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| Twitter’s New Ads Are Ingenious Posted: 17 Jun 2010 02:24 PM PDT 
Under the new system, brands can pay to appear below the “Trending Topics,” the most talked-about terms on Twitter at any given moment. The idea is, in a word, ingenious — the perfect way to generate revenue from the popular social network without infuriating users. That’s the topic of my CNN column this week. Check out the column at CNN.com >>Reviews: Twitter Tags: ads, cashmore, cnn, pete cashmore, promoted trends, Promoted Tweets, twitter
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| “Epic Mickey” for Wii Takes the Mouse on a Dark Adventure [VIDEO] Posted: 17 Jun 2010 02:18 PM PDT 
A project of Disney, Pixar and legendary video game designer Warren Spector, Epic Mickey is part platformer, part adventure and part role-playing game, with players encouraged to find any number of possible solutions to obstacles, problems and enemies in their path. A magic paintbrush game mechanic gives Mickey the ability to alter his environment to solve (or create) problems by painting objects into the level, or using paint thinner to destroy bad guys and objects in the way. It’s certainly shaping up to be a re-imaginging of Mickey Mouse for the modern era as well as for the console. Developer Junction Point Studios plans to release the game this fall on September 16. Check out a video of some of the gameplay available on the show floor below and let us know what you think: is this a welcome new take on Disney’s classic Mickey? For more technology coverage, follow Mashable Tech on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Twitter Tags: disney, e3, E3 2010, Epic Mickey, Junction Point Studios, Mickey Mouse, Nintendo, nintendo wii, pixar, video games, Warren Spector, Wii
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| Answering Entrepreneurs Questions About the PepsiCo10 Posted: 17 Jun 2010 02:17 PM PDT 
You heard about PepsiCo10 here first from Adam Ostrow — a program we've created with key partners, including Mashable — to identify the smartest new start-ups in technology, communications and media. Midway through the submission process, we want to offer a check-in on our PepsiCo10 progress. So far, we have received some amazing submissions that we're excited to review once the window closes on June 24th. During this time, we have also received a lot of questions about the impetus behind the program and the details of the selection criteria. Because this is a new program for us, as much as it is for you, we want to clarify and answer your questions. Here are updates to the top four PepsiCo10 questions we're hearing: 1. Is PepsiCo10 a contest? No, PepsiCo10 is not a contest; it is an open Request For Proposals (RFP) and a way for us to extend our support to entrepreneurs and exciting emerging technologies in media and communications. 2. What type of PepsiCo10 projects are you looking for? We are looking for projects that meet these minimum requirements:
3. Why is the PepsiCo10 a unique experience for entrepreneurs? PepsiCo10 is a unique opportunity to accelerate your business—to share your ideas and solutions with PepsiCo brand marketers and to gain insights from PepsiCo10 partners Highland Capital Partners, OMD Ignition Factor, TracyLocke, Weber Shandwick and dmg :: events. With its size and influence, PepsiCo brings to the table access to partners and companies that are the top players in their respective industries, not to mention access to PepsiCo's iconic brands and the impact of the enormous footprint PepsiCo holds itself. 4. Are non-U.S.-based companies eligible for the PepisCo10? The inaugural PepsiCo10 program is open only to U.S.-based companies or individuals for programs to be executed primarily in the United States. For more answers, have a look at our newly updated FAQ page at www.pepsico.com/faq. Reviews: Mashable Tags: mashable, pesico10, startups
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| Posted: 17 Jun 2010 01:45 PM PDT 
On the bright side, Twitter is already on top of the issue this time around, writing on their status blog that “Twitter is unavailable. Engineering and ops are responding.” In addition to warning about downtime, the company recently outlined some of the steps it is taking to deal with ongoing performance issues. While we wait for Twitter to return, feel free to use our comments section to let us know what you’re up to! Update: Twitter seems to be back online at of 7:00pm ET. For more social media coverage, follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Twitter Tags: twitter
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| Why Facebook Can’t Genuinely Connect People Posted: 17 Jun 2010 01:31 PM PDT 
With all the news about Facebook's never-ending privacy problems and the exodus of angry users, has the real story been overlooked? Specifically, is Facebook limiting people's ability to actually, well, connect? Along with my brother Rom, who is a psychologist, I've been researching what makes people form instant connections. From meeting someone at a work party to that special spark on a first date, instant connections aren't just intense; they can have a substantial effect on the overall tenor of the ensuing relationship. Research has shown that teams that click tend to work more effectively together and couples that had love at first sight are more passionate with each other even after twenty years. Facebook indeed fosters some of these connections, and we all know of stories of people who met online, chatted, and subsequently got married. But there are specific factors, or accelerators, that trigger such connections — and there are three that Facebook is seriously lacking: Physical proximity, vulnerability and a clearly defined community. Proximity Social psychologists have found that the distance separating people greatly influences the likelihood of a connection. Think back to your friends in school. How many of them had a last name that began with a letter close to yours on the alphabet? That's because teachers routinely assign seats alphabetically based on last name. The closer you sat to someone, the more likely you were to hit it off. When a researcher asked police cadets to name their friends from the academy, ninety percent of them named someone who sat adjacent to them. Likewise, scientists proved more likely to collaborate with other scientists who sat in the same corridor. Those last few feet separating people really matter. While Facebook might create digital proximity, it's impossible to recreate the intimacy of sitting next to someone. Of course, Facebook can't do much about proximity, but there are two other factors it can do something about. Vulnerability Research shows that vulnerability builds trust. Think of the types of things you tell someone whom you're growing close to: You might open up about your likes and dislikes or share stories from your past. Psychologists have found that these types of revelations make us more likely to connect because we become vulnerable and open, showing we trust those we disclose to. But it's becoming increasingly difficult to be vulnerable on Facebook. Facebook used to be an intimate community that only included your college buddies. Now, the company is starting to be perceived as Big Brother-like. If we write on someone's wall, who else will see it? If we comment on someone's status, whose newsfeed will it show up in? Sometimes it's as if Facebook is a hidden microphone that threatens to expose what we'd really like to say. Without that ability to be vulnerable, it is difficult to really connect with friends. Defined Community Ultimately, this all comes down to a sense of community. Think of how close people get with their freshman dorm mates. You're all new at school and together you form a clear, delineated community. Researchers have found that when people feel like they belong to such a community, they're much more likely to bond. You're in a "safe container" — that is, you're all part of the experience together, and you form your own little unit. It used to be that a group of Facebook friends felt like a separate and delineated group. As the site shares more and more information with the "outside," the walls of the community — that clear delineation — are becoming more porous and less effective at building bonds. Again, this negatively affects our ability to connect with others on the site. ConclusionFacebook is unintentionally doing one thing right in terms of building connections, and that's providing shared adversity. Unfortunately, that adversity is Facebook itself. We're more likely to bond with a stranger when we're stranded together in the airport or waiting in an obscenely long line. Likewise, studies have shown that soldiers who go through battle together are much more likely to stay in touch years after the war than their counterparts who didn't see combat. In a way, by dishing out a never-ending assault on privacy, Facebook is uniting its users by giving them a healthy dose of shared pain. So what can Facebook do? It can remember that the focus is on friendship, on building meaningful experiences with friends. To foster that, it can create a context of trust, of safety, and of true connections. For more social media coverage, follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookMore Facebook resources from Mashable
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, JulNichols Reviews: Facebook, Twitter, iStockphoto Tags: Connect, facebook, privacy
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| HTC Incredible Bug Reveals Potential Privacy Nightmare Posted: 17 Jun 2010 01:11 PM PDT 
As BGR reports, the HTC Sense UI takes screenshots of your web browser for its bookmark widget that are not actually deleted from your phone’s internal storage — even after a factory reset. These screenshots are then accessible by anyone who has the know-how to navigate the phone’s internal data structure on his/her desktop. We don’t have an HTC Incredible or DROID Incredible on-hand to test ourselves, but BGR reports that it was able to confirm that these temporary screenshots were not deleted after clearing the browser cache, software resets or even a full factory reset on more than one stock, un-rooted DROID Incredible unit. Again, the problem isn’t so much that the phone takes random screenshots of your browsing sessions — that’s part of how the HTC Sense bookmark widget works (though we will note that we are troubled that SSL or encrypted site contents are not automatically excluded from these random screenshot intervals) — the problem is that these images can only be removed by manually finding them in the file system and deleting them.  While getting to these screenshots right now is a convoluted process, it’s not hard to imagine a program or script that could make pulling up that data easy. This is just another example of a potential privacy hole in today’s digital landscape. It’s bad enough when services like Facebook or Google Buzz accidentally reveal private information, still, you could make the argument that that is a potential risk of using such services. However, with bugs like this, users who don’t do anything but use their devices as intended could potentially leave their data at risk. While we fully expect HTC to issue some sort of update to its affected products, this incident is just more food for thought in the ongoing digital privacy debate. [via Engadget] [img credit: BGR] For more mobile coverage, follow Mashable Mobile on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Google Buzz, Twitter Tags: android, droid incredible, HTC Incredible, privacy, security
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| Mashable’s SummerMash Tour 2010 – Tickets Now Available! Posted: 17 Jun 2010 12:36 PM PDT   We’re excited to announce Mashable’s U.S. SummerMash 2010 Tour. We’re making stops at Seattle, San Francisco, DC, New York City and Chicago with most of the Mashable team in tow! Each event will have approximately 300 to 600 attendees and will include networking, formal introductions to the sponsors, an open or cash bar, interview lounge, music, light appetizers and more! The ticket and registration sites are below. Please note that there are only a limited number of tickets per city being released due to capacity restrictions. SummerMash SeattleHyatt at Olive 8 Saturday, July 10 Thanks to our Local Sponsors:
SummerMash San FranciscoGrand Hyatt San Francisco Wednesday, July 14 Thanks to our Local Sponsors:
Discover the tools of engagement at SES San Francisco, Aug. 16-20. No longer just lecturing your customers, learn to listen and converse in a more social world. Our experts will show you how integrating search, social media, and video, in even basic ways will transform both your sites visibility and profitability. Packed with sessions on PPC management, information architecture, social media, local search, mobile application development, video optimization, and other advanced topics, we have created an educational and networking environment designed for both beginners and veterans in digital marketing. Register by July 30th and SAVE up to $554. Enter MBL15. Sessions Include: Social & the Marketing Mix, Search, PR & the Social Butterfly, The Business Value of Social Media, Local Search Ranking Factors SummerMash DCUSA Today HQ Wednesday, August 5 SummerMash New York City92Y Tribeca Monday, August 9 Thanks to our Local Sponsors:
SummerMash ChicagoHyatt Regency Chicago Wednesday, August 11 Thanks to our Local Sponsors: A Special Thanks to Our Tour Sponsor
A Special Thanks to Our Video Partner
Thanks to Our Official Ticketing Partner
Eventbrite is the world's largest self-service online ticketing site. Eventbrite makes it easy for anyone to sell-out an event. [img credit of awesome bus (not included): conner395] Reviews: Bing, Mashable
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| Google Docs Changes Sharing and Privacy Options Posted: 17 Jun 2010 11:50 AM PDT 
The changes are intended to make sharing and collaboration simpler while also letting users see at a glance what people have access to which documents. Now, the level of privacy or publicity a document has is more readily visible, which should make managing who can share your docs a lot easier. Now, you can take any document you have stored on Google Docs and designate it with one of three sharing/privacy settings. The doc can be private and viewable only by you. It can also be viewable by anyone with a link; a Google rep compared this option to giving someone an unlisted phone number. Or the document can be completely public and viewable by anyone. Public documents will also be indexed by search engines, so make sure your public docs are something you’d want the whole world to see. It’s also important to note that the default setting for new docs you create will be private. Along with these sharing and privacy changes, Google Docs’ sharing features are getting a cleaner interface and the ability to reset the doc’s URL (i.e. changing your unlisted phone number, to reference the previous metaphor) and to make bulk changes to multiple documents’ settings. Here are a couple demo/tutorial videos to quickly explain the changes. These changes should be visible to most Google Docs users within a week or so. What do you think so far? Will these changes make it easier to share the docs you want to share and let your personal info remain private? For more technology coverage, follow Mashable Tech on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Google, Google Docs, Twitter Tags: Google, google docs
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| Posted: 17 Jun 2010 11:22 AM PDT 
What’s new in 3.0? One of the best ways to find out is to try out the new Twenty Ten theme, which shows off many of the release’s (which is also called “Thelonius”) major new features, including custom backgrounds, headers, shortlinks, menus, post types and taxonomies. Thelonius also features a lighter interface, more contextual help options, a boatload of bug fixes, bulk updates and much more. To learn more details about five of the most important updates, check out this brief and informative guide. This video from the WordPress team also explains some of the new features: For those of you laboring on the backend, including developers and sysadmins, you might appreciate that MU and WordPress have finally merged. Now you’ll be able to run one or multiple blogs from the same installation. Interestingly, the staff of WordPress/Automattic won’t immediately rush off to start work on WordPress 3.1. Founder Matt Mullenweg said his team will be taking some time to focus on things other than the core product. “Over the next three months,” he wrote this morning, “we're going to split into ninja/pirate teams focused on different areas of the around-WordPress experience, including the showcase, Codex, forums, profiles, update and compatibility APIs, theme directory, plugin directory, mailing lists, core plugins, wordcamp.org… the possibilities are endless… We think this investment of time will give us a much stronger infrastructure to grow WordPress.org for the many tens of millions of users that will join us during the 3.X release cycle.” Are you excited to use the new WordPress 3.0? For more dev and design coverage, follow Mashable Dev & Design on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Twitter, WordPress Tags: automattic, blog, blogging, CMS, thelonius, trending, Wordpress, WordPress 3.0
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| Top 10 Beautiful Minimalist Icon Sets Posted: 17 Jun 2010 10:20 AM PDT 
With thousands of icons available, with endless gradients, colors and reflections, it can be overwhelming as to what will best suit your minimalist design. There are alternatives to all those over-glossed icons, should you require a more simple, elegant design style. Here are ten noteworthy icon sets which match the minimalist design ethos. 1. Iconic Iconic is a beautiful set consisting of 120 icons in raster and vector formats. The icon set packages are in both PNG, SVG, and SWC image formats with Omnigraffle stencil formats also included. The raster-format icons come in 8×8, 12×12, 16×16, 24×24 and 32×32 pixels; however, if you require a different size you can create your own with the original SVG icons. Iconic also comes in 14 separate colors to meet most designers requirements. The beauty of Iconic is it’s flexibility, with each icon rendering from eight to 800 pixels, while maintaining a high legibility. Many of the icons in the set come in at least two variations to further increase flexibility. The strict adherence to a grid system also helps keep the look of the set consistent. While the icons are minimal in style they are highly stylized yet subtle enough to be easily incorporated into most design projects. The icons were originally designed for a WordPress theme, and it is within a blog format where they would perhaps be showcased best. 2. Mono Icons Available as a free download, this pack consists of 108 icons in a 32×32 pixel PNG format. While the icons are gray you can easily customize the color in Photoshop, by using layer styles and applying Color Overlay. In Fireworks, simply apply Filters → Adjust Color → Color Fill and choose your color. The icons are simple, bold and extremely well designed and would fit well within most applications, perhaps best though within either a software application UI or blog format. The ease with which they can be customized and colorized make them an attractive option for your next project. 3. Pictoico With over 100 fully scalable icons, available free for download, Pictoico is an attractive package which bundles both vector and SVG formats. It is the start of a visual initiative to create over 1,000 symbols which will be released to the public over the course of 2010. Pictoico aims to create a contemporary, simple icon which can be used in a variety of ways. The icons could be incorporated into your online, print, mobile and software applications. The author even suggests utilizing them for signs in the real world around your street, campus, resort or even city. 4. Gentleface Toolbar Icons Available free or with a Royalty Free license, the entire set totals 244 original icons (including eight cursors) optimized for 16×16 pixel size and available in 16×16, 32×32 and 48×48 pixel sizes. The set includes vector icons in EPS and flash SWF formats, which allow complete control to resize without loss of fidelity, color, and effects. The icons include pagination arrows, ratings and voting controls, social interaction symbols, file system icons and text editor actions. These icons are extremely versatile and would be ideally suited to wireframes and software mock-up creation; however, they would also work well within software applications, toolbars, and even within iPhone and iPod apps. 5. PICOL PICOL stands for PIctorial Communication Language and is a project to find a standard and reduced sign system for electronic communication. PICOL currently offer 3 sets of icons each totaling 517 beautifully designed icons. 16×16 and 32×32 pixel formats are available along with a SVG vector package, all free to download. The icons offer a unique take on many of the standard symbols, such as application, firewall, internet, cut, copy and paste. Each icon has been designed to be simple, yet effective in conveying the message. The PICOL icons were heavily featured in the History of the Internet video (by the same designer), which has amassed over two million views and explains the Internet in a fun and incredibly simplistic and elegant way using the icons. 6. Brightmix Featuring 104 wonderfully elegant icons within one EPS vector format, Brightmix offers a flexibile package which can be resized, edited and colorized simply and efficiently to suit most projects. The icons were originally designed for the relaunch of a newspaper site, and as the authors created and added to the set and utilized them for other projects, they later decided to release them as a free download. Of particular interest is the WTFPL license under which they are released! The icons are an update to a previous version and include a wider range of icons, which would be useful for various mediums, such as presentations, iPhone applications, wireframes and software applications. 7. Token A beautiful, minimal set of icons which is available as a free download or with a commercial license ($50), Token includes 128 unique icon designs, available as an ICO bundling of 16×16, 32×32 and 256×256 pixels icons, or as a PNG at 128×128 pixels. Each icon has both dark and light variants, and comes along with a PSD which includes the layer styles for each resolution. Token was created as a sequel to the designer’s earlier icon set, Mnml, and has been regularly updated and expanded. You can now download the additional Token File Type set which includes 32 icons, has a dark and light variant, and is saved as a windows ICO that displays crisply at most resolutions. 8. BackToPixel Designed in a retro pixel style, BackToPixel is available as a free download of 75 icons in 9×9, 18×18 and 28×28 size pixels, in both PNG and GIF formats. The package also includes the icons in over 10 separate colors. This unique set also includes three button styles which are optimized for lighter backgrounds. The icons could be utilized especially well within a blog design (perhaps an 80s, old-school or retro styled blog) and equally well within both presentations and website design. 9. Eclipse2 Available as a free download, the package includes 116 system and 165 application dock icons in 16×16, 32×32, 48×48 and 128×128 pixel sizes in PNG format. Whilst originally created as a replacement for system and applications icons, the simplicity and clarity of each icon means they would fit perfectly within presentations, as well as web and software applications. You can also extend the set by downloading the supplementary pack for additional system and application icons (e.g. Acrobat Reader & Microsoft Office) and the complementary Syzygy icon pack which builds upon Eclipse2. 10. Helveticons No minimalist icon showcase would be complete without including the beautiful Helveticons – a selection of vector icons, glyphs and symbols based on the Helvetica Bold typeface. The purchasing options range from the basic set ($279) to the complete set of 477 icons with extras ($439), which includes a very helpful PSD file to inspire you on how to make the best use of the icons, with examples ranging from basic web buttons to strong logotypes. The set includes seven file formats of which six are scalable vectors as well as the GS format for Omnigraffle icons and CHS for Photoshop shapes. The icons are stunning in their clarity and overall design and would be perfect for almost any medium, including; wire-framing, presentations, web applications, buttons and promotional material. What other minimal styled icon sets have you discovered? Be sure to share your picks in the comments below. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Spod For more dev and design coverage, follow Mashable Dev & Design on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookSeries supported by Ben & Jerry’s Joe  This series is supported by Ben & Jerry’s Joe, Ben & Jerry’s new line-up of Fair Trade and frozen iced coffee drinks. Learn more about it here. Reviews: Facebook, Internet, OmniGraffle, Twitter, WordPress, iStockphoto Tags: BacktoPixel, Brightmix, Eclipse2, Gentleface Toolbar Icons, Helveticons, iconic, icons, List, Lists, minimalist, minimalist icon sets, MonoIcons, PICOL, Pictoico, Token, web design
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| Fledgling Q&A Platform Formspring.me Integrates with WordPress Posted: 17 Jun 2010 10:00 AM PDT 
Formspring.me is a nifty little app that lets you answer anonymous (or credited) questions from your social network. It’s caught on like, well, a virus among certain groups; it bears almost all the hallmarks of a truly infectious application, including self-reference and just a dash of mystery. Since the app’s inception, users have been asking for the ability to post their Q&As elsewhere on the web. The app has been letting users post their answered queries to Twitter and Facebook for a while, and Tumblr and Blogger integrations are also available. But today, Formspring’s floodgates are opening for full WordPress support. Also new today is Formspring’s option to share Q&As on MySpace. Users who also have MySpace accounts can now publish their Formspring answers to their MySpace profiles and will, moreover, be able to find their MySpace friends on Formspring. This app launched just seven months ago; it already gets around 50 million unique visitors each month. Even more exciting, around 40% of Formspring's 13 million users currently share their Q&As on other sites. In a release, Formspring CEO and Co-founder Ade Olonoh said, "These integrations with MySpace and WordPress will help us continue to build our rapidly growing global audience. Even more importantly, bringing MySpace and WordPress into the fold lets our users have the ability to share their opinions and insights with their friends and followers through all of the top social media and blogging platforms." To us, this integration makes perfect sense, especially for Wordpress users. When your online contacts ask you thought-provoking questions and you give careful — and sometimes long-winded — answers, the Q&A ends up reading like a blog post, anyhow. What do you think: Will these new integrations help Formspring.me grow? For more social media coverage, follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, FormSpring, MySpace, Tumblr, Twitter, WordPress, blogger Tags: formspring, formspring.me, myspace, social media, web app, Wordpress
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| HOW TO: Build A Twitter Strategy for Your Business Posted: 17 Jun 2010 09:34 AM PDT 
You know your business can’t just wing it on Twitter, you need a strategy. But how do you get there? A lot of social media advice revolves around confusing, high-concept buzzwords: There are only so many times you can be told to “listen” and “engage.” Concrete advice can be hard to come by, and while this guide won’t tell you what you need to tweet, it will provide you with the real questions you need to ask in order to craft a Twitter strategy for your business. 1. Choose Your AudienceWho do you want to reach on Twitter? Be specific and limit your scope to the demographic you really need; trying to reach everyone isn’t a great strategy. If you’re a B2B company, for example, you’ll probably want to reach other businesses and the people that represent them. Here is a quick example: Look up at least 10 of your customers on Twitter (a quick name search on Google can turned up their Twitter profiles). Once you’ve found some, look at who they’re following and who they talk to. These people could also become part of your audience. Look at how they describe themselves and what terms they talk about. Use those keywords and terms to find like-minded people. The goal here is not to find everyone you’d like to interact with (that would probably be next to impossible), but to find people who might fit into your audience. Try to pay attention to who has influence in your audience. For example: who are people talking to, about or retweeting? Who do they seem to ask for advice? Once you have a decent group, move on to step two. 2. Understand How They SpeakIt might sound like I’m giving you clichéd advice to “listen,” but clichés exist for a reason. You need to understand how your audience talks, what they like, and what they share. Below are some solid steps to get you started.
3. How Much is a Twitter Lead Worth? This is a bit more theoretical but it’s an important step that many companies forget. The reason you’re involved with Twitter isn’t just to say you’re there, it’s because you’re looking for a good return on investment. So what is it that you’re after? It might be as concrete as sign-ups and sales or as ephemeral as buzz and brand awareness. Depending on your goal, try to figure out how much each person is “worth.” This almost certainly won’t be an exact number, but you should get a general idea. For example, if you’re doing B2B sales and a sale is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, you’re going to have a very different strategy than a company with millions of users that makes its money from advertising. 4. Set A Goal and Track It Setting a goal is just the start of your strategy, you also need to track it with metrics. Choosing metrics does not just mean tracking your follower count because the count isn’t always a totally accurate measure of how many people are paying attention to your account. There are obviously different approaches depending on the size of your fan base. If you have a large audience, you might not be able to put a lot of time into each lead. Your overall goal will likely be about brand awareness and creating buzz for your company. You should consider metrics that capture overall influence such as retweets, blog posts and clicks. If you have a targeted audience, each lead probably carries more value. You overall goal will likely be to generate new leads. You should consider metrics like sales, email sign-ups, @messages, direct messages and clicks. 5. Define Your ApproachThe language you use to tweet and what you choose to share should be targeted towards your audience. This means you should be thoughtful and accurate, not false and calculating. For example, if you’re trying to reach knitting mothers, you’re going to using a very different style of language than if you’re trying to reach hip hop aficionados. Below are a few main questions to consider:
Any Twitter strategy is a perpetual work in progress. Just deciding that you need a strategy is an important first step that will have you thinking about what and why you tweet. The key is to keep experimenting: Twitter is ever-changing and to succeed on it you need to be flexible, but you also need to know where you’re headed. For more business coverage, follow Mashable Business on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook
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| 4 Free World Cup Apps for BlackBerry Posted: 17 Jun 2010 08:50 AM PDT 
BlackBerry fans aren’t quite as spoiled for choice as iPhone or Android owners when it comes to apps or the World Cup, but there some football-themed widgets worth a look. Here we offer four great World Cup apps (and one bonus), available direct from the BlackBerry App World store. Check them out and stay up to date with the proceedings in South Africa. The very best part? — they are all free! 1. AP 2010 World Cup Coverage The Associated Press’s mobile offering is actually available across all major mobile platforms, with the BlackBerry version working like a Flash-based microsite. The app is supported by VISA (see the banner across the top?), while the homepage gives you one top news story and what it deems “recent matches.” The fact that this section includes yet-to-be-played matches (with appropriately nil-nil scores) might confuse some not familiar with South Africa’s different time zone. With the option to customize for the team you support, as well as select your preferred language, the app offers news, photos, teams and venues. The photos and teams sections are basic, and the “previous” and “next” navigation buttons in the gallery don’t work at all (at time of review). The venues section offers a fairly decent summary of the 10 different South African stadiums, although we can’t imagine anyone lingering for long on this option. Where the app shines is in the news arena, with decent, lengthy, full-fat news stories from the AP on all aspects of the tournament. Cost: Free 2. WC2010 This colorful app offers a simple interface with a homepage, scores, stats and standings. The homepage gives you a big banner announcing the day’s matches and editorial covering all the news angles you’d expect from the tournament. Although the score on the matches banner appears to take time to update, the news comes in fairly fast, so you may find yourself looking at a nil-nil score, while the top news story has a half-time update including goals scored. The standings offer a nice group grid showing the various teams, rank, games played, won, drawn, lost, goals for and against, the goal difference and points. Stats is where this app comes into its own with a table providing info on goals, yellows cards and red cards, all organized by player and team. The detailed data is there if you need it, and we know that there are those of you out there that do. Cost: Free 3. Goal Mobile Goal Mobile from Goal.com has the most comprehensive football app here, which is a mixed blessing if you’re just a casual footie fan. You have to hand over your email address before you can get going, but once you do you’ve got a plethora of options to chose from with a dual layer, tightly packed tab interface. Unless you are interested in Football Leagues from around the world (there are many covered by this app), then keep yourself on the World Cup 2010 tab on the top menu. From there you can chose to browse the news, live scores, teams, match-results, group stage and knockout stage areas from another menu. The news is varied, encompassing straight news, comment pieces, previews and reports, all with options to share on social networking site. The stories themselves are in-depth — the previews alone offer team overviews, past results, players to watch, a form guide and current team news. The live scores section is worth a look as it makes clear which are the pre-match nil-nils, as opposed to final scores, and offers data from the day before and matches from the next day, while the teams section simply offers a list of matches (and results if they’ve been played) rather than any kind of half-hearted, haphazard bio. However, for us this app was buggy, throwing up a ton of error messages that required some clicks to get past, sometimes multiple times in a row. It averages four stars from over 200 reviews, though, so it’s clearly hitting the right note with some BlackBerry-owning football fans. Cost: Free 4. ScoreMobile FC If you’re not interested in the bells and whistles and just want cold, hard, football facts, then ScoreMobile FC is the app for you. As with Goal Mobile, this is an app that covers a wider football gamut than just the World Cup. Make sure you select “FIFA” from the leagues menu when you first fire it up to get access to the World Cup. Unlike all the other tab-based apps we’ve mentioned, ScoreMobile works with a drop down menu that offers scores, stats, tables and news. Each of the options are fairly minimal from a design point of view — which we’d imagine would be good for your data bill — but present the essential facts in a clean and clear way. The tables are particularly quick to access and easy to read while the stats only really offer useful info on goals scored. The news here appears to be culled from AP’s stream, but presented without too many bells and whistles. If you have weak cell coverage or are counting the data pennies closely, you might prefer this to the more graphically rich AP offering. Cost: Free BONUS: South Africa on BlackBerry BlackBerry is pushing this app pretty hard with all manner of integration with your BB phone, such as push notifications, alerts to your inbox, the option to add games to your calendar as well as integration with BlackBerry’s “Messenger” service. Unfortunately the app is not compatible with our test handset — a BlackBerry Pearl 3G — (as this particular phone is not yet available in South Africa) so we were unable to get hands-on, but it looks like it’s worth a look if you own any other RIM-made handset. If you’ve already given it a try then let us know your impressions in the comments below. For more mobile coverage, follow Mashable Mobile on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookMore mobile resources from Mashable:
Reviews: Android, BlackBerry Rocks!, Facebook, Twitter, iPhone, news Tags: ap, apps, blackberry, blackberry app world, blackberry apps, football, goal mobile, Lists, scoremobile fc, soccer, South Africa, world cup, world cup 2010
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| “Vuvuzela” Any Site on the Web [APPS] Posted: 17 Jun 2010 08:38 AM PDT 
I don’t know about all of you, but this week’s roundup of vuvuzela-inspired fare was not enough to sate my hunger for that most melodious of horns. That’s why I was so stoked when I happened upon Vuvuzela-Time.co.uk, an amazing website that adds a soundtrack composed of vuvuzela goodness to every site you visit. Yup, this is the ultimate remedy for those pesky vuvuzela-free broadcasts. Apparently tons of viewers are not fans of the horn, which is blown by fans at soccer matches in South Africa. We can’t imagine why. Check out Mashable accompanied by the vuvuzela. I’m just going to keep this window open all day long with the volume jacked up to 11, myself. [hat tip: Barbara Geoghegan] image courtesy of iStockphoto, ManoAfrica For more entertainment coverage, follow Mashable Entertainment on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Twitter, iStockphoto Tags: apps, humor, pop culture, software, sports, vuvuzela
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| Stephen Colbert Joins the Battle Over the Word “Tweet” [VIDEO] Posted: 17 Jun 2010 08:12 AM PDT 
Colbert starts off his segment by lampooning the NYT for “banning” the word “tweet.” (The fact that the paper “banned” the word isn’t quite accurate. According to Philip B. Corbett, the associate managing editor for standards, the NYT believes that the word should be used for special effect only.) After quoting Corbett as saying that “‘tweet’ will fade into oblivion” (which I guess is wholly possible — buh-bye “Web site“), the comedian wraps up his faux fit with the harrowing sentiment: “Twitter hasn’t banned the word ‘newspaper’ and those have already faded into oblivion.” Burn. Still, Twitter isn’t free from Colbert’s caustic wit, either — after commenting on the microblogging site’s World Cup-induced downtimes, the host laments his inability to bore his followers with such mundane sentiments as: “Found crumbled up piece of paper in pocket. more to come!” However, this brief interlude is quickly interrupted by a call for viewers to retweet the sentiment, “in honor of oil-soaked birds, ‘tweets’ are now ‘gurgles,’” in order to raise money for Comedy Central’s charity, Address the Mess, which is helping with recovery efforts in the Gulf. In short, the segment wasn’t the most even of Colbert’s shtick, but it did have some interesting points: the death of newspapers, the tendency for people to say too much via Twitter, the power of the tool in the realm of social good, etc, etc. But here’s what we’re wondering after watching this brief clip: What do you think of the battle over the word “tweet”? Do you think Twitter could, in fact, fade into oblivion? Or does the service, and its vocabulary, have staying power — especially in light of the eagerness of so many organizations to embrace it?
For more entertainment coverage, follow Mashable Entertainment on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Twitter Tags: entertainment, gulf oil spill, humor, new york times, social media, stephen colbert, television, twitter, video
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| 5 Extremely Addicting iPad Games Posted: 17 Jun 2010 07:52 AM PDT 
What follows are five iPad addictive games that maximize screen real-estate with luring graphics, break ground in the handheld gaming sector. They ultimately exemplify why Apple’s tablet device is such an impressive device for gaming. These games will capture your imagination, demand your attention, and may ultimately destroy your relationships with loved ones if you get too sucked in. You can’t say we didn’t warn you. 1. We Rule GOLD We Rule is like FarmVille for the iPad. Things start innocently enough in level one, but as you level up and tackle the tutorial challenges, a funny thing happens — the game gets serious and intricate. Planting and harvesting crops is a key part of gameplay, but your efforts should be focused on trying to level up by accruing experience points. Levelling up allows you to continue expanding your kingdom, unlock more farm patches and grab other essentials like shops, plants, statues, roads and rivers for your kingdom. Some of this may sound like nonsense, but most of your time will be spent designing your kingdom, and there’s nothing more frustrating than wanting to add a dragon’s lair or prison to your kingdom and not having the funds to do so. The best part about the game is that everyone from your friends to tech celebrities like Digg’s Kevin Rose is in on the action. This makes for extra enticing gameplay because you can add your friends from real life and web life as neighbors and check out their kingdoms or buy goods from their shops. After a few short days you’ll be hooked, even going so far as to set up push notifications so you know when your plants are ready to harvest, and your citizens are ready to hand over their tax payments. A few tips: Build as many cottages as you can so you can collect taxes and earn experience points quicker. Plant the most expensive crops because you make more when you harvest them, and save your mojo to use in higher levels and plan around expansion. Price Point: Free 2. Angry Birds HD What’s so great about Angry Birds? How about “everything.” This is one of those games that will continue to nag at your sense of self-worth until you can beat a particular level — which may prove to be futile for some levels. Pick up this game and soon your dreams will be haunted by squawking birds, and the taunting grins of those green pigs that just will not die. Things begin rather easily: You start with a few angry red birds that you sling at awaiting green pigs. The goal is to kill the pigs either by lampooning them with a bird dead-on, or craftily trying to topple bricks to crush them. In total, there are 105 different levels, each one more difficult than the last. Beginner tips: Don’t play in front of friends or family because they will try to take the game away from you, sometimes the most obvious strategy is the right one, know your angles and learn the strengths of each bird type. Price Point: $4.99 3. GodFinger Oh the joys of playing God. In GodFinger, you’re a deity with a commanding finger you can use to turn people into followers and put them to work on your planet. The idea of the game is to create a thriving planet populated with followers to do your bidding. Earning gold, mana, and awe let’s you level up and build better items to help you earn all three achievements as fast as possible. You earn gold by placing followers at barns or farms. It is used to buy new items in the store. You need mana for rain, sunshine, lightning and the other natural elements required for planet functions. You can earn mana by placing followers at your shrine. Awe is a special element that you earn each time you level up, and you can use it at the Awe Store. You can also buy it if you get desperate. GodFinger — like We Rule — is an Ngmoco game, so gameplay begins with a challenge-based tutorial. You level up based on the experience points you accrue through in-game actions. Pay attention to each task and prompt in the tutorial mode, as instructions include information that will become vital to the health of your planet and your followers. Tips for ruling wisely: Wells and taverns are great for faster rejuvenation, gold that you don’t collect erodes, upgrade your shrine to generate mana faster, zoom out to visit neighboring planets and save your awe to buy cooler items in higher levels. Price Point: Free 4. Plants vs. Zombies HD Zombie fan or not, this game will suck the life out of you as you fall victim to each engrossing level. The ultimate goal of the game is to prevent zombies from entering your home in each level. Should they succeed, you will die. The game starts out with a few semi-harmless zombies and some less-than-potent plants that you will need to attack and kill the oncoming onslaught of the undead. As you level up, the zombies become more menacing and the plants more lethal. Your biggest challenges will be deciding how many sunflowers to plant, figuring out how to protect them, and picking plants to use in your arsenal of attack for each level. Don’t forget that you will need the sunflowers to buy the plants you need. Also, the plants you choose for each level will vary on whether it’s day or night, and their ability to kill depends on the zombies you’re fighting against. Tips to stay alive: Plant as many sunflowers as you can during the first few moments of each level, the double sunflower is a waste of money and space, always buy more slots for plants when you can and make sure you have at least one big attack plant for each level. Price Point: $9.99 5. Dizzypad HD Who knew having frogs leap from lilypad to lilypad could be so addicting? But in much the same way that DoodleJump can entertain and frustrate players for hours at a time, so too can Dizzypad HD for the iPad. The object of the game is to get the frog from one lilypad to the next, by carefully timing each leap so as not to land in the water and lose a life. Unfortunately, this is one of those games that is deceptively simple: It will lure you in with its easy premise and then make you feel like a fool when you can’t beat your own high score. Unlike most great games on the iPad, this one comes completely free of charge — but only if you’re fine with just playing the classic mode. If you’re anything like me, you’ll fork over the $1.99 (each) to add sliders, memory, and battle modes. They’re definitely worth the extra cash. Pro tip for leapers: Learn to leapfrog as many lilypads as you can early on. For each lilypad you leapfrog, you earn an extra life. Those extra lives will come in handy as lilypads become harder to reach. Price Point: Free [img credit: Jesus Belzunce] For more Apple coverage, follow Mashable Apple on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookMore iPad resources from Mashable:
Reviews: Facebook, Twitter, godfinger Tags: angry birds, apple, dizzpad, games, godfinger, ipad, ipad apps, plants vs zombies, video game, werule
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| Rock Band 3 Live Demo at E3 [VIDEO] Posted: 17 Jun 2010 07:31 AM PDT   We had a chance to get an in-depth introduction to the newest edition of the Rock Band franchise from the game’s developers themselves at this year’s E3. Harmonix producers and devs showcased the new interface, features and controllers — a keyboard and two new increasingly realistic guitars. Last week we learned that Rock Band 3 would also have a Pro Mode, in which instrument parts more closely resemble the actual musical notation of a particular track. One of the two new guitars, the Squier Stratocaster, also doubles as an actual six-string guitar that functions on its own outside the game. Other new features in the game include a new character creator and a better setup screen process that makes it easier to get all players on the same page when trying to start a Rock Band session. We also got a chance to go hands-on with the new keyboard. We played in Pro Keys Mode, which utilizes the full range of keys using an intuitive interface that mirrors the actual layout of the keyboard. White notes indicate a white key should be played, while black notes indicate a black key should be played. As with the other instruments, the length of the note matches how long you should hold down to sound the key. In most other respects, Rock Band 3 is more of what players have loved about the previous two editions of the franchise, and that’s not at all a bad thing. What the new title essentially does is open up the door to acquiring a bit more actual musicianship while you’re having fun playing with your friends at various skill levels and musical abilities. Check out the live demo of Rock Band 3 below and let us know what you think. For more technology coverage, follow Mashable Tech on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Twitter Tags: e3, E3 2010, harmonix, mtv games, music, rock band, rock band 3, video, video games
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| Tablets Will Be Outselling Netbooks by 2012 [REPORT] Posted: 17 Jun 2010 07:15 AM PDT 
The report goes on to predict that by 2015, tablets will make up 23% of all PC sales (which Forrester defines as desktops, laptops, netbooks and tablets). Early signs already suggest this shift is happening; two million iPads were sold in its first two months of availability, and netbook sales –- not long ago the hottest growth area of the computing industry -– have slowed considerably. Moreover, seemingly every hardware manufacturer is prepping a tablet of its own, and Google is set to enter the market with Verizon Wireless as its launch partner. This chart illustrates how Forrester sees the market shifting through 2015:  Do you think tablets are going to become as pervasive as Forrester is projecting? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. For more business coverage, follow Mashable Business on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Twitter
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| Amazon Patents Social Networking System, Winks at Facebook Posted: 17 Jun 2010 06:39 AM PDT 
The description of the patent is as follows:
Replacing the word “system” in the paragraph above with “Facebook” reveals, once again, how flawed the U.S. patent system is. This patent was invented by Brian Robertson and Warren Adams — the same two guys who founded social networking service PlanetAll, which Amazon acquired in 1998. Alas, not seeing potential in the service, Amazon shut it down in 2000, but decided to revive it by filing a patent application in May 2008. Now, let’s look at some of the other social networking-related patents. Four years ago, Friendster patented — you guessed it — “social networking.” It was described as a "system, method, and apparatus for connecting users in an online computer system based on their relationships within social networks." Friendster was awarded several more patents for certain aspects of social networking over the years, Facebook patented the newsfeed three months ago, and we’ve seen many other patents that supposedly cover the fundamentals of social networking over the years. So, after all this, who owns the patent for the social network? You tell us, cause we have no idea. [via TechFlash] image courtesy of iStockphoto, drflet For more technology coverage, follow Mashable Tech on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Friendster, Twitter, iStockphoto Tags: amazon, facebook, patent, social networking
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Another analyst has gone bullish on tablet computing. Forrester Research is out with a report this morning projecting that tablets will start outselling netbooks by 2012.
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