Mashable: Latest 29 News Updates - including “Burberry to Sell Menswear Collection Directly from Livestream [VIDEO]” |  |
- Burberry to Sell Menswear Collection Directly from Livestream [VIDEO]
- Forrst: Microblogging for Designers and Developers
- First Poster for “The Social Network” [PICS]
- Who’s Spending the Most Money on Social Games? [INFOGRAPHICS]
- Google Releases Command-Line Tool for YouTube, Calendar, Docs, and More
- Facebook Posts to Appear in Real-Time Search Results
- “Toy Story 3″ Hits Theaters and the App Store [PICS]
- Ron Artest Interview Delights the Internet [VIDEOS]
- 10 Web Design Bloggers You Should Follow
- The Vuvuzela By the Numbers [INFOGRAPHIC]
- Wellie Boots Power Your Mobile Phone While You Walk [VIDEO]
- There’s an App for That [COMIC]
- Texting While Driving Not Just a Teen Issue [REPORT]
- “DC Universe Online”: Be a Superhero with Your Friends [VIDEO]
- Our Favorite YouTube Videos This Week: Cats, Cars & Cinema Cliches
- Top 10 World Cup Twitter Trends [CHART]
- Find Your Musical Soulmate with a New Dating Site
- Fashion Retailer Responds to Facebook Fans’ Call for “Real Women” in Photos
- How Non-Profits Should Approach Making iPhone Apps
- PlayStation Move: A Look at Sony’s Motion-Controlled Games [VIDEO]
- WordPress.com Passes 200 Million Blog Posts
- A New Record: 3,085 Tweets Created Per Second During NBA Finals
- Why Social Media Is the New Source of Hollywood Talent
- White Version of HTC EVO 4G Arrives Next Month
- Thanks to Mashable’s Socially Savvy Supporters
- Apple Releases Free App to Help Find Your Lost iDevice
- Bros Icing Bros Bites the Dust, But the Meme Lives On [Randomly Viral]
- Lakers Win, Fans Riot, YouTube Shows It All [VIDEO]
- 6 Tips For Experimenting with Web Video
- Android Keeps Growing, But iPhone Remains King with Developers [REPORT]
| Burberry to Sell Menswear Collection Directly from Livestream [VIDEO] Posted: 19 Jun 2010 04:06 AM PDT  
The show was also streamed live on the company’s website. In the 72 hours following the show, viewers could purchase some 30 pieces from the collection, which were delivered 6-8 weeks later. The full collection did not appear in stores for almost six months. Not one to rest on its digital laurels, Burberry is stepping up its efforts for its Spring/Summer 2011 menswear show for its high-end line, Prorsum. Although the company will not be hosting 3D viewing events, it will stream the event live on its site at 3 p.m. ET, where it will achieve another industry first. As models come down the runway, viewers will be able to click on various ensembles and save them to a “lookbook” at the bottom of the screen. They can also discuss the collection with other viewers on Facebook and Twitter during the show via a chat widget. When the show is over, users can then click through the lookbook they’ve created to purchase items directly from the runway until June 26. In all, 27 outerwear pieces will be available for immediate purchase and delivered in 6-8 weeks’ time. While Burberry will not host the livestream on its Facebook Page — the company wants to use all of its digital assets to drive traffic to the livestream hosted on its website, where users can access the new lookbook and instant-shopping features — it has made its livestream embeddable for anyone to host. We’ve embedded the stream below; tune in at 3 p.m. ET to watch the menswear show here. If you want to test the lookbook, however, you’ll have to head over to Burberry’s website. We think this is a fantastic way for Burberry to impress its audience in a big way while still maintaining the brand’s luxury status. What do you think? How could Burberry improve its digital offerings even further? Livestream | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Forrst: Microblogging for Designers and Developers Posted: 19 Jun 2010 01:38 AM PDT 
That, and not all your online friends are going to be interested in the esoteric details of your craft. Forrst seeks to give designers and developers a place to share all their “little somethings” in a beautiful, social setting. It’s a bit like Tumblr, but focused specifically on the task at hand. It’s also kind of like Dribbble, but with code-friendly formats, too. And it’s invite-only, which is sure to give the site an exclusive appeal.* In addition to posting links to sites, snaps of design ideas and lines of code, you can also pose questions to the community, making the site more than just an excuse for showing off — it’s also got the potential to be a valuable resource. Of course, it’s only fitting that a website for web designers and devs should also be beautiful and well-made. The site was featured recently in a Smashing Mag post on 2010 web trends. Calling Forrst.com a “beautiful design with attractive visual elements and original navigation,” Smashing said the details combine to form an excellent impression. “Notice how the background of the upper area of the page changes when the browser window is resized… The ‘log in’ box is quite cool, too.”
Each post has “likes” and comments, so popular posts get lifted to the top of that tab. And newest posts are featured under the “Fresh” tab. The site even has a handy bookmarklet for posting while browsing. Another element we like about Forrst is its strict policies on self-promotion (not allowed — come for the feedback or stay at home), relevant content (irrelevant blather will be removed), constructive criticism and venting (no kvetching, please). All in all, we think Forrst is a great idea: A site that’s candy-coated with a beautiful interface, but which also contains a substantial center of intelligent community members. Invites*We do have invitations — 100 of them, in fact — but we’ll need to make sure they go to legitimate, professional designers and developers. If you’d like to get one, please leave a comment with your email address and a link to your website or portfolio. For more dev and design coverage, follow Mashable Dev & Design on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter Tags: community, designers, developers, microblogging, tumblr
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| First Poster for “The Social Network” [PICS] Posted: 18 Jun 2010 09:50 PM PDT   Columbia Pictures has just released its first poster for this fall’s The Social Network, otherwise known as the Facebook movie. The poster features image of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, as portrayed by Jesse Eisenberg. Atop his face is the tagline, “You don’t get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies.” The Social Network, which will be in theaters this October, chronicles the early history of Facebook, from its humble beginnings in a Harvard dorm room through its early rise to mainstream domination. Written by Aaron Sorkin and directed by David Fincher, in many ways, the film seems even more timely now than it did a year ago. When this project was originally announced, many — including myself — were skeptical that the source material could provide for either a good story or anything of lasting cultural value. Let’s face it, two years ago, the idea was laughable. However, as anyone who has read either Accidental Billionaires (on which The Social Network is partially based) or The Facebook Effect can attest, the story about the founding of the company and its early days actually is interesting. Beyond that, the cultural impact of Facebook into how we communicate, how we are marketed to and how we find out about and disperse the news is something that can no longer be passed off as a fad. The most recent round in the Facebook privacy debate only underscores just how important Facebook has become to millions and millions of people. And as the tagline says, you can’t serve 500 million users without rattling some cages. What do you think of the poster? What are your thoughts so far on The Social Network or a cinematic vision of the Facebook story? Let us know! For more entertainment coverage, follow Mashable Entertainment on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Twitter Tags: facebook, facebook movie, movie posters, Movies, the social network, trending
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| Who’s Spending the Most Money on Social Games? [INFOGRAPHICS] Posted: 18 Jun 2010 08:22 PM PDT 
Which people are sending the massive amounts of money that’s fueling this market, though? Who’s buying all of those virtual cows and magic armors while completing countless offers? Virtual currency platform Social Gold performed a four month study in order to find out. The results, which are nicely summed up in the two infographics included below, demonstrate several emerging trends in social gaming:
There are a lot of other interesting gems hidden in these two infographics. Click on the images for full-sized versions of the infographics, and then let us know what you think of the data in the comments. Social Gaming Monetization by User Segment Social Gaming Monitization by Region For more business coverage, follow Mashable Business on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Twitter Tags: business, farmville, games, gaming, social gaming, social gold, virtual currency, virtual goods, Zynga
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| Google Releases Command-Line Tool for YouTube, Calendar, Docs, and More Posted: 18 Jun 2010 07:01 PM PDT   Google has launched a simple but very useful app for computer nerds everywhere: GoogleCL, a command-line tool that allows users to do everything from upload folders to Picasa to adding appointments to a Google Calendar. Google CL is a Python application that makes Google Data API calls through the command line. A command-line interface (CLI) is an interface where the user can tell the computer to perform specific tasks by typing commands. You’ve probably seen them before, most likely via the MS-DOS command-line interface. The CLI is in contrast to the mouse-based interface that we all use today, known as the graphical user interface (GUI). Googlers from the Street View team created the application for their own use, but have now turned GoogleCL over to the general public. It accepts commands to Google Calendar, Google Docs, Google Contacts, Picasa, YouTube, and Blogger. Here’s an example command:
For us computer nerds, this tool is going to be a big productivity saver. There are many instances where we just want to skip using the web interface because the command line is often faster. I’ll admit, I downloaded GoogleCL the moment I saw it was available. Google has provide a list of sample scripts to get started, but we bet that page will expand with more commands and more supported Google services over time. It’s a great combination of the command line and the cloud. If you want to get started, you can download GoogleCL and the necessary Python library client here and here. For more dev and design coverage, follow Mashable Dev & Design on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Google, Google Calendar, Google Docs, Picasa, Python, Twitter, YouTube, blogger Tags: CLI, code, command line, development, Google, Google CL, Google Command Line, MS-DOS
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| Facebook Posts to Appear in Real-Time Search Results Posted: 18 Jun 2010 06:28 PM PDT 
These Facebook posts will also be accessible through OneRiot’s API, which powers more than 100 real-time apps around the web and on mobile devices. OneRiot already pulls data from blogs, Twitter, Digg and millions of other sources all over the social web. Having access to Facebook’s nearly 500 million members, however, takes these search results to a higher plane by pooling a much larger dataset when finding and ranking links for search results. Facebook data that will appear in OneRiot search results include publicly shared links on user profiles and publicly "liked" stories from all over the web. For example, a search for "World Cup" on OneRiot will reveal the most popular links about the soccer tournament being shared by Facebook users right now.
Of course, the availability of real-time results from Facebook is great for app developers. In a release this morning, OneRiot President Tobias Peggs said, "The addition of Facebook shares is an important update for the OneRiot API. To offer developers the best real-time search experience, we have to have the best understanding of what the whole social web cares about, right now. Facebook shares and likes give us key insights into what those things are." This news comes just a few days after Bing announced it would be serving Facebook and Twitter posts in search results, too. Google also added Facebook Pages to its real-time search offering in February this year. What do you think of this new development? For more social media coverage, follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Digg, Facebook, Google, Twitter Tags: facebook, OneRiot, real-time, Search
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| “Toy Story 3″ Hits Theaters and the App Store [PICS] Posted: 18 Jun 2010 05:39 PM PDT 
Because I’m a pretty big Toy Story fan (I have tickets to a show later tonight), I volunteered to review Toy Story 3 for iPhone (free), Toy Story Mania for iPhone ($4.99) and Toy Story 3 Read-Along for iPad ($8.99). iPhoneAll three apps have been designed to be kid-friendly and to align with the existing Toy Story style and sensibility. The free Toy Story 3 iPhone app features information about the film and its characters as well as lots of games. Some of the games are free but others are available through in-app purchase. You can also listen to a customized greeting from Sheriff Woody himself, which is a free (and very neat) feature that should appeal to lots of kids. While Toy Story 3 for iPhone is clearly designed around the idea of the latest chapter in the film saga, the broader based Toy Story Mania covers the entire series. It’s a pretty well made app and has lots of mini-games which are actually addictive — even for adults. It also has a gallery feature that can only be utilized if you’re at the Toy Story Experience attraction at Walt Disney World. iPadThe iPad app, Toy Story 3 Read-Along, is in some ways the most compelling app. It takes the form of a children’s story book — something we’ve seen dozens of for the iPad. What makes the Toy Story 3 book different, however, is all the extra features that Disney has packed into the app. For instance, you can record you voice or your child’s voice for the voice over. You can also sing-along to two tracks from the film, color in drawings (using either a watercolor fill method or choosing your own colors) or create your own freeform designs, and play several fun games. The app is even 3D compatible, if you have a pair of compatible glasses, for certain images and for one version of the “Flying with Style” game. After a heavy marketing campaign targeted at college students and young adults, it’s clear that Toy Story also has lots of opportunities to captivate younger fans. The film is already shaping up to be one of the biggest openings of the summer (if not the entire year) at the box office and the iPhone and iPad games are a fun addition. ImagesToy Story 3 For iPad Read-Along Story Menu Story Help Sing-Along Sing-A-long Coloring Book Painting Painting Completed Art Games Flying Woody Toy Story Mania Toy Story Mania Toy Story Mania Games Toy Story 3 iPhone Toy Story 3 iPhone Woody's Recordings Toy Story Mac Controller For more entertainment coverage, follow Mashable Entertainment on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Twitter Tags: disney, Film, ipad, ipad apps, iphone, iphone apps, Movies, toy story 3
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| Ron Artest Interview Delights the Internet [VIDEOS] Posted: 18 Jun 2010 04:11 PM PDT 
Last night, Lakers forward Ron Artest couldn’t contain his excitement as his team secured the NBA championship over the Boston Celtics in a thrilling game seven. The result was a legendary post-game interview where Artest thanked “everybody in my hood,” his psychiatrist, and countless others, then exploded in joy over winning his first NBA championship. That wasn’t the end of it though; the Artest show continued with a ridiculous press conference. You knew it wasn’t going to be a normal press conference when Artest grabbed a box of Wheaties and screamed at the random journalists “behind the laptops” to acknowledge him. The resulting videos have gone viral on YouTube, Twitter, and Google. They are top trends on almost every social media website. Just watch the videos and you’ll see why. Enjoy: Ron Artest Post-Game InterviewRon Artest Post-Game Press ConferenceFor more web video coverage, follow Mashable Web Video on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Google, Twitter, YouTube Tags: Lakers, NBA Finals, Ron Artest
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| 10 Web Design Bloggers You Should Follow Posted: 18 Jun 2010 04:04 PM PDT 
Web designers who also take the time to blog have their own little hierarchy on the tubes. While we don’t dare comment on who’s right, who’s wrong, or who’s “right now,” we can tell you who has built a following and just might have something to say that’s actually worth a listen — or a read, as the case may be. Check out the portfolios, Twitter streams and blog posts of these 10 fascinating gents, and if we skipped your favorite designer-blogger in our list, be sure to let us know with a link in the comments. 1. Dan Cederholm
Twitter: @simplebits Cederholm might be best known these days for his work on Dribbble, the invite-only site where designers show off tiny slices of their work for comment and approval. The “invite-only” veneer of exclusivity is just one factor that makes the app red-hot; invitations are often seen being auctioned off (or begged for) on Twitter. But Cederholm is no johnny-come-lately. He’s written three books on standards-based web design and coined the phrase “bulletproof web design,” referring to the need for flexibility in the event of worst-case scenarios. He also founded Cork’d, a popular site for wine enthusiasts. 2. Joshua Blankenship
Twitter: @blankenship This guy’s blog is a well-rounded mix of videos, images, quotations and spot-on advice. He also posts at Blankenship a Go Go, on Tumblr. One of Blankenship’s coolest projects is Prom Night Fist Fight, a Tumblr blog of stunning typographic Illustrator designs. You can seriously kill hours flipping through the 200 or so pages — and you’d probably be a more inspired person for doing so. In an industry characterized by aggressive agnosticism, Blankenship is refreshingly open about his faith, elements of which permeate his work. 3. Dustin Curtis
Twitter: @dcurtis Dustin Curtis might not be so well known if he didn’t get a hapless airline employee fired. The pathos-fraught saga began last spring when Curtis did an unsolicited redesign of American Airlines’ website. Not too long after Curtis published his ideas, an AA employee sent the young blogger an email, which Curtis then published. And not too long after that, the AA employee was fired. The Internet resounded with every colorful adjective in the book, from arrogant to brilliant and far beyond, in its dissection of the events. Controversy aside, Curtis’ work stands on its own. The guy creates some beautiful pages and his commentary on web design both ruffles feathers and creates small tornadoes of discussion on Hacker News. 4. Andy Rutledge
Twitter: @andyrutledge Andy Rutledge tells it like it is. He calls himself a curmudgeon; others just call him realistic, honest and blunt. He’s been blogging since the early-mid-2000s, penning phrases like: “This is commercial success we're talking about, boys and girls. In commerce, if your product sucks, you suck.” Ah, brisk! When he’s not delivering his characteristically no-BS sermons on web design, he runs Unit Interactive in Plano, Texas. An interesting thing about his company is that they do no marketing. None whatsoever. All their clients come to them through word of mouth or organic discovery. This is where Rutledge’s reputation and experience come into play. 5. Ryan Carson
Twitter: @ryancarson Ryan Carson is now best known for his event production skills. He recently put on Chirp, Twitter’s April 2010 developer conference. Carson certainly left his imprint; from the colors to the typography to the trees and beanbag chairs. Carsonified is also responsible for the Future of Web Design and Future of Web Apps conferences. Carson is the guy behind MATT, or “multi-account Twitter tweeting,” which is exactly what it sounds like. He does some personal blogging at RyanCarson.com. 6. Jacob Cass
Twitter: @justcreative This Brooklyn-based design blogger is a logo, web and print designer. How he finds time for his full-time job at an agency as well as part-time freelance work and prolific posting, we’ll never know. His posts span a gamut of fields including resource-laden typeface lists, useful how-to’s, Q&A’s and editorial commentary on processes and trends. Cass also runs Logo of the Day, a blog about logo design, of all things. 7. Chris Pearson Twitter: @pearsonified Pearson is best known for his WordPress theme design, Thesis, which took off like a rocket in 2009. Hailed as the last word in functionality and elegance, one user even said: “If God had a WordPress theme, he'd use Thesis.” Pearson runs DIYThemes, a WP design site that exclusively focuses on Thesis. He’s also created Cutline, PressRow and a few other popular WP themes. When Pearson blogs, his compositions (which focus on web design and SEO) are thorough and thought-provoking. Though he may blog less frequently than other luminaries in the scene, his archives run deep and wide and are easy to access. 8. Chris Coyier
Twitter: @chriscoyier In terms of creating valuable content, Coyier is one designer who gives back to the community in spades. More than just pretty colors and cool fonts, Coyier is a leader in the technical side of the community’s ongoing discussions about web design. He runs CSS Tricks, a full-featured resource site with code snippets, forums and even screencasts. He also posts articles at Digging Into WordPress, where he shares tips and tutorials from his many years of experience in building sites with CMS. Digging Into WordPress is also the title of a book Coyier co-authored with Jeff Starr. Another resource he’s handed down is Script and Style, a wonderful curation of tutorials for web designers. If you run multiple sites for clients, you’ll definitely want to check out Are My Sites Up?, a monitoring system that aims to optimize for uptime. 9. Graham Smith
Twitter: @imjustcreative Smith is all about logos, as well identity design and typography. A veteran designer with 25 years in the field, Smith is also a maddeningly prolific blogger. Smith is a self-described minimalist who’s into black-and-white photography and Helvetica, natch. In addition to those sites, he also runs Posterous and Tumblr blogs featuring frequent design finds. 10. Chris Spooner
Twitter: @chrisspooner Spooner’s primary blog is a “digital playground” where he’s been sharing tutorials and techniques since 2007. You won’t find much editorial commentary here but you will find plenty of inspiration and practical knowledge. Spooner also posts at Line25, where you’re more likely to find interviews and opinions along with tutorials. Of course, like every good netizen, Spooner also maintains a personal blog on Tumblr. 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. For more dev and design coverage, follow Mashable Dev & Design on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Flickr, Hacker News, Posterous, Tumblr, Twitter, Web Design, WordPress, blog Tags: blogger, design, design blogs, designer, developer, developer blogs, hacker, web design, web development series
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| The Vuvuzela By the Numbers [INFOGRAPHIC] Posted: 18 Jun 2010 03:31 PM PDT 
Now, along with an ever-growing list of parodies and apps, we have an infographic that has more than most of us would ever want to know about the Vuvuzela, including data on its prevalence on Twitter, the sales spike on Amazon the instrument has received, and how sentiment towards the trumpet-like device has shifted (hint: it's not positive). Without further ado, the Vuvuzela infographic, created by the folks at Socialradar:  For more social media coverage, follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Twitter
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| Wellie Boots Power Your Mobile Phone While You Walk [VIDEO] Posted: 18 Jun 2010 03:04 PM PDT 
The Orange Power Wellies have a “power generating sole” that converts heat generated from your feet into an electrical current that charges your mobile phone, which you can plug in at the top of your boot. Twelve hours of walking will give your phone an extra hour of battery life. (If twelve hours seems like a lot of walking for an hour of battery life, Orange suggests you “hot step it to the dance step” to increase the heat generated by the power sole). The power in the sole is collected in a process called the “Seedbeck” effect. “Inside the power generating sole there are thermoelectric modules constructed of pairs of p-type and n-type semiconductor materials forming a thermocouple,” Orange detailed in a statement. “These thermocouples are connected electrically forming an array of multiple thermocouples (thermopile). They are then sandwiched between two thin ceramic wafers. When the heat from the foot is applied on the top side of the ceramic wafer and cold is applied on the opposite side, from the cold of the ground, electricity is generated.” I just hope Apple designs a pair for the iPhone. Video Demo[via cnet] For more technology coverage, follow Mashable Tech on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Twitter, iPhone Tags: fashion, Mobile 2.0, music, Orange, wellies
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| There’s an App for That [COMIC] Posted: 18 Jun 2010 02:38 PM PDT  Friend Me is a social media comic published every Friday by Natasha Wescoat. How many apps does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Whether you have an iPhone, Android, or any other type of smartphone, finding the right app for a task can sometimes seem like more trouble than it’s worth. As frustrating as that can be, it’s always healthy to poke a little fun at ourselves and the portable devices near and dear to our hearts.  Find more “Friend Me” comics at artcandy.tv, or read last week’s comic: “The Perils of Social Media Dating.” For more social media coverage, follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Android, Facebook, Twitter, iPhone Tags: android, apps, friend me comic, iphone, lightbulb joke, social media
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| Texting While Driving Not Just a Teen Issue [REPORT] Posted: 18 Jun 2010 02:03 PM PDT 
The report from Pew's Internet and American Life Project found that 27% of adults text while driving –- essentially the same amount of teens who said they do so in another Pew study conducted late last year. But when you measure both sending and reading texts, adults are worse offenders by a margin of 47% to 34%. Beyond that, adults are much bigger offenders when it comes to chatting on their cell phones while driving –- 61% admit to doing so versus 43% of teens. Outside of driving, 17% of adults admit to bumping into someone or something as a result of their cell phone usage (somehow, I feel I've been disproportionately a victim of said bumping). The conclusion here is pretty clear –- texting while driving isn't just a teen issue, but one that's impacting all of us as mobile usage continues to soar. We're seeing more laws put in place and advocacy campaigns to try and stop the behavior, but for the moment, it looks like a problem that's not going away any time soon. image courtesy of lierne on Flickr For more mobile coverage, follow Mashable Mobile on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Flickr, Internet, Twitter Tags: Pew, SMS, texting, texting while driving
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| “DC Universe Online”: Be a Superhero with Your Friends [VIDEO] Posted: 18 Jun 2010 01:44 PM PDT   Sony Online Entertainment is working with legendary DC Comics artist Jim Lee to produce DC Universe Online, a massively-multiplayer online game where players can fight alongside or against their favorite superheroes and supervillains including Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Joker and more. As with most other titles in the MMO genre, you’ll have your choice of character class and customization along with a unique combination of superpowers. Famous DC writers, including Geoff Johns and Marv Wolfman, have been brought in to help pen the storyline and quest adventures, which take place in familiar locales like Gotham City, Metropolis, Arkham Asylum and more. DCUO will be subscription and microtransaction-based and will launch in November 2010 on both the PC and PlayStation 3. We got a look at some of the gameplay at E3; check out the video below as well as a screenshot gallery and let us know what you think. If you’re a DC Comics fan, will you be excited to play within the DC Universe? VideoPhoto GalleryGotham Amusement Mile Doomsday Gotham Clinic Combat Superhero Combat Amusement Mile Bizarro DC Universe Online In Action Super Fight In Action Powergirl Powergirl DCUO Combat DCUO Character Combat DC Universe DC Universe For more technology coverage, follow Mashable Tech on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Twitter, batman Tags: comics, DC Universe Online, DCUO, e3, E3 2010, games, MMO, SOE, sony, Sony Online Entertainment, video games
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| Our Favorite YouTube Videos This Week: Cats, Cars & Cinema Cliches Posted: 18 Jun 2010 01:36 PM PDT 
Well, never you fear — oh desk-dwellers, cubicle-crawlers and frolicking freelancers — we’ve got a wide array of ocular occupation to get you through the rest of your Fridaze. Oh, and should you find any other awesome vids in your Internet-ular travels, feel free to share them in the comments. Kitten Freaks Himself OutMatt Silverman: It’s your OWN REFLECTION you stupid baby animal! Academy Award-Winning Movie TrailerStephanie Marcus: Kind of amazing how formulaic every movie actually is. Lewis & Jenson, One Car, No Team — Vodafone AdAmy-Mae Elliott: Button and Hamilton come across as easy-going nice guys in this brand new Vodafone clip that reassures me that even incredibly talented and successful people still utter the likes of, “Do you know where the little thingies are?” Somewhere (trailer HD)Christina Warren: Totally can’t wait. It’ll likely be my Christmas Day movie this year (unless TRON is just like insanely fantastic, then I’ll see that again). 2010 Kia Soul Hamster Commercial | Black Sheep Kia Hamsters VideoZachary Sniderman: The hamsters from Kia show a little street with some help from Black Sheep. Adorable and dangerous. The New Hi-tech Robot Cat!Erica Swallow: It’s amazing that this cat learned how to use a hillbilly rigged robotic platform after a tragic accident, but the incessant spinning is a little unsettling. Chopsticks Feeding Squirrel-like KittenJehangir Irani: I warn you now — the cuteness might kill you! MGMT – “It’s Working”Brenna Ehrlich: I was going to put up a video of a dancing child, but decided that this was more in tune with my mood at present than a bouncing babe. Have a trippy weekend, all. For more web video coverage, follow Mashable Web Video on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Internet, Twitter Tags: cats, Film, humor, music, pop culture, twitter, viral videos, youtube
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| Top 10 World Cup Twitter Trends [CHART] Posted: 18 Jun 2010 01:13 PM PDT 
Who’s winning in the World Cup? There are plenty of scores and stats for that. Which teams and players are winning the hearts and minds of the Twitterverse? That’s another matter entirely. With 32 national teams, 736 players, and 32 coaches, there are so many mentions to track. Every single national team appeared in Twitter’s Trending Topics this week, as well as the names of 99 individual players. If that’s not enough Twitter-footy excitement for you, consider that certain goals have triggered surges of nearly 3,000 tweets per second, which is enormous when compared to the average of 750. Below is the breakdown of the most-tweeted teams and players this week, graciously compiled by Liz Pullen of What The Trend. Remember, these rankings are not about team and player abilities, but reflect an aggregation of hotly discussed topics related to them. Most-Tweeted World Cup Teams
Most-Tweeted World Cup Players
Need more social media World Cup coverage? Of course you do! Head on over to Mashable’s World Cup headquarters, where you’ll find real-time data on match scores, social mentions, and links to all our previous news and features. For more social media coverage, follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookMore World Cup resources from Mashable:
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Jezperklauzen Reviews: Facebook, Mashable, Twitter, iStockphoto Tags: data, social media, sports, trends, twitter, twitter trends, world cup, world cup 2010, world cup twitter trends
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| Find Your Musical Soulmate with a New Dating Site Posted: 18 Jun 2010 12:59 PM PDT 
Quick Pitch: Find your true love — via their music tastes. Genius Idea: Hey music snobs, are you tired of people asking you, “What kind of music do you listen to?” on dates (“Um, what does that question even mean? What genre? I bet your answer’s gonna be, ‘Everything but country and rap.’”)? Well, musicians Alex Parish and Julian Keenaghan have created a dating site perfect for folks who judge others solely by what’s on their iPods. Tastebuds is a graphically pleasing site that’s super easy to use. There are two ways to search for potential suitors: either by entering in a few of your favorite bands (along with your age, sex, preferred gender for a mate and location) or by entering your Last.fm username. Since Last.fm features public profiles, the site can easily filter out your favorite artists and match you with a bevy of beauties(?) who share the same passion for Radiohead or Gawr or Miley Cyrus. You can then “favorite” a person if you’re into him/her, and/or send the chosen one a message. Bonus: There’s no fees as of yet, which means you can message anyone you want. (Not clear on how Parish and Keenaghan aim to turn a profit, as there are no ads on the site). Of course, there are some issues with the tool. First of all, it’s relatively new and thus has a small base of users. When testing it out I was wholly unable to find any Jeffrey Lewis-loving dudes in a 10-mile radius of Brooklyn. Most of the users appear to be from England so far, which makes sense considering the founders are British. Also, you’re matched solely based on musical tastes, and there’s not much room for adding more info about yourself — you can add a description and a bio, but that’s it. Still, if you’re looking to hook up with someone that you can go to shows with — without lurking in record shops and looking over people’s shoulders — TasteBuds should do the trick. image courtesy of iStockphoto, 4×6 Sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark
For more entertainment coverage, follow Mashable Entertainment on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Tastebuds, Twitter, iStockphoto Tags: bizsparks, music, online dating, startup
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| Fashion Retailer Responds to Facebook Fans’ Call for “Real Women” in Photos Posted: 18 Jun 2010 12:33 PM PDT 
Nothing about the post was uncommon — except, perhaps, Fans’ responses. While many Fans acknowledged that the pants looked good on the model, they complained that the pants were “not universally flattering” and would “look great [only] if you’re 5′10″ and a stick like the model in the photo.” The post led several women to request — politely, of course — that LOFT show the pants on “real women.” The next day, the fashion retailer posted pictures of its own staff posing in the cargo pants. The women — drawn from different departments of LOFT’s design, styling and marketing staff — ranged from size 2 to 12, and from 5′3″ to 5′10″. Each styled the pants for a specific occasion, and explained why they liked the pants or why the pants worked well on their individual bodies. As you can imagine, Fans were very pleased. “I sooooo appreciate you taking the time to ‘listen’ to our comments and show these pants on ‘real’ women,” one Fan wrote, while still acknowledging that the pants were ugly. This is, in our opinion, a great example of a big company using social media to drive customer loyalty and satisfaction. And while many other large companies — like Comcast, Ford, Virgin Airlines, Starbucks and Best Buy — have also used social media to connect with their fans in smart, personable ways, we’ve rarely seen this level of engagement from a fashion company. It’s certainly a step in the right direction after the brand’s run-in with the FTC, social media-wise. What do you think of LOFT’s response? Have you ever had a positive interaction with a big brand using social media? Share your thoughts and stories in the comments. Pants Modeled by a Professional Model Pants Modeled by LOFT Employees For more social media coverage, follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Twitter Tags: ann taylor, facebook, fashion, social media, trending
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| How Non-Profits Should Approach Making iPhone Apps Posted: 18 Jun 2010 12:05 PM PDT 
Much has been said about Apple’s policy barring iPhone and iPad application donations. The company cannot guarantee donations will be received by said non-profit, and as a result, donations to charities cannot be mentioned in any Apple application description, support materials, or the application itself. Certainly, this impacts the ability of non-profits and cause applications to collect donations. But how much? Before considering that, it’s important to note that the use of mobile applications for social good has increased dramatically. Two good examples are CauseWorld and The Extraordinaries. According to CauseWorld, in the past five months their location-based iPhone and Android apps have been downloaded 550,000 times. Further, it has helped provide 272,000 meals to people in the U.S., plant 74,000 trees, and provide 27 million liters of clean water in developing countries via Children’s Safe Drinking Water. “The Extraordinaries are a great example of how to use this type of platform,” said Marnie Webb, Co-CEO of TechSoup Global. “Their basic model, which harnesses the energy of many people to help solve a problem — whether it's identifying missing people or tagging photos from museums — is one that other non-profits could easily use. The difficulty is that it requires non-profit organizations to think about volunteerism very differently than they have for the past 200 years or so.” Are these apps being hurt by Apple’s policy? Does Apple’s Policy Harm Non-Profits? In some ways, Apple’s policy can be seen as prohibitive and harmful. One can question the real impact of a controlled approach to non-profit donations. Experts had mixed views. “It makes it exceedingly difficult for a non-profit to make use of the platform,” said Ben Rigby, CTO of the Extraordinaries. “However, we also need to think about the future — and the future will [offer] more immersive devices that make the data around us accessible in many ways … and right now, iPhone is dominating the field of “ubiquitous data” — so we should work now to make sure it’s going to work for non-profits in the future.” “No [it does not hurt them], because I do believe that Apple will provide a way for non-profits to accept donations in the long run,” said Holly Ross, executive director of the Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN). “They just do everything at their pace. Yes, it will hurt them because I have to assume that donations will have to happen in the highly controlled Apple environment, meaning that there will be little room for innovation and it will cost a lot.” How Should Non-Profits Approach Apple Applications? Apple’s iPhone market share makes it too big of a force to be ignored. Non-profits seeking a mobile presence will need to address the platform, with a combination of volunteering, activism, and information approaches. For donations, they will need to rely on click through contributions. “Create a model where non-profits benefit from mobile users' behavior without requiring any payment system,” said Cyriac Roeding, CEO and founder of shopkick, the creator of CauseWorld. “The CauseWorld app is completely free to consumers, and so are the donations. So this system works, without going through the direct donation raising from consumers. It's a win-win-win-win for users, sponsors, participating companies — and ultimately, the non-profits who benefit.” “The real answer, of course, is that mobile is an opportunity to engage constituency,” said TechSoup’s Marnie Webb. “Smartphones allow people to connect and add the element of location. So, organizations, I think, can be thinking about these platforms as an opportunity to connect their constituency to local community needs.” Can Android and Blackberry Fill the Void? The beautiful thing about competitive markets is the ability to opt for a different platform. With Android’s stunning impact this year in the smartphone marketplace, and BlackBerry’s continued prevalence, it’s conceivable that non-profits could opt to go elsewhere. “Non-profits should develop apps for the devices their target audience uses,” said NTEN’s Holly Ross. “If they are targeting trendy moms, it’s the iPhone. If the are targeting business folks, its the BlackBerry. Nerdy guys? The Android. That should still drive how non-profits are making these decisions.” Beyond AppsThe mobile web has so many more aspects to it beyond the application marketplace. Consider the American Red Cross’s incredible text donation campaign for the Haiti crisis, for instance. And according to ComScore, mobile web browsing is used by 28.6% of America’s 200 million+ phone subscribers. “You shouldn’t even think of building an app before you’ve considered a text messaging strategy,” said Ben Rigby from The Extraordinaries. “Texting is much more popular, cheaper to implement, and there are many success stories. It’s the first place to go mobile.” “Mobile is everywhere, all around the world, and becoming more essential to more types of transactions and interactions each day,” said shopkick’s Cyriac Roeding. “Whether using simple SMS to text in support for Haiti, a direct in-app payment system (but with the right controls [to ensure] that the money is actually donated as claimed), a more indirect solution like ours, or something that hasn't yet been conceptualized, mobile should be a part of every non-profit’s strategy.” For more mobile coverage, follow Mashable Mobile on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook
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| PlayStation Move: A Look at Sony’s Motion-Controlled Games [VIDEO] Posted: 18 Jun 2010 11:37 AM PDT   Sony’s motion-controlled video game system, PlayStation Move, uses a PlayStation Eye camera to track the movements of a ball of light attached to a microphone-like handheld controller. Officially announced and named earlier this year at the Game Developers Conference in March, it wasn’t until this week at E3 that we got a good look at some of the first titles that will employ the new system. As we noted earlier in our E3 preview, this is the year of motion control for all three major game console manufacturers. Microsoft is showing off its Kinect system, which gets rid of the controller altogether; while Sony unveiled PS Move; and Nintendo aims to improve the motion control system it launched on the Wii in 2006 with a new Wii Motion Plus attachment that enhances the Wiimote’s ability to process complex motion. We took a look at a few of the forthcoming PlayStation Move titles out on the E3 show floor, including Table Tennis, Kung Fu Rider and SingStar Dance. Check out the video below and let us know what you think: Do you have a favorite from amongst the Big Three’s motion control systems? For more technology coverage, follow Mashable Tech on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Twitter Tags: e3, E3 2010, games, kinect, motion control, playstation, playstation move, PS Move, sony, video games, Wii Motion Plus
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| WordPress.com Passes 200 Million Blog Posts Posted: 18 Jun 2010 11:28 AM PDT 
That total comes from 11.4 million blogs that are hosted on the site, and in all, WordPress reports the site is seeing more than 260 million people visit its blogs every month (according to data from Quantcast). To put that in perspective, there have more than 15 billion tweets, four billion Flickr photos and two million minutes of video uploaded to YouTube (every day!). Of course, one could argue that the written word (in blog form in this case) requires a bit more thought and effort than tweets, photos or vids, and hence is an equally if not more impressive milestone. Not to mention, another 13.8 million blogs (including Mashable) use the installable version of WordPress, creating tens of millions of additional pieces of content. For more social media coverage, follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Mashable, Twitter, WordPress Tags: flickr, social media, twitter, Wordpress, youtube
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| A New Record: 3,085 Tweets Created Per Second During NBA Finals Posted: 18 Jun 2010 11:04 AM PDT 
On a normal day, Twitter users generate 65 million tweets, or two billion in a single month. That translates to an average of 750 tweets per second. These are impressive numbers on their own, but football and basketball championships have blown these stats out of the water. According to Twitter, 2,940 tweets per second were generated in the half-minute following Japan’s only goal against Cameroon on June 14, nearly four times the average. Brazil’s first goal against North Korea wasn’t far behind, with 2,928 tweets every second, while Mexico’s game-tying score against South Africa generated 2,704 tweets per second. However, none of these games hold the record for most tweets per second. That’s because yesterday’s Game seven of the NBA Finals between the L.A. Lakers and the Boston Celtics produced an astounding 3,085 tweets per second — more than 185,000 tweets every minute. This is the tweet volume that has been taking Twitter down constantly over the last two weeks. We expect these records to be shattered soon, though — the World Cup hasn’t even entered the round of 16 yet. It means both more milestones and more headaches for Twitter as it tries to keep the service up and running until football’s ultimate championship ends. For more social media coverage, follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Twitter Tags: NBA Finals, tweets, twitter, world cup
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| Why Social Media Is the New Source of Hollywood Talent Posted: 18 Jun 2010 10:47 AM PDT 
As reality TV continues to gain a larger share of the television and new media landscape, the Hollywood casting industry is seeing a substantially increased need for new types of talent. On-camera experts, “real people” contestants, and larger-than-life personalities are now in constant demand. Simultaneously, talent agencies are watching the demand for traditional talent like TV hosts and classically trained actors decline as shows like Ace of Cakes, WipeOut, Survivor, and Deadliest Catch, all featuring non-traditional talent, grow in popularity. I personally experienced this drastic shift while running the Alternative Programming Department (a.k.a. reality TV) at Abrams Artists Agency. In the beginning, I was representing well-trained TV hosts, radio DJs and broadcast journalists — but my roster began to evolve into a different breed of talent including experts, celebrities and personalities who were not from the traditional talent world. Examples include Chad Rogers from Bravo's Million Dollar Listing and Mystery from VH1's The Pickup Artist. With reality TV now taking the lion’s share of programming, there is a new, insatiable need for talent. It has driven network executives, TV/film producers, casting directors and talent representatives to alternative means of discovering artists, particularly the Internet. Many people, like Grayson Chance for example, have first blown up in popularity online before talent managers and agents noticed them. But, contrary to what many believe, most Hollywood casting executives are not just randomly trolling YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, etc., to find talent. Social Casting CampaignsTalent seekers are now launching formal casting campaigns on social networking and talent-oriented sites. These campaigns are effective, quick to set up, and simple to manage. This has resulted in the creation of a new category of interactive online casting tools and resources that are growing in popularity and use. Links to job postings and casting notices can also be socialized among the big networks via badges and widgets to increase awareness and submissions. Earlier this month, for example, the Food Network launched an open casting call via YouTube. It’s not just limited to the television and film business — modeling and brand advertising are also going social. For example, luxury discount retailer HauteLook.com recently turned to a top casting resource to host a model search for an advertising campaign. Cookie Dough Bites, a frozen candy snack, did the same to find new viral content to promote the brand. With these dedicated casting portals and resources attracting new talent, a wider variety of casting needs can be met. For both talent and aspiring talent, there has never been a more direct way to personally connect with top casting directors, producers, and agents. Rather than simply hoping for attention resulting from enough views on YouTube or MySpace, talent can now more efficiently and directly reach Hollywood executives. Online casting does not just involve endless lists of casting opportunities, but also the ability to create personal profiles to share photos and demo reels, and socialize with a gamut of potential future employers. Because these tools are casting-specific, casting directors and agents are able to easily post job notices, browse through talent, and communicate with potential job candidates. The rise of people like Tila Tequila, Grayson Chance, Perez Hilton, ****** ****** and countless others sent a powerful message to people about leveraging social networks to gain Hollywood attention. It also showed major casting agents and networks that the Internet is a viable resource for finding and filling the need for talent, creating a new and exciting category on the Internet. The effect on the casting industry has been very positive and will likely continue to grow in importance. Casting executives have a new, constantly growing well for finding talent — and talent have new direct resources and opportunities in Hollywood no matter where they are in the world. For more entertainment coverage, follow Mashable Entertainment on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookMore social media resources from Mashable:
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Pixel-Pizzazz Reviews: Facebook, Internet, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube, iStockphoto Tags: commercials, Film, Hollywood, internet casting, MARKETING, social media, tv, youtube
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| White Version of HTC EVO 4G Arrives Next Month Posted: 18 Jun 2010 10:11 AM PDT 
With the elusive white iPhone 4 and now the white EVO 4G, it looks like white is the new black when it comes to next-generation smartphones, at least for now. Engadget notes that while Best Buy will get exclusivity on the white version of the EVO 4G first, Sprint stores will get it in August and other resellers will gain access in September. You can pre-order the white EVO 4G from Best Buy or Best Buy Mobile stores. The phone is $199 after rebate with a two-year contract. White or black — which EVO do you prefer?  For more mobile coverage, follow Mashable Mobile on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Twitter Tags: android, best buy, HTC EVO 4G
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| Thanks to Mashable’s Socially Savvy Supporters Posted: 18 Jun 2010 09:52 AM PDT 
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This week, our valued sponsors are IDG, Paracalls, The Wall Street Journal for iPad, Bantam Live, Gist, Yield Software, Clickatell, Influxis, Microsoft BizSpark, MailChimp, Sun Startup Essentials, MaxCDN and Eventbrite.  IDG’s Strategic Marketing Services group works with tech marketers to deliver services that include integrated multimedia marketing programs, program consulting and IDG Amplify social media advertising.  Paracalls is an online meeting place for professionals around the world. It’s a professional network with the combination of social tools to find and to connect with the past and present colleagues and friends. Paracalls is designed to provide useful resources as much as possible to all professionals, including Facebook and Twitter.  What’s news meets what’s next. Introducing The Wall Street Journal for iPad, a new way to experience the Journal's award-winning coverage, blending the best of print and online. 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Yield also offers a free SEO Analyzer, which delivers a report covering how well a site is optimized and suggestions for improvement. Yield Software—Web Marketing Made Easy.  Clickatell offers mobile social networks the opportunity to measure their return on investment. Not only does Clickatell offer an Interactive Campaign Manager tool that allows you to monitor and intervene in your customer campaigns in real time, it also generates and manages database integration and comes with additional marketing tools. Track the delivery status of your text messages and the responses; take the guesswork out of campaigning. Your valuable messages will always be delivered as our products allow for message escalation to alternative delivery gateways. Social networks are also, through the account management package, given control over network channels and connectivity options. All necessary tasks have been automated and our central interface allows you to manage multiple connections and projects at the same time. Which leading social networking companies have chosen Clickatell as a mobile messaging partner? Read our success stories here.  Influxis is an official Adobe hosting partner and resource for the Adobe Flash Media Interactive Server. Influxis provides Flash hosting plans for all levels of use – beginner to enterprise. With a reputation for exceptional customer service, Influxis provides an extremely reliable international network of FMS servers in the U.S., U.K. and Germany.  BizSpark is a program which offers new software businesses and entrepreneurs access to Microsoft design, development and production tools with no upfront costs for up to three years. Members can also connect with a nationwide community of Network Partners – investors, incubators, service providers and entrepreneurial organizations – who are keen to help. For more information or to connect with a Microsoft BizSpark advisor, please visit MicrosoftStartupZone.com/BizSpark.  MailChimp is a powerful, easy-to-use e-mail marketing service. You design, me deliver.  If you’re working for a startup, Sun can help you get it off the ground fast. We created the fee-free Sun Startup Essentials program offering deep discounts on industry-leading, power efficient systems and storage products, optimized open-source software, massively scalable Web hosting services, plus free visibility via Sun’s co-marketing engine. It’s time to build your business on the kind of infrastructure that can scale right along with the skyrocketing demands of success. Find out about Sun Startup Essentials today!  MaxCDN – Content Delivery Network. MaxCDN makes it easy and affordable to get maximum global performance from your site and enable your visitors to get the most out of their visit! 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| Apple Releases Free App to Help Find Your Lost iDevice Posted: 18 Jun 2010 09:33 AM PDT 
Besides helping you determine the physical location of your phone, what’s great about the Find My iPhone feature — the feature that makes MobileMe worth it’s $99/year price tag — is that you can also remotely lock your device and wipe your device’s data, as well as send a push notification to the device with a sound alert and a message of your choice. Losing your phone can be a traumatic experience, which is why services like MobileMe and Phone Halo have the potential to offer so much relief for stressed-out phone owners. The nice thing about the new Find My iPhone app is that it doesn’t store your MobileMe login information — meaning that you could borrow someone else’s iPhone or iPad to help locate your device. Find My iPhone is a free app, but a MobileMe account is required to use the feature. Check out our gallery to see what the application looks like on the iPhone and the iPad. Have you ever lost your phone? What did you do to try to track it down? Icon The icon for Find My iPhone Login Screen You login with your MobileMe credentials Track Your Devices You can see a listing of every device linked to your MobileMe account. Device Details Not only can you see the details of your device, its type, name, and location, you can also send an alert message and sound, remotely lock the phone or remotely wipe all of the data. iPhone Device View The way devices are listed on the iPhone. iPhone Location Screen This is what the location screen looks like on the iPhone. iPhone Device Details Just like on the iPad, you can remotely wipe, lock or send a message and alert sound to your device from the app. Sending an Alert The screen for sending an alert with the option to also include a sound. Receiving an Alert A pop-up notification is displayed on the device you are tracking, along with an audible sound if that option is activated. After you confirm you have received the message, an e-mail and push notification is sent to the user and to the tracking device to say that the message has been viewed. For more Apple coverage, follow Mashable Apple on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, MobileMe, Twitter Tags: find my iphone, iphone, iphone apps, lost phone, mobileme, phone halo
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| Bros Icing Bros Bites the Dust, But the Meme Lives On [Randomly Viral] Posted: 18 Jun 2010 09:32 AM PDT 
If you’ve been slumbering under a stone for the past few weeks, you might have missed the icing craze — basically, it’s a prank that originated in South Carolina at schools such as College of Charleston and Wofford College. The concept is very simple: Present a Smirnoff Ice to a friend (in a creative manner, mind you), after which he or she must immediately take a knee and chug it on the spot. And… that’s basically it. That and the super fun alcohol poisoning. The anonymous men (presumably they are men) behind the trend ran a site called Bros Icing Bros, which was shut down yesterday at the behest of Diageo, Smirnoff’s parent company. Now, the site is a mere husk — a white space reading, “We had a good run Bros.” The derision shown by Diageo seems to prove that the trend — embraced by everyone from Mark Zuckerberg to button-down bankers — was not, in fact, a marketing plot. Although it’s admittedly a positive thing that rapidly chugging less-than-stellar liquor is being discouraged, with the website’s death we could be witnessing the demise of the newest up-and-coming viral meme: the bro. That’s right, in recent weeks, the beer-chuggin’, boot-cut jean wearin’, slow jamz-lovin’ bro has been making a more prominent entrance into a realm most recently populated by another subculture, the hipster. Like the hipster, the idea of the bro was becoming a viral craze all by its lonesome. Whether it be blogs dedicated to everything that the White Hat contingent adores or videos of dudes slamming back girlie drinks, the bro seemed to be making a comeback. (Well, a more branded comeback, that is — College Humor and Funny or Die have been going strong for some time now). Here’s a few examples of the recent craze in action, which should serve as some cold comfort (hehe) now that Bros Icing Bros is no more. Bros Like This Site It’s kind of like Stuff White People Like, but with more chest-beating, drinking and F-bombs. I would post a sample below, but I couldn’t find one that could make it past our censors. Drag. Anyway, as we suspected, bros like hating hipsters — see what we mean about school-yard politics? Bros Ponying BrosObviously inspired by Bros Icing Bros, this site is run on a similar — albeit less alcoholic — principle. Basically bros ambush other bros with the song “Pony” by Ginuwine, and said bros must dance. Check out the video above. (Note: The boy dancing does not, in fact, appear to be a bro…) Look at This F*cking Bro Because bros take funny pictures of themselves, too. Also, Tumblrs! Iced You And, of course, there will be copy cats. This site, which is basically the same as Bros Icing Bros, has cleverly removed the product name from the description, merely imploring Icers to present a “malt beverage” to fellow bros. Look, they even censored the label. image courtesy of iStockphoto, ljpat For more entertainment coverage, follow Mashable Entertainment on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Twitter, iStockphoto Tags: Bros Icing Bros, humor, pop culture, tumblr, viral video
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| Lakers Win, Fans Riot, YouTube Shows It All [VIDEO] Posted: 18 Jun 2010 08:44 AM PDT 
This isn’t the first time Lakers fans have rioted following a win — turmoil erupted back in 2000 and 2009. And it’s also not the first time this footage has ended up on YouTube, either. CitizenTube, however, has provided us with a concise view of the havoc via these Regular Joe-made videos. Although CitizenTube has been around since 2007, its been ramping up its efforts lately to become a legit news source (see its recent experiments with a news feed). Despite the usefulness of citizens documenting civil unrest and the like, we wonder how such amateur documentation will progress if YouTube does, indeed, gain more cache as a news source. Maybe in future years, we will actually have interviews with revelers along with footage of the turmoil — which seems to be rather identical each year. Next time the Lakers win, perhaps? Warning: Language in some videos below NSFW. For more web video coverage, follow Mashable Web Video on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube Tags: News, sports, viral video, youtube
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| 6 Tips For Experimenting with Web Video Posted: 18 Jun 2010 08:33 AM PDT  Making the shift into web video can be exhilarating, and the web makes it affordable and feasible to test our your video strategy. For filmmakers, it’s still an undefined territory and a developing environment, in which you can test out new ideas and techniques with respect to production, distribution, and audience engagement. While there is no exact formula, there are some principles worth exploring and here are some I think are worth sharing: 1. Break The Rules Everyone has heard the first “golden rule” of web video: keep it short. There are plenty of articles and statistics illustrating audiences preference for short content on the web. To be clear, short means roughly five minutes or less, but there’s evidence that’s changing. Outlets like Snagfilms, Netflix, Hulu and YouTube’s rental program are proving that audiences will watch longer work when they are looking for that sort of viewing experience. However, it is probably best to start short. Entice and tease your viewers. Give them a chance to get know you and your style, then ask them to commit to watching your longer work on a site and setting tailored for lengthier content. The trick is to think about your audience and where you’ll be reaching them when you make your video. The other trick is to try everything and see what works. 2. Understand What You Need One of the most exciting things about the web is that there are really no gatekeepers. So unlike with festivals or television and theatrical distribution, any level of filmmaker can get their videos out there. Set up your production process so that you can keep making content economically and efficiently in your spare time, while still remaining true to your style. You don’t really need a $100k camera or a huge crew — you’re actually better off being self-reliant, a one or couple-man show. A simple set up of a Mac with Final Cut and a decent $600-$1,200 HD camera is more than adequate. I’ve seen filmmakers shoot on cameras as minimal as the Sony Webbie HD and the Kodak zi8 and the footage looks great. From the iPhone 4’s new 720p HD camera and iMovie app to the DSLRs, with their unarguably clean and lush image quality, the options for affordable HD are wide open. Truth is, careful lighting (which can be achieved with a very basic softbox Lowel kit and even some carefully placed Home Depot clamp-lamps), and a solid tripod can make the footage from any-budget camera shine. The only catch with these lower budget HD cameras is that they don’t record great audio, and they don’t offer XLR inputs, limiting your selection of microphones. Poor sound quality is not only distracting, but it’s a clear mark of an amateur video on the web. One option is to limit the videos you make for the web to non-sync sound, but you can also invest in a system for recording sound separately like the Beachtek’s DXA-5D, which allows you to connect two XLR mono mics into your DSLR. 3. Bad Upload = Bad VideoOptimize your export for the site you’re distributing to. Uploading is not a one-size fits all policy. Your export settings — codec, frame size, and data rate — should be tailored for each site you upload to. The most common settings are an H264 .MOV file at 640×360, but read up on what each site recommends, including their file-size limits, and then do some test uploads. It would be such a waste for a video that would otherwise look great, to suddenly appear pixilated, artifact-y, or distorted because of a poor export. Keep in mind that older or inexpensive editing programs don’t offer certain codecs or as much customization when exporting. Invest in programs like Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere that come bundled with special transcoding software and keep up with the upgrades. 4. Update Regularly Frequency is important on the web. One of the benefits of being able to work solo in your spare time is that you can constantly be making new work. Once you set up your channel on whatever platform you choose, you’ll slowly build a subscriber base who will most likely receive notifications from the site whenever you upload new work. More content means more opportunities to engage your viewers. New work doesn’t mean the old videos become obsolete. It just means there are more chances to attract more viewers, who ideally will then go back and watch your library of older work too. Filmmakers can look to bloggers to understand how to build a successful web channel. Bloggers may have a few larger articles they consider calling card pieces, but in order to keep readers engaged, as well as attract new ones, they also post shorter pieces on a regular basis. 5. Choose Your Outlet Wisely Distribution starts by making the right choices about where to distribute. Don’t expect the audience to come to you, rather you’ll have to find the right community for your work. Most likely, the audiences that would be interested in your ideas already exist somewhere online. In other words, if your videos are cinematic, tending toward episodic shorts, or experiment with new production techniques, you will likely find a ready audience on sites like Vimeo, OpenFilm, Blip, or Babelgum. If your videos are of the funny, sketch comedy variety, particularly targeted at a youngish male audience, you may want to explore sites like CollegeHumor, Funny or Die, or Break. Don’t forget that the vast majority of online viewers engage with YouTube in one way or another, so uploading content there is pretty much a no-brainer, no matter what kind of videos you make. 6. Self Promotion is Key One easy and risk-free way to promote your videos is to be smart about your metadata — the title, descriptions, and tag words you enter for your video. Craft a title that’s catchy, yet understandable. Use those precious few lines of your description to entice viewers, without being too wordy, and don’t ignore the tag words. These are the words that allow search engines and search tools on each site locate your video. Be specific and start with the obvious. Also, think about ways you can ride the wave of trending topics if they relate to your work. In other words, a video about newspaper delivery shot in Austin during SXSW should probably include that as a tag even though the content may not directly be about the festival. Few artists are comfortable tooting their own horns, but today’s filmmakers must play an active role in getting the word out about their work. Chances are you won’t just upload your video and be surprised the following day with 100,000 views. Luckily, the tools for building an audience, from Twitter to Facebook, Ning to ShootingPeople, are very available and free. Look to resources, like the WorkBook Project, to see how other filmmakers are already using these outlets successfully. Each community has its own mores, so follow their suggestions for best practices (for example, on Twitter, participate in conversations about topics that relate to your work, don’t just spew links to your projects). Realize that building an online community will most likely require creating new ancillary content — think blog posts, contests, polls that complement your films and videos. Yet it’s not just about engaging with your audience. A very neat side effect of all these online communities is better access to other filmmakers and content creators. Trade ideas, share tips, and team up with other creators who can help you create and promote. Remember, it takes time to build an audience and community around your work; there are few overnight successes. ConclusionDigital production, and now web video, have given filmmakers a lot more autonomy, power, and control. As we all test out the limits of these new developments, we get to be part of the process that helps to create them, which is pretty thrilling. Monetization is still uncertain, and so the debate will go on over whether or not these developments are ultimately for better or for worse. From a creative perspective, web video has offered us all a chance to practice our craft, to bounce ideas off a larger community, and to hear how audiences feel about our work. There are no steadfast rules, but there is a bigger chance than ever to bring a little practical experimentation to our art. For more web video coverage, follow Mashable Web Video on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookMore web video resources from Mashable:
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, bjones27 Reviews: BLIP, Facebook, Hulu, Twitter, Vimeo, YouTube, iStockphoto Tags: blip, cameras, creative work, facebook, Film, filmmaking, hd, self promotion, social networking, sound, twitter, Vimeo, web video
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| Android Keeps Growing, But iPhone Remains King with Developers [REPORT] Posted: 18 Jun 2010 07:51 AM PDT 
According to Millennial’s report, while Apple’s share of the connected and mobile device market has decreased nearly 10% month-over-month, it still remains the leading device manufacturer for ad requests in the U.S. Android, comparatively, has seen month-over-month and year-over-year gains in ad impressions; Millennial shows an 2.4% increase month-over-month in ad impressions overall, according to the top 15 device manufacturers. Check out this breakdown of connected devices, feature phones and smartphones, as well as the smartphone breakdown by OS:  Developers Still Singularly FocusedWhile more mobile developers are looking at designing for more than one platform, in practice — at least according to Millennial’s figures — 90% are still focusing on just one platform. This makes sense if you consider that most mobile development companies are still comprised of small teams, or often a single developer. The mobile app development world is moving at a breakneck pace and its difficult to justify the time required to adapt an app for another platform if you have a limited number of resources — especially for developers who don’t have a solid revenue strategy.  Of the 90% who were focused on a single application platform, 56% were focused on Apple devices and 29% on Android. That 29% Android-only figure is promising because it shows that the platform can have a life beyond just iPhone ports. We’ve talked to many developers who either develop for one or both platforms and what we tend to find is that Android is becoming increasingly important for developers, but the iPhone is still the number one priority. Having a solid base of dedicated Android-only developers who are willing to invest in putting out high quality applications is something that the Android Market really needs. This is underscored by the ranking of top mobile app channels, as ranked by revenue. The number one channel was games, accounting for 58% of all app revenue on Millennial’s network. This matches other data points from similar studies that show that consumers are more willing to pay for games than any other type of mobile application. Right now, games on the iPhone are significantly stronger — both in quantity and in quality — than Android. With Froyo and some of the other Android SDK improvements, we hope to see this change, but this is an area that is important for the bottom line of many developers. With the recent release of the Sprint EVO and the impending release of the next generation DROID and iPhone 4, it will be interesting to see how the smartphone landscape looks in the next few months. For more mobile coverage, follow Mashable Mobile on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookReviews: Android, Android Market, Facebook, Twitter, iPhone Tags: android, iphone, smartphones
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