Mashable: Latest 29 News Updates - including “View From the Line: The iPhone 4 Is Bigger Than Elvis” |  |
- View From the Line: The iPhone 4 Is Bigger Than Elvis
- Google Remotely Flips the Kill Switch on Questionable Android Apps
- How Did Apple Miss the iPhone 4’s Reception Issue? Maybe It Didn’t
- IE9 vs. Chrome vs. Firefox: Microsoft’s Gaining Ground [VIDEO]
- 10 iPhone Apps for a Better Night’s Sleep
- OnLive: Video Games on Demand Service Demoed [VIDEO]
- FaceTime: Video Calls Finally Become Cool
- Find a Travel Mate for Your Next Remote Adventure
- Steve Jobs to iPhone 4 Owners: Stop Holding the Phone Wrong
- HOW TO: Use iMovie for iPhone
- The Average YouTube User Watched 100 Videos in May [STATS]
- Porn Sites Set to Get .XXX Domain Name Option
- POLL: Which AT&T Data Plan Will You Choose?
- Exclusive: Vevo’s Location-Aware iPhone App Debuts in July [PIC]
- What We’ve “Wasted” on Apple This Year: $29 Billion and Counting
- Does Online Buzz Mean Better TV Ratings? [INFOGRAPHIC]
- Adorable P.S. 22 Kids Perform Tribute to Michael Jackson [VIDEO]
- World Cup and Obama Top iPhone 4 Buzz Pre-Launch [STATS]
- The iPhone 4 Launch in 3 Minutes [VIDEO]
- Why Your Next Business Card May Be Virtual
- Mysterious “Horse Boy” Shows Up on Google Street View
- Twitpic Adds Twitter Places
- What’s Wrong with the iPhone 4? [ILLUSTRATION]
- iPhone 4 vs. Droid X Feature Comparison [INFOGRAPHIC]
- New Version of Tweetie for Mac Rolls Out
- Top 10 Resources for Design Inspiration
- FTC Closes Its Investigation of Twitter’s Security Practices [UPDATED]
- On iPhone 4 Day, Microsoft Opens Store Next to One of Apple’s [PICS & VIDEO]
- HootSuite Adds New Features and Fresh Interface with HTML5
- HOW TO: Improve B2B Sales Productivity with Social Media
| View From the Line: The iPhone 4 Is Bigger Than Elvis Posted: 25 Jun 2010 04:37 AM PDT  The iPhone 4 is finally in stores and the lines are truly massive. With pre-orders of more than 600,000 units, the crowds showed up early and were prepared to wait in long lines. I know, because I was one of those customers. I waited more than seven hours for my iPhone 4, after arriving just before 6 a.m. at my local Apple Store — and keep in mind, this was an Apple Store inside a mall. In four years of following Apple launch events from this location, I have truly never seen anything like it. And we weren’t even the busiest store in Atlanta.  6:00 am Apple Store at Perimeter Mall, Atlanta, GA Just to put seven hours (and that was for pre-orders, mind you) in perspective, my iPhone 4 line buddy told me that the this line even outpaced lines for concert tickets in the 1960s and 1970s. Getting tickets for Elvis only took five hours, he told me. The iPhone 4? Seven hours and counting! While line efficiency varied from Apple Store to Apple Store, the long lines full of eager-iPhone fans is universal. Of course, the only problem with waiting nearly a whole work day to get a phone? By the time it’s over with you just want to go to sleep. How long was your wait for your iPhone 4? For more Apple coverage:
More About: Apple Store, iphone 4, iphone 4 lines    
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| Google Remotely Flips the Kill Switch on Questionable Android Apps Posted: 25 Jun 2010 03:12 AM PDT  The Android Market may be open, but Google does control what ends up on your Android device, and can remotely remove the applications if need be. Now, Google has done exactly that, removing two applications that violated the Android Market rules. These apps were hardly dangerous; Google claims they were “built by a security researcher for research purposes” and “were not designed to be used maliciously.” Furthermore, most users that installed them have removed them from their Android device themselves. Still, since the apps “intentionally misrepresented their purpose,” Google decided to remove the remaining installed copies, probably not because it perceived them as a real threat, but simply to show that the Android Market is safe. From the blog post:
Recently, we wrote about a report which claimed that one in five apps in the Android Market is a potential privacy threat. Many commenters pointed out that the apps the report portrayed as dangerous were designed to do a specific task that only seems like a threat (for example, apps that can remotely render your phone useless in case of theft) and had to be given permissions for their actions by the owner of the device. Google also reacted, claiming that the report “falsely suggests that Android users don't have control over which apps access their data.” We already knew that Google can remotely disable dangerous apps in the Android Market. By exercising this right for the first time, Google reminds us that it keeps a tight rein over Android Market’s security. For more Mobile coverage:
More About: android, Android Market, Google, smartphones 
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| How Did Apple Miss the iPhone 4’s Reception Issue? Maybe It Didn’t Posted: 25 Jun 2010 01:17 AM PDT  The iPhone 4 launch day has been dominated by two storylines: unprecedented demand for Apple’s newest smartphone and critical issues that even Steve Jobs has addressed. While the yellow discoloration has been a big issue, the bigger issue seems to be the iPhone 4 reception issue. Hold it the wrong way and you can completely lose your signal. For now Steve Jobs advocates buying a case or not “holding the phone that way.” The issue begs an important question: how did Apple miss this? Apple extensively tests its products and the company is nothing short of obsessive with the quality of its products. It’s difficult to believe that Apple wouldn’t have tested the quality of the antennas with extensive rigor. Of course, that type of field testing is what led to the lost iPhone 4 prototype and the ensuing legal drama. Here’s one interesting theory, proposed by Matt Schlicht, Ustream’s Product Lead for Social and Virality:  It’s probably true that, when the iPhone 4 was taken into the field, it was always inside of a case that hid the device. Apple may have discovered the antenna problem later on, but it might have been too late by then. Another opinion is put forth by Spencer Webb, an antenna designer. Here’s what he says:
If this is the case, then Apple knew about the issue long ago, but decided that it was an acceptable trade-off. We’d agree, but we want to know the most common ways the typical user holds his or her phone first. In the end though, these issues amount to minor bumps in the road for the world’s most valuable tech company. It already looks like the iPhone 4 will become the best-selling iPhone in company history. We doubt this issue will actually scare any potential customers away. Maybe that’s what Apple’s betting on. More About: apple, iphone, steve jobs  For more Apple coverage:
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| IE9 vs. Chrome vs. Firefox: Microsoft’s Gaining Ground [VIDEO] Posted: 25 Jun 2010 12:19 AM PDT  Microsoft’s Internet Explorer may still hold dominant market share in the web browser arena, but it is quickly fading against strong competition from Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome. The IE browser has been much maligned for its lack of support for web standards and its poor performance against the competition. Enter IE9, the next iteration of the world’s still most-used browser. Microsoft is taking a completely new approach to IE9, embracing HTML5 and CSS3 and placing a heavy focus on web standards and speed. Yesterday, the company launched IE9 Platform Preview 3 at an event in San Francisco. What surprised us was that Microsoft’s presentation focused almost exclusively on how IE9 beats its competitors, Chrome 5 and Firefox 3.6.4. They ran test after test showing off its processing capabilities. What came up the most though was hardware acceleration: IE9 utilizes DirectX 10 to make far better use of the hardware. The results, we admit, are striking. Check out both of the videos below. The first demonstrates a speed test between IE9 and Chrome, and the second pits IE9 against Firefox. Could IE9 finally be the iteration that turns Internet Explorer’s woes and horrendous reputation around? We leave it up to you to decide. Reviews: Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer More About: chrome, Chrome 5, Firefox, firefox 3.6, Google, google chrome, IE9, internet explorer, microsoft, mozilla  For more Tech coverage:
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| 10 iPhone Apps for a Better Night’s Sleep Posted: 24 Jun 2010 11:09 PM PDT  General health practitioners recommend that adults get at least seven hours of sleep each night for optimal functioning of mind, body and spirit. Countless studies have proven the direct links between sleep quality and its effects on healthy immune functions, memory, learning, metabolism and much more. A good night's sleep starts with a bedtime routine that prepares your body for a restful night ahead. Some drift off peacefully with the help of simple melodies, while others prefer a calming voice to guide them The following apps provide options for people of all sleep styles. Forget counting those sheep and upgrade to sleep 2.0 with these 10 app picks. 1. Deep Sleep with Andrew Johnson This app is a guided meditation with self-help expert Andrew Johnson (who just happens to sound a wee bit like Sean Connery). The aim is to gently ease you into a more relaxed state, eventually falling into a deep sleep. With soothing instructions for breathing and relaxation techniques, this app works like a charm and can become a valued part of anyone's nighttime routine. Cost: $2.99 2. aSleep 3 aSleep 3 provides a medley of sleep-related services like an alarm clock, timer, nature sounds, chromotherapy, weather and even a snore detector. Although there are some oddities in the sound options (didgeridoo, anyone?), this app provides a mix of features that can complement a good night's sleep. Cost: $0.99 3. pzizz sleep Claiming to be your "personal sleep assistant," pzizz is an app that aims to cure insomnia and keep users in a deep state of sleep throughout the night. The steep price can be partly attributed to the range of scientific techniques built-in, such as binaural beats and neurolinguistic programming, that creates more than one billion soundtrack combinations. With so many available, your mind won’t get bored by the monotony of a repetitive track every night. Modes of play include Energizer, Meditation and Sleep, and they are fully customizable to desired length. If you are wary of the high price, there is a lite version currently on sale for $0.99. Cost: $9.99 4. Long Deep Breathing Long Deep Breathing is a simple, no frills app that promotes the practice of deep breathing for better health. Using what's essentially a breath gauge, you simply follow the visual cues for inhaling and exhaling. You can adjust the length of each breath and eventually increase the duration. According to the app, the average person breathes about 12-16 times each minute. By practicing and working that number down, you will reap the benefits and calm the mind. Good information about the benefits of breathing is also included in the app. Cost: $0.99 5. Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock If you're really committed to learning more about your sleep habits, Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock provides you with a tool for analyzing your sleep habits. By literally placing the iPhone next to you while you sleep, the app will monitor your movement and wake you in your lightest sleep phase so you arise feeling refreshed and well-rested. Cost: $0.99 6. eSleep For those sleepers who like to mix and match the background noise they fall asleep to, eSleep is a good choice. It offers a wide variety of sounds and loops and enables up to three sounds to play simultaneously. eSleep is a good option for those who like variety and customization with their sleep sounds. This app is also available with varying levels of functionality in Lite (free) and Deluxe ($2.99) versions. Cost: $0.99 7. Proactive Sleep Proactive Sleep is a multifunction sleep app that includes basics like an alarm clock with snooze feature and ambient music. It also includes a more comprehensive "sleep diary" that lets users track their amount of sleep, difficulty falling asleep, exercise, caffeine consumption and more. The data is averaged and can be viewed in seven day cycles, 30 day cycles, or all days. Cost: $0.99 8. Relax & Rest Guided Meditations This is another guided meditation app that offers a choice of breath, deep rest or whole body meditations. The app also has helpful meditation tips included in the release on how to maximize the benefits of these meditation techniques. Cost $0.99 9. Alarm Tunes Alarm Tunes is a straightforward app that enables users to wake up to any selection from their iTunes libraries. In addition to features such as screen dimming, alarm fade-in, shake to snooze and more, you can also use the app at night to fall asleep to music. It will automatically shut off after 30 minutes. This app is also available as a free lite version but with fewer options and functions. Cost: $0.99 10. Relaxing Ambiance Falling asleep to sounds of nature can be a very peaceful way to drift off. With the Relaxing Ambiance app, users can choose from 56 sounds including beach ambience, wind chimes, and forest streams. The app also allows you to adjust volume and mix multiple sounds together to create your own sleep melody. For the morning, you can set a wake up alarm using any of the programmed sounds to make the journey out of bed that much easier. This app comes in a free lite version with fewer sound choices. Cost: $0.99 For more mobile coverage, follow Mashable Mobile on Twitter or become a fan on FacebookMore iPhone resources from Mashable:
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, aurora Reviews: Facebook, Twitter, iPhone, iStockphoto, iTunes More About: alarm tunes, ambiance, andrew johnson, apps, asleep 3, esleep, iphone, long deep breathing, meditation, proactive sleep, pzizz sleep, relax and rest, sleep, sleep cycle alarm clock 
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| OnLive: Video Games on Demand Service Demoed [VIDEO] Posted: 24 Jun 2010 10:26 PM PDT  Video gaming meets cloud computing in the new OnLive service, which lets you instantly fire up and play a library of popular titles on your PC or Mac — and soon, your TV. The service delivers high-end games to even low-powered machines as well as giving Mac users a way to play a number of PC-only titles — neither of which is no small technical feat. We’ve been following the OnLive service since it came out of stealth mode, went into beta and got a launch date. During E3 last week the service officially launched, and we had a chance to sit down with CEO Steve Perlman for a hands-on demo of the service. What we saw was very impressive — not only can you quickly hop into a number of great games like Borderlands, Assassin’s Creed II, Dragon Age: Origins and more, but you can also effortlessly drop in and spectate on other users’ ongoing games via the Arena, a sort of panopticon window into all the current gameplay sessions. Social features allow you to quickly add and connect with friends, plus share and rate Brag Clip videos of favorite gameplay moments from your own and other members’ sessions.  Because all of this gameplay is essentially rendered as a video feed and sent over the Internet, the company acknowledges there is some latency factor involved in the service. However, for the majority of gamers OnLive is most likely going to be “close enough.” The ability to hop in and play these games from older PCs or Macs that otherwise would have little or complicated access is likely going to be a very acceptable tradeoff for many. During the demo we were also shown OnLive running on an iPad, which again speaks to the powerful platform-agnosticity afforded by cloud-based gaming. For now it’s mostly giving a window into the Arena for spectating matches, but Perlman said game developers are working on custom control schemes to make actual gameplay viable on devices like the iPad and iPhone as well as Android phones — even the Nexus One can reportedly run the OnLive service already as well. OnLive is also rewarding early adopter customers with a special offer during its first launch month: you can sign up within this period to get a free year of service for “founding members,” along with a second year of service at $4.95 per month. One thing to note, however: the subscription price doesn’t automatically get you into all the games — you still have to pay to buy or rent individual titles. A purchase price can be as much as a regular box copy, although rental prices for a few days can be as low as $3.99. After months of hardcore skepticism from gamers and press everywhere, it looks like OnLive is off to a great start on delivering its hefty promise of easy cloud-based gameplay access. Check out the video demo below and let us know: could the age of on-demand gaming be arriving? Reviews: Android, Internet, video More About: android, cloud computing, e3, E3 2010, gaming, ipad, iphone, nexus one, onlive, video, video games  For more Tech coverage:
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| FaceTime: Video Calls Finally Become Cool Posted: 24 Jun 2010 09:23 PM PDT  At WWDC, Apple formally announced FaceTime, its take on video calling and a feature that really highlights to dual-cameras on the iPhone 4. The big surprise with FaceTime is that it only works over Wi-Fi (for now) but will let you make free video-to-video calls to other iPhone 4 users all over the world. While video calling is hardly new — technology and telephony companies have been trying to shove the stuff down our throats since at least the 1960s — the implementation certainly is. While it’s far too early to make any hard or fast predictions about FaceTime and video calling in general, we have to say, after spending some time with FaceTime, we’re impressed. Drop-Dead Simple to UseWhile video chat over web cams using services like Skype or iChat or Windows Messenger is a pretty common activity, video calls from handsets remains a rarity. And not for lack of trying. I can think of at least half a dozen failed attempts at selling video calling to consumers at the retail level from the last decade, and that’s just off the top of my head. While video calling has lots of hurdles, one of its biggest is ease of use. Making sure each party has matching or compatible handsets, confirming that the video stream is active, making sure the microphones are shielded so you don’t have echo and interference, and that’s before you even make the call.  FaceTime is extremely, extremely simple. Just click on a contact in your address book and make sure that you have their iPhone 4 phone number as one of the contact points. Then hit the FaceTime button on their entry. That’s it. The phone will make its connection over Wi-Fi and on the other end, your friend will receive a call and an alert that you are requesting a FaceTime chat. As soon as they accept, they are dropped right into the video interface. That’s it. From that point, you can talk directly to your screen, where you will see the person on the other line, as well as a small image of your own camera. One of the coolest features it that you can seamlessly switch to the higher resolution camera on the back of your phone to take someone on a video tour or show them what you are looking at. You can also rotate the phone and have the video image update itself automatically. This is the way video calling should be. No messing with settings, no worrying about making sure the camera is on or active, just choose FaceTime from your contact’s page. If you’re already on a voice call with someone on their iPhone 4, you can switch to a FaceTime chat mid-call and you won’t even use any of your voice minutes. But How’s the Quality?Another issue that other video phone solutions have had is overall quality of audio and video streams. While video from the front camera isn’t high definition, it is easy to see, of decent quality, and most importantly, in sync with the person’s voice.  Voice quality was actually what I was most surprised about. I didn’t have any headphones on and my volume for the phone speaker was at the default volume, yet I had no problem hearing my friends and they had no problem hearing me. What really impressed me was how good the quality was, even overseas. When I spoke with my friend Nik Fletcher all the way over in the United Kingdom, the call and video quality totally held up. Likewise, my friend Sang Tang in San Diego came in clear and his voice quality was tremendous. Will This Work?No matter how cool and how easy FaceTime is to use, it’s still a gamble. However, as a long-time skeptic of video calling, I think that FaceTime has the chance to really re-ignite the video telephony world for a a few reasons:
Areas for ImprovementWhile I haven’t had any technical problems with FaceTime, there are always places for improvement. Apple has said it is opening up its FaceTime API for other services — and we hope that means that other applications or other platforms can get in on the fun. Additionally, because there are so many great opportunities for cool things to happen over FaceTime, it would be nice if there was a way to record the video stream or conversation that you are having. This might be too hardware intensive for current cell phones, but how great would it be for grandma and grandpa to be able to save that call from their grandchildren to watch back later? Your ThoughtsWhat do you think of FaceTime or video calling in general? Let us know! For more Apple coverage:
Reviews: Facebook, Skype, Twitter More About: apple, facetime, iOS, iphone 4, video calling 
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| Find a Travel Mate for Your Next Remote Adventure Posted: 24 Jun 2010 08:26 PM PDT  Mashable's Spark of Genius series highlights a unique feature of startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, see details here. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark.
Quick Pitch: Globetrooper is a social travel platform, where people build trips and travel the globe together. Genius Idea: Coordinating trips with friends can be a difficult endeavor, given conflicts in work schedules, budgets and destination preferences. But if you’re not too particular about who you travel with — or if you’d like to make some new friends — you might want to check out Globetrooper while planning your next trip. Globetrooper is a social platform for aspiring travelers to design trips and find others to travel with them. You can post a trip outlining your dates and preferences for others to join, or browse the roughly 100 trips already listed on the site. Users can also leave comments on each others’ trips with suggestions for places to stay and sites to see. Trips are ranked by Difficulty, Culture Shock, Remoteness and Risk on a scale of 1-5. The site also sports great browsing and search functionality. You can search for trips by keyword, or browse trips by region or activity, from “Overland & Safari” to “Scuba & Snorkeling” and “Food/Wine Touring.” Unsurprisingly, the site seems to attract serious adventuring enthusiasts (want to climb Mount Everest, anyone?) by and large, although there are plenty of Aussies seeking traveling mates on their European tours as well. If you’re looking to discover a remote region with knowledgable and resourceful people, Globetrooper should prove a great resource. What do you think of the platform? Would you ever use a service like Globetrooper to find and meet a travel buddy?  [img credit: pagedooley] Sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark
Reviews: Safari More About: bizspark, social media, social networking, spark-of-genius, travel 
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| Steve Jobs to iPhone 4 Owners: Stop Holding the Phone Wrong Posted: 24 Jun 2010 07:01 PM PDT  Apple has responded to those concerns some new iPhone 4 owners are having with poor reception issues, and the gist is essentially either “stop holding the phone that way” or “buy a case.” Engadget reports that not only have company spokespeople issued a statement advising users to “avoid gripping it in the lower left corner in a way that covers both sides of the black strip in the metal band, or simply use one of many available cases,” but head honcho Steve Jobs himself responded similarly in one of his increasingly infamous spontaneous email answers: “Just avoid holding it in that way.” The remainder of Apple’s statement stresses that antenna placement can potentially pose a reception issue in any cell phone, not just the iPhone 4: “Gripping any mobile phone will result in some attenuation of its antenna performance, with certain places being worse than others depending on the placement of the antennas.” The specific positioning of the new iPhone’s antennas in the lower left-hand corner of the device is of particular annoyance for left-handed users, who naturally cup the phone in that area. Apple sells a $29 rubber bumper that creates a barrier between the hand and the phone’s antennas, which many users report solves the reception problem. The existence of said bumper essentially begs the question, though — does it indicate that Apple already knew about the potential reception issues with the phone? And if so, should users really have to shell out $29 to restore the reception that’s knocked out by holding the phone in an arguably natural way? What do you think: is Apple’s solution to iPhone 4 reception problems acceptable? More About: apple, iphone, iphone 4, Mobile 2.0, reception, steve jobs, trending  For more Apple coverage:
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| Posted: 24 Jun 2010 05:36 PM PDT  iMovie for iPhone is the official Apple application that lets iPhone users record and edit high-definition video to publish directly to YouTube or send via MMS and e-mail. The application, available for $4.99 [iTunes link], is simple to use and yet surprisingly feature-rich for something on a mobile device. Experienced video editors will have no problem picking up iMovie for iPhone 4. In fact, after a little practice and fidgeting around with the settings, even novice video editors like myself can create a polished video of various clips, music and pics in about 10 minutes. Here’s how to create your own iMovie masterpiece. Getting Started iMovie for iPhone is a meaty app, which means the download process will take longer than a typical application download. Once installed, simply open the application and do as instructed, “Tap + to start a new project.”  After you start a new project, you’ll be asked to select a theme and be given the option to toggle theme music on or off. Apple gives you five themes to choose from — Modern, Bright, Travel, Playful, News. Don’t worry too much about choosing your theme; you can always change it during the editing process by clicking on the settings icon next to the Timeline. Each new project you create is autosaved as you work, so you don’t need to worry about constantly saving. Also, while working on a project, you can return to your saved projects by selecting the Projects View button (it looks like a starred folder) to return to the Projects window. Projects are represented by a single thumbnail image.  iMovie for iPhone works in landscape or portrait mode, and there are only four primary buttons that you need to be concerned with. The button in the upper left-hand corner is the Projects View button — clicking this will return you to the Projects window. The button in the upper right-hand corner is the Play/Pause button. Position the bottom slider along the red line as desired, and click Play or Pause to watch or stop your clip from that position. The bottom half of the display is dedicated to adding content to your video machination. In the lower left-hand corner is the Media Library button; tap this to add existing video, audio or photos from your iPhone 4 library. In the lower right-hand corner is the Camera button; select this to record video from within iMovie and add it to your timeline. The Timeline Perhaps the trickiest element of the app is the timeline bar at the bottom of the display. Video editors will automatically recognize what to do here, but for users new to video editing it might be a tad daunting at first. Fear not — the Timeline is actually quite simple to use. Simply position the red marker anywhere along the slider to add new content from your media library in that spot. You can drag-and-drop photos and video clips to rearrange them, or drag them out of the timeline to delete them altogether. The theme you choose can be accompanied by its companion musical composition or you can add a new track from your own library by selecting the Media Library button. Music selection is visible via the green bar below the photo and video content snippets. Unfortunately, you can only include one audio track per clip, although sound will fade in and out depending on whether or not you have audio toggled “on” for your video clips. Editing Photos and Clips After adding photos and videos to your timeline, you can edit them to your liking. To edit a photo, just select one from your project timeline and two yellow lines will appear on either side of the photo in the timeline. Drag these markers to reduce the duration the photo is shown in your movie. You can also drag the photo in the preview screen to reposition it, or pinch it to zoom in and out. For videos, trimming clips involves exactly the same process, but other editing features function slightly differently. Double tap the clip to pull up the Clip Settings menu (as pictured above). Here you can add a title and adjust when it shows up in the clip, specify clip location, and turn clip audio on or off. You can also delete the clip from this menu as well.  Transitions are automatically included between the media files in your Timeline. The transitions add continuity to the overall piece and you can edit or remove effects by double-tapping on the transitions button sandwiched between each clip or photo. Exporting Your Movie Once you’re satisfied with your work of video art, the final step is to export your movie to your iPhone’s camera roll. Return to the Projects window using the Projects View button and click the export icon. You’ll then have the option to export a medium, large or HD version of the clip. Now that your film is in your camera roll, you can upload it to YouTube, or send it to friends and family via SMS or e-mail. That’s it! Now go pat yourself on the back for a job well done. Just in case you a need a little inspiration, below is an example of what I was able to concoct in about 15 minutes. Reviews: YouTube, news, video More About: apple, imovie, imovie for iphone, iphone 4, iphone app  For more Apple coverage:
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| The Average YouTube User Watched 100 Videos in May [STATS] Posted: 24 Jun 2010 03:50 PM PDT  May was a bang-up month for YouTube, according to data released today by the comScore Video Metrix service. Having for the first time achieved the milestone of 100 videos watched per user, the video-sharing site reached an all-time high of 14.6 billion videos viewed in May. Overall, video viewership was on the upswing — in April, data showed that 178 million U.S. users watched online video, in May, that number rose to 183 million. The number of videos viewed also rose — from 30.3 billion videos viewed in April to nearly 34 billion videos in May — and, once again, Google Sites (i.e. YouTube) led the pack (with 14.6 billion videos viewed).  Once again, Hulu came in at number two (with close to 1.2 billion videos viewed) and Microsoft sites at number three (with 642 million viewed), but this time, Vevo climbed up to number four (with 430 million viewed) — displacing Viacom and Yahoo.  Image courtesy of iStockphoto, marcoscisetti Reviews: Hulu, YouTube, iStockphoto More About: hulu, vevo, web video, youtube  For more Web Video coverage:
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| Porn Sites Set to Get .XXX Domain Name Option Posted: 24 Jun 2010 03:25 PM PDT  ICANN, the organization that oversees domain names and registrations for the Internet, plans to approve the .xxx top-level domain (TLD) for adult websites. According to multiple reports, ICANN officials told people at a public meeting in Brussels that it intends to allow adult businesses to register .xxx domains, which have been the subject of controversy for several years. An ICANN attorney said that due diligence and contract negotiations must still be carried out; if those are successful, Internet porn could have its own distinct TLD. The .xxx domain has been criticized by everyone from pornographers — some of whom see the TLD as a form of digital segregation — to conservative American activists, who would probably prefer a porn-free Internet altogether. This development has been spearheaded by the ICM Registry, who could end up selling .xxx domains as soon as this year if ICANN negotiations go smoothly. ICM states on its website that the idea of the .xxx domain is that responsible pornographers will be able to self-identify and web users will more easily be able to identify adult content online. There is no indication that the .xxx domain would be mandatory for all or any adult websites, however. Here’s a recent video interview about the domain and surrounding issues: [img credit: adrian_wallett] Reviews: Internet More About: .xxx, dot xxx, ICANN, porn, TLD  For more Tech coverage:
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| POLL: Which AT&T Data Plan Will You Choose? Posted: 24 Jun 2010 02:47 PM PDT  Just before the official iPhone 4 announcement, AT&T announced new data plans for its mobile Internet devices. While the new data options are less expensive and offer the ability to add Internet tethering, they also put data caps on the iPhone data plan — data caps that previous owners didn’t have to worry about. While the 2GB/$25 per month DataPro plan from AT&T will reportedly be enough for 98% of users, the faster processor, newer apps and support for multitasking in iPhone 4 means that users might find themselves using more data than ever before. To make matters worse, while existing iPhone customers can continue to pay $30 per month for unlimited data on their iPhone 4, if they want to add tethering to their new phones, they’ll have to drop down to the $25 DataPro plan and then pay an additional $20 per month. Which data plan did you select or do you plan to select to go along with your iPhone 4? Let us know by voting in this poll and sounding off in the comments. For more Apple coverage:
Reviews: Facebook, Internet, Twitter More About: att, data plans, iphone 4, polls 
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| Exclusive: Vevo’s Location-Aware iPhone App Debuts in July [PIC] Posted: 24 Jun 2010 02:19 PM PDT  Music videos are going to become a lot more accessible come July, as Vevo will launch its official iPhone app during that sweltering month. We got a sneak peek at the upcoming toy. Yesterday, I sat down with Rio Caraeff, the CEO of Vevo, for an informal discussion about the music video service, the music industry overall and what’s going to be coming out of the company in the near future. While I learned lots of interesting facts about Vevo (Justin Bieber is the most-watched user on Vevo currently; it already has ~80 employees, etc), one of the big things he revealed is that the iPhone app is nearly done and that we should expect it to drop in the app store next month. The Vevo iPhone app is all about the music videos, as you’d expect. The Carousel option cycles through popular videos. There’s also a featured section, both of which help you find and watch the world’s most talked-about music videos. The feature that caught my attention the most, though, was geolocation: the Vevo app utilizes your iPhone’s location and helps you discover local artists that might interest you. This feature could be a huge boon to lesser-known artists looking to build an audience, and it should be a great way for music lovers to find local bands and shows to attend. It’s limited to Vevo’s partners, but that encompasses a lot of artists. While we expect the app to launch next month, product delays and Apple’s rigorous application review process could certainly delay it. However, you should start getting excited for this app now. I only got a short demo from Caraeff, but from what I saw, this app is slick, functional and useful. Oh, and for you Android users, don’t fret: you’re getting an app in the near future as well. An iPad version is also in the works. Below is a picture of the Vevo app’s interface. Let us know what you think about Vevo and its upcoming iPhone app in the comments.  Reviews: Android, iPhone More About: EXCLUSIVE, iphone, iphone app, vevo, youtube  For more Web Video coverage:
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| What We’ve “Wasted” on Apple This Year: $29 Billion and Counting Posted: 24 Jun 2010 02:15 PM PDT  How much money have people around the world wasted on Apple products in the past year? One website estimates that number is as high as $29 billion, and it’s rapidly climbing. Perhaps “wasted” is too strong a word, but don’t blame us — we’re just quoting the source. (This just-for-fun site isn’t affiliated with Apple, and since its estimates are based on data from a variety of sources, we can’t absolutely confirm the veracity of these numbers. Still, for those of us on Team Android, the premise is entertaining and makes for good fanboy-teasing fodder). With today’s launch of the iPhone 4, we expect that any estimate of iPhone sales will continue to rise throughout the day. Regardless of the fact that the iPhone 4 is known to have hardware malfunctions, including discolored displays and faulty antenna bands, folks just keep lining up to buy the newly released device. Of course, the iPhone 4 isn’t the only revenue-generating mobile toy that’s quickly lining Apple’s coffers with the hard-earned dollars, euros and shekels of fans around the world. The iPad’s sales recently topped 3 million units. But the one item that’s still outselling them all is the humble iPod, which ships more units and wastes more consumer dollars than any other device, including Macs. Here’s a breakdown of our annual Apple waste in U.S. dollars as of today:
We’re sure Steve Jobs is thrilled. How much do you think we’ll have wasted on Apple by the end of this week? How much have you personally wasted, either on the newest products from 2010 or over your lifetime? More About: apple, ipad, iphone, iphone 4, ipod, sales  For more Apple coverage:
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| Does Online Buzz Mean Better TV Ratings? [INFOGRAPHIC] Posted: 24 Jun 2010 01:42 PM PDT  While we’ve heard in the past that Twitter can be a killer box office predictor, the same might not be true for social media and television ratings. Social media monitoring company Viralheat spent a month tracking social media mentions — a million of them, in fact — right around the time that nine major TV shows were airing their season finales. The company looked at data from Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Google Buzz and other sources, including the sentiment of all these mentions, comments and updates. Then Viralheat compared the social media buzz with the Nielsen TV ratings for each show. Does chatter on the web equate to eyeballs on TV screens? Not necessarily. Their research determined:
All in all, Viralheat found that Nielsen ratings combined with social media sentiment analysis provided the best snapshot of how a show’s season finale performed with viewers. So, for you would-be social media gurus, next time you’re trying to measure a brand’s impact on the social web, remember to include some sentiment analysis along with your headcount, or you could be missing out on some critical information. Here’s the infographic with more interesting factoids than you can shake a stick at; click to see the full version.  Reviews: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube More About: Nielsen, ratings, sentiment analysis, social media, television, tv  For more Social Media coverage:
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| Adorable P.S. 22 Kids Perform Tribute to Michael Jackson [VIDEO] Posted: 24 Jun 2010 01:30 PM PDT Those adorable kids from Staten Island’s P.S. 22 are at it again. In honor of the anniversary of Michael Jackson’s death (tomorrow), the tiny talents executed a stirring rendition of “Man in the Mirror.” The viral video stars are on a roll lately, having scored an Artist of The Year Webby for their various and sundry versions of everything from Phoenix to Beyonce. (The chorus has been around since around 2000, but shot to fame in recent years thanks to the Internet). Now they’ll be appearing on CBS’s Early Show tomorrow morning to take part in a tribute to the King of Pop. Check out the video above (as well as their Newsweek segment below). The hand gestures alone are worth repeated viewings. Reviews: Internet, beyonce, michael jackson More About: michael jackson, music, pop culture, ps-22, viral video  For more Web Video coverage:
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| World Cup and Obama Top iPhone 4 Buzz Pre-Launch [STATS] Posted: 24 Jun 2010 12:57 PM PDT  Over here at Mashable HQ, we’re up to our eyeballs in iPhone 4 news. But the Android fans among us are happy to report that while gadget geeks and technophiles might be exploding with delight over the newest shiny toy from Apple, the iPhone is barely tipping the scales in terms of overall online mentions. Normal people on the Internet would still rather talk about the World Cup or President Obama, it seems. According to data we’ve just received from social sharing service AddThis, the USA soccer win and Obama’s decision to accept the resignation of one of his top generals are still much more newsworthy than a phone of any kind. AddThis integrates data from almost 300 services around the web, including Facebook, Twitter, Google Reader, Digg and a plethora of blogging platforms. Take a look at these graphs, which show a significantly higher number of shares for those two topics over the iPhone 4. The first image shows the number of shares through June 23, and the second shows social media activity over a period from June 11 to June 23.
Clearly, the iPhone 4 is just one fish in the greater sea of online content, and a rather small one at that. What have you been interested in more over the past couple of weeks: The World Cup games, President Obama or the new iPhone? Reviews: AddThis, Digg, Facebook, Google Reader, Internet, Twitter, World Cup More About: apple, iphone, iphone 4, obama, trend, twitter, world cup  For more Social Media coverage:
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| The iPhone 4 Launch in 3 Minutes [VIDEO] Posted: 24 Jun 2010 12:50 PM PDT  From what we hear, there are still some pretty significant lines around the country and the world as Apple fanatics wait to get the iPhone 4. But we were there just after dawn this morning to take some photos and videos of the launch, and put together this three-minute version of the madness from our footage taken at the Apple store on 5th Avenue in New York City for those of you that sat it out (or simply were smart enough to have your iPhone shipped to your residence or place of business). Check it out to find out why some waited in line 13 hours and longer, what features people are looking forward to the most, and a sense of just how long the lines were at the stores. Stay tuned until the end for an iPhone 4 inspired song featuring a cowgirl and vuvuzela. More About: Apple Store, iphone 4, vuvuzela  For more Web Video coverage:
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| Why Your Next Business Card May Be Virtual Posted: 24 Jun 2010 12:45 PM PDT  This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business. Pundits have been calling for the death of the business card for years now. Writing in The Globe and Mail in 2007, for example, Amy Verner wrote that the growing number of Blackberry users (this was pre-iPhone and Android) presaged the end of the traditional business card. As more people began to carry smartphones, predicted Verner, more people would begin to ditch paper cards in favor of swapping digits. Of course, reports of the business card’s demise have been exaggerated. At South by Southwest this year, as at any conference I have attended over the past 4 years, I collected a stack of business cards that nearly tore the seams from my wallet. Clearly, for most people, the business card is still the networking tool du jour. Yet, even if the business card hasn’t died, perhaps it should. I’ve collected thousands of business cards from the people I’ve met over the years, and most of them just sit on my desk in a pile until I go to a new conference and get a fresh batch — then I toss the old ones in the recycle bin. Once I’ve emailed or called a new contact, I rarely look at those cards again, so what’s the point? For some people, a business card is a statement, a way to make an impression and be remembered — and for those whose business is rooted in visual design or being top of mind, investing in a memorable and unique business card has its advantages. But for most of us, exchanging business cards is just a ritual, a social formality that we’ve come to accept as a necessary part of the networking process. Indeed, in that same Globe and Mail article, Peter Post, the director of the Emily Post Institute, the go-to etiquette institute, told Verner, “The card is universal. There’s this ritual that would be a shame to lose because we could push a button and electronically transmit the information.” Though the paper business card is alive and kicking, the phenomenal growth of the the smartphone market means that virtual card alternatives are finally viable. While it may not have the visual or tactile impact of a well-designed physical business card, the convenience offered by going virtual is causing some people to switch (or at least start relying less on paper cards). Virtual business cards offer a number of advantages over their paper counterparts: they’re cheaper (often free), they take up less room in your pocket, you can’t run out of them, they automatically update, and perhaps most importantly, they can instantly hook into your social graph. What makes more sense given today’s electronic message-centric business communication landscape: sorting through a pile of paper business cards to find someone’s phones number, or clicking on an email address link on a mobile profile? Manually typing an email address into Gmail or following a new contact on LinkedIn? “If I’m connected to someone on LinkedIn, I’ll always have a way of finding them,” events manager Dave Stevens told Forbes earlier this year. “If you rely on a business card and the person moves on, you’ll get nothing but a bounced e-mail.” There are many ways to share virtual business cards, but one method that is gaining a lot of traction is mobile application Bump, which is available on the iPhone or Android (BlackBerry is forthcoming). The app allows people to automatically share business information from phone-to-phone based on proximity; meet a new contact and simply “bump” your phones together to share details. One of the reasons Bump is so attractive is that it emulates the ritual exchange of business cards by including a physical aspect to the information swap, but it still nixes those clumsy scraps of paper and keeps information in a highly usable, interactive digital format. Still, though virtual business card use is on the rise, it’s not quite time for the sun to set on the trusty printed card. The main reason comes back to aesthetics. “Some of the emerging virtual business card ideas are great, but they universally lack one critical ingredient: personality. Form is still just as important as function these days. A virtual business card is just data,” said Richard Moross, CEO of Moo.com, in Fortune magazine. Until virtual business cards carry the same visual impact as their paper counterparts, we’ll have to put up with the ritual of exchanging cards. For many people, however, going virtual is finally a realistic alternative, which is why your next business card may be made of pixels and bits rather than ink and paper. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, YanC More Business Resources From Mashable:
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Reviews: Android, Facebook, Gmail, LinkedIn, Twitter, iStockphoto More About: android, blackberry, bump, business card, business cards, iphone, linkedin, Moo.com, online business cards, Richard Moross, The Globe and Mail, virtual business cards 
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| Mysterious “Horse Boy” Shows Up on Google Street View Posted: 24 Jun 2010 12:03 PM PDT  Although many might think that Google Street View was created for navigational purposes, IMHO, it was created solely for our collective entertainment. That’s right, another apparition from the realm of weird has appeared on Google’s service: the mysterious, the elusive, the equine… Horse Boy. According to the BBC, Horse Boy — who was captured on film standing by a wall in Aberdeen, Scotland — has become a phenomenon among Internet denizens in the country. Apparently, dozens of users have e-mailed the BBC to assert that they know the identity of the mystery man-steed. Many have even sent in images of what they claim is the stallion. Secret identities (and privacy issues) aside, we’re happy to see more weird stuff cropping up in Street View. Not that there’s a dearth of oddities or anything — but since that first kiss was removed from the service, we were aching for something new to entertain us. Thanks, Google Street View, and thank you, Horse Boy. Reviews: Internet More About: google street view, humor, pop culture, software  For more Social Media coverage:
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| Posted: 24 Jun 2010 11:54 AM PDT  Today Twitpic released Twitter Places integration following Twitter’s recent launch of the feature. Now geotagged photos will be grouped and Twitpics will be searchable by location. In addition, users can view a history of places they’ve been. Earlier today Twitpic’s Noah Everett tweeted about the new feature by linking to a collection of photos grouped by location from Charleston, South Carolina. The photos are grouped based on the geolocation data pulled in from the Twitter Places API. Of course, Twitpic’s Twitter Places support is limited to its own web interface for photo uploads and other third-party apps with Twitter Places integration. This means that, at least for now, the number of photos grouped by place is minimal. In testing we did noticed that the Places search functionality doesn’t appear to be working as intended, although this could have something to do with the scarcity of geotagged photos. Twitpic’s Twitter Places integration follows the addition of Photo Events and Face Tagging, which have been released in recent weeks. When coupled together, the Twitpic improvements make for a much-enhanced Twitter photo sharing and saving experience.   Reviews: Twitpic, Twitter More About: geolocation, photo sharing, twitpic, twitter, twitter places  For more Social Media coverage:
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| What’s Wrong with the iPhone 4? [ILLUSTRATION] Posted: 24 Jun 2010 11:40 AM PDT What’s wrong with Apple’s new iPhone 4? There have been numerous reports of issues with the latest Apple device, which hits stores today, from screen discoloration, to poor reception, to less-than-indestructible glass. Our unscientific reader poll found that while many of you are having no trouble at all so far with your new iPhones, nearly half are experiencing issues. The graphic below illustrates the most common technical problems users are having with the new iPhone 4, and what to do about the reception issue: Let us know in the comments how your new iPhone 4 is performing.  More About: apple, bugs, infographic, iphone, iphone 4, problems  For more Apple coverage:
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| iPhone 4 vs. Droid X Feature Comparison [INFOGRAPHIC] Posted: 24 Jun 2010 11:02 AM PDT While Apple fans line up around the world (in a few countries, at least) to get their hands on the new iPhone 4, there is no better time than now to see how the newest Apple phone stacks up to its latest competition. Although we’ve only had our hands on each phone for a few hours, we’re curious how the iPhone 4 compares with the Motorola Droid X, an Android phone that was just revealed yesterday. We’ve laid out the pertinent specs in the infographic below and both phones look impressive on paper. Only real-world testing will help us figure out which one has the edge. In the meantime, compare the phones using our chart and let us know in the comments which one you’d rather have.  Update: A previous version of this graphic incorrectly displayed standby time in minutes. It has been corrected. More About: android, apple, comparison, data visualization, droid, droid x, infographic, iphone, iphone 4, Motorola, verizon, verizon wireless  For more Mobile coverage:
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| New Version of Tweetie for Mac Rolls Out Posted: 24 Jun 2010 10:31 AM PDT  Amidst the iPhone 4 chaos, Atebits has released an updated version of Tweetie for Mac, the first since its acquisition by Twitter. Tweetie 1.2.7 — not to be confused with the new Twitter for iPhone that supports multitasking — is a minor upgrade from the previous versions. Users can expect small tweaks including increased security, bug fixes and a new advanced setting that supports updating iChat status. Additionally the app, which is now available for free, no longer asks users to register their copy. The full list of updates is as follows:
Tweetie 1.2.7 for Mac won’t blow away users, but as the update text reads, at least it will keep “the tweets flowing.” For more Apple coverage:
Reviews: Facebook, Twitter, tweetie More About: atebits, software, tweetie, tweetie for mac, twitter 
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| Top 10 Resources for Design Inspiration Posted: 24 Jun 2010 10:05 AM PDT
With all the noise out there, it’s helpful to pick just a handful of such sites to bookmark. In this list, you’ll discover the best places on the web for those times when you’re in need of a creativity jump start. 1. FFFFOUND! If you’re searching for a web service that guarantees a constant stream of inspiring user-submitted images, you’ve FFFFOUND it. The service changes its behavior based on your activities on the site, displaying photos catered to your tastes the longer you use it. FFFFOUND! even has an iPhone app called iFound! for visual inspiration on the go. 2. Behance Network Behance is a large network for talented artists to create portfolios and connect with other people in their industries. Because Behance is a magnet for talent, you will often find plenty of inspirational work published on the site, with the front page highlighting featured and popular works. 3. deviantART deviantART is a free portfolio-hosting web service where artists can post their artwork, called "deviations" in the site’s vernacular. With over 13 million registered members, it’s also one of the largest specialized social networking sites for artists and designers. 4. Smashing Magazine Smashing Magazine, one of the largest and most popular dev and design blogs, routinely features inspirational showcases alongside their comprehensive and well-written web design and web development articles. 5. Abduzeedo This blog, established by celebrated Brazilian designer Fabio Sasso, is a top web destination for design inspiration. The site has regular features, such as Daily Inspiration and Best of the Week, loaded with an avalanche of images, videos and links to fire up your creativity. 6. NOTCOT.ORG This community site features some of the finest designs, many of which are submitted by users. The front page of NOTCOT.ORG is arranged in a visually appetizing grid layout. Just looking at it can help you get your design on. 7. LogoPond LogoPond is arguably the most popular community and showcase site for logo design and company branding inspiration. You can discover beautiful logo designs on the site, as well as upload your own designs for feedback from the huge community of logo designers. 8. Best Web Gallery This website is a popular web design showcase gallery administered by respected designer Nick La. Best Web Gallery, unlike most web design galleries out there, features only a handful of designs every few days. This philosophy of quality over quantity ensures that you won’t have to wade through a lot of junk to find the best designs on the web. 9. kuler Color is an important element of any design, ranking up there with typography and negative space. Kuler is an Adobe-owned site/tool/community for exploring, discovering, and sharing colors, making it popular for visual inspiration. 10. Flickr Flickr, the ubiquitous photo-sharing site, is a favorite web service within the design industry. Get inspired on Flickr by joining and contributing to groups, like Web Design, and find sets of inspirational images, such as this collection of business card designs. Bonus: Other Notable Resources for Inspiration
Which sites do you use for design inspiration? Share some links in the comments! For more Dev & Design coverage:
Series 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. [image credit: Tiny House Paintings] Reviews: Behance Network, Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, Web Design, deviantART More About: abduzeedo, behance, best web gallery, design inspiration, DeviantArt, fffound!, flickr, ifound!, inspiration, inspirational, kuler, logopond, notcot.org, smashing magazine, web design, Web Development 
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| FTC Closes Its Investigation of Twitter’s Security Practices [UPDATED] Posted: 24 Jun 2010 09:30 AM PDT  Twitter and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission have announced that an inquiry into Twitter’s security practices has been resolved after the company agreed to implement several suggestions from the governmental body. The FTC has been investigating Twitter following the two major security incidents that resulted in 55 hacked accounts, most of which belonged to celebrities. The first incident occurred in January 2009, compromising the Twitter accounts of Fox News, Facebook, Britney Spears, Barack Obama, and 41 other accounts; hackers used the opportunity to tweet from the popular accounts. The second incident occurred in April 2009 and resulted in 10 hacked accounts, along with leaked screenshots of Twitter’s admin panel. After both incidents, the FTC launched an inquiry into Twitter’s security practices to see whether the company was doing enough to protect users and their safety. But now that inquiry is officially closed. From Twitter’s announcement:
Twitter probably didn’t need FTC pressure to fix its security holes — the embarrassment of hacked celebrity accounts was probably more than enough motivation. Updated: While the FTC’s inquiry is indeed closed, it didn’t close it without railing into Twitter:
Twitter wasn’t ready for the types of attacks it received when it rose to prominence last year. The FTC’s line to ban Twitter from “misleading consumers” is essentially a slap on the wrist, while having a third party assess its security program every other year is not only reasonable, but probably would have happened without the FTC’s involvement. [img credit: Thomas Roche] Reviews: Facebook, Twitter  For more Social Media coverage:
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| On iPhone 4 Day, Microsoft Opens Store Next to One of Apple’s [PICS & VIDEO] Posted: 24 Jun 2010 08:59 AM PDT  Today is the grand opening of the Microsoft Store in Fashion Valley Mall in San Diego, California. The San Diego store marks Microsoft’s fourth foray into the retail space and opens later this morning at 10 a.m. PST. The Microsoft Store is just yards away from the Apple Store, which means it’s competing for attention with the massively long line of people hoping to get their hands on the new iPhone 4. The grand opening event has been heavily promoted on local radio stations and will feature a performance by Demi Lovato this coming Saturday, June 26. In an effort to draw a crowd, Microsoft is giving away tickets to a meet and greet with Demi Lovato to the first 100 people in line today. The first 1,000 people get “VIP treatment” for Saturday’s show. In addition, professional skateboarder Rob Dyrdek is signing autographs with his Street League cohorts at the store today. Microsoft Store employees are also raffling off electronic devices like the Microsoft Zune, the new Flip camera, miscellaneous laptops and gadgets, and giving away gift cards. I stopped by prior to the store opening to take photos and videos of the crowd, as well as capture the Apple versus Microsoft commotion. While Apple’s line far surpasses that of Microsoft’s, there’s definitely a sizable showing at the Microsoft Store. It doesn’t hurt that Microsoft employees are using megaphones to drown out the noise from a few doors down. In the video below I spoke with Nicole Barnhart who — despite gushing over my iPhone 4 — has been in the Microsoft Store line since 12:00 a.m. PST. She tells me that she was approximately the 50th person in line and that the majority of the crowd is waiting to get their hands on the Demi Lovato tickets. GalleryFashion Valley Mall - San Diego Fashion Valley Mall - San Diego Fashion Valley Mall - San Diego Fashion Valley Mall - San Diego Fashion Valley Mall - San Diego Fashion Valley Mall - San Diego Fashion Valley Mall - San Diego Fashion Valley Mall - San Diego VideoReviews: Apple Store More About: Apple Store, demi lovato, MARKETING, microsoft, microsoft store  For more Business coverage:
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| HootSuite Adds New Features and Fresh Interface with HTML5 Posted: 24 Jun 2010 08:55 AM PDT  HootSuite, the social media web-based dashboard, released its latest version today with HTML5 support that includes drag-and-drop functionality and enables faster loading. The new version, HootSuite5, also includes new features like geo-search and Google Analytics integration, as well as an improvement to Twitter’s RTs, which includes both the native RT and the option to comment with the RT. Moving to HTML5 solves some of the biggest problems for HootSuite, which was often beat out by TweetDeck due to its slow load time. The new interface loads much quicker, and for the most part without much delay. The dashboard design is completely refreshed, and some of the familiar menu options have been moved around to make more space for the streams. As a result, the message box has been shortened and drops down when prompted by the user. It will be interesting to see how users respond to the some of these changes in the UI, which includes a familiar layout with a new experience. HTML5: Geo-Search, Drag and Drop, Fast LoadingHootSuite has released the option for users to search for tweets based on location. Users can either use the regular search or hit the geo-search button for a location-based results. The HTML5 interface enables one to easily include an image or file with one’s update by simply dragging it from the desktop into the message box, which will automatically upload the file with a Ow.ly link for sharing. But the fast loading of the dashboard is perhaps one of the most notable improvements, which as the HootSuite blog points out, will make the site more usable for users who manage dozens of accounts.  Google Analytics IntegrationAlthough the dashboard already had some basic analytics, it can now integrate your Google Analytics account and track your sites — all without having to leave the Hootsuite dashboard. The integration also allows you to overlay tweets from your accounts with your site data.  Twitter RTs, Facebook Updates, ThemesThe new dashboard now also enables you to have the option to use the native Twitter RT or retweet something with a comment. The site used to feature the old-school version of the RT, which basically added RT in front of another user’s message when you wanted to repost it. The big downer about this is that you have to opt out of Twitter’s native RT by going into the HootSuite preferences. Perhaps HootSuite is taking a stance on what will eventually be adopted and become more consistent with Twitter.com’s user experience. A feature that has the potential to attract more businesses to use HootSuite is the new way links display on Facebook pages or profiles. The new functionality now lets you add a thumbnail, title and description, when before it only included the text of your message and the link. Users would often go to Facebook and enter the link there for the update to look more presentable and attractive on a page. HootSuite also added a few options to change the look and feel of the dashboard with three different theme options: Blue Steel, Classic and Magnum. Here is the “Blue Steel” theme:  Japanese Language Support, More Choices Coming SoonAnother notable feature is Japanese language support. Now Japanese-speaking users can use the dashboard in their native language. More importantly, the site plans to add more languages soon, perhaps positioning itself to be a tool of choice internationally. [img credit: Hootsuite Blog] Reviews: Facebook, Google Analytics, HootSuite, TweetDeck, Twitter More About: hootsuite, HTML5, social media, social media dashboard  For more Social Media coverage:
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| HOW TO: Improve B2B Sales Productivity with Social Media Posted: 24 Jun 2010 08:38 AM PDT  Umberto Milletti is the CEO of InsideView, which brings intelligence gained from social media and traditional sources to enterprise and B2B sales. The company’s SalesView app delivers fresh, complete and relevant information directly within CRMs and mobile devices to increase sales productivity and revenue. Today, there's more pressure than ever to shorten our sales cycles and show measurable results to our boss. There's an imperative to consume, analyze and utilize more data about leads and prospects than ever before. And on top of that, we're now selling to a smarter and more active prospect — call him Customer 2.0 — who uses the web to learn nearly everything about our companies, our products, and our competitors before ever engaging with us. When customers do engage, it's increasingly more social; a report earlier this year from Forrester Research found that more than four in five U.S. adults who are online also participate socially. An April report by Edison Research found that 7% of Americans (17 million people) actively use Twitter and 41% (about 99 million) maintain a Facebook profile. Additionally, more than half of active Twitter users follow a company, brand or product. As it specifically applies to sales, now more than ever our work is about relationship building and facilitating a buying decision through social selling. But the Catch-22 is balancing our need to achieve these more meaningful relationships without sacrificing sales productivity. For B2B sales professionals, the bar has risen significantly. Thankfully, the tools and methods have kept pace. Verify Leads Your marketing shop or CRM will give you a name, but that's it. Now it's up to you to determine if it's the right person at the right company and if it’s the right time for outreach — a constantly changing set of conditions -– and do all of this in the least amount of time possible. You don't want to waste precious hours better spent on more in-depth research if your lead moved out of your assignment range a month ago. Search Google Maps to correctly address territory issues — a task made even easier on the sales professional’s favorite device thanks to a recent Google Maps upgrade for BlackBerry that adds voice search. After confirming location, check out the company size and industry on free sites like LinkedIn Company Profiles or the BusinessWeek Business Directory to see if they fall within your segment. You can even follow entire companies on LinkedIn. Acquisitions or scale-backs happen often, and taking these steps will ensure you're talking to someone within your revenue and size parameters. Once the company is verified, it’s time to drill down to the individual. Do an advanced search on LinkedIn or Jigsaw to ensure your lead has an appropriate role and level of decision-making authority. In other words, confirm the ever-changing basics before you spend valuable time on outreach. If you don't, you will squander precious time for you and your prospect, and even risk a tongue-lashing in a public forum (like negative tweets or derisive blog posts) that could do even more damage. Also, knowing just as much about your lead as they know about you sets you up for better engagement and productivity down the line. Gather Information The next step is following your leads, literally, to gather more contextual information. This intelligence-gathering and social following matters tremendously to your eventual outreach, especially in determining the important when and how. With sites like Twitter and Foursquare, it's easy and, for the most part, completely open. For example, if you sell Cloud-based automated back-up systems and you see a prospect tweet about their work systems crashing, wouldn't that be the perfect time to reach out with your pitch? You've already confirmed the person is the decision maker and within the appropriate industry sector as outlined above. So, what better way to get a read on your prospect's latest news, interests, and pet peeves than following them in real-time? Just as important is following real-time news related to your prospect. Set up Google Alerts that point you to trigger events and blog posts about your lead, their company and the industry space. If you offer event and food services, it might be good to know that the expo center site your sales prospect just signed on to operate doesn’t historically turn a profit. That would bode well for your "lean and efficient" concession services (or on the other hand, such intelligence could help you avoid chasing a dead-end deal for years down the line). Put these customized feeds spanning individual and industry-wide insight to work automatically, and you won't have to hunt and peck every time you're doing outreach. Engage ProspectsPeople are more than prospects — they're people! They have likes and dislikes, and you need to leverage social media to engage meaningfully. Even an engaged prospect who says “no” is logically more productive than one who isn't, because of the simple fact that the engagement leaves open doors for the future. Use two of the biggest social sites to your advantage by joining relevant LinkedIn and Facebook Groups. The feeds in both will show you the worthwhile conversations taking place right now, including what your lead has to say on the matter. These groups also offer tons of topics, articles and events your prospect cares about — and thus, that you should care about. It also opens the door for identifying new prospects with similar interests and professional focal points. Your options for engagement are only limited by your efforts: From a light Twitter @reply, to a Facebook "Like," to a formal set of e-mails prompted by a timely and relevant tidbit from a LinkedIn discussion. In the expo center example above, it might be the perfect time to start a sales sequence related to your event concessions services highlighting current customers and performance. Someone with a new event operations project under his belt could be looking for a subcontractor, and this way you can be top-of-mind. ConclusionSales productivity hinges on having complete information in an ever-changing data environment, as well conducting fast research and efficient outreach in a fractious landscape. Social media is key to ensuring that you're talking to the right sales lead at the right time — from verification to engagement — with the best information always at your fingertips. Are you already executing social selling? We'd love to hear what is working and what new successes and challenges you're experiencing. If you haven't “bitten the bullet,” we're equally as eager to hear why. Let us know in the comments! Image courtesy of iStockphoto, urbancow More business resources from Mashable:
Reviews: Facebook, Foursquare, Google Maps, LinkedIn, Twitter, iStockphoto More About: business, facebook, Google, google alerts, how to, linkedin, productivity, small business, social media, social networking, twitter  For more Business coverage:
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