Mashable: Latest 29 News Updates - including “FIFA is Sorry About Bad Ref Calls, Will Reconsider Using Video Technology” |  |
- FIFA is Sorry About Bad Ref Calls, Will Reconsider Using Video Technology
- Patriotic Quotations in Binary
- Google Rolls Out Android 2.2 for All Nexus Ones
- iPhone 4 and iPad Shot, Then Returned to the Store
- Meet the New and Improved MapQuest [SCREENSHOTS]
- Tesla Goes Public, Prices Shares at $17
- Google Changes Tactics in China Censorship Saga
- Make “Super Mario Bros” Your Android Wallpaper [VIDEO]
- Yelp Adds Checkin Metrics to Business Reports
- License Songs for Your YouTube Videos at $1.99 Each
- Leaked Slide Deck Details Microsoft’s Plan for Windows 8
- Facebook Becoming a Prime Source for Divorce Case Evidence
- Whole Foods to Feature Foursquare Window Clings
- Kindle for Android Is Here
- Supreme Court Ruling Leaves Future of Software Patents in Limbo
- Apple May Face Class-Action Lawsuit Over iPhone 4
- Cisco Intern Poised to Become Viral Rap Star [VIDEO]
- Free Music Monday: 10 Free Tracks Are All Yours
- Firefox Gets an Update Thanks to “FarmVille”
- British Columbia’s Capital City Officially Names June 30 Social Media Day
- 5 Companies Reinventing the Way We Think About Mobile
- Google Releases Browser-Based Mobile Viewer for Google Docs
- Now You Can Play Nickelback Songs on Your iPhone
- Facebook Steals the Architect of Google Chrome OS
- Is Google Chrome Usage Soaring at Firefox’s Expense? [STATS]
- How Real Estate Pros are Using Social Media for Real Results
- Samsung Android Phone Ships with a Copy of “Avatar”
- Cheezburger Network on Meg Whitman’s Use of FAIL Blog: I Can Has a Lawsuit?
- Bros Icing Bros Gets a Cinematic Parody [VIDEO]
- An iPhone Calendar App for the Design-Oriented
| FIFA is Sorry About Bad Ref Calls, Will Reconsider Using Video Technology Posted: 29 Jun 2010 05:01 AM PDT      Everyone that watched Sunday’s World Cup match between England and Germany on TV saw that Frank Lampard scored a goal – everyone except the referee, and thus England was denied the goal. That call, together with another bad call later that day, when the referee missed a clear offside when Argentina took the lead against Mexico, spurred a heated debate about using technology to aid the refs in football games. FIFA, the authority that regulates the World Cup tournament, was until now quite adamant in keeping technology out of the football field. Now, its president Sepp Blatter claims it will reconsider the option. “Naturally we will take on board again the discussion about technology. Something has to be changed,” Blatter said. Those who are in favor of using technology – a solution that’s often mentioned is letting the refs see a video review of questionable situations – say it would relieve pressure from the refs, and reduce conflicts on the field. Those who are against claim such solutions would be hard to implement in all leagues and tournaments, and that using video technology would disrupt the game too much. What do you think? Should FIFA finally let video technology help football refs make their decisions? Give us your thoughts in the comments. More About: fifa, technology, world cup For more Tech coverage:
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| Patriotic Quotations in Binary Posted: 29 Jun 2010 03:10 AM PDT   Just in time for the Glorious Fourth, we bring you inspiring, patriotic quotations from America’s founders — in binary! In a sense, Thomas Jefferson could be called our country’s technical writer; James Madison, its system architect. And Eleanor Roosevelt was a social media strategist if there ever was one, although her time in the White House predated social media by a good fifty years or so. This novelty is brought to you by Code for America (CfA), a groovy open-source civic betterment project we found out about earlier this year. The quotations are available as PDFs — perfect for the patriotic nerds and nerdy patriots who might want to print these out and post them around IT as we approach the national holiday. As CfA staff member Abhi Nemani wrote on the company blog, “For centuries, [Gov 1.0 leaders] have helped define the very principles we want our fellows to realize through Gov 2.0: democracy, participation and patriotism.”  If you’d like to translate the “binary art” messages from Code for America, we found this binary-to-text and text-to-binary conversion tool works nicely. Of course, if you feel inspired to do more for your country than simply putting up a poster, you can apply to be a CfA fellow and work on projects that will help cities and citizens alike. The coding projects will take about 10 months and will be open-sourced in January 2011. This year, fellows will be working on apps for Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Seattle and Boulder. The kinds of programs CfA fellows build will solve problems, engage citizens, encourage government transparency and foster efficiency. For example, you could be building an online network to connect neighborhoods with emergency first responders or a permitting system to simplify administration of small business licensing and fees. At Mashable, we’re enthusiastic about open-source software and by social good projects; if you’ve got the time, we definitely encourage you to apply and to share this opportunity with others, as well. More About: 4th of july, binary, binary art, quotations For more Dev & Design coverage:
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| Google Rolls Out Android 2.2 for All Nexus Ones Posted: 29 Jun 2010 01:49 AM PDT   The Android 2.2 rollout has finally begun, starting with Google’s flagship phone, the Nexus One. Android 2.2, codename “FroYo,” was revealed last month at the Google I/O conference in San Francisco. It was a major leap forward for the open-source OS, featuring not only major speed upgrades, but Wi-Fi hotspot and tethering functionality, cloud-to-device integrations, and Adobe Flash 10.1. While the newest version of the Google-build OS has been available for a short while now, today marks the official rollout of Android 2.2 to the masses. Most Nexus One owners can expect an over-the-air update sometime later today. Owners of other android phones such as the HTC Evo or the Droid Incredible will have to wait a little while longer, though. Most Android phones run a customized version of the OS — HTC has the Sense UI, for example. It’s up to the phone manufacturers to implement rollouts of new OS updates, and most won’t be ready until August. Reviews: Android, Google More About: Android 2.2., android froyo, Google, nexus one For more Mobile coverage:
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| iPhone 4 and iPad Shot, Then Returned to the Store Posted: 29 Jun 2010 01:18 AM PDT   We’ve all heard legends about Apple’s great customer care. Is it great enough, however, to refund an iPhone 4 and iPad which have clearly been shot through with a rifle? Two cheerful youths tried to find out, and captured the entire adventure on video. Pointless? A little bit, but interesting enough to capture our attention for the duration of the video. Also, shooting through the iPad and the iPhone with a .50 caliber rifle looks cool, if you’re the sort of person who likes seeing gadgets blown up (we are). Reviews: Facebook, Twitter More About: apple, ipad, iphone For more Apple coverage:
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| Meet the New and Improved MapQuest [SCREENSHOTS] Posted: 29 Jun 2010 12:02 AM PDT   Say hello to the new MapQuest: it’s faster, cleaner, and completely redesigned and rebuilt from the ground-up. MapQuest, acquired by AOL in 2000, has long been a staple of the web, bringing online mapping and direction tools to the web in 1996. While it’s still one of the web’s most visited websites, it has fallen by the wayside in recent years due to the rise of Google Maps. Features such as Street View, integration with Google Search, and the company’s algorithmic approach to directions made Google Maps larger and more relevant than its much older rival. AOL and MapQuest hope to change that with what can only be described as a complete overhaul of the website. There’s a new design, a new logo, and a new direction and image for the world’s second largest mapping website. The New WebsiteStarting today, users can opt into the beta for the new MapQuest. This is what they’ll find: new-mapquest-360-view new-mapquest-aerial new-mapquest-homepage-us new-mapquest-maptoolbar-movies-and-bars new-mapquest-my-maps new-mapquest-patch-integration new-mapquest-share_send-to new-mapquest-traffic-turned-on The changes the MapQuest team have made are striking. Gone is the familiar red logo and dated interface and in its place and in its place is a sleeker, less cluttered design that focuses less on directions and more on local discovery. I spoke directly with MapQuests’s Christian Dwyer, senior vice president and general manager, and Ann Koerner, director of consumer products, about the changes. In terms of interface, they first pointed to the updated user interface: it’s more streamline and places most of the relevant information above the fold, unlike the previous iteration of MapQuest. In its place is more simplistic and intuitive functionality. For example, just like Google, there is now a one-box search that makes it easier to find a specific location or to get started with directions. The interface for creating directions and itineraries has also changed dramatically. The focus is now on making it easy to add and reorder different stops on your journey through a drag-and-drop system. There are new annotation and sharing features in the new MapQuest, along with improved icons and an updated mapping interface. The MapQuest Logo and a New StrategyI asked Dwyer and Koerner about how this update differentiated MapQuest from Google Maps, its primary rival. Their response was that they’re differentiating in the same vein as AOL: building unique, high quality content that informs, entertains, and connects. MapQuest is specifically focused now on local discovery, thanks to its integration with AOL Patch, a tool for finding out what’s happening in your community.  Nothing speaks more to AOL’s strategy than its redesign of the company’s logo. An incredible amount of thought went into the logo’s redesign. In fact, I was sent a six page document explaining the elements of the new logo and guidelines for use. According to the document, The Logo represents simplicity, innovation, and a sense of discovery. Users are supposed to interpret their own meaning for the logo, especially for the “MQ” symbol. A new logo won’t turn things around for MapQuest, but a new direction might. We’re fans of the new design and the many overhauls the MapQuest team has implemented. However, interface is only half the story — it has to be more useful and accurate than Google Maps in order to get users to switch. And with the growing proliferation of Google Maps on mobile devices — iPhones, Android, and iPads especially — AOL and MapQuest have a very tough road ahead. Reviews: Android, Google, Google Maps, Google search More About: aol, Google, Google Maps, Map, MapQuest For more Social Media coverage:
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| Tesla Goes Public, Prices Shares at $17 Posted: 28 Jun 2010 11:48 PM PDT   Electric car manufacturer Tesla Motors will start publicly trading stock on the Nasdaq on Tuesday, under the symbol TSLA. Tesla previously said it hoped to raise $178 million, but decided to upsize the IPO to $226 million and sell 13.3 million shares at $17 a piece. After the IPO, Toyota will purchase an additional $50 million worth of stock, which – together with this IPO and previous investments, valued at over $750 million – brings the total amount of money invested in Tesla to over one billion. Although Tesla is yet to make a profit, one can’t deny it’s one of the most exciting companies to go public in the last couple of years. Backed by large government loans, and fueled by a promise of a clean but also fast car, Tesla seems like a company of the future. On the other hand, Tesla’s inability to deliver on some of its promises (it had problems finding the right transmission for the Roadster model, and in 2008 Tesla issued a safety recall for 345 of its Roadsters) makes buying its shares a risky investment. Will you be buying Tesla shares? Do you think the IPO will be successful? Share your opinion in the comments. Reviews: Facebook, Transmission, Twitter More About: business, electric cars, ipo, Tesla For more Business coverage:
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| Google Changes Tactics in China Censorship Saga Posted: 28 Jun 2010 11:36 PM PDT   The Google-China saga continues. Now the search giant is taking yet another approach to keep Google.cn up and running while not censoring search results. Started earlier this year when Google announced it would no longer censor Google.cn search results, the Google-China saga has taken a lot of twists and turns. In March, Google redirected Google.cn to its Hong Kong website. However, the tech giant said in a blog post earlier today that the Chinese government find the redirect “unacceptable” and would not allow Google.cn to operate in China if it continued. Thus Google has announced that it is taking a new approach. Instead of redirecting users to Google.comhk, the company will present users with a landing page that links to Googe.com.hk. From the blog post:
As we’ve noted before, Google is between a rock and a hard place. China is too lucrative of a market to pull out from entirely, but censoring search results would go against everything the company’s done up to this point. If this move appeases Chinese authorities, then everybody wins, but we have the sneaking suspicion that the Google-China saga is far from over. Reviews: Google More About: china, Google, Google China For more Tech coverage:
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| Make “Super Mario Bros” Your Android Wallpaper [VIDEO] Posted: 28 Jun 2010 09:45 PM PDT   Great news: You can invite the iconic video game character Mario to perform for you on the home screen of your cellphone if your handset runs Android 2.1 or higher. Android’s live wallpapers can be kind of like non-interactive games, and that’s exactly what “Mario Live Wallpaper” is — Mario runs around on the desktop avoiding enemies and leaping from block to block. There are three visual themes for the levels, all based on stuff that should be familiar to anyone who has played the old Nintendo or Super Nintendo Mario games. The game isn’t pre-recorded, but it’s not playable either. It’s created on-the-fly using random level generators and an artificial intelligence that controls Mario. As cool as that is, we should note that it will basically kill your phone’s battery life. That’s a high price to pay just for the cool factor, but who wouldn’t want to at least try it out? If nothing else, it’s a way to one-up those iPhone-wielding friends, since the iPhone only just now added support for regular wallpapers in iOS 4. We’ve got two videos of the live wallpaper in action embedded below, courtesy of Android Central and Smartphonejunkie. Video: Android CentralVideo: SmartphonejunkieReviews: Android, Facebook, Twitter, iPhone, mario More About: android, android 2.1, gaming, Google, live wallpaper, Mario, super mario bros, video games, wallpaper For more Mobile coverage:
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| Yelp Adds Checkin Metrics to Business Reports Posted: 28 Jun 2010 09:01 PM PDT   Beginning today, Yelp will provide business owners using the service with free mobile metrics that includes data on mobile checkins. The additional metrics will now be included in the weekly newsletter — Your Business on Yelp — that business owners receive every Tuesday. Mobile metrics will represent the user activity taking place in Yelp Mobile apps. This data could prove to be a very insightful supplemental for business users, especially given that 27% of all Yelp searches occur from within the Yelp iPhone app. The following are the mobile metrics that business owners will now receive:
The mobile metrics will help Yelp remain competitive with Foursquare’s business dashboard, which provides business owners who claim their venue with checkin analysis. The competition between the two services can only be seen as a net positive for the average business owner, who will benefit from access to analytics and administrative features as the companies continue to try and best each other. For now, Yelp business owners are limited to receiving the mobile metrics via the weekly newsletter, though Yelp does have plans to add them to the Yelp for Business Owners suite of tools. [img credit: Yelp] Reviews: Yelp More About: business, checkin, foursquare, yelp For more Business coverage:
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| License Songs for Your YouTube Videos at $1.99 Each Posted: 28 Jun 2010 06:51 PM PDT   A Portland-based company called Rumblefish will open an online store called Friendly Music tomorrow, specially made for folks who want to put music in their YouTube videos without worrying about having their content pulled for legal reasons. When you buy a song on Friendly Music, you’ll be granted the right to modify it and use it in the soundtrack for your online video as long as you attribute the artist and you don’t use the video for any commercial purpose. That means you’ll be permitted to use it for your wedding or birthday video, but not for a product advertisement or an ad-supported web series. The service resembles iTunes, but each track costs $1.99. You can search by artist or genre, or even insist on or eliminate specific musical qualities. Artists selection is initially limited to lesser-known acts with just a few exceptions, but Rumblefish hopes to find some bigger names in the near future. Though the legal rights apply to content uploaded to just about any video website, the company struck a deal with YouTube specifically to ensure that there won’t be any confusion about the legality of content that users of both services upload. This is just another constructive response to the problem of illegal music uploads on the video-sharing site. The challenges aren’t 100% resolved, but we’re getting closer. YouTube has already made big strides in dealing with the issue by implementing a system called “Click-to-Buy” that serves up iTunes or Amazon music store links for songs when they play in the background of a video. Furthermore, a federal judge sided with Google last week over a $1 billion lawsuit by Viacom. Reviews: Google, YouTube, iTunes More About: copyright, friendly music, license, music, rumblefish, video, youtube For more Web Video coverage:
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| Leaked Slide Deck Details Microsoft’s Plan for Windows 8 Posted: 28 Jun 2010 05:27 PM PDT   The Italian Windows website “Windowsette” somehow managed to get a hold of a super-secret, highly confidential PowerPoint presentation outlining many of Microsoft’s goals and plans for Windows 8. Apparently this sensitive data (complete with UNDER NDA watermarks) was just found sitting around the Internet. MSFTKitchen has an extensive breakdown and detailed posting of all the slides from within the slide deck. The presentation details many of Microsoft’s thoughts going forward for Windows 8, including the fact that it is taking direct cues from Apple on how to build something customers want to pay for. Facial Recognition, Fast Boot Up and a Windows App StoreThere are lots of new ideas being considered for Windows 8, but a few really stood out to us. First is the concept of user accounts being the primary method identifying a user. So instead of just having the traditional, “admin,” “user,” “guest” paradigm, accounts would be customized for individual users in a much more customizable way.  Additionally, Microsoft is looking at integrating facial recognition technologies to log users into computers automatically. According to the slides, Microsoft is also considering connecting Windows accounts to the cloud. This is actually a really cool idea because it means that your preferences, bookmarks, e-mail account info and other data could all follow you from system to system. If you consider that more and more storage might be done in the cloud, via something like Windows Live SkyDrive, the possibilities are pretty cool, especially if used across ultra-portable devices like tablets.  The presentation also shows that Microsoft is looking at making the startup and boot process of Windows 8 as fast as possible. The idea is to make it as “appliance like” as possible, so that instant-on connectivity is available.  Finally, one of the most interesting new developments is that of the Windows App Store. Now, you could make a joke and say that that already exists as the software aisle of any major electronics store, but the concept of having a way to discover new applications online and to get them from a trusted repository is actually not a bad idea. For desktop operating systems, the idea of a central software repository is not new. Package management tools like APT and PackageKit have been a part of the Linux world for years. In fact, Microsoft has tried to do this to some degree with the Windows Marketplace and Zune Marketplace. Looking at the slides, the Windows App Store will be a much broader strategy with a much more Apple-like approach. For instance, there is discussion about a “Windows Reset” feature that would back up a users files and reformat the system in case of some sort of system problem. Upon reinstallation, apps purchased from the App Store could be reinstalled and applications not from the App Store would be listed for a users convenience. Trying to Bring the Smartphone Experience to the DesktopLooking at many of the broader trends posited for Windows 8, we couldn’t help but notice how many similarities exist between current smartphone solutions and paradigms and with what Windows 8 might end up becoming. The idea of keeping user profile data backed up to the cloud and being portable is something that Google is doing with great success on Android. To a lesser extent, Apple is doing this on the iPhone and iPad with MobileMe and iTunes accounts.  Furthermore, the big focus on quick startups and shutdowns and being “more appliance like” seems to describe the kind of experience that we have on our smartphones and iPad devices today. Since a broader part of the Windows 8 strategy seems to be all about being on many different device types, this makes sense, but it also sounds like Microsoft is trying to bring this sort of experience to the regular desktop. Of course, the Windows App Store is almost a recreation of the mobile app store paradigm. While an app store is probably less needed for Windows than any other Operating System, having a curated, searchable database of software programs, filled with user reviews and the ability to re-download and re-install on demand is still a compelling feature, provided of course that software can still be found and installed more traditionally. Future of the Desktop?Two weeks ago, Farhad Manjoo wrote an editorial for Slate entitled, Flight of the Desktops. In it, he made the argument that desktop computers (ie, NOT laptops but main desktop machines) will continue to lose relevancy over the next five years. This isn’t the same argument that a Google executive made back in March (that argument was that smartphones would replace desktops in three years time), but it hints at the same trend, which is, if our mobile devices become more powerful and our data becomes more accessible, for many people, conventional desktop machines will only be needed for certain tasks. If you don’t need to do one of those tasks, a desktop computer may eventually end up irrelevant.  Manjoo got a lot of pushback for his post, but in the wake of 3 million iPads and booming iPhone and Android sales, I’m more open to his opinion than I was even four months ago. While I think Google’s prediction of an operating-system free world (in the traditional Windows sense) is extremely premature, three’s no doubt that the way we use and interact with our content is changing. The definition of computing itself is changing too. For that reason, many of the slides in the Windows 8 presentation make a lot of sense. Now, how many of these ideas are deliverable and how many can be integrated across a broad set of different devices remains to be seen, but if the traditional computer operating system could take on many of the qualities of a smartphone operating system, that would be a very interesting future. What do you think of the slides for Windows 8? What do you think about the shifting of the desktop to becoming more mobile-esque? Let us know! Reviews: Android, App Store, Google, Linux, MobileMe, Windows More About: future, microsoft, operating systems, software, Windows, Windows 8 For more Tech coverage:
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| Facebook Becoming a Prime Source for Divorce Case Evidence Posted: 28 Jun 2010 04:55 PM PDT   It’s all good and fine to propose via Twitter these days or to change your relationship status at the altar, but when your love has faded and your thoughts turn to divorce, you’d better un-friend your soon-to-be-ex long before the ink dries. What he or she sees on your profile may very well be used against you in court. According to a detailed report from the Associated Press, social networks are a new favorite source of divorce-case information for divorce attorneys. In fact, many of them seem downright shocked and delighted that our web-based oversharing has yielded such a wealth of personal information about our dating lives, party habits, attitudes and financial status. Consider, for example, the mom who lost custody of her kids because she was playing FarmVille or World of Warcraft when she claimed to be spending time with them, or the husband who denied anger management issues but flamed like a true troll, complete with violent threats, on his Facebook profile. And of course, those steamy pics of you with your sexy new squeeze won’t be looked on kindly by your ex or the judge, especially if infidelity is a question in your case. All in all, the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers says that around 81% of its members have had to deal with — or have themselves used — evidence from social media sources, including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. And a UK site reported that the word “Facebook” alone appeared in around 20% of its cases last year. And apparently, judges don’t have many compunctions about admitting such evidence, the reigning wisdom being that it’s difficult to impossible to make a fraudulent entry of some kind on a user’s Facebook page. What do you think? Is it unfair to include such evidence in a divorce case? Or should people just be more careful about what they post online and with whom they share it? [img credit johnbullas] Reviews: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube More About: divorce, evidence, facebook, marriage, social media, trending For more Social Media coverage:
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| Whole Foods to Feature Foursquare Window Clings Posted: 28 Jun 2010 04:10 PM PDT   On Friday Foursquare sent out thousands of window decals — otherwise known as Foursquare Clings — to business owners. The clings — designed to stick to window storefronts to remind patrons to check in on Foursquare — are now arriving at stores everywhere, even big businesses like Whole Foods. The grocery chain retailer has agreed to place the Foursquare clings in 30 of its stores’ windows, a gesture that serves as an important handshake with the location-sharing startup. Whole Foods is set to receive and post its clings later this week. Of course Whole Foods is not alone, other brands include lululemon and a sampling of additional retailers. Clings can already be seen in the wild, as Foursquare told business owners to post photos of their clings to Twitter using the hashtag #4sqcling. You can see a collection of examples below or via this search query. You may recall that Foursquare introduced the official clings as a bonus to its claim-your-own-venue offering for businesses. The window decals challenge everyone from Yelp, Google and Facebook who are all targeting the same space — storefront windows. Foursquare Clings   [img credits: Campus Street Boulder, GVilleHamptonDT, innovaideas, Midwest Labs] Reviews: Facebook, Foursquare, Google, Twitter, Yelp More About: foursquare, foursquare clings, MARKETING, window decals For more Social Media coverage:
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| Posted: 28 Jun 2010 03:40 PM PDT   Starting right now, Android owners can download a free Kindle app for reading e-books on their devices. With the newest class of 4.3-inch-screen Androids about to flood the market, we couldn’t imagine a better time for releasing this app on the Android Market. Both the immensely popular HTC EVO and the upcoming Droid X have the large screens and high resolutions that just scream “digital media,” whether that media is HD video or a good book. The Kindle Store currently contains more than 620,000 books starting at $9.99 each. You can preview the first chapter of a book before you buy it, and you’ll be able to customize the screen and font colors, screen brightness and font size to make your reading experience as comfortable as possible. Like the other Kindle mobile apps, Kindle for Android saves and syncs your books and bookmarks across all your devices. In addition to the Kindle hardware itself, the Kindle app is now available on BlackBerry, iPhone and iPad. The latter two devices’ apps also include audio and video support. I myself am an Android enthusiast and the owner of a few Android mobile devices; I think the Kindle software is the perfect application for the Android platform. Still, I prefer my musty old hardcovers from the library and am slightly put off by the $9.99 price for Kindle titles. What do you think: Will you be using the Kindle app for Android? Will you be buying e-books from the Kindle Store any time soon?   Reviews: Android, Android Market, BlackBerry Rocks!, iPhone More About: amazon, android, droid x, evo, Kindle, Mobile 2.0 For more Mobile coverage:
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| Supreme Court Ruling Leaves Future of Software Patents in Limbo Posted: 28 Jun 2010 03:21 PM PDT   The United States Supreme Court has issued its ruling in the long-running Bilski case, which touched on the issue of business patents, and, by extension, software patents. The decision (which you can read in PDF form) affirmed the lower court’s ruling that Bilski’s patent itself was unpatentable, but also said that business method patents and software patents can be legitimate. The Bilski case goes back to 1997, when Bernard Bilski and Rand Warsaw tried to get a patent on a method of risk-management with regard to energy prices. The U.S. Patent Office said that the process that Bilski and Warsaw were trying to patent was too abstract. Bilski appealed the ruling and then went through the legal process of taking the case all the way to the United State’s highest court. Business methods, which were a core part of Bilski’s claim, weren’t categorically excluded, even though Bilski’s innovation was deemed unpatentable. Instead, the court says that the fact that the prior use defense is mentioned in the Patent Act acknowledges that business method patents exist. The court didn’t go any further in defining or clarifying the test for business patents, but it didn’t reject them as a possibility. For software patents, we’ll just quote Patently-O:
Lots of individuals — including Richard Stallman — had hoped Bilski would put an end to software patents. That didn’t happen. However, by not ruling on the patentability of software, other rulings or positions upheld by the CAFC (Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit) haven’t been expressly endorsed. It also opens up the issue for a case that does focus specifically on software patents to make its way to the higher court in future sessions. Bilski has often been held up as what would be the defining answer to the question of software patents. At the end of the day, the fact that the ruling has done nothing to clarify the situation, and in some ways has made it more complex, is disappointing for both sides. Reviews: Facebook, Twitter More About: bilski, business method patents, legal, software patents, Supreme Court For more Business coverage:
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| Apple May Face Class-Action Lawsuit Over iPhone 4 Posted: 28 Jun 2010 03:01 PM PDT   The iPhone 4’s much-discussed reception and antenna issues just might spawn a class-action lawsuit. Law firm Kershaw, Cutter & Ratinoff is issuing a call for disgruntled users as part of their investigations of “potential problems with the release of iPhone 4.” The lawyers write, “If you recently purchased the new iPhone and have experienced poor reception quality, dropped calls and weak signals, we would like to hear from you.” What’s undisputed is that holding the new iPhone by its sides can decrease reception quality. As we reported the day before the device hit store shelves, since the metal sides of the device also function as the phone’s antenna, call reception drops dramatically if the phone is held by its sides in two places. Apple CEO Steve Jobs claims that “there is no reception issue,” but he also cautions iPhone 4 owners to “stay tuned.” We wonder if this means an iOS upgrade will fix these call quality issues and avoid the need to replace devices or deal with ongoing complaints from unhappy customers. Last fall, the same firm went after Facebook, Zynga, MySpace, RockYou and others for advertising scams and allegedly unauthorized charges to users’ Mafia Wars and FarmVille accounts. This topic has caused a good deal of discussion in our own back channels; we’re not completely sure what to make of the iPhone 4’s reception issues. While we’ve been able to duplicate the same errors ourselves, we’re not sure a lawsuit is the best answer. Some of our iPhone-owning writers simply think the fault may lie with AT&T, not Apple. What’s your opinion? If you have a new iPhone 4, are you experiencing issues with the antenna band? Do you think this issue is worth suing over? Let us know what you think in the comments. Reviews: Facebook, MySpace More About: apple, iphone 4, KCR, lawsuit For more Apple coverage:
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| Cisco Intern Poised to Become Viral Rap Star [VIDEO] Posted: 28 Jun 2010 02:48 PM PDT A rather endearing video has been making the Internet rounds of late — a vid featuring the rap stylings of Cisco Systems intern Greg Justice, a.k.a. “The World’s Most Interesting Intern.” After seeing Justice’s rap on a few other blogs, we hit him up via Twitter to ask what the deal was. Apparently, the 21-year-old Stanford University student is currently working with Cisco’s Communications department to “harness social media to amplify Cisco's awesomeness.” He was given the opportunity to drop beats on the company blog on a regular basis after his boss heard him rapping in his cubicle. Justice isn’t a stranger to music, either. “I was the frontman for a 5-piece Stanford hip-hop/rock band that failed miserably,” he explains. “More importantly, I grew up listening to the Lion King soundtrack on repeat.” Justice plans to post a new video on the company blog every week for the next 10 weeks. His goal for the endeavor? “On the one hand, I'd like to pitch exciting products such as the Cisco Catalyst 4948E Ethernet Switch and Flip Video,” he says. “But, truthfully, I just want to make it on The Colbert Report.” Kidding aside, we think this is a really great way for Cisco to connect with its customers — a way that’s much kinder to its junior staffers than that whole David on Demand/Leo Burnett deal (last time we checked the dude was being forced to get Twitter handle tattoos). What do you think of major companies like Cisco letting loose with a bit of viral inanity? Let us know. Reviews: Internet, Twitter More About: humor, MARKETING, software, viral video For more Web Video coverage:
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| Free Music Monday: 10 Free Tracks Are All Yours Posted: 28 Jun 2010 02:29 PM PDT   Greetings once again, music lovers! Thanks for checking out this week’s edition of Free Music Monday, where we give you 10 free tracks in honor of the #musicmonday tradition on Twitter. We hope you enjoy this edition’s eclectic selection of free tunes we’ve collected. If there’s a genre you’d like to hear more of, drop us a line in the comments. And if you’d like to appear in a future edition of Free Music Monday, please check out the submission guidelines at the end of this post! A note for FMM fans: the column will be going on vacation for the next two weeks whilst its author does.
As always, big thanks to all who tuned in for this week’s Free Music Monday! If you find something you like in this feature, please feel free to share it with your music-loving friends. You can always check out the latest edition of FMM, plus all the past editions, on the Free Music Monday tag page, so be sure to tune in each week. We’ve also included the list of past Free Music Mondays at the end of this post in case you want to check out the back catalog. Huge thanks to everyone who has submitted tracks. If you sent us something and we haven’t included it yet, stay tuned for a future Free Music Monday. Here is how to submit your music to FMM (please remember we’re going quiet for the next two weeks!): Attention artists/labels: there are new submission guidelines for Free Music Monday. Please pick one track you’re willing to give away to Mashable readers as a free download and either a) include it as an attachment in your email to barb+FMM AT mashable DOT com (25 MB file size limit, please) or b) include a link to a location where we can download the song (use temporary file sharing sites like zshare at your own risk, because we may not get around to auditioning your track before the links expire). If you want to use “in exchange for email” or other specific widgets to offer the track to Mashable readers that’s totally fine — just send us or point us to the embed code. Please also include any relevant information about the artist (or link to their bio) plus their Twitter account, if they have one. If you’d like to also point us to more of the submitted artist’s work online where we can stream and/or download it, please feel free — but you must complete either a or b to be considered for Free Music Monday. Due to overwhelming submission volume we are sadly unable to include each and every submission or even reply to every inquiry. If we haven’t posted your track yet, you are welcome to submit another new track at a reasonable and totally not pushy time interval. If we’ve already posted a track from your band or artist, we are unlikely to double up and post something else from you for some time — as much as we love all of you! This makes FMM more diverse and inclusive of new music. Thanks! Free Music Monday Back Catalogue
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| Firefox Gets an Update Thanks to “FarmVille” Posted: 28 Jun 2010 02:09 PM PDT   Mozilla has issued a new update to its web browser Firefox because of errors caused by FarmVille, the wildly popular Facebook game. Last week, Mozilla released Firefox 3.6.4. It included dozens of bug fixes, but it also added one new feature: plugin browser crash protection. In the past, when Flash or Quicktime crashed in the browser, it would take the entire browser down with it. Firefox 3.6.4 changed it so that non-responsive plugins crash the plugin, not the browser, after 10 seconds. The update had an unanticipated side effect, however. Many users found that they couldn’t play FarmVille, which runs on Adobe Flash. Because FarmVille was crashing so often for so many users, Mozilla released Firefox 3.6.6 and installed one small change: The timeout for unresponsive plugins was increased from 10 seconds to 45 seconds, giving the hefty Flash-based game enough time to properly load. If you’ve been annoyed by Firefox preventing you from harvesting your virtual crops or just like having the newest version of Firefox on hand, you can download it here. Reviews: Firefox More About: facebook, farmville, Firefox, firefox 3, firefox 3.6, mozilla For more Tech coverage:
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| British Columbia’s Capital City Officially Names June 30 Social Media Day Posted: 28 Jun 2010 01:48 PM PDT Victoria, the capital city of British Columbia, has officially designated June 30 Social Media Day. Mayor Dean Fortin signed the proclamation after local Social Media Day meetup organizer Paul Holmes petitioned the Victoria City Council. As far as we know, this is the first city to officially proclaim June 30 Social Media Day. After Mashable announced Social Media Day on June 8 as a day to celebrate the revolution of media becoming social, it has grown to more than 570 meetups in 91 countries. Thousands of people will be participating in events in their local communities. With a population of approximately 350,000, Victoria has a buzzing social media and technology scene (being the first city in Canada to form a Social Media Club chapter, among other accomplishments) and so it only seemed natural to be the first city to proclaim June 30 as Social Media Day. Here is a photo of the signed proclamation:   About Social Media Day
How To Participate in Social Media Day
[img credit: Paul Holmes] Reviews: Facebook, Flickr, Twitter More About: british columbia, smday, social media day, trending, victoria For more Social Media coverage:
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| 5 Companies Reinventing the Way We Think About Mobile Posted: 28 Jun 2010 01:18 PM PDT This Innovation Series is supported by Lexus.   Looking at the mobile computing landscape over the last five years, it is amazing to see how far we have come and how integral mobile devices have become to people all over the world. We’re constantly reporting on phones that are lighter, thinner and more powerful than anything to have come before — only to be usurped a few months (or weeks) later by the next big advancement. As mobile computing moves beyond the mobile phone and into devices like the iPad and other tablet computers, we would like to take a look at five of the companies that are changing the future of mobile, and that have a strong hand in defining and shaping the devices we will be using in the future. It would be easy to just list the big players — Apple, Google, RIM — but instead, we wanted to focus on five companies that are changing mobile that you may not know by name, but certainly benefit from their continued innovation. 1. Monotype ImagingMonotype Imaging owns one of the largest collections of typefaces in the world and has been part of print and type since the 19th century. The latest iteration of the company, based in Massachusetts, focuses not just on typefaces and making them more accessible for the web, but also on text and imaging solutions for consumer electronics makers, including mobile phones. A huge part of the modern-day mobile phone experience is the screen, but beyond the screen, readable and translatable text is of utmost importance. If you thought trying to figure out type on the web was tough, think about the complexities of creating type for mobile devices and mobile display. Now, add in the additional complexities of non-Latin characters.  These are the problems that Monotype is working to address every single day. In fact, earlier this month, the company announced that it had released the first production-quality open source font for the Symbian platform. This font, MYuppy, is a Chinese font that device manufacturers can use to bring better text and readability for the China market. In Samsung’s flagship Android phone, the Galaxy S, Monotype has also included its FlipFont embedded application which lets users enhance their font experience in a mobile-optimized way. 2. Gorilla GlassGorilla Glass is a product by Corning, which has been engineered to be more scratch resistant and more durable than traditional glasses used in electronic devices. To achieve these qualities, the glass is chemically treated and strengthened.  Already in use in products like the Motorola Droid and the Dell Streak (and rumored to be the glass used in the iPhone 4), Gorilla Glass doesn’t make handheld touch devices shatter proof, but it does make them more durable. Mobile devices are becoming increasingly important and being resilient to nature, water and clumsiness is an important part of shaping devices for the future. 3. ARM Architecture (Multiple licensees) ARM is to the world of mobile devices what Intel is to microcomputers: Dominant. Virtually every phone, MP3 player, digital set-top box, embedded electronics device and advanced home router uses an ARM processor of some sort. ARM Holdings licenses its instruction set to other manufacturers who then can add-on or make their own modifications to the core, branding it under different names like Apple A4 or Qualcomm Snapdragon. Regardless, the basic underpinnings for all of these processors is ARM. ARM is ideal for mobile devices because the chips can be made to be extremely small and extremely thin, and the power consumption is extremely low. When you aid an ARM processor with a low-powered, high-performance graphics chip, the results are pretty amazing. The fact that the phones we now carry in our pockets are, for all intents and purposes, more powerful than our high-end desktops from less than a decade ago and have the ability to run for hours at a time is just one of the reasons that many aspects of computing are moving to mobile. ARM is a big part of that transition. 4. Ericsson Ericsson, not to be confused with the joint-venture Sony Ericsson, is one of the biggest telecommunications companies in the world. While Ericsson has its fingers in lots of parts and has been a big part of the wireless industry from the start, the reason they are on this list is because of LTE. LTE, or Long Term Evolution, is one of the competing standards for the next evolution in wireless data and cellular networks. While not technically 4G (LTE Advanced is 4G), LTE-based networks will likely still be branded as such (just as most 2.5G networks were branded as 3G in the early 2000s). LTE has the potential to do a number of things: First it can potentially have downlink speeds up to 100 Mbps. Second, Like WiMax, it can be implemented in a wide variety of locales, the “last mile” so-to-speak, which could more easily bring broadband access to more parts of the world, especially rural parts. The technology can also co-exist with legacy cell towers, which is one reason why AT&T, Verizon, and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute are all either already working towards migrating to LTE or evaluating it as the next standard for their networks. Where does Ericsson fit it? It just so happens that in the uber-competitive field of LTE vendors (that is, companies that set-up the backbone for LTE networks), Ericsson is the leader in commercial deployment. It’s already been contracted with AT&T, Verizon, MetroPCS, NTT DoCoMo in Japan and TeliaSonera in Sweden. Ericsson is one of the big players in rolling out and implementing what looks to be the next standard in cellular networks. 5. OmniVisionCamera phones no longer suck. Sure, they aren’t point-and-shoot equivalents — yet — but just take a look at the iPhone 4 or the Sprint HTC EVO 4G for an idea of where camera phones are going. Not only are images getting better but camera phones can now capture HD video that tops what you can get from a standalone camera, like the Flip. One thing about the HTC EVO 4G and the iPhone 4 — they both have their CMOS (complimentary metal-oxide semiconductor) image sensors, courtesy of OmniVision. Chipworks has done tear-down analysis of both the iPhone 4 and the EVO 4G and reverse-engineered a number of OmniVision CMOS designs, highlighting what makes its products stand-out in a very competitive landscape.  One thing that OmniVision is doing is called backside illumination (BSI). BSI lets the CMOS or CCD (charge-coupled device) sensor take in more light per pixel and use that light more effectively. More light means better photos and improved results, even with super-small sensors. While some companies, like InVisage, are also attempting to solve this problem by replacing some of the silicon on top of the CMOS with quantum dots, BSI is on the market now and the results are already speaking for themselves. Future of Mobile: Your TakeWhat do you think of the advancements made in mobility, mobile computing and mobile technology? Let us know! Series supported by Lexus This Innovation Series is supported by Lexus. [img credit: Electric Images] Reviews: Android, Facebook, Google, Twitter More About: arm, ericsson, gorilla glass, innovation series, LTE, Mobile 2.0, monotype, monotype imaging, omnivision, technology For more Mobile coverage:
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| Google Releases Browser-Based Mobile Viewer for Google Docs Posted: 28 Jun 2010 12:55 PM PDT   Today Google is further enhancing its Google Docs product by releasing a mobile viewer for Android, iPhone and iPad users. The mobile docs viewer lets users view documents, zoom in and zoom out, navigate pages and download the document all via their mobile browser. Supported files type include PDF, .ppt, .doc and .doc. Users can go to docs.google.com and access any of their previously uploaded documents. This is a useful update that immediately makes users’ libraries of Google-stored documents easily accessible from their mobile devices. Because it’s 100% browser-based, there’s also no download required, which should make document viewing a much more painless experience while on the go. Just last week Google released an update to the Google Docs viewer that lets users view Word docs in their browsers. When coupled with today’s news, Google Docs is increasingly becoming a necessity for the mobile business worker.  [img credit: Paul Lowry] Reviews: Google, Google Docs More About: android, Google, google docs, ipad, iphone For more Mobile coverage:
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| Now You Can Play Nickelback Songs on Your iPhone Posted: 28 Jun 2010 12:35 PM PDT   Tapulous, one of the leading music game developers for the iPhone, has just launched Nickelback Revenge [iTunes link], the latest addition to its popular Tap Tap Revenge franchise. The app, which is a premium app (similar to NIN Revenge and Justin Bieber Revenge [iTunes links]), includes eleven of the band’s most popular songs. Standard Tapulous features like a Bluetooth-based battle mode and a chance to “Outplay Nickelback” are also included. Nickelback Revenge is just one of a growing number of music titles for the iPhone, which includes Rock Band for iPhone, the newly released Guitar Hero for iPhone) and the recently updated I Am T-Pain. Nickelback Revenge is $4.99 and available now. What are some of your favorite music iPhone games? Let us know! Reviews: Bluetooth, Facebook, Twitter More About: games, guitar hero, iphone apps, music, nickelback, nickelback revenge, rock band, tap tap revenge For more Entertainment coverage:
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| Facebook Steals the Architect of Google Chrome OS Posted: 28 Jun 2010 11:53 AM PDT   Facebook’s quest for the world’s best technological talent continues. The social networking behemoth has hired Matt Papakipos — the leader and key architect of Google Chrome OS — and VMWare Vice President Jocelyn Goldfein onto its engineering team. To say that the resumes of Papakipos and Goldfein are impressive would be an understatement. Before becoming an engineering director at Google, Papakipos was the director of architecture at NVIDIA and Co-Founder of PeakSteam, which was acquired by Google in 2007. Goldfein was most recently VMWare’s VP and general manager of the desktop business unit and a seven-year veteran of the company. “We’ve landed two accomplished, senior people to join the Facebook engineering team — Matthew Papakipos and Jocelyn Goldfein,” Facebook told us in a statement. “Both are about as accomplished as they come and we can’t wait for them to hit the ground running as key players on the team.” Facebook has been on a hiring spree, nabbing both young talent and several big names in the process. It has wooed people away from countless companies, from Google to Pixar. Google has been the biggest loser to Facebook’s talent grabs however, the biggest being Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s business-savvy COO. Now the search giant has lost the champion of its upcoming operating system, a big blow by anybody’s standard. Reviews: Facebook, Google More About: Engeineering, facebook, Google, google chrome os, vmware For more Business coverage:
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| Is Google Chrome Usage Soaring at Firefox’s Expense? [STATS] Posted: 28 Jun 2010 11:27 AM PDT   Google Chrome continues to gain browser marketshare, edging past Apple’s Safari in the U.S. and, apparently, also taking some users from Mozilla’s Firefox. The latest browser statistics from StatCounter align with reports we’ve seen from other analysts, including Net Applications, which first indicated that Chrome had become the number three browser globally back in December 2009. However, this new report shows that Chrome has jumped ahead in the U.S. as well. This is the most recent global usage data from the last 10 weeks, according to StatCounter: For a look at just how much Chrome has grown over time, check out these extended stats, which go from October 11, 2009 through the end of June 2010: Is Firefox the Real Loser?While the focus of StatCounter’s report is that Chrome has overtaken Safari in the U.S. (and according to StatCounter’s data, that’s only happened in the last week), we think the bigger story is the overall impact — global and in the U.S. — that Chrome is having on Firefox. Safari, while available for Windows, is largely used on Macintosh computers or on iPhones and iPads via Safari Mobile (note: Safari Mobile is calculated as a different statistic from Safari for desktop). We feel like it should be an expectation that Chrome, which is available for Mac, Windows and Linux, should surpass Safari’s usage worldwide and in the U.S. What’s more interesting about the rise of Chrome — whose share of the browser market has nearly doubled in the last six months — is that it looks like it is taking a lot of that market directly from Firefox. While Internet Explorer is no longer the powerhouse that it once was, its usage share over the last 10 weeks has remained largely consistent, albeit with some ebbs and flows. Likewise, while Firefox’s chunk of the market has remained consistent, it is losing little by little, seemingly at the same rate that Chrome is gaining. Of course, there’s no proof that there is a direct correlation, but given that both browsers are available to users across the same platforms and that both can be enhanced with browser extensions, it does look like more Firefox users are switching to Chrome. Chrome Shines BrightAs Google Chrome edges closer to 10% of the worldwide browser market, it’s important to remember that the browser is only two years old. In fact, the stable versions of Chrome for Mac and Linux were only released last month. With its speed, extension support and minimalist interface, Chrome is rapidly becoming the browser to beat, especially as Internet Explorer 9 and Firefox 4 edge closer to release. Have you switched to Chrome? Let us know. Reviews: Chrome, Firefox, Google, Internet Explorer, Linux, Safari, Windows More About: browser wars, Browsers, chrome, Firefox, software, usage share For more Tech coverage:
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| How Real Estate Pros are Using Social Media for Real Results Posted: 28 Jun 2010 11:08 AM PDT
Agents, brokers and realtors have found successes in lead generation, sales and brand building through use of mass audience social platforms, including Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Meetup, and LinkedIn, as well as real estate specific platforms, like Trulia, Zillow, WellcomeMat and Architizer. Whether they are sharing videos, listings or advice with their communities and prospective buyers or sellers, real estate pros are making progress in using social media for real results. Attracting Buyers and Sellers The core goal of real estate pros utilizing social media is to attract sellers looking to list their homes or buyers looking to purchase homes. Naturally, the 1.0 version of social media for real estate is setting up pages on social networks that fit your company’s content and audience. Corcoran Group, the largest residential real estate firm in New York City, is a fitting example of how real estate agencies are going above and beyond to make themselves available for buyers and sellers. Corcoran differentiates itself by simply being available and open. The “Do More” tab on their Facebook page says it all — you can find them on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Foursquare, and Gowalla, among other sites. And if you need more, you can download their iPhone app, where you can find nearby homes for sale or rent and open houses. The app also promotes their Twitter, Facebook and YouTube pages. If you dig a little deeper, you can also find Corcoran on Tumblr, Blip.tv and Vimeo. Simply put, Corcoran has found a way to be everywhere for its clients. This is the first step to converting fans and followers into buyers and sellers. Matthew Shadbolt, Director of Internet Marketing at The Corcoran Group, filled me in on Corcoran's social media strategy. As a lifestyle brand, Corcoran doesn't simply create a presence, they participate in it. For example, the Corcoran YouTube channel features CEO Pam Liebman answering questions posed by Facebook and Twitter followers regarding the state of the housing market and New York living tips. Furthermore, Shadbolt proactively leaves local neighborhood tips on Foursquare and Gowalla for users to find. He notes,
Shadbolt went on to explain that revenue from social media had been substantial:
Another company that seems to be doing well with attracting customers is ApartmentHomeLiving.com, an apartment lifestyle guide and apartment finder. Their Facebook page is full of requests for apartments, which they promptly respond to with listings and ideas. They even have an admirable YouTube presence, with 1,600 videos, totaling over 113,000 views in the past year. Sharing Listings, Tours, and ShowingsIn the real estate world, listings, open houses and tours are the main stepping stones towards making a sale, and the digital world has made those steps much easier. Corcoran, for example, recently created a Twitter account, strictly for new listings, to accommodate demand. Meanwhile, the main Corcoran Twitter account stays fresh with local and industry news. WellcomeMat, the largest community of real estate professionals, brokerages and filmmakers using full-motion real estate video tours to market themselves and properties, has made producing and sharing video property tours easier, as well. With a community of 18,000 real estate professionals, WellcomeMat serves real estate agencies, brokerages and firms of all sizes, and also partners with and powers video for some of the nations top real estate brokerages including Halstead, Weichert and Prudential Douglas Elliman. The service offers over 3,000 local production teams for those who don’t have videographers on staff, and also allows for easy integration with your website and YouTube channel. Users can also take advantage of automated link distribution into Facebook, Twitter and Craigslist, and the advanced reporting tools offered. Phil Thomas Di Giulio, Co-Founder of WellcomeMat, explained in depth how real estate pros are using the full-service video platform to make an impact on their bottom lines:
After generating a lead, there are many options for scheduling, but one of the newest and easiest-to-use services is Tungle.me, a service that promises to mitigate “double bookings, time zone mishaps, or email ping pong.” Drew Burks, 2008 San Diego Real Estate Broker of the Year, uses Tungle.me to schedule company meetings with his agents, new Realtor recruitment meetings, and to schedule showings on his listings. Burks elaborated on how his brokerage is continuing to experiment with the service:
Lending Expert Advice While an occasional listing may be appreciated by your social media community, many experts advocate engaging your audience with industry knowledge and an expert perspective, rather than alienating users with useless information. Because there are so many factors that must align to make a listing pertinent to a single customer, such as pricing, location and size, there is a high probability that most listings do not pertain to most people in a given social media audience. James Kimmons, real estate business expert on About.com, advises real estate pros to refrain from overwhelming their followers and connections with real estate listings. He advises,
There are many sites with specialized sections for real estate professionals to lend their expertise, such as Trulia Voices and Zillow Advice. Both sites are frequented by prospective home buyers, on the search for answer about topics ranging from pricing and relocating to financing and closing. A typical question on either site will yield quite a few answers from agents or brokers specializing in a specific geographic region or area of real estate. This type of interaction with folks on the market is a great way to build a credible reputation and build brand recognition for future consideration. YouTube also presents a valid platform for sharing real estate tips. For example, Keller Williams Realty International, a real estate franchise company, maintains a YouTube channel full of videos on monthly real estate reports, real estate advice and current company events. Keller Williams boasts nearly 400,000 video views, 100,000 channel views and 2,000 subscribers. Those are numbers worth celebrating. If you are a real estate professional, keep an eye out ways you to showcase your expertise and local knowledge. You should start to see an increase in interaction, as you provide useful, relevant information to others. Connecting with Other Real Estate Professionals In order to improve upon their skills and network in the industry, real estate professionals are using social networks specific to their industry. Some of these networks include ActiveRain and The Flipping Pad. Although it is in beta testing, Architizer is the largest crowd-sourced database of architecture online, with over 10,000 finished and proposed projects posted from fans, owners and architects that are easily searchable. The site provides a networking space for real estate developers and architects, where developers can search for architects and architects can upload their projects. This type of social network is allowing developers to get a better grasp of the talent options on the market, while also giving architects a better chance at being discovered. CEO and Co-Founder Marc Kushner, also an architect, explains that, “The old model revolved around magazines, in which architects had to make it into certain issues. So, say that that a developer picks up the November issue of a certain architecture magazine. The only way that the architect would have the chance of being discovered by the developer was if he happened to be in that November issue.” Architizer simplifies the connecting process by bringing architects and developers together in one place. More well-known social networks, including Meetup, Flickr and LinkedIn are provided spaces for real estates pros to connect and learn from one another. Some examples of active Meetup groups include Chicago Real Estate Group and New Jersey Real Estate Social Network. Both Meetups are ranked highly and have received favorable feedback from attendees. For example, Loan Officer Lorna Roberts, said that the New Jersey Real Estate Social Network Meetup, is an “excellent way to network and learn more about what is affecting the community and businesses.” For more information on how to get a real estate Meetup started in your community, check out our tips on organizing a successful Meetup. Other group settings on social networks, such as the National Association of REALTORS on LinkedIn, or the Photography for Real Estate group on Flickr, are great places to connect with specialized professionals in the real estate industry. From connecting with buyers and sellers to networking with industry peers and lending expert advice, there are many ways to utilize social media as a real estate professional. What are your tips for using social media in the real estate industry? Series supported by Gist  Gist helps you build stronger professional relationships by bringing together information from across the web for all your contacts and their companies giving you the right information at the right moment to get a first meeting, deliver an amazing pitch, or just find a better way to make a connection. Gist does all the work for you, assembling a dynamic collection of all your contacts and their companies from your email inbox, your social networks, or even your CRM system automatically building and updating their profiles as new content is published – by them or about them. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Graffizone Reviews: Craigslist, Facebook, Flickr, Foursquare, Gowalla, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Tungle, Twitter, Vimeo, YouTube, iStockphoto, video More About: apartmenthomeliving.com, architizer, blip.tv, business, facebook, flickr, iphone app, lead generation, linkedin, meetup, real estate, real results, social media, trulia, twitter, Vimeo, youtube, zillow For more Social Media coverage:
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| Samsung Android Phone Ships with a Copy of “Avatar” Posted: 28 Jun 2010 10:52 AM PDT   An Android smartphone called Samsung Vibrant (a variant of the Galaxy S) launches on T-Mobile July 21, but when you pay the $199 price tag the phone won’t be all you’ll get. Each handset will come pre-loaded with a copy of Avatar and the mobile game The Sims 3 Collector’s Edition. Not everyone thinks it’s a great deal, however; the most notable dissenter is Avatar director James Cameron, who has said that watching his movie on a phone or even a laptop would be “dumb.” He said he wouldn’t stop anyone from doing so, “especially if they’re paying for it,” but that he “wouldn’t recommend it.” It’d be easy to disagree with Cameron if he was making sweeping statements about watching all films on cellphones, but the main appeal of this particular movie is its spectacular visuals and special effects. It’s bad enough that you can’t watch it in the original 3D format, given that the Vibrant lacks the 3D technology found on devices like the Nintendo 3DS. Still, the Vibrant has a 4-inch AMOLED display, so if you’re going to watch Avatar on a phone at all, this one would be one of your better options. More About: 3D, android, avatar, Film, james cameron, Movies, samsung vibrant, T-Mobile, the sims 3 For more Entertainment coverage:
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| Cheezburger Network on Meg Whitman’s Use of FAIL Blog: I Can Has a Lawsuit? Posted: 28 Jun 2010 10:06 AM PDT   California’s gubernatorial race is heating up, especially when it comes to televised commercials. Republican candidate Meg Whitman’s campaign recently released a spot that calls Democratic nominee Jerry Brown’s political career a failure. At one point, the ad features a photo of Jerry Brown on what appears to be the FAIL Blog (roughly 50 seconds into the clip embedded below) with “FAIL” stamped over his face. The spot has drawn the ire of the Cheezburger Network, makers of FAIL Blog and I Can Has Cheezburger. On Friday, CEO Ben Huh took to the FAIL Blog to pen a post calling the ad campaign an “Honesty Fail.” Huh is so displeased with the spot that the company is considering legal action, telling CNET, “We are talking to our attorneys on this.” While some might see this as a somewhat humorous and current way for the Whitman campaign to bash the opposing candidate, the Cheezburger Network is not laughing. The issue is that the FAIL Blog image used in the ad is obviously manufactured, but the blog makers would rather not be affiliated with either campaign. Saying as much, Huh writes, “The FAIL Blog community involves liberals, conservatives and everyone across the political spectrum. And we do not endorse the use of FAIL Blog's image or any content on any of the Cheezburger sites for anyone's political gain.” What happens next remains to be seen. Huh has asked for a written apology and the removal of the video, although the matter could escalate if the company has legal ground to take further action. More About: cheezburger network, FAIL Blog, I Can Has Cheezeburger, jerry brown, meg whitman, politics For more Tech coverage:
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| Bros Icing Bros Gets a Cinematic Parody [VIDEO] Posted: 28 Jun 2010 10:02 AM PDT Viral phenom Bros Icing Bros might be dead in the sense that there’s tumbleweeds drifting on its homepage, but the meme lives on. College Humor recently put together this cleverly cut video in which famous “reveal” scenes in movies are transformed into epic icings — think The Shining, The Fifth Element and Shawshank Redemption. My personal favorite icing in the vid is the one featuring Back to the Future Part II (my favorite Back to the Future film was III, though). It appears as though the icing meme is soldiering on, if this vid is any indication. How long do you think it can rally before it blacks out for good? More About: Film, humor, pop culture, viral video For more Web Video coverage:
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| An iPhone Calendar App for the Design-Oriented Posted: 28 Jun 2010 09:49 AM 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: Diacarta™ allows you to map your day — unlike any other planner. Use icons to create a picture of your day. Genius Idea: iPhone app Diacarta [iTunes link] is for those who want a planner with a little more visual appeal than the text-based Notes and Calendar apps available natively on the iPhone. The app is handsome, intuitive and even easier to organize than the iPhone’s Calendar app. Simply select a day on the calendar, click the “+” button to select from a library of more than 50 icons representing various activities, and drag it to the appropriate place on the clock. You can then double-tap the icon to add in event details and adjust the time. It’s also easy to switch out icons at this point. As you complete tasks, you can tap the “star” button to turn those icons into faded gray stars. You can also create tasks that will sit on the side of the screen, functioning as a to-do list you can check off throughout the day. Swipe your finger across the screen to toggle between mornings and evenings and across days, or click on the calendar icon to select a day on a traditional monthly planner.   Diacarta was created by Jake and Georgia Yanchar, two former New York City lawyers who are now raising a family in Chardon, Ohio. Frustrated with the text-based planner apps for the iPhone, Jake decided to create an app that replicated the calendars he created in his moleskine notebook every day: doodles situated around a.m. and p.m. clocks representing each of the things he needed to get done. Lacking the requisite skills to create an app, the pair worked with India-based software development company Wirkle to develop the app, and Cleveland-based graphic design/marketing firm Little Jacket to develop Diacarta over an 18-month period. The app is now available in the App Store for $1.99. Jake says they hope to make future versions of the app available for Android and BlackBerry, and to make it possible to sync Diacarta with web-based and social media apps, as well as software-based planners. They would also like to offer customizable sets of icons — sets for working parents or medical students, for example. I’d personally love to see a set for athletes (sadly, there’s no running icon–although there are icons for hiking, swimming, weight-lifting, golfing, boating and even horseback riding) and editors/bloggers (surprise, surprise). It would also be nice to have push notifications to remind me about important appointments and phone calls. What do you think of the app? How do you organize your calendar and/or to-do list on your mobile device? Video DemoSponsored by Microsoft BizSpark
More About: bizspark, diacarta, iphone app, spark-of-genius, squnch For more Dev & Design coverage:
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Social media has changed our lives. It has not only changed the way we communicate, but the way we connect with one another, consume our news, conduct our work, organize our lives and much more. So why not celebrate? As far as we know, there is no official Social Media Day. But we do think there should be one. So we invite you to celebrate the revolution of media becoming social by attending or organizing a 
Over the past two years, real estate professionals have found creative ways to overcome the 
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