Mashable: Latest 28 News Updates - including “Shocking Video Scams Spread Virally on Facebook [WARNING]” |  |
- Shocking Video Scams Spread Virally on Facebook [WARNING]
- How Big is Social Media in the UK? [VIDEO]
- 5 Biggest Movie Trailers of Comic-Con 2010
- Why WikiLeaks Is The Pirate Bay of Political Intelligence
- Old Spice Sales Double With YouTube Campaign
- LinkedIn: Now Worth More Than $2 Billion
- The Time for Foursquare Marketing Is… Later? [STUDY]
- Amazon + Facebook = A Perfect Storm of Recommendations
- Firefox 4 Beta 2 Adds More Languages and App Tabs
- Is Google Watching You? New Plugin Will Let You Know [APPS]
- HOW TO: Celebrate Mashable’s Birthday with a Rhino and a Watermelon [VIDEO]
- Dell Streak Tablet Says Yes to Android Froyo, No to T-Mobile
- Disney Acquires Social Gaming Company Playdom for up to $763.2 Million
- iPhone Game Company Takes a Holiday to Play “StarCraft II”
- Who Should Speak at the Mashable & 92Y Social Good Summit?
- Google Docs Adds Translation Feature
- Highly Anticipated “StarCraft II” Strategy Game Launches Today
- Mashable Site Design From 2005 to 2010 [GRAPHIC]
- Seesmic Web Now Supports Facebook and LinkedIn
- “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Author First to Sell 1 Million E-books via Kindle
- A Look Back at the Last 5 Years in Mobile
- “The Guild” Is Back, Debuts New Bollywood-Style Music Video
- HOW TO: Use Annotations to Promote Your Brand on YouTube
- The Internet Loves Walmart Moonwalker [Randomly Viral]
- Chat with Co-Workers On-the-Go with Free iPhone App
- Mashable Celebrates Its 5th Birthday
- Vitrue Publisher 2.0 Makes Posting and Managing the Open Graph a Snap
- Morning Brief: Apple Releases Products, Facebook & Twitter Test New Options
- Apple Launches Magic Trackpad, Speedier iMacs and Mac Pros
| Shocking Video Scams Spread Virally on Facebook [WARNING] Posted: 28 Jul 2010 03:28 AM PDT      Several new Facebook scams are making the rounds today, and although they follow the same pattern as many of the recent scams we’ve seen, some users are still falling for them. The scams work as follows: first, you’ll see an interesting link in other users’ status updates, but when you follow the link, you’ll be asked to fill up a number of surveys which are nothing more than ploys to extract your personal data. Today, we’ve seen two very similar scams, both promising a “shocking video” to unsuspecting users. One message that appears in status updates reads “I am shocked!!! I’m NEVER texting AGAIN since I found this out. Video here: http://bit.ly/c4SDyh – Worldwide scandal!” If you click on the link in the message, it’ll lead you to a rogue Facebook application, which will ask you to fill in a couple of surveys before you can actually see the promised content.  Another message promises a shocking video of a teacher that nearly killed a boy; clicking on the link in the status update will, once again, only force you to jump through hoops and hand over your personal data in the process. Graham Cluley from Sophos does a great job explaining the attack in the video below. Our advice, as always, is not to click on suspicious links if you’re not absolutely sure they’re safe. Do not give away your personal info. If you've fallen for these (or similar) scams, remove the offending app(s) from your Facebook apps, and remove the related status message from your newsfeed. More About: facebook, scam, social networking, video For more Social Media coverage:
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| How Big is Social Media in the UK? [VIDEO] Posted: 28 Jul 2010 12:59 AM PDT   The social media and networking phenomenon is growing extremely fast in the UK. 85 percent of the population is online; they spend over 6 hours on social media sites every month, nearly 60 percent of them read blogs and 64% have their own profile on a social network. The numbers come from Simply Zesty, a UK-based online PR and social media firm, who has put together a nifty video with many interesting social media-related figures. The facts and numbers in the video are based on UK’s online population, but many of them ring true for most parts of the online world. Check it out below. More About: social media, uk, video For more Social Media coverage:
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| 5 Biggest Movie Trailers of Comic-Con 2010 Posted: 27 Jul 2010 10:03 PM PDT   The 2010 San Diego Comic-Con took place this weekend, and with it came some huge announcements and trailers for upcoming movies. We have trailers for five of the biggest Comic-Con movies right here. The biggest new announcements were arguably the trio of Marvel films, Thor, Captain America and The Avengers, but none of the trailers for those movies are publicly available. The same goes for The Green Lantern starring Ryan Reynolds. However, we’ve got trailers for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Tron: Legacy, Red, Sucker Punch and Machete. That ought to be plenty of Hollywood action for today. Jerry Bruckheimer Films has requested takedowns of instances of the Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides trailer on YouTube, even though it’s essentially an ad — something you’d think they’d be enthusiastic that fans are sharing — and there is no official copy available on the site. We understand the reasons for this, but we don’t agree with them. Since we couldn’t find a YouTube video for it, the Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides teaser is embedded separately from the others, and Tron: Legacy, Red, Sucker Punch and Machete are included in the gallery beneath it. Oh, and a warning: Even the preview image of the fourth trailer is NSFW. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (Teaser)This movie is still nearly a year away, so tradition calls for a teaser trailer, not a full-length one. However, the folks working on the new “Pirates of the Caribbean” went with a unique and highly, effectively entertaining approach. "Tron: Legacy"The second official trailer for the follow up to 1982's "Tron" is the first that feels like a strong and complete representation of what fans hope the finished film will be like. "Red"The all-star cast for this caper action flick includes Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren, Mary-Louise Parker, Karl Urban, Brain Cox and Richard Dreyfuss. Whoa. "Sucker Punch"The director of "300" and "Watchmen" tells the action-packed, ultra-stylized tale of a group of young femme fatales escaping an asylum in the 1950s. "Machete" (Red Band)Robert Rodriguez has been a cult hit director since El Mariachi and Desperado, but it was Sin City that elevated him into the stratosphere. This riff on the exploitation genre looks authentically badass, though it will make many viewers uncomfortable. This is a NSFW red band trailer, so it's not intended for audiences under 18. Reviews: YouTube More About: comic con 2010, comic-con, Film, machete, Movies, pirates of the caribbean on stranger tides, Red, san diego comic con, san diego comic con 2010, sdcc, sdcc 2010, sucker punch, trailers, tron legacy, video For more Entertainment coverage:
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| Why WikiLeaks Is The Pirate Bay of Political Intelligence Posted: 27 Jul 2010 08:43 PM PDT   WikiLeaks is currently in the news because its Afghan War logs comprise one of the largest and most controversial intelligence leaks to date. But while WikiLeaks is relatively new to the public, it is actually a product of a long-established culture. That culture has already had a banner-bearer; a quintessential exemplification of its values — The Pirate Bay. WikiLeaks is akin to The Pirate Bay, but for another purpose. WikiLeaks disregards the letter of the law and grants political analysts and citizens new information, then defends that choice with an argument for a higher virtue: Freedom of information and knowledge. The founding figures behind WikiLeaks and The Pirate Bay each claim to place that value above all others — that, and a little bit of anti-establishment zeal. At this point, its name is merely symbolic — a statement of philosophical association. WikiLeaks is not a wiki, but shares the same culture, along with The Pirate Bay, Linux, and the open-source movement. For decades, the members of this “hacker” community have espoused the free flow of information in a world without borders, where no institution, neither corporation nor government, could hinder independent thought and the democratization of knowledge. The connections between WikiLeaks and The Pirate Bay are not merely conceptual. There are also more direct correlations. Both WikiLeaks and The Pirate Bay have been hosted by Swedish Internet service provider PRQ, which also hosted the website of insurgents in Chechnya who sought a publishing platform that would not represent any established state. It’s the Swiss bank of Internet providers, and a bastion of 21st century hacker values and individualism. In The New Yorker’s detailed profile of WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange, it’s clear that he belongs to this tradition. He began his adult life as a computer hacker with no formal education. Though he did eventually attend college, he had nothing good to say of the experience. This was in part because his mother discouraged him from traditional education, fearing it might rob him of his individualism and will to learn. Today, it seems almost as if Assange is trying to live out the radical philosophies of Ayn Rand. We all know the stories of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs — computer whizzes who dropped out of college because they had technological revolutions to tend to. Assange is in some ways cut from the same cloth, though his choice has not yet earned him dramatic wealth, and his commitment to openness is more radical. But through his project, the tradition has reached the world stage in a whole new way. Computer hackers with this Internet-born, fundamentalist philosophy of information and individual entrepreneurship are not just dictating the terms of technology and digital entertainment, but of journalism, political discourse and military engagement. WikiLeaks and The Pirate Bay are also similar in this regard: You can say what you will of the ethics of it all, but you have to admit it’s remarkable. [img credit: Markchew2010] Reviews: Internet, Linux More About: afghan logs, bittorrent, hacker culture, Opinion, piracy, the afghan diary, the pirate bay, wikileaks For more Social Media coverage:
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| Old Spice Sales Double With YouTube Campaign Posted: 27 Jul 2010 07:04 PM PDT   You know those YouTube videos with that manly Old Spice guy and his hilarious responses to Twitter fans? Of course you do. So does everybody, it seems, because Old Spice body wash sales have increased 107% in the past month in part thanks to that social media marketing campaign. We already published stats from video analytics company Visible Measures that made it clear that the Old Spice guy was a hugely successful initiative from marketing firm Wieden + Kennedy, achieving millions of viral video views quicker than past hits like Susan Boyle and U.S. President Barack Obama’s election victory speech. The statistic of the 107% sales increase over the past month comes from Nielsen, which also revealed that sales increased 55% over the past three months. Individual products that were slipping in sales saw spikes after actor Isaiah Mustafa showed them off in the TV and Internet video ads. Those numbers were cited in an article at BrandWeek. The campaign began with simple TV ads, which then went viral on YouTube. The follow-up program in which Mustafa recorded funny videos in response to fans, bloggers and Twitter influencers hit it out of the park in the zeitgeist. Adweek quotes Visible Measures’ Matt Cutler saying that the total web views for all Old Spice brand videos have reached 110 million, “surpassing the reach of traditional broadcast.” Adweek also reports that Old Spice is working on a new campaign, but that it’s “unrelated” to the Mustafa videos. That’s a tough act to follow, but we don’t think anyone at Old Spice is complaining today. Update: Some readers have pointed to news stories saying that sales for Old Spice went down. Not exactly. The earlier reports of drops in sales referred to the Old Spice product Red Zone After Hours, which experienced a 7% drop. WARC, the source for that story, also acknowledges Nielsen’s data, saying, “Despite reports to the contrary, Nielsen data shows that sales of the Old Spice Body Wash range as a whole rose by 55% over the last three months, and by 107% in the last month alone.” We will acknowledge the point that there is simply a timeframe correlation between the boosts in Old Spice sales and the ad campaign. See also:
More About: advertising, MARKETING, old spice, old spice guy, sales, social media, trending, twitter, youtube For more Business coverage:
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| LinkedIn: Now Worth More Than $2 Billion Posted: 27 Jul 2010 06:09 PM PDT   A new report suggests that LinkedIn’s value has surpassed the $2 billion mark, based on recent investments from outside investors. According to Bloomberg, hedge fund Tiger Global Management spent $20 million to acquire approximately a one percent stake in the business social network. The hedge fund specifically paid $21.50 per share. That’s where the math comes in. According to SharesPost, an online marketplace for privately-held companies, LinkedIn has 105 million shares outstanding. Multiply that by the $21.50 Tiger Global Management spent, and you arrive at a valuation of $2.26 billion. It’s important to note that Tiger Global didn’t make a new investment in the company; it acquired its shares from an existing investor. Because this transaction occurred on the private market, these numbers aren’t concrete (for example, SharesPost estimates LinkedIn’s value at around $2 billion). However, we think it’s safe to assume that LinkedIn is now a multi-billion dollar company. Of course, that’s still a fraction of the price that Facebook currently commands, but how can you really complain about having a multi-billion dollar company? Do you think LinkedIn is worth $2 billion, or do you think that valuating is too high or low? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. Reviews: Facebook, LinkedIn, Multiply More About: linkedin, sharespost, valuation For more Business coverage:
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| The Time for Foursquare Marketing Is… Later? [STUDY] Posted: 27 Jul 2010 04:58 PM PDT   While it’s always a good idea to look forward and broaden your marketing mix when it comes to technology, a new study shows that expecting a huge, at-scale ROI from such cutting-edge location-based services as Foursquare might be a bit premature. Research given to us today by marketing and tech firm Forrester shows that only a tiny stratum of the population is consistently using Foursquare. Only 4% of the adult, Internet-using population has used any kind of location-based service, and just 1% of all adults check into a location at least once a week. By contrast, more than 11% of online adults have used Twitter, and an estimated 28% of all Internet users have signed up for Facebook. But if you keep in mind that Foursquare isn’t yet a mass medium, you can plan to target your marketing efforts much better and still see the benefits of using this service and others like it as an advertising and marketing channel. And you’ll get the added benefit of being an experienced location-based marketing pro when services like this take off for the general population. For example, the Forrester report noted, Starbucks saw some great things with its Foursquare program: “Starbucks, by connecting its existing loyalty program to a startup LBSN, got not only great press initially but also the opportunity to test an emerging technology. Adventurous marketers like Starbucks see a consumer market of early adopters that will hopefully grow into a new and active audience.” Forrester also found that location-based service (LBS) users are likely to be 19- to 35-year-old, college-educated males who are influential among their friends and family. These users generally do a lot of mobile-based web research when considering making a purchase, from a refrigerator or a car to a movie ticket or dinner at a restaurant. Their average household income is right around the six-figure mark — around $20,000 higher than consumers who don’t use an LBS. Because of the place-based nature of LBSs, people who use them are extremely connected to the web and Internet and social applications via their mobile devices. Forrester’s research shows these users are also big on using their mobile devices to find directions, look up information about local businesses and read or submit local business reviews on sites such as Yelp. Getting intelligence on these kinds of consumers and testing multiple small-scale LBS campaigns is the best way to prepare for successful location-based marketing efforts in the future — like, perhaps, when Facebook launches its location service in the near future and this geeks-only paradigm is suddenly brought to an international scale. Reviews: Facebook, Foursquare, Internet, Yelp More About: advertising, foursquare, geolocation, lbs, location, MARKETING, Mobile 2.0, mobile marketing, social media For more Social Media coverage:
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| Amazon + Facebook = A Perfect Storm of Recommendations Posted: 27 Jul 2010 04:04 PM PDT   Amazon and Facebook are doing some technological partnering to bring you a new layer in product recommendations. Now Amazon users will be able to link their Facebook account to their Amazon account. At the outset, this will allow Amazon to show you recommendations based on your Facebook interests and activity. This integration will also help you figure out what kinds of gifts your friends might like by letting you better search for your Facebook friends’ Amazon Wish Lists and by pulling in information from your friends’ profiles. Of course, it will remind you of Facebook friends’ birthdays, too. It will show you interests you have in common with your friends, and it will show you which items are popular with all the people in your social graph. When it comes to protecting your purchase information and privacy, Amazon says it will not share your Amazon account information with Facebook. It won’t reveal what items you’re buying, and it won’t contact your Facebook friends. And if you don’t share information publicly on Facebook, Amazon won’t be able to grab that information and broadcast it to others; this includes scraping your friends’ profiles for non-public information. Since we tech writers are more on the exhibitionist side of online privacy concerns, we decided to test drive this feature and report back to you. What we saw was both fascinating and useful. Amazon and Facebook: Our Test DriveTo get started, I logged in to my Amazon account. On the right side of my account’s home screen, I saw a Facebook integration “beta” ad, which I clicked to turn the recommendations on.
As expected, Amazon’s knowledge of my social graph was in line with my friends’ stated privacy settings. For example, I wasn’t able to see gift recommendations for Steven Walling, my former coworker, or my friend David Armano, because their profile and interests aren’t too public on Facebook. But my friend and Kissmetrics CEO Hiten Shah’s interests were available to Amazon, and I was able to get some great gift ideas from them:  I also got to see what the rest of my Facebook friends thought was cool (Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon was the most-liked record from my social graph), and I got some cool recommendations based on music, movies and books I “liked” on Facebook or talked about in my profile.
You can change your Facebook/Amazon settings or disable the integration at any time. For some people, we can see how one website’s knowledge of your activity on another site — and, because of Facebook’s reach, across the entire web — might come across as slightly creepy. However, when you boil it all down to ones and zeroes, it’s a great way for commercial entities to take advantage of this huge silo of information that Facebook has about you, your personality, your friends and much more. And because it helps you, the user, discover and interact more with the things you like, it’s one of those rare win-win scenarios wherein the consumer gets as much benefit as the corporation. That’s our experience so far, at least. If you feel up to it, give the Amazon/Facebook integration a try, and let us know what you think about it in the comments. Reviews: Facebook More About: amazon, facebook, MARKETING, Recommendations, trending For more Social Media coverage:
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| Firefox 4 Beta 2 Adds More Languages and App Tabs Posted: 27 Jul 2010 03:32 PM PDT   Firefox 4 beta 1 was released earlier this month, and today the next version has become available — this time with support for 23 more languages. The latest Firefox 4 beta also features tabs on top for Mac OS X users (the last version was for Windows users only) and a new feature called App Tabs. App tabs can be created for your most accessed sites, and are designed to save space by only displaying the favicon (instead of the entire tab with its title description). The latest Firefox 4 beta has also added more support for CSS3 features, including support for CSS3 transitions and animations. You can see the CSS3 demos in action here in Firefox 4 beta 2, although the transitions appeared to work in Safari and Chrome as well.  Firefox 4 is an important release for Mozilla, and it promises to be faster and more streamlined. Firefox is facing stiff competition, not just from Google Chrome — a WebKit-based browser that continues to grow at a breakneck pace — but also from the upcoming Internet Explorer 9. However, with things like App Tabs and the even more ambitious Tab Candy in their wheelhouse, it’s clear that the Firefox team is entering this battle fully armed. Check out this video to see a demonstration of how Tab Apps work. You can download Firefox 4 beta 4 in your choice of language and OS here. What do you think of the latest Firefox 4 beta? Do you still love the phoenix or has another browser claimed your heart? Let us know! Reviews: Chrome, Firefox, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Safari, Windows More About: Browsers, Firefox, software For more Tech coverage:
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| Is Google Watching You? New Plugin Will Let You Know [APPS] Posted: 27 Jul 2010 02:29 PM PDT   Another rad browser plugin called Google Alarm hit the Internets this week, which alerts you every time your personal info is sent to Google’s servers. How? Via notifications, a running tally of dangerous sites and, naturally, a super annoying, vuvuzela-like alarm. After seeing this new plugin — which works with both Firefox and Chrome — on F.A.T., I contacted the developer who made it: Jamie Wilkinson, who also created Know Your Meme and Mag.ma. Google Alarm, which was made during F.A.T.’s F*ck Google Week in Berlin, is supposed to make users aware of how much info they’re sending to the search giant. According to Wilkinson, “Google makes great products and gives them all away for free, which has made them into a ubiquitous and omniscient force on the Internet. Google Alarm and F*ck Google in general are meant to illustrate how this single unregulated company now captures more information about us than any government agency ever could. When I started developing Google Alarm I was blown away to discover that 80+% of websites I visit have some kind of Google tracking bugs on them.” So how does the plugin work? “[It] inspects each page you visit for Google-related URLs: googleanalytics.com/ga.js for Google Analytics, doubleclick.net/googlesyndication.com URLs for AdSense, youtube.com/v/ for YouTube embeds, and many more,” Wilkinson says. “Each service triggers an individual visual and audible alert to help you become more aware of when you’re transmitting data to Google.” If you’re into the idea, the source code is currently open, and Wilkinsen welcomes suggestions. Check out the video below for more info: We’ve been seeing a ton of interesting plugins like this lately — Shaved Bieber, BP Oil, Ex-blocker (which, disclosure, I helped come up with). It would be interesting to see if they actually become legit tools. Wilkinson would tend to agree: “Browser addons offer a unique opportunity to hack our web browsing experience,” he says. “We spend so much time on the web that it’s only natural to begin playing with how we observe and interact with it. I wish we had something as powerful for our TV sets.” What do you think of this plugin? I personally would not recommend enabling it unless you really dig the vuvuzela. [img credit: twicepix] Reviews: Chrome, Firefox, Google, Google Analytics, Internet, YouTube More About: chrome, Firefox, Google, humor, pop culture, trending, web app For more Social Media coverage:
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| HOW TO: Celebrate Mashable’s Birthday with a Rhino and a Watermelon [VIDEO] Posted: 27 Jul 2010 01:59 PM PDT   What do you get when you put a black rhino, a watermelon and Mashable in the same room? We didn’t know the answer either — at least until today. As you may have heard, we’re celebrating our fifth birthday here at Mashable, and we want to thank everybody for supporting us these past five years. We are overwhelmed by the birthday wishes you’ve been sending us and posting on Facebook, Twitter and elsewhere on the web. We want to highlight a birthday video card that caught the entire team’s attention, though. The people over at Busch Gardens decided to commemorate Mashable’s birthday by having Forest, a 3,000-pound black rhinoceros, “mash” a watermelon painted with our colors and posting the video to YouTube. If Busch Gardens was looking to get some publicity out of the melon mashing video, then mission accomplished. We love it when brands use social media for clever marketing campaigns. We’ve clicked the replay button on this video too many times not to share with the rest of you. Busch Gardens, can you fly Forest the Rhino over for an office visit? We’ll supply the watermelons. Reviews: Facebook, Mashable, Twitter, YouTube More About: busch gardens, mashable, Rhino, Watermelon, youtube For more Web Video coverage:
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| Dell Streak Tablet Says Yes to Android Froyo, No to T-Mobile Posted: 27 Jul 2010 01:52 PM PDT   Dell has confirmed that its Streak tablet will get the Android 2.2 operating system (Froyo) later this year, but it will not run on T-Mobile’s 3G network. The device, which features a 5-inch screen, dual cameras, an Android operating system, $500 price point and 3G data access via AT&T, has been much discussed in the tech sphere. The company recently announced that the Streak is “the most successful pre-sale [it has] ever offered.” While the device will indeed get the Android 2.2 operating system later this year via an over-the-air update, it will run Android 1.6 at launch. The other piece of news the company revealed today is that it will “not be certified for T-Mobile operation overall.” In other words, the Dell Streak is only going to work on AT&T’s 3G network in the U.S., just like a certain other 3G tablet. Are you interested in getting the Dell Streak? Can it compete with the likes of the iPad? Let us know what you think. Reviews: Android More About: android, Android 2.2., att, dell streak, Dell Tablet, Froyo, ipad, T-Mobile, Tablet For more Tech coverage:
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| Disney Acquires Social Gaming Company Playdom for up to $763.2 Million Posted: 27 Jul 2010 01:33 PM PDT   Disney has officially acquired Playdom, the makers of popular social games like Social City and Sorority Life, for $563.2 million, with an additional $200 million that could be paid out based on performance. The company is one of the remaining big players in the social gaming space, competing against the likes of Zynga and its wildly popular FarmVille Facebook game. Playdom raised $33 million in funding just last month to help it acquire smaller social gaming companies. Playdom will keep its headquarters in Mountain View, California. Playdom CEO John Pleasants will become an Executive Vice President of Disney’s Interactive Media Group. Clearly Disney is serious about the social gaming space; the acquisition comes less than a month after the media giant acquired iPhone app development firm Tapulous. The company sees a lot of synergies between its new social gaming properties and its highly visible brands. “We see strong growth potential in bringing together Playdom's talented team and capabilities with our great creative properties, people and world-renowned brands like Disney, ABC, ESPN and Marvel,” said Walt Disney CEO Robert Iger in a statement. Reviews: Facebook More About: busienss, disney, farmville, playdom, trending, Zynga For more Business coverage:
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| iPhone Game Company Takes a Holiday to Play “StarCraft II” Posted: 27 Jul 2010 01:20 PM PDT   Rather than fight the urge to spend the day playing StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, which launched today, the guys at iPhone developer shop Smule are giving into temptation and declaring today, July 27, 2010, StarCraft II Day. Work will be suspended at the company’s Palo Alto offices for the next two days so that employees can embrace their inner Zerg. If you visit the Smule website, you’ll see that a “day off” notice has replaced the splash page usually reserved for its apps, which include I Am T-Pain, Magic Piano and Glee.  We imagine Smule isn’t the only workplace dismissing any pretense of productivity and logging onto Battle.net, but its announcement is certainly one of the funniest we’ve seen in quite some time:
So, tell us: Are you getting any work done today or are you busy playing/downloading StarCraft II? More About: Smule, Starcraft, Starcraft II, video games For more Business coverage:
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| Who Should Speak at the Mashable & 92Y Social Good Summit? Posted: 27 Jul 2010 12:55 PM PDT   Shortly after our Mashable Media Summit, we announced the Mashable & 92Y Social Good Summit in Partnership with the United Nations Foundation. At the start of UN Week on Monday, September 20, Mashable will be hosting a half-day conference at the 92nd Street Y. We’d love to know who you think should be presenting at the event and welcome open suggestions in the comments. Mashable and 92Y present a summit of the most inspirational, promising and effective ways in which new media can help address the world’s challenges. As the world’s attention turns to New York for UN Week, this Summit showcases and celebrates the power and potential of new media and innovative ideas. The Social Good Summit 2010 focuses on raising awareness and finding solutions to the 8 Millennium Development Goals and coincides with the historic 2010 MDG Summit. Goals of the Summit include:
Confirmed agenda includes:
Further details and speaker announcements to be released shortly. We always welcome feedback early from our readers and would love to hear your suggestions for a company or person (whether you are connected to them or not) who you feel represent Social Good and are providing innovative solutions through the power of new media and technology. Limited Tickets on Sale NowDate: Monday, September 20, 2010 Sponsorships are available; please e-mail sponsorships@mashable.com. Reviews: Mashable More About: 92y, MDGs, social good, social good summit, ted turner
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| Google Docs Adds Translation Feature Posted: 27 Jul 2010 12:40 PM PDT   Google Docs has just added a couple of cool new features: translation and the ability to remove smartquotes in documents (coming soon). This tweak comes on the heels of a major overhaul to the program, as well as new sharing/privacy options. Let’s say you have a penpal in France, and you want to send your penpal a lovely note — written in his native language. Well, according to the Google Docs Blog, all you have to do is head over to Google Docs, write your missive, select “Translate document” from tools, choose a new title for your translated document and one of 53 languages, and voila! (literally). We tested it out, and the translation was rather smooth. We can’t make any promises about its ability to translate large documents, though — we imagine it works about as well as Google Translate. Also — for the copy-editing geeks out there — Docs will soon add the ability to nix smartquotes: those quotes that curve around the words in question. Right now, you have to type Ctrl-Z (Cmd-Z on a Mac) to get rid of the buggers, but soon there will be an option to disable them all together. If you’re a writer or editor who works at a publication that adheres to plainquote-style, this will definitely be a boon. Google Docs has really stepped it up of late — transitioning to a format reminiscent of Microsoft Word, and adding features like completely redesigned spreadsheet, document and drawing editors, group chat functionality and the ability to collaborate with real-time character-by-character mark-up. Now if only it would add track changes and the ability to view “Sent” documents… Maybe next time. [img credit: misterbisson] Reviews: Google Docs, Google translate More About: Google, google docs, social media, translate For more Social Media coverage:
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| Highly Anticipated “StarCraft II” Strategy Game Launches Today Posted: 27 Jul 2010 12:19 PM PDT   StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, the first chapter in the sequel to one of the most wildly successful computer games of all time, went on sale today. It’s available in retail stores and as a digital download for Mac and Windows computers. Made by World of Warcraft creators Blizzard Entertainment, StarCraft II is a real-time strategy game set in a science fiction universe. Players direct military units with spectacular powers in story-driven, single-player campaigns, or against one another on Blizzard’s Battle.net social gaming service. The first StarCraft was a major event for competitive multiplayer gaming back in 1998. It sold 11 million units and literally became a national spectator sport in South Korea, helping to create the Korean Internet cafe culture that has birthed many of the world’s most renowned online and social games. The sequel will be released in three parts. The first, Wings of Liberty, launched today and includes the story of the Terrans, space marines exiled from Earth. Next, Heart of the Swarm will tell the story of the hivemind, insectoid Zerg, and the series will conclude with a noble psionic species called the Protoss in Legacy of the Void. Today’s launch drew long lines in cities all over the world. In addition to graphical and gameplay updates, StarCraft II adds new online features. The updated Battle.net network adds a tournament-like ladder system and tools to ensure that players will only battle others within their skill range. Blizzard has also implemented a “StarCraft II Marketplace” where players can distribute custom maps and campaigns that they make using tools that come with the game. Will you be buying this anticipated sequel? Let us know in the comments, and check out the gallery below. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty Reviews: Windows, world of warcraft gold More About: activision, Blizzard, gaming, mac, pc, Starcraft, starcraft 2, video games, wings of libertya For more Entertainment coverage:
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| Mashable Site Design From 2005 to 2010 [GRAPHIC] Posted: 27 Jul 2010 11:48 AM PDT Today we are celebrating Mashable’s fifth birthday. Thanks to our readers and advertisers, Mashable has come a long way since Pete Cashmore first launched the site on July 27, 2005. Some of this change is reflected in our continued site redesigns, which not only demonstrates Mashable’s growth, but the changes in technology and design in the last five years. Our Graphic Designer Louis Dorman put together this graphic showcasing the redesigns of Mashable over the last five years. From a three-column to a simplified two-column layout, the site has continued to add new topic channels, such as recent addition Dev & Design; new resources like our Twitter List Directory; and social media guides, like our Facebook Guidebook. We’ve always looked to accommodate our readers in our designs, and would love to know what you think is working or features you’d like to see in the comments.   Reviews: Mashable More About: 5th anniversary, design, mashable, mashable.com, pete cashmore For more Dev & Design coverage:
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| Seesmic Web Now Supports Facebook and LinkedIn Posted: 27 Jul 2010 11:23 AM PDT   Seesmic has just updated its Seesmic Web app to include support for Facebook and LinkedIn. The new version also includes a refined interface and a faster backend. Like HootSuite and Brizzly, Seesmic Web is a tool you can use to manage and monitor your social networks all from within the web browser. The service already offers support for Foursquare, Google Buzz and Ping.fm. When you create a status update, you can choose to publish it to any or all of your connected networks; just click on the network icon to select or deselect. You can also attach a photo, link and your location.  What’s nice about the Facebook integration is that you can directly Like an item from your News Feed and also reply in-line, just as you can with Twitter. The Twitter portion of Seesmic web now supports in-line retweets and easy reply access, as well.  The LinkedIn integration isn’t quite as robust, but you can still see your incoming stream from your LinkedIn lists and post messages directly to the network. For Seesmic Web users who use Google Chrome, there is a new desktop notifications option that will show a pop-up on your screen every time you receive a mention or direct message on Twitter. That’s super handy and something that, coupled with Google Chrome as an SSB, could make Seesmic Web a viable replacement for stand-alone social networking clients. We’re glad to see that Seesmic Web now encompasses more of the native functions of the services it supports. What do you think of the new features? Reviews: Facebook, Google Buzz, Google Chrome, HootSuite, LinkedIn, Ping, Seesmic, Seesmic Web, Twitter More About: facebook, linkedin, seesmic, seesmic web, twitter For more Social Media coverage:
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| “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Author First to Sell 1 Million E-books via Kindle Posted: 27 Jul 2010 11:09 AM PDT   Stieg Larsson, a Swedish journalist and detective novelist best known for his Millenium trilogy, has become the first author to sell more than 1 million e-books in the Kindle Store. The three books in the posthumously published trilogy — The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, are all among the Kindle Store’s 10 bestselling books of all time. As of March 2010, the trilogy has sold more than 27 million copies (physical and digital) in more than 40 countries. In 2008, Larsson was the bestselling author in the world behind author Khaled Hosseini. E-books are taking up an ever-increasing percentage of book sales; last week, Amazon announced that it is now selling more e-books than hardcovers. The book publishing and retailing world is taking note, resulting in newly launched e-bookstores, and disputes between publishers and literary agencies about e-book rights. Some prominent authors are foregoing the traditional publication process altogether and selling their work directly to platforms like the iPad via the App Store. To honor the occasion, Larsson was formally inducted into the Kindle Million Club, which acknowledges authors whose entire body of work has sold more than 1 million copies in the Kindle Store. We expect that he’ll soon be joined by many other bestselling authors. [img credit: Global X] Reviews: App Store More About: amazon, e-books, Kindle, stieg larsson
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| A Look Back at the Last 5 Years in Mobile Posted: 27 Jul 2010 10:47 AM PDT
Fast forward to 2010 and the world of mobile computing is strikingly different. As the feature phone has continued to cede ground to the smartphone, mobile broadband has become a reality and accessing the web, as well as social networks like Facebook and Twitter, has become not just a nicety but a requirement To paraphrase Talking Heads, “how did we get here?” Let’s explore the last five years and the changing face of mobile. The Rise of the TouchscreenThe impact that the iPhone has had on the mobile industry — on the computing industry in general — cannot be overstated. Love it or hate it, there is a very clear delineation between devices released prior to June, 2007 and devices released after. A key element of this separation is the rise of the touchscreen for mobile devices. While the original iPhone was not the first capacitive touchscreen mobile phone on the market (that would be the LG Prada), it was the first phone that really took advantage of touch and showcased the power of software written for a touch interface. While the debate over physical or virtual keyboards still rages today, when it comes to interacting directly with content, making phone calls, interacting with applications and adjusting text, touch has become the expectation. The smartphone touchscreen has influenced other products, from media players to notebook trackpads to mice and gestures, like pinch-zoom and swipe forward, have become ubiquitous in the world of human interface design. The Socialization of Mobile
Instant messaging and e-mail were the killer features of the BlackBerry and Sidekick devices of yesteryear. Today, that has evolved into the ability to post to Twitter and Facebook. In the current battle for smartphone supremacy, how well a phone integrates with social networks is a big part of how manufacturers and brands differentiate their devices. Facebook’s mobile usage is off the charts and a tiny industry was created just around Twitter mobile applications — at least until Twitter started to release its own apps. We’re entering a phase in social application and network development that doesn’t just treat the mobile web as a consideration, but as a central tenant and requirement. We’ve already started to see that with geolocation networks like Foursquare, Loopt, Gowalla and SCVNGR that were built and designed for mobile. Broadband in Your PocketMobile broadband was just starting to come into its own five years ago. Today, we’re at the cusp of the 4G revolution that promises not just faster speeds but better coverage in areas that have previously had problems getting any sort of broadband at all. We’re able to do more and more on our mobile devices in large part because the networks are faster and are capable of transferring more data. In some parts of the world, the only way that individuals get online at all is via mobile phones (and not even smartphones) and the promise of 4G technologies, like LTE and WiMax, is to get data to more rural areas even faster. The 3G transition on the network side was happening just ahead of how mobile devices and software were evolving. With 4G, it may be just the opposite. We’re expecting more and more out of our mobile devices and the mobile connections themselves can’t always suffice. Or if they can, they come at a price — mobile phone companies are shifting from charging for minutes to charging for data. Mobile broadband subscriptions for non-phone devices are on the rise as mobile becomes less about a “phone” and more about the freedom to connect anywhere. There’s an App For That
From iOS to Android to webOS to BlackBerry to Symbian to Meego to Windows Phone 7, the micro computer revolution from the mid-1980s is taking place, but at a much faster pace, today. The definition of a mobile app continues to be difficult to define — especially as the lines between native programs and web apps continue to become blurry — but mobile as a platform and as a destination is not in dispute. The immense success of the App Store — more than $1 billion has been paid to developers in just under two years — has caused many businesses to shift focus. Longtime desktop application developers have shifted entirely to mobile and new companies and developers have formed around a particular platform. As unsettling as it may be to some enthusiasts, the reality is that the first application that most new programmers will write will be for a mobile phone – not for the desktop. The scale of mobile applications are often smaller and have fewer features than a desktop counterpart, however, that will change. After all, five years ago if you asked me if I could do 90% of my work from my mobile device, I would have laughed in your face. Don’t get me wrong, my magenta Razr was awesome but it was hardly capable of doing any real work. The FutureThe world of mobile computing continues to change at a breakneck pace. Just 12 months ago, only a handful of Android devices were on the market. Today, it’s a major contender and a big threat to the dominant smartphone platform, the iPhone. In five years, we’ve transitioned from keypad to touchscreen, from 2G to ubiquitous broadband, from social as an afterthought to social as an intrinsic part of the mobile web and to a world full of app stores. It’s impossible to predict the next five years, but imagine that mobile devices will continue to get faster, consume less power and slowly but surely supplant workstations and notebooks. To quote Talking Heads again, “same as it ever was.” Series supported by IDG  In honor of Mashable’s five-year anniversary, this series is supported by IDG. Join social conversations to market your brand with IDG's social advertising platform, IDG Amplify. IDG Amplify ads take your messages into the appropriate social websites. You add to conversations, take quick polls, and provide rich media for longer engagements with your prospects. More Mobile Resources From Mashable:
Reviews: Android, App Store, BlackBerry Rocks!, Facebook, Foursquare, Gowalla, Mashable, Symbian S60, Twitter, Wimax, Windows Phone 7, iPhone, love More About: android, blackberry, future tech, iphone, Mobile 2.0, mobile broadband, smartphones, social-media-retrospective-series For more Mobile coverage:
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| “The Guild” Is Back, Debuts New Bollywood-Style Music Video Posted: 27 Jul 2010 10:46 AM PDT Felicia Day and her lovely cast members are back in action for Season 4 of The Guild, the web-based comedy series that revolves around a World of Warcraft-like game and the lovable nerds who play it. And what better way to kick off the new season than with an extravagant, hilarious, Bollywood-themed music video? Attendees of Comic Con were treated to a sneak preview of the vid, which is a natural follow-up to the smash hit “Date My Avatar,” a fantasy-laden number that rolled out around this time last year. The plot of the video (as if it actually needed one!) is simple and sweet: Nerd boyfriend (The Guild character Zaboo) convinces erstwhile-nerd girlfriend (character Codex, played by Day), to continue playing a MMORPG. The rest of The Guild cast makes appearances, along with some deliciously pixelated, faux 8-bit set pieces. There’s even some homage to the hilarious “Bollywood music videos phonetically ‘translated’ into English” meme. What do you think: Is this new vid better than “Date My Avatar”? More importantly, how stoked are you for the return of The Guild to the tubes? More About: bollywood, date my avatar, felicia day, game on, music video, The Guild For more Web Video coverage:
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| HOW TO: Use Annotations to Promote Your Brand on YouTube Posted: 27 Jul 2010 10:32 AM PDT   Whether you've been posting videos for a while, or you're just starting out, YouTube Annotations are another tool that you can use to help your videos stand out from the crowd. And even better, with a little creative planning, annotations can add a dimension of interactivity and entertainment to your videos that audiences will appreciate. There are plenty of ways to use annotations, from adding a simple “Call To Action” that asks the audience to subscribe or do something after watching the video, to creating a series of videos that are linked via annotations into an interactive game. This isn't to say that annotations aren't without limitations. One of the most common gripes about annotations is that YouTube limits your ability to use them to link to external URLs. However, there are some really compelling ways to use them, which make them an important part of your YouTube tool box. This post will help you master the art of annotations and will give you some examples of how some of the most popular YouTubers use them effectively. If you are familiar with them already, feel free to skip ahead to the second section below where we discuss creative integration of annotations into your videos. Annotations 101Now if you’re a YouTube newbie, you might be asking, what exactly are YouTube Annotations? The basic answer is that they’re interactive elements that can be added to your video after you upload it. There are four different types of annotations, but with all of them you are in control of when they appear on-screen and for how long they stay up. The four types of annotations are:
Reminder: Turn ON your YouTube Annotations before watching this video. To do this, go to the small arrow at the bottom-right corner of the YouTube video player and scroll over to display the annotations and close caption symbols. Make sure that the icon that looks like a note with a turned-down corner is selected in red. The Value of AnnotationsIf you're interested in building a home base for your brand on YouTube, annotations can be used for a number of different functions. Probably the most compelling reason to use them is the fact that they can link one video to another video, channel or search result. That means that if you've got a series of videos on YouTube, you can place annotations in one video that link to the next video in the series. If you have a long tutorial or how-to video, you can break that video into several parts and link the sections. And if you're doing a product video, you can create one video that can be used to convey general information, and then use Spotlight Annotations to allow consumers to link to other videos that drill down into more specific product features. Linking videos using Annotations has several advantages:
One of the YouTubers who does a really great job using annotations in this way is the prince of Internet shock, Philip DeFranco, or “sxephil.” Phil releases his videos three times a week, and he includes Spotlight Annotations that link to the previous video and/or next video in the series. The annotations remind viewers that they might have missed something earlier in the week and provide instant links to take them directly there. Going InteractiveIf you're looking to shake things up, you might want to consider using YouTube Annotations to create a "Choose your own Adventure"-style interactive video series. Like the incredibly popular book series, Spotlight Annotations can be used in a main video to link to a number of alternate videos that differ depending on which Spotlight the audience chooses to click. One of the best executions that I've seen of this tactic was created by YouTuber Cory Williams, a.k.a. Mr. Safety, a.k.a. SMPFilms. His video series called the INTERACTIVE Fortune Teller, is not only well produced and conceived, but it's a phenomenal success with well over 2,160,000 views to date. In the video, the Fortune Teller asks the audience to click a portion of the crystal ball (designated by nine spotlight Annotations) and that action leads to one of nine possible "Fortunes." While using annotations in this way does take a fair bit of planning, and it does require you to produce multiple videos, audiences love to be engaged in this way and the ROI has the potential to be very high. While the functions listed above are the most common ways that users employ the linking feature of annotations, they are by no means an exhaustive list. The linking function of annotations can also be used to accomplish the following functions:
Nuts & Bolts: Step by Step InstructionsIf this is your first time experimenting with YouTube Annotations, don't worry, as they are easy to master, and this tutorial will take you through the process step by step. First, you need to log into your YouTube account and go to “My Videos.” Once you see the list of your uploaded videos, click the annotations button located underneath the video (between the “Edit” and “Captions” buttons.) After clicking this button you will be in the “Annotations Editor.” Play the video or drag your playhead to the point where you want to add an annotation. To add one, you can use the compact interface on top of the play button or the individual buttons located to the right of the video. You can also add an annotation by clicking directly on the video itself, which opens a dialog box. Start typing your text into the annotation (Speech Bubble, Note or Spotlight) and a dialog box should appear below your annotation that allows you to toggle the type of annotation, add a link, change the color of the text/background, or trash the annotation entirely. Click away, and the annotation is set. Now you can drag them and re-position them onscreen, and use the handles to adjust the dimensions. To change the start and end time of an annotation, use the timeline browser located below the video, drag the yellow arrows denoting the in and out points of the annotation to the desired times, or manually enter the time-codes directly into the list. YouTube will automatically save your changes every 30 seconds, but the annotations do not become public until you click the “Publish” button. More Web Video Resources from Mashable:
Reviews: Internet, YouTube More About: annotations, how to, sharing, video, web video, youtube For more Web Video coverage:
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| The Internet Loves Walmart Moonwalker [Randomly Viral] Posted: 27 Jul 2010 10:04 AM PDT Yesterday, a little vid started spreading around that web that is glorious in its simplicity: a man moonwalking through the corridors of that most meme-producing of establishments: Walmart. We’re not exactly sure what prompted this video to take off — so far we’ve traced its origins of virality back to a post on Reddit. Still, the video itself was posted to YouTube by user popdog04 back in January 2009. However, comments on the video started multiplying yesterday, and thanks to mentions on sites like The Huffington Post and The Daily What, the view count is up to more than 100,000. We’ve contacted popdog04 for more info, and to see if he knows what contributed to the vid’s sudden popularity. (If you have any leads, let us know in the comments!) After the hype around the Double Rainbow Guy began to dissipate, we ardently hoped that something else just as awesome would come along to replace ol’ Bear, and it seems as though someone out there was listening. Behold: The Walmart Moonwalker. How do you think this meme will pan out? Reviews: YouTube, reddit.com More About: humor, moonwalk, pop culture, viral video, WalMart For more Web Video coverage:
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| Chat with Co-Workers On-the-Go with Free iPhone App Posted: 27 Jul 2010 09:13 AM PDT   37signals has just released Campfire for iPhone [iTunes link], a free native iOS app that lets you connect to your Campfire network on the go. If the app looks familiar, it’s because 37signals purchased the app from Overcommitted, who released it under its old name, Ember. Ember has long been one of my favorite apps for the iPhone (earning a place on my home screen) and it’s great that it is now an official part of the 37signals family. In fact, what made Ember worth its former $10 asking price was that the app was easy to use, and that adding links, files or images has always been a snap.  Our hope is that under 37signals’s tutelage, Campfire for iPhone will be expanded to support iOS 4, push notifications and maybe even a native iPad update. If you use Campfire to connect with your team and you have an iPhone, this app is a must-have. More About: 37signals, Campfire, iphone, iphone apps For more Mobile coverage:
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| Mashable Celebrates Its 5th Birthday Posted: 27 Jul 2010 09:04 AM PDT Pete Cashmore wrote his first post for Mashable.com five years ago in the bedroom of his home in Scotland. Hoping to get immersed in the social media and technology space, the 19-year-old web technology consultant started Mashable to cover web “mash-ups,” which were particularly popular at the time. Before he knew it, he sold his first advertisement for the site and gained a following of influential readers. In 2006, Mashable hired its first staff writer and in 2007 the site reached 4 million monthly pageviews. Five years after its birth, Mashable has grown to be the most popular news site covering the social media space with 30 million monthly pageviews, a full-time staff of 30 and hundreds of guest writers. Today we celebrate the fifth of many more birthdays to come. We hope you’ll join us in celebrating by attending a local meetup. We’d love to hear when and why you started reading Mashable in the comments or Twitter using #mashbday. A Thank You to Our Readers From Pete CashmoreJoin Us in Celebrating by Attending a Mashable MeetupIt all started with Social Media Day, and now we’re continuing the social movement with the first Mashable Monthly Meetup. Attend or organize your own meetups that enable your local social community to connect, learn and network. You can sign up to attend one of the 270+ meetups, or organize your own to help celebrate our birthday. The largest meetup so far is in Sao Paulo, Brazil, with more than 130 attending. Logitech Giveaway: To show our thanks to our readers, we held a giveaway, rewarding five of our readers with Logitech Squeezebox Touches, a portable Wi-Fi music device. The winners are Priya Shah of New York, Mohammed Yassine Jaya of Morocco, Allison Nassour of California, Catalin Fertu of Romania and Kate Reuvers of Toronto. Congratulations to them all! Reviews: Mashable, Twitter More About: 5th anniversary, announcements, digital media, giveaway, mashable, mashups, meetups, pete cashmore, social media For more Social Media coverage:
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| Vitrue Publisher 2.0 Makes Posting and Managing the Open Graph a Snap Posted: 27 Jul 2010 08:28 AM PDT   Social media management company Vitrue has announced the latest update to its enhanced and revamped Vitrue SRM (social relationship management) platform, Vitrue Publisher 2.0. What makes Vitrue Publisher 2.0 unique is not only its ability to publish and manage multiple Facebook Pages, but that it fully supports the social network’s Open Graph API. The interface has received an overhaul, and comment moderation has been made even more robust. We had a chance to take a look at what’s new in Vitrue Publisher 2.0, and to speak with CEO Reggie Bradford about the new features and how social web management is evolving. Open Graph SupportFor us, the real killer feature of Vitrue Publisher 2.0 is the robust support for Facebook’s Open Graph API. As we’ve reported in the past, the new Like button is driving considerable traffic to publishers’ sites. Just yesterday, Facebook posted some results of its recent study into how social plugins are impacting social engagement. It’s interesting to note, for example, that click-through rates are three to five times higher on sites with Like buttons that enable thumbnails of friends and allow users to add comments.  On Friday, Facebook announced on its developer blog that publishers can now do more with the Like button, including publishing to connected users directly from the Open Graph API. What this means is that if I click the Like button for a certain product on a company’s site or Facebook Page, that company can send me news on discounts or updates to that product in the News Feed. That sort of granularity and segmentation has enormous implications for marketers and brands who use social plugins on their sites. Vitrue Publisher 2.0 supports this new feature and you can actually create streams and actions around Like buttons or other social objects. When you push out an update in the publisher, you can select which groups you want to publish to. So instead of sending out a huge blast to everyone’s News Feed, you can just target the users that are interested in your update. All of the Open Graph objects are also trackable, meaning that you can monitor activity that takes place on a certain Page or around a certain post depending on what social plugin it is using. Simplified Multi-Stream PublishingThe old version of the Vitrue Publisher allowed users to publish to multiple Pages or accounts, but the process wasn’t as streamlined as it could be. Now the process of creating, scheduling and distributing posts to specific streams on Twitter and Facebook is easy to do from the main post menu. Users can even send different posts to Facebook and Twitter simultaneously. It’s also now easy to attach photos, videos, polls or other wall app items directly from the publishing interface. In addition, Vitrue now stores all previously used assets — like uploaded photos or videos, pools, coupons, etc. — and makes it easy to access them when creating a new post. Better Comment ModerationOne of the most difficult aspects of managing a Facebook Page is comment moderation. The built-in tools really don’t do anything and there are very few third-party solutions that address comment moderation. Vitrue has always had the ability to moderate comments from its dashboard, but the newest version of Vitrue Publisher has enhanced moderation abilities. The best way I can describe the setup is to say that it’s like creating rules for your e-mail application. You can choose to flag words that contain a certain phrase, URL or hashtag — which can be useful if you want to follow up or track a certain topic — or you can choose to automatically delete any comment that contains profanity, certain words or URL patterns that you know are associated with spam. Having an auto-delete feature is great, but we think that the ability to color-code and flag comments for non-spam tracking is equally useful. Social Management is ExplodingThe social management space is really starting to take off. As more and more brands invest in Facebook and other social networks, more robust tools are needed to keep things working and running smoothly. As we mentioned with Involver’s AMP platform earlier this month, the capabilities of the tools being built on top of Facebook are quickly improving. With the expanding opportunities of the Open Graph — its use in mobile, for instance — Facebook truly is becoming, as Reggie Bradford said to me, “the operating system of the web.” As with any OS, applications and tools are needed to make it as good as it can be. What do you think about the advances in the social media management space? What types of tools would you like to see to help with your own management tasks? Reviews: Facebook, Twitter, pages More About: facebook, Open Graph, social media management, vitrue For more Social Media coverage:
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| Morning Brief: Apple Releases Products, Facebook & Twitter Test New Options Posted: 27 Jul 2010 07:19 AM PDT This series is brought to you by HTC EVO 4G, America’s first 4G phone. Only from Sprint. The “First to Know” series keeps you in the know on what’s happening now in the world of social media and technology.   Welcome to this morning’s edition of “First To Know,” a series in which we keep you in the know on what’s happening in the digital world today. We’re keeping our eyes on four particular stories of interest today. Apple: The Apple Store went down this morning, which we knew could only mean one thing: new Apple products were set to appear in the next few hours. A little before 9 a.m. ET, a brand new accessory, dubbed the Magic Trackpad appeared in the Store. It’s essentially a larger version of the trackpad on the Macbook Pro, but designed to work with a Mac desktop computer via Bluetooth. You can use it with a mouse or instead of one. The Magic Trackpad can be paired with the other new additions to the Store, including faster and more robust Mac Pros and iMacs, as well as a new 27-inch LED Cinema Display with 2560 x 1440 pixel resolution with built-in MagSafe charging, an iSight camera, speakers and three USB ports. You can find out more about the new Apple products here. In other Apple news, a spokesperson for the company reminded customers that although it is now legal to jailbreak your iPhone for “educational purposes,” thanks to an update to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), doing so will void your warranty: “Apple's goal has always been to ensure that our customers have a great experience with their iPhone and we know that jailbreaking can severely degrade the experience. As we've said before, the vast majority of customers do not jailbreak their iPhones as this can violate the warranty and can cause the iPhone to become unstable and not work reliably,” a spokeswoman told Cult of Mac. Twitter: Last night, Twitter temporarily rolled out a new setting called “Tweet Media,” an option that allows you to decide whether to include photos or videos from everyone on Twitter, or just the people you’re following. The new setting, which shortly disappeared from all accounts, suggests that the microblogging service will soon include videos and photos in the Twitter stream. Currently, users are limited to 140-characters of text and must link to outside media. Twitter later confirmed that it is indeed testing a new multimedia-rich stream. Facebook: Lastly, Facebook has begun testing a “Delete Account” feature with a small group of users, allowing them to permanently delete their accounts and “all of the information [they] have shared” instead of merely deactivating them. Facebook confirmed to The Next Web that the company is “constantly testing new ideas, including the placement of various features. One of these recent tests included variations of the delete account option for a very small percentage of people,” a spokesperson said. It’s unclear, however, whether Facebook will keep the information users previously uploaded to its servers, or whether it will alter its Terms of Service. Series supported by HTC EVO 4G This series is brought to you by HTC EVO 4G, America’s first 4G phone. Only from Sprint. The “First to Know” series keeps you in the know on what’s happening now in the world of social media and technology. Reviews: Bluetooth, Facebook, Twitter More About: apple, Apple Store, dmca, facebook, first to know series, iphone, jailbreaking, magic trackpad, Tweet Media, twitter For more Social Media coverage:
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| Apple Launches Magic Trackpad, Speedier iMacs and Mac Pros Posted: 27 Jul 2010 06:09 AM PDT   After a period of downtime this morning, the Apple Store is now back and, as expected, it now carries refreshed, faster iMac and Mac Pro computers, as well as a completely new product called the Magic Trackpad. The $69 Magic Trackpad is designed to work with your Mac desktop computer and uses the same multi-touch technology as the MacBook Pro. “[It] supports a full set of gestures, giving you a whole new way to control and interact with what's on your screen,” Apple describes on its product page. It is intended to be used either in place of a mouse or together with one via Bluetooth. The iMac line has been thoroughly updated with Intel’s Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7 processors and new graphics, and starts at $1,199. The base processor configuration for the 27″ model go all the way to $2199, and while that’s on the expensive side, it also includes an i7 2.93 GHz quad-core CPU, and ATI Radeon HD 5750 graphics with 1GB of dedicated memory. Video pros will probably be excited to see the new Mac Pros, the strongest of which now sports a drool-inducing 12 cores (that’s 24 virtual cores if you count Intel’s hyper-threading technology). If you’re so inclined, you can bump up your Mac Pro with a 512 GB SSD, as well as ATI Radeon HD 5870 with 1GB of memory. If you have to ask, the price starts at $4,999.  Finally, there’s the new IPS-based 27-inch LED Cinema Display with a 2560 x 1440 pixel resolution, a perfect companion for the 27” iMac if you need more screen real estate. It comes with built-in MagSafe charging, iSight camera, speakers, and three USB ports. Reviews: Bluetooth, imac, video More About: apple, iMac, mac pro, trending For more Apple coverage:
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Five years ago, the mobile landscape was in many ways, a world apart from where we are now. The Motorola Razr was on its way to breaking sales records worldwide, the SideKick II was 
The early success of Twitter is intrinsically linked to mobile devices, thanks to the ability to send and receive updates via SMS. Likewise, the 140-character nature of Twitter was immediately easy to grasp by users who were already familiar with the limits of standard SMS and MMS messages.
Mobile applications existed long before the App Store but just like with touchscreens, | You are subscribed to email updates from Mashable! To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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