Mashable: Latest 28 News Updates - including “Become the Master of Any Subject with a Suite of New iPhone Apps”

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• Become the Master of Any Subject with a Suite of New iPhone Apps
• How an Ambitious Startup Wants to Revolutionize Banking
• Jimmy Fallon Does “Double Rainbow” as Neil Young [VIDEO]
• Is Your Friend a Zombie? This App Will Tell You
• Google Earth Now Displays Real-Time Rain and Snow
• The Social Media Impact of “Jersey Shore” [INFOGRAPHIC]
• Morning Brief: Games & Checkins Coming to Google, Facebook IPO & Spotify U.S. Delayed
• Facebook May Put Off IPO Until 2012 [REPORT]
• Ballmer on Tablets: We’re Coming Full Guns
• Sneaky New App Avoids Awkward Chats, Sends You Straight to Voicemail
• WPEngine Offers an Easier, More Robust Way to Use Wordpress
• The State of Mobile Video: Porn, Flash and Stalling
• Spotify in the U.S. Faces More Delays [REPORT]
• Google Focusing on Checkins with Places API
• Google Search Fully Blocked in China [UPDATED]
• iPhone App Finds Fun Things to Do Near You
• Sad Keanu Reeves in a Helmet Meme Hits the Web [GALLERY]
• Find the Best Daily Deals in Your City in One Place
• HOW TO: Enhance Your Online Presence with Video
• Facebook’s New Publisher Leaves People-Tagging Broken
• HOW TO: Implement Google Font API on Your Website
• YouTube Increases Video Time Limit to 15 Minutes
• Kanye West Raps at Twitter HQ, Tweets a Whole Lot [VIDEO]
• Navigate the American Museum of Natural History with New iPhone and iPad Apps
• Groupon Eyes Further Growth with Personalized Deals
• Why You Need to Monitor and Measure Your Brand on Social Media
• Amazon: E-books Will Overtake Paperbacks by the End of 2011
• Motorola Earnings Point to Strong Smartphone Sales Ahead
• Morning Brief: YouTube Banned in Russia, Amazon’s New Kindle, Motorola Earnings

Become the Master of Any Subject with a Suite of New iPhone Apps Posted: 30 Jul 2010 09:03 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. Name: KnowPro Quick Pitch: KnowPro apps helps people learn new topics, test for competence, or compete against friends or colleagues through social platforms. Genius Idea: It’s no secret that the iPhone can be used as an educational resource, and KnowPro’s extensive lineup of tutorial-style iPhone apps demonstrates just how pocket-friendly and fun learning can be. KnowPro has developed dozens of apps for practically any educational purpose. App categories cover subject matter such as animals, science, history, music, politics, business and pop culture. In the science category, for instance, Board Review: Pharmacology is designed to help pharmacologists prepare for their board exam, Periodic Table of the Elements includes quiz questions on all 112 elements, and there’s even an app to help with preparation for the biology portion of the MCAT. Each app tutors users by testing them with quiz questions. At the beginning of each randomized quiz, you can set how many questions you want to answer. Then, for each question, you’ll be presented with four possible answers. Get a question right and you’ll advance to the next question. Get a question wrong, and you’ll need to continue guessing until you get it right. At the end of each quiz you can then publish your score to the service-wide leaderboard or publicly share it on Facebook or Twitter. KnowPro’s selection of apps is impressive, so if there’s a particular subject matter you’d like to master, chances are a KnowPro app can help. The only downside is that each app comes at a price, with the more sophisticated tutorials costing as much as $6.99 apiece. Still, being able to use your iPhone in lieu of flashcards could make the expense worthwhile. Sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark BizSpark is a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today. [img credit: foundphotoslj] More About: educational, iphone apps, knowpro For more Mobile coverage: Follow Mashable Mobile on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Mobile channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

How an Ambitious Startup Wants to Revolutionize Banking Posted: 30 Jul 2010 08:16 AM PDT When we think of banks, we think of the brick-and-mortar financial institutions we turn to to keep our money safe. Even though in recent years we’ve seen reputable banks crumble and interest rates tumble, most of us would never think to abandon a bank — especially one whose history dates back hundreds of years — for an unvetted alternative. Banksimple, a startup still in stealth mode, is that alternative. It’s not offering online banking, but “banking online.” The company is approaching the banking space in a whole new way and hoping to capitalize on the erosion of consumer trust in banks, as well as growing frustration about hidden and miscellaneous fees that are rampant in the industry. The Banksimple formula is one that puts customers first and focuses on automatic, “worry-free” money management with a digital twist and penchant for social integration. Alex Payne of Twitter API fame left the company he helped to grow to join Banksimple. We spoke to Payne about the startup’s bleeding edge approach to banking that we predict will be both controversial and groundbreaking. For now, Banksimple will remain closed to the public, but use this post as a primer for things to come. A New Way to Bank Banksimple is not a bank. Banksimple doesn’t hold its own bank charter; instead it works with FDIC insured banks that serve as the financial backbone for the platform. Customers, however, will have an entirely Banksimple-branded experience from the time they login and make their first deposit to each and every cash withdrawal they make at ATMs. According to Payne, this approach allows the company to offer the best of both worlds and provide “a customer-friendly startup experience, while money sits with institutions that are solid.” With Banksimple, customers will have one account and one debit card — whether it be a VISA or MasterCard has yet to be decided. The signup process will be relatively painless and require the user to make an initial transfer of money to setup their Banksimple account. From there on, Banksimple seeks to provide an automated banking experience with a flair for the unconventional, but the comfort of traditional serves like automatic deposits and bill payments. There will be also be mobile apps for iPhone and Andriod that support electronic deposits. Predictive Money Management Part of Banksimple’s secret sauce is its predictive money management model. While users only need to concern themselves with a single account, there are actually checking, savings and credit accounts tied to that one login. Those will function behind-the-scenes with Banksimple automatically managing funds and transferring money between the accounts as needed. This approach attempts to take the thinking out of banking for customers. Customers deposit funds, Banksimple does the rest to ensure that the most money is yielding the most interest at any given time. The predictive model knows how much money to keep for padding and can calculate how much money is safe to spend. Social Media Meets Banking The idea of connecting your bank account to Twitter and Facebook is likely just as scary as sharing your credit card purchases with the world, but Payne believes that Banksimple can use social integrations to simplify money transfers between social network friends. To that purpose, Banksimple will support Facebook Connect and Twitter @Anywhere at launch. That’s just barely scratching the surface. Payne’s specialty is in API technology and he’s bringing that expertise to Banksimple with the intention of releasing a Banksimple API that will be both secure and powerful. Third-party application developers will have the opportunity to tap into the bank accounts of Banksimple users, but only when permission is explicitly granted by the user. On that front, Payne has an aggressive attitude around security, pointing to his own background in information security. In some ways, Payne’s vision around simple, friend-to-friend money transfers overlaps with the mobile payment purpose of services such as Venmo and Square, though with the API there’s also the opportunity for harmony in lieu of competition. Of course, as Twitter buddies, we’d certainly expect a partnership, and not a battle, between Payne and Jack Dorsey, the Founder of Square. Fee-Free For Real “You can’t trust banks to do the right thing,” Payne says. Payne speaks of banks as bad guys that knowingly deceive customers with hidden fees, overdraft charges and ATM fees. He believes he’s not alone in his contempt for these practices and points to similar responses found in the company’s pre-launch research efforts. Banksimple promises fee-free banking, a mantra that extends to 50,000 plus ATMs in a initiative that the company has orchestrated to support fee-free withdrawals come launch time. It also means that Banksimple won’t charge overdraft fees. Instead, the startup will take a percentage of interchange fees and net interest margins to monetize their service on day one. Both are standard sources of revenue for banks, the former of which is simply a percentage of the fee that businesses pay to credit card companies to process transactions. In the future, Banksimple also hopes to offer for-charge services around products designed to make customers’ financial lives easier. The Zappos of Banks Stellar customer service isn’t typically considered a revolutionary feature. Still, Zappos has gone a long way to prove that legendary customer service is worth the extra expense. Payne believes that Banksimple can apply a customer service focus, à la Zappos, to change the way people think about engaging with their bank. “Customer service is key,” says Payne. “The technology is not rocket science, and other banks could do what we’re doing, but they don’t. We’ve built a pretty solid and clean user experience, but if the person on the phone can’t help you, that ruins everything.” That’s why Banksimple is investing in a resource-heavy call center that will include trained professionals who will be available to all customers for any of their queries, free of charge. It’s an expensive undertaking, but a necessary one for the startup to stand out. Payne reiterates, “We want to keep people really happy.” More Business Resources from Mashable: - Growing Your Business: 5 Tips From the Founder of Blip.tv - Growing Your Business: 5 Tips From the Founder of Foursquare - 10 Tips for Corporate Blogging - 5 Lessons to Learn from Web Startups - 11 Essential Online Resources for Consultants [img credits: Daniel Y. Go, Leonard John Matthews, lowlevelrebel, and image courtesy of iStockphoto, Henrik5000] Reviews: Facebook, Twitter, iPhone, iStockphoto More About: alex payne, banking, banks, banksimple, online banking, social media, startups, twitter For more Business coverage: Follow Mashable Business on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Business channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

Jimmy Fallon Does “Double Rainbow” as Neil Young [VIDEO] Posted: 30 Jul 2010 07:55 AM PDT Just when we thought that the “Double Rainbow” meme river had gone dry, Jimmy Fallon has gone and opened the floodgates once more. The other night, Fallon performed a cover of the now-iconic viral video — in the character of Neil Young on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. By now, many of us have seen the video of YouTube user Hungrybear9562 (a.k.a Paul Vasquez) freaking out over a super pretty rainbow — there are been remixes, interviews with Bear and even an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live (Kimmel helped Vasquez rocket to stardom after tweeting a link to the vid at the beginning of July). Yup. This video certainly was meme-tastic, and now it has a country rock cover befitting the soundtrack of some awesome ’70s movie about love and loss, like Harold and Maude. This isn’t the first time Fallon has given a viral vid the Young treatment — he covered “Pants on the Ground” (remember that classic jam?) back in January. And now, for your Fridaze listening pleasure, here’s both of those jams. Fallon should seriously cut an album — his comedic skills are questionable, but I would totally listen to a disc of viral covers if I had a truck and nothing but the open road before me. “Double Rainbow” “Pants on the Ground” Reviews: YouTube More About: double-rainbow, humor, jimmy fallon, pop culture, television, viral video, youtube For more Web Video coverage: Follow Mashable Web Video on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Web Video channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

Is Your Friend a Zombie? This App Will Tell You Posted: 30 Jul 2010 07:20 AM PDT The best selling book The Zombie Survival Guide now has its own iPhone app. The Zombie Survival Guide Scanner [iTunes link] is a free application that lets you “scan” your friends to test their level of “zombification.” The app, which is the first from the Crown Publishing Group, uses the iPhone’s rear camera (there’s no support for the iPhone 4’s front-facing camera at this time) to “scan” the face of any would-be zombie to illustrate their infection rate. The app is free and it’s a great idea, but the execution is a little flawed. For instance, you can’t adjust the zombie scan overlay after you’ve snapped an image (for better placement of eyes and nose, etc.), and you can’t load in pre-existing photographs. That means that unless you are able to get someone’s face into the exact position of the scanner, the effect doesn’t work very well. Nevertheless, we like that you can share your photos via e-mail or post them to Facebook. And we have to give props to Crown Publishing for using an iPhone app as a way to promote one of its books. Are any of your friends or family members zombies in disguise? Let us know. [via Mediabistro] Reviews: Facebook More About: iphone apps, MARKETING, zombie survival guide, zombies For more Mobile coverage: Follow Mashable Mobile on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Mobile channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

Google Earth Now Displays Real-Time Rain and Snow Posted: 30 Jul 2010 06:58 AM PDT The latest version of Google’s 3D map application, Google Earth, now has the ability to display real-time rain and snow in certain parts of the world. To see it, you must first enable the clouds layer, and then zoom in to a location where it’s raining or snowing. Google Earth displays rain and snow only in certain parts of North America and Europe; to see where exactly the new feature is available, enable the radar layer. The weather simulation adds another layer of coolness to the already mesmerizing Google Earth application. Since it displays rain and snow in real time, the feature can actually be useful as a precise visualization of what weather is like in a certain place. It may, however, render all of those weather-related chats you have with friends and relatives over the phone even more meaningless. Unfortunately, there’s no word on when this feature might be enabled in other parts of the world. Reviews: Google, Google Earth More About: 3D, google earth, Map, Weather For more Tech coverage: Follow Mashable Tech on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Tech channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

The Social Media Impact of “Jersey Shore” [INFOGRAPHIC] Posted: 30 Jul 2010 06:32 AM PDT For those of us living in the U.S., it was nearly impossible to avoid the hype surrounding last night’s season two premiere of MTV’s Jersey Shore. Lucky us, we were even gifted with Snook-ified iPhone and Facebook applications to get us amped up. With the premiere come and gone, we can now analyze the impact of the show on our favorite social media sites. Social media monitoring service Row Feeder took a look at the volume and types of tweets, as well as Facebook posts, before, during and after the television event to put together the infographic below. Twitter was the primary platform of choice for social expression, with peak activity bubbling up to 16,000 tweets per hour at 10:00 p.m ET. But, by the time the show premiered in the West, buzz had already died down significantly. According to Row Feeder’s calculations, Jersey and New York were the primary hotbeds of social activity. Did you partake in the Jersey Shore Twitterfest? Tell us why in the comments. [img credit: MTV] Reviews: Facebook, Twitter More About: facebook, infographic, jersey shore, mtv, tv, twitter For more Entertainment coverage: Follow Mashable Entertainment on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Entertainment channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

Morning Brief: Games & Checkins Coming to Google, Facebook IPO & Spotify U.S. Delayed Posted: 30 Jul 2010 06:03 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. Google Is Going into Gaming Google is going into social gaming in attempt to win over some of the ad dollars that have gone to social networking sites, sources familiar with the matter have told The Wall Street Journal. The company has reportedly been in talks with top developers like Playdom Inc., which was acquired by Disney this week, as well as Electronic Arts’s Playfish and FarmVille creator Zynga. Checkins Coming to Google In further Google news, the company has indicated that it is working with developers to bring checkins to location-based applications via its Places API. Google Places is the new version of the company’s Local Business Center, designed to help local business owners gain an edge in search engine marketing. Facebook May Put Off IPO Until 2012 Three sources have informed Bloomberg that Facebook may postpone its initial public offering until 2012. "At some point along the path, I think it'll make sense to have an IPO. But we're not running the company to do that. We're running the company to serve more people," CEO Mark Zuckerberg told ABC’s Diane Sawyer recently. Spotify’s U.S. Launch Faces Further Delays Negotiations between free music streaming service Spotify and U.S. record labels are faring none-too-well; the company is reportedly "back to square one." The startup is still aiming for a late 2010/early 2011 launch in the U.S. Further News Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer says the company is hard at work making Windows 7 a great OS for tablets; Redbox is adding Blu-ray rentals to its kiosks [via Variety]; Samsung confirms it will the Galaxy S smartphone will get Froyo in September [via Engadget]; and Google dispelled rumors that it was fully blocked in China. Disclosure: Microsoft is a Mashable sponsor. 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: Blu, Facebook, Google, Mashable, Spotify, Windows More About: facebook, facebook ipo, first to know series, geolocation, Google, google places, spotify For more Social Media coverage: Follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Social Media channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

Facebook May Put Off IPO Until 2012 [REPORT] Posted: 30 Jul 2010 03:36 AM PDT Facebook may postpone its initial public offering until 2012, Bloomberg has learned from three sources familiar with the matter. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has always been very careful on the subject. "At some point along the path, I think it'll make sense to have an IPO. But we're not running the company to do that. We're running the company to serve more people," he said in an interview with ABC’s Diane Sawyer recently. Facebook’s IPO has been one of the burning topics in business circles over the last couple of years. With the company’s revenue (and valuation) rising swiftly, Facebook is poised to become the next Google, whose initial public offering in 2004 was wildly successful; the company has increased its market capitalization fivefold since then. Despite the pressure to go public, Facebook’s IPO seems to be pushed further into the future every year. The wait, however, will give 26-year-old Zuckerberg more time to gain more users, sort out the privacy issues that have been plaguing Facebook and, most importantly, boost sales and increase earnings. Reviews: Facebook, Google More About: facebook, ipo, trending For more Business coverage: Follow Mashable Business on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Business channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

Ballmer on Tablets: We’re Coming Full Guns Posted: 30 Jul 2010 02:28 AM PDT Apple has sold over 3.3 million iPads so far, but Microsoft is still waiting for those Windows-based tablets to start capturing the hearts and minds of users. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, however, is confident the company has a bright future in this space. Speaking to analysts on Thursday, Ballmer said Microsoft is hard at work to make Windows 7 a great OS for tablets. “We have got to make things happen. We’re in the process of doing that as we speak. We’re working with our hardware partners. We’re tuning Windows 7,” he said. Ballmer also recognized the success of Apple’s iPad, saying the company has “sold certainly more than I’d like them to have sold.” However, at a later Q&A session he took a jab at one of iPad’s drawbacks. “When you get your Windows 7 machine, it will print. Some people actually like to print every now and then,” he said. Ballmer is right: printing on iPad is a problem. But Microsoft might encounter far more problems adapting Windows 7 for tablets. Apple’s iOS was designed for a touch screen device from grounds up, while Windows 7 was primarily created with a regular keyboard-and-mouse-equipped PC in mind. And while Windows 7 was a clear win compared to the disaster that was Vista, Microsoft’s track record of late – remember Kin? – tells us that a great Windows 7 tablet, while not an impossibility, might not be right around the corner just yet. [via CNET] Reviews: Windows More About: microsoft, Steve Ballmer, tablets, Windows For more Tech coverage: Follow Mashable Tech on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Tech channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

Sneaky New App Avoids Awkward Chats, Sends You Straight to Voicemail Posted: 29 Jul 2010 10:52 PM PDT This post is part of Mashable’s Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. Name: slydial Quick Pitch: slydial is a free voice messaging service which connects you directly to someone’s mobile voicemail. Genius Idea: If you’ve ever dreaded making a phone call and anxiously wished for a voicemail greeting as you dialed, you know exactly why this app is a genius idea. It strips away the awkwardness of a voice-to-voice call while still letting you claim to have attempted direct communication. How perfectly passive-aggressive! We can imagine this app going over well for: Breakups, Firings, The-morning-after apologies, Stalling on or avoiding a meetup, Making excuses to a boss, “Duty” calls to chatty friends and relatives, “Just touching base” reminder/nagging calls, 3 a.m. calls that don’t need to be wake-up calls, as well, And ever so much more. Essentially, the app “creates the illusion of communication” without making you actually have to listen to other people, play politics or hear someone else’s side of an argument. In theory, it works just as well for the incurable narcissist as for the cripplingly antisocial. Before you protest, it’s true that slydial isn’t the Ghandi of applications. But it plays into a powerful part of the human psyche: Our desire to avoid conflict. The makers of slydial have paved the path of least resistance beautifully, and we can imagine that quite a few people will be traipsing down that path in the months to come. To use slydial, which is free and audio-add supported, just dial 267-SLYDIAL (267-759-3425) and enter the mobile number of the person you want to leave a voicemail. You can also try slydial’s mobile apps, which include offerings for iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and Windows Mobile. We gave slydial a try, and it worked just as promised; the other person’s phone didn’t so much as twitch while slydial connected me to the voicemail box in question. What do you think of this app? It is something you’d use when you don’t have the personal fortitude or wherewithal to make voice-to-voice contact? [img credit: djou] Sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark BizSpark is a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today. Entrepreneurs can take advantage of the Azure Services platform for their website hosting and storage needs. Microsoft recently announced the “new CloudApp()” contest – use the Azure Services Platform for hosting your .NET or PHP app, and you could be the lucky winner of a USD 5000* (please see website for official rules and guidelines)." Reviews: Android, PHP, Slydial More About: App, Mobile 2.0, slydial, voicemail For more Mobile coverage: Follow Mashable Mobile on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Mobile channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

WPEngine Offers an Easier, More Robust Way to Use Wordpress Posted: 29 Jul 2010 10:12 PM PDT Have you ever searched for a way to make a WordPress.com blog more robust? How about a way to make a WordPress hosted blog or site more secure and simpler to set up and maintain? A few WordPress superstars have teamed up to create WPEngine, a new and very exciting platform that promises to do all of the above and more. WordPress has become the killer platform for many bloggers, small businesses and developers/consultants with multiple clients. However, there’s a middle ground between a WordPress.com blog and a hosted WordPress site that a few apps are attempting to cover. This middle ground includes people who don’t have the technical skills of a WordPress developer or even a website administrator but who still want to take advantage of a greater part of the WordPress ecosystem of plugins and other benefits. About the Product WPEngine offers a WordPress VIP-type experience for smaller-scale websites, and it includes top-notch support, one-click backups, optimization for speed and scalability, and security features that include automatic software upgrades. Also, you’ll be able to use any WordPress plugins, themes, custom CSS or JavaScript you like. The platform gives users a set of specially curated plugins that have been vetted for security and have the WP Engine team’s absolute recommendation. “If there is a plugin that isn't in our list,” reads the site, “you should feel empowered to use it anyway.” Most of all, WPEngine promises its users simplicity and a seamless transition and integration experience. The platform seems like it will work for bloggers, for businesses, and also for small dev shops that need to keep an eye on several WordPress-based sites. About the Team While the product sounds fabulous and, indeed, just what the WordPress ecosystem needs, product is only part of what makes a good startup; the company also needs to have a great team. WPEngine was developed by Aaron Brazell, a well-known figure in the WordPress universe who authored The WordPress Bible; blogger and developer Jason Cohen; and Cullen Wilson, an Austin-based developer. The startup is also under the wing of Ben Metcalfe, who has made a habit of picking good bets in the startup world. His last pick, NutShell Mail, experienced the Silicon Valley version of a Cinderella story and was acquired recently by Constant Contact. Altogether, it’s a bit of a dream team for a WordPress product. Finally, the platform got the following 140-character thumbs-up from WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg this afternoon: “I think it’s a nice complement to first-party solutions, especially for businesses that use [WordPress] as a CMS.” About Signup and Migration We talked a bit with some of the WP Engine team today about migrating blogs — including themes, customized TypeKit fonts, comments and more — over to the WP Engine platform, and it’s a process we’re eager to test. We’ll be trying it out soon, and we will report back on the results. In the meantime, if you’re interested in learning more, sign up for WPEngine’s beta program. The platform will be open to the public very soon. You can test the platform for 15 days free of charge, and it costs $50 per month thereafter. There are no contracts, and you’re free to move your blog elsewhere at any time. What do you think so far? Is this something you’d be interested in trying? Do you think it will be useful for businesses and WordPress developers? Let us know in the comments. Reviews: WordPress More About: aaron brazell, ben metcalfe, Wordpress, wpengine For more Dev & Design coverage: Follow Mashable Dev & Design on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Dev & Design channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

The State of Mobile Video: Porn, Flash and Stalling Posted: 29 Jul 2010 07:59 PM PDT If you’ve ever been snickering over the latest YouTube viral video on your smartphone in the evening and ended up frustrated by slow load times and a congested network, you’re not alone — and that’s exactly the problem. New research from mobile web optimization firm Bytemobile shows that more and more of us are making demands of our devices, our mobile carriers, and video-hosting sites such as YouTube by consuming large amounts of video content on our phones. Our video consumption tends to peak around 10 p.m., at which point bandwidth takes a nosedive and stalling cripples our viewing experience. In other words, we get the worst possible experience exactly when we want most to have a good experience. This viewing experience is even worse when videos aren’t optimized for mobile devices. In these cases, for a 60-second video, the average viewer on a 3G network connection would have to deal with around 10 seconds of stalling. Video optimization, the report said, can reduce stalling to almost zero seconds per minute of video. End users have been dealing with stalling by choosing to view lower-quality videos in exchange for faster load times. Around 95% of mobile video viewers watch at resolutions between 176×144 and 640×480. Less than half a percent of mobile video viewers are watching what could be considered high-quality videos. According to these findings, Flash is by far the most popular mobile video format, accounting for a full 90% of total video traffic. That’s one strike against Apple’s no-Flash marching orders. Another is the stats on adult content; four of the top 10 video sites accessed from mobile phones contain only adult content. So much for “freedom from porn.” However, even when you include adult content sites, YouTube is the most popular video content site, accounting for 36% of mobile views. A distant second is Google Video, which grabs just 6% of mobile video views. If you watch videos on your phone, do these finding match up with your viewing experiences? [img credit: larskflem] Reviews: Google Video, YouTube, video More About: Mobile 2.0, mobile video, report, stats, video For more Mobile coverage: Follow Mashable Mobile on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Mobile channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

Spotify in the U.S. Faces More Delays [REPORT] Posted: 29 Jul 2010 07:16 PM PDT We’ve been reading reports tonight that the popular European music service Spotify has hit yet another delay in making an entry in the U.S. market. According to Billboard, Spotify’s negotiations with U.S. record labels have broken down and are “back to square one.” Apparently, the startup is still aiming for a 2010/early 2011 U.S. launch, but there’s no telling how long label negotiations could take or if they will be successful at all. When we last heard from Spotify CEO Daniel Ek at SXSW 2010, he projected a Q3 U.S. launch and the unveiling of several new mobile applications. And while the service’s social and music features just keep getting better, the company is actually farther from a U.S. debut than they were this spring. In Europe, Spotify operates under a freemium model. Users can get unlimited streaming music in an ad-supported interface. Users can also choose to pay for an ad-free experience that also includes mobile access. But elements of this model have been sources of contention for the major record labels stateside, notably Warner Music Group, according to Billboard’s sources. In the meantime, Spotify competitors abound — Pandora in particular stands out as having been able to navigate political and record-label hurdles to keep itself operational and profitable. And Google and Apple are both rumored to be working on streaming music solutions, too. Perhaps the larger question is whether American music lovers will still care about Spotify once it finally comes to our shores… if, indeed, it ever makes it here. What do you think: Will Spotify’s leadership be able to play nicely with American record labels and launch their highly anticipated app in the U.S. this year? How about next year? Feel free to share your speculations in the comments. Reviews: Google, Pandora, Spotify More About: music, spotify, Warner For more Entertainment coverage: Follow Mashable Entertainment on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Entertainment channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

Google Focusing on Checkins with Places API Posted: 29 Jul 2010 05:14 PM PDT Google has indicated it’s going to be working with developers on checkins for location-based applications through its Places API. This spring, Google announced Places as a revamping of its local and local-business listings. Originally, we saw Places as a SEM/user review mechanism, perhaps a Yelp competitor. However, with the recent preview of the Google Places API at Google I/O, the company showed developers a whole world of geographical, commercial and social information attached to each Place on its vast radar. In a May blog post, Maps API Product Manager Thor Mitchell wrote, “Each Place Page consolidates together everything we know about a single Place, be it a business, point of interest, or geographical feature such as a city or neighbourhood. We believe that this unified concept of Places more accurately reflects the way that Maps users see the world, and are working to bring an awareness of Places to the Google Maps API.” Based on developers’ interest in the Places API, Google is going to begin offering access to certain apps. Mitchell wrote today that while his team has seen “applications looking to show a user Places around them and applications looking to offer a search and browse experience for Places similar to that offered on Google Maps,” what intrigued the company most were the applications that offered a checkin function — easily one of the hottest features of present-day social media. “We are going to focus initially on check-in applications,” Mitchell continued. “These are the applications that we feel the API currently caters to well, and we are excited to work with developers building these applications to understand their requirements, and ensure that we are offering them the best possible experience… We have now begun reaching out to developers who have expressed an interest in building checkin applications using the API, including those working on client applications for the Buzz API.” We can’t wait to see who gets to work with the Places API and what kinds of apps they build. Devs, what do you expect to come from Google’s interest in checkins? And what do you think this new direction bodes for Latitude? Could a better, Places-based app take its place as Google’s de facto location-based service? Reviews: Google, Google Maps, Yelp More About: checkin, geolocation, Google, google places, lbs, location, places API For more Dev & Design coverage: Follow Mashable Dev & Design on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Dev & Design channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

Google Search Fully Blocked in China [UPDATED] Posted: 29 Jul 2010 04:06 PM PDT According to several reports and data from Google, the search engine is fully blocked in mainland China as of today. Also fully blocked are ads and mobile access. Image search is partially blocked, as are Google Docs, Google News and Google Groups. Other sites and apps that were previously and remain blocked include YouTube, search suggestions, Google Sites, Blogger and Picasa. Google and China have been at odds since at least the beginning of this year, when a “highly sophisticated and targeted attack” was conducted on Google’s corporate infrastructure; the attack originated in China. As a result, the search engine, which had been serving censored search results to comply with the demands of the Chinese government, announced it would no longer be modifying search results. The company said it would even be willing to pull out of China altogether if search results were to be censored. However tense relations were between the company and the country, negotiations continued — even past the point where some felt that Google’s stand for freedom of information had been compromised. Our Ben Parr wrote in March: After Google was hacked, it was put in between a rock and a hard place. Its actions, while still bold, will not change how things are done in China. Its indecisiveness with how to proceed has made the pressure on China all but evaporate. Earlier this month, we were told that China and Google had reached a satisfactory conclusion to the search-and-censorship negotiations; Chinese authorities had renewed Google’s Internet Content Provider (ICP) license after the company found a loophole which allowed them to display search results and also allowed China’s Golden Shield Project (a.k.a. the Great Firewall) to block those links at will. Now, however, it seems China/Google relations have once again broken down. Google CEO Eric Schmidt told press earlier this month, “Our operations in China are completely at the discretion of the Chinese government. I don’t want anyone to be confused about that.” The only confusion we at Mashable have surrounds questions of timing: Why now? What new developments have caused China to change its position on Google? As Google continues to lose market share in China to competitor Baidu, we’re sure a few Googlers are wondering the same thing. We’ve reached out to the company for comment and will update this post as more details become available. UPDATE: A Google spokesperson has told us, “Because of the way we measure accessibility in China, it’s possible that our machines could overestimate the level of blockage. That seems to be what happened last night when there was a relatively small blockage. It appears now that users in China are accessing our properties normally.” Let’s hope Google and China maintain this rather tenuous status quo. YouTube, search suggestions, Google Sites, Blogger and Picasa are still fully blocked, and other services and features are partially blocked. Reviews: Google, Google Docs, Google Groups, Mashable, Picasa, YouTube, blogger More About: ban, block, china, Google, Search For more Tech coverage: Follow Mashable Tech on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Tech channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

iPhone App Finds Fun Things to Do Near You Posted: 29 Jul 2010 03:05 PM PDT A Day’s Outing, a website dedicated to helping users find nearby day trips, weekend get-aways or quick excursions across the U.S., has just launched its new iPhone app [iTunes link], making it easy to find ways to spend these dog days of summer, whether you’re traveling with family, in small groups or on your own. We got a chance to play with the app to see what it offers and how it compares to other location destination apps, like Goby. We’ve also got 100 copies of the app to give away to our readers (it normally retails for $2.99). Many mobile applications utilize location, but most of them utilize it for finding a specific place, checking in as part of a game, or reading and leaving reviews. While there is a nice niche of mobile travel guides, what’s less common are applications that are designed to help you find destinations or activities nearby. The immediate use-case for this sort of application is when you are visiting a new city or on a vacation. Say you decide to go the beach for a few days, and then it starts to rain (or I don’t know, some catastrophically awful oil leak gunks up the beaches) — if you’re not in a big city or a place that is a known tourist destination, figuring out how to spend your time, especially while on the go, can be difficult. A Better Family Vacation Tool The website, which is free to use and access, is a great way to find different parks, museums, theaters, special events, historical landmarks, zoos and more. What we really like about the app is that it isn’t just made for big cities, it’s for smaller cities too. The app is pretty easy to use; it can select your location automatically, or you can enter in your location by city, zip code or street address. Then you select how many days you want the search to cover and how many miles you want your search to encompass. You can also just search for a specific event if you have an idea of what you are looking for. The results are brought back in a list by category, and you can also view the results on a map to see where things are in relation to your starting point. Once you find a place or outing that looks interesting, you can access more information, including the phone number and address, and visit the website for the destination all in the app. You can also see how much admission and parking is. We do wish that there was a way for users to leave reviews of different destinations, because that would be helpful, especially for people new to a specific area. Although A Day’s Outing is similar in many respects to Goby, it’s focus on more family-oriented activities and historical landmarks sets it apart. We really think that families are the types of users that would most benefit from the application. 100 Mashable Readers Get the App Free If you want to try the app out but don’t want to pay $2.99, go to this page and enter in your e-mail address. The first 100 readers will get a code to get the app for free. You can then redeem that code in the App Store. What do you think of location-based applications that help you find local destinations rather than just restaurants or places of business? How do you find things to do when visiting from out of town? Reviews: App Store More About: a day's outing, goby, iphone apps, location apps, travel For more Mobile coverage: Follow Mashable Mobile on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Mobile channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

Sad Keanu Reeves in a Helmet Meme Hits the Web [GALLERY] Posted: 29 Jul 2010 02:13 PM PDT Thank the deities! The Sad Keanu Reeves meme is back — and this time instead of a sandwich, everyone’s favorite Little Buddha is sporting a helmet. (Yup. He was just asking for it. ) With such a setup, the possibilities for parody were endless. However, we’ve reined ourselves in and chosen only the best for your early evening pleasure. Last month, the Sad Keanu photo meme hit the ‘net with the force of a particularly fierce tropical storm — of the ilk that devours sandwiches, rather than towns. Folks seized upon the iconic snap and bent it to their own devious purposes. Our own Shane Snow even created a Sad Keanu URL for charity (that fiend). Well, we had all but forgotten about the rise of the deadpan one when the above picture crossed our virtual newsdesk. The picture recently showed up in a Reddit thread titled, “Oh, sh*t, not again,” and has spread all over the web. Still, it’s an old picture — it appears to have cropped up in 2005 in a post on gossip blog The Superficial. Whatever its origin or meaning, this snap has prompted the creation of some genius altered photos, and we’ve gathered them together into one smoothie of viral goodness for ya. Check it out, and submit your own in the comments if you’re so inclined. Sad Keanu Papercraft Courtesy of: F*ck Yeah Albuquerque X-Wing Pilot Keanu Courtesy of: Shopped Sci Fi and Joost5 Speed Racer Keanu Courtesy of Reddit User: SameDifference Star Wars Keanu Courtesy of Reddit User: BenjaminBoba Easy Rider Keanu Courtesy of Reddit User: P_ro Keanu-zilla Courtesy of Reddit User: hoteinokodomo Where's Keanu? Courtesy of Reddit User: eater_pay ‬ [via The Daily What] More About: celebrities, humor, keanu-reeves, Meme, pop culture, reddit For more Entertainment coverage: Follow Mashable Entertainment on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Entertainment channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

Find the Best Daily Deals in Your City in One Place Posted: 29 Jul 2010 01:18 PM PDT Mashable's Spark of Genius series highlights a unique feature of startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, see details here. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. Name: Urban Spoils Quick Pitch: Urban Spoils aggregates and recommends fantastic daily deals from 100+ social buying websites. Genius Idea: If you’re Internet-savvy and love a good bargain, you’ve probably already subscribed to a number of daily deal newsletters, like Groupon and LivingSocial, and/or signed up for rush buying sites like Gilt, which posts deep discounts on designer clothing at noon ET every day. Consequently, your inbox is likely flooded with e-mails promoting all of these deals every morning, which can be difficult and time-consuming to navigate. Urban Spoils is a 20-person, Seattle-based startup that aggregates all of the group deals from sites like Groupon, Gilt, LivingSocial, BuyWithMe, Ideeli, Tippr and more. You can log on to their site or sign up for their newsletter to easily view the day’s best deals at once. The site serves more than 60 U.S. cities and is preparing to go global. The selections are both human-curated and based on your preferences (similar to the Personalized Deals option Groupon rolled out today), features that should prove increasingly useful as more sites and businesses move into the group buying space. What do you think of the service? Would you prefer to get deals from select sites, or use Urban Spoils’s aggregator? [img credit: alancleaver_2000] Sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark BizSpark is a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today. Reviews: Internet More About: bizspark, gilt, gilt groupe, group buying, groupon, LivingSocial, spark-of-genius For more Social Media coverage: Follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Social Media channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

HOW TO: Enhance Your Online Presence with Video Posted: 29 Jul 2010 11:56 AM PDT This series is supported by Gillette. Learn more about Gillette and its products at Gillette.com. Video is a tricky spot for most blogs and personal sites, especially when that video is meant to represent you. While everyone likes to watch videos (just look at the exponential growth and popularity of YouTube), it's a little more difficult to create, edit and host your own videos. This isn't to say incorporating a video into your online presence is an impossible feat, but to do it properly requires some digital finesse and forethought. Technically speaking, simply making a video is pretty easy. Hit the record button, stand in front of the camera, turn the lights on and say something. Instant video. Unfortunately, that alone won’t make it a good video. Video is about content and production: What's in it, and how it's presented. For most personal blogs, it's more important to provide great content (some of the most popular viral videos have some of the shoddiest production values), but much depends on what you want your video to accomplish. Is it an online resume? Clips of your work? Or just something funny for your audience to chew on? Below we’ve got some quick tips on how to enhance your online presence with video. Utilize Video Resumes and Introductions Using video resumes and introductions is a great way to make a first impression. It’s also a great way to shoot yourself in the foot. You could be (and probably are) intelligent, charismatic, ambitious, and attractive, and thankfully, a good video will help you stand out. But beware, a bad video could hide your best characteristics. Most sites give general, but useful tips on how to set yourself up for success if you're going to create a video resume. Be organized, dress professionally, speak clearly — all things your parents told you to do and all things you would do in a real interview. The tips are general because you need to tailor your resume, and video, for each job application. A video introduction, a brief video embedded into your homepage, uses many of the same concepts. It is intended, however, to give a general impression of who you are: Your motivations, passions, and what readers can expect from your site. If someone clicks on your video, it's because they want to see you, the person behind the site. Some of the most important tips for these personal videos are: Keep your video to no more than two minutes, find a space where you feel comfortable filming, and avoid having too much clutter in the shot — we want to see you. Lastly, know what you're going to say and what you want your audience to get out of the video. Supply Sample Clips Adding clips of your previous work is perhaps most useful if you have a profession that requires you to be in front of or behind a video camera. Including these clips can be a good way to connect with your readers by showing them real samples of what you do. The biggest obstacle is usually getting over the fear that people will hate your work. It's a legitimate, but often unwarranted concern. If you're a pro, odds are you've already built out a video section on your site. For amateurs, think of your clips as a great way to get crowdsourced feedback. Add a comments section below your videos, and encourage responses to your work. You'll find that readers will often give good criticism if you ask for it in a courteous and honest way. Of course, there will always be trolls. But odds are high that you'll get more useful feedback than people calling you a n00b. Curate Videos from around the Web Aggregating videos can show your expertise or interest in a specific field, in much the same way that aggregating news stories can. Posting a selection of videos from the YouTube Symphony Orchestra, for example, can show readers your interest in classical music, collaborative arts, or the intersection between classic arts and new technologies. However, if those are your interests and you post random fail vids and cute cats, your readers might not get a good sense of who you are. Anything you post on your blog or personal site is a representation of who you are. Video's can be a great way to show your personality, previous work, or interests, but require the same patience as any other medium (you wouldn't post a blurry or embarrassing profile pic, right?). Your best bet is to think of video as an extension of your portfolio, a video cover letter where you can share a little bit of who you are. It's certainly not required, but a video done well can do a lot to enhance your online presence. Let us know how you are using online video to showcase your work or interests in the comments below. Series supported by Gillette This series is supported by Gillette. Learn more about Gillette and its products at Gillette.com. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, kaisersosa67 Reviews: YouTube, iStockphoto, video More About: better profile series, blog, brand, crowdsourcing, feedback, trending, video resume, web video, youtube For more Web Video coverage: Follow Mashable Web Video on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Web Video channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

Facebook’s New Publisher Leaves People-Tagging Broken Posted: 29 Jul 2010 11:55 AM PDT It seems that one key feature of Facebook -– the ability to tag friends in status updates by using the “@” symbol –- has been broken since the social network rolled out a new publisher in conjunction with the new Facebook Questions product on Wednesday. In an e-mail to Mashable, Facebook says that the company is "working to fix the issue" and that it only affects users who have the new publisher enabled (like most major new features at Facebook, the rollout of Questions and the new publisher is a gradual one). We've noticed several other issues since the launch -– notably, our Facebook Page has been failing to display recent updates. There are also a number of usability improvements and features we'd like to see added to Questions, which we described in a blog post yesterday. Are you having issues with Facebook since the rollout? Let us know in the comments. thumbnail image via silvers Reviews: Facebook, Mashable More About: facebook, Facebook Questions For more Social Media coverage: Follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Social Media channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

HOW TO: Implement Google Font API on Your Website Posted: 29 Jul 2010 10:14 AM PDT This series is supported by Ben & Jerry’s Joe, Ben & Jerry’s new line-up of Fair Trade and frozen iced coffee drinks. Learn more about it here. Update: Google has just made this process significantly easier with the launch of its Font Previewer. For years, we’ve been stuck with the same old fonts: Arial, Georgia, Verdana, Times New Roman — web-safe fonts that a majority of web users have installed on their computer. But lately, the web design community is abuzz — and the source of the excitement is around web fonts. "Web fonts" is a generic term that refers to the method of serving font files — the same type of files you have installed on your computer — to your website visitors so that you can guarantee they’ll have the appropriate type faces you want displayed on your web pages. In this guide, we’ll discuss a way of implementing web fonts using free web services collectively called Google Font API. If you have any tips to add on using Google Font API, be sure to leave them in the comments. Google Font API Basics The API is easy to use and requires no programming skills whatsoever. If you run a website, chances are that already have the necessary knowledge of getting Google fonts to work. And if you don’t, grab one of your geeky friends for five minutes and ask them to implement Google Font API for you. How It Works: @font-face Google Font API uses a CSS property called @font-face. If you haven’t heard of it before, don’t worry, most people haven’t — you don’t need to be familiar with it to use Google Font API. @font-face allows you to use font files (they have file extensions like .otf and .ttf) just like in desktop applications such as Microsoft Word or Adobe Photoshop. The issue with @font-face has been that the various kinds of web browsers require different font file types. For example, Internet Explorer requires an .eot file (embedded open type), while browsers like Firefox need an .otf (open type font) file. Thus, developers have come up with workarounds to implement @font-face in such a way that works on all browsers, like employing conditional CSS that serves the appropriate file type depending on the user’s web browser. Another issue with using @font-face is the licensing of the fonts themselves; it’s a gray-area legal issue where using a font file on your website — even though you have purchased it for your desktop applications — may not be allowed. Google Font API solves all of these issues. Benefits of Using Google Font API Using Google Font API is a great solution for avoiding the many problems that exist when using @font-face in your website. Firstly, the web service simplifies the implementation of web fonts. With only one line of code to reference the font you want to use and some basic CSS, you can get yourself set up in a matter of minutes. No need to worry about web browser quirks, dealing with multiple types of font files, or understanding how @font-face works — Google Font API handles all of that for you. The fonts are officially supported in all major browsers like Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari — which in turn suggests that other less popular web browsers (which are oftentimes based on major browsers) will support it as well. Google fonts are open source and have been vetted by Google. This means that you can sleep better at night and not worry about whether you’ll get in trouble for using a font you weren’t supposed to be using. There are also technological advantages for using Google Font API versus serving the font files yourself. Google’s infrastructure is highly regarded in the IT world for its extraordinary uptime and ability to withstand high levels of site traffic. The company is a pioneer and leader of website performance — developing best practices and tools for improving page response times, creating new standards and protocols to improve Internet speeds, and leading initiatives for making the web faster. In addition, if a user has visited another website that uses Google Font API, they might already have the font you need in their browser’s cache, speeding up the page response times of your web pages. Perhaps the biggest benefit of all of this is that it’s free. There are no prerequisites (such as having to sign up or supply an e-mail address) to using Google Font API. How to Use Google Font API Google Font API is documented well, but let us cover the fundamentals of implementing it on your website. Basic Usage There are two steps for using Google Font API. The first step is to reference the CSS stylesheet you need within your HTML document; more specifically inside the <head> tags found towards the top. This reference should be in all web pages that will use the font(s) you request from Google Font API. This will be a cinch if you use a content management system or blogging platform such as WordPress because you only have to do this once using your site’s theme template. If you have a static HTML website, then you’ll have to plug in this code on all web pages, or if you have a global CSS file, you can use the @import CSS property within it. In the example below, the <link> tag is where you are referencing Google API. The href value is the most important — FontName is the font we want to use in our web page. You can replace the FontName value with one of the supported fonts, which you can find in the Google Font Directory. </head> <title>Home Page</title> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=FontName"> </head>/> The second step is to use CSS to specify how we want to use the font we’ve requested. Let’s say that we want to use the FontName font on all paragraph tags in our web pages. We would use the following CSS: p { font-family: 'FontName'; font-size: 12px; } For those not very familiar with CSS, it helps to read it out loud in plain English to understand what’s going on. What the code above is saying: "All [p]aragraphs should use the font of ‘FontName’ with a size of 12px." Requesting Different Styles of a Font Now that you’re familiar with the basic format of making a request to Google Font API, let’s explore some advanced ways of making requests. By default, you will get the normal style of a particular font. But what if you wanted to use and display another style, such as italics or bold? Easy. You just add a colon (:) at the end of the font’s name followed by the style you want. And if you need more than one style, you just separate them with a comma (,). For example, if you want the italics and bold version of FontName, then your reference becomes: <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=FontName:italic,bold"> The styles you can use are italic (italic or i), bold (bold or b), and bold italic (bolditalic or bi). Requesting Multiple Fonts Oftentimes, you’ll want more than one font. There’s no need to make multiple references if this is the case. All you have to do is append your request with an | symbol followed by another font name. Let us say you wanted the bold italic version of FontName and the italic style of AntotherFontName; our link would be: <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=FontName:bolditalic|AnotherFontName:italic"> That’s all there is to it! Tools for Working with Google Font API Google has created some tools for helping you work with the Google Font API, including the Font Directory, Previewer and Web Font Loader. Learn more about each specific tool below. 1. Google Font Directory The Google Font Directory lists all the available fonts you can use. There are currently 18 fonts available, such as Droid Sans, Molengo, and Nobile. Clicking on each font preview will reveal more information about it, including the designer of the font, the license type of the font, a description for you typophiles out there, the entire character set, and more. Additionally, clicking on the "Get the code" tab shows you the code that you can copy and paste to get the font to work. 2. Google Font Previewer The Google Font Previewer tool lets you experiment with each font. You can tweak font characteristics such as size, style (variant), and spacing. Once you like what you see, it spits out the code you need to use in order to render the Google font exactly the same way as your preview. 3. Web Font Loader For web developers needing more control of their Google fonts, there’s a JavaScript library that you can use. It gives you event listeners at various stages of the font-loading process that you can bind JavaScript functions to. Series supported by Ben & Jerry’s Joe This series is supported by Ben & Jerry’s Joe, Ben & Jerry’s new line-up of Fair Trade and frozen iced coffee drinks. Learn more about it here. Reviews: Adobe Photoshop, Firefox, Google, Internet, Internet Explorer, Safari, WordPress More About: font, fonts, Google, google font api, google font directory, web design, web design series, Web Development, web font loader, web fonts For more Dev & Design coverage: Follow Mashable Dev & Design on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Dev & Design channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

YouTube Increases Video Time Limit to 15 Minutes Posted: 29 Jul 2010 09:40 AM PDT Good news for everyone out there who’s ever thought to themselves: “A 10-minute video of my cat eating ribs on the kitchen floor is just too short.” YouTube announced today that it has increased its upload limit from 10 minutes to 15 for non-partners. So get kitty lookin’ pretty and start rolling! So why add the extra five-spot now? Well, on the YouTube blog, the video-sharing site explains that it’s been beefing up its copyright protection tools of late, i.e. the Content ID system (which lets copyright holders have more control over their content). Therefore, it’s less likely that users can, say, upload large chunks of movies and TV shows without permission. In celebration of this added time, YouTube is also launching a contest of sorts called “15 Minutes of Fame.” Basically, all users have to do is film a 15-minute vid, tag it with "yt15minutes," and upload it by Wednesday, August 4. The chosen videos will be featured on the YouTube homepage. We wonder what effect — if any — this new time limit will have on initiatives like YouTube Leanback. Do you think the extra five minutes will equate to better content, or merely more room to rant about video games, Twilight and the like? Let us know! [img credit: cogdogblog] Reviews: YouTube, twilight More About: trending, video, youtube For more Web Video coverage: Follow Mashable Web Video on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Web Video channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

Kanye West Raps at Twitter HQ, Tweets a Whole Lot [VIDEO] Posted: 29 Jul 2010 09:12 AM PDT It seems that Kanye West is doing a tour of the Silicon Valley’s nerd hubs. After freestyling over at Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto, California, the other day — and subsequently joining Twitter yesterday — he jammed on over to Twitter Central and treated Biz Stone and Co. to a performance as well. As we pointed out yesterday, Kanye West has an almost embattled relationship with the micoblogging service. Last year, he busted out with the following rant on his blog — which now only yields an “Error 404″ when you try to locate it. Regardless, here it is: "I DON'T HAVE A F*CKING TWITTER… WHY WOULD I USE TWITTER??? I ONLY BLOG 5 PERCENT OF WHAT I'M UP TO IN THE FIRST PLACE. I'M ACTUALLY SLOW DELIVERING CONTENT BECAUSE I'M TOO BUSY ACTUALLY BUSY BEING CREATIVE MOST OF THE TIME AND IF I'M NOT AND I'M JUST LAYING ON A BEACH I WOULDN'T TELL THE WORLD. EVERYTHING THAT TWITTER OFFERS I NEED LESS OF. THE PEOPLE AT TWITTER KNOW I DON'T HAVE A F*CKING TWITTER SO FOR THEM TO ALLOW SOMEONE TO POSE AS ME AND ACCUMULATE OVER A MILLION NAMES IS IRRESPONSIBLE AND DECEITFUL TO THERE FAITHFUL USERS. REPEAT… THE HEADS OF TWITTER KNEW I DIDN'T HAVE A TWITTER AND THEY HAVE TO KNOW WHICH ACCOUNTS HAVE HIGH ACTIVITY ON THEM. IT'S A F*CKING FARCE AND IT MAKES ME QUESTION WHAT OTHER SO CALLED CELEBRITY TWITTERS ARE ACTUALLY REAL OR FAKE. HEY TWITTER, TAKE THE SO CALLED KANYE WEST TWITTER DOWN NOW …. WHY? … BECAUSE MY CAPS LOCK KEY IS LOUD!!!!!!!!!" Now it seems that West has full-on embraced the service, even noting once — in the midst of a torrent of tweets — “awwwww man this is addictive I might get in trouble on here!!!!” So much for only blogging “5%” of what he’s up to. When we wrote about his entrance on to Twitter yesterday, West had around 20,000 followers — now he has 228,862. What do you think of the rapper’s reversal of his previous opinion? Do you think his embracing social media can save his tarnished image? Let us know. [via Business Insider] Reviews: Twitter More About: humor, music, pop culture, social media, twitter, video For more Entertainment coverage: Follow Mashable Entertainment on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Entertainment channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

Navigate the American Museum of Natural History with New iPhone and iPad Apps Posted: 29 Jul 2010 08:59 AM PDT The American Museum of Natural History today unveiled the American Museum of Natural History Explorer app for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, designed to help users better navigate through the Museum’s various exhibitions. The Museum has been newly outfitted with indoor Wi-Fi, and users can use the app [iTunes link] to pinpoint their location and receive turn-by-turn directions through the 45 permanent exhibition halls, theaters, restrooms, cafes and shops. In addition, the app can be used to access customized visual and audio tours, a fossil treasure hunt, and further information about more than 140 specimens and objects on display — all of which can easily be shared to e-mail, Facebook and Twitter. Visitors can access the apps via their own devices or borrow one of the 350 the museum is making available for free. A team of 25 New York City high school students called the App Support Team will be on hand for assistance. In addition, users can access the Museum’s previously released iPhone app [iTunes link], containing hundreds of images and stories about the discoveries of eight popular dinosaur species. An astronomy app is slated for this fall, in addition to a refreshed website in early 2011. "We wanted to put the latest mobile technology in visitors' hands and provide them with an app that works not only as a personal navigation system but also gives an exciting look at our collections from anywhere in the world, connecting to social networks through email, Twitter, and Facebook," said Linda Perry-Lube, senior vice president and chief digital officer at the Museum. "The task of building a system capable of mapping visitors' locations inside of the Museum was monumental and has laid the groundwork for future development." While many museums have released apps in the past few years — including the Louvre [iTunes link], the Brooklyn Museum [iTunes link] and the Graphic Design Museum [iTunes link] in Breda, The Netherlands — this is by far the most robust we’ve seen. We’re especially impressed that the Museum is ensuring that the technology is available to everyone by offering both devices and tech support to visitors. You can learn more in the video preview below. What do you think of the app? Are you more likely to visit the Museum of Natural History simply to check it out? Screenshots Video Preview Reviews: Facebook, Twitter More About: american museum of natural history, ipad app, iphone app, ipod touch app, Mobile 2.0, museum For more Mobile coverage: Follow Mashable Mobile on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Mobile channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

Groupon Eyes Further Growth with Personalized Deals Posted: 29 Jul 2010 08:42 AM PDT Groupon’s model has always been to serve to up a single daily deal per city, per day. Yesterday, the company nearly reinvented itself when it kicked off its Personalized Deals initiative. With Personalized Deals, Groupon subscribers in Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Jose, Seattle and New York City will receive deals tailored to their personal tastes and previous purchase behaviors. Groupon subscribers who complete their on-site profile can also help the service better understand their preferences. The blog post on the update describes the personalization process as one that matures over time. “Like a baby, Personalized Deals will start out dumb, but like a baby dipped in some sort of mutating ooze, Personalized Deals will get smarter quickly. As Groupon gets to know you better, we'll target your inbox with scarily accurate deals and scarily accurate hand-drawings of you.” Personalized Deals marks a massive shift in ideology, significantly upping the quantity of deals the company can present to users on a daily basis and pointing to even more growth potential. The most obvious reason for the switch to personalized deals is a matter of simple supply and demand. Groupon Founder Andrew Mason claims that the site has more than 35,000 merchants queued up to be featured, and that most clients who make the site clamor to be featured again. He attributes the site’s inability to meet merchant demand as the primary reason why copycats are able to build competitive services. Personalized Deals introduces a way for the company to keep merchants from going elsewhere. Of course, Personalized Deals should also help the site attract more men with deals better suited to their masculine needs. Women may be primarily responsible for Groupon’s growth, but now Groupon can avoid alienating potential male buyers with predominantly female-friendly deals. [img credit: Timothy Valentine] More About: group buying, groupon, personalized deals For more Business coverage: Follow Mashable Business on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Business channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

Why You Need to Monitor and Measure Your Brand on Social Media Posted: 29 Jul 2010 08:20 AM PDT Maria Ogneva is the Director of Social Media at Attensity, a social media engagement and voice-of-customer platform that helps the social enterprise serve and collaborate with the social customer. You can follow her on Twitter at @themaria or @attensity360, or find her musings on her personal blog and her company’s blog. Whether you are actively developing a social media presence for your brand or just dipping your toe in the deep and ever-changing ocean of social media chatter, you probably realize that monitoring and measurement are quite important. Although there is no shortage of social media monitoring tools, each one is a bit different in its approach, methodology, metrics, depth of analysis, channels measured, reports and UI. The existence of this many tools and the fragmentation of the tools market is evidence of the fact that the space is not quite mature, and doesn’t yet have a set of agreed-upon metrics and best practices. In your search for the right tool(s), you should be looking to both monitor and measure your brand on social media. The two terms are used somewhat interchangeably, and although there is some overlap and similarity in business goals, monitoring and measurement are distinct processes. Let’s take a look at each one in a bit more detail. Social Media Monitoring Monitoring (or perhaps the more evocative definition is "listening") is the process of continuous and immediate discovery of conversations with the purpose of learning, engaging, helping and collaborating. You can do this with anyone, whether it’s your customers, prospects, industry thought leaders, former customers, partners or others. There are also different cues to listen for and different ways to engage. Typically, monitoring has a stronger real-time implication than measurement, as one of the purposes is to track keywords as they appear, with the goal of quick reaction. How it works: Typically, monitoring is performed on a keywords basis. Relevant keywords include your brand name, product name, etc. Based on your keywords, your monitoring system of choice goes out to the social networks you specify, grabs the relevant articles and messages, and hopefully arranges them for easier digestion and action. Why it's important: My favorite analogy for social media is that it’s like the "largest cocktail party in the world." It’s a room filled with people driven by one desire to communicate, share, digest and relate, while carrying on many independent conversations. Some of these conversations can be about you, your competitors or your industry. Some of these conversations could be people looking for a product like yours. They will talk about all these topics regardless of whether you are listening or not. However, you wouldn't know any of this if you weren't listening. Social Media Measurement Unlike monitoring, measurement is more concerned with metrics over a specified time period. Whereas monitoring answers the question "Who is talking about [insert keyword] right now and what are they saying?" measurement answers questions of "How did my keywords perform over time?” “How does that compare to my competitors?” and “What are some trends I can glean to make my product more usable by these people who are giving me feedback?” How it works: Similar to monitoring, your system of choice goes out and looks for articles where that specific combination of keywords occurs. It then tabulates these occurrences and presents them to you in relevant data reports. You need to be able to slice and dice the data by source, date, and other dimensions, as well as drill down to the social media “atom” level — the individual message — if you need to. Why it's important: Unless you are immune from management or client accountability, you will probably be expected to provide some metrics that justify your company’s social media marketing or listening program. But that’s only a part of the story. Constant benchmarking is the only surefire way to know if things are working. Social media is a quickly evolving beast, so if you don't routinely measure and course-correct, you could be marching down the wrong path. The idea is to "fail fast." Conclusion As you can see, social media monitoring and measurement leverage the same data for different business ends. Measurement is crucial for benchmarking and tracking your success over time. It’s what helps you draw comparisons to your peers, analyze the huge ocean of tweets and blog posts, and distill them to a list of actionable insights. Monitoring, on the other hand, lets you listen and respond in real-time and protect your brand from negative word-of-mouth. Clearly, both monitoring and measurement should be a significant part of your social media strategy. More Business Resources from Mashable: - Why Your Company Needs to Embrace Social CRM - How Companies Can Use Sentiment Analysis to Improve Their Business - How Real-Time Data is Changing Business Optimization - 5 Ways To Turn Your Traffic Into Valuable User Data - HOW TO: Make Sure You're Tracking the Right Data Image courtesy of iStockphoto, 123render Reviews: iStockphoto More About: analysis, BLOGS, brand, business, data, metrics, small business, social media, social media monitoring, twitter For more Business coverage: Follow Mashable Business on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Business channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

Amazon: E-books Will Overtake Paperbacks by the End of 2011 Posted: 29 Jul 2010 07:56 AM PDT Amazon predicts that it will sell more e-books than paperbacks by the end of next year, and that they will eclipse both paperback and hardcover sales combined shortly thereafter. “I predict we will surpass paperback sales sometime in the next nine to 12 months. Sometime after that, we’ll surpass the combination of paperback and hardcover,” Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos told USA Today. Kindle books have already eclipsed hardcover sales; Amazon recently said it sells 180 e-books for every 100 hardcovers, with the ratio constantly shifting in e-books’ favor. Many readers still favor the good old printed book. In a recent poll, most Mashable readers cited a preference for physical books over e-books. However, with the e-reader/tablet battle heating up (the iPad is selling amazingly well, and Amazon recently launched a new version of the Kindle) — not to mention the increased convenience and accessibility of e-books via a range of mobile and desktop apps — paperbacks and hardcovers may soon become a minority in the world of books. [img credit: Amazon] Reviews: Mashable, poll More About: amazon, e-books, Kindle For more Business coverage: Follow Mashable Business on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Business channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

Motorola Earnings Point to Strong Smartphone Sales Ahead Posted: 29 Jul 2010 07:37 AM PDT Motorola posted its financial results for the second quarter of 2010, reporting solid overall results and smartphone sales that hint at better times ahead. Motorola’s sales in Q2 were $5.4 billion, while earnings were $162 million, up from $26 million in the second quarter of 2009. Motorola’s Mobile Devices segment sales were $1.7 billion, down 6% compared with Q2 2009. Operating earnings for the segment were $87 million, but this includes income from a legal settlement of $228 million. However, having shipped 2.7 million smartphones and 8.3 million handsets in Q2 2010, Motorola sees its Droid X and the smartphone segment as the key to success in the future. “The Droid X launch has been very well received… As we continue to execute on our business strategy, we are in a strong position to continue improving our share in the rapidly growing smartphone market and improving our operating performance,” said Sanjay Jha, Motorola co-chief executive officer and CEO of Motorola Mobility. Although it’s not reflected in this financial report, Motorola also recently sold its wireless network unit to Nokia Siemens Networks for $1.2 billion. More About: business, financial results, Motorola, smartphones For more Business coverage: Follow Mashable Business on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Business channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

Morning Brief: YouTube Banned in Russia, Amazon’s New Kindle, Motorola Earnings Posted: 29 Jul 2010 06:26 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. YouTube banned in Russia over Racist Video A Russian court has demanded that a Russian ISP block access to YouTube, as well as the Internet Archive and three online libraries, for hosting extremist videos and writings by Adolf Hitler, respectively. Russia joins a growing list of governments who have blocked access to the video hosting site, including China, Brazil, Indonesia, Iran, Morocco, Pakistan, Tunisia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates. YouTube material has also been censored in the U.S. and U.K. Amazon Releases New Kindle Amazon has released the Kindle 3, the latest in its e-reader line. The new version is both smaller and lighter, contrast has been improved by 50%, pages turn 20% faster, storage has doubled, and text-to-speech functionality has also improved. Perhaps most impressively, its battery life now lasts up to one month. The device will support a beta WebKit-based browser as well. The price has also been lowered; the Wi-Fi-only version will cost $139 — $10 less than Barnes & Noble’s Nook e-reader. The 3G version will retail for $189. The new devices will ship to customers in more than 140 countries and 30 territories beginning August 27. More Than One Million Android Users’ Info Compromised At the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas yesterday, attendees learned that the phone, voicemail and subscriber identifier numbers of between 1.1 and 4.6 million Android users were compromised by an app called “Jackeey Wallpaper.” The details were sent to Chinese website imnet.us. [via Gizmodo] Motorola Earnings Beat Expectations Motorola has released its second-quarter financial earnings report. Earnings were up $26 million year-over-year at $162 million; overall sales were $5.4 billion. On the less cheerful side, mobile device sales dropped six percent to $1.7 billion, and overall revenue declined 1.5% to $5.4 billion which, although a decline, still beat analysts’ expectations by approximately $200 million. Further News Recorded Future, a company that monitors the real-time web in order to “predict the future,” is now being backed by both Google and the CIA [via Wired]; Opera Mini is now serving one billion page views per day; Facebook launched Facebook Questions, which we think needs some serious improvement; Cisco apes the Old Spice YouTube campaign, but no one notices. Disclosure: Motorola is a past sponsor of Mashable. 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: Android, Facebook, Google, Mashable, Opera Mini, YouTube More About: amazon, android, first to know series, Kindle, kindle 3, Motorola, russia, security, youtube For more Social Media coverage: Follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Social Media channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

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