Mashable: Latest 23 News Updates - including “One Man Will Try to Tweet the Bible Over Three Years” |  |
- One Man Will Try to Tweet the Bible Over Three Years
- Google Rebuts Oracle Lawsuit, Invokes Open-Source Defense
- Paypal Might Help Google Make Android Purchases Easier [REPORT]
- Foursquare + Groupon = “It” Startup GroupTabs
- Google Officially Acquires Social Currency Company Jambool
- Our Favorite YouTube Videos This Week: The Commercialism Edition
- Twitter Rolling Out “You Both Follow” Feature
- Thanks to Mashable’s Socially Savvy Supporters
- Creators of “Auto-Tune the News” Score Comedy Central Pilot
- Mashable Hosts #SummerMash in Chicago [PHOTOS]
- Android Froyo Coming to Droid Incredible on August 18
- BlackBerry Torch: Hands-on with “The Best BlackBerry Ever” [VIDEO]
- Facebook Refreshes Notes Application
- New Tweet Button Temporarily Hoses the Internet
- Translate Business Jargon into Real Speech [APPS]
- Giant Shout-Out to Ayn Rand Scrawled on Google Earth via GPS [PIC]
- Gmail Gets an Unofficial Snooze Button
- Facebook Launches a Live Video Channel
- 5 Open Data Apps That Are Improving Our Cities
- HOW TO: Make a Graceful Online Exit From Your Job
- 15 Excellent Corporate Blogs to Learn From
- The Battle of the Cheetos Carries On [SPONSORED]
- Morning Brief: Foursquare Numbers, Bieber Scam, HTC Mystery Event
- Giant Bird Takes Over Twitter Following List [PIC]
| One Man Will Try to Tweet the Bible Over Three Years Posted: 14 Aug 2010 12:04 AM PDT      File this under “people with good intentions, a whole lot of commitment and an Internet connection.” A UK worship director has planned to tweet the Christian Bible — or summaries of each chapter, at least — from Genesis to Revelation, one chapter each day. The project started just a few days ago and will end on November 8, 2013. If you like, you can follow the account, @BibleSummary. In an interview with the Telegraph, the account’s creator, Chris Juby, made the salient point that the Christian Bible holds an important role in Western literature. “The Bible underpins so much of our culture” he said. “People like Shakespeare and Dickens made casual references to what we would now regard as obscure passages of scripture.” Juby’s first tweet reads: Gen1: God created the heavens, the earth and everything that lives. He made humankind in his image, and gave them charge over the earth. Summing up scores of verses in a single tweet is a daunting task, but Juby said he hopes his Twitter account will inspire his fellow Christians and others to read the Bible in its entirety. “My summaries are no substitute for the real thing,” he concluded. Other similar accounts exist on Twitter. There’s @VersesFromBible and @Daily_Bible, which tweet passages from scripture in 140-character installments. @BiblePromises features daily tweets of Bible verses categorized by theme (Hope, Courage, etc.). And if you’ve got time for more than 140 characters, you can try @One_Year_Bible, which links to daily sections of scripture to read if you’d like to read through the entire Christian Bible in one year. But of course, Twitter is for more than just the canonized books of one religion. If you want to get daily doses of the Qu’ran, you can check out @Quran. You can find snippets of Jewish sacred texts at @BiblicalTanakh, or you can follow the Buddhist words of wisdom on the Dalai Lama’s official Twitter account. If you’re of a more secular or agnostic persuasion, you might like the less religious but still valuable meditations at @Shakespeare_Quo, @ScienceWisdom, @OscarWilde, @Philo_Quotes or @Quotations. Alternatively, you can search for your favorite writer or inspirational figure on Twitter. If he or she doesn’t have an account, there might be a bot tweeting relevant quotations and links. You can also check out Mashable’s list of motivational Twitter users, such as Tony Robbins and Chicken Soup for the Soul author Marci Shimoff. “The love of heaven makes one heavenly.” – #WilliamShakespeare The very nature of services like Twitter inspires people to share what they’re passionate about, and Juby’s committed to quite an undertaking in expressing his passion through this medium. What do you think of his efforts? Do his actions inspire you — either to read more of the religious texts of your choosing or to start a marathon Twitter account to celebrate a passion on your own? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. [img credit: geowombats] Reviews: Mashable, Twitter More About: bible, quotations, religion, twitter For more Social Media coverage:
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| Google Rebuts Oracle Lawsuit, Invokes Open-Source Defense Posted: 13 Aug 2010 10:34 PM PDT   Hours after Oracle filed suit against Google for patent infringement, Google has made it very clear that it will stand its ground. “We are disappointed Oracle has chosen to attack both Google and the open-source Java community with this baseless lawsuit,” Google said in a statement to Mashable earlier today. “The open-source Java community goes beyond any one corporation and works every day to make the web a better place. We will strongly defend open-source standards and will continue to work with the industry to develop the Android platform." The lawsuit focuses around the Java platform, which Oracle acquired when it bought Sun Microsystems earlier this year. Oracle’s argument is rather straightforward: Google “directly and repeatedly infringed Oracle’s Java-related intellectual property” by utilizing it in the Android operating system and the Android SDK. In addition to patent issues, the suit also claims Java is “copyrightable” rather than strictly FOSS and accuses Google of copyright infringement for using Java’s code without any license. Google’s response to the lawsuit doesn’t come as a surprise; any concession even insinuating that it did anything wrong could cost the company millions in either a judgment or a settlement. It’s likely Google will argue that it’s not committing patent infringement because Java is an open-source software; Google mentioned open-source standards not once, but three times in its statement. Sun released most of Java’s code as open-source software in 2006. Why is this lawsuit only being filed now, three years after Android’s introduction? It has a lot to do with the high cost of patent lawsuits; they take millions in research and legal fees, not to mention it takes a significant amount of a company’s time to pursue a patent lawsuit. As CNet points out, Sun Microsystems didn’t have the financial capability to wage war against Google. Oracle, with its greater financial strength and experience in patent lawsuits, can. And while the suit could cost Oracle millions, the payout would be even greater if it can show that Google willfully infringed on Oracle’s Java-related patents. Reviews: Android, Google, Mashable More About: android, Google, Google Android, java, oracle For more Tech coverage:
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| Paypal Might Help Google Make Android Purchases Easier [REPORT] Posted: 13 Aug 2010 09:15 PM PDT   For many users, one of the biggest pain points in owning an Android device can be the experience of buying a non-free mobile app from the Android Market. Paypal might be stepping in to make that process significantly simpler. The process currently requires a not insignificant amount of of time and patience because it involves using a Google Checkout account to seal the deal. If you don’t have a Google Checkout account already, you have to create one using a debit or credit card; a bank account alone isn’t sufficient. (Only T-Mobile users can bill their Android Market app purchases directly to their carrier.) For a new Android user, this is an inconvenient sticking point when trying to purchase a mobile app for the first time. Bloomberg is now reporting that Paypal and Google are in talks to suss out a better payment solution for Android device owners. These users “may be able to pay for apps with PayPal as soon as this year,” according to Bloomberg’s sources. Paypal has become one of the more standard payment methods for online and mobile purchases over the past decade. In 2007, it was seven times larger than Google Checkout in terms of number of users, and currently, many e-commerce sites using Google Checkout and Paypal options still report significantly higher numbers for Paypal. To put it bluntly, if more average smartphone users have Paypal accounts, using Paypal as the payment method for the Android Market would drastically reduce the friction inherent in the app purchasing process. Reducing friction means more apps will be sold. This means more developers will make more money, which means the Android platform will become more attractive to mobile developers overall. And that in turn would create a larger, more diverse Android Market that would stand a better chance of becoming truly competitive with the iTunes App Store. In a word, Paypal in the Android Market would make the Android Market a better place, and quickly, too. We’ve reached out to both Paypal and Google for comment or confirmation; we’ll update this post if we hear back from them. (Update: A Google representative told us that the company does not comment on rumor or speculation; we’ll have to wait and see if Bloomberg’s sources are correct.) As a diehard Android user myself, I’d be happy to see a Paypal option for the Android Market. Fandroids, do you think you’d buy more apps from the Market if Paypal were integrated for an easier checkout process? Let us know what you think in the comments. Reviews: Android, Android Market, App Store, Google More About: android, App, Google, Mobile 2.0, payment, paypal For more Mobile coverage:
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| Foursquare + Groupon = “It” Startup GroupTabs Posted: 13 Aug 2010 07:18 PM PDT   This post is part of Mashable's Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark.. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.
Quick Pitch: GroupTabs members check in for group deals at bars and restaurants. Genius Idea: Group buying, deal-a-day sites and location-based services are two of the hottest trends on the block in 2010; they’re both attracting major attention from investors and advertisers alike. While Groupon and its many clones and competitors — even Yelp, OpenTable and Zagat want a piece of the action — offer up big deals, few have tapped into the power that location-based services (LBSes) could add to the mix. And the LBSes themselves, including Foursquare, Gowalla, Brighkite and a host of others, have only scratched the surface of location-based marketing potential. Enter GroupTabs. The service adds a group-buying layer to checkin services such as Foursquare and Gowalla. If enough people check in to the same bar or restaurant at a given time, they could unlock a big discount, such as two-for-one cocktails or dollar beers. The GroupTabs service essentially lets merchants activate deals after a set number people check in to their venue, all the while encouraging patrons to spread their checkins via social media to encourage a swarm-like effect. Here’s how it will work: Location-sharers can sign up for a GroupTabs account, link their Twitter and Foursquare accounts (more social sites coming soon) and then RSVP to available GroupTabs deals. Come deal time, members can check in to a venue via the HTML5 mobile site gtb.me — which is limited to GPS-enabled devices to eliminate cheating. If enough people check in, the GroupTabs deal is activated, and everyone who is checked in gets to take advantage. GroupTabs deals have yet to go live. Interested parties can sign up now and look for the service to activate its first deal in New York on August 18. Merchants curious about creating a deal can e-mail sales@grouptabs.com to connect with the team. The idea is has built-in payoffs for customers and merchants, and it certainly works to further drive home the value of location-sharing services such Foursquare, on whose API the service is reportedly built. We can only hope that it spreads like wildfire so that more location-based group deals come to neighborhoods near the rest of us. You can watch the service’s South Park-themed commercial clip below. What do you think of GroupTabs? Is this a service you’d use? If you’re well-versed in the startup economy, is this a company you’d invest in? [img credit: Matt From London] Sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark
Reviews: Foursquare, Gowalla, Twitter, Yelp More About: checkins, foursquare, groupon, grouptabs, lbs, location, spark-of-genius For more Tech coverage:
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| Google Officially Acquires Social Currency Company Jambool Posted: 13 Aug 2010 05:05 PM PDT   The rumors have been confirmed: Google has acquired Jambool, the company behind virtual currency Social Gold. Jambool made the announcement in an open letter from its founders, Vikas Gupta and Reza Hussein. “Our vision is to build world-class products that help developers manage and monetize their virtual economies across the globe,” the founders said in their letter. “When the opportunity arose to join forces with Google to execute against this vision, we couldn't pass it up. We are thrilled to bring the Social Gold platform to Google's global users.” The company also released an FAQ explaining what’s happening next to its users. The thirteen-point Q&A really boils down to one key takeaway, though: Social Gold will continue to operate as it always has and will continue to process payments. In other words, Google will not be shutting down the product anytime soon. News of the acquisition broke earlier this week. Google was rumored to have paid out $70 million in the deal. Jambool is best known for its Social Gold platform, which allows games and virtual worlds to create their own virtual currencies, including in-application payments and virtual economy analytics. The company has raised approximately $6 million in two funding rounds. Reviews: Google, news More About: acquisition, Google, jambool, social good, virtual currency For more Business coverage:
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| Our Favorite YouTube Videos This Week: The Commercialism Edition Posted: 13 Aug 2010 04:33 PM PDT   We are currently barreling toward the weekend like a legion of children invading a toy store, their sticky fingers grasping for shining baubles. Or maybe that’s just me… Either way, because for many the weekend means throwing a goodly amount of money into the old economy (i.e. shopping), this week’s YouTube Roundup theme is… Commercialism! That’s right, this week’s array of vids has everything: toys, pizza, subliminal messages and much, much more. Buy it today! Or just watch it, ’cause unlike all those model planes you plan on scoring this weekend, this spree is free. Todd Margaret Presents THUNDER MUSCLE.wmvLauren Rubin: David Cross is Todd Margaret, sent to London to sell cases of energy drink Thunder Muscle. Premiering on IFC in October. "Shoes": The Full VersionStephanie Marcus: I'm sorry... Josie and the Pussycats: Subliminal MessageStephanie Marcus: Also, while Josie and the Pussycats ranks in the worst movies ever category, this clip sums up trend consumption nicely. Tom Waits: "Step Right Up"Amy-Mae Elliott: Tom Waits performing "Step Right Up" nicely sums up my take on the topic. Waits called the song "an indictment of advertising." It's certainly the best-sounding indictment I've heard all week. 2007 Barbie Shopping Boutique CommercialErica Swallow: You've gotta get 'em young. Barbie teaches little girls the virtues of consumerism with Barbie Shopping Boutique. "I love shopping! You never run out of money!" Too bad this toy is only three years old, or else it would have gone well with some of my childhood favorites for Barbie: her dream house, corvette and airplane. PlasticvilleZachary Sniderman: Not quite Mad Men, not quite 'N Sync. Wow, that's a sentence. Comfort WipeMatt Silverman: This exists. Korean Pizza Hut Commercial Dance - ORIGINALBrenna Ehrlich: This is how I take my pizza -- with a side of jazz hands! Image courtesy of iStockphoto, berekin Reviews: iStockphoto More About: humor, video, youtube For more Web Video coverage:
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| Twitter Rolling Out “You Both Follow” Feature Posted: 13 Aug 2010 03:31 PM PDT   It appears the "You Both Follow" feature that Twitter started testing back in June is now being rolled out to more (if not all) users. As the name implies, "You Both Follow" shows you the people that you and another Twitter user mutually follow. To see it, just visit another user’s profile and see who you have in common on their sidebar, right above the full list of people they follow. You can click a “view all” link to see the full list of mutual follows. The idea, it would seem, is that if you follow a lot of the same people, perhaps you should be following each other (if you’re not already). Facebook users will likely note that this is exactly the same as the "mutual friends" feature you encounter when viewing a friend's profile. Along the same lines, Twitter also recently added a "who to follow" section on user homepages that closely resembles the friend recommendations of Facebook, basing the suggestions on the following habits of your existing connections. Do you have the new "you both follow" feature enabled yet? Do you find it useful? Let us know in the comments! Reviews: Facebook, Twitter More About: twitter For more Social Media coverage:
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| Thanks to Mashable’s Socially Savvy Supporters Posted: 13 Aug 2010 03:30 PM PDT
Advertise with us and get noticed.Mashable is seeking out site sponsors for our large, diverse audience — social media users, venture capitalists, early adopters, developers, bloggers and many more. You’ll receive hundreds of thousands of views per day in addition to weekly recognition as part of our “thank you” to our premium sponsors. Are you interested? Contact us for more information and to receive our media kit and rate card. This week, our valued sponsors are: IDG, Yield Software, Clickatell, Microsoft BizSpark, MailChimp, MaxCDN and Eventbrite.  IDG’s Strategic Marketing Services group works with tech marketers to deliver services that include integrated multimedia marketing programs, program consulting and IDG Amplify social media advertising.  Yield Software's Yield Web Marketing Suite optimizes paid search (PPC) natural search (SEO) and landing pages, all in one easy-to-use Web-based system. A simple, intuitive interface together with sophisticated algorithms work seamlessly to optimize SEM campaigns every minute of every day, enabling growing businesses and their agencies to lower costs, improve performance and increase profitability. Yield also offers a free SEO Analyzer, which delivers a report covering how well a site is optimized and suggestions for improvement. Yield Software — Web Marketing Made Easy.  Clickatell offers mobile social networks the opportunity to measure their return on investment. Not only does Clickatell offer an Interactive Campaign Manager tool that allows you to monitor and intervene in your customer campaigns in real time, it also generates and manages database integration and comes with additional marketing tools. Track the delivery status of your text messages and the responses; take the guesswork out of campaigning. Your valuable messages will always be delivered as our products allow for message escalation to alternative delivery gateways. Social networks are also, through the account management package, given control over network channels and connectivity options. All necessary tasks have been automated and our central interface allows you to manage multiple connections and projects at the same time. Which leading social networking companies have chosen Clickatell as a mobile messaging partner? Read our success stories here.  BizSpark is a program which offers new software businesses and entrepreneurs access to Microsoft design, development and production tools with no upfront costs for up to three years. Members can also connect with a nationwide community of Network Partners – investors, incubators, service providers and entrepreneurial organizations – who are keen to help. For more information or to connect with a Microsoft BizSpark advisor, please visit MicrosoftStartupZone.com/BizSpark.  MailChimp is a powerful, easy-to-use e-mail marketing service. You design, me deliver.  MaxCDN – Content Delivery Network. MaxCDN makes it easy and affordable to get maximum global performance from your site and enable your visitors to get the most out of their visit! MaxCDN offers: resistance to the Digg effect, SSL Integration, No Setup Fee, US-based customer service, No Commitments. Get 1 TeraByte for just $39.95 today!
Eventbrite is an online events marketplace where tens of thousands of individuals, businesses and organizations of all sizes manage, promote and sell tickets to their events. Make your event a success on Eventbrite. Additionally, thanks to the following partners for making Mashable happen: Since 2007 W3 EDGE has assisted with creative, web development and search / social media marketing Mashable.com and its numerous projects and other web properties. Day-to-day maintenance and support is also handled by Frederick Townes and his W3 EDGE team.  Rackspace is the better way to do hosting. No more worrying about web hosting uptime. No more spending your time, energy and resources trying to stay on top of things like patching, updating, monitoring, backing up data and the like. Learn why.  iStockphoto offers easy, affordable inspiration with millions of safe, royalty-free photos, illustrations, video, audio and Flash® files. Using the most accurate search in the business, customers download a file at least every second from a collection of more than five million files for business, marketing and personal projects. iStockphoto started in 2000, pioneering the micropayment photography business model and has become one of the most successful and profitable user-generated content sites in the world. iStockphoto pays out approximately $1.2 million weekly in artist royalties. iStockphoto is headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Getty Images. Mashable readers save 10%.  Founded in 1998 as a free service, Dynamic Network Services Incorporated (Dyn Inc.) now operates two extremely reliable, “rock solid,” global DNS platforms; DynDNS.com for home/SMB users and the Dynect Platform for corporations and enterprises. As a leading provider of managed DNS services, Dyn Inc. plays a key role in keeping the Internet’s DNS infrastructure running smoothly, handling trillions of queries per day and servicing nearly four million active users. With a range of innovative solutions, from domain name and e-mail services on DynDNS.com, to failover, load balancing, traffic management and CDN balancing services with the Dynect Platform, Dyn Inc. remains committed to world class customer service and engineering excellence. Uptime is the Bottom Line. For more information about Dyn Inc., visit www.dyn.com, e-mail hello@dyn.com or call +1-603-668-4998.  ConcentricSky offers web development and strategic consulting services with a focus on emerging technologies such as Social Media and iPhone Apps. From simple websites to integrated web applications, we deliver innovative solutions that exceed your expectations – not your budget. We can get your name out there.Contact us for more information about supporting Mashable’s growth and development. Alternatively, visit our advertise section for more details about:
CPM-based advertising is available through our partner, Federated Media, but if you contact us directly, you’ll be entitled to exclusive unpublished discounts. Reviews: Apps, Digg, Mashable, iStockphoto, social media
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| Creators of “Auto-Tune the News” Score Comedy Central Pilot Posted: 13 Aug 2010 02:39 PM PDT   If you’re a fan of “Auto-Tune the News,” you’re in luck, because The Gregory Brothers are headed to Comedy Central next year with a show that will feature a behind-the-scenes look at the viral magic that they produce. In an interview with Wired, the brothers Gregory — Evan, Andrew, Michael, and Evan’s wife Sarah — revealed that they’re planning to take their Internet phenom to the airwaves, and chatted about the success of recent vids, like “Bed Intruder” (in which Antoine Dodson waxes poetic about an attempted rape during a news broadcast) and “Double Rainbow” (which you should probably be aware of by now — if you’re not dead). In case you’re not familiar with “Auto-Tune the News,” it’s basically an awesome web series that does just that — feeds news items through an auto-tuner and creates a song. It also scored the Webby this year for best video remix/mashup. According to the Gregorys, the show will have a musical component, but will mostly feature behind-the-scenes action. Considering the comedy team only really makes money off of iTunes sales (which were extremely high for “Bed Intruder” — according to Wired it sold 10,571 copies in the first two days alone), the pilot seems like a boon to the sibs. We wonder how they will handle rights and payments when the show airs; presently they split sales with the folks they auto-tune, since people like Dodson actually compose the “lyrics” (i.e. they say funny things that the Gregorys then manipulate). With this move, the Gregorys join a small but growing cadre of folks who have managed to move from the online space to television: The Onion, Fred and Sh*t My Dad Says, to name a few notables. Who do you hope will make the leap next? Reviews: Internet, news More About: auto-tune the news, humor, pop culture, television, viral video, youtube For more Web Video coverage:
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| Mashable Hosts #SummerMash in Chicago [PHOTOS] Posted: 13 Aug 2010 01:53 PM PDT The 2010 Mashable U.S. Summer Tour came to a triumphant close Wednesday at the Crystal Ballroom of Chicago’s Hyatt Regency hotel. Hundreds of guests from all over the Midwest joined us in the Windy City to cut loose, have a few drinks and put the “Chic” in Chicago. Mashable’s NYC team was joined by Sarah Evans, who interviewed event attendees and readers participating remotely in our Watchitoo live stream. Check out more photos from the event on our Facebook album or Flickr Set. And watch out for news on next year’s SummerMash. We’ll be adding more cities next summer, so stay tuned! SummerMash Chicago  The Mashable staff rolled into Chicago for one night only to celebrate the final stop on the 2010 Mashable U.S. Summer Tour. SummerMash Chicago Signup table A few of the fashionably-tardy guests trickle in to the Hyatt lobby. SummerMash Ballroom The event was inside the Crystal Ballroom in downtown Chicago's Hyatt Hotel. Samuel Axon, collect them all! Mashable staff writer Samuel Axon shows off his personalized "Meet Meme" trading card. Chicago Chic SummerMash guest and blogger Michael Lehet supplemented his business cards with a miniature billboard on his chest. Regan Fletcher Regan Fletcher of Intel shows off some of his wares. SummerMash Partiers Guests came out from all over the Midwest to join the Mashable team for a party, Chicago-style. Treo Benny Treo Benny from Chicago. SummerMash afterparty Guests gathered in the Hyatt Regency's BIG Bar for some after-party drinks. This one's for you, SummerMash! Victor Nappe of Gotelo, one of the event's sponsors. Thanks to our Local Sponsors:  ServiceLive is the first online marketplace that allows homeowners and businesses to name their price or request bids for a wide variety of home services, and the list of available services is getting wider every day. ServiceLive was designed to erase the headaches and hassles of getting services done for both the service buyer and the service pro. For more information go to http://www.ServiceLive.com.  ICUC Moderation Services is the global leader in online content and community moderation services. Our team of multi-lingual content and community specialists manage, moderate and monitor millions of social media conversations, comments, photographs and videos and work inside some of the largest online communities in the world. We are a social media services company leading the world’s biggest brands through the integration and execution of successful marketing campaigns. We are a global team of experts acting as the eyes and ears for your brand. You can’t control social media. You can be confident that we will protect and secure your brand. So sit back, relax and take a load off… We’ve got you covered. A Special Thanks to Our Tour Sponsors Join Gotelo.com and choose where you want to be found, anytime, in one easy step. It's fast, free, and launching this summer. Gotelo simplifies the way you connect with people you know and businesses you like by directing you to their most current web page.  The Intel® Atom™ Developer Program provides software developers with everything you need to easily develop and sell applications for Intel® Atom™ processor-based products starting with netbooks, and eventually supporting tablets, smartphones, consumer electronics and more. Program features include: Powerful tools—including an SDK, easy deployment and validation, Revenue and marketing opportunities, Developer Catalog to buy and sell application components, Application Labs in addition to a vibrant online community for support.  Weber Shandwick is a leading global public relations agency with offices in 76 countries around the world. The firm's success is built on its deep commitment to client service, our people, creativity, collaboration and harnessing the power of Advocates – engaging stakeholders in new and creative ways to build brands and reputation. Weber Shandwick provides strategy and execution across practices such as consumer marketing, healthcare, technology, public affairs, financial services, corporate and crisis management. Its specialized services include digital/social media, advocacy advertising, market research, and corporate responsibility. In 2010, Weber Shandwick was named Global Agency of the Year by The Holmes Report for the second year in a row; an ‘Agency of the Decade’ by Advertising Age, Large PR Agency of the Year by Bulldog Reporter, and Top Corporate Responsibility Advisory Firm by CR Magazine. The firm has also won numerous ‘best place to work’ awards around the world. A Special Thanks to Our Multi-Streaming Partner Watchitoo is an embeddable, live multi-streaming platform that allows 10+ participants to communicate via a web-cam in real time, while collaborating around a custom designed rich media playlist. A passive audience of thousands can view the show online. Any viewer can be added into a show via a virtual green room, where a moderator can adjust their microphone, have a private one-on-one chat, and vet their overall suitability to participate. Streams can be inserted, removed, re-arranged and re-sized in real time. Watchitoo has a rich feature set that includes Twitter and Facebook integration, chat, questioning, recording, screen-sharing and white-boarding. Thanks to Our Official Ticketing Partner Eventbrite is the world's largest self-service online ticketing site. Eventbrite makes it easy for anyone to sell-out an event. Reviews: Facebook, Twitter More About: Chicago, Events, mashable summer tour, social media, summermash For more Social Media coverage:
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| Android Froyo Coming to Droid Incredible on August 18 Posted: 13 Aug 2010 01:35 PM PDT   The Android 2.2 OS — Android Froyo — will begin rolling out over the air on the Droid Incredible starting next Wednesday, August 18. We’ve heard from our sources that the Verizon team members already have Froyo installed on their Droid Incredibles. Now the update is essentially ready for primetime. Froyo has been making its way onto some of the most popular Android handsets in recent weeks. The HTC Evo 4G, the Motorola Droid and the Nexus One have the updated OS. Froyo is a major improvement over its predecessors; it brings Flash 10.1, faster processing speeds, USB tethering and Wi-Fi hotspot functionality to the mobile OS. Google also added new cloud sync functionality into Android 2.2 with yesterday’s launch of Chome to Phone. Droid Incredible owners, are you looking forward to anything from the Froyo update? Let us know in the comments. Reviews: Android, Google More About: android, droid, droid incredible, verizon For more Mobile coverage:
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| BlackBerry Torch: Hands-on with “The Best BlackBerry Ever” [VIDEO] Posted: 13 Aug 2010 01:18 PM PDT The new BlackBerry Torch hit stores yesterday, and as we've previously noted, it's an immensely important launch for RIM. It marks the first device to ship with version 6 of BlackBerry's OS, and it looks to bring the company's smartphone line back up to par with iPhone and Android (the latter of which recently passed BlackBerry in market share). We decided to go hands-on with the device to see how it stacks up to the competition. In the above video, Mashable's Mobile reporter Christina Warren takes us of a tour of the new features of BlackBerry 6 (which will also be available on the new Curve 3G), and renders a verdict about a device dubbed "the best BlackBerry ever" by exclusive U.S. carrier partner AT&T. Disclosure: RIM is a Mashable sponsor. Reviews: Android, Mashable More About: blackberry, blackberry 6, blackberry torch, RIM For more Mobile coverage:
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| Facebook Refreshes Notes Application Posted: 13 Aug 2010 01:00 PM PDT   Until now, Facebook Notes has only supported text formatting through HTML, making formatting a challenging task for the majority of the site’s 500 million members. Today the social network has rolled out a refreshed version of Notes to remedy the problem. The Facebook Notes application has been overhauled with a new look and feel that includes an easier-to-use left-hand menu and a few notable new features. The most significant update to Notes is the addition of a text editor that includes standard formatting options that let Facebook users click to bold, italicize, underline, indent quotes and add bullet or numbered lists to their notes. Facebook Notes also now lets users tag Facebook Pages in their notes and more easily locate saved drafts. The updates to Notes should make the application much more user-friendly and encourage more on-site note creation.  Reviews: Facebook More About: facebook, facebook notes For more Social Media coverage:
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| New Tweet Button Temporarily Hoses the Internet Posted: 13 Aug 2010 12:45 PM PDT   Apologies if our homepage looked like the above momentarily, but it wasn't our fault, we swear! The new official "tweet button," which was rolled out yesterday, had a malfunction that rendered an error message in Firefox and essentially rendered Web browsers useless. Lots of other people noticed too, including popular blog host Squarespace and tech news site Ars Technica. While not a long lasting problem, you can imagine the scale of it being pretty enormous, considering Tweetmeme reported yesterday that its button (now the official tweet button) is viewed 750 million times daily. Twitter's acknowledged a "momentary problem" and says the issue should now be fixed. Whew. If you’re still seeing the errors here or elsewhere, be sure to clear your cache. Reviews: Firefox, SquareSpace, Tweetmeme, Twitter More About: tweet button, twitter For more Social Media coverage:
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| Translate Business Jargon into Real Speech [APPS] Posted: 13 Aug 2010 12:29 PM PDT   “Ninja,” “Guru,” “Team Player,” “Personal Brand” — if this litany of terms gets your skin crawling, you might want to check out this novelty app: Unsuck It. Brought to you by Mule Design, Unsuck It basically does just that: When you enter a term like, say, “Ninja” into the search bar, the app translates it into normal person language (see below). You then have the option of sharing it on Twitter, or “e-mailing the douchebag who used it” — said e-mail contains the subject line, “Hey, douchebag! Stop torturing the English language!” and a link to the term and translation in the body. The site also features the option “I’m Feeling Douchey,” which unearths a random term, and a “Browse” tab by which you can sift through other gems. All right, ye of the office-bound variety — future fighters of the weekend wars — tell us in the comments, what’s the worst jargon-y term you’ve heard (or used…) all day?  [via Boing Boing] Reviews: Twitter More About: humor, pop culture, software, web app For more Tech coverage:
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| Giant Shout-Out to Ayn Rand Scrawled on Google Earth via GPS [PIC] Posted: 13 Aug 2010 11:21 AM PDT   Ayn Rand is getting some pretty heavy endorsement via GPS of late, as one man — Nick Newcomen — recently drove 12,328 miles across 30 American states to scrawl “Read Ayn Rand” via GPS data inputted into Google Earth. Newcomen — who explained to Wired that he undertook this mission simply because he is a Rand fan — took more than 30 days to execute this task, using a GPS logger (Qstarz BT-Q1000X) to create the letters. He started in Marshall, Texas, where he began writing out “Rand,” and then drove on (turning off the GPS whilst not writing) until the entire, “Reading Is Fundamental” sentiment was complete. You can check out more info on the site World’s Biggest Writing, which also features David Lynchian videos of locations Newcomen visited, most ending with a shot of his almost expressionless face (see below). Although we understand that Newcomen is passionate about the famed Atlas Shrugged author (we’re all groupies of someone, amirite?) we can’t help but wonder what Rand herself would have thought of the stunt. After all, part of Objectivism, a philosophical system she developed, states: “Man—every man—is an end in himself, not the means to the ends of others. He must exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself. The pursuit of his own rational self-interest and of his own happiness is the highest moral purpose of his life.” To that end, perhaps Newcomen should have scrawled his own name across the States — but, you know, whatever floats your fountainhead… Reviews: Google Earth More About: books, Google Maps, gps, pop culture, software, video, web apps For more Tech coverage:
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| Gmail Gets an Unofficial Snooze Button Posted: 13 Aug 2010 10:51 AM PDT   E-mail inbox utility Taskforce has updated its service to convert e-mails into tasks and create reminders for them; the functionality is akin to a snooze button for e-mail. Taskforce, a beta service that integrates with Gmail via a Chrome extension or Firefox plug-in, refocuses the user’s e-mail experience around three central components: action, information and broadcast. The new snooze-like functionality provides a potential cure to the bloated inbox problem and archive dilemma that most Gmail users face on a daily basis. Taskforce users can now convert an e-mail message into a task and click the reminder button — a.k.a. snooze button — to set up an alert for a future date. The process allows users to treat e-mails as future tasks and clear out their inbox in the meantime. Taskforce is currently a private beta service, but the blog post on the feature update suggests following the team on Twitter and requesting an invite for faster approval.  [img credit: Anthony!!] Reviews: Chrome, Firefox, Gmail, Twitter More About: e-mail, gmail, software, taskforce For more Tech coverage:
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| Facebook Launches a Live Video Channel Posted: 13 Aug 2010 10:30 AM PDT   Facebook, which is already widely used as a platform for distributing live video, is making a play of its own with a new app called Facebook Live. However, unlike services like Ustream and Livestream that offer live video features for Facebook Pages, Facebook Live is more of a channel dedicated to the happenings of the social networking company as opposed to a platform for others. In a statement, the company says it will be using Facebook Live "to be your window into what's new at Facebook," including celebrity guests that stop by the company's HQ, demos of new features from employees and special events taking place (conceivably, things like the f8 conference). The app itself looks a lot like other live video platforms, with integrated chat that broadcasts out to the News Feed. It's also embeddable, and the company will be testing it out when actress America Ferrera stops by at 6 p.m. ET this evening. It will be interesting to see how Facebook goes about promoting the feature. Might we see notifications in the News Feed when a big guest stops by the company's HQ? That would give the site an opportunity to aggregate some huge audiences around live video, though it remains to be seen if that's in the cards or if this is more of a PR move to make the company feel more personable. Either way, it's a nice boon for Livestream, which has been chosen as the official live video partner for the project. Reviews: Facebook, ustream More About: facebook, live video, livestream, trending For more Web Video coverage:
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| 5 Open Data Apps That Are Improving Our Cities Posted: 13 Aug 2010 09:47 AM PDT   Chris Vein is the Chief Information Officer for the City and County of San Francisco, and is responsible for setting the city's technology vision and direction, ensuring the development and implementation of citywide standards, policies, and procedures, as well as running the technology "utility" department. Five months ago, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom stood with President Obama's Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra and myself to announce Open311 API to the world. It was a historic moment for government technology with several large cities pledging to adopt a standard API. Our vision at the time was to empower the technological community to create a whole new generation of civic apps. Today, that has become a reality. Here are five apps for city hall. 1. TweetMy311 TweetMy311 gives anyone with a smartphone and a Twitter account the ability to report a city-related issue (like a pothole in need of repair) in 140 characters or less. Through the creative use of hashtags and geo-tagging, tweets are sent directly to the department that does the work. Mark Headd, creator of the site Vox Populi, developed the app in his spare time to "learn more about building Open311 applications, and to share that information with developers that want to improve their communities." Civic hackers like Headd are exactly what we had in mind when we launched Open311 API. 2. HeyGov! We were pleasantly surprised when a couple of bigger players jumped into the scene. Microsoft partner ISC announced recently that their HeyGov! platform is now using the Open311 API. Their web app puts a Bing map front and center to visualize existing requests for service or to initiate a new request. A great feature is the ability to view the data as a heat map. 3. CitySourced CitySourced provides a free, simple, and intuitive platform that empowers residents to identify civic issues. You can use Blackberry, Android or iPhone to take a picture of the issue. The app automatically detects your location via GPS, lets you identify what the problem is, add comments, and tweet the problem out. To see startups innovating in the government space this way is really exciting. 4. SeeClickFix SeeClickFix is focused on community engagement through various channels. Residents can report issues on SeeClickFix, through their favorite sites via a web widget, or on their mobile device. SeeClickFix has several innovative features such as “watch areas” that send alerts based on geo-boundaries and social voting on civic problems. 5. MojiPge MojiPage is sort of like iGoogle for mobile devices, and has created a widget for Open311. The potential here is huge. Imagine iGoogle for governments where residents can select widgets that they're interested in and each of these widgets are inter-operable with any city because they're powered by standard government API. What it All MeansSo how do cities tap into all of this creativity? While they can choose to roll their own API, Lagan Technologies, the largest provider of local government CRM software, announced recently that their flagship CRM product will support the Open 311 API. Having these larger players adopt Open 311 will help cities that otherwise may not have the technical know-how or capacity to quickly and easily adopt Open 311. We're excited about all the creativity we've seen, but what makes Open311 API truly unique is that it represents a new business model where openness, collaboration and innovation are at the center. We see Open311 API as just the start of a much larger effort to create APIs for many more areas of government service delivery. More Tech Resources from Mashable:
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, cpPhotography Reviews: Android, Bing, BlackBerry Rocks!, Twitter, iPhone, iStockphoto More About: api, APIs, apps, gov 2.0, government, List, Lists, Mobile 2.0, open311, politics, social good For more Tech coverage:
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| HOW TO: Make a Graceful Online Exit From Your Job Posted: 13 Aug 2010 08:13 AM PDT
Perhaps you freaked out on some hapless JetBlue airline passenger and are gonna be grounded for a bit. Or maybe the employment gods decided that you (along with 131,000 workers in July alone) are gonna have a little extra free time to enjoy the end of summer. Either way, when it comes time to kiss your cubicle goodbye, you can scamper away, firmly ensconced in your Own Little World like a gerbil in a clear plastic ball, or you can tie up digital loose ends and depart with dignity. We recommend the latter. To find out how, head on over to CNN.com and check out my most recent Netiquette column, which I write with Stuff Hipsters Hate co-blogger Andrea Bartz. Check out the column at CNN.com >>Image courtesy of iStockphoto, VikramRaghuvanshi Reviews: iStockphoto More About: cnn, jobs, netiquette, social media, Stuff Hipsters Hate For more Social Media coverage:
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| 15 Excellent Corporate Blogs to Learn From Posted: 13 Aug 2010 07:57 AM PDT   This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business. Creating and maintaining a corporate blog, or a blog of any sort for that matter, isn’t always the easiest of tasks and doesn’t come naturally to most people. There are a lot of considerations to take into account — theme, topics, audience, content, design, writers, multimedia, promotion, writing style, comment policies, and so on. Above and beyond all of that, you also need to consider the blog’s name and URL. Although the act of creating blog posts can be quite simple, forethought and planning must first go into the creation of a corporate blog in order to keep the processes running smoothly, especially if multiple bloggers are involved. We recently outlined 10 tips for corporate blogging for businesses hoping to focus on key elements of creating a blog in the corporate world. Now, we’re taking it a step further, presenting 15 excellent corporate blogs that you and your fellow employees can learn from. Let us know if you follow any other particularly noteworthy corporate blogs in the comments below, and please include some details on what makes them stand out. 1. Squarespace: Choose a Fitting Blog Design Web design is one of the most important factors in creating a blog that is user-friendly and visually appealing. Corporate blogs are notorious for lacking in design. Whether they are über-branded, overwhelming or uninspiring, business blogs often fall short in the design department. Squarespace, a web publishing platform, is “one of the best designed corporate blogs around,” according to Grace Smith, a freelance web and graphic designer and contributing writer to Mashable. Smith elaborates:
Designed by Creative Director Tyler Thompson, Squarespace’s blog is simple and readable, including only the most important details. The minimalist interface includes a feed of posts, icons for each Squarespace team member (which link to author pages), a widget for the most recent company tweet, columns for archived posts and categories, as well as a directory at the bottom of the page, linking off to related product, company and community web pages. And, of course, the blog is published on Squarespace’s platform. Thompson explained the inspiration and objectives behind his design:
Thompson makes a really great point that web design should enhance the content, not battle with it. When designing your corporate blog, focus on the most useful information and make it the center of your design idea. Your blog will be easier to navigate and the most instrumental content will be highlighted. 2. Dell: Use a Landing Page to Organize Multiple Blogs Some corporations have more than one blog — this could be a solution that’s useful for you, especially if you have a large business with multiple arms. One of the difficulties of managing multiple blogs is finding a place to house them all. This is where a landing page can come in handy. Dell has a number of corporate blogs, focusing on many specific topics, including technology, investor relations, products, education, and health information technology. Dell organizes all of its blogs under one landing page, which is used to curate featured content from across the blogs, while also including a feed of the latest blog posts, a directory of blogs, and a search bar that scours content from all the blogs. With 750 videos and over 5 million video views, Dell has a very active and successful YouTube presence which they call the Dell Vlog. While Dell bloggers often embed these YouTube videos into blog posts, an on-site video player on Dell’s blog could be a great improvement. 3. 37signals Product Blog: Showcase Your Products and Services Posting updates about your products and services on your corporate blog can sometimes seem too promotional, especially if the information isn’t essential to the audience. 37signals has a great solution; they have two blogs — one called Signal vs. Noise about “design, business, experience, simplicity, the web, culture and more,” and another called The Product Blog, about their products, including Basecamp, Highrise, Campfire, Backpack, Writeboard, and Ta-da List. If you’d like to keep your main corporate blog focused on industry news and insights, but would also like the flexibility to announce product updates, creating a products blog is a great option. 4. Zillow: Provide Valuable Insights on Your Area of Expertise When creating any property on the Internet, you must always consider your audience. Think about their needs and put forth content that they would consider valuable. If you stick to your core competency, you should do just fine. Zillow, a free real estate valuation website, maintains a blog that publishes information on real estate, mortgages, and celebrity real estate. By focusing on their core strength, Zillow creates high quality posts that act as resources for the blog’s audience. For example, they recently posted on top-tweeting real estate pros, questions to ask mortgage lenders, and Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne's oceanfront Malibu home rumored to be up for rent for $40,000 per month. They cover the difficult real estate and mortgage questions, but also keep it light with interesting stories about the high-end real estate market. 5. PlayStation.Blog: Get Ideas From Your Fans Take note of Playstation.Blog Share, a section on PlayStation.Blog, PlayStation’s blog, where users can submit and vote on ideas for improving PlayStation’s products. Upon writing this, the most popular idea on the site proposes the ability to talk to friends via the PS3 Bluetooth Headset even if they are playing other games; the idea has received over 25,000 votes. Feedback like that is of serious value to PlayStation and its fans. Does your corporate blog provide ample space for readers to submit ideas and suggestions? 6. Disney Parks: Take Your Fans Behind the Scenes The Disney Parks Blog is an example of how to take readers behind the scenes. The archives are split into a variety of categories, but one of the largest is marked “Behind the Scenes.” Scrolling through the category, you’ll see posts about dance rehearsals, sneak peeks at new construction sites, interviews with employees, and more. One of my favorite posts is an interview with Don “Ducky” Williams, a Disney artist known around the company for his brilliant Donald Duck drawings. While he draws all of the characters, he has a fondness for old Donald. Videos like this one humanize a company and make devoted followers out of fans and admirers. Disney Parks’ Social Media Director Thomas Smith explained why behind-the-scenes blogging was so important for the company:
7. BBC’s The Editors Blog: Bring Readers Into the Process Just as behind-the-scenes exclusives give readers a new perspective on your company, posts that allow readers to be a part of the process provide unique value for dedicated supporters. BBC maintains a blog called The Editors that “aims to explain the editorial decisions and dilemmas faced by the teams running the BBC’s news service — radio, TV, and interactive.” The blog allows readers to voice their opinions on the way news is being covered, while also weighing in on issues that the BBC News editors are facing. This is something that readers can’t get anywhere else. When planning your content strategy, strive for unique information that others are unable to create. 8. GM FastLane Blog: Keep a Focus Don’t try to be something that you’re not. If your business is selling cars, talk about cars. It sounds obvious, but without strict content guidelines, a blog can quickly derail into the great abyss. GM’s FastLane blog is a great example of a blog that keeps a niche focus. Some recent posts included a webchat on how to build a Corvette engine and a post on how to pre-order the 2011 Chevrolet Volt. While FastLane posts revolve around GM's current and future products and services, the blog manages to provide valuable content in a genuine way. 9. Evernote: Mix It Up You can maintain focus on a particular topic while still mixing up your content, especially when it comes to adding multimedia to your blog. Evernote has streamlined their web design to incorporate a number of categories, including product updates, tips and stories, friends and partners, podcast and general business updates, which they call their “notes.” All of these sections are segmented into tabs for easy browsing. Furthermore, the blog utilizes a variety of multimedia including photos, videos, and podcasts. 10. Flickr: Highlight Your Community People love participating in projects that feature their work. Try to emphasize your community’s strengths and contributions to your site by highlighting community members and groups on your blog. For example, on its company blog, Flickr curates photos and videos from around their community. A recent post showcased the vibrant insect shots taken by Flickr member urtica. 11. O'Reilly Radar: Define and Introduce Your Blogging Team People want to communicate with other people, not with “companies”. Lose the corporate voice and empower your employees to write about areas that they excel in. For example, O’Reilly Media, a technology book publishing company, gathers a diverse team of bloggers on O’Reilly Radar, the company blog. With varying interests, the writers are able to report on a range of topics, including business, copyright laws, emerging technology, open source projects, data visualization and programming, among others. On each post, the author’s name, Twitter handle and photo are displayed, adding a personal touch to each update. Make sure you define a team of bloggers and give them a presence on your blog. Include headshots, short biographies, and contact information, so that readers can get to know your writers. 12. Google Blog: Include Employees from Across the Company The official Google blog pulls insights from all over the company. Taking a quick look at posts from the past few days, I found updates posted by a software engineer, a technical program manager working on Google Apps for government, the vice president of search products and user experience, an entertainment marketing associate, and a university programs specialist — that’s a diverse crowd. Depending on your blog’s focus, it may be beneficial to include bloggers from all areas of your company, especially if you offer a wide variety of products in several industries. In this case, you may consider creating separate blogs that highlight various topics. 13. Marriott On the Move: Put Your Leader in Charge Another strategy altogether is passing the keyboard to your founder or CEO. Influential leaders make it their profession to gain a following, so blogging isn’t too much of a stretch. A small number of founders and CEOs are taking their company’s online strategy into their own hands. One of those leaders is Bill Marriott, chairman and CEO of Marriott International, a worldwide hotel franchiser and operator. Via the company blog, Marriott on the Move, Marriott posts about the company’s recent activities and gives readers a look into the various offerings at hotels around the world, while also incorporating updates about his travels, family life, and interests. The blog allows readers to interact directly with Marriott, bringing them closer to the man at the top. 14. eBay Ink: Embrace Social Media One way to increase traffic to and interaction with your blog is to develop a social media strategy for connecting with readers and sharing your latest content. Richard Brewer-Hay, chief blogger behind eBay Ink, eBay’s corporate blog, believes that Ink and other social media platforms are key to connecting eBay employees with eBay users. Through Ink, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr, Brewer-Hay acts as a facilitator for telling stories and sharing experiences from around eBay. He explained why social media is such an important focus for eBay:
Above and beyond maintaining an active social presence, eBay also encourages users to take part in social media to improve their sales. They recently started the Social Media Seller program, which Brewer-Hay elaborated on:
By embracing social media, companies have the opportunity to promote their businesses, get feedback from their communities, and empower consumers. 15. The Counterintuitive CEO: Promote Your Blog You can’t put up a blog and expect people to just discover it. While that’s possible, it’s very unlikely. Just like any other business, marketing, or educational program you may run, you need to promote it. There are a lot of ways to promote your blog, but one particular corporate blog is doing a great job with search engine marketing (SEM). Forrester Research’s CEO George Colony runs a blog called The Counterintuitive CEO. While searching for “ceo blog” on Google, you’ll run across his blog in the “sponsored links” section, where paid Google AdWords ads are displayed. SEM is just one way to promote a blog, though. Think outside the box on how you could attract an audience for your blog and refine your plan based on your learnings. These 15 corporate blogs are making headway in various areas of blogging. Let us know in the comments which corporate blogs stand out in your mind. More Business Resources from Mashable:
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Franck-Boston Reviews: Basecamp, Evernote, Flickr, Google, Internet, Mashable, SquareSpace, Twitter, YouTube, blog, iStockphoto, list More About: blogging, BLOGS, business, corporate blog, corporate blogging, corporate blogs, List, Lists, small business For more Business coverage:
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| The Battle of the Cheetos Carries On [SPONSORED] Posted: 13 Aug 2010 07:33 AM PDT As the Battle of the Cheetos moves into its sixth week, there is no end in site. Every day, more armies are created, and more battles are waged. With every passing moment, new battalions take command of websites while others are overthrown. Will you be victorious, or just another name in the long line of the defeated?   (This post is brought to you by Cheetos. For more information on sponsored posts read here.) For more Battles coverage:
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| Morning Brief: Foursquare Numbers, Bieber Scam, HTC Mystery Event Posted: 13 Aug 2010 07:12 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. We’re keeping our eyes on three particular stories of interest today: Foursquare Passes the 2.6 Million User Mark Foursquare now has more than 2.6 million users, according to a tweet from CEO Dennis Crowley. Crowley also stated that 184,000 of those new users were gained in the last 10 days. That sort of sustained growth would push Foursquare past the 3 million-user mark by the first week of September. Another Rogue Facebook App in the Wild Facebook users, be aware of a new rogue application posing as a Justin Bieber-related link. As our friend Graham Cluley from Sophos explains, the app is masquerading as a link that reads, “OMG Justin Bieber trying to flirt, check it out.” The link then leads to an app called “Bieberflirting” that asks for permission to access your profile and wall. Don’t fall for this rogue app. HTC Holding a Mystery Event on September 15 Phone maker HTC is holding a mystery event on September 15, 2010, in London. The invitation to the event is very coy, reading, “Come see what HTC has dreamt up,” alongside an image of a billow of smoke. What could HTC be announcing? New handsets, a new Internet tablet? We’ll have to wait to see. Further News:
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, Foursquare, Internet, Tweetmeme, Twitter, justin bieber More About: first to know series, foursquare, htc, IBM, rogue facebook apps, security For more Social Media coverage:
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| Giant Bird Takes Over Twitter Following List [PIC] Posted: 13 Aug 2010 07:04 AM PDT   This is pretty much the coolest thing we’ve seen all morning: Co-Founder of Mizbala.com Guy Dayan and graphic designer Shelly Peleg have gone ahead and manipulated a Twitter “Following” list so that it depicts a rather adorable bird. Check out the video below for a description of how Dayan and Peleg went about creating this little piece of digital art — basically by asking Dayan’s followers to change their profile pics to a segment of the entire bird (it’s kind of like using a grid to draw a mural, or something of the like). It looks like the endeavor took a goodly amount of effort and time. We’ve seen Twitter visualization tools in the past, but this is an interesting effort. If you could manipulate your “Following” list, what would you adorn it with? Reviews: Twitter More About: humor, pop culture, social media, twitter, video For more Social Media coverage:
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