Rabu, 18 Agustus 2010

Mashable: Latest 23 News Updates - including “Yahoo Mail Comes to the iPad, HTML5-Style”

Mashable: Latest 23 News Updates - including “Yahoo Mail Comes to the iPad, HTML5-Style”

Link to Mashable!

Yahoo Mail Comes to the iPad, HTML5-Style

Posted: 18 Aug 2010 04:55 AM PDT


Yahoo has launched a new, HTML5-based version of Yahoo Mail for the iPad. It’s similar to the recently launched version of Yahoo Mail for the iPhone and iPod Touch, Yahoo Mail product manager Lee Parry says, only optimized for iPad’s larger screen.

Features include local caching, which enables you to access and search your messages while offline. There’s also the ability to see rich photo attachments in full form, or as previews directly in the inbox views, as well as a dual-pane view for a better overview of your inbox.

You can also search through your inbox using Full Search, personal folders or Smart Folders with messages from your most important contacts.

To try it out, open mail.yahoo.com in your iPad’s Safari browser.

More About: HTML5, Yahoo Mail

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Justin Long Has a Jailbroken iPhone [VIDEO]

Posted: 18 Aug 2010 01:38 AM PDT


Justin Long, the actor who starred as the Mac guy in Apple’s immensely popular “Get a Mac” series of commercials, is not afraid of bending the rules set by his former employer.

While on the Jimmy Kimmel Live show, Long whips out his iPhone, taking the audience through a particularly funny SMS exchange. At one point you can clearly see the Cydia icon among his iPhone apps, a clear sign his iPhone is jailbroken.

You can see the proof in the video below (the relevant bit comes up at 7:04, but the entire video is quite amusing). We’re sure Apple won’t particularly like seeing the Mac Guy using a jailbroken iPhone, but hey, jailbreaking is not a crime, right?

[via Engadget]

More About: apple, I'm a Mac, iphone, jailbreak, Justin Long

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Share and Track the Story of Any Object with Printable QR Codes

Posted: 18 Aug 2010 12:01 AM 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.

Name: Tales of Things

Quick Pitch: Adding memories and stories to objects and places via the Internet of Things and read/write QR codes.

Genius Idea: The Internet of Things is a growing trend; the term defines the idea of objects that are tagged, web-connected and endowed with the ability to relay data. This startup is all about the Internet of Things; in fact, it helps ordinary people add objects to the Internet of Things with just a few simple tools, such as a smartphone and a printer.

Tales of Things has developed read/write QR codes that helps preserve memories that people have attached to objects or places. Once an object is labeled with a scannable QR code, its movements can be tracked, as well as any subsequent stories. Each object has the ability to tweet when its memories are scanned, as well.

All the user has to do is photograph the object or place to be tagged, write a few words or upload a video about it, print out a site-generated QR code and affix the code to the item or at the place. From that point forward, the place or thing can be tracked through TalesofThings.com.

The site’s creators call it the “antique roadshow of the future.”

Tales of Things is funded through a £1.39 million research grant from the Digital Economy Research Councils UK. The project is a collaboration between Brunel University, Edinburgh College of Art, University College London, University of Dundee and the University of Salford.

The site went live in April and isn’t really intended as a money-making enterprise; rather, it’s a novel way to explore and interact with the things and places around us.

Have you tried Tales of Things or any other tagging-and-tracking sites related to the Internet of Things? What’s your take on this trend?

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: internet of things, objects, QR Codes, spark-of-genius, Tagging

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The Chrome Web Store Is Coming, and Google Has Big Plans for It

Posted: 17 Aug 2010 09:09 PM PDT


Google has a plan to become a force in everything from TV to gaming, and today it’s become clear that plan involves the upcoming Chrome Web Store.

Video game website 1up was able to grab some photographs of a presentation Google delivered to a room of game developers at the GDC Europe conference. The presentation showed off the Chrome Web Store, a marketplace for HTML5 apps Google announced during its I/O conference earlier this year.

The presentation revealed some new details about Google’s new app store. It takes a lot of cues from Apple and its successful iPhone app store. App icons, categories and “Top rated games” are all part of the new interface. We find the “Apps your friends like” section to be especially intriguing: is Google going to use Gmail, Buzz or something else to determine who your friends are?

Unlike Apple’s app store though, Google won’t be taking a 30% cut of revenues generated; in fact, it will only be taking a “processing fee” of around 5%. That could be a major draw for developers who want to keep more of the money their apps earn. According to the presentation, the Chrome Web Store is launching in October.

What’s Google’s Plan for the Chrome Web Store?

Two of Google’s biggest enemies, Facebook and Apple, have been threatening Google’s dominance of the web through two different platforms: social and mobile. Facebook’s growth shows no signs of stopping, and it makes the company a real threat to Google’s core search and advertising businesses. Apple, on the other hand, has attracted scores of developers to its iOS platform while products such as iAds threaten to eat into Google’s profits.

The Chrome Web Store will play a part in Google’s attempt to respond to both of these threats. Popularizing web apps is the best way for Chrome OS to become a viable alternative to Windows, Mac OS X or iOS, while getting users to stick around on a web property it controls. Expect it to also play a big role in Google’s attempt to take over the television.

Google can make a lot of different plays with the Chrome Web Store. The search giant is pitching its marketplace as a big platform for gaming, a market Google covets. It’s sure to be a key selling point of Chrome OS, which is supposed to launch later this year. The Chrome Web Store gives Google a path to competing with game consoles through integration with Google TV. It could even become the app platform for the company’s much-rumored Google Me social network.

Google’s got big ambitions for the Chrome Web Store. The question is: what’s Google’s master plan for its web-based app platform?

[Img credit: 1UP.com]

Reviews: Apps, Facebook, Gmail, Google, Windows, video

More About: chrome, Chrome App Store, chrome web store, google chrome

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Why Facebook and Apple Will Win the Q&A War

Posted: 17 Aug 2010 07:00 PM PDT


The Social Analyst is a column by Mashable Co-Editor Ben Parr, where he digs into social media trends and how they are affecting companies in the space.

The Q&A market is on fire. In the last month alone, Ask.com relaunched with a community Q&A focus and Facebook released Facebook Questions to the first wave of users. That’s on top of the buzz surrounding Quora, Google’s acquisition of Aardvark, the explosive growth of Formspring, Apple’s acquisition of Siri and the juggernaut that is Yahoo! Answers.

Speaking of question and answer, I have a one: Is there room for all of these approaches to delivering answers to users’ questions?

The answer: probably not.

When people find the answers they’re looking for, that’s it; they don’t have to ask the question again and again. That is just the nature of Q&A. Can you really imagine the majority of users posting their questions to Facebook, Formspring and Quora?

There are going to be winners, losers and niche players in this rapidly-evolving market. Specifically, I believe there will be two verticals of the Q&A market, each one ripe for domination: Community Q&A and mobile Q&A (a.k.a the “I need my question answered RIGHT NOW” market). While there will be a lot of heated competition in the coming months, Facebook and Apple are in the best positions to dominate community and mobile Q&A respectively.

The Contenders for the Q&A Market

There are dozens of contenders for the Q&A market, and I simply cannot profile them all. However, I did want to point out some of the key players, some of which you know well, a few you probably don’t, and one or two that you probably didn’t expect. These are the key companies that already have market share in the Q&A space or have innovative technology that could quickly make them contenders.

  • Google: The search giant took a stab at this market back in 2002 when it launched Google Answers. Unlike Yahoo! Answers, questions were answered by experts and researchers, but it could cost as much as $200 for an answer. Not shockingly, it folded in 2006.

    Google got back into the game earlier this year though with its $50 million acquisition of Aardvark, a social search service that allows users to submit questions and receive an answer from topic experts within seconds or minutes. Currently, Aardvark is a Google Labs project, but it could become an integral part of Android or even Google Search if Facebook or Apple gain momentum in this market.

  • Quora: Founded in 2009, Quora is a Q&A startup that boasts a stellar team, major buzz and $11 million in funding. One of its founders is Adam D’Angelo, the former CTO of Facebook.

    Quora is a Community Q&A service with a slick interface, a slew of features to surface relevant questions and answers and some high-profile users, including venture capitalists, startup founders and tech luminaries. Facebook Questions incorporates some of Quora’s best elements though; is there room for both?

  • Yahoo!: No matter what you think of Yahoo!, it’s impossible to deny that Yahoo! Answers is one of the two 800 pound gorillas in the room. Launched in 2005, Yahoo! Answers hosts millions of questions and answers generated by its vast community of users, only beaten in sheer size by Answers.com
  • Answers.com: Founded back in 1999, Answers.com is one of the web’s most trafficked websites, boasting more unique visitors than even Yahoo! Answers. It revamped its interface late last year, and the company also owns WikiAnswers.

  • Apple: Apple builds computers and mobile devices; why would it be included in a list of competitors for the online Q&A market?

    The answer: Siri.

    Siri is an iPhone app that essentially transforms your phone into an automated personal assistant. Give it a voice command such as “Get me movie tickets for Inception at 10 p.m.” or “What is the address for the Googleplex?” and Siri will pull up the relevant information. Its technology is based on the CALO Project, the largest artificial intelligence project in U.S. history.

    Apple acquired Siri in April with the rumored acquisition price somewhere in the $200 million range. Spending that kind of money means Apple has some serious plans for Siri and its technology.

  • Ask.com: The search engine recently reinvented itself with semantic search and a community Q&A element. While it controls far less of the search market than Google, Yahoo! or Microsoft, it still has more than enough users to create a robust Q&A platform.

    • Mobile Q&A: Apple Has the Upper Hand

    If you want to become a master of mobile Q&A, it’s best to have control of a major mobile platform. Even a popular iPhone or Android application doesn’t have the reach of Apple, RIM or Google.

    That’s why the battle for mobile Q&A will take place between Apple and Google and their respective mobile platforms. Both have reach and both have users, but while Google has cool mobile products like Google Voice Actions and is the proud owner of Aardvark, they are nothing like the technology packed into Siri.

    As I explained before, Siri is based on the AI technology of the CALO project. Because it’s an AI answering questions and not a community of users, answers are almost instantaneous. While Aardvark is surprisingly quick, it can still take several minutes to get the answer you need — an eternity if you’re on the road and need that address right now.

    Siri will be integrated into iOS in the near future, and it will become a central feature of the platform because of its ability to help users search by voice for the answers they need. Bet on it.

    Community Q&A: Facebook Has the Users

    I’ll start out with this: I think Quora has a better interface and higher quality answers. I also think Yahoo! and Answers.com have strong legacy SEO (if not the highest quality answers), so they will be around for a while. But when people have a question about the best graphing calculator to buy or the top five places they should visit when they go on vacation to Peru, they’re going to turn to their Facebook friends and the social network’s 500 million users.

    Facebook just has too many advantages. Whenever someone asks a question, it appears in friends’ news feeds. Whenever someone answers a question, it pops up in your notifications; that answer then appears in their friends’ news feeds. News Feed is a viral powerhouse that Quora, Ask, Yahoo! and even Twitter can’t claim or duplicate.

    Quora will have a tough time scaling to the size of Yahoo! Answers when it has to compete with Facebook (though I think it will carve out a nice niche). Yahoo! and Answers.com just don’t have the technology or the engineering talent at the disposal of Facebook. Ask.com’s revamp, while impressive, still has to compete with the virality of Facebook’s social graph and News Feed. It’s Facebook’s market to win.

    The Wild Card

    While Facebook and Apple seem to be in prime position to be the dominating forces in the Q&A market, there is a wild card that you should be watching: Google, or more specifically Aardvark.

    If Google scales Aardvark (say, with direct integration in Google Search) and more people prove willing to answer questions, then it could instantly become a contender in both mobile and community Q&A. Imagine getting instant answers via text from a search query you performed on your phone, or if Google integrated Aardvark into Google Chat or its rumored Google Me social network. There are near limitless possibilities, depending on the quality of the execution.

    For now though, Aardvark remains dormant, so I can’t call it a contender until Google reveals its plan for the service. The Q&A market is filled with unanswered questions (pun intended), but we’re going to have to wait a while before they get answered.

    More Social Media Resources From Mashable:

    - HOW TO: Get the Most Out of Q&A Sites
    - 15 of the Funniest Facebook Questions [PICS]
    - How News Consumption is Shifting to the Personalized Social News Stream
    - Why Entertainment Will Drive the Next Checkin Craze
    - 5 Social Fundraising Alternatives to Facebook Causes

    Image courtesy of iStockphoto, talaj

    Reviews: Aardvark, Android, Facebook, FormSpring, Google, Google Labs, Google search, Siri, Twitter, iPhone, iStockphoto

    More About: apple, Ask.com, Column, facebook, Google, q&a, quora, The Social Analyst, yahoo answers

    For more Business coverage:

Evernote Surpasses 4 Million Users

Posted: 17 Aug 2010 06:35 PM PDT


Evernote’s growth isn’t showing signs of slowing down; the popular note-taking software now has 4 million users.

It was just three and a half months ago when Evernote surpassed 3 million users and less than eight months since it reached 2 million. Evernote used its announcement to show just how quickly the service is taking off. While it took the company 446 days to gain its first million users, its user count jumped from 3 million to 4 million in just 108 days.

Much of this growth has to do with its mobile applications. Many of Evernote’s users heavily depend on its iPhone app. According to the company, iPhone usage makes up more than half of mobile platform usage, while Android accounts for 20% and iPad 17%.

Evernote has been keeping busy. Last month, the company launched its own app store, Evernote Trunk. The company also recently upgraded its iPhone app for iOS 4.

What do you think of Evernote’s accelerating growth? Will it last?

Reviews: Android, Evernote

More About: evernote

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Miracle Film Turns Any Surface into a Touchscreen

Posted: 17 Aug 2010 05:48 PM PDT


Here’s one for all you lovers of futuristic interfaces. An interactive hardware company called Displax has begun marketing Skin, a paper-thin, flexible film that would transform any non-metal surface into an interactive touchscreen.

You could place Skin on any surface, transparent or opaque, flat or curved, and use it to display any interactive content you like. Displax’s multi-touch technology can detect up to 16 fingers at once and can also detect air movement.

Skin is completely transparent and works on surfaces that are also transparent; you can place Skin on a glass surface and interact with content displayed under the glass.

This unique hardware operates via a grid of nanowires embedded Skin’s polymer film. Each time a user makes contact with the surface, either by blowing on it or directly touching it, “a small electrical disturbance is detected allowing the micro-processor controller to pinpoint the movement or direction of the air flow,” according to Displax.

We can imagine millions of cool use cases for such a technology — business presentations, medicine, museums, schools, and gaming to start. The possibilities are as endless as our collective and ever-growing want and need to interact with digital content through multi-touch interfaces.

What do you think of Skin? Is this a product you’d like to try or use?

More About: displax, Film, Hardware, interaction, interface, skin, touchscreen, trending

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Sony PlayStation Move Bundle Arrives in September

Posted: 17 Aug 2010 04:55 PM PDT


Sony’s PlayStation 3 game console is getting a Wii-like motion controller called PlayStation Move next month, and the company just announced a PS3 bundle that includes both an updated version of the console and the equipment you need to play the motion games.

The box carries a slim PS3 console with 320 GB of storage, plus the camera and controller needed to support one Move player. It also comes with a suite of Move games called PlayStation Move Sports Champions — it’s sort of Sony’s snazzy, HD answer to Wii Sports.

The bundle will go on sale in the U.S. September 19 for $399, and September 15 in Europe for €349. That’s the same date for the launch of the Move controller sans console, so intrigued, would-be Move gamers who don’t already own PS3s won’t have to wait for this deal.

The price seems appropriate, given the cost of the standalone PS3 systems and Move equipment. The savings aren’t mindblowing, but it’s not a lackluster deal either.

Oh, and in case you’re not interested in this motion gaming thing (maybe you think it’s all a fad?), Sony also revealed a new, 160 GB slim PS3 bundle that doesn’t include any of the Move stuff. That one’s already on sale in the United States for $299, and it will hit Europe at €299 this October.

More About: bundles, controller, games, gaming, motion gaming, move, playstation, playstation 3, playstation move, price, pricing, PS3, release date, sony, video games

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Groupon Goes International, Buys Japanese and Russian Clones

Posted: 17 Aug 2010 03:30 PM PDT


When you’re the hot new web product on the block, you quickly find that imitation is the most irritating form of flattery. But startup Groupon has turned some lemons (namely, international clones in Russia and Japan) into the sweet lemonade of international expansion.

Over the past few months, Groupon’s core feature set has been cloned and ripped off to no end by a significant number of companies in Silicon Valley; these startups are horning in on Groupon’s share of the U.S. market and, more importantly, U.S. advertising dollars. Internationally, Groupon hadn’t yet forged deals with entities outside North America, but international clones were beginning to reproduce the Groupon model in markets around the globe.

Groupon decided the infrastructure of these companies was inherently valuable and has been on a clone-buying spree of sorts. In May, it snapped up Euro-clone Citydeal and in so doing fast-tracked its expansion into European markets including the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Poland, Finland, Denmark, Turkey, Sweden, Norway and Belgium.

Other large and strategically important markets remained unconquered, so Groupon has now gone after clones in Russia and Japan.

The company has bought a majority stake in both Qpod.jp and Darberry.ru for undisclosed sums, which means that Groupon’s reach will extend literally around the globe. The companies’ names will be changed to “Groupon,” and the sites’ branding and design will be aligned with the Groupon brand. Each company’s founder will continue to lead it under the new Groupon name.

When the ink has dried and the details settled, this startup will be operating in 230 markets and 29 countries and is expected to have around 13 million subscribers. We can imagine Groupon has skipped over a great deal of red tape by structuring its expansion this way; it’s working with companies that are already “the best in their markets,” according to CEO Rob Solomon.

We can imagine Groupon’s investors (notably Digital Sky Technologies of Zynga and Facebook fame, whose participation in Groupon’s Series C left the company valued at $1.35 billion and well equipped to acquire any number of competitors) are thrilled.

Reviews: Facebook

More About: acquisition, darberry, groupon, international, qpod, startup

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Foursquare Focuses on Privacy on Eve of Expected Facebook Location Launch

Posted: 17 Aug 2010 03:00 PM PDT


Foursquare has introduced new privacy settings and updated the pages it uses to explain them, possibly in anticipation of Facebook’s rumored location service announcement tomorrow.

The new settings allow you to hide your e-mail address and phone number from friends or opt out of venues’ “Who’s Here” lists or mayorships, among other things.

To make sure its users fully understand the privacy options, Foursquare has supplemented its privacy policy and frequently asked questions (FAQ) pages with both a “Privacy 101” guide and a grid chart that shows all the information that you might share with either friends or the public.

The chart looks a bit like the Facebook’s privacy settings grid, but instead of telling you your current personal settings, this grid tells you what the defaults are and how you can change them.

Foursquare may have updated its privacy settings to win some brownie points with users the day before Facebook is expected to announce its own geo-location features, which may or may not compete with Foursquare.

We’re not sure what to expect from Facebook, but everyone knows the social networking site has come under fire for how it handles privacy and educating its users about their options, so Foursquare is making a smart move by positioning itself as a service that cares about privacy, and making sure its users fully understand it.

Reviews: Facebook, Foursquare

More About: facebook, foursquare, location, privacy, settings

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Meet Swingly, This Year’s “It” Search Startup [INVITES]

Posted: 17 Aug 2010 02:34 PM PDT


Swingly has just come out of stealth, and it’s already shaping up to be one of the more interesting search-related startups of 2010.

On the surface, for many end users, it should ideally look and feel like a typical Q&A site, but much faster. But Swingly doesn’t work like Quora, Aardvark or Facebook Questions; those are interactive, community-driven sites. At its core, Swingly isn’t even a true Q&A as much as it is a natural language search engine that formats its queries and results as human-friendly questions and answers.

Swingly’s Tech

Back in the 1990s, Ask Jeeves (now Ask.com) operated on roughly the same principle: Let users ask questions in natural language rather than strings of keywords. Google has since dominated with a keyword search model, and users have become accustomed to it, for the most part. But in 2008, NL search was in vogue once again; startups such as Powerset attempted to bring a more human-like understanding to the vast set of text data available on the web.

Swingly works with a little bit of information retrieval, a little NLP and a little AI. You, the user, format and ask your question, and the application queries the wider web looking for strings of words that sound like yours. It then serves those results back to you in a Q&A format.

For example, if you ask Swingly, “How many bars are there in San Francisco?” you’ll see a results page with bolded questions and answers underneath. The “questions” have been formatted from the text in the “answers.” Going back to the example, based on keywords in my question, Swingly found a page with the text, “682 businesses reviewed for Bars in San Francisco on Yelp.” So it returned the question, “What were reviewed for Bars in San Francisco on Yelp?” with the original text as the answer, a snippet of text that will satisfy your curiosity if everything worked as it should.

NLP is generally a bit awkward at the outset, as the example shows, but Swingly also returned some specific and potentially relevant information very quickly. The best feature so far is the bite-sized Q&A format, which delivers the answer without making the reader sift through a lot of surrounding text and media content.

Swingly’s Business

As a startup, Swingly’s business model is intriguing. As a vertical, search startups are not seeing the lion’s share of interest from venture capitalists; investors are much more focused on the social space, shopping apps and entertainment technologies.

A trend we’ve seen in some of these less-popular verticals is self-funding a consumer-facing app as a side project of a more profitable, stable business. For example, Formspring.me (the consumer Q&A app) started out as a project of Formspring, a B2B tool for forms, surveys and registrations. And WolframAlpha, one of the most hotly anticipated search products of 2009, came out of Wolfram Research, whose primary offering was Mathematica, a science software product.

Similarly, Swingly comes from Language Computer Corporation (LCC), an NLP firm that’s been around since 1995. Several of its staff work part time on the Swingly product, and Swingly is funded entirely from LCC’s coffers.

One of LCC’s products, Ferret, is an automatic question-answering system. According to the site, “LCC’s question-answering technology has been developed over the past 13 years by our team of renowned researchers. For nine years in a row, we won, by wide margins, the Text Retrieval Conference’s competition as the top performing question answering system.” Ferret, we’re told by LCC execs, is a lightweight version of what the company would later rebuild from the ground up as Swingly.

In so many words, LCC has the talent pool and computing power to shame and/or bury any startup in the NLP search space. What remains to be seen is whether the Swingly project will appeal to end users who are already inundated with a plethora of search and Q&A applications, and whether we’ve all become so used to keyword search that NL search’s time has passed.

If you want to test Swingly’s natural language processing power for yourself, head over to its beta site and enter the invite code “Mashable,” which will work for the first 500 users. Don’t forget to report back and let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Reviews: Aardvark, FormSpring, Google, Mashable, Yelp

More About: natural language, NLP, powerset, q&a, Search, startup, swingly

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Grooveshark Pulled From Apple App Store Amid Record Label Complaints

Posted: 17 Aug 2010 02:23 PM PDT


Bad news music fans: The Grooveshark iPhone app has been removed from the App Store.

After several months of battling App Store reviewers, the on-demand music service finally released its official iOS app last week. The reason for the app’s removal? According to the Grooveshark blog, Apple received a takedown notice from Universal Music Group UK.

In February, UMG filed a lawsuit against Grooveshark over the service’s use of IP. Grooveshark has also battled — and settled — with the music label EMI.

Grooveshark is an easy lawsuit target because of its approach to music licensing and distribution. Unlike competing services like Rdio, MOG and Rhapsody, Grooveshark’s database of songs is uploaded and cataloged by end users. Grooveshark doesn’t police these uploads for copyright violations, instead relying on license holders to file takedown requests. To date, EMI is the one of the only major labels that has entered into a licensing agreement with Grooveshark, though the company has signed other deals with other bands and smaller networks.

This distinction may be why Grooveshark had a difficult time getting its iPhone app in the App Store in the first place, even before the recent takedown request. Back in March, the company released its app via the jailbroken iPhone app portal Cydia after failing to garner App Store approval. Frustratingly, the jailbreak version of the app is no longer available.

The app, which is available to Grooveshark VIP members, is also up for grabs for Android, BlackBerry, Symbian and webOS users.

According to its blog, Grooveshark is working hard to get the app back in the App Store and into the hands of users.

Reviews: Android, App Store, Grooveshark, Rhapsody

More About: grooveshark, iphone apps, music, streaming music services, umg

For more Mobile coverage:

Why the Social Gaming Biz is Just Heating Up

Posted: 17 Aug 2010 01:33 PM PDT


Jeremy Liew invests primarily in the Internet and mobile sectors, with a particular interest in social media, commerce, gaming, financial and methods for increasing monetization. He joined Lightspeed in early 2006.

These are interesting times in the social gaming industry. Two weeks ago Disney acquired Playdom, and last week Google acquired Slide. Just like that, two of the largest social game publishers have become part of larger companies. This activity all comes on the heels of EA's acquisition of Playfish late last year.

Social gaming, as a category, has grown incredibly quickly, becoming one of the dominant drivers of usage on Facebook, and an increasingly core component of people's entertainment. This growth represents a real threat to other forms of entertainment, and has precipitated the three deals that we have seen so far.

3 Factors in Social Gaming Viability and Acquisition

The acquisitions show three commonalities. The first is strong management. Playfish is run by Kristian Segerstrale, a co-founder of Glu Mobile, a leading mobile game publisher. Playdom is run by John Pleasants, formerly COO of EA. And Slide's CEO is Max Levchin, a co-founder of PayPal. In each case, the leadership brings real experience, not just in social gaming, but also from previous successes.

The second is revenue scale. Each company was generating millions in monthly revenue at the time of acquisition, with valuations on exit being driven higher for the companies with the highest revenue at time of exit. To move the needle for companies as big as Google, Disney and EA, an acquisition needs to show the potential to drive hundreds of millions in annual revenue within a few years.

The third is capacity for repeatability. Games are a hit-driven business. While it is valuable to have a hit game, it is much more valuable to have a game factory that can repeatably produce more successes. There is uncertainty about the chances of any given game being a hit, so part of repeatability is about a company's ability to take many shots on goal. The more studios and game developers that a company has, the more shots on goal it can take at any given time. At time of exit, each company had hundreds of employees building games, and had multiple games at some level of revenue or usage scale.

However, the ability to take a lot of shots on goal is not enough. The other key driver of repeatability involves helping a game reliably find a scale audience. This can come from a large installed base of players, or from the ability to justify paid customer acquisition through high monetization. Each company had one or more of these abilities when they were acquired.

Social Games Have Value for Different Types of Companies

The three acquisitions also differ in some meaningful ways. Each acquirer comes from a different category. One is a traditional game publisher (EA), one a traditional media company (Disney), and one a large Internet company (Google). This gives us some clues about what other companies may have interest in the sector. Potential future acquisitions might come from companies like Ubisoft and Activision from the game side, Viacom, CBS, Comcast/NBC and Newscorp on the media side, and companies such as AOL, IAC, Microsoft and Yahoo! from the Internet side.

In addition, given the success of free to play games in Asia, there are a number of potential Chinese (Shanda, QQ), Japanese (Mixi, DeNA) and Korean (SK Telecom, Nexon) companies who could look to one of these social gaming companies to establish a market in the U.S.

Which Acquisition Will Be Next?

While there are many entities that might be in the market to buy a gaming company, there are only four still independent U.S.-based social game publishers that have the revenue scale (more than $1 million each month) to be attractive as a target; Rockyou, Crowdstar, Watercooler and of course Zynga.

Zynga is the industry powerhouse, and we've estimated in the past that they are doing more than $60 million a month in revenue. They benefit from the ability to support multiple large development studios building high quality games, and to launch those games with significant marketing budgets and unparalleled cross promotional reach. Their 200 million monthly active users is four times the size of their closest competitors. This allows Zynga to quickly hook millions of users on its new games within days of launch, as they have recently demonstrated with Frontierville and Treasure Isle. This is something that no other company is currently able to match.

But given estimates of Softbank's investment in Zynga at a $4 billion valuation range, they may be too big an acquisition for many of the potential buyers. While many companies might wish to own them, they may be more likely to be on a track to go public themselves.

On the other hand, the other three companies may see a lot of interest over the next 12 to 18 months. In this game of musical chairs, there are far more players than there are chairs, and when the music stops, many of the potential acquirers may find themselves with no where to sit.

Smaller Players

There has also been a lot of activity at a smaller scale as well. Playdom and Zynga themselves have both been acquisitive, buying Acclaim, Challenge Games, Hive7, Lil Green Patch, Metaplace, MyMiniLife, Offbeat Creations, Serious Business, Three Melons, Trippert, Unoh, XPD Media and several others between them.

That still leaves a number of social game developers that have at least one game at scale and revenues greater than $100,000 per month, including Booyah, Casual Collective, 50 cubes, LOLapps, Meteor Games, Metrogames, Slashkey and ZipZapPlay. Some of these are newer entrants who have burst to prominence in the last few months, while others are older companies that are continuing to milk the success of an earlier game launch.

If we believe that value in social games is being attributed to management, revenue scale and repeatability, we may well see more consolidation at this level as well. Although these smaller companies may not be big enough to form the core of a social gaming group inside a big acquirer, they will be strategically valuable to the four bigger independent game developers who are continuing to build their scale and repeatability.

Furthermore, putting together some of these smaller players could create new "at scale" independent publishers with revenues greater than $1 million per month, and the core elements of repeatability, a multi-studio structure, cross promotional scale and know-how in virality and monetization.

The Future

This industry is exciting because of its dynamic nature, and I don't expect that to change over the next 12 months. We will likely continue to see new game publishers burst onto the scene. At the same time, there will likely be further consolidation activity on three dimensions from giants buying the scale independent social game publishers, from the scale independent social game publishers buying smaller developers, and from some smaller developers coming together to create scale players.

Which company do you think will be the next to be acquired?

Disclosure: Lightspeed is or was an investor in Casual Collective, Playdom, Rockyou and Serious Business

More Business Resources from Mashable:

- Why Games Are the Killer App for Social Networks
- How Online Retailers Can Leverage Facebook's Open Graph
- 15 Twitter Lists for C-Suite Execs to Follow
- HOW TO: Legally Structure your Startup
- How Coca-Cola Created Its "Happiness Machine" [INTERVIEW]

[img credit: Tracy O]

Reviews: Facebook, Google, Internet, Yahoo!

More About: acquisitions, business, disney, EA, farmville, games, gaming, Google, playdom, playfish, slide, social games, social gaming, Zynga

For more Business coverage:

7 Services to Find and Reserve Your Name Across the Web

Posted: 17 Aug 2010 12:11 PM PDT

This series is supported by Gillette. Learn more about Gillette and its products at Gillette.com.


If you choose a different username for every site you're on, it can be hard to create a consistent identity across the web. The problem, however — as Twitter-spoofed Megan Fox, BP, and even the Dalai Lama recently found out — is that being the first to claim your name on every site can be difficult. And since most of the hundreds of sites that can host your profile prevent automated sign-up processes, you need to manually create one profile at a time.

These seven services search the availability of your username on multiple sites at the same time, and many also offer the option to create your profile on each of the sites they search for a fee. If you’re aiming to unify your personal or brand presence across the web, these handy tools are worth a look.

1. Knowem

You're probably not interested in all 400 sites that Knowem features, but whatever you are interested in — blogging, bookmarking, photo, video, business, community, design, entertainment, health, information, microblogging, music, news, tech, or travel — you'll be able to search that block of sites for your desired username.

For $99, they'll sign you up for 150 profiles (you handle the e-mail confirmation and profile info). The $599 Enterprise package creates 300 profiles in your name and handles all confirmation and profile information details. The site also launched a domain name search feature today.

2. ud.com

Before you decide on a brand name, check this simple site for domain name, social media, and trademark availability. The site features much fewer profiles than other username checking services, but it's far more manageable and easier to read: Green, available. Red, taken.

3. namechecklist

Another great free tool for deciding if your username is an optimal and searchable choice, namechecklist tells you what percentage of social media sites and domains have existing profiles that match your choice. The site also runs the name through popular search engines to gauge how common it is on the web.

4. claim.io

You give Claim.io your username and three alternates to use if your first choice has already been claimed. They start signing you up for social media sites with a randomly generated password. In 5-7 days, you receive a report with login information and links to each of your new profiles (which, thankfully, have already been populated with your photo or logo, website, and basic message). They even set up a new e-mail address so that yours doesn't get spammed by the 300 new sites you've just joined. Join 100 profiles for $129 or up to 300 for $329.

5. TM.biz

Policing the social web for trademark infringement can be exhausting. This site helps monitor and protect trademarks by searching more than 500 sites at once. Trademark owners can search name availability for free and opt to purchase a report with screen shots of each profile that uses their name, a service that defensively registers them for sites, or a monitoring service that periodically searches for their trademark in usernames.

The site uses criteria like website traffic and membership size to rank the sites by popularity, and pricing is based on how many of the "top" sites the user wishes to monitor or sign-up for.

6. namechk

A descendent of the since shut-down usernamecheck.com, this site offers a quick-glance view of username availability. A nifty "sort by rank" button rearranges the sites to show you the most popular on top.

7. Domainr

If your ideal ".com" is already occupied, it might be beneficial to explore the nontraditional, often clever, domain suggestions on domai.nr (case in point). The site gives suggestions for creating your chosen URL using domains. For instance, some suggestions for "Justin Bieber" were bieberjust.in and justinbie.be/r. It also lets you know if the suggested domains are taken.

These seven services are a great start for finding and reserving your name across the web. Which services do you recommend? Let us know in the comments below.

Series supported by Gillette

This series is supported by Gillette. Learn more about Gillette and its products at Gillette.com.

More Social Media Resource from Mashable:

- 5 Ways to Clean Up Your Social Media Identity
- 5 Tips for Creating the Perfect Profile Pic
- HOW TO: Spring Clean Your Twitter Account
- HOW TO: Make the Most of Your Twitter Profile Page
- HOW TO: Enhance Your Online Presence with Video

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, ferrantraite

Reviews: Namechk, Twitter, iStockphoto

More About: claim.io, Domain Names, domainr, domains, knowem, List, Lists, namechecklist, namechk, profile names, social media, TM.biz, ud.com

For more Social Media coverage:

Super Slowed-Down Justin Bieber Song Goes Viral

Posted: 17 Aug 2010 12:04 PM PDT


Today, a miracle of sorts occurred on this old Internets of ours — a young musician created an uber slowed-down version of Justin Bieber’s “U Smile,” and… well… we all kinda did. Smile, that is.

This morning, the song hit the web with the force of so many ambient hurricanes, racking up 177,889 plays and counting on music-sharing platform, Soundcloud. Intrigued by the jam — which sounds like standing on the edge of some majestic cliff in the wilds of Ireland feels — we reached out to the maker of said jam, Nick Pittsinger. Check out the song, as well as our interview with Pittsinger, which includes a bit of controversy, below:

J. BIEBZ – U SMILE 800% SLOWER by Shamantis

Who are you? You know, age, profession, where do you live, etc?
I’m Nick Pittsinger! I’m 20, I live in Tampa, Florida, and I produce music all day, everyday. I’ve recently been signed to Big Electric Management. I’m trying to score a job as a producer/songwriter for a record company at the moment!

Do you like Justin Bieber?
I do! I really do, haha. Even though it’s not a popular answer! I really hope to work with him one day. He’s got a serious voice and he seems like a really great kid.

How did you figure out that the song would sound so good slowed down?
I’m always experimenting with sound. I was listening to that song regularly and thought it’d be a neat idea to explore what it’d sound like slowed down, since the chord progression and melodies are quite nice and would be even nicer slowed down and appreciated.

The result was amazing, and I didn’t even have to add any effects or EQ it. It was perfect from the get go. :) Try it for yourself! Get Paulstretch, a free timestretching program, take any song and slow it down by 8x. I promise you’ll get the same effect.

When did you put it up on Soundcloud?
Last night around 12:30 a.m. EST! The response was unlike anything I could have ever anticipated. I watched the views go from 10 to 50… to 1,000 to 5,000 in an hour. I woke up and it was at 66,000.

How did it get so popular so fast?
I have NO idea! I guess the Internet really hates Bieber and to see him in a new light is quite a revelation of sorts!

Any plans to slow down any more jams?
Maybe! I’m always doing new experiments with sounds. But I can tell you that I’ve started a new meme. I’ve seen a bunch of posts on Reddit already about timestretching Dragonforce and Kylie Minogue!

Which artist do you think this sounds the most like?
A bit of Sigur Ros, Stars of the Lid, Brian Eno… pretty much what everyone is saying!

Another group, the Photon Wave Orchestra, is claiming you stole their song. What’s that all about?
The guy who runs Soundcloud apparently got a bunch of e-mails saying I plagiarized that band and wanted to know my side of the story. I backed it up with proof and nothing happened. It’s still up! Picture proof [that the song didn't go up in April, as the other band claims].

Whoa. Where did that come from?
Someone on Reddit did a little research! I love that site. They have my back for this whole thing. :)

So what happened?
They took my Bieber experiment and claimed it to be their own song, which is not the case. The proof is here. And plus, anyone can take that mp3 of the ambient Bieber and speed it up 8x. It sounds exactly like that link I shared. :)

Oh what a tangled web… We’ve reached out to the Photon Wave Orchestra for comment.

Reviews: Internet, justin bieber, picture

More About: humor, justin bieber, music, pop culture, soundcloud

For more Entertainment coverage:

Check in to TV Shows, Movies and More with GetGlue for Android

Posted: 17 Aug 2010 12:00 PM PDT


Entertainment checkin service GetGlue is announcing the release of its Android application, a lightweight mobile site and a bevy of new network partnerships. The new app and service bonuses are designed to further increase engagement and help the company expand its reach to all mobile audiences.

The new GetGlue for Andriod application mirrors the functionality of the iPhone app so users can check in to entertainment such as television shows, books, music and movies to earn points and stickers for their behaviors.

The app also includes navigation to allow users to click to view the stream of activity and checkins from friends, rate entertainment, view their stickers and customize their profiles.

GetGlue is also currently working on producing a BlackBerry app, but in the meantime it has launched a mobile website specifically designed for phones that don’t yet have checkin functionality. Anyone can visit the bare-bones GetGlue.com/mobile site on their mobile device to check in to shows, view activity streams and post messages.

On the business side of things, GetGlue is revealing a myriad of new partnerships with web and television networks to include Revision3, HBO and Showtime. Additional partners include Barnes & Noble, Thrillist, FEARNet and TV Squad. New partners bring new stickers to the table, which means that viewers who check in to partner-sponsored shows have the opportunity to redeem special digital and physical stickers for their behaviors.

Today’s GetGlue updates prove that AdaptiveBlue, the company behind the service, is focused on iterating the application experience to make it more compelling than startup competition from Philo, Miso and Clicker, as well as Comcast’s Tunerfish and CBS’s TV.com Relay.

When it comes to the competition, GetGlue believes they trump the rest in terms of audience size and app functionality. “We have an order of magnitude more activity than the other guys,” says CEO Alex Iskold.

Iskold points to the service’s five million unique ratings and checkins for the month of June as proof, and says that they’re continuing to see strong growth, especially around shows such as True Blood and Entourage that offer viewers exclusive stickers.

[img credit: Hector Milla]

Reviews: Clicker

More About: checkins, entertainment, getglue, Mobile 2.0, tv

For more Mobile coverage:

Joaquin Phoenix’s Movie Trailer “I’m Still Here” Hits the Web [VIDEO]

Posted: 17 Aug 2010 11:31 AM PDT

The much-anticipated documentary about the crazy, bearded, hip-hopping rebirth of actor Joaquin Phoenix arrives in theaters next month, and the teaser trailer is drawing a frenzy of attention on the web. We’ve embedded it here for your enjoyment… or bewilderment.

Phoenix is one of Hollywood’s great contemporary actors– arguably best known at this point for his role portraying Johnny Cash in the biopic Walk the Line — and also as the villain Commodus in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator, but his public identity went a whole new direction in early 2009.

Phoenix donned an out-of-control beard and messy, shaggy hair, then made a historically hilarious appearance on Late Show with David Letterman. Phoenix murmured almost incoherently throughout the interview as Letterman and his audience mocked him (“What can you tell us about your days with the uni-bomber?”). Some people believed Phoenix had fallen off the deep end, but others insisted it was an Andy Kaufman-esque public prank.

Phoenix revealed that he was leaving his successful acting career to pursue a career in hip-hop music. A video of one of his performances was bootlegged and uploaded to YouTube, where it accumulated one million views.

After blogs went a little crazy with speculation, the explanation finally came to light: Phoenix was starring in this documentary, called I’m Still Here: The Lost Years of Joaquin Phoenix. It’s directed by first-time director and fellow actor Casey Affleck.

It looks almost like a cross between Borat and an art-house Werner Herzog documentary (coincidentally, Phoenix was once rescued from a wrecked car by that mysterious German director). Early reports indicate that the film features frontal male nudity, a scene in which a man defecates on another while he sleeps, and other shocking moments and images.

Forget Phoenix’s sanity; we want to know whether this film is a drama or a comedy!

Reviews: YouTube

More About: art, casey affleck, Film, hip-hop, I'm Still Here, Joaquin Phoenix, letterman, movie, Movies, music, trailer, video

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Twitter Wants You to Share Your Twitter Stories

Posted: 17 Aug 2010 11:12 AM PDT


Twitter has launched a new section of its website called Twitter Tales, a collection of “examples of great Twitter use [that] will also likely inspire others to use the service in innovative and interesting ways.”

On the official Twitter blog, communications staffer Carolyn Penner wrote that Twitter Tales is intended to be “a growing set of articles that highlights creative individuals and businesses from all corners of the world that help make Twitter awesome.” Users are encouraged to email tales@twitter.com to share their own stories.

Three of the accounts highlighted so far are @natashabadhwar, a New Delhi-based filmmaker; @caltrain, a community-written account for SF commuters; and @thebloggess, a well-known digital humor writer. Each tale is a thorough and fascinating essay, a sort of social media version of a coming-out story.

If this tactic sounds familiar at all, it’s because both Facebook and Google have been heavily promoting user “stories” lately too. Facebook launched a website to highlight its users’ experiences as part of its 500-million-users commemoration. And Google’s “search stories” began with a Super Bowl ad and has continued as a series of YouTube videos and Google blog posts.

As social media junkies, we ourselves use Twitter for myriad purposes, from communicating with friends and family to spreading the word about work and ideas to sharing media to pure self expression. If you’re a Twitter user, how do you use the service? Has it changed your life in any ways?

[img credit: tsevis]

Reviews: Facebook, Google, Twitter, YouTube

More About: community, facebook stories, google search stories, twitter, twitter tales

For more Social Media coverage:

HBO Streaming Service Coming to iPad

Posted: 17 Aug 2010 10:38 AM PDT


HBO Co-president Eric Kessler says his company’s HBO Go streaming TV and movie service will be available on the iPad and mobile devices for the network’s paying customers within six months.

The news was buried in a Bloomberg article about the coming rivalry between HBO and Netflix. The piece says that HBO Go will be available on “all major cable systems, on Apple Inc.'s iPad, on mobile devices and elsewhere” at no extra cost for existing network subscribers.

In addition to hosting acclaimed TV shows like True Blood, HBO has the online rights to the feature films of Universal, Fox and Warner Bros, including Jurassic Park, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Night at the Museum: Battle in the Smithsonian and The Informant!. So these might stream exclusively on HBO Go.

While it’s exciting to see that HBO’s films and series will go mobile in the near future, it’s deflating to know that to stream all the movie content online you’ll have to pay for more than one service. As the Bloomberg article states, a deal between HBO and Netflix is extremely unlikely right now.

There’s already a Netflix iPad app, and Netflix just paid almost a billion dollars to HBO competitor EPIX for the rights to films from Paramount, Lions Gate Entertainment and MGM. Netflix’s Watch Instantly streaming service is available on a plethora of devices, including not just the iPad but several set-top boxes, TVs, Blu-ray players and video game consoles. HBO is going to try to bridge the gap.

[via NewTeeVee]

Reviews: Blu

More About: App, apple, cable, hbo, HBO GO, iOS, ipad, television, tv

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Vimeo Gets HTML5-Friendly Embeds and a Roku Channel

Posted: 17 Aug 2010 10:09 AM PDT


Online video community Vimeo has added HTML5 support to its video embeds, making its content accessible on devices like the iPhone and iPad.

Although the main Vimeo website is HTML5, its embed codes have remained Flash-only. This has been frustrating for mobile users and content creators who want to be on as many devices as possible.

Vimeo’s Andrew Pile, the vice president of product and development, tells USA Today that making embeds HTML5-compatible took nearly five months. Still, he says, “the videos will be playable in any browser and work with future platforms as well.”

YouTube has offered iPhone and iPad support for its embedded content for quite some time, and recently rolled out an HTML5-friendly experimental new embed code for desktop browsers and mobile devices.

Vimeo Comes to Roku

In addition to gaining HTML5 embed support, Vimeo will also be available to Roku customers later this afternoon. Vimeo will be the 50th content channel available on the Roku set-top box, joining the likes of Netflix, Amazon On-Demand and UFC.

The most popular Vimeo HD content, as chosen by the Vimeo staff, will be viewable in the channel. Vimeo users can also link their accounts to view their own videos and their personalized inbox selections.

The new “Watch Later” feature that Vimeo just introduced — think of it as a Delicious for web videos — is also built into the new channel so that users can enjoy a queued collection of videos at their leisure.

Moving Toward the Future

Hurdles in rolling out HTML5 embed support aside, Vimeo continues to be one of the most forward-looking video-sharing sites. Its dedication to non-commercial content may preclude it as a destination for all users, however it remains a great service to find and showcase online video.

We’ve always loved Vimeo’s commitment to video quality and the high bitrate that its HD and SD streams support. It’s great that users can now access Vimeo clips while reading their favorite blogs or on an HDTV.

What is your favorite video-sharing site? Let us know!

Reviews: Delicious, Vimeo, YouTube

More About: HTML5, roku, Vimeo, web video

For more Web Video coverage:

Google Adds Calendar Support for Outlook 2010

Posted: 17 Aug 2010 09:21 AM PDT


Google has just updated its Calendar Sync tool with support for Microsoft Outlook 2010, which will allow users to keep their primary Outlook calendar in sync with Google Calendar.

Google has offered one and two-way sync with Outlook via its Google Calendar Sync tool for quite some time, however, until today, that support has been limited to earlier versions of Outlook.

For now, there is still one caveat: Google Calendar Sync only works with the 32-bit version of Outlook 2010. Microsoft Office 2010 is available in both 32 and 64-bit, so be sure to check which version you have installed before getting started.

Outlook users can download the latest version of the sync tool, version 0.9.3.6 (download link) and then fill out the settings with sync type, frequency, and their Google login information.

If you already have Google Calendar Sync installed, you’ll need to download the new version to add Outlook 2010 support. Google also has help documents and a getting started guide if you run into any problems.

How do you keep your desktop and online calendars in sync? Let us know!

Reviews: Google

More About: calendars, Google Calendar, outlook 2010, software

For more Tech coverage:

RIM Sells 150,000 BlackBerry Torch Devices in Debut [REPORT]

Posted: 17 Aug 2010 08:27 AM PDT


BlackBerry’s “best device ever,” the Torch, doesn’t seem to be selling as well as some analysts expected.

The WSJ cites analysts at RBC Capital Markets and Stifel Nicolaus, which both estimate that RIM sold about 150,000 of the device over the weekend. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs called the launch “underwhelming.” For comparison’s sake, the iPhone 4 sold 1.7 million devices in its opening weekend.

Granted, the Torch is not iPhone 4 — end users are more likely to buy the iPhone directly in stores, while BlackBerry devices are often sold to business customers, who aren’t often the first in line to buy a new device. But there are some similarities. Like the iPhone 4, the Torch is available through AT&T for $199.99 with a two-year service contract. With its updated OS, large screen and a slide-out keyboard, it should be a perfect competitor to Apple’s smartphone.

However, arguably the biggest upgrade is the version 6 of the BlackBerry operating system, which will also be rolling out to other BlackBerry devices soon. As Mashable’s Christina Warren wrote, the device and the new OS is a “step in a right direction” for RIM, but the Torch is somewhat of a disappointment hardware-wise; for example, the 5-megapixel camera is not a huge advantage over competitors, and more importantly, the 624 MHz CPU and the 480 x 360 pixel resolution are subpar by today’s high-end smartphone standards.

Still, it’s too early to call the Torch a failure or a success; as RIM expands the launch to other countries and carriers, we’ll have a clearer picture. To learn more about the device, check out the hands-on video review we did last week:

Disclosure: RIM is a Mashable sponsor.

Reviews: Mashable

More About: blackberry, RIM, Torch

For more Mobile coverage:

The Rise of Text Messaging [INFOGRAPHIC]

Posted: 17 Aug 2010 07:39 AM PDT


This series is brought to you by the new BlackBerry Torch, the touch screen BlackBerry complete with social feeds, improved internet browsing, and much more.

Text messaging is one of the most popular communication methods in the world. The cost of a cell phone and SMS plan compared to that of a computer and a broadband connection has made texting extremely popular in developing countries, and “unlimited messaging” plans have made it the communication medium of choice for teens everywhere (beating face-to-face conversation and e-mail in popularity).

Before the rise of Twitter, texting was the original short-form messaging art, with participants in every age demographic. Even as smartphones (with e-mail and web capabilities) become more popular, SMS remains the baseline of mobile digital communication, and permeates nearly every social group.

The following infographic illustrates the trends and averages for texting in the United States and around the world. How do you and your texting habits compare?

Let us know in the comments how your texting habits compare to the trends and averages in the infographic above.

Series supported by BlackBerry Torch


This series is brought to you by the new BlackBerry Torch. Discover the new BlackBerry Torch. With a touch screen, a slide out keyboard, and the new BlackBerry 6 OS — not to mention BlackBerry Messenger, integrated social feeds and improved web browsing — the BlackBerry Torch helps you do what you love. Join the BlackBerry Facebook Community and stay up-to-date with all the latest BlackBerry news.

More Mobile Resources from Mashable:

- How Mobile is Affecting the Way We E-mail
- 5 iPhone Apps to Help You Learn to Dance
- A Look Back at the Last 5 Years in Mobile
- Top 5 Mobile Commerce Trends for 2010
- Why QR Codes Are Poised to Hit the Mainstream

Reviews: Twitter

More About: infographic, infographics, mobile messaging trends series, mobile trends, SMS, sms messages, text message, text messages, text messaging, texting, texting while driving, trending, trends

For more Mobile coverage:

Morning Brief: Nook for iPhone, Wii Holiday Release Dates, Verizon iPhone 4 Rumors

Posted: 17 Aug 2010 07:06 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:

Barnes & Noble Releases Nook for the iPhone

Barnes & Noble has finally released Nook for the iPhone. The free app, which includes many of the features of the iPad variant, plus the ability to rate e-books in-app, has been optimized for iPhone 4 displays.

The app is said to be a big improvement over its predecessor, B&N eReader, and includes more features akin to the stand-alone Nook device, like the ability to “lend” books to friends for 14 days.

Nintendo Announces Kirby and Donkey Kong Release Dates

At Gamescom in Cologne, Germany, Nintendo announced the release dates for most of its big-franchise titles for the Wii and DS platforms.

Kirby’s Epic Yarn will be in stores on October 17, 2010, and Donkey Kong Country Returns on November 21, 2010. Nintendo will also be bringing Goldeneye and Epic Mickey to Wii consoles this holiday season.

CDMA iPhone and iPad Units About to Hit Field Testing?

The Verizon iPhone rumors continue to grow with each passing day, the latest piece of “evidence” is visible within the code for iOS 4.

Boy Genius Report cites code blocks highlighted by a source that purportedly includes queries detailing a CDMA iPhone or iPad 2. The code in question would bypass the iTunes activation system, a procedure that has been used in the past for devices about to enter field-testing.

Further News:

  • Xbox Live Comes to Windows Phone 7 – Microsoft has announced that Windows Phone 7 will debut with support for 63 Xbox Live titles. These titles will range from puzzler classics like Bejeweled and Frogger to newer games like Guitar Hero.
  • Facebook May Make Location Announcement Today – Facebook is holding an event at its Palo Alto offices, promising an “update on the service’s features and products.” Could this be the location-based announcement we’ve all been expecting?
  • The iPhone 4 and iPad Coming to China – A new report suggests that China Unicom will be getting the iPhone 4 as early as next month. The report also suggests that China Unicom will also be the carrier of choice for the iPad.
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: Facebook, Frogger

More About: first to know series, iphone 4, iphone apps, nook, verizon, Wii

For more Social Media coverage:
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