Rabu, 25 Agustus 2010

Mashable: Latest 28 News Updates - including “Three Teens Murdered After Appearing on Facebook “Kill List””

Mashable: Latest 28 News Updates - including “Three Teens Murdered After Appearing on Facebook “Kill List””

Link to Mashable!

Three Teens Murdered After Appearing on Facebook “Kill List”

Posted: 25 Aug 2010 05:27 AM PDT


Three teenagers have been killed in the past 10 days in a southwestern Colombian town, with their names appearing on a “kill list” of 69 names posted on Facebook.

The Colombian police are investigating the case, but are unsure who posted the list, or why it contains these particular names.

According to CNN and the local media outlets, two killings happened on August 15, two days before the the list was posted on Facebook, warning the people named they had three days to leave the town of Puerto Asis. At first the police thought the list was a joke, but then a second list with 31 additional names appeared, and a third person on the list was killed on August 20. Another young man was wounded while escaping the attackers.

This prompted the authorities to post a reward of 5 million pesos (around $2,750) for information about the kill list and the murders, and launch an investigation, sending internet experts and investigators from Bogota to look into the case.

Gang violence isn’t uncommon in Puerto Asis; according to the authorities, a criminal gang Los Rastrojos as well as a Marxist guerrilla group called the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia are present in the area. However, the usage of Facebook to warn the victims, as well as the unknown origin and the purpose of the mysterious list, all make the case highly unusual.

[image credit: Wikipedia]

More About: facebook, social networking

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300,000 Largest Websites Visualized With Favicons

Posted: 25 Aug 2010 04:31 AM PDT


An interesting visualization over at Nmap.org shows the favicons of the 300,000 biggest websites on the Internet (according to Alexa), with the size of the favicons corresponding to sites with the most traffic.

The data has been gathered through a “large-scale scan of the top million web sites,” performed in “early 2010″ using the Nmap Security Scanner, a powerful network scanning tool used by many online security professionals.

The smallest icons, explain the folks from Nmap, correspond to sites with approximately 0.0001% reach, and re scaled to 16×16 pixels. The largest icon belongs to Google, and it’s 11,936 x 11,936 pixels large; for comparison, Mashable’s favicon (located below and to the left of Facebook) is 640 × 640 pixels large. Of course, to explain Google’s icon in its full size, you need to check out the zoom-enabled, interactive version.

The visualization is also available as a humongous poster, available here.

[via Gizmodo]

More About: Alexa, favicon, visualization, website

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MessageParty = Chat Room + Geolocation + iPhone

Posted: 25 Aug 2010 03:20 AM PDT


MessageParty, an early-stage YCombinator-funded startup, takes the classic concept of a chat room and adds a geosocial twist by making any chat room location-aware.

The app, which launched in the iTunes App store earlier this week, is very straightforward. Users can create public “parties” through the app that work just like group IM conversations. What sets MessageParty apart is that it makes these chat rooms location-aware. Instead of joining a random chat room where users can be anywhere from Brazil to your neighborhood, MessageParty focuses on detecting just nearby chats that you can join.

Essentially, MessageParty is a location-based chat room client. You can chat with friends in a bar or create a chat room for a conference. There are even city-wide chat rooms and an “Everyone Party,” which speaks for itself. It utilizes Facebook Connect for logins and uses your Facebook picture as your Avatar.

MessageParty is currently an app with bare-bones functionality; it doesn’t have direct messaging, private chats or profiles. However, we can see the usefulness of MessageParty for coordinating events or providing an open forum at conferences. While this app still needs a lot of work, it’s got the basics down, plus it boasts a team from MIT and has YCombinator’s backing.

Would you use an app like MessageParty at a bar or a conference?

More About: chat, ycombinator

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Firefox 4 Beta 4 Introduces Sync and Panorama

Posted: 25 Aug 2010 01:48 AM PDT


Mozilla has released Firefox 4 Beta 4, bringing two very interesting features to the table: Panorama (previously called Tab Candy) and Sync.

Panorama is a nifty visual tool that lets you overview all of your open tabs and group them into sets with a simple drag and drop interface. It’s activated via an icon at the right end of the bookmark bar, which takes you to your tab playground, where you can expand or delete your tab sets, create new ones and organize them around the canvas as you see fit.

I don’t see the need to organize my tabs in a way other than the default, but then again, I’m not an extreme tab user – I’ve seen people with 30+ tabs open at all time, and in such cases a feature like Panorama can come in handy.

Other interesting update in the latest beta of Firefox 4 is the inclusion of Sync, a feature that lets you synchronize your bookmarks, history, Awesome Bar, passwords, form-fill data and open tabs across multiple computers and your iPhone, if you use Firefox Home. As far as security and privacy go, Sync doesn’t track your history and encrypts all of your data before sending it to the server.

For many users, Sync is not only a wanted feature – it’s a must-have. Right now, a Firefox add-on called Xmarks delivers most of the functionality of Sync, and even brings some extra features, such as search enhancement and web discovery. But Firefox is playing catch-up here, as Google’s Chrome and Opera already have a similar feature, so it was definitely time to include something similar in the default version of the browser.

Firefox 4 Beta 4 is available for Mac, Linux and Windows users here.

More About: Firefox, mozilla, panorama, web browser

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Apple’s iTV Could Lead to 99-Cent TV Shows in iTunes [REPORT]

Posted: 24 Aug 2010 07:14 PM PDT


Apple is preparing for the launch of iTV, the successor to Apple TV, according to multiple reports. Not only that, but the technology giant is in talks with News Corp. and other media conglomerates to bring $0.99 TV show rentals to iTunes.

Apple intends to hold a press event in San Francisco on September 7, according to Bloomberg. At this event, Apple will not only reveal an updated version of the iPod Touch, but the company will also introduce the next generation of Apple TV, likely to be renamed iTV.

In order to generate interest in iTV and build up momentum for the launch, Apple is reportedly ratcheting up the pressure on the big networks to agree to $0.99 TV show rentals in iTunes. News Corporation and Walt Disney Company are apparently close to signing deals, while NBC, CBS and Time Warner have more reservations about a potential deal.

While Apple users can currently rent moves in iTunes, they can only buy TV shows. The minimum price for these purchases is $1.99, although many popular shows retail for $2.99. Apple believes that $0.99 shows could increase the appeal of not only iTV, but the iPad, iPhone and iPod as well.

The $0.99 TV rentals would be available 24 hours after a show airs. Once purchased, it would be available for 48 hours, free of commercials.

If Apple can succeed in these negotiations, it will be a major coup for the company. Apple has been feeling the pressure to turn Apple TV around ever since Google introduced Google TV to the masses. $0.99 shows will go a long way to increase the appeal of iTV, which is rumored to include iOS support and a $99 price tag.

Reviews: Google, iTunes

More About: apple, Apple TV, iOS, itunes, itv

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“Old Spice Guy” Ad Wins an Emmy

Posted: 24 Aug 2010 04:17 PM PDT


Ad agency Wieden + Kennedy’s “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” TV spot for Old Spice has won the Emmy for Outstanding Commercial.

The spot starred former NFL wide receiver Isaiah Mustafa as the Old Spice Guy, a character now well-known in pop culture thanks to the TV ads and a highly successful social media campaign.

The Old Spice Guy solicited questions from fans on Twitter, Yahoo Answers and other websites, then answered them in short, humorous YouTube videos. Total upload views for the Old Spice YouTube videos (including both the TV and the social media campaigns) currently stand at almost 135 million. “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” has more than 18 million.

Mustafa joked in one of the final videos that he was a struggling actor, but the ads seem to have stripped away the “struggling” bit. He’s been signed to two movie roles, and will also appear in the NBC TV series Chuck.

Though Mustafa’s performance was a hit, the Emmy actually went to the creative minds behind the ad campaign, Wieden + Kennedy’s Portland office. The team won an Emmy last year for the Coca-Cola Super Bowl spot “Heist.”

[via AdWeek]

“The Man Your Man Could Smell Like”

More About: advertising, commercials, Emmy, emmy awards, Emmys, Isaiah Mustafa, MARKETING, old spice, old spice guy, television, trending, tv

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iPhone App is a Remote Control for Web Entertainment

Posted: 24 Aug 2010 04:16 PM PDT


Watch streaming television shows and movies via Hulu or Netflix on the web? Y Combinator startup Teevok has released a doozy of an iPhone app designed for you — it’s a one-touch web watching experience powered by your iPhone.

The Teevok app is a free download that gives users the ability to use their iPhone as a remote control for web content on Hulu or Netflix. Select a show or movie from the app and Teevok will instantly start playing your selection in your computer’s browser.

The app is essentially a mobile remote control so you can start, stop and fast-forward through shows, or use the volume controls to manage audio preferences. It’s the ultimate lazy person’s tool for lean-back web entertainment.

Of course, Teevox’s iPhone app is more than just a remote to digital entertainment. You can also use it participate in live show-based chats with other viewers, see what your friends are watching and earn pink stars (part of Teevox’s reward system) for app behaviors that you can exchange for reputation goodies like a new Teevok title.

Try Teevok for yourself and let us know what you think in the comments.

[img credit: brianjmatis]

Reviews: Hulu

More About: hulu, iphone app, netflix, teevox, y combinator

For more Mobile coverage:

RIM Acquires Cellmania to Bolster BlackBerry App World

Posted: 24 Aug 2010 03:44 PM PDT


RIM, the company behind the BlackBerry, has acquired mobile storefront operator Cellmania.

Cellmania has extensive experience in developing, managing and distributing mobile application storefronts for handset operators. Its mFinder white label system counts Telstra, Telus, T-Mobile, Virgin Mobile, Sprint, Airtel, AT&T, Boost Mobile, Optus, Orange and others among its clientele.

On its website, Cellmania says that it will continue to support its existing client base even after joining RIM.

The Cellmania acquisition shows that RIM is willing to invest in a solid infrastructure for its platform. The BlackBerry App World just received a major overhaul, however, despite RIM’s large device penetration, available apps in App World pale in comparison to both the iPhone and Android’s offerings.

Still, it’s important to remember that there is a lot more to a robust application store — especially on the mobile front — than just having a large quantity of applications.

For instance, despite its soaring growth, paid app support in the Android Market is still limited to a handful of countries, as compared to the much wider international presence of Nokia’s Ovi Store and the iOS App Store. Google has also faced challenges with its mobile payment options.

This is where a company like Cellmania can give RIM a real advantage. Because it powers the individual app stores that mobile phone carriers tie to many of their feature phones, the company already has vast infrastructure in place for working with various carriers, collecting payments from multiple sources and accepting application submissions from developers all over the world.

Having a streamlined system for both delivering apps to users and collecting app submissions from developers will only become more important as smartphone usage continues to grow and other mobile devices like tablets become more prominent.

This forward-looking move may just give RIM some backend advantages as it continues to face tough competition from many different manufacturers and platforms.

Reviews: Android Market, App Store, Google, iPhone

More About: app stores, blackberry, business, cellmania, mobile apps, RIM

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Photos Too Racy for Facebook? Put Them in the Fridge

Posted: 24 Aug 2010 02:48 PM PDT


With 500 million members and an ambition to push people towards public sharing, Facebook is probably not the best place to post and share photos of you napping at your desk or partying hard at last night’s booze fest. Enter The Fridge, a YCombinator-backed startup that promises a Facebook-like experience for private groups.

The Fridge is a 100% group-based site. Simply put, members can participate in familiar social network behavior — post status updates and photos, comment, heart (a.k.a “Like”) and share — but only within the groups that they’ve created or been invited to.

Group creation is dead simple. Simply sign up with an e-mail address, enter a group name, share the group’s private URL with friends and you’re on your way to socializing with smaller private groups of friends.

The Fridge users also get their own public profiles where other site members can post comments and photos in a wall-like fashion. The only real way to discover other users, however, is through joint groups. Plus, the notion of explicit friend relationships is non-existent — there’s no need for friend requests — and communication is one-to-many through groups.

Part of The Fridge’s genius is that it supports a Posterous-like approach for posting new content. Members can e-mail anything to a group’s custom e-mail address to post a new message to that group.

In a demo at a YCombinator event earlier today, The Fridge adroitly drove its message home by showing a photo of a guy smoking out of a N64 controller that had been modified to serve as a bong. The clear message was: Post this photo to Facebook and you’ll find yourself in trouble, but post this photo to The Fridge and you and a few of your closest buddies can chuckle over the clever ingenuity used to construct such a device.

Perhaps there is no more poignant example of the difference between The Fridge and Facebook than that. It begs the question, then: What would you hide in your fridge?

[img credit: Gilderic]

Reviews: Facebook, Posterous

More About: facebook, the fridge, y combinator

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The State of the GeoSocial Universe [INFOGRAPHIC]

Posted: 24 Aug 2010 02:43 PM PDT

Jesse Thomas is the CEO and Founder of JESS3, a Creative Interactive Agency. JESS3 designs products and experiences for brands like Google, Nike, Facebook, MySpace, C-SPAN, Microsoft and NASA.

With constant news reports and studies regarding the adoption rates of social networking platforms like Foursquare, Gowalla, Facebook, Loopt and SCVNGR, a clear idea of the big picture can get a little muddled. Is Facebook really as popular as we think? Are location-based mobile features really poised to hit mainstream adoption?

To better answer these questions, behold the “GeoSocial Universe.” The graphic below pits our social network usage against the huge adoption of mobile phones — currently at 4.6 billion worldwide.

Facebook, with over 500 million users, is still around 10 times smaller than the worldwide mobile market. Even web-based e-mail, which accounts for over 800 million users collectively, barely holds a candle to the mobile juggernaut.

The key here is convergence. Where do all these social platforms intersect with mobile, thus becoming “GeoSocial?”

The infographic below shows the number of users on each network, and what portion of those users overlap with the huge mobile “sun.” For instance, Facebook has 500 million active users, with roughly one-third of them accessing their accounts via mobile devices. Services like Foursquare, Gowalla, and Loopt, being entirely dependent on mobile tech, have 100% of their users within the mobile sphere.

Does this put things into perspective? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

GeoSocial Universe InfoGraphic

More Social Media Resources from Mashable:

- Top 5 Mobile Advertising Trends To Watch
- The Rise of Text Messaging [INFOGRAPHIC]
- Why Location-Based Social Media Needs to Get "Passive" Aggressive
- How Mobile is Affecting the Way We E-mail
- A Look Back at the Last 5 Years in Mobile

Reviews: Facebook, Foursquare, Gowalla

More About: adoption rates, facebook, foursquare, friendster, geosocial, gmail, gowalla, hotmail, linkedin, location, loopt, Mobile 2.0, Skype, social media, usage, Yahoo

For more Mobile coverage:

Leftronic Launches the Business Dashboard of the Future

Posted: 24 Aug 2010 02:28 PM PDT


Leftronic — a YCombinator early-stage startup launching today — is designed to help teams monitor critical metrics in real time through large screen dashboards. Leftronics has built sophisticated web-based visualization software that pulls in company data and optimizes it for presentation on a large screen.

The Leftronic dashboards display data in a colorful fashion. Teams can pinpoint individual data points to track in real time — think web analytics, geo-located transactions, sales numbers and server stats — and push that data to the their company dashboard display through Leftronic’s API.

Leftronic’s dashboards are meant to turn complex monitoring processes into simple and visually enhanced experiences by tracking, parsing and presenting data in visual form. The startup is currently a private beta service.

Mashable’s Ben Parr and Pete Cashmore are attending today’s YCombinator Demo Day event in Mountain View, California. The photo below is a life-size example of a Leftronic dashboard.

More About: leftronic, software, y combinator

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Impressive Location Startup Hatches from Qualcomm Incubator

Posted: 24 Aug 2010 02:09 PM PDT


Today Qualcomm is formally announcing the launch of Qualcomm Services Labs (QSL), an incubation program that is a wholly owned subsidiary of Qualcomm. QSL is meant to serve as a platform to fund, commercialize and launch innovative consumer-focused mobile services such as Neer, an application that cleverly interprets location-sharing for the more private types among us.

Qilroy, Tapioca and Vive are three of the other mobile services and apps participating in the incubator program. Each has been selected for its potential to make an immediate impact on the market. As QSL services, each will also eventually become its own business entity or be integrated into an existing Qualcomm division.

Of the four incubated apps launching today, Neer is by far the most interesting and practical of the bunch. Not only is it market-ready and sleekly designed, but it tackles location-sharing in a way that a majority of mainstream mobile users will find is much more relevant to their lives than location-sharing a la Foursquare, Facebook Places or Google Latitude.

Neer: Location-Sharing for Private Types

Neer is a fantastic app currently available for Android devices, and soon the iPhone. The application is designed for private, automatic location-sharing, which makes it opposite in purpose and function to Facebook Places and Foursquare.

When demoing the application for Mashable, creator Ian Heidt described Neer as occupying, “the middle ground between Foursquare and Google Latitude.”

Neer creates an ideal mobile location-sharing experience for close friends, family members and spouses who want to automatically share their whereabouts with the people they trust. The application is integrated with the user’s native contacts, and even goes so far as to use calling and texting behaviors to determine a user’s closest contacts and automatically generate recommendations for inclusion in the user’s default group, the inner circle.

Users can create their own groups and control on a group-by-group basis who can view their location and when. others can also send notes to groups.

Neer runs in the background and automatically updates a user’s location, but it only shares place names, not physical addresses. Neer users must define and label preferred locations and then decide which groups to share those places with.

Right now Neer is perfectly structured for routine lifestyles. When you leave to drop the kids off at school, your significant other can know when they arrive. When you’re working late, your inner circle can know not to expect you for dinner.

Because Neer requires users to define the places that peers can see them at, however, Neer is less practical when you break from the routine and venture out to a new venue. Heidt promised that the mobile application will be enhanced to better handle less routine schedules and tackle real-world location problems that often face good friends in close proximity in the future.

Qualcomm-Incubated Services

Qilroy

Qilroy — pronounced “kill roy” — bills itself as a conversation platform organized around location. The service also doubles as a comprehensive search engine for public geo-located status updates, and hence a convenient utility for surfacing time and place-specific news.

On Qilroy, users can search location updates nearby or filter for places or events. Users can start conversations on site, with replies pushed out to the respective social networks where the original updates were posted. Replies to tweets, for instance, will show up as mentions on Twitter for the original author and include a link back to the Qilroy thread. Conversations can continue in a thread-like fashion on-site.

At launch, Qilroy pulls in geo-located updates from Twitter and Tweetphoto for users on the web or via its iPhone app [iTunes link]. Eventually Qilroy plans to aggregate and create conversations around a majority of location-based updates from other services such as Facebook Places, Foursquare and Gowalla.

Service creator Mike Bailey tested the application with student interns, who found it to be a “real-time bulletin board that allows for ad-hoc interactions and conversations.” In one example, an intern pointed to using Qilroy to find out whether or not the college library is crowded. Another cites using Qilroy as a way to find out about free food or promotions happening at the student center.

Even though Qilroy only surfaces content that users have selected to share publicly elsewhere, it’s still a bit jarring at times. Search for “lunch” and you’ll see a bevy of recently published geo-located tweets broadcasting where people are eating. Sure, users searching for a lunch buddy will find the information handy, but there’s also a handful of less-than-ideal scenarios that come to mind as well.

Tapioca

Tapioca generates short URLs — called Magic Links — for multimedia content. Content providers can use the service to generate shortened URLs and share multimedia that is consumable on all smartphones and feature phones.

Right now Tapioca is primarily a business-to-business play, but it ultimately aims to graduate to focus on consumer multimedia sharing as well. As such, end users could use Tapioca to generate a Magic Link to share cross-platform video formats with friends. The idea is to dramatically enhance the distribution and consumption of video media on mobile phones.

Tapioca was acquired by Qualcomm in April 2010. Terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed, but Tapioca had previously raised $5.5 million from Venrock.

Vive

Vive is focused on enhancing the social recommendation experience across web and mobile platforms. Publishers and retailers can add Vive buttons to their sites to allow for seamless product-sharing. Users can use Vive to recommend products, services and content to friends; active users are rewarded for their behaviors.

Vive’s behind-the-scenes technology is quite impressive and can translate content type on-the-fly to ensure that each user is served up with device-appropriate content. Vive is available as a Facebook application and soon as an iPhone and Android application.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, ariusz

Reviews: Android, Facebook, Foursquare, Gowalla, Mashable, TweetPhoto, Twitter, iStockphoto

More About: geolocation, location-aware, Mobile 2.0, neer, qilroy, qualcomm, qualcomm services labs, tapioca, vive

For more Mobile coverage:

Service Lets You Discover New Music Blogs While You Listen

Posted: 24 Aug 2010 01:26 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.

Name: Shuffler.fm

Quick Pitch: Shuffler.fm is like Pandora mixed with StumbleUpon — a music and blog discovery service.

Genius Idea: Music fans, prepare to geek out. If you’re really into checking out new music blogs/always knowing about the latest music discovery and Internet radio services, Shuffler.fm was tailor-made for you. It’s basically Pandora for music blogs — shuffling through thousands of sites to display both blog content and new jams.

The site, which launched in alpha last week, is the brainchild of the Tone collective, an interactive media and entertainment agency. The first version is pretty simple; merely surf over to Shuffler.fm, choose a channel — anything from Alt-country to Dubstep — and let the music listening/blog-reading begin.

When the first blog pops up, the most recently loaded MP3 will begin playing (a la Pandora). You can choose to skip said blog and song and go to the next, or let it play out. Once one song ends, you’re taken to a new blog site, where another jam takes over. You can also pause a song and finish exploring the site in question. At present, you can’t browse a blog whilst listening to the entirety of the featured MP3s, but that feature is coming in the next iteration.

Some of you might be wondering how this service differs from ExtensionFM, a Chrome add-on we featured in a past Spark of Genius. Well, that extension functions more as a music scraper than a discovery system. After installing the plugin, you can surf to various music blogs, where ExtensionFM yoinks all available songs and transfers them to a playlist. A lot of my music blogger friends were not too keen on this plugin, actually, since they felt like it detracted from the content of the blog. Not so with Shuffler.fm.

“We take users page by page,” Co-Founder Tim Heineke tells us. “We give bloggers page views, and help users experience [new blogs]. The next flip of thumb  could open a hidden door with music gems on a cool music blog.” Currently, the service includes 1,600 blogs, but more are being added every day (you can even submit yours, if you so desire). Actually, Heineke tells us Shuffler.fm and ExtensionFM work quite well together — simply use Chrome to play with Shuffler, and lift songs that you enjoy for later listening via ExtensionFM.

Shuffler.fm plans to add more features as it continues to grow, including premium accounts and iPhone and iPad apps (in case you were wondering how the Tone dudes plan on making money). Currently, the free service is a great way to learn more about music via blogs, while also discovering some new tunes. You can also share selections with friends via Facebook, Twitter and e-mail. Now, if you would excuse me, a really awesome Thermals song just popped up and this blog looks rather rad… Goodbye, productivity.

[img credit: The Cleveland Kid]

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: Chrome, Facebook, Internet, Pandora, StumbleUpon, Twitter

More About: BLOGS, music, pandora, spark-of-genius

For more Entertainment coverage:

Nook Helps Drive 21% Increase in Revenue for Barnes & Noble

Posted: 24 Aug 2010 01:08 PM PDT


Barnes & Noble has reported a loss of $62.5 million for its first fiscal quarter ending July 31, compared to a profit of $12.3 million the year before, and despite a 21% increase in year-over-year revenue to $1.4 billion.

Unsurprisingly, sales at Barnes & Noble retail locations continued to decline (by 0.9%), while online sales jumped 42% to $145 million year-over-year, exceeding the company’s own expectations.

The company cited sales of its e-reading device, the Nook, as the driving force behind the increase in online revenue. Sales of the device itself accelerated even further after the company reduced its price from $259 to $199 and added a $149 Wi-Fi-only version to its shelves in June. The bookseller also released apps for Android and iPhone devices this summer.

Barnes & Noble claims that e-book sales continue to accelerate week-over-week, and that owners of the company’s e-reader, which was launched nine months ago, have increased their spending with the bookseller by approximately 20% (Barnes & Noble Chairman Leonard Riggio fixed that number at 17% during a conference call with investors in June). Roughly a quarter of these device owners had never before purchased anything from the company’s website.

“The company made significant strides executing its digital strategy during the first quarter, and all our key metrics on the digital business are well ahead of plan,” CEO William Lynch observed.

Barnes & Noble also reaffirmed that its share of the digital market — which the company claims is 20% — now exceeds its share of the retail book market, although new players like Borders and the forthcoming Copia platform will heighten competition in the space.

Barnes & Noble expects sales at its retail stores to continue to decline. It did not release any specific projections regarding online sales growth.

Reviews: Android, iPhone

More About: amazon, barnes & noble, barnes and noble, borders, copia, e-books, e-commerce, earnings, ebooks, Kindle, nook, quarterly earnings

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10 iPhone Apps to Get You Back to School

Posted: 24 Aug 2010 12:18 PM PDT


As August nights get cooler, we begin begrudgingly counting down the remaining summer days. Once Labor Day passes, it’s back to school time for millions.

The best part of going back to school is clearly the shopping. Even though a new notebook can go a long way in preparing you for the new year, the iPhone also has a ton of apps that will help to get you organized and in the right mind-space to focus and learn.

Last year we brought you 10 awesome applications and now we are updating and adding to that list, ensuring you have a smooth transition when returning to those hallowed halls.

From the college-bound to those who are still lucky enough to enjoy recess, here is a list of the best back to school apps.

1. Open Culture

Going back to school can be a shock to the system. You’ve probably spent the last few months relaxing, hanging out with friends, or transitioning from summer job mode. Hours of classes, papers and assignments can be rough, so to get yourself in a more intellectual space, you can check out Open Culture, which gives you free access to a huge selection of educational and intellectual audio and video collections.

Because acing school often has to do with time management, this app can really help you out in the multitasking department. Choose from a decent list of classics available as audio books while you do your laundry or hit the gym. The “Ideas and Culture” option has a lengthy list of podcasts and radio shows that will tune you into some striking commentary and analysis from some of today’s most interesting thinkers. There is also access to free university lectures plus foreign language lessons and scientific tutorials; as if you didn’t have enough to deal with.

2. Mental Case

Those first tests are but a few weeks away, and it’s up to you to make studying for them as easy as possible. For $4.99, Mental Case lets you create oh-so-handy flashcards on your iPhone. If you’re still leaning toward making them out of paper, then the added bonus of being able to record audio and insert images to the cards may sway your thoughts.

In addition to making your own custom flashcards, you also have access to FlashcardExchange where you can choose from over 21 million cards on a huge range of topics.

If you’d rather not spend all your time studying from your phone, you can download the flash cards to your computer.

3. Rate My Professor

A professor can often make or break a course. Some love teaching and really bring excitement and innovation to the lecture hall, while others have sleep-inducing voices and read straight out of the textbook. Rate My Professors is a useful app in deciding what courses you want to try to get into and which ones you should probably ditch before the add/drop period is over.

While versions of Rate My everything — from teachers, to doctors to dentists — have existed for years, this app is a great way to let other students know when your prof does something great or should just be avoided. You can tweet or post the messages to Facebook, but use caution if you plan to publicize a bad review.

4. myHomework and iStudiez Pro

myHomework and iStudiez Pro are two apps we have reviewed before, but we simply can’t leave them off this list. myHomework is a free app that will help you stay afloat amidst the sea of assignments you’ll have to tackle.

Color coding helps you keep track of assignments in different classes, and when they’re due. If you are a great organizer, you can use the app to intricately plan how much of each assignment you want to accomplish and by what date to really keep you on track. The app has been updated since we last reviewed it, and you can now view your homework in a day or calendar view, as well as send homework reminders to friends.

iStudiez Pro is a paid app ($2.99) that will help you keep track of your student life. Here you can track your class schedule, so you aren’t missing lectures and ending up at the wrong end of campus, and you can also color-code each of your classes with their corresponding assignments, and be notified of their due dates on the apps calendar.

5. Free Translator

French class may be frustrating, but it’s not hopeless. Free translator is a great way to help you learn another language, as you can discover words that are more relevant to your life.

This app supports a ton of languages, so you even if your school doesn’t offer Polish or Korean lessons, you can learn a few things on your own. It also won’t hurt to have it handy when your French teacher calls on you in class.

6. Chegg

So this probably isn’t news to anyone entering or already in college; textbooks are expensive. Even courseware, which is often a compilation of photocopied texts, can run you hundreds of dollars. Since you probably just dropped a ton of cash on tuition, why not try and save some money where you can without sacrificing your education?

Chegg is a free app that does just that. It’s a textbook rental company with millions of titles to choose from, which is a real bonus considering you don’t have to brave the school book store and stand in line for hours.

You can search for your book by title, author or ISBN, or simply scan its barcode. The app is hellbent on saving you money, as you can compare Chegg’s rental price to the retail and in-store prices, so you know you are getting the best deal.

Since it’s a book rental app, you’ll have to part with the books eventually, which means you have to remember to return them. With all your work, that might be the last thing on your mind, but thankfully the app will send you gentle reminders so late fees don’t ruin the value of the service.

7. Blackboard Mobile Learn for iPhone

Blackboard is a platform that many schools use as way to communicate with students, as well as posting their grades and assignments to private student accounts. Many teachers and professors will direct their students to head to Blackboard to view next week’s lecture notes or find the link to a required reading. Having access to the platform on your phone can make keeping up with your assignments so much easier.

8. Quick Graph

For many of us, math is just not our thing. Those who get it and love it will probably adore Quick Graph, a graphic calculator with 2D and 3D capabilities. It’s also capable of displaying explicit and implicit equations as well as inequalities in both 2D and 3D, in all standard coordinate systems: Cartesian, polar, spherical and cylindrical. You can also share your results via e-mail or you can save them to your photo library.

9. Formulus Free – Formulas for Calculus

Even if you are a math-wiz, it’s hard to keep track of all those formulas. Formulus Free is an app that can help when your memory fails you. There is no more searching through pages of notes to find the right formula for your equation. The free app has all your algebra, geometry and differential equation needs in one easy-to-find place.

10. Free Books

So Free Books isn’t actually free, but you get a lot for its $1.99 price tag. Once you’ve paid for the app, you have easy access to 23,469 classics at the swipe of a finger.

While you won’t find modern titles, the classics — the ones you are likely studying in class — are all there. You can search for titles by name, or browse through them by genre or collection. Think of the money you’ll save not having to buy each book for your Lit class.

For those worried that they couldn’t read an entire book on their iPhone screen, fear not, as you can actually e-mail yourself a copy of the entire book so you can read it on your computer or download it to an e-reader.

More Educational Resources from Mashable:

- Why Online Education Needs to Get Social
- 5 Innovative Tech Camps for Kids and Teens
- 5 Organizations Helping Women Get Ahead in Tech
- 5 Fun Ways to Help Your Kids Learn Math Online
- Social Media Parenting: Raising the Digital Generation

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, lisapics

Reviews: Facebook, iPhone, iStockphoto

More About: apple, apps, blackboard mobile learn for iphone, books, chegg, college, english, free books, free translator, iphone, istudiez pro, math, mental case, myhomework, open culture, quick graph, rate my professor, reading, school, students, trending

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Clicker Brings 1,800 Web Series to the iPhone

Posted: 24 Aug 2010 12:01 PM PDT


Web video database Clicker.com has launched its iOS app for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. An iPad-specific version is also coming sometime soon.

The app allows users to search, watch and discuss 1,800 web shows (there are about 200,000 episodes in all), and download and watch 12,000 additional shows from iTunes — though you could obviously do that last part on your iPhone already.

Clicker also claims that it will soon support both Hulu Plus and Netflix on the iPhone, although you’ll need the Hulu Plus and Netflix apps to actually watch those videos, a Clicker rep told us. The Netflix app isn’t even available in the app store yet, but Clicker plans to add Hulu Plus to the iPhone-specific index “sometime later this quarter,” though that last bit depends on Hulu Plus graduating from its testing phase.

Clicker previously maintained a web-based list of videos formatted in HTML5 for the iPhone and iPad, but a native app should prove much easier to use.

It’s not just about browsing and watching the videos, either. The Clicker app allows you to check in to shows Philo or Foursquare-style, see your friends’ activity in a news feed, check out what shows are trending, and see who (friends or others) is currently watching various shows.

A Clicker rep said that the “goal is to augment the Clicker.com experience,” so you can also browse content that’s not playable on your mobile device, as well as manage your Clicker playlist remotely. If a friend recommends a show but it’s not available on mobile, you can still make a note of it in the app and watch it when you get to a laptop or a desktop computer.

Video

Screenshots

Reviews: Clicker, Foursquare, iTunes

More About: App, clicker, iOS, ipad, iphone, iPod Touch, television, tv, video, web series

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Bing Now Powers Yahoo Search

Posted: 24 Aug 2010 11:36 AM PDT


It's official: Yahoo search is now powered by Microsoft's Bing, the end result of a deal signed a little over one year ago by the two companies.

That means that combined, Microsoft now owns 28.1% of the search market (as of July 2010's comScore numbers), though that’s still less than half of Google's 65.8% share.

The implementation, which has been in testing for about a month, is currently live only in English and only in the U.S. and Canada, with "other languages [to] come in the weeks and months ahead," according to a statement from Microsoft.

The change might not be immediately apparent to Yahoo users, as the search interface remains essentially the same (and the company has indicated that it will continue to make its own experience enhancements). However, you'll notice if you look at the status bar in your browser that data is indeed being loaded from Bing.

Another big piece of the deal –- migrating Yahoo search advertisers to Microsoft's adCenter platform –- is still under development, with Microsoft saying it’s "optimistic about completing this phase later this fall."

Reviews: Bing, Google

More About: bing, Google, microsoft, Search, Yahoo

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“True Blood” Explained in 60 Seconds [VIDEO]

Posted: 24 Aug 2010 11:04 AM PDT

Those crazy kids at Babelgum have found their next muse for the popular “60 seconds” series: True Blood.

The hit HBO show, which is closing out its third season, is humorously summarized in “True Blood in 60 Seconds”.

Babelgum has a history of successfully satirizing pop culture. The site scored a big hit earlier this spring with its “Glee in 60 Seconds” video. The site also frequently uses children to reenact the dialog of TV shows like The Hills, Jersey Shore and even the American Revolution.

True to form, Babelgum manages to boil True Blood down to its essence: Lots of sex and biting, alongside the allegorical use of vampires to represent other discriminated members of modern society. Oh yeah, and lots of vampire sex.

We’re fans of True Blood, but we have to say, the Babelgum team nailed the satire. Do you watch True Blood? Let us know what you think of this parody in the comments.

More About: Babelgum, comedy, hbo, television, true blood

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College Curriculum Requires Undergrads to Play Video Game “Portal”

Posted: 24 Aug 2010 10:41 AM PDT


At Indiana’s all-boys Wabash College, the critically acclaimed video game Portal will appear alongside The Epic of Gilgamesh, Hamlet, and Aristotle as required material for undergraduate students seeking any degree.

The game will be part of a mandatory Freshman seminar called “Enduring Questions” that will explore “fundamental questions of humanity” through “classical and contemporary works.” A theater professor named Michael Abbott is among the faculty members designing the course.

Inspired by a game theory article drawing comparisons between Portal and Erving Goffman’s 1959 sociology text The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, Abbott nominated Portal as one of the works that students would be required to experience and discuss to pass the class.

He demonstrated the game for his non-gaming colleagues and was pleased to find that they appreciated and approved the plan to assign Goffman’s text and follow it up with “a collective playthrough of Portal.”

The game won’t be part of every section of Enduring Questions because of the potential technical challenges of making hundreds of students play a video game the university might not have the hardware for. Abbott and a few of his colleagues are testing Portal out for select classes.

Abbott said he also considered BioShock and Planescape Torment, but went with Portal in part because of its comparatively short play time.

Portal Trailer

Portal 2 Trailer

More About: college, curriculum, education, gaming, portal, portal 2, professor, trending, university, valve software, video games, wabash college

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Samsung Releases Teaser for Galaxy Tab Android Tablet [VIDEO]

Posted: 24 Aug 2010 10:19 AM PDT

Samsung has just released a teaser video for its upcoming Android tablet, the Samsung Galaxy Tab.

The Galaxy Tab website and SamsungUSA’s YouTube channel both host the video for the 7-inch device that is set to debut in Berlin on September 2.

The Galaxy Tab looks like a direct extension of the Galaxy S series of phones Samsung is currently selling. We’re big fans of the Galaxy S handset, as you can see in our hands-on review of the Galaxy S Captivate.

In addition to a 7-inch multi-touch screen, the Galaxy Tab video also notes that the tablet will ship with Google Android 2.2, a.k.a. Froyo. This is the latest Android variant and the first to include official support for Adobe Flash.

The Galaxy Tab teaser also notes the ability to do video calls, which indicates that the device will be equipped with a front-facing camera.

Pricing and detailed technical specifications aren’t available at this time, but with any luck, the Galaxy Tab might just prove to be the first Android tablet with an actual shot at rivaling Apple’s iPad.

What are your thoughts on the Galaxy Tab?

Disclosure: Samsung is a Mashable sponsor.

Reviews: Android, Mashable

More About: android, android tablet, galaxy tab, samsung galaxy, tablets

For more Mobile coverage:

Top 5 Ways Big Brands are Using Foursquare

Posted: 24 Aug 2010 09:46 AM PDT


This series is supported by The Awareness Social Marketing Hub, a leading enterprise-grade application for marketers struggling with the social media chaos of managing multiple social channels. Click here to learn more.

Foursquare LogoUnlike other more mainstream social networks, the business potential of Foursquare may not be immediately apparent. At present, the location-based network is less about conversations and resource sharing, and more about tying your social activities to physical places.

For brick-and-mortar businesses, a Foursquare strategy makes a lot of sense. But what about brand promotion in general, say in the entertainment or publishing worlds? With Foursquare, it’s not about linking users back to your site or products, but creating a new location-based product that has value for fans and followers. Here’s how five big brands are attempting to connect location to their online social presences.

1. Recommendations with Personality: Bravo

Bravo on Foursquare Image

In the television industry, Bravo was one of the first networks to get on board with Foursquare, and 50,000 of its fans have followed so far. The network’s programming is a mix of food, fashion, and reality drama, and the TV personalities and hosts that viewers love are the ones making recommendations on Foursquare.

Restaurant, shopping, and hotel suggestions reinforce Bravo’s image as a network of culture experts, and the personalities who leave tips through the brand add that bit of personal flavor or sass that draws viewers to the shows in the first place. Fans don’t follow for Bravo per se; they’re following to see where Top Chefs and Millionaire Matchmakers spend their time in New York and LA.

2. Restaurant Reviews: Zagat

Zagat on Foursquare Image

If there was ever a brand made for Foursquare, Zagat is it. The 30+ year-old publication is the go-to guide for restaurant and hotel reviews, and their embrace of numerous social media channels is noteworthy.

Zagat uses Foursquare the way many individual users do — by leaving food-related tips about locations. And Zagat is not city-specific. You’ll find foodie tips from Los Angeles, to New York, to Cambridge, MA.

Zagat’s Foursquare account is an obvious way to reinforce everything the brand is known for, and perhaps tap into a new demographic of diners who may be reluctant to carry around a paperback guide in addition to their smartphones.

3. Celebrity Sway: MTV

MTV on Foursquare Image

While we may not yet live in a world where celebrities want fans to know their locations in real-time, filtering their favorite places through an over-arching brand is a good start.

Fans can keep tabs on the favorite haunts of stars from Jersey Shore and The Hills, driving the social connection to these personalities beyond the TV and into The Real World (pun intended).

Not only can users see where the stars have been, but what they did, enjoyed, and recommend. And there’s always the possibility that visiting a bar frequented by a celeb increases your chances of meeting him or her. That aspect is certainly part of MTV’s Foursquare appeal.

4. Urban Exploration: New York Magazine

New York Magazine on Foursquare Image

New York Magazine uses Foursquare to drive home its coverage of city-specific culture. This account is about much more than just food. It targets the social New Yorker with tips on retail stores, bars, and public spaces.

The tips not only offer details on pricing and goings-on, but provide links back to the magazine’s website for deeper coverage. In this regard, New York Magazines’ approach to Foursquare is akin to the Twitter strategy of many publishers, with the added value of location.

5. Edutainment: The History Channel

History Channel on Foursquare Image

Staff at The History Channel know what their viewers are into — it’s fairly obvious, given the namesake. So while Foursquare doesn’t offer much in terms of driving traffic to a program or website, locations are fostering an interesting kind of brand engagement here.

The account leaves tips at various sites, including interesting historical background on the locations. It’s trivia, but with a real-world and educational context. For instance, did you know that the Wabasha Street Caves in St. Paul, MN are man-made sandstone mines that date back to the 1840s, and were opened as a restaurant and night club in the 1920s?

This is a clever use of indirect marketing. The History Channel doesn’t have to promote its shows or link back to content to remind fans why they enjoy the programming. More than 47,000 followers are already enjoying the historical tips left by the account, since its launch in April.

Conclusion

The trouble with emerging networks like Foursquare is that users and big brands alike are having difficulty sticking with it. In all of the examples above, you can see that brand representatives jumped into the checkin game with vigor early on, but eventually updated the accounts less and less — some have not added tips for months.

For now, location services are still an ancillary part of many social media strategies, but they won’t be forever. Many predict that when cultural acceptance, mainstream social integration, and business value finally coincide, location sharing will be as common and natural as updating your Facebook status.

When it happens, will your brand be ready?

Series supported by Awareness


Awareness builds social marketing software for marketers leveraging multiple social channels to engage with customers, build their brand, and increase revenues. Built upon Awareness' expertise deploying more than 200 communities and social media projects for the world's biggest brands including Sony, JetBlue, Kodak, ASOS.com and AIRMiles, The Awareness Social Marketing Hub is a leading enterprise-grade application for marketers struggling with the social media chaos of managing multiple social channels. With the Awareness Social Marketing Hub, marketers are now able to publish, manage and measure across all their social channels from one central location using advanced built-in permissioning, workflow and audit controls.

More Location Resources from Mashable:

- Why Location-Based Social Media Needs to Get "Passive" Aggressive
- Top 16 Unusual Foursquare Badges
- Why QR Codes Are Poised to Hit the Mainstream
- Beyond the Checkin: Where Location-Based Social Networks Should Go Next
- 5 Cool Non-Profit Uses of Location-Based Tech

Reviews: Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter

More About: brand, brands, bravo, business, foursquare, history channel, List, Lists, location, location-based, MARKETING, Mobile 2.0, mtv, small business, social media, social media for business leaders series, social media marketing, zagat

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Annie Lennox to Speak at Mashable & 92Y Social Good Summit

Posted: 24 Aug 2010 08:38 AM PDT


Musician Annie Lennox has joined the lineup to speak at the Mashable & 92Y Social Good Summit on September 20 in NYC.

Lennox joins CNN founder Ted Turner, (RED) CEO Susan Smith Ellis, and a host of thought leaders for a groundbreaking conference at the intersection of digital media and philanthropy.

The Social Good Summit, one of the few public events being held during UN Week, is all about solutions. Every speaker will explain how digital media and innovative ideas can combine to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the UN’s framework for creating a safer and healthier world for us all. With a 900-strong live audience, global livestream and national media partners, we’ll share these solutions with the goal of encouraging even more.

We’re also pleased to announce that a livestreaming partnership with Livestream.com will ensure that the talks are available in real-time to a global audience.

Tickets on Sale Now

Date: Monday, September 20, 2010
Time: 1:00 – 6:00 p.m. ET
Location: 92nd Street Y, New York City
Tickets: On sale for $85 through 92Y. 92Y is a nonprofit partner and will receive 100% of the ticket sales.

Sponsorships are available; please e-mail sponsorships@mashable.com.

Goals of the Summit include:

  • Raise awareness for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
  • Discover and encourage solutions for the MDGs
  • Create opportunities for public engagement
  • Showcase solutions and innovative approaches

Confirmed agenda includes:

  • Ted Turner, Chairman of Turner Enterprises, Inc.
  • Susan Smith Ellis, CEO of (RED)
  • Annie Lennox, UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador
  • Ray Chambers, UN Special Envoy for Malaria
  • Chris Hughes, Founder, Jumo
  • Howard Warren Buffett, Policy Adviser in the Executive Office of the President of the United States
  • Jessica Jackley, Founder/CEO of ProFounder and Founder/Former CMO Kiva
  • Adam Conner, Associate Manager, Public Policy of Facebook
  • Oren Jacob, Executive Producer, “Ready, Set, Bag!” – Ensemble Pictures; Chief Technical Officer and Director, Studio Tools – Pixar Animation Studios
  • Carrie James, Research Director, Project Zero, Harvard University

Further details and major speaker announcements to be released shortly.

Reviews: Facebook

More About: 92y, annie lennox, livesream, MDGs, millennium development goals, new york city, social good, social good summit, susan ellis, ted turner, UN week, United Nations

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The Unwritten Rules of Texting [VIDEO]

Posted: 24 Aug 2010 08:24 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.

From cave painting to printing press, we’ve always sought to convey our innermost thoughts to audiences far and wide. Fast forward to 2010 to find that the text message is today’s progeny of the cylinder seal, pony express, and Altair 8800.

While texting has become one of the most popular forms of communication today, it isn’t always clear whether we should speak or text what’s on our minds in certain situations. How do we decide when to talk and when to type?

We asked New Yorkers on the street what some of the unwritten rules of texting are, and what their texting habits are like. Watch the video below to see what they had to say, and let us know about your personal texting preferences in the comments below.

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

More About: Mobile 2.0, mobile messaging trends series, new york city, SMS, sms messages, text message, text messages, text messaging, texting

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Pandora Adds “Genre” Option to Station Creation

Posted: 24 Aug 2010 08:12 AM PDT


Ever surf on over to Pandora to create a new station and find yourself stumped as to what artist or song to create a playlist around? Well, now the Internet radio service has added a new option for less decisive users: Genre.

Until today, Pandora has been all about music discovery — creating meticulously curated stations around certain musicians, songs and composers. Well, according to Senior Music Curator Michael Zapruder, “Our listeners have been telling us for a while that they’d like an easy way to start a station from popular genres with the option to personalize the station from there. We wanted to find a uniquely Pandora way to address this consumer need so we created a number of genre stations that are carefully seeded with relevant songs and constantly refreshed with new releases.”

Now users have the option of listening to everything from genre stations like “Today’s Hits” and “Today’s Country” (which are some of the most popular stations already) to micro-stations like “Christmas Blues” and “Today’s College Indie.” There are more than 100 micro-stations in all. (We’ll see how curated these genres become over time — I was a bit distressed that the first song that came up for “Today’s Alternative” was The Offspring’s “Come Out and Play.” I was not aware that “today” was 1994…).

With this move, Pandora joins the ranks of the majority of music discovery services and Internet radio sites, which already offer the “Genre” option — including Last.fm, YouTube Music and Songza.

What do you think of Pandora’s decision to add genre to the mix? Does it make it easier to find new music? Or does it cut down on the degree of specialization that the service has come to be associated with?

Update: A few commenters mentioned that they have had access to genres for a while. This is partly true. According to a Pandora representative: “A limited number of Genres were an option as a pre-existing station, but they were never a personalized seed, like an artist, song or composer could be. Now Pandora is allowing genres to be a seed for a personalized user station for the very first time. The difference is the ability to customize/personalize, as well as more current content and chart toppers within these genres. This change was really driven by user feedback.”

[img credit: [nati]]

Reviews: Internet, Last.fm, Pandora

More About: genre, internet radio, last fm, music, pandora, songza, youtube

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MTV Launches Social Dating Game on Facebook

Posted: 24 Aug 2010 07:57 AM PDT


MTV is adding another social game to its roster, and this one is for all you homebodies out there who can’t score a date this Saturday night: I Woo You, a new casual game from the TV network and Stone Creek Entertainment.

All right, that was a little on the sarcastic side, but in some ways this Facebook game recalls gurl.com’s Make Your Own Cybersweetie game, which still miraculously exists (I recall playing this game when I was like 16 years old). Basically, I Woo You is a casual game — in the tradition of FarmVille and FrontierVille — crossed with a game show and laced with promotional tie-ins to MTV reality shows.

You start by creating a customizable avatar (That’s mine up there with my own true love, a stand-up comedian named Alex. He has two fake teeth. Score.) You can outfit said girl or guy with free duds, or you can purchase better threads by using actual money to score coins and cash via Social Gold.

After creating your avatar, you choose an MTV show and cast to play with. Shows include Disaster Date, The Real World and Downtown Girls. Within each show, there’s a cluster of made-up characters who you can play with for free, as well as actual cast members, who cost money.

The game is pretty simple: You ask other characters questions in a series of categories such as “Political Correctness” and “Dating 101,” and they ask you questions in return. If you like what the other person says and they like what you say, you’re a match! (It’s like real life… You know, with less lying, sweating and pre-gaming.) Matches can then take a photo together and go from there to other games/dates. You can share photos and updates on your Facebook Wall as you go along as well. Finally, your mom can stop asking when you’re gonna settle down… Alex and I are planning a spring wedding, ourselves.

The game has a few interesting aspects. For one thing, the MTV cast members’ answers are authentic — i.e. if you have a crush on that dude from The Real World and want to know whether or not you’d hit it off in real life, here’s your chance to give it a go (and perhaps commence desperate stalking immediately after finding out that you both really dig pasta). Also, although you do have to pay for clothing and the chance to virtually hang with actual cast members — as well as to access certain categories and game elements — it’s possible to play mostly pro bono by collecting enough coins along the way. (MTV characters can only be bought with cash — which costs money — however.)

The game also has a more concrete component; if your friends (and love interests) choose to play, you can date them virtually as well. This is kind of a cool idea, in that it’s a low-stress way to gauge someone’s interest, but it also seems like a reeeeally roundabout way to ask someone out. I mean, unless you’re addicted to FarmVille and can’t be bothered to send a text message, we still recommend picking up the phone.

This isn’t the first social game that MTV has launched. Two years ago, it came out with NextOrNot, a version of Hot or Not inspired by the dating show Next. And recently, MTV got into social gaming with the release of games like Jersey Shore and Chain of Thought, a diversion created to promote the series The Hard Times of RJ Berger. MTV Networks also recently acquired Social Express, a social game development company, in order to launch several games based on Nickelodeon and MTV shows and characters. (I Woo You was being developed before this acquisition was made.)

"Expanding our shows' reach through social games is an excellent way for fans to get to know our shows' casts, stay engaged and interact with their favorite MTV characters," says Damon Burrell, vice president of marketing for MTV. According to Burrell, audiences watch MTV shows for some level of connection, and also aspiration. By interacting with characters in the virtual realm, Burrell told us, people can both relate to them and walk in their shoes.

Social games — especially branded social games — have proven to be extremely popular of late. A recent report from social gaming platform Viximo and virtual goods platform Virtual Greats even predicts that branded virtual goods will generate $150 million in 2013 and reach an annual revenue of $318 million by 2015. And, according to a recent study by videogame market research firm The NPD Group, 56.8 million people in the U.S. have played a game on social networks like Facebook in the last three months.

Reviews: Facebook

More About: facebook, farmville, frontierville, games, mtv, social gold, software

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iTunes U Passes 300 Million Downloads Mark

Posted: 24 Aug 2010 07:04 AM PDT


Downloads from iTunes U have topped 300 million in three years, making it one of the world’s most popular online educational catalogs, Apple announced today.

iTunes U, which was launched in 2007, helps member institutions manage and distribute educational PDF, audio and video content for students.

The numbers Apple has cited for the service are impressive: Users have downloaded 300 million items from a catalog of more than 350,000 audio and video files, and more than 800 universities — including Stanford, Yale and MIT — distribute materials to students using the service.

"iTunes U makes it easy for people to discover and learn with content from many of the world's top institutions," said Apple Vice President of Internet Services Eddy Cue in a statement. "With such a wide selection of educational material, we're providing iTunes users with an incredible way to learn on their computer, iPhone, iPod or iPad."

More About: apple, iTunes U

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AT&T Pilots In-Store Rewards Using SCVNGR

Posted: 24 Aug 2010 06:59 AM PDT


AT&T has begun offering rewards for in-store interactions via SCVNGR, the mobile app that approaches location and checkins as a way to create a game layer for the real world.

The SCVNGR rewards pilot program, which launches today, extends to 50 stores across the midwest. The stores testing the initiative will be decked out with SCVNGR signage promoting three AT&T rewards; players can opt to unlock each of the rewards by completing challenges and earning points via SCVNGR’s iPhone and Android apps.

Perhaps most interesting is that AT&T has opted to offer players one very substantial reward: $50 off a Samsung Captivate. The Android phone retails for $199.99 with a two-year contract, but SCVNGR players can take $50 off the purchase price once they earn 15 points and unlock the reward. The reward is even retroactive, so players can buy the phone, download SCVNGR, complete challenges and get $50 back after the fact.

AT&T is offering two other challenge-based rewards. Players who earn two points can unlock the Bizz Bizz Buzz Challenge for a free ringtone gift card. Additionally, players can unlock a 20% discount on any accessory after accruing five points. Players can only attempt one reward at a time, but they’re not limited to redeeming just one and can choose the order in which they attempt to unlock each reward.

AT&T’s take on location-based deals is interesting given the service it decided to use — SCVNGR as opposed to Shopkick or Foursquare — and the type of discounts it’s offering. SCVNGR CEO and Founder Seth Priebatsch hints that AT&T was drawn to SCVNGR because it could script challenges and offer rewards for behaviors, as opposed to giving away coupons.

In talking with other prospective and current retail partners, Priebatsch has found a “totally unambiguous unsatisfication around couponing,” who see coupon apps as “a race to the bottom.”

Given the recent launch of Facebook Places, retailers will likely be exploring ways to tap into checkins generated from the world’s largest social network. Partnerships of the AT&T variety prove SCVNGR has the potential to remain relevant even amidst heavy competition.

Reviews: Android, Foursquare, iPhone

More About: att, geolocation, location sharing, MARKETING, samsung captivate, scvngr

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Morning Brief: New Seesmic for BlackBerry, Xbox 360 Chip Detailed, TiVo’s QWERTY Remote

Posted: 24 Aug 2010 06:31 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.

Seesmic Upgrades Its BlackBerry App

Seesmic has upgraded its Twitter client for BlackBerry users, the company announced this morning.

New features include:

  • Sound profile notifications available in the BlackBerry “Sounds” app.
  • Support of Ping.fm groups.
  • Notifications for new tweets, new replies and new direct messages.
  • Improved user interface.
  • Picture thumbnails now displayed in the “Pictures” folder of the file explorer.
  • Use of XAuth with Twitter for more security.

Microsoft Details Chip Powering the New Xbox 360

At the Hot Chips conference on Monday, Microsoft shared details about the two-headed chip that powers the slimmer, quieter and more efficient Xbox 360 250 GB model. The system’s microprocessor and graphics chip are combined on a single piece of silicon, which allowed the company to reduce the size, cost and energy requirements of the console compared to the previous iteration, in addition to adding new features like wireless networking [via Ars Technica].

TiVo Releases First QWERTY DVR Remote

TiVo has released its new Slide Remote, featuring a full slide-out QWERTY keyboard, which the company first unveiled at the TiVo Premiere launch in March.

“This is the first ever DVR remote with a full QWERTY keyboard, and we are certain that users will be excited to get their thumbs on it. The slick design has the same fun look of the classic TiVo remote, but makes it even easier to get more from your TV experience,” Vice President and General Manager of Product Marketing Jim Denney said in a statement.

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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.

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RIAA: The DMCA Isn’t Working

Posted: 24 Aug 2010 06:21 AM PDT

copyright

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) isn’t happy with the U.S. copyright law. Speaking at the Technology Policy Institute’s Aspen Forum, RIAA complained that the DMCA “isn’t working for content people at all.”

“You cannot monitor all the infringements on the Internet. It’s simply not possible,” says RIAA President Cary Sherman. “We don’t have the ability to search all the places infringing content appears, such as cyberlockers like [file-hosting firm] RapidShare.”

This is true, and is one of the reasons why the Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act was passed, creating a safe harbor for online service providers. One cannot reasonably expect Google to monitor all searches, Facebook to monitor all photos, or Rapidshare to monitor all uploads, but all of these online service providers must remove infringing material should they receive a notification claiming infringement from a copyright holder.

For some time now, the RIAA has been pushing ISPs to start policing their users. “We’re working on [discussions with broadband providers], and we’d like to extend that kind of relationship–not just to ISPs, but [also to] search engines, payment processors, advertisers,” Sherman says.

Of course, YouTube disagrees with the RIAA. “It’s our view that the DMCA is functioning exactly the way Congress intended it to (…) Congress was prescient. They struck the right balance,” says Lance Kavanaugh, product counsel for YouTube.

As it is, the DMCA protects online service providers — especially smaller ones — from living in fear of lawsuits and having to spend money and resources to patrol for infringing material. The most important question, however, is whether private corporations such as ISPs (which can monitor all of your online communication) should really be responsible for figuring out who’s breaking the law.

Reviews: Facebook, Google, Internet, Rapidshare, YouTube

More About: copyright law, dmca, riaa, youtube

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