Mashable: Latest 4 News Updates - including “Apple’s iPhone Executive Leaves After Antennagate” |  |
- Apple’s iPhone Executive Leaves After Antennagate
- Netflix Streaming Is Coming to Your Android Phone [APP]
- Top 5 Tips for Aspiring Music Bloggers
- 10 Entertaining eBay Facts You Might Not Know
- Top 10 Twitter Trends This Week [CHART]
| Apple’s iPhone Executive Leaves After Antennagate Posted: 07 Aug 2010 04:47 PM PDT      Mark Papermaster, the senior vice president ultimately responsible for the iPhone’s hardware, has left Apple only a short time after his start date. Neither Papermaster nor Apple will comment on the story behind the departure, but insiders are speculating that he was dropped from the company as a result of the iPhone 4’s “Antennagate” PR disaster. The New York Times broke the news earlier today, and reported that Senior VP of Macintosh Hardware Engineering Bob Mansfield has taken over Papermaster’s duties. Mansfield also worked closely with the iPhone 4’s hardware — specifically the device’s retina display, touch screen and A4 microprocessor. Since Apple and Papermaster have declined to explain the departure, we don’t know whether he left of his own accord, was fired, or some gray area in between. However, renowned Apple insider John Gruber wrote on his blog Daring Fireball today: “From what I've heard, it's clear he was canned.” Gruber notes that Papermaster was not in attendance at Apple’s damage control press conference (the one at which Steve Jobs announced free iPhone cases), but Mansfield was. Gruber also says that for weeks Papermaster has been known as “the guy responsible for the antenna” within Apple. Ouch. Interestingly, Apple fought quite hard to hire Papermaster two years ago. He had worked at IBM for 25 years previously, and IBM sued when Apple tried to hire him, accusing him of exposing inside company secrets. The case was eventually settled, but Papermaster’s start date was delayed until April 2009. Barely a year later, Papermaster’s profile has been removed from the list of executives at Apple’s website. More About: antenna, Antennagate, apple, cell phone, executive, handset, iphone, iphone 4, mark papermaster, Mobile 2.0, phone, smartphone, vice president, vp For more Apple coverage:
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| Netflix Streaming Is Coming to Your Android Phone [APP] Posted: 07 Aug 2010 03:31 PM PDT   Netflix is working on a streaming video application for smartphones running Google’s Android operating system, a Netflix employee and online job listing have each confirmed. Netflix has posted two job listings on its website so far this summer, both seeking Android developers. The current listing is titled “Android Video Playback Expert,” and begins, “Netflix is looking for a great engineer to help us build Instant Streaming client implementations on Android devices.” Netflix is looking for someone with at least 10 years of development experience, who has already implemented video playback in an Android application. It also names two notable pluses: experience with digital rights management (DRM) and “Experience with other mobile application platforms (e.g. iPhone/iPad).” The second of those would seem to imply that Netflix will use its previous work creating Watch Instantly streaming apps for the iPad and iPhone as a basis for the Android app. As The Next Web notes, there is already an unofficial Netflix app for Android phones, but it leaves a lot to be desired because it eats up your handset’s battery and displays a lot of ads, so an official app would be very welcome. As if the job advert weren’t enough, a user claiming to be a Netflix employee posted the following comment in a thread on social news site Reddit: “I just know we’re actively hiring Android devs. I wish I knew more about a timeframe for you. Good things come to those who wait. Netflix is essentially a tech company and with the way Android is blowing up it would be stupid of us to ignore that.” Since Netflix is still looking for a senior architect for the application, it stands to reason that it’s a ways off. The employee on Reddit seems to imply that as well. Do you think the app will be worth the wait? [via Electronista] Reviews: Android, eXperience, iPhone, reddit.com More About: android, Android Market, App, developer, Film, Google, hiring, Movies, netflix, netflix watch instantly, reddit, streaming, television, tv, video For more Mobile coverage:
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| Top 5 Tips for Aspiring Music Bloggers Posted: 07 Aug 2010 01:16 PM PDT   So you wanna be a music blogger? Congrats! As any struggling artist can tell you, putting your finger on your passion can take a while. You, however, are halfway there. Well, before you venture past the halfway point, might I ask how you feel when faced with the following sentiment: "Give up now. There are too many music bloggers out there already." OK, are you currently:
All the B’s can henceforth click outta this article and shimmy on back to the drawing board, because in the realm of blogging, there are going to be legions of people who are going to tell you that you're not cut out for the job. And if you choose to pay heed to those people, they're likely right. Still, if you're among the A’s, you also know that there's always room for new voices in any sphere, and you likely have the stuff to make yours heard. Now, while we can't really present you with a blueprint that leads you right into the waiting arms of your dream job and subsequent biographical movie deal, we can offer you some words of wisdom from those who have actually landed among the firmament: Music bloggers. Read on for five tips, which we’ve titled with songs of questionable-to-excellent quality. Everyone’s a critic… (Click said titles for a surprise.) 1). “Hot For Teacher” Yes, it seems like a rather obvious tip, but to write about music, you need to know about music –- and not just the vinyl in your own record collection. Andrew Phillips, editor in chief of MOG, advises: "Listen to an inconceivable amount of music, especially if you don’t like it. There’s a huge difference between being a music fan and a music advocate…. The most effective bloggers (and writers) are the ones drawing from a genuinely deep well of knowledge." And don't limit the fact-finding mission to sitting in your room like a tragically hip, headphoned Boo Radley –- go to shows. Go to "good" shows, bad shows, basement shows, loft shows, shows where the only people in the audience are you and the bartender. You never know who's going to be the next big thing; as Nicole Wasilewicz, senior music editor of FREEwilliamsburg.com, says, "As knowledgeable as you may feel about music, there’s always someone out there that’s smarter than you and has more time on their hands. It’s a constant game of catch-up. Also, pay special attention to opening bands." Now, it's all well and good for these folks to tell you to make like a sonic scholar, but where to go to make with the learning? We asked some of the bloggers to share some of their favorite music blogs, so as to create a crib sheet for your musical edification. Add these to your RSS feed posthaste: FREEwilliamsburg.com Senior Music Editor Nicole Wasilewicz’s Picks: Paste Web Editor Austin L. Ray's Picks:
Editor-in-Chief of Jewcy.com and Founding Editor of Vol. 1 Brooklyn Jason Diamond's Picks: 2). “Can’t Buy Me Love” So you're all studied up and ready to write. The only question is: To what illustrious publication should you lend your vast and impressive skills? Well, if you're skint on experience, chances are that unless you're that kid from Almost Famous, it's going to be a while before pubs are going to be beating down your door. And with that, we bring you perhaps the most disdainful piece of advice out there: Write for free. Look, all of us over at Mashable are authors by trade, so we know the value of a good writer, and agree whole-heartedly that they should all be paid for their troubles. But, still, you can't get ahead without clips, and sometimes the payment you receive for said clips is experience and a foothold in the industry. Basically every music blogger we talked to agreed with us on this front. Jason Diamond, editor in chief of Jewcy.com and founding editor of Vol. 1 Brooklyn, says: "If you’re offered to write a low or non-paying piece by a website that is influential, has a lot of traffic, or you just totally respect, take it." Andrew Phillips agrees, telling us: "Be ready to write for free. There is money in this business, but you probably won’t see it for a long, long time. There is no quick pay-off in this day in age and the only way to get really good is to write for anyone you can any time you can. Take every opportunity." Now, that's not to say you should keep writing, sans cash, indefinitely. But doing some writing for a website you really dig can get you exposure and, subsequently, the momentum you need to launch yourself toward a legit gig. 3). “Here I Go Again (On My Own)” Still, if you don't want to submit to the wily ways of "the man" (i.e. someone else's blog), might we suggest you start your own? Really, there's no excuse in this day and age for an aspiring blogger to not be in possession of his or her very own URL. David Gutowski, founder of Largehearted Boy, tells us: "I get about one offer a week from people offering to write for Largehearted Boy. Since I am the sole writer and editor of the site, I always recommend starting their own blog." Gutowski suggest aspiring bloggers turn to platforms like Wordpress, Blogger and Tumblr, which all offer simple, fast avenue to blogging bliss. MTV News Rock Editor James Montgomery sees blogging as departure from the old days of the music-writing hustle. "While most [people] aren’t getting paid for their blogs, they’re not getting used, either," he says. "And the feedback you can get, from readers and potential employers, is instantaneous. It makes the entire process seem a bit more just, and, in theory, would separate the best writers from the bunch, since there’s so much out there now." Furthermore, once you have your own blog in place, you can either try to leverage it into its own, money-making entity by selling ads, etc. (yes, this sounds impossible, but some people, like Gutowski, have managed it), or you use it as a kind of portfolio. As Stephen Blackwell, editor in chief of Death+Taxes, says, "When a writer is interested in working with Death And Taxes, the magic words are, 'Here's a link to my blog.' That tells me you know your way around a content-management system and have some web writing skills." You can also form link exchanges with other blogs –- just shoot the editor an e-mail –- which will help you build connections in the space, or join a blog aggregator, like MOG. According to Marvin Lin, editor in chief of Tiny Mixtapes, "Aggregators can help you network more easily and also help sell ad space for you until you get into the swing of things. I think writers have to find their own personal balance between independence and networking." However you use it, it's as essential for any up-and-coming music blogger to have a domain as it is for him or her to have ears. 4). “Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better)” OK, so you have your URL all lined up, and the hit counter on "Dubstep Debutante" is ticking upward every day. Now, make sure that you're honing all the skills in your arsenal. According to Stephen Blackwell, "Web writing is not print writing. The content-development process is far more extensive and the dissemination of your content does not fall solely into the hands of your publisher or aggregator." That's right, in addition to eviscerating the newest Arcade Fire album, you have to be able to promote your review as well. Web employers are looking for people who know how to use Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook. As Austin Ray says, "Any blogger worth his or her salt should have an interesting Twitter account." Moreover, gone are the days of merely telling a story via ink and paper. Many bloggers suggest you master the realms of Photoshop, video-editing and sound-editing as well. Andrew Phillips advises: "Diversify your skill-set… In my experience, the folks that make a living wage in the music writing game know a lot more than just how to pen a great lede. They know how to crop in Photoshop, how to copy-edit, how to bend Wordpress to their will. Even if you work for a big blog, you need to become a one-stop shop for web publishing." Still, while learning to crop and edit with the best of them, do not forsake the basic tenants of writing. Yeah, a video can add dimension to a story, but it's not going to completely obscure bad writing. James Montgomery says, "I probably sound like an old man now, but I would think stuff like sentence structure, grammar, punctuation are still important. It helps if you know how to tell a story, how to recognize the moment when you’re writing about a live show (it’ll usually show up in the lede of your piece), how to get the facts right, how to entertain the reader … you know, the basics they teach in journalism school." That also means having a voice and a focus. It's all well and good to try to be the authority on all things music, but when it comes right down to it, you're writing about a very saturated field (hence the whole – "Don't start a music blog because there are too many music blogs" refrain). Austin Ray opines: "If you insist on starting a music blog, have an angle. A niche. Find something weird or outsider-y that you know a lot about and then flaunt that knowledge. Be the authority on a subject, be it Norwegian black metal, Morman polka, South Dakota’s garage-rock scene, whatever. If you’re going to write about the same indie rock bands that every other blog is covering, what’s the point?" 5). Don’t Be an “Unhappy Girl” And if you want to separate yourself from the majority of aspiring bloggers out there, a lot of the people we talked to offered up the same advice: Don't be a soulless naysayer (we took some liberties with the phraseology). Andrew Phillips tells us, "Don’t be a dick. There are two types of music journalism: the kind where the writer wields knowledge in an attempt to tell you what you SHOULD like and the kind that takes your tastes into account and tries to give you similar suggestions… Negativity is out. Enthusiasm is in." James Montgomery tends to agree: "Enthusiasm goes a long way. Try to take everything at face value, form no judgments. That’s almost impossible, I know, but if there’s one thing we don’t need, it’s another snarky-ass blog. That doesn't mean you have to be positive about everything all the time, but you don’t need to cut everything down just for the sake of it." So be positive about music. You know, unless it sucks. Blogging Job ListingsEvery week we put out a list of social media and web job opportunities. While we post a huge range of job listings, we’ve selected some of the best blogging jobs from the past two weeks to get you started. Happy hunting!
More Blogging Resources from Mashable:
image courtesy of iStockphoto, berekin, image courtesy of iStockphoto, nicolesy, image courtesy of iStockphoto, LUGO, image courtesy of iStockphoto, KeithSzafranski, image courtesy of iStockphoto, borisyankov, image courtesy of iStockphoto, Buzya_Kalapkina Reviews: Facebook, Mashable, Tumblr, Twitter, WordPress, blogger, iStockphoto, society More About: facebook, job search, jobs, money, music, social media, tumblr, twitter For more Social Media coverage:
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| 10 Entertaining eBay Facts You Might Not Know Posted: 07 Aug 2010 11:09 AM PDT   As the world’s largest marketplace, eBay has hundreds of millions of listings live at any given moment. Since its founding in 1995, the company has grown from just one curious computer programmer to over 15,000 employees. Over the past 15 years, eBay has become one of the largest companies in America, consistently ranking in the Fortune 500, and is one of the most recognized brands around the world. Throughout the years, the world has gawked at some of the oddest items listed on eBay, including, among others, old gum, entire towns, and even spouses. The fact that anyone can list almost anything (yes, there are some restrictions), makes this site one of the most interesting places to find rare or outlandish items. We took a deeper look at the history behind eBay and pulled together some of the most entertaining facts about the company that we could find. Here are 10 that you might not know. Fill us in on any fun facts that you may have in the comments below. 1. eBay was Originally Called AuctionWeb This screenshot is the earliest example of the AuctionWeb homepage, circa March 1997, but the basic design did not change from May 1996 to September 1997. Click the image to see the full-sized screenshot.The site we now know as eBay was launched during Labor Day weekend in 1995 as "AuctionWeb," by entrepreneur Pierre Omidyar in his living room in San Jose, California. AuctionWeb was just one of four sites housed under Omidyar’s umbrella company, eBay Internet. The other three included a travel site set up in loose partnership with a local San Jose travel agent, a personal shopper site, and a site about the Ebola virus. Check out the screenshot above of AuctionWeb, circa 1997. The decision to change the name from AuctionWeb to eBay was made by Omidyar and Jeffrey Skoll, eBay’s first full-time employee and president, in mid-1997. The change was spurred by the fact that most customers referred to the site as "eBay,” and the initial media coverage, though sparse, also used "eBay" more than "AuctionWeb." The actual name change took place in September of 1997 and involved a migration of existing users to a completely new platform with a more graphical website and home page. It also introduced the world to the multi-colored eBay logo we know today. So, where did “eBay” actually come from? Long before AuctionWeb existed, Omidyar went to Sacramento to register the domain echobay.com for his planned business name Echo Bay Inc., but it was taken. He came up with "eBay" on the spot and registered it instead. 2. The First AuctionWeb Logo Was Called the “Death Bar”  “The boxy black-and-white AuctionWeb logo … was so sinister the eBay staff had taken to calling it the ‘death bar,’” according to Adam Cohen in The Perfect Store: Inside eBay, a book explaining the story of eBay. Above you’ll find the original logos for AuctionWeb (the auction website) and eBay Internet (the umbrella company). Steve Westly, one of eBay’s founding executives thought it was so horrible that it was scaring away potential corporate partners. We can see why employees might go a little bonkers after staring at these logos every day.  For a short period in 1997, the eBay logo was changed to a slightly more appealing navy blue design, as pictured above. It is difficult to find a trace of this logo on the Internet, as it wasn’t in use for very long and may not have ever existed on the website itself. One of the only places that it still exists is on an eBay listing posted by Jim Griffith, the first customer sales representative at eBay and the current host of eBayRadio. Griffith’s listing described a stack of eBay brochures and stickers that he found in a trash bin at the eBay office. He included a detailed photo as well, watermarked with his seller name, uncle_griff. Upon finding the items, he couldn’t bear to see history tossed away, so he saved them and later sold them on eBay to benefit one of his favorite charities, The Disabled Online Users Association. In his listing, he commented on the blue logo design as:
We agree, Griff. Luckily, in 1997, the company hired CKS Group, an ad agency owned by Bill Cleary, Mark Kvamme, and Tom Suiter (all three of whom had previously worked at Apple Computers), to revamp their corporate identity, including visual imagery, typography, the website, and recommendations on advertising.  A screenshot of eBay’s website in 2003We spoke with Cleary, who at the time led the graphic design team that created the eBay logo, about the rebranding process and the idea behind the logo design. He elaborated:
Inspired by the visual imagery behind Eastman Kodak and Apple, among other brands, Cleary and his team created a logo that would appeal to the masses. The final result was the multi-colored logo spelled e-b-a-Y in overlapping letters with baseline shifts. The logo was chosen out of five or six other designs and had the “friendly, open and accessible” personality that the eBay team was looking for. 3. The First Item Listed on eBay was a Broken Laser Pointer On Labor Day weekend in 1995, computer programmer Omidyar wrote the code for what he called an “experiment.” He wanted to know what would happen if everyone in the world had access to a single global marketplace. To test his idea, he came up with an auction website, where he listed a broken laser pointer that he was going to throw away. In the end, a collector bought it for $14.83. Among the other items sold just a week after Omidyar launched eBay were autographed Marky Mark underwear for $400, a Superman metal lunchbox for $22, and a Toyota Tercel for $3,200. 4. The eBay HQ Building Names Reflect Categories on eBay There are seven buildings at eBay’s headquarters in San Jose, California, and they are all named after categories on eBay.com: Collectibles, Jewelry, Motors, Music, Sports, Technology and Toys. All of the conference rooms are named according to the corresponding building theme. For example, in the Motors building, rooms are named after type of cars, and in the Music building, rooms are take the names of various musical instruments. True to its name, the Community building has a few distinct characteristics. It’s conference rooms are named after original eBay community terms, including PowerSeller, About Me, Feedback and Buy It Now. And it also houses two of the most social locations on campus, the cafeteria and the coffee house. Even more interesting is the fact that one of its conference rooms is named after an eBay community member, Jack Sheng. 5. Jack Sheng Was the First to Reach a Feedback Score of One MillionAs of November 13, 2008, Jack Sheng was the first eBay seller to receive a Feedback score of one million. He currently has a score of over two million. It took Sheng eight years to earn a Feedback score of one million, but it only took him 18 months thereafter to reach two million. To congratulate Sheng, the eBay staff created a special “Shooting Star” for his seller profile and named a conference room after him. Nice setup, Sheng!  6. Fixed-Price Format Trumps Auction Format For over a year, fixed-price format (Buy it Now) has accounted for a majority of merchandise volume. Approximately 59% of sales during the second quarter of 2010 were purchased via the “Buy It Now” feature. 7. You Can Adopt a Pet on eBay Classifieds Looking for a pet? Check out eBay Classifieds (formerly Kijiji); it’s a local listing site that is free of charge and open to everyone. Pets are among the most popular listings. Dogs are the pet of choice, with the most popular canine searches being Yorkie, Chihuahua, Boxer, English Bulldog and Pitbull. And for the feline fanatics, the most popular cat breeds searched are Persian, Siamese and Bengal. With Petfinder as a partner, over two-thirds of pet listings are from shelters, so you know you’ll be giving a deserving puppy or kitty a new, happy home. Check out the eBay Classifieds Pets iPhone app for access to local pet listings on the go. It just launched this week. 8. Mobile is Used for Big Ticket PurchasesLooking at mobile behavior on eBay’s apps, you can see that mobile commerce is an increasingly important focus for the company. One item is purchased every two seconds using eBay mobile apps, and in 2009, eBay users bought $600 million of merchandise using their mobile phones. On the last earnings call, eBay CEO John Donahoe predicted that number will nearly triple this year to $1.5 billion.  It’s no wonder that mobile is such a focus for the company. Users are shelling out big bucks on their mobile phones. So far in 2010, the most expensive item sold via eBay's mobile app was a 1985 Piper PA-46-310P Malibu airplane for $265,000. The transaction was successful and resulted in the exchange of positive Feedback.  Another big ticket item bought via the eBay app this year was a 2007 Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder for $139,000. So far this year, it’s the most expensive car bought via eBay’s mobile app. An exciting addition to the eBay app roster that will make mobile shopping even easier is Red Laser, a popular iPhone app that scans barcodes in stores, and returns the best prices for the same item online and at other stores. eBay recently acquired the app and will soon integrate Red Laser's technology within its eBay applications — eBay Marketplace, eBay Selling, StubHub and Shopping.com. 9. The Most Expensive eBay.com Purchase: A Jet A Gulfstream II Jet that sold for $4.9 million in 2001 is the record for highest eBay sale price yet. The record sales price was more than three times the previous known eBay record of $1.65 million. The jet was sold by Tyler Jet (now, Tyler Jet Motorsports), the world's largest business jet dealer at the time. 10. eBay was the First to Live-Tweet Its Earnings Call Richard Brewer-Hay, eBay's corporate blogger, was the first to live-blog a company's earnings call using a Twitter feed. During the Q2 2010 earning’s call, Brewer-Hay tweeted away using the hashtag #eBayQ210. Prior to that, he had worked in conjunction with eBay's legal team to create social media guidelines for reporting company information on behalf of eBay to dodge any legal issues. Brewer-Hay has played a key role in eBay’s growing presence on various social networks, but there are over 40 other eBay-owned Twitter feeds, including eBay Radio, eBay Classifieds, eBay Green, and PayPal. Did we leave any interesting facts about eBay off of this list? Let us know what you would add in the comments below. More Fun Facts from Mashable:
[img credits: liewcf, labormikro, pfranson365, Fine Aircraft, Comfy Sky] Reviews: Internet, sports More About: auctionweb, ebay, facts, List, Lists, most expensive item, online auctions, trending For more Tech coverage:
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| Top 10 Twitter Trends This Week [CHART] Posted: 07 Aug 2010 09:11 AM PDT   Entertainment takes the trophy home again this week, as Twitter was awash in updates about movies, music, and sport. The Leo DiCaprio film Inception took the top spot for the third week in a row, followed closely by some hubbub around the Harry Potter franchise, and a lip syncing viral YouTube sensation from Indonesia. For the full details, check out the complete chart below, compiled by our friends over at What The Trend. Because this is a topical list, hashtag memes and games have been omitted from the chart. You can check past Twitter trends in our Top Twitter Topics section as well as read more about this past week's trends on What The Trend. Top Twitter Trends This Week: 7/31 – 8/6
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, ricardoinfante Reviews: Twitter, YouTube, harry potter, iStockphoto, movie More About: entertainment, inception, List, Lists, Movies, social media, sports, Top Twitter Topics, trends, twitter, twitter trends For more Social Media coverage:
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