Mashable: Latest 8 News Updates - including “Mashable Weekend Recap: 11 Stories You May Have Missed” |  |
- Mashable Weekend Recap: 11 Stories You May Have Missed
- Samsung Galaxy S Stars In “First Globally Distributed” Web Series
- HP CEO’s Alleged Sexual Harassment Victim Speaks Up
- 7 Perfect Posterous Themes for Multimedia Blogs
- 5 Hilarious Gadget Unboxing Videos
- More Evidence the iPhone Will Hit Verizon in January [REPORT]
- Why Google Wave’s Demise is Good News for Facebook
- Why Entertainment Will Drive the Next Checkin Craze
- 38 Essential Social Media Resources You May Have Missed
| Mashable Weekend Recap: 11 Stories You May Have Missed Posted: 09 Aug 2010 05:08 AM PDT      Whether you were working overtime, hanging out at the beach, or jamming out to Lady Gaga and The Arcade Fire at Lollapalooza, it’s all in the past now; the weekend is over, and the trickle of information is about to turn back into a waterfall. Before you dive off, though, be sure and catch up on what you missed over the weekend. This weekend, two of tech’s biggest corporations dealt with monumental management shakeups, an unprecedented new web series was revealed, Android users learned that one of the most anticipated apps is coming (just not as soon as we’d hope) and American iPhone owners have some more hope that they’ll have carrier choice in the near future. As always, we’ve also published helpful resources and entertaining articles to either keep you informed or entertained — whichever you want. Thanks for reading! News Essentials
Helpful Resources
Weekend LeisureMore About: android, apple, mashable weekend recap, Mobile 2.0, social media, tech For more Social Media coverage:
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| Samsung Galaxy S Stars In “First Globally Distributed” Web Series Posted: 08 Aug 2010 08:37 PM PDT   Samsung’s new Android phone the Galaxy S will be promoted with what NBC Universal calls “the world’s first globally distributed web series.” Definitions of “globally distributed” are grounds for debate, but there’s little argument that the series will be viewable in an unprecedented array of platforms and regions. Called FCU: Fact Checkers Unit, the series is based on the short film of the same name that appeared at Sundance in 2008. Each of the eight episodes in the series’ current order will feature some celebrity. The celebs named so far include the aforementioned Luke Perry, Jeopardy’s Alex Trebek, legendary rock guitarist Dave Navarro, model Karolina Kurkova , Scrubs‘ Donald Faison, NCIS‘ Pauley Perrette, Friday Night Lights‘ Zach Gilford, and Napoleon Dynamite himself, Jon Heder. The Samsung Galaxy S features prominently in the show. For example, it’s used to record a bedroom overnight in the first episode to document potential paranormal activity. Unprecedent Global DistributionThe series’ elaborate, global and multi-platform distribution makes it notable. In the United States, it will appear on NBC.com, Hulu, and Syfy.com along with the video-on-demand services provided by the Comcast, Cox and Time Warner cable companies. Mobile phone carriers like AT&T, Verizon and Sprint will deliver the show to handsets. You’ll also be able to pull episodes down to your Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3, and iTunes will carry the show as well. Overseas, the series will appear in the United Kingdom via Syfy’s digital distribution platforms, SyFy Universal in Singapore and Japan, and the Sci-Fi Channel in Australia. The series will also stream through several of Samsung’s local market websites. This broad distribution strategy is possible thanks to NBC Universal, one of the largest media companies in the world. Needless to say, that kind of distribution is harder to achieve for a smaller company. While NBC Universal handles distribution, SXM’s Tom Bannister is at the helm of the production itself. SXM has previously worked on the Streamy-nominated series CTRL and Easy to Assemble — the latter being an Ikea-supported venture that has been heralded by the New York Times as an excellent example of how to finance a web series and use it for marketing purposes. FCU: Fact Checkers Unit will premiere August 17. We’ve embedded the trailer below. FCU: Fact Checkers Unit TrailerReviews: Australia, Hulu, Streamy, iTunes More About: android, distribution, fcu, fcu fact checkers unit, galaxy s, hulu, internet tv, itunes, nbc, nbc universal, playstation 3, samsung, samsung galaxy s, smartphone, sxm, television, tv, video, web series, Xbox 360 For more Web Video coverage:
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| HP CEO’s Alleged Sexual Harassment Victim Speaks Up Posted: 08 Aug 2010 06:54 PM PDT   There are two big developments in the drama surrounding a sexual harassment claim against HP CEO Mark Hurd which led to his resignation. First, we learned that Hurd received $12.2 million in severance pay, and second, the woman who filed a sexual harassment claim against him stepped into the spotlight and issued a public statement. She is a single mother named Jodie Fisher. She was contracted as a greeter and organizer for HP. She is also an actress; she appeared in several minor films in the 1990s. In her public statement, she said she and Hurd “never had an affair or intimate sexual relationship,” and, “I have resolved my claim with Mark privately, without litigation.” More poignantly, she expressed regret that the investigation caused Hurd to lose his job. “I was surprised and saddened that Mark Hurd lost his job over this,” she said. “That was never my intention.” While Hurd is facing a very public kind of humiliation right now, his departure isn’t a complete disaster. According to Bloomberg BusinessWeek, his severance package included $12.2 million in cash and $16 million in stock. Still, depending on what happened exactly, the consequences for his personal life and reputation may overshadow the payout. The company claims that Hurd didn’t violate its sexual discrimination policy — as Fisher said, they never had a sexual relationship, so it’s any outsider’s guess exactly what occurred — but that he violated its “Standards of Business Conduct.” Hurd explained his departure by saying, “I realized there were instances in which I did not live up to the standards and principles of trust, respect and integrity that I have espoused at HP and which have guided me throughout my career.” If you want to learn more about Hurd’s years at HP, Networkworld has written up a short but comprehensive summary of his tenure. More About: ceo, fired, firing, Hewlett-Packard, HP, jodie fisher, mark hurd, scandal, severance pay, sex, Sexual Harassment, tech For more Business coverage:
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| 7 Perfect Posterous Themes for Multimedia Blogs Posted: 08 Aug 2010 06:13 PM PDT   Posterous has been around since 2006, but the super-simple blogging platform is still relatively unknown when compared to blog giants like WordPress and Tumblr. If that sentence didn’t mean anything to you then, ironically, Posterous was designed for you. The platform takes all the functionality and impressive visuals from (sometimes complicated) services like WordPress and distills the tech side of things to let you focus on sharing content. Posterous allows you to write blogs from your own e-mail and auto-formats your media to fit. While it can all be hands-off, there are a number of ways to personalize the way your Posterous blog looks. For the would-be-designer, Posterous has put up some great tips and short-cuts for modifying their code. For the more casual users (read: most of us), there are some great, pre-made themes to update the look of your blog. We’ve collected seven elegant, functional themes that you can apply from the get go. 1. My.List This is a great theme for photographers, as each post is prominently displayed like an online portfolio. Word to the wise: Make sure you have enough posts and high quality images to fill up your front page, otherwise this theme will just leave them blank. 2. Colourise This is another theme great for showing off photographs and multimedia, with a smooth dark background and some nice detail formatting. 3. Tabby One of the originals from designer Cory Watilo, this theme will automatically create new pages based on your post tags. Good for simple use and those not trying to blow out their SEO with a thousand tags per post. 4. Mad Men Connoting the cool clean calm of Don Draper, this theme aims for a polished, magazine vibe. The high contrast helps both your pictures and blog posts stand out. 5. Contra Contra is a theme best used by web video folks. Because the layout focuses on one post at a time, it's a good way to showcase a current project or inspiration. 6. Indicator This is one of the cleanest, simplest themes on the list - perfect for people who need their blogs organized and easily searchable. 7. Tabby 2 Tabby 2 is the older brother to Tabby. Don't let its sparsity fool you. This theme is fully customizable from background down to font - perfect for the DIY crowd and nitpicks. More Blogging resources from Mashable:
Reviews: Posterous, WordPress More About: blog, BLOGS, CSS, customize, html, List, Lists, media, photo, posterous, theme, themes, Update, video For more Social Media coverage:
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| 5 Hilarious Gadget Unboxing Videos Posted: 08 Aug 2010 04:10 PM PDT   The “unboxing” video is a modern phenomenon in which a breathless geek films each stage of unpacking a new gadget with incredible excitement. Such a format is, of course, ripe for parody and creativity. Accordingly, you can find a ton of videos that both mock and exalt the process to great comedic effect. We’ve picked five that we think are creative, cool, or just downright hilarious. So enjoy a giggle as you peruse the gallery below, and let us know any we’ve missed in the comments below.
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| More Evidence the iPhone Will Hit Verizon in January [REPORT] Posted: 08 Aug 2010 02:45 PM PDT   Evidence continues to mount to support expectations that Apple’s iPhone 4 will finally launch on Verizon this coming January. The latest: Sources close to Apple’s hardware suppliers say that Apple has ordered millions of CDMA chipsets from Qualcomm. CDMA is the wireless technology used by Verizon. The report comes from TechCrunch contributor Steve Cheney, who says that the chipsets are due in December, implying a January launch for the Verizon device. This follows a rumor from seven months ago that Qualcomm had landed a deal to provide Apple with chips. You might also recall that AT&T dedicated a significant portion of its recent SEC filing to assurances that it would be a-okay without U.S. iPhone exclusivity, a probable sign that the carrier is expecting to lose said exclusivity before the original 5-year deal runs its course. TechCrunch doesn’t disclose any details about its sources for this rumor; it describes them only as “sources with knowledge of this entire situation,” a reference to the long chain of manufacturers from Apple on down through Qualcomm and other component-makers. The January release date was supported by an earlier, less-specific report from Bloomberg about a coming Verizon iPhone. Some surveys have predicted that as many as half of Verizon’s current customers will abandon their current phones for the iPhone if it becomes available to them. If this rumor pans out, will you be abandoning your current Verizon phone for an iPhone. Or if you’re an existing iPhone customer, will you drop AT&T and make the move to Verizon when it gets the iPhone? More About: apple, att, CDMA, cellphone, earnings, handset, iphone, iphone 4, Mobile 2.0, qualcomm, rumor, SEC, smartphone, trending, verizon For more Apple coverage:
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| Why Google Wave’s Demise is Good News for Facebook Posted: 08 Aug 2010 02:29 PM PDT
Its demise is the canary in the coal mine for Google’s social networking plans: Facebook is destined to build the Web’s next wave, as Google continues to tread water. That’s the topic of my CNN column this week. >> Read the full column on CNN.comReviews: Facebook, Google More About: cashmore, cnn, facebook, Google, Google Wave, social, social media, social networking, tech
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| Why Entertainment Will Drive the Next Checkin Craze Posted: 08 Aug 2010 12:44 PM PDT   In recent months, a crop of services have popped up that re-purpose the checkin concept, popularized by Foursquare, and connect it to media and entertainment, as opposed to location. In theory, the idea of checking-in to cultural concepts (like media, music, etc.) and not places is one that doesn’t jive in the real-world. It would follow then that the apps that provide this service — GetGlue, Philo and Miso — are silly and far too extreme in ideology to attract anything more than a testbed tech audience. In practice, this alternative checkin behavior is one that is more cultural and familiar than anything the location checkin offers. In fact, it emulates the way we experience entertainment in our everyday lives. The desire to share is unchanging — it’s how we share that will continue to evolve with the help of social media and entertainment checkin services. The Culture of Entertainment Television shows such as Mad Men may not be monster hits when it comes to traditional ratings measurements, but those who do watch tend to do so religiously and with a fervor nearing obsession. Watching Mad Men is a shared experience, whether you’re at a viewing party or alone in your bedroom, simply because of the culture surrounding the show. There’s a connected feeling you get when you experience a new episode for the first time. That’s why passionate viewers, if they’re socially inclined, are the type of people who will no doubt run to Facebook and Twitter to share their anticipation and viewing experience with the world. Philo, Miso and GetGlue all have mobile and web applications explicitly designed to support and enhance that very natural entertainment-driven social behavior. They’re all using the checkin model so that app users can check-in to content, though each has its own slightly unique approach. Philo is hyper-focused on live television. Viewers use the iPhone app or web to check-in to the live content they’re watching. Philo pulls TV listings directly from cable providers, so viewers can even see the content that’s trending locally and pinpoint where to watch it. App users earn show-specific awards based on their behaviors and work their way up a Hollywood-style ladder to earn “Director” and “Executive Producer” “credits” for shows. Miso is also about creating a social television watching experience. The alpha service currently has iPhone, iPad and web apps that support TV show or movie checkins. It bills itself as “Foursquare for TV” and has its own game mechanics and badges that are designed to hook viewers with the promise of unlocking additional content. GetGlue’s iPhone app extends beyond just television content and supports checkins for books, wines, topics, celebrities and video games. Rewards come in the form of stickers earned from app activity. GetGlue has been around for years attempting to master social recommendation via the browser. With the move to mobile, the company can marry checkins to the social intelligence previously harvested. When it comes to game mechanics, each service is employing its own variation on the badge and point model made popular by Foursquare. GetGlue has stickers. Miso has badges and fan clubs. Philo has awards and hierarchy. These digital rewards systems are nothing more than tokens — mere memorabilia — of our minor television achievements. And yet, each service is hoping that its game mechanics and rewards are more enticing than the competition’s. The Checkin Connection Foreign as it may sound, the act of checking-in to television shows or other entertainment entities creates a culture connection between media consumers with similar interests. Philo, Miso and GetGlue provide services that allow individuals to make social connections to culture, and that’s what sets them apart from the Twitters and Facebooks of the social networking world. It’s this cultural relevance that will create digital bonding experiences and will propel this trend to television watchers outside of the web-tech bubble. Consider that the checkin has been a place-oriented notion for most of its short life. In a just a few months time, however, all three services are showing exponential growth and repetitive engagement behaviors that television networks are salivating over. GetGlue, for instance, saw 5 million ratings and checkins in the month of July alone. A single episode of True Blood accrued more than 3,000 checkins. Miso CEO Somrat Niyogi believes that the shared television watching experience, powered by the simplicity of the checkin, will be a breakout hit for mainstream audiences because it mimics offline tendencies and caters to the second screen behaviors of television viewers who use the web while they watch TV. In fact, a recent Nielsen study indicates that three out of four Americans use the web and TV simultaneously. That same study showed that just 7% are consuming online content related to the TV show they’re watching, but Niyogi is confident that Miso can capitalize on this dual screen trend and even stimulate a renewed interest in television. Niyogi says the iPad will help to open this door, if only because one study showed that 98% of iPad users use the mobile device while watching TV at least once per day. Tweets are Temporary, Checkins are Forever On the surface it might seem that these destination checkin sites do nothing more than make the sharing experience more complex. The argument that you can just as easily tweet to the world that you’re watching The Real Housewives of New York is a fair one. The problem is that these temporal updates have a limited association to the entertainment content being consumed and they’re ephemeral at best. A tweet will solve your immediate need to connect with other show fans and share the television experience, but that tweet has very little lasting value. Enter the checkin. That explicit activity the user takes carries a lot of weight on any of these services. At any given time, staffers can pull data to measure popularity, television trends, engagement and a whole slew of other fascinating facts about user behaviors. For the user, though, content is king, and their checkins will help Miso, GetGlue and Philo shape their entertainment experiences through intelligent behavioral analysis and social-based recommendations. None of the services are incredibly sophisticated just yet — GetGlue is probably the most advanced thanks to its recommendation engine — but that’s the direction things are headed. Philo CCO Greg Goldman has 14 years of television production experience under this belt, and he’s already seeing this potential realized thanks to his service. He describes Philo as shaping his own television watching experiences every night, simply because he can see what’s popular with other viewers. For Goldman, Philo presents television viewers with a new opportunity for show discovery. Niyogi sees a similar, albeit more complex, vision for Miso’s future. He’s anxiously anticipating “the day where you open up the app and it tells you what you should watch right now. And it’s perfectly accurate.” Industry Matters After talking with GetGlue, Miso and Philo, one thing is crystal clear — networks are clamoring to take part in the television show checkin trend. Each service has its own relationships — some are public like Miso’s TNT partnership, but most are still stealth. All speak to the mutually beneficial relationships that exist between social entertainment services and television networks. AdaptiveBlue CEO Alex Iskold confidently reports that GetGlue is “working with over a dozen top entertainment brands including HBO, Showtime, PBS, Random House, Penguin, Universal, Warner Bros, and more.” Networks not only see value in checkin data but opportunity in checkin behavior. Philo’s Goldman has the most industry experience and insider knowledge. He was formerly the Executive Director of Development at ABC and asserts that Philo is “talking to everyone.” He points to his service’s ability to track engagement minute-by-minute as one of the key reasons why networks are pursuing relationships with them. For instance, when it came to the season finale of The Bachelorette, Philo was able to pinpoint exactly when engagement levels spiked on the service and ascertain that audiences appreciated Ally’s decision to break with the formulaic nature of finale show. Of course, networks are also interested because they see an opportunity to truly engage viewers and create a cycle that keeps audiences tuning in each week. The ultimate end game is to boost ratings, and these apps have the potential to help them do just that. Too Much of a Good Thing While each of the startups approach entertainment checkins in a provocative manner, there’s certainly no need for three services that essentially do the same thing. It’s way too early to make predictions. We’re still on the cusp of an emerging trend, but eventually there will be one clear victor. GetGlue has an advantage on the recommendation engine front. Philo’s live TV focus is inherently network-friendly. And Miso really gets why and how users will use its service. A solid case could be made for each, and yet one will dominate, just as Twitter killed off its competition and Facebook finds itself leaps and bounds ahead of the rest. Right now, though, it’s still anybody’s game. More Checkin Resources from Mashable:
[img credits: Hector Milla, Pr3liator, stirwise, catspyjamasnz] Reviews: Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter, iPhone More About: checkin, checkins, culture, entertainment, getglue, miso, PHILO, social media, television, tv For more Social Media coverage:
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| 38 Essential Social Media Resources You May Have Missed Posted: 08 Aug 2010 11:12 AM PDT   Capping off a busy week at Mashable HQ, we bring you a massive list of social media resources you may have missed. We’ve got 38 of the most interesting features and tools published over the last week or so in case you were, you know, outside during the summer. Have a look through our social media resources for the Origin of Twitter’s “Fail Whale,” some great Twitter visualizations, or why WikiLeaks and the mainstream media still need each other. Our Tech and Mobile resources include some amazing Konami code Easter eggs, great (free) WordPress themes to use, and a game plan for keeping BlackBerry relevant in the battle for mobile dominance. For our entrepreneurs, we’ve got tips on how to self-publish anything, great Twitter lists for C-Suite execs, and a guide on how to structure your startup. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Looking for even more social media resources? You can find this guide every weekend, and check out all of the lists-gone-by. Social Media
For more social media news and resources, you can follow Mashable’s social media channel on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook. Tech & Mobile
For more tech news and resources, you can follow Mashable’s tech channel on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook. Business
For more business news and resources, you can follow Mashable’s business channel on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook. [img credit: webtreatsetc] Reviews: Aardvark, Android, Craigslist, Facebook, Foursquare, Hulu, LinkedIn, Mashable, SEX, Twitter, WordPress, YouTube More About: business, facebook, Features Week In Review, List, Lists, Mobile 2.0, small business, social media, tech, technology, trending, twitter, youtube For more Social Media coverage:
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