Mashable: Latest 18 News Updates - including “Google Buzz Makes Popular Users Less Overwhelming”

Google Buzz Makes Popular Users Less Overwhelming
Facebook Acquires a Third Startup, Shuts it Down
Foursquare Achievements Become Fashion Statements With Nerd Merit Badges [PICS]
Netflix Goes Down
HOW TO: Keep Your Facebook Updates Private
Hollrr: Foursquare for Product Reviews
FRIDAY POLL: What Services Have You Connected to Google Buzz?
Couple Says “iDo” at Apple Store Wedding [VIDEO]
William Shatner to Star in “Sh*t My Dad Says” TV Pilot
FarmVille Wins Social Networking Game of the Year Award
Tim Burton Talks “Alice in Wonderland” Live on MySpace Tonight [VIDEO]
Facebook and Ustream Premiere New MTV Dance Flick Tonight [VIDEO]
Google Buzz Contest: Final Day to Win a Google Nexus One
Tiger Woods Press Conference Draws 683,000 Views on Ustream
Mashable’s New iPhone App: Download Today!
Hulu Could be Coming to the iPad… For a Price [RUMOR]
CBS Might Sell iTunes TV Shows for $0.99
HOW TO: Make Your Small Business Geolocation-Ready
Europeans Get a Taste of the Browser Choice Screen

Google Buzz Makes Popular Users Less Overwhelming

Posted: 19 Feb 2010 10:50 PM PST

The Google Buzz team made changes today that prevent popular postings from overwhelming your inbox – that’s good news if you follow popular feeds like the Mashable Google Buzz account.

The problem: since Google Buzz pushes items into your inbox whenever new comments are left after yours, popular postings can become noisy.

Today the Buzz team announced that they’ll “bump” popular postings less frequently to keep them out of your inbox. The team writes:

If you’re following someone with a ton of followers, you’re probably used to seeing their posts at the top of your stream all the time, since we’ve been bumping them back up with every new comment. Starting a few hours ago, we made some changes to not bump them up as often.

Blogger Louis Gray praises the move, and we agree. However, this doesn’t address the more pressing complaint we have about Buzz – that threads need to be collapsible when they get long. Given the speed at which Google is making changes based on user feedback, that’ll come soon too.

Reviews: Google, Google Buzz, blogger

Tags: buzz, Google, google buzz

Facebook Acquires a Third Startup, Shuts it Down

Posted: 19 Feb 2010 10:03 PM PST

Facebook appears to have made a third acquisition — this one smaller than its two previous buys. What’s more, Facebook has shut down the company’s service immediately.

Octazen is a Malaysian company comprising two employees. It provides scripts to import a user’s contacts into a website upon sign up, reports Gigaom.

Why would Facebook acquire the makers of an address book importer? It appears to be a talent buy, with Facebook employing the team and shutting down their service (aka acq-hire-sition). Liz Gannes quotes Facebook’s Larry Yu explaining:

This is part of our ongoing effort to add experienced, accomplished technical talent to help drive the company forward in its efforts to be the central way for people to connect and share information.

A statement on the Octazen site reads:

The Octazen team wanted to let you, our valued customers, know that the company recently received an offer to acquire most of the company’s assets and to employ those assets in a different direction. After carefully evaluating this offer, our team believes this is a wonderful opportunity of which we must take advantage.
As a result, effective immediately, Octazen will no longer accept new service contracts or renew existing service contracts, and will enter a transition period to wind down operations.

Facebook’s previous two acquisitions — Parakey (a web operating system) and FriendFeed (social aggregation and search) — both added excellent engineers to the Facebook team at the cost of the original services. While FriendFeed still exists, it’s barely used and the site’s features have largely been merged into Facebook, to the disappointment of loyal FriendFeed users.

Reviews: Facebook, FriendFeed

Tags: acquisition, business, buy, facebook, octazen, trending

Foursquare Achievements Become Fashion Statements With Nerd Merit Badges [PICS]

Posted: 19 Feb 2010 07:56 PM PST

Remember those real-world merit badges based on the virtual achievements you get for checking in to places using Foursquare that we told you about? They’re approved and on sale now.

The 1.5-inch embroidered badges have Velcro on the back for attaching them to your jacket, backpack, or whatever other fabric you want to decorate. Options include Mari Sheibley-designed badges “Local,” “Superstar,” “Crunked,” and “Super Mayor” for $5.99 each.

Seller Nerd Merit Badges is also offering a 17-inch laptop sash with several badges so you can show off your location-aware cred at your next meeting or social media conference.

When we reported on the badges earlier this week, we were waiting to see if Foursquare would give Nerd Merit Badges the go-ahead to put them on sale. The photo below was apparently all it took to get the company’s approval:

We also found this photo of the badges on a real live clothing item in an update from Nerd Merit Badges’s Twitter account.

Reviews: Foursquare

Tags: foursquare, nerd merit badges

Netflix Goes Down

Posted: 19 Feb 2010 06:13 PM PST

Hopefully your Friday night plans didn’t consist of streaming a movie via Netflix, because the service appears to be suffering a widespread outage.

Twitter users have been buzzing about the downtime for the past 30 minutes or so (as of 9:10 ET), and Netflix’s entire website is offline, other than a homepage message that says “The Netflix website is temporarily unavailable due to scheduled maintenance. During the maintenance period, you may be able to instantly watch movies on an intermittent basis.”

Friday night seems like an odd time to schedule maintenance for a popular movie streaming website, but that’s their story for the moment. We’ll update when we know more.

Reviews: Twitter

Tags: netflix

HOW TO: Keep Your Facebook Updates Private

Posted: 19 Feb 2010 04:04 PM PST

We've already shared some of the basics about how to use Facebook's privacy settings to keep your personal updates, well, personal. Now it's time for some more advanced techniques using the newer features Facebook implemented only a couple of months ago.

If you have a lot of Facebook friends, you probably have some work friends, some family, and other groups in the mix. You don’t want to block any of them out completely, but sometimes you want to share some info with one group but not with the other.

Previously, we showed you how to set privacy rules for each list, but Facebook recently added the ability to make each individual post or status update visible only to the people you want. Here we’ll show you how to use that feature in tandem with friends lists to get the most out of Facebook without worrying about stepping on any toes or sharing information with an unwanted audience. Maybe this HOW TO will even prevent you from getting fired!

Step 1: Divide Your Friends Into Lists

You might have done this already — if you have, you can skip to Step 2 — but we want to make sure we explain everything here. Facebook lets you sort your friends into lists. Before the new privacy features went live, that was just for helping you check in on the news feed updates for people you were interested in without the clutter of people you weren’t. But now you can show some profile info and updates to some lists and not to others, so it’s doubly functional.

To create a list, just click on “Account” at the top right of the Facebook interface and select “Edit Friends” from the drop-down menu that appears, as pictured below. You’ll be taken to the advanced friends page, and at the top there will be a button labeled “Create New List” — that’s pictured in our header image above.

Note that even if your co-workers or another group you want to hide your update from are part of a network, you can’t block out a network, so you’ll still have to create a list. It’s odd, because you can say that only a particular network can see your updates; you just can’t say only a particular network can’t. We’re not fans of this distinction.

Creating a list is easy, though. Just type in the names of the people you want to narrow down your options then click on a portrait to highlight it and add it. Once you have everyone you need, click “Create List” and you’re done!

Create lists for each group of people you want to reach. For example, we’re going to say we’re calling in sick to work in order to play volleyball with the volleyball team, so we have two lists — Volleyball Team and Work. We’ll target our status update to Volleyball Team but hide it from Work. Note that we’re not recommending faking sick days — we just thought it would be an amusing example!

Step 2: Choose Who Can See Your Posts

Here’s the real meat of it all: You can control exactly who sees each of your updates, whether they’re links, status updates, notes, or just about anything else.

When you’re about to post an update from either the Facebook home page news feed or your own wall, you’ll see a small lock icon below and to the right of the field. Click on this and you’ll be able to choose who to show this update to: Everyone, Friends and Networks, Friends of Friends, Only Friends, or Custom. We’re going to use Custom. The rest are self-explanatory.

We’re posting an update to invite our team to play volleyball with us at the lake since we called in sick for work, but we don’t want our co-workers to know that our sick day is a fake one. To accomplish that, we’ll select Custom and then choose exactly which lists or individuals can see the update.

Once you’ve clicked “Custom,” you’ll see a drop down menu that defaults to “Only Friends.” If that’s selected, only your friends will see the update, and you can type names in the bottom field to prevent specific individuals and lists from seeing the update. We could type “Work” in that field to add our Work list, and then all our friends except those in the Work list could see the update.

Or let’s say you’re about to take someone out on a date and it’s your turn to choose the venue, but you’re drawing a blank. If you’re Facebook friends with your date, you can send out an update to all the rest of your friends asking for advice on where to go, but make it so only your date can’t see the update and its comments by entering his or her name.

If you want to be more careful, you can specify that only a certain list or specific friends can see the update — that is, name the people who can see it rather than naming the people who can’t. To do that, click on the drop-down menu and select “Specific People.” You’ll see an interface like the one pictured above. This is where you choose who can see your update.

In the image above, we added the list “Volleyball Team” to the top field so only that list can see it. Anyone who’s not a part of that list will never see the update, including all our work friends — unless they’re part of the volleyball team, too!

You can use these techniques to target each update at exactly the people you want to read it without worrying about causing problems for others. It’s useful if you have friends from many different backgrounds. It’s one of our favorite features in Facebook, and we’d love to see it in more social websites.

If you have any questions or additional ideas about how to use Facebook’s advanced privacy features, let us know in the comments.

More Facebook resources from Mashable:

- HOW TO: Integrate Facebook With Your Blog
- 8 Essential Apps for Your Brand’s Facebook Page
- 30+ Apps for Doing Business on Facebook
- Top 10 Applications for Music Lovers
- The Facebook Guidebook

Reviews: Facebook

Tags: facebook, how to, privacy

Hollrr: Foursquare for Product Reviews

Posted: 19 Feb 2010 03:15 PM PST

This post is part of Mashable’s Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark.

Name: Hollrr

Quick Pitch: Hollrr is Foursquare for product discovery. It turns finding great new stuff into a game.

Genius Idea: Hollrr is a service that plugs into Facebook and Twitter and lets you share products and services that you love with your friends. Hollrr also recently implemented user badges — a la Foursquare — which are designed to turn sharing the stuff that you love into an interactive game.

You can find other people to follow on Holllrr, and you can “Hollrr” — or give a shout-out to — items as you see them come through the stream in real time. You can also search for products or sites, or add them to Hollrr’s directory to give them your verbal high-five.

We like that Hollrr easily integrates with other services and that you can easily re-Hollrr stuff. We also like the idea of earning badges.

The only real problem we have with Hollrr is that all activity takes place inside the website. A Hollrr This! bookmarklet would be cool, and would make it much easier to shout out stuff you find and love.

How do you let people know about stuff you really like? Let us know!

Mashable Answers

Pete Cashmore: Just Google Reader for now. Easy sharing of links.
Sharon Feder: I actually need to start using it more often. I’m really interested in exploring it further to find new ways to use it both personally and for Mashable.
Adam Ostrow: I’ve connected Google Reader — it’s gotten me back into sharing items again. I haven’t connected Twitter — I think that would be too much overlap for now.
Jennifer Van Grove: Twitter, Flickr and Google Reader (though Twitter almost seems like a pointless addition). I find that as an aggregation service, Buzz’s minimalist approach to supporting third-party services might actually be better for users in the long run. Less noise. Less redundancy. More straight-up Buzz conversation.
Christina Warren: I have Twitter integrated with Buzz, and that, plus my own website RSS and my Flickr stream give an almost full lifestream type of experience. However, because I don’t connect with that many people via my Gmail account, its overall usefulness as an aggregator or a way to get info out is limited.
Samuel Axon: I just forward my tweets to Buzz and that’s it.
Brenna Ehrlich: I haven’t connected any services yet. While I do think Buzz is pretty rad, I’m weird in that I like to have multiple social networking accounts to check. I like the gratification of getting messages, and I feel like having everything in one place kind of diminishes the pleasure of checking my messages.
Tamar Weinberg: Google Reader and Twitter have been best because there’s a lot of ongoing dialogue that wouldn’t be had on either service. It’s interesting to see what kind of nested discussions follow after a Tweet is sent that is captured by Google Buzz.
Matt Silverman: Sticking with Twitter for now, which is my only “public” social channel at the moment.
Barb Dybwad: I have Google Reader, Flickr, Picasa and YouTube hooked up to Buzz right now. Of those I use the first two a lot and the latter two rarely, so it seems like a good volume for now. I left Twitter out because in the interest of staving off information overload, I prefer to manage it all in one place (TweetDeck, mostly).

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, ericsphotography

Reviews: Flickr, Gmail, Google Buzz, Google Reader, Mashable, Picasa, TweetDeck, Twitter, YouTube, iStockphoto

Tags: flickr, google buzz, google reader, picasa, polls, social media, twitter

Couple Says “iDo” at Apple Store Wedding [VIDEO]

Posted: 19 Feb 2010 01:02 PM PST

Talk about a destination wedding — this Valentine’s Day, an Apple-obsessed couple tied the knot at New York’s Fifth Avenue Apple Store in a ceremony that referenced Steve Jobs, boasted a first generation iPod as a ring bearer and was officiated by a priest decked out like Jobs himself.

Geektastic weddings/proposals are nothing new. There’s been a recent trend of techies expressing their devotion to each other via mechanical mediums — via Foursquare, Twitter, even at tech conferences. This, however, was probably the very first marriage to take place in an Apple Store.

The world was alerted to the union of Josh and Ting Li after an Apple Store employee tweeted about the unauthorized wedding. The couple apparently met in the Apple Store; Josh tells Entertainment Weekly, "We got to know each other because Ting was looking to buy an iPod…and I managed to strike up a conversation that way… I used to joke that the Apple Store is my church because I am not religious, and I loved everything Apple.”

Yeah, I guess that’s sweet and all — but check out the feverishly clicking photogs. Shouldn’t a wedding be a little bit, well, more intimate than this? Take a look at the video below and weigh in via the comments: Would you want to get hitched at a chain store?

Reviews: Foursquare, Twitter

Tags: apple, social media, viral video

William Shatner to Star in “Sh*t My Dad Says” TV Pilot

Posted: 19 Feb 2010 12:28 PM PST

Justin Halpern’s immensely popular Twitter account “Sh*t My Dad Says” is in the process of being turned into a sitcom, and there’s a powerhouse of industry veterans attached to the project. Today we can add William Shatner to the list, as he’s primed to star as the dad-that-speaks-his-mind in the pilot episode.

With Shatner set to bring the words of Halpen’s 73-year-old father to life, the script — co-written by Halpern and Patrick Schumacker — has been greenlit for production as a pilot.

The Hollywood Reporter also reports that the title of the project will likely change (presumably to something more TV-friendly) should the pilot become a full-fledged television series.

Given William Shatner’s comedic timing and edgier persona of late — especially when you factor in the poetic readings of Sarah Palin’s tweets — we think there’s a definite match between the actor and the character that Halpern brings to life on a daily basis via Twitter. In fact, with the producers of Will & Grace behind the project, one would presume that the end result will not disappoint.

There’s no word on the production schedule or when the pilot will air, but we’ll keep a lookout and keep you posted when we know more. Until then, let us know what you think of Shatner reprising the role of Halpern senior in the comments.

[img credit: Thomas Hawk]

Reviews: Twitter

Tags: celebrities, justin halpern, shit my dad says, trending, tv, William Shatner

FarmVille Wins Social Networking Game of the Year Award

Posted: 19 Feb 2010 12:18 PM PST

The 13th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards ceremony was held last night as part of the video game industry’s Dice Summit conference in Las Vegas, NV. Games.com reports that the top honor in the “Social Networking Game of the Year” category went to Zynga’s massively popular Facebook game FarmVille.

It was up against PopCap’s Bejeweled Blitz, EA/Playfish’s Restaurant City and Codebell’s Farm Town. With nearly 81 million monthly active players (which Zynga is quick to note has already made it bigger than Twitter), FarmVille is far and away the largest of the bunch and in some ways a shoo-in for the award.

Still, it’s yet another feather in the cap for Zynga, who recently raised $180 million in a funding round from Digital Sky Technologies, the Russian venture capital firm that also invested $200 million in Facebook.

Do you play FarmVille? Are there other social games on Facebook you think should have been considered for a Game of the Year award?

Reviews: Facebook

Tags: casual games, codebell, EA, facebook, farmville, games, playfish, popcap, social games, Zynga

Tim Burton Talks “Alice in Wonderland” Live on MySpace Tonight [VIDEO]

Posted: 19 Feb 2010 11:03 AM PST

MySpace Video is hosting an exclusive Alice in Wonderland movie event with director Tim Burton tonight. Burton will introduce the cast and show off some footage from the film, and there will be performances from the Almost Alice alternative music album.

The event will stream live at 8:00 p.m. EST tonight through Ustream’s online video platform. We’ve embedded the stream below so when it starts you’ll be able to watch it right here.

This is, of course, not the first example of promoting a movie in this manner — Facebook and MTV hosted a Q&A with Avatar director James Cameron last year, for one. It seems like these webcasts are becoming a staple of movie studios’ promotion plans.

MySpace has a couple of other big exclusives, too. MySpace Music will debut the Almost Alice album in its entirety this coming Tuesday. The promotional album features songs by major alternative acts inspired by the Alice in Wonderland story. Artists include The Cure, Franz Ferdinand, All-American Rejects and more.

And the red-band trailer for the upcoming raunchy, not-so-super hero comedy Kick-Ass has already debuted exclusively at MySpace’s Trailer Park site. We’ve embedded that below, too, but be warned that it’s definitely not for kids and NSFW.

Alice in Wonderland Live Stream

Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland Fan Event Live Stream Hosted by MySpace

Kick-Ass Trailer

Reviews: Facebook, MySpace, ustream

Tags: Alice in Wonderland, Film, kick-ass, live video, myspace, tim burton, trailer, ustream

Facebook and Ustream Premiere New MTV Dance Flick Tonight [VIDEO]

Posted: 19 Feb 2010 10:12 AM PST

It’s Friday night, so before you shamble out to make copious mistakes at the clubs, you can brush up on your dance skills by catching the premiere of the new MTV flick, Turn the Beat Around, via Facebook and Ustream.

More and more, social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and YouTube are becoming entertainment portals for live and exclusive content. 50 Cent premiered his film Before I Self Destruct to an audience of 255,000 via Ustream, MySpace showcased the Twilight Saga: New Moon red carpet event (which garnered an audience of three million) and, today, Ustream live-streamed Tiger Woods’s press conference, drawing 683,000 viewers.

MTV’s Facebook/Ustream collaboration is just another example of such a partnership. The unique part is that this is the first time a full MTV film has premiered on Facebook before airing on television. Sure, television shows — like HBO’s How to Make it in America — have premiered on video sites like YouTube in the past, but a Facebook showing provides ample opportunities for interactions with fans. Think how valuable it will be for MTV to be able to gauge how the audience is receiving the movie as it airs via wall posts and shares. Forget the middleman (i.e. ratings services and surveys) — Facebook takes care of that simply by being the medium by which the film is shown.

Moreover, MTV is sure to reach a lot of eyes via Facebook. Sure, as of right now only 95 people have RSVP’d yes to the event, but, as we know, Facebook is now the number-two site on the web (after Google), which means chances of pulling a large audience are rather good.

So is the movie any good? Eh. The plotline is a little played-out (Really, a movie about a plucky girl who just wants to dance and the dudes she meets along the way? Like we haven’t seen that before), but the trailer looks fun. If you dig dance movies, checking it out probably won’t be that much of a time-waster. The movie streams live at 7 p.m. EST tonight, here.

In the meantime, check out the trailer below:

Movie Trailers – Movies Blog

Reviews: Facebook, Google, MySpace, YouTube, ustream

Tags: facebook, Film, live video, mtv, social media, television

Google Buzz Contest: Final Day to Win a Google Nexus One

Posted: 19 Feb 2010 09:37 AM PST

Today is the final day to enter Mashable’s Google Buzz contest and win one of two Google Nexus One phones.

Since the product’s launch last week, we’re been using our Google Buzz account to discuss the social media topics of the day. Your comments have been smart, useful and sometimes hilarious. To reward high quality comments, the most intelligent and constructive comments posted to our Google Buzz account by midnight tonight will win one of two Google Nexus One phones.

To enter:

1. Follow the official Mashable account on Google Buzz
2. Look out for the questions we post to Buzz and offer your most insightful replies
3. The two most insightful comments posted before midnight PT on Friday, February 19 will win a Google Nexus One

That’s it! The contest is open internationally and we’ll pay shipping worldwide. In order to make the contest international, the Nexus One phones are unlocked without contract. Winners names will be announced on our Google Buzz account on or before February 22.

Reviews: Google Buzz

Tags: Google, google buzz

Tiger Woods Press Conference Draws 683,000 Views on Ustream

Posted: 19 Feb 2010 09:20 AM PST

The web took a collective 15-minute pause this morning as Tiger Woods made his first public statement since becoming engulfed in scandal back in November. Ustream is the first in with numbers from the event, as it tells us that its live stream drew 683,000 views.

We thought the event might be huge given the interest in the Woods scandal and the fact the event took place during the U.S. work day, and the numbers from Ustream indicate that the statement was likely watched online by millions in total.

Livestream, Hulu, and YouTube all streamed the event live, with the latter promoting it on its homepage and widely followed Twitter account. The event was also carried on all of the major TV networks, further contributing to the buzz across social media sites.

Ustream added that its social stream integration — which lets users post messages to Twitter, Facebook and MySpace while watching live video — contributed 3,300 updates to the chatter. In total, Trendrr tells us there were 93,000 tweets about the press conference in the first hour.

Reviews: Facebook, Hulu, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube, ustream

Tags: live video, tiger woods, ustream

Mashable’s New iPhone App: Download Today!

Posted: 19 Feb 2010 09:14 AM PST

iPhone users, we’ve got a free gift for you! Mashable’s new iPhone app [iTunes link] is live in the App Store, offering an entirely new interface and a bunch of new features. These include:

1. Browse by channel, category, tag or author
2. Share stories via email, Twitter and Facebook
3. Read later: save stories to read offline
4. Drag to refresh: tap and pull down to refresh story listings
5. In-App Browser : Visit external links without leaving the app
6. Price: FREE!

We hope you’ll download the app in the App Store and give us your feedback!

Note that this is an entirely new app – if you’re using previous versions, please download this new one.

Reviews: Facebook, Twitter

Tags: iphone, iphone app, iphone apps, mashable

Hulu Could be Coming to the iPad… For a Price [RUMOR]

Posted: 19 Feb 2010 09:00 AM PST

When the iPad was announced a few weeks ago, the lack of support for Adobe Flash prompted outcries from would-be users — largely because of what impact that would have on streaming video services. Today, AllThingsD’s Peter Kafka is reporting that Hulu for the iPad is indeed likely, but you might have to pay for it.

Last year, the web went into hysterics when a representative from Fox (one of Hulu’s three owners — alongside Disney and NBC Universal/Comcast) announced that he wanted to start charging for Hulu. Whether that would be part of some sort of subscription service for more premium content or include access to other types of devices hasn’t been formally discussed, but according to AllThingsD, the iPad would be part of this strategy.

Right now it sounds like Hulu’s management is trying to figure out how to keep the main site free, while charging for other access options.

AllThingsD describes this:

“One idea the company and its backers like: Turning Hulu from a ‘one screen’ service — one you’re only supposed to watch on your computer — to a “three screen” offering, by adding support for TVs and mobile devices.
‘Just three screens alone is pretty enticing,’ for consumers, says an executive at one of Hulu’s parent companies.”

Hulu has gone to great lengths to position itself as a “computer-only” service (even when it offers programs like Hulu Desktop that are clearly designed for use with a remote control from a sofa or chair), trying to prevent services like Boxee from making it easy to view the web content on a larger screen. Whether or not this strategy would include teaming up with hardware partners a la Netflix, is still unclear.

The Definition of a Mobile Device

AllThingsD and Gizmodo both touched on what is probably the biggest hurdle for Hulu and the iPad: the definition of device type. One of the reasons that Hulu has not come to mobile phones is because there are additional rights involved with getting shows licensed to view on a mobile phone. Hulu doesn’t own those rights. And while it’s likely it could get them, that process won’t be fast (and it almost certainly won’t be a free option — especially for newer shows that have mobile royalty rates written into the contracts of the creatives and talent).

How the iPad’s device-type will be defined is still unknown — it could be argued that when used via Wi-Fi, the device is not mobile, but when used over 3G, it is. Still, this seems to be a larger logistical hurdle than just creating an application wrapper to service the Hulu video content.

Flash Wouldn’t Erase This Problem

Although having Flash support would prevent Hulu from having to write either an iPad-optimized website (or separate application) to serve content, it wouldn’t solve the dilemmas over what constitutes a mobile device and on what types of screens Hulu wants to serve content.

As the Boxee kerfuffle has proven, Hulu is not afraid to try to block requests from certain browser types (which is why Boxee uses a user agent string that matches Mozilla in almost every way). Blocking access coming from devices that identify themselves as an iPad wouldn’t take any effort. I’m not saying Hulu would do this — but the technical fact is, it wouldn’t be difficult to do.

If the big issue is how to charge and how to categorize the device, and not how to serve the content — having Flash or not having Flash is really beside the point. It’s a nice issue for users and developers and pundits to hang their hats on and debate, but really, if what is being reported is accurate, the issue seems to have very little to do with what wrapper the video content uses.

Assuming Hulu does come to the iPad — as part of some sort of subscription service — would you pay? How much would be fair? Would you also want access to other devices like a TV or mobile phone?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

Reviews: Boxee, Hulu

Tags: hulu, ipad, tv

CBS Might Sell iTunes TV Shows for $0.99

Posted: 19 Feb 2010 07:46 AM PST

It’s been widely reported that Apple is lobbying television networks to reduce the cost of TV episodes from $1.99 to $0.99, and it appears as if it has one big network ready to make a deal: CBS.

In a company earnings call, CBS CEO Les Moonves is quoted as saying, “There are certain shows that will be sold on Apple for 99 cents.”

It’s not uncommon for networks to offer older shows at the discounted price, but Peter Kafka at All Things D writes that the context of the quote indicated that Moonves “is planning on changing his pricing structure on more than a one-off basis.”

Moonves’s statement taken at face value — although he may have spoken too soon per an update to the original report — has major implications for the entertainment industry and consumers alike. If one network reduces its prices, the likelihood that the others will follow suit is much greater. And if Apple can get TV shows down to $0.99, consumers will be much more likely to purchase the content. The price point is also more approachable to future iPad owners looking to consume their favorite shows regardless of their locations.

The details of CBS’s arrangement with Apple are sparse, but other reports speculate that the companies have been in recent communication (surrounding the rumored Apple TV subscription plan), so it’s probably safe to assume that we’ll hear more about the Apple-CBS relationship in the coming months.

Tags: apple, cbs, itunes, tv

HOW TO: Make Your Small Business Geolocation-Ready

Posted: 19 Feb 2010 07:09 AM PST

This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

Small businesses stand to increase their local audience and further their market reach through geolocation platforms, which attach real-world locations to mobile phones. Here are a few ways companies can become part of the location tagging world of social media.

Late last year, Twitter launched geolocation for tweets. The microblogging service also recently rolled out Local Trends, which makes geolocated tweets trending topics.

Other location services such as BrightKite, Gowalla and Loopt allow users to check in at locations, and the ability to share that activity among a network of friends.

On February 9th , Google announced its new social media platform Buzz that is tied to a user's Gmail account and has location-tagging options. For example, the Buzz nearby mobile feature serves up a list about places, and users can read Buzz info about those places from others who are both in and outside their networks.

Foursquare allows for check-ins and has a gaming element in which users earn badges and can work their way to become the "mayor" of their favorite locations. MyTown also allows for check-ins and rewards as a gaming element.

Dina Meek, owner of a social media consulting firm for small businesses called Big Buzzness said these types of platforms are essentially cheap or free for small businesses – for the moment, at least.

"It's absolutely something they can tap into and be ready (for)," she said.

Become Familiar and Aware of Location Tagging Networks

Meek said small businesses should sign up and start using these location-tagged services. She recommended finding a comparable business in a nearby town that is on Foursquare and seeing how it is using the platform.

"For small businesses, if you can put the time in to get the buzz in and get the word out, it doesn't cost anything," she said.

What if your town is small, or isn't as savvy on geolocation services as Silicon Valley? Then be one of the first to start building that location-tagging presence in that area. Meek suggested talking to the local chamber of commerce to see what kinds of incentives they might offer to attract consumers who are on geolocation networks. Figure out how to draw people in from nearby cities and think about banding together with other local businesses to do cross-promotion that might benefit your area.

Make Sure Your Business is Already Discoverable on Geolocation Apps

First, check to see if your business is there and if it isn't, add it or contact that site to find out how to get your business added, said Rob Reed, who authors the blog MaxGladwell.com and is the vice president of marketing at the paperless postal system Zumbox.com.

He pointed out that businesses are going to have to be search engine optimized, social media optimized, and geographically optimized.

There's a big distinction between the kinds of interaction going on and content being generated in these location-based app spaces. Reed said businesses can say they're already on GPS services such as Garmin or TomTom, but all that content is static. He said the difference is that social geolocation content is in real-time. "It's more about the conversation," he said.

Get Your Customers to Use Geolocation Tagging on Twitter and Geotagging Apps

Meek suggested businesses post a link to their Foursquare page on their website and Facebook page, and post signage in the establishment itself telling patrons to find them on the location-tagged sites.

"You have the means to create the incentive to bring customers in," Meek said. "It's a very low-cost way to do it."

She recommended small businesses host a meetup just for Foursquare customers on a day that business tends to be slower. That could work to build awareness about the location-tagged network, and hopefully, get people using it.

"One of the biggest hurdles is getting people to opt-in to geolocation," Reed said.

Reed said business owners need to tell their customers to geotag tweets from their place of business so it will leave a trail of content from that business.

Get in Now to Hook the Early Adopters

Reed said that Foursquare is dominated right now by social media influencers – people who tend to be highly networked with the ability to spread a business's message. He said there is significant advantage and value for being at the right place at the right time.

So if small businesses have a presence on these applications while the space is largely being used by social media influencers, those businesses have a better chance of quickly gaining word-of-mouth traction.

Build Loyalty Programs Into Your Presence

Once small businesses get well versed in the apps, they can reach out to customers there. Businesses have started customer loyalty programs around the gaming and social networking aspects of location tagging apps. For instance, with a certain amount of Foursquare user check-ins or even a mayorship at that business, customers could be eligible for deals.

Foursquare has a directory of businesses that lists mayorship deals for Foursquare users. Businesses can also add their own mayorship specials to the directory.

Foursquare has "paid services" in the works for three types of businesses – small, privately owned businesses, brands with retail chains and multinational companies, Advertising Age reported.

Foursquare is also working on an analytics dashboard so businesses can track foot traffic into their establishments, according to Advertising Age.

Low-fat frozen dessert retailer Tasti D-Lite announced in January a frequent customer program that rewards social media users.

TastiRewards members register their TreatCards online and earn points for purchases made at Tasti D-Lite, according to a company news release. Members get extra points if they opt-in to have messages automatically sent from their Twitter and Foursquare accounts whenever they earn or redeem points, the release said.

Customers earn one loyalty point per pre-tax dollar spent and they are eligible for a free medium-sized Tasti treat when they earn 50 points, the release said. It's the first type of customer loyalty program by a restaurant that rewards people for spreading the word via their social media networks, according to the company's statement.

Reed points out that when a customer gets a punch on an actual frequent buyer card for a free smoothie as a walk-in, there's no ripple effect. But with geolocation and the ability to share your check-ins and actions with friends, consumers are magnifying the punch card effect.

"(It) almost replaces the frequency punch card, in a way," Reed said.

More business resources from Mashable:

- 5 Ways to Avoid Sabotaging Your Personal Brand Online
- 4 Elements of a Successful Business Web Presence
- HOW TO: Implement a Social Media Business Strategy
- HOW TO: Choose a News Reader for Keeping Tabs on Your Industry
- HOW TO: Measure Social Media ROI
- HOW TO: Use Social Media to Connect with Other Entrepreneurs

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, janrysavy

Reviews: Brightkite, Facebook, Foursquare, Gmail, Google, Gowalla, Twitter, iStockphoto

Tags: brightkite, business, foursquare, geolocation, gowalla, location-based, loopt, MARKETING, Mobile 2.0, small business, social media, social networks, twitter

Europeans Get a Taste of the Browser Choice Screen

Posted: 19 Feb 2010 05:38 AM PST

It might seem like a minor thing, but it isn’t.

Microsoft has been fined billions over browser choice (or lack thereof) in Windows, and the solution that finally satisfied EU regulators was a browser choice screen, which would let users choose a web browser rather then having Internet Explorer installed as the default.

Now, Microsoft has posted images of what the browser choice screen will probably look like.

Here’s how it will work: The user will be presented with five major browsers, randomly ordered. He will also be able to choose several additional browsers, which are also randomly ordered. Once you install a browser, you’ll get a shortcut of that browser on your desktop, while Internet Explorer will be unpinned from the taskbar.

Since Windows 7 has been available on the European market for quite a while now, one may ask why (and how) is this happening so late? Since Microsoft needed some time to implement the browser choice solution, it will now use Windows Update to provide the browser choice screen to European users who are using Internet Explorer as their default browser. Better late than never, huh?

More precisely, testing of the browser choice screen begins next week in the UK, Belgium and France, where users will be able to download the software update from Windows Update if they like. A phased rollout of the update will happen across Europe starting with March 1.