Mashable: Latest 5 News Updates - including “5 Excellent E-Card iPhone Apps” |
- 5 Excellent E-Card iPhone Apps
- GoDaddy Makes .CO the Default for New Domain Names
- 12 Fun Hacks for Getting More Out of YouTube
- Netflix Promises Android Streaming App… But Not For All Phones
- HOW TO: Land a Business Development Job
- Top 10 Twitter Trends This Week [CHART]
| 5 Excellent E-Card iPhone Apps Posted: 13 Nov 2010 07:13 PM PST      Although we can’t deny the pleasure of getting a real-life, hard copy card through good old-fashioned snail mail, e-cards offer a great alternative, especially for anyone short on time. E-cards have grown up from the tacky offerings of the 1990s and are an environmentally friendly way to send a greeting — especially nowadays, when you’re more likely to have your friend’s e-mail address than postal address. Greeting card apps in the App Store are 10 a penny though, so to save you the hassle of shopping around for the best app, we’ve selected five fabulous options that will suit all tastes — from minimalists to shutterbugs to lovers of vintage style. 1. Cartolina Classy card company Cartolina has gone, in its words, “pretty hi tech” with this iPhone app, which offers a limited range of e-cards that you can text or e-mail out as many times as you’d like. The cards only offer space for three lines of text, so they’re perfect for when you want to send more than a text message, say, for a birthday greeting, announcement or even an event invite. As well as the “Cartograms,” the app offers integration with the birthday field in your iPhone’s contacts, and provides a calendar you can flick through to see birthdays and other dates. The app even sends you a reminder so you can assure that your message gets sent off in time. Developer: Cartolina Cards 2. fCards
fCards is a great all-around greeting card app. It offers a minimalist approach to design — the cards are postcard-style and have an image on one “side” and an area to write a message on the other. You can use your own images and customize the look and placement of the text. Categories are comprehensive and there’s some really nice imagery on offer, including some beautifully simple photos that work really well for a variety of occasions. A bonus feature for social networkers is that the app is Facebook-friendly. Sign in to the social networking site in-app and you can send e-cards to your Facebook friends, as well as via traditional e-mail. Developer: fStop 3. Cerebral Itch E-Cards Cerebral Itch’s e-card app is the virtual greeting card solution for people who don’t like greeting cards. In the developer’s words, “our e-card app is what an e-card app would be if it were home-schooled, slightly kinky and thought is was better than the other e-card apps.” Funny, irreverent, non-traditional and in some cases downright rude, the card designs are modern, clever and knowing — and should only be sent to those with a sense of humor. Categories include those you’d expect — birthday, anniversary, thank you, get well, etc. — and some you might not — intervention, politics and breakup support. Besides sending the e-cards as e-mails, you can also send out invitations. The app lets you customize the date, time and location of the event, which will appear as a Google Maps link in the e-mail. At $2.99, this app isn’t cheap (although it’s certainly cheaper than buying the equivalent cards and paying postage), so if you can’t bring yourself to plunk down that kind of change, then try out the free version that offers a limited selection of designs. Developer: Cerebral Itch 4. Lifecards – Postcards This very comprehensive app offers a huge variety of 350-plus themed templates that you can insert your own images and text into and send off as electronic postcards, letters, newsletters, cards and more. Categories are wide ranging, including obvious ones like travel and Christmas, as well as more unusual options like fruit and food, sport and winter. Customization options are plentiful and include the ability to tweak layouts, edit photos, change the color and font of the text and, in some designs, even hand write your signature. Your creations are e-mailed as image attachments, and they look good. If you’re looking for a way to show off your own photos, then Lifecards is your app — and well worth the $2 download cost. Developer: Vivid Apps 5. Vintage Greeting Cards Small View Media offers an entire range of “vintage” greetings cards apps that work for all occasions (Valentines, Easter, Fourth of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and more), each with some period charm. In the words of the developers, the apps offer “greetings from the past delivered using today’s technology.” The downside is that each occasion is a separate app, priced at $1.99 a pop, which means collecting the set isn’t cheap. If you do, however, you’ll have a library of lovely cards to use throughout the year. In each app, you can browse the cards in a cover view-style flip layout and, when you see the one you want, you can save it to your photo roll and e-mail the image from there. This means less in-app personalization than other options we’ve featured here, but that simplicity might well suit some users. And with great galleries in each app, there will definitely be a design to suit everyone. Developer: Small View Media BONUS: Mean Cards If the Cerebral Itch e-cards are for people you know have a sense of humor, then Mean Cards are for the friends you have that are a little bit twisted. This rated 17+ app offers a laugh-out-loud selection of wildly inappropriate greetings that range from flippant to downright hostile. If you want to tell a cousin his degree is uselessness, a work colleague that everyone thinks she is faking an illness, or a friend that if she has one more baby, she’s white trash, then this is the app to do it with. Just don’t be too mean. Developer: Cerebral Itch More iPhone Resources from Mashable:
Reviews: App Store, Facebook, Google Maps More About: app store, apple, cartolina, e-cards, ecards, greeting cards, iphone, iphone apps, List, Lists For more Mobile coverage:
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| GoDaddy Makes .CO the Default for New Domain Names Posted: 13 Nov 2010 05:56 PM PST   Domain names ending in .COM are in short supply, so popular registrar GoDaddy has changed the default domain name extension from .COM to the just-launched .CO — a sign that the alternative to .COM already has momentum. Note that you can still register domain names that end in .COM — they’re just not the default anymore, and these days you’ll be lucky if your first (or second or third) choice isn’t already taken. .CO domains cost more but they’re given out and resolved the same way as domains ending in .COM, and they’re already recognizable to users in some countries (the United Kingdom and Japan, for example) so they’re a viable alternative if every .COM domain you want is held by either a legit company or an unmovable URL squatter. Twitter uses a .CO extension for its URL sharing service, and shopping site Overstock.com recently launched a campaign to promote its alternative URL at “o.co.” Will you be jumping on the .CO bandwagon with your next website? [Via Domain Name Wire] Reviews: Twitter More About: .co, com, domain name, domain registrar, godaddy, GoDaddy.com For more Tech coverage:
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 12 Fun Hacks for Getting More Out of YouTube Posted: 13 Nov 2010 04:38 PM PST   There’s no doubt that plain old YouTube can be tons of fun, but when you get bored of watching clips the traditional way, there are a ton of sites that can help enhance the experience. Whether you want to view a video with a far-away friend, compare two clips, or find more interesting ways of browsing and sharing, there are plenty of options out there. The web community is known for creating hacks that improve your surfing experience; now we’ve dug into some of those tools and hacks built around YouTube. Have a look through our 10 choices and let us know of any other YouTube mashups, hacks, or similar sites and services you’ve used. We’d love to hear about them in the comments below. 1. TubeReplay This site features a super-simple premise. TubeReply will play a YouTube video over and over again, until you stop it or go mad — whichever happens first. Just enter the URL of the clip you want repeated and the site will do the rest. 2. DragonTape DragonTape allows you to remix YouTube videos into a seamless mixtape. Search for the clips you want, drag and drop to set up the play order and then share the playlist with friends via an auto-generated URL, or embed it with the code provided. 3. YouTube Doubler This “mashup helper” exists “because you have better things to do than work.” You can use it to compare two videos, or have fun mashing together two patently unsuitable videos. Simply enter the two URLs, decide on your VJ name, and you’re off and away. You can share your video pairing via a generated URL. 4. SynchTube SynchTube allows you to watch synchronized YouTube videos with up to 50 other people with a chat window along the side so you can IM about what’s happening. Setting up a “room” is easy. Just enter the URL(s) of the videos you want to watch and then share the URL with your group. We can imagine tons of uses for this service, but the sweetest one has got to be setting up some videos to watch “together” with a far-away partner. 5. Infinitube Enter your choice of keywords into this site and it will create an infinite playlist based on them. Get ready for a seamless viewing experience based on as many keywords as you can imagine. 6. Splicd You can link to a specific spot in a YouTube video by adding #t=MMmSSs (replace MM with minutes and SS with seconds) to the end of the URL, but Spilcd (and TubeChop below) take this concept a step further. Splicd lets you cut down a YouTube video by entering start time and finish time. You can then share your edited clip with a URL or embed it with the code supplied. 7. TubeChop TubeChop shares exactly the same principle as Splicd. TubeChop, however, lets you make your edited selection by sliding a bar along a timeline. It’s worth an independent mention as some may prefer TubeChop’s visual editing process. 8. YouCube This unique little tool lets you create a “YouCube,” an interesting, if slightly offbeat way of sharing YouTube videos. Enter the six YouTube videos you want to appear on each side of the cube and it generates a spinning 3D cube of your videos that you can then name and share via a shortened URL. 9. MixTube MixTube is a great, simple tool that lets you easily create and share music playlists from YouTube videos just by adding the URLs to a list. This tool is tidy and useful for songs that you can only find on YouTube, such as mashups, live performances, and other user-generated content. 10. YouFlow YouFlow offers an alternative and more attractive way to browse videos on YouTube. Enter your key words and a selection of results will be displayed in a cover flow-style layout that you can scroll through. You can choose to play multiple videos right from the results, something that is much more difficult to do with YouTube’s queues and playlists. 11. Quietube If the majority of YouTube comments depress you, then: a) You’re not alone, and b) There’s a solution. This browser bookmarklet offers a plain white or plain black background to view vids on. Simply install and then hit the “quietube” button after you press play on any YouTube video for some peaceful, troll-free viewing. 12. YouTube TestTube TestTube is YouTube’s “ideas incubator,” akin to Gmail Labs, where YouTube engineers and developers “test out recipes and concoctions that aren’t quite fully baked.” You can play around with a comment search, HTML5, the lite version of YouTube (Feather), a caption editor, music discovery features and more. More YouTube Resources from Mashable
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Talaj Reviews: Dragontape, YouTube, iStockphoto More About: Google, hacks, List, Lists, tips, tricks, video, web video, youtube For more Web Video coverage:
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Netflix Promises Android Streaming App… But Not For All Phones Posted: 13 Nov 2010 03:27 PM PST   Early next year, some Android users will get Netflix streaming apps like those enjoyed by iPhone and Windows Phone 7 users — but not everyone. We knew Netflix was working on bringing streaming to Android thanks to those job listings that all but declared it, but we didn’t know for sure what prevented it from happening sooner. Now we do. Netflix product development guru Greg Peters blogged yesterday that “the lack of a generic and complete platform security and content protection mechanism available for Android” has prevented the company from expanding to the rapidly growing smartphone platform. In other words, Netflix is unable to implement on all Android devices the digital rights management tools that would satisfy the film studios and other content providers from whom it licenses all its content. “We are eager to launch on these devices and are disappointed that we haven't been able to do so already,” he also wrote. He said the same security issues are cause for concern about software piracy on Android. Since no universal solution exists, Netflix is working with individual hardware manufacturers to support specific Android phones, and the first batch of those will get their apps in early 2011. Peters also said Netflix is working “to develop a standard, platform-wide solution” but he didn’t provide a timeframe for that — probably because so much of what needs to happen there is beyond Netflix’s control. Reviews: Android More About: android, Android Market, App, Film, Google, Mobile 2.0, netflix, netflix watch instantly, streaming, streaming video, television, trending, tv, video, web video For more Mobile coverage:
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| HOW TO: Land a Business Development Job Posted: 13 Nov 2010 01:19 PM PST   So you want to be a business development professional? The job title has certainly become a coveted one of late, especially in the tech sector where the business guys and gals are the ones forging newsworthy partnerships. The question is, do you know what the job entails? Even then, do you know how and where to start on this newfound career path? Or better yet, do you have the qualities that make for success in these always-on positions? Mashable interviewed six experts in the field at various stages in their careers to get their tips on what it takes to become a business development professional at technology companies and startups. Biz Dev ProsHere is some background information on these six seasoned business development professionals.
Education and Internships What undergraduate school should I attend? Do I need to go to grad school? What about internships? These are all questions you’re likely to face as you explore a future in business development. The esteemed professionals we interviewed all have backgrounds of varying degrees, so we asked for their input on these subject matters. Walker’s own personal story is perhaps the most unique example of how to come by a business development position. While certainly making his mark in business development now, Walker initially pursued a career on Wall Street before packing it up and heading to Stanford Graduate School of Business, a shift that pushed him in the tech direction. All things considered, does Walker recommend internships? “Certainly depends,” he says. However, based on his own internship experiences, “if you want to work in tech long term, interning at an investment bank may not make the most sense,” he jokes. Hertzberg is a big proponent of internships. “Interning is the best job interview you can ever get, and is critical to beginning to build your professional network. Some of my favorite professional relationships are with folks who once interned for me,” he says. Johnson suggests going after internships that push you outside your comfort zone. “The goal of my internships was to learn how to interact with all kinds of people. I always went after positions that forced me into different types of situations, whether they be social or otherwise,” says Johnson. Grad school is something Walker has a bit more conviction about. In his words, “B-school” is “very important … not only for the skills (i.e. accounting, finance, operations, etc.) that could be beneficial for all managers to comprehend long term, but also for the softer skills of ‘people management.’” Oberfest found an immediate opening in the biz dev field right as he was starting out. “I was fortunate to get my career started at the beginning of the first Internet boom, so for me it was trial by fire,” he explains. If you’re on the fence about grad school, consider the following statement from Oberfest. “Grad school can help, but [it] is not a requirement. Good knowledge of the mechanics of deals — how to structure and negotiate deals — is an important component of the job and an MBA or JD can certainly help there, but I think the single most important attribute of an exceptional business development person is good product intuition.” Van Horn is also proof that graduate degrees aren’t absolute requirements. “I’ve never attended graduate school, but if you’re able to attend a top tier school, I hear you build an incredible network for life,” he says. Instead, Van Horn spent his undergraduate college years working for Apple. “It’s very powerful to have a big brand behind your resume,” Van Horn shares. “I worked for Apple for four years doing campus marketing while in college and it helped a lot.” For Hertzberg, his MBA, “was worth half of what I paid for it, as I already had a business background.” But, he says, “The network is why you go and, yes, that has been worth its weight in gold.” Required Reading All of the professionals we talked to strongly advocate that those aspiring to work in the field read up on mentors past.
Unfortunately, it takes more than a few good books to read your way to success. Hertzberg recommends an aggressive approach to ongoing education that entails consuming as much information as possible. “Read industry rags voraciously and know who is starting up, who is funded, who is growing, who is cutting what deals, etc.” he says. “Have a deep and holistic understanding of the industry and marketplace beyond just your company’s focus.” Hudson strongly advises that, “all BD people, especially start-up BD people, should read Steve Blank’s work on customer discovery. That’s a big part of your job.” You might also want to start by reading Hudson’s own in-depth article on what being the “business guy” at a startup entails. Must-Have Qualities If you want to work in business development, and do so successfully, these experts agree that there’s one thing you absolutely need — a tangible passion for product. In actionable terms, Walker describes this as a “tireless hustle.” Van Horn agrees. “I think you need to be passionate and have hustle,” he says. Van Horn also recommends being an “early adopter of interesting products. If you’re looking for a technology job, make sure you use every awesome sounding new product you read on Mashable.” Those best suited for business development roles are the make-it-work types, says Johnson. “The most successful people I’ve met are those who know how to quickly adapt and hustle to find ways to overcome any obstacles put in their way,” he advises. Oberfest believes these three qualities are key: the ability to “quickly read people,” innate negotiation sensibilities and an appreciation for long-term relationships. Hertzberg reminds that “you have to like people,” if you want to do well in a biz dev role. Hudson agrees and points to human-to-human interaction as a huge part of the job. “If you want to go into business development, I think you have to be good at dealing with and understanding people. If you’re not comfortable with interpersonal communications and relationship management, it probably isn’t the right job for you,” he says. On the flip side, Walker says that those possessing a “lack of humility” are least suited for biz dev positions. In a similar vein, Hertzberg says, “Be humble. Always represent your company’s brand faithfully. Constantly work to enhance and preserve that brand. Remember that your personal brand will never be bigger than your company’s.” Getting Your First Biz Dev Job For those just looking to get their foot in the door somewhere, knowing the answer to the question, “How does one get a biz dev job?” is of the utmost importance. We posed this particular question to our professionals, who all have slightly different, but uniquely encouraging takes on how and where to get started. “For me it started with just recognizing the pretty significant business opportunity at a startup that I was already passionate about,” says Walker. “It always starts with product, then recognizing the opportunity on top of that.” If you’re still an entry-level professional, Oberfest recommends not taking a job in business development at first, but rather in product management. “I would first go work as a product manager in the industry you are passionate about, or perhaps even work as an engineer if you are technically inclined. Develop skills that help you understand how to build the kind of products you want to represent as a business developer. That experience will enable you to conceive of deals that create real value for both sides,” he says. As a hiring manager, Oberfest also shares that, “In interviewing BD candidates, I look for good product intuition first. Everything else follows.” Oberfest’s words on pursuing non-business development positions at first, ring true in Johnson’s history. “Looking back, I think the one job that has helped me the most from a business development standpoint was working in the bag room at a country club during high school. I was forced to learn how to remember names, build rapport, and develop long-term relationships,” recalls Johnson. If you’re still young, Hertzberg encourages you to go work for a startup. “Go to a startup and be a jack of all trades, learning as you go. Build mentoring relationships to get up to speed as quickly as possible, and be sure to acknowledge what you don’t know.” Hertzberg, too, recommends the product route. “I came up through the product ranks and I highly recommend that because you’ll have both the internal credibility you need to get stuff done and the experience to know what’s doable and how quickly,” he explains. Getting the biz dev job you want might not be as complicated as it seems — though it will require some very aggressive behavior. “Business development is all about relationship building,” says Johnson. “So get out from behind your computer and start talking to people in positions that you’d like to have one day.” Van Horn concurs. “The best way to get an internship (or a job) is to target individuals and tell them why they can’t live without you,” says Van Horn. In fact, this is exactly what he did to secure his previous position at Digg. “When I graduated college in 2006, it was a crazy dream to move to the Bay Area and join a tech start-up. So I took it upon myself to stalk Kevin [Rose] and crew repeatedly,” he wrote in a note to his former co-workers. Van Horn tells Mashable, more specifically, “When I decided I wanted to join Digg, they were only hiring engineers and I was a recent marketing major graduate. I strategically would show up at events where I knew the CEO was going to be just to introduce myself. From that point on, I would not leave the CEO alone until they created a position for me.” Hudson has some more tactical advice on the subject matter. “I think that the best way to find a business development job is to find a company where licensing or distribution is key to the strategy,” he says. “If you’re new to the function, starting at a larger company where you get to see (as opposed to lead) lots of deals is a good way to get a handle for what the job requires.” Lead Gen, Motivation and Networking There don’t seem to be any cheap and easy strategies for success on the business development career track. In fact, quite the opposite appears to the case. The consensus among the experts we talked to seems to be that you’ll need to put the time and energy into becoming a masterful networker. Thankfully, networking is “a skill that can be learned,” according to Hudson. “A lot of good networking is the ability to listen and ask good questions. The other thing that’s critical is a good memory — the ability to remember names, where you met, and what you talked about last time is actually a great skill.” When it comes to finding and/or contacting leads, Oberfest had this to say: “Build credibility one relationship at a time, then ask those contacts to make introductions for you. It may feel like a long process, but it will serve you well long-term.” Walker concurs. He says the right way to approach someone is through a referral. Hudson recommends you “meet people where they are” and actually pick up the phone. “I think the phone is underutilized by most people — you can get a lot of clues on the phone that you don’t get on e-mail. And it’s really easy to be misunderstood in written communication,” he says. Just don’t force the issue. “If someone is not a phone person, don’t continue to call them — go with whatever works best for the other person,” advises Hudson. The notion of putting in the work now for pay-off moments later was also a recurring theme in these interviews. Hertzberg echoes the others with this statement: “Get to know lots and lots of folks up and down the food chain. This means drinking a lot of coffee and always genuinely offering advice, introductions, whatever, without thought of personal gain. Similarly, know the influencers, inside and outside your organization. All of this will come to bear when you need an intro somewhere.” These day-to-day tasks can be daunting and tiresome in repetition. If your motivation ever wanes, Johnson suggests you stop and “celebrate the small victories. The end goal is definitely the big win, but get excited when you overcome the small hurdles along the way.” Of course, rejection is to be expected, but Hudson encouragingly reminds us that, “it hurts a lot less with each no.” He also has some practical advice for how to troubleshoot continual “no” responses. “Ask yourself some questions. Are people saying no to you or what you’re pitching? Is there a consistent pattern of rejections? If so, can you change the pitch or offering in response? Continuing to do the same thing in the face of repeated no answers can mean that your strategy or pitch isn’t resonating with the audience. Take a few calls to try something different to see if that works,” advises Hudson. On the subject of networking at events, Van Horn has some very specific advice. “At every event, your goal should be to meet as many people as possible, leave with at least their name (so you can look them up) and one unique thing you spoke about. Then the magic is all in the follow-up. If there’s meaning behind the relationship, follow-up with a three sentence e-mail and mention the unique thing you spoke about that will spark their memory of the conversation. If there’s reason to deepen the relationship, then follow-up with a beer, coffee or meal meeting,” he recommends. Van Horn also suggests using, “What’s your story?” as an opening line — it’s a tip he picked up from Brian Wong, CEO of Kiip. “This question opens the person you’re talking to to have the freedom to come up with a clever explanation of themselves,” he says. Johnson’s event networking strategy is very much in the same vein. “Ask as many questions about the person you’re talking to as possible,” he advises. “People love talking about themselves and if you can get them talking about themselves a lot, they’ll love you!” Business Development 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 business development job opportunity from the past two weeks to get you started. Happy hunting!
More Job Search Resources from Mashable:
Images courtesy of Flickr, usr.c, chotda, MarcelGermain, Lucius Beebe Memorial Library, Caro Wallis and courtesy of iStockphoto, travelphotographer. Reviews: Digg, Flickr, Google, Internet, Mashable, MySpace, SquareSpace, iStockphoto More About: business development, career, career guidance, career hunting, careers, charles hudson, cort johnson, jason oberfest, jesse hertzberg, job search, job search series, MARKETING, matt van horn, tristan walker For more Business coverage:
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top 10 Twitter Trends This Week [CHART] Posted: 13 Nov 2010 11:13 AM PST   If you’re trying to convince colleagues that Twitter is a fantastic real-time information network with huge personal and business value, save your spiel until after the flames of The Great Jonas/Bieber Wars have subsided. Yes, this week’s most-tweeted topic was a battle over which teen pop titans were more likable. And we’re here to report that The Jonas Brothers have emerged victorious at number one, leaving Justin Bieber to die in a perfume-filled trench way down at number seven. Entertainment carried the rest of what was a fairly uneventful week in the Twitterverse. The release of the highly anticipated first-person shooter Call of Duty: Black Ops had the entire web buzzing about the impressive console and PC game, and the excitement certainly trickled down to Twitter. CoD came it an number two for the week. And not to be outdone by some floppy-haired American boy bands, Super Junior, the Korean troop of singing heart throbs, nabbed the bronze as fans tweeted about their five year anniversary. Much like the fall of the Berlin Wall and the moon landing, everyone knows where they were and what they were doing when Super Junior finally became a band all those years ago. Right? Need more Twitter data? Check out the full list below, aggregated 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: 11/6 – 11/12
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, ricardoinfante Reviews: Twitter, iStockphoto, justin bieber More About: Brazil, entertainment, football, jonas brothers, justin bieber, List, Lists, soccer, social media, sports, Top Twitter Topics, trending, trends, twitter, twitter trends For more Social Media coverage:
|
| You are subscribed to email updates from Mashable! To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 comments to "Mashable: Latest 5 News Updates - including “5 Excellent E-Card iPhone Apps”"
Post a Comment