Mashable: Latest 25 News Updates - including “How an Imaginative Child Learning Software Startup Avoided Death by Retail” |
- How an Imaginative Child Learning Software Startup Avoided Death by Retail
- Internet Down in Libya As “Day of Rage” Fatalities Mount
- Just How Offensive Is Your Facebook Profile?
- MGM Axes Digital Department, Presses On With Robocop Remake
- Go Backstage at the Oscars With Your iPad
- A New Way To Explore Resources on Mashable
- Radiohead + “Single Ladies” = It’s Friday!
- HOW TO: Grow Your Sales and Revenue Using 2D Codes
- NBA Launches Facebook-Powered Trending Topics for All-Star Weekend
- Google Docs Viewer Now Handles 12 More File Types
- 5 Ways Mobile Will Transform Commerce
- Lady Gaga Wins the iTunes Popularity Contest
- Text a Nearby Group of Friends With GroupMe’s New Foursquare Feature
- Our Favorite YouTube Videos This Week: The Vacation Edition
- Philo Brings Interactivity to Shaq-Hosted Slam Dunk Contest
- HOW TO: Pick the Right Super Power for a Modern World [COMIC]
- UberTwitter, Twidroyd Banned for Policy Violations
- Nissan Reveals ESFLOW, Its Electric Sports Car [PIC & VIDEO]
- Why 3 Startups Are Betting That You’ll Want to Stream Your Browser History
- New Reports Peg Zynga Valuation at $10 Billion, IPO Planned for 2012
- Thanks to Mashable’s Socially Savvy Supporters
- Obama Toasts Tech With Industry Luminaries [PICS]
- A Search Engine Entirely Dedicated to Vinyl: Awesome or Anachronistic?
- Internet Restricted in Bahrain as Protests Escalate
- How Social Media Helped Toy Story 3 Win at the Box Office
- Jimmy Fallon Plugs Band With QR Code [VIDEO]
| How an Imaginative Child Learning Software Startup Avoided Death by Retail Posted: 18 Feb 2011 11:06 PM PST       This post is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark as a new part of the Spark of Genius series that focuses on a new and innovative startup each day. Once a week, the program focuses on startups within the BizSpark program and what they’re doing to grow.In Washington, just a bicycle ride away from Microsoft’s Redmond headquarters, Margaret Johnson is working on her next iOS learning game for children and using the last three years — a period of accidental research and development in platform and retail distribution — to help shape her creative machinations. Johnson, a self-described craftswoman with a passion for tying gaming to child learning, is the co-founder and CEO of Sabi Games. Sabi shipped its first title, ItzaBitza (pronounced similar to “itsy bitsy”), on Windows in November 2008. The software, available as a digital download and temporarily sold in Target stores, received critical acclaim for its “Living Ink” technology that brings drawings to life — the American Library Association listed it on its Great Interactive Software for Kids Fall 2009 list. But as desktop software, ItzaBitza, which gives life to imagination, was fighting death at the hands of a poor economy and a consumer population shifting away from desktop software toward mobile applications. ItzaBitza eventually found traction through Steam’s gaming platform and its millions of members. Today, Sabi is a lean, cash-flow positive operation in the midst of transition. From Dead or Alive to Living InkSeveral years ago, Johnson’s daughter, then just 8 years old, underwent an operation to remove a brain tumor. Following the surgery, Johnson’s daughter would often play the Xbox title Dead or Alive, and the game play helped boost her self-esteem. “It was totally inappropriate, I know, but she got a positive feeling [from playing]. She felt a sense of accomplishment,” says Johnson, who was working on Microsoft’s Xbox team at the time. Johnson, who speaks swiftly in short, often tangential rapid bursts, describes her daughter’s sense of achievement as inspirational. Johnson felt compelled to build software that was just as engaging and imaginative as Dead or Alive, but focused instead on child learning and development. And so, she started a project through Microsoft Research that aimed to harness speech recognition technology, cognitive psychology and gaming. Johnson worked with learning sciences specialist Dr. John Bransford, children’s reading specialist Dr. Diana Sharp and child development psychology expert Erik Strommen. The collaboration lead to seven patents and the invention of “Living Ink,” the advanced drawing recognition technology later used in ItzaBitza to animate drawings. When Microsoft cancelled the project, Johnson was still motivated to bring the product to market. She, and a few others, left the company in February 2008 to start Sabi Games in an amicable split that gave Microsoft equity share in the startup. Retail Graveyard “Mobile is an interesting environment for children,” admits Johnson, who now sees the opportunity in touch screens, accelerometers and mobile app stores. “But, I had to learn all that.” Johnson’s education includes a few years of trial, error and experimentation in distribution and platform choices, Facebook included. Target proved an unexpected educator for Johnson, who was able to get the ItzaBitza game sold on Target shelves for a short period of time before it was later booted. “The box was siting next to Dora the Explorer on one side and Elmo’s World on the other in the graveyard aisle of retail,” says Johnson. “I will never ship retail again.” For Johnson, the process of boxing and shipping ItzaBitza for Target proved too laborious and costly. She’s not alone. The boxed software industry has been on the decline for years, and the once expansive in-store walls and aisles of desktop games and learning applications have become, as she said, more like graveyards. Mobile Makeover“I think I’m on to something,” says Johnson. That something is enmeshed in Sabi’s forthcoming rebirth as a mobile-focused application maker of child learning games. The next release for iOS, still a few months out, aims to combine reading with gaming and go a step beyond the Itza titles to make reading an even more enjoyable sport for the mind. Johnson doesn’t concern herself with building a commercial hit, but instead is motivated to make a substantial impact on child learning through great game design. Still, having been around the block and back, Johnson speaks with confidence in the distribution potential of the App Store. Sabi’s first iOS release, CocoaNaut [iTunes link], has already helped put the startup in a cash-flow positive position. Johnson, having tested all types of app monetization mechanisms, sees a sustainable future as a shop with a handful of quality titles. Apple’s App Store model, which takes a 30% cut of revenue but handles payment and distribution, frees up Johnson to focus on her craft, she says. “The 30% is worth it,” says Johnson enthusiastically, who’d admittedly much rather be a craftswoman than a businesswoman. The Science of Learning Over the years, Johnson’s team has dwindled in size. It’s now just her, tinkering away on science-inspired mobile games for kids. The irony is that while Johnson has been working to scientifically perfect learning through games, she has been schooled in the science of game development. But for Johnson, Sabi boils down to a passion project rooted in the purity of wanting to help children — like her now grown-up daughter — discover self-esteem and a sense of achievement through gaming. As long as she continues to see positive fruits of her labor, she’ll keep going. “I know the chances of making a booming business aren’t as great as reaching, and making an impact on, one child.” Come release time, Johnson will leverage her relationships with influential reviewers in the children’s software space. She also plans to get the word out by working channels she’s seen success with before: Twitter, mommy bloggers and Google or Facebook ads. Software, platforms and distribution aside, her experiences have taught her one simple lesson: “If it is any good, word of mouth travels.” Images courtesy of Flickr, Margaret and Sketchy, j.reed Series Supported by Microsoft BizSpark  The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark, a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today. More About: apple, CocoaNaut, iOS, iphone, ItzaBitza, ItzaZoo, kids apps, sabi games, spark-of-genius, startup For more Startups coverage:
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| Internet Down in Libya As “Day of Rage” Fatalities Mount Posted: 18 Feb 2011 09:53 PM PST   According to numerous reports around the web tonight, Internet access in Libya has been shut down. Facebook, Twitter and other sites, including Al Jazeera’s website, have been reported as blocked for several hours already; however, in a brief bulletin in The Los Angeles Times, we read that the entire Internet has been cut off in a situation similar to that seen in Egypt just weeks ago. UPDATE: This statement seems to be confirmed by a complete drop-off in Google search traffic originating in Libya. Thanks to Google search exec Matt Cutts for pointing out this data:  In what is being called a “day of rage,” tens of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets to prompt the ouster of Muammar al-Gaddafi, who has been the de facto leader of Libya since a military coup d’état in 1969 and whose rule has been marked by assassination attempts and protests since at least 1993. The “day of rage” marks the anniversary of 2006 protests that also turned bloody and, for 30 Libyans and foreign citizens, fatal. As a side note, Bit.ly CEO John Borthwick has stated that websites with the .ly top-level domain are not likely to experience interrupted service during this time. “For .ly domains to be unresolvable,” he writes, “the five .ly root servers that are authoritative all have to be offline, or responding with empty responses. Of the five root nameservers for the .ly TLD, two are based in Oregon, one is in the Netherlands and two are in Libya.” However, for most of us monitoring the developing situation in this troubled country, a handful of web startups’ experiencing downtime is hardly a matter of concern when placed in stark contrast with the political realities and violent protests occurring on the ground in Libya. According to one report, at least 41 have died already in the anti-government protests. According to other reports, at least 70 have been hospitalized, mostly for gunshot wounds. We will continue to follow this story throughout the coming days. More About: libya, Political, politics, trending For more Tech & Gadgets coverage:
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| Just How Offensive Is Your Facebook Profile? Posted: 18 Feb 2011 08:18 PM PST   The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.
Quick Pitch: Socioclean crawls through your Facebook profile photos, groups and wall posts, and alerts you to anything inappropriate. Genius Idea: In a 2009 Harris Interactive study for CareerBuilder.com, 45% of employers questioned had used social networks to screen job candidates. Thirty-five percent of them decided not to hire a candidate based on what they found. When this study started to generate press, Priyanshu Harshavat started to think about a way to help job candidates get their social profiles in shape before they were virtually audited by potential employers. The result is Socioclean, a program that scans social profiles for 5,000 words and phrases that are racial, profane, drug-related or alcohol-related. After a user gives permission for the program to assess his Facebook profile (for now Socioclean is only offered for Facebook — other social networks are on the way), he receives a letter grade and a list of inappropriate items from his profile. Each item has a link to that item on Facebook so that he can easily delete it. As a generally inoffensive person, I was shocked at how many flagged terms that Socioclean dug up from my profile. Wall messages left by other people were my biggest offense (I got demerits for “beer,” “booze cone” and “hell,” among others). The program also reminded me about the “Aaron Burr, you son of a b**ch” group I had joined sometime during my freshman year of college. I posted one mildly offensive status message to my profile before testing the program, naively thinking that it wouldn’t have much to find otherwise, and it found that as well. Most of my infractions were things that I would never have noticed, and many were innocent — discussing about a bon “fire,” for instance, was flagged as “aggressive.” But it definitely didn’t miss anything. There were enough flags to earn an overall grade of a “D.” Businesses like Reputation.com and Brand-Yourself also help polish online reputations, but these startups are taking an SEO approach that helps push down negative and pull up positive search results for your name. Socioclean is the only service we know of that focuses on deleting offensive items from your social profiles. About 5,000 other people and I have run our profiles through the program at no cost. To help make it profitable, the company is currently courting job website and dating website partners. The hope is to offer a social profile scrub as an option to applicants and daters to make them more successful on their respective online services. Socioclean’s developers also created a version of the product for employers who want their employees to self-monitor their social profiles. Yet another potential revenue source is to sell site licenses to universities to use in their career services departments. Some universities have already expressed interest in helping spruce up their graduates’ online resumes — Syracuse University, for instance, purchased subscriptions to Brand-Yourself for 4,100 of its graduating seniors. Even if schools decide to teach students to set their Facebook privacy settings instead of similarly embracing Socioclean, there are likely enough situations in which a squeaky clean profile is necessary — college applications, job applications, dating and professional networking included — to keep Socioclean in business.  Image courtesy of iStockphoto, thesuperph. Series Supported by Microsoft BizSpark
More About: digital profile, online reputation, Socioclean For more Startups coverage:
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| MGM Axes Digital Department, Presses On With Robocop Remake Posted: 18 Feb 2011 06:01 PM PST   In the aftermath of a grueling bankruptcy, MGM has kissed its digital department goodbye. We’ve received a tip from an anonymous source (and other media sources confirm) that MGM’s entire digital department has been laid off today, likely as part of the company’s post-bankruptcy restructuring. Previously, the studio laid off around 50 employees in December 2010; and prior to that, the studio had to halt production of several slated motion pictures, including two new James Bond flicks and a Robocop remake, until its debts could be somewhat resolved. The studio also saw a change-up in leadership around that time. As MGM emerged from bankruptcy on December 20, 2010, Spyglass Entertainment partners Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum became the company’s new co-CEOs. As of December 23, 2010, ex-Pixar CFO Ann Mather became the new board of directors head, and producer Jonathan Glickman became the studio’s new film president just a couple weeks ago. It’s unknown exactly how many jobs were lost or exactly what the digital department comprised — we’re hoping it won’t affect the studio’s forward-looking YouTube work, which included the posting of full-length feature films on YouTube, all free of charge and without commercial interruption. In happier news, the studio is moving back into production on a slate of films that will include, among other titles, a reboot of the 1980s classic Robocop. Stay tuned for more on that surely epic remake. More About: bankruptcy, digital, Film, layoffs, media, MGM, robocop, studio For more Media coverage:
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| Go Backstage at the Oscars With Your iPad Posted: 18 Feb 2011 03:47 PM PST   The 83rd Annual Academy Awards will be held in just over a week and in preparation for the big night, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and ABC have created an Oscar companion app for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. The Oscar Backstage Pass [iTunes link] app is designed to give Oscar lovers an inside look before, during and after the big show. The $0.99 app is part of the Academy’s growing investment in digital media. Like the Grammy Awards, Oscar is fighting a battle to stay relevant in an always-connected, multi-screen, live-streamed world. In the days leading up to the show, the app offers users access to interviews, behind-the-scenes video clips and key Oscar moments from the past. The real action starts with the red carpet arrivals before the big night on February 27. The app will let users access multiple live streams of celebrity arrivals and switch cameras and camera angles. During the ceremony, cameras will continue to offer users customizable backstage viewing from more than two dozen cameras set up throughout the Kodak Theater. Just like the Grammy Awards, viewers won’t be able to watch the Oscar telecast live within the app. Instead, the app is meant to serve as a second-screen experience. Users can still get augmented backstage camera views (and can control the cameras that they see) and see post-award interviews, the ceremony itself will not be broadcast in the app. The app experience will continue immediately after the awards at the official post-ceremony celebration at the Governor’s Ball. Having streaming cameras at the Governor’s Ball — an event only rivaled by Vanity Fair’s Oscar party — is an interesting step for the Academy. Embracing voyeurism — and in fact capitalizing on it — is either shrewd or sad, depending on one’s perspective.  We think that charging for the app is smart — if risky. Most award shows that offer an enhanced backstage mobile or web experience do so for free. By charging, not only are the Academy and ABC better able to test the waters as to demand for this sort of content, the content itself remains exclusive. At the end of the day, that exclusivity is just one of the things that makes Oscar, well, Oscar. More About: academy awards, Film, ipad apps, iphone apps, Movies, Oscars, oscars-2011 For more Media coverage:
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| A New Way To Explore Resources on Mashable Posted: 18 Feb 2011 03:00 PM PST
Mashable Explore enables you to delve into a wealth of Mashable resources focused on topics ranging from business to blogging, productivity and more. The channel can be found through the navigation bar on Mashable or at mashable.com/explore. Here's a simple guide to how it works: Introducing Mashable Explore Explore makes it easy to discover evergreen and resourceful content on Mashable. Select a Topic Find and click on a topic that is interesting to you. Browse Story Results After you click a topic, you will then get customized results of resources and guides within that category. Load More Stories Click "load more results" to see more stories within a topic. Share Mashable Explore Share Explore with your friends on Facebook and Twitter. With a simple click on a topic from the category list, you're able to view and explore the content that Mashable has produced on that subject. You can also share the results of what you explore to your network on Facebook and Twitter. Explore was created in partnership with Ford to support the company's larger advertising campaign for the Ford Explorer. We'd love to get your feedback on Explore. Let us know what you think in the comments. More About: mashable, mashable explore For more Social Media coverage:
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| Radiohead + “Single Ladies” = It’s Friday! Posted: 18 Feb 2011 02:42 PM PST Today has been a thrilling day, what with Radiohead’s new album, The King of Limbs, dropping early. Well, as the weekend inches closer (ever so slowly) it’s time to bring it home, folks. I give you: Thom Yorke dancing his heart out to Beyonce’s “Single Ladies.” Apparently, someone thought that the video for “Lotus Flower” looked awfully familiar, and whipped up this little gem. Personally, I think Yorke’s dance moves encapsulate the ethos of a breakup much better than Beyonce’s practiced steps. Happy Friday! [via The Daily What] More About: beyonce, radiohead, single ladies, thom yorke, trending For more Media coverage:
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| HOW TO: Grow Your Sales and Revenue Using 2D Codes Posted: 18 Feb 2011 02:15 PM PST   Jamie Turner is the chief content officer of the 60 Second Marketer, the online magazine for BKV Digital and Direct Response. He is also the co-author of How to Make Money with Social Media, and is an in-demand marketing speaker for events and trade shows around the globe. By now, you're probably already familiar with 2D codes. They're the square boxes that are showing up on ads, posters and billboards that connect people to mobile sites for more product information. But if that's the only thing 2D codes can do, then what's the point? Businesses that don't understand how to use 2D codes think that they're just a way to drive people through to a mobile landing page. But businesses that get it are using them in a variety of new and innovative ways — all of which lead to increased customer loyalty and greater revenue per customer. Here’s a primer and some key examples of how top companies are using 2D codes to improve business. How to Use 2D Codes for BusinessThe term "2D code" is used to describe the category in general, not any specific type of code. Some of the most common types of 2D codes include Datamatrix, EZ Code, Microsoft Tag, QR Code, SPARQCode and ScanLife, among others. Even though 2D code usage is increasing, the average consumer hasn't used one yet, so you'll have to help them get started. Typically, this means putting a short caption underneath the 2D code that tells people where they can download a reader for their phones, and explains the process of scanning the code. Speaking of which, are you looking for a good 2D Code reader? In my experience, some of the best 2D code readers come from BeeTagg.com, i-nigma.com and ScanLife.com. But don't just take my advice. A search for "2D Code Reader" will bring up plenty of excellent sites where people can download them into their smartphones. How the Fortune 500 Use 2D Codes
In virtually all of these cases, the 2D codes did something more than just drive people through to a standard mobile webpage. Instead, they gave the user a reason to interact with the mobile site and, in many cases, come back for more. How Can You Put 2D Codes to Work for Your Business? There are a lot of innovative ways to use 2D codes for business, and new ones are being added every day. What follows is a list of 10 ways you can easily use 2D codes for your business:
A Final Word on 2D CodesIn the end, there are several things you should know about 2D codes:
More Business Resources from Mashable:
Image courtesy of Flickr, clevercupcakes, bimp More About: 2d code, business, MARKETING, Mobile 2.0, qr, qr code, tech, web For more Business & Marketing coverage:
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| NBA Launches Facebook-Powered Trending Topics for All-Star Weekend Posted: 18 Feb 2011 01:52 PM PST   The NBA has tapped into Facebook's open graph to create a data visualization for fans to track the conversation and access content around this weekend's all star game activities. Just launched on NBA.com, the "All Star Pulse" page features a real-time trending topics of sorts, showing the most talked about people and events from all-star weekend based on data from public Facebook status updates. At launch, those topics are lead by Carmelo Anthony (who continues to be the subject of trade rumors), but as the weekend unfolds are likely to include updates about participants in various all-star activities, like the Rookie Challenge and Slam Dunk Contest, which are permanent fixtures under a "Featured" tab on the site’s main page. The site lets you drill down on any of the trending topics for more information, including videos, photos, news stories and blog posts from NBA.com on the given subject. Look for Pulse and its up-to-the-minute trending topics to be promoted on-air by broadcasters across ESPN, TNT and NBA TV during the weekend's festivities, starting with Friday night's Celebrity Game.  An NBA source tells us the league chose Facebook — which they've been working with for more than five years — to power the site because "[the NBA] is such a global brand and with Facebook's huge and ever growing universe we thought it made sense to visualize all the activity from Facebook. Twitter already has something built in for trending topics, but we thought this was a great opportunity to surface that information for Facebook." Pulse is the latest piece in the NBA's social media strategy, which has grown to include a 7+ million community on Facebook, 2+ million followers on Twitter and its own checkin app that launched back in October. Individual teams have also been upping their own efforts, like the Golden State Warriors recent use of the Facebook Deals platform. Separately, entertainment checkin startup Philo has teamed up with Shaq for all-star weekend to host a virtual viewing party during the dunk contest. More About: facebook, NBA, sports For more Media coverage:
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| Google Docs Viewer Now Handles 12 More File Types Posted: 18 Feb 2011 01:47 PM PST   The Google Docs Viewer just got a whole lot more useful. Now, it lets you view more than just PDFs, Microsoft Word and PowerPoint documents, displaying 12 new file types, launching from the Gmail application, Google Docs, or embedded in any website. According to the official Google Docs Blog, here are the dozen new file types you can view in the Google Docs Viewer, including two different kinds of Microsoft Excel files, and .PPTX file compatibility for PowerPoint 2007 and 2010:
Keep in mind that you can’t create documents in these formats using Google Docs — you’ll still need the original applications to do that. I gave this a try with a Photoshop document, and it was an unusual feeling to see that “view” link in Gmail when I sent myself a 1.8MB .PSD file. And, when I clicked on that link and the Google Docs Viewer appeared, the Photoshop file rendered just as well as it does inside Photoshop itself, perfect for a quick peek. This adds welcome usability to Gmail and Google Docs. What other file types would you like to see viewable in the Google Docs viewer? More About: File Types, Google, Google Docs Viewer, Improved Viewing For more Tech & Gadgets coverage:
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| 5 Ways Mobile Will Transform Commerce Posted: 18 Feb 2011 01:34 PM PST   David Sims covers the payment and data sectors for O’Reilly Radar and is the author of “ePayments: Emerging Platforms, Embracing Mobile and Confronting Identity.” Given everything your smartphone does for you now, from mapping the skies to tracking your rides and delivering your website analytics, isn't it a bit surprising how difficult it is to buy stuff with it? Mobile commerce — like flying cars or domestic robots — is one of those promises that has long seemed just around the corner; a logical next step, but one that has receded into the future before us, like a financial mirage. At the risk of getting fooled again, I think that's about to change. Twitter lights up every time Apple hires an engineer with expertise in near field communication (NFC), the wireless technology that will most likely power wave-and-pay mobile systems, and Eric Schmidt showed off tap-and-pay capability in an Android phone at the Web 2.0 Summit last fall. The fastest growing smartphone platform seems determined to roll out payment capability soon, and BlackBerry and WebOS are not far behind. So what? How will that change your life if, instead of reaching into your wallet or purse to whip out a credit card, you instead wave or tap your mobile? Here are a few thoughts on how this shift will change the way you shop. 1. It Will Make You a More Fascinating CustomerBy mashing together geolocation, check-in services, mobile payments and social media, merchants and payment companies will no longer see you as an inert — if well-funded — lump of credit risk sitting at a desk, but as a story of errands, outings, activities, friends, restaurants and bars. The same device with which you check in at Chili's and upload your party pics now becomes something like your wallet, only more fun — and with a few skeletons in the closet. Credit card companies have long pieced together bits of your charge trail, just to get to know you better and figure out what odds they should place on getting their money back. They know, for example that if you charge frequently at a home improvement center, you're more likely to pay on time than if, for example, you suddenly start charging at bars and casinos. Now the story gets more interesting. Let's say your current weakness is Mexican food, and you've become a lunchtime regular at a burrito shop near the office. Come Saturday, if you find yourself driving past a new taco joint on Main Street, you might get a mobile notification inviting you to lunch with a half-off coupon. If any of this sounds creepy, it might just mean you're a few years older than the target demographic. In order to avoid alienating customers, all the companies involved in the system — from the telco, through the payment company, and on to the merchant — will want to make sure you've opted in to the system. In exchange for that, we can assume you'll be getting, at the least, discounts on food and merchandise. But don't count on it: think how many people check in on Foursquare and Gowalla with no hope or expectation of getting anything more than a colorful, 100 pixel badge. 2. Shopping Will Become Even More SocialSocial shopping is big; get ready to watch it get bigger as it gets mobile. Groupon's mobile chief Mihir Shah said in late January that 5 million Groupon iPhone and Android apps had been downloaded in the nine months they had been available. But receiving mobile coupons is only the start of something big. Now imagine if a critical mass of shoppers within a certain range of a store could trigger a bargain. This comes on the heels of a few experiments already underway, like Foursquare-powered loyalty programs and rewards for first-time or frequent visitors. But there are new benefits, especially for merchants. Imagine if a coffee shop could offer a mobile coupon to someone who checked into its competitor just down the street. That’s a new type of marketing warfare. This transition will stretch the bounds of what we believe is acceptable for third parties to know about us. As with any economic transaction, it comes down to what you get in return. Where people once complained that it was creepy if an Internet service knew too much about you, we may be about to crash right through that barrier to the other side where users will begin to complain if the service doesn't know enough about them. 3. It Makes Brick-and-Mortar Digital (and Vice Versa)When you're in Best Buy wondering if that's the best price you're going to find on an Xbox Kinect, and you scan the barcode with your smartphone, it pulls up a list of online sites offering the same product for a little less and a little more. At that moment, are you shopping in the real world or shopping online? Both, of course. Retail stores know they've lost an advantage against online retailers when you no longer have to phone home to comparison shop against Amazon's best offer. Things become even more interesting when retailers begin to use the phone to bring you to their physical space. Some of the best examples are roving gourmet catering trucks that tweet not only their menu specials but their location to customers every day, so diners know where to find them and what to expect when they arrive. Geolocation ads are following close behind, inviting likely prospects to retail doorsteps just because they're in the neighborhood. I may not have a relationship with Trione Vineyards, but ever since I met their marketing person at a party a few months ago and became Foursquare friends, I get an offer to drop by their tasting room any time I check in at a restaurant near their location. Social, just barely, but there it is. Offers and invitations are only one way that merchants can leverage mobile traffic to make things happen. Analysis of Twitter and checkin stats increasingly provide valuable customer service data that businesses can use to plan and promote. And of course, the mobile device as a payment tool works both ways. Intuit, Square and other companies offer simple payment hardware and software that lets sellers big and small collect payment over the mobile phone. Square and Intuit's target audience includes very small vendors — farmers markets, house cleaners, the Etsy crowd — who may not want to fork out for full fledged credit card processing systems. And once merchants get used to collecting payments over the phone, who's to say that mobile won't free them from the register the same way it frees office drones from the cube? Remember the first time the Apple sales person checked you out with their iPhone, right where you stood? Beyond the cool factor of not having to line up to pay, there's no doubt that having more floor space for merchandise rather than registers is a plus. 4. Attackers and Incumbents Will TussleDisruptive technologies often serve as a wedge used by attackers to work their way into markets, and not incidentally to edge incumbents out of the action. One of the most striking examples in the mobile industry been the recent dethroning of Nokia as the world’s most popular mobile platform. Nokia, which rose to the top of the market by creating sleek phones with great reception and long battery life, blinked for a moment and found that the game had suddenly changed. The playing field had shifted from practical functionality to phones with apps that can do fun things, like help you find cool places to go, shop, and share stuff with your friends. Now, Nokia must leap from a burning platform (in the words of its new CEO Stephen Elop) into icy waters if it wants to thrive again. We'll also see disruption among the players who handle financial transactions. Apple, Google, and Paypal — hardly lightweights as is — will begin to take more and more of the transaction pie from current transaction leaders Visa, MasterCard, and the banks. They have a ways to go on this. PayPal's transaction volume is far behind that of Visa and MasterCard, and PayPal may never offer lines of credit. Still, the convenience of mobile payment systems baked directly into phone platforms will ultimately entice many users to put down the plastic in favor of using debit or credit systems processed through their mobile phones. The growth curve of phones running Google's Android operating system is inspiring, and no one is dismissing Apple's 160 million iTunes customers or Amazon's 130 million (give or take a few million). And let's not forget that telecoms like Verizon, AT&T, Vodafone, Telefonica and T-mobile will all want their cut of mobile commerce pie, too. The incumbents aren't laying down, but the momentum could be with the attackers, and given the hurdle that any mobile payment will need to cross to convince users to shift from the wallet to the phone, it seems likely that the companies already most experienced at getting us to love our devices could be more successful in getting us to use them this way. 5. Your Mobile Phone Will Become Your IdentitySince the day you unfolded your first Nokia brick phone or raised the antenna on your Motorola, mobile phone use has been a courtship. Your phone is your diary of sentimental text messages, photo albums, e-mails, your music library, fitness tracker and Angry Birds scorecard. In a very short time, it is likely to be your wallet as well, enabling purchases not only online but in the physical world. It will provide a record (no doubt filtered, processed, and synched with Quicken or Mint) of these transactions. With all this personal data and financial transaction history, it becomes pointless to argue that your mobile number isn't as much a proxy for your identity as, say your social security number or driver’s license is. Those government issued cards may be more official, but your mobile-financial identity is certain to be more representative of who you really are – it’s used more frequently and more closely tied with the things, places, and people you love. It's also tied more closely with your social graph and the map of your connections and haunts, thus bridging the gap between your mobile and other online identities. Given how important the paying mobile phone will become, we'll want to ramp up the security on it. Passcodes to unlock, methods to find, and systems to "blow up" the data in mobile devices are already in place. Deeper levels of security are not far behind, including biometric recognition (thumbprint or retina) and methods that employ multiple levels of scrutiny – for example, your password, location, and some private bit of data. And if that's not enough, work is underway into voice recognition and “gait analysis," the ability to acquaint your phone with the way you walk so that if someone else tries to walk away with it, the device locks up. How are some of these mobile trends affecting your lifestyle? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. More Mobile Resources from Mashable:
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, bezov More About: business, checkins, commerce, foursquare, groupon, location, MARKETING, Mobile 2.0, online shopping, trends For more Mobile coverage:
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| Lady Gaga Wins the iTunes Popularity Contest Posted: 18 Feb 2011 01:15 PM PST   She may have lost the Grammy to that band that no one has ever heard of, but at least the denizens of iTunes dig Lady Gaga. “Born This Way” is the fastest-selling single ever to grace Apple’s iTunes store worldwide. The song pulled in more than 1 million downloads in five days and hit the number one spot on iTunes in 23 countries, according to Apple. Still, despite reigning supreme over iTunes, Gaga has yet to vanquish her greatest foe — his hairness himself, Justin Bieber — when it comes to the realm of YouTube. She still sits at number two on the most-viewed videos of all time list. Never say never, Gaga. Never say never. More About: apple, itunes, justin bieber, Lady Gaga, music, youtube For more Media coverage:
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| Text a Nearby Group of Friends With GroupMe’s New Foursquare Feature Posted: 18 Feb 2011 12:45 PM PST   Group texting app GroupMe launched Friday a new feature that allows users to create groups that include Foursquare friends nearby. “Imagine it with us: you're at a concert and notice on Foursquare that a bunch of your friends are there, too,” reads a post on the startup’s blog. “But you don't know where they are or how to get everyone together. You open up groupme.com/foursquare on your phone, check off all their names, and you're instantly dropped into a GroupMe. With one text, everyone can plan where to go next.” The new feature only covers your Foursquare friends, so if you’re looking to include a friend who isn’t on Foursquare or get in touch with a cute stranger at that concert, you’re still out of luck. The app highlights the friends that are checked in near where you are checked in so that they’re easy to add to a group, but it also allows you to add any of your Foursquare friends. GroupMe will be presenting the new feature at a Foursquare Hack Day in New York Saturday. The developer who created the feature, Pat Nakajima, named it John Mayer (“It’s a Foursquare API wrapper, designed to ‘just work,’ just like all of John Mayer’s hooks and sweet guitar licks,” he explains). He is open sourcing a lot of the code. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Neustockimages More About: foursquare, group texting, groupme, hack For more Startups coverage:
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| Our Favorite YouTube Videos This Week: The Vacation Edition Posted: 18 Feb 2011 12:40 PM PST   It’s an unseasonably warm day here at Mashable HQ (NYC), and everyone in the city is tweeting and Facebooking about the early advent of spring (which means they’re inside, rather than out, sad). Therefore, in honor of such gorgeous climes, we have chosen a fitting theme for this week’s YouTube roundup: Vacation! Yeah, it may only be February, and yeah, the city will probably plunge its curling toes back into the depths of winter in mere days, but for now, let’s all ruminate on rays. Here’s a lovely selection of vacation-themed vids to get you stoked about the (three-day, in the U.S.) weekend ahead. Go Gos, "Vacation"Todd Wasserman: Got to give it to the Gogos for their pioneering use of blue screen technology. I may be wrong on this, but I also believe it's the only video in history to combine tiaras and waterskiing. "Righeira Vamos a la playa"Emily Banks: Vamos a la playa! Warning: Only watch this if you're prepared for a blast from the past and OK with having a really catchy tune stuck in your head. National Lampoons VacationStefanie Rennert: What do you mean Wally World is Closed?!?! Chariots of Fire, The Griswold Family, what more can you ask for? Definitely a classic! Weekend at Bernie'sBrian Dresher: Three words...Weekend at Bernie's "I wanna get chocolate wasted."Ada Ospina: Two words: Chocolate wasted! (Altough I am not a big fan of chocolate.) The GraduateChristina Warren: The Graduate -- one of the best music montages in film history and one of the earliest (and best!) examples of using contemporary music to power a film. Mike Nichols is the man. Simon and Garfunkel equally rule. The Beach Boys, "Ready Steady Go!"Erica Swallow: Vacation makes me think of summer. Summer = Beach Boys. Always Wham!, "Club Tropicana"Lauren Rubin: In one of Wham's great early hits, Club Tropicana, '80s Euro beach styling + George Michael's shenanigans and goings-on = Fun and sunshine, there's enough for everyone! Baby Trashes Bar in Las PalmasBrenna Ehrlich: Before everyone starts asking for my resignation, this baby is obviously drinking apple juice. I just like how they parallel a child's lack of motor skills with the antics of a drunk tourist. Also, puppets! Image courtesy of iStockphoto, tacojimtacojim More About: favorite-youtube-videos, music, vacation, video For more Video coverage:
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| Philo Brings Interactivity to Shaq-Hosted Slam Dunk Contest Posted: 18 Feb 2011 12:22 PM PST   Three pairs of Shaquille O’Neal’s size 23 sneakers are up for grabs this weekend for NBA’s Sprite Slam Dunk Contest viewers who check in on Philo for a virtual viewing party. Shaq, who sits courtside during the show and provides commentary, will invite his 3.5 million-plus Twitter followers to watch on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET. Fans who check in to the program via Philo will get virtual rewards and prizes, including one of three pairs of those kicks, which he’ll award to fans with the best comments. Philo is one of a few services — including GetGlue and Miso — that aim to bridge the gap between social media and TV watching. Philo, which can be accessed via an iPhone [iTunes link] or Android app as well, has hosted a few similar events. This includes a viewing party for the NBC show Chuck back in October, as well as Dancing with the Stars, Modern Family and Community. Greg Goldman, chief creative officer and founder of Philo, says the service is free at the moment to the participating networks. He declined to discuss Philo’s business model further. Goldman says that every time Philo has created a viewing party, the result has been a total of 1 million-plus Facebook status updates, although only 20,000 or so people are actually watching the shows while using Philo. Goldman says the average Philo user has 400 Facebook friends. More About: MARKETING, PHILO, shaquille o'neal For more Media coverage:
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| HOW TO: Pick the Right Super Power for a Modern World [COMIC] Posted: 18 Feb 2011 12:15 PM PST Modern technology means we no longer have to rely on radioactive spiders for all of our superhuman needs. There are far more efficient ways to be awesome in the 21st century.   This comic was illustrated by Kiersten Essenpreis, a New York-based artist who draws and blogs at YouFail.com. For more laughs, check out our previous Mashable Comics. If you could choose just one social media super power, what would it be? More Mashable Comics:
More About: comics, geeks, humor, mashable comics, nerds, social media, twitter For more Social Media coverage:
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| UberTwitter, Twidroyd Banned for Policy Violations Posted: 18 Feb 2011 11:50 AM PST   Update: UberMedia says it has updated UberTwitter and Twidroyd to comply with the changes. A new version of Twidroyd will be available soon in the Android Market. Twitter announced Friday that it has suspended popular third-party Twitter clients UberTwitter and Twidroyd for policy violations. Both applications are part of UberMedia, a startup that has made a name for itself by acquiring high-profile Twitter clients for multiple platforms and devices. Last week, UberMedia acquired TweetDeck for an estimated $30 million. Twitter posted a notice in the Twitter Help Center informing users of the change. Twitter says:
Twidroyd and UberTwitter users can download the official Twitter mobile apps or can migrate to other third-party clients. We reached out to Twitter for additional information. The company told us:
In other words, as long as the apps can follow the rules, they should be accessible to users again in the future. We have also reached out to UberMedia for comment and will provide further updates if representatives get back to us. More About: twidroyd, twitter, twitter clients, UberMedia, ubertwitter For more Social Media coverage:
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| Nissan Reveals ESFLOW, Its Electric Sports Car [PIC & VIDEO] Posted: 18 Feb 2011 11:25 AM PST   We showed you renderings of that Nissan ESFLOW electric sports car, but now that the International Motorshow in Geneva is drawing near, here’s a pic of the actual vehicle from a pre-show event in Frankfurt. As you peruse the gallery on AllCarsElectric, notice details of the interior that haven’t been revealed before — is Nissan using the same Windows Embedded Automotive 7 system in ESFLOW as it does in its now-available electric car, the Leaf? Keep in mind that this is a concept car and will probably change drastically by the time it hits the streets. However, that doesn’t mean we can’t hope this ultimate gadget retains some of its unusual yet (hopefully) aerodynamic shape and that spectacular accent lighting. And on the other hand, we’re wishing for a range longer than the announced 150 miles, and hope for a price that doesn’t put this carriage into exotic-car territory. We might know more when the Geneva show gets underway March 3. As an illustration of how concept vehicles can be unrecognizable by the time they’re for sale, remember the Chevy Volt, whose concept car looked a lot more futuristic than the current assembly line version. Not long after the Volt concept car debuted, GM’s then-vice chairman Bob Lutz said the car might have had better aerodynamic results if they had put it in the wind tunnel backward. So the design team went back to the drawing board. Here’s a video of the ESFLOW concept car: Image courtesy AllCarsElectric More About: Electric Car, gallery, Geneva, International Motorshow, Nissan ESFLOW For more Tech & Gadgets coverage:
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| Why 3 Startups Are Betting That You’ll Want to Stream Your Browser History Posted: 18 Feb 2011 10:54 AM PST   At one point, e-mail was the best option for sharing something interesting online. Blog posts made it a bit easier, and 140-character Twitter messages have brought us into the age of near-effortless sharing. Several startups are betting that there’s another (rather large) step to go before sharing content is as easy as it can be. Voyurl, Sitesimon, and Dscover.me have all launched platforms for automatically sharing your clickstream data, or browsing history, with friends. The concept of automatic sharing feels counter-intuitive at a time when the U.S. Congress just introduced its first “Do Not Track” bill, but these startups are betting that shared clickstream data has an important role to play in the future of web browsing. We talked to each of them to get their perspective on how clickstream data could become the next sharing trend. Dscover.Me: Put Recommendations in Context Friends Paul Jones and Josh Payne started Dscover.Me while trying to stay in touch after college. Instead of sending each other interesting articles, they could just see what the other person was looking at and start their discussion there (Jones notes that this is also useful for long-distance relationships). The site’s approach is different than that of Sitesimon and Voyurl in that it revolves around a white list of sites that a user shares, rather than a black list of sites that he does not want to share. A suggested white list that includes Wikipedia, YouTube, popular publications, retailers, and travel sites is provided. Users can see a stream of what their friends are looking at on white-listed friends and also see what the entire community is doing. But that’s not entirely the point: “People enjoy seeing what are the popular articles in their community, but they don't really care about seeing a stream of random people and what they're checking out,” Jones says. Eventually, Dscovr.Me will partner with web publishers to provide recommendations for users as they browse. For instance, if a user were on the New York Times website, he would be able to see which articles his friends looked at on that site with the highest priority given to the articles that the highest number of their friends looked at. The end goal is to help publishers keep people on their sites longer. The next version will also take into account links being shared over the user’s Facebook and Twitter feeds, and it will filter out any sites that the user has already visited. “I think as long as there’s a limitation and the company that asks to track your information can demonstrate value back to you and say ‘OK, we tracked all of this information, but now you have a much better experience.’ Then clickstream sharing can catch on,” Jones says. Sitesimon: Prove You Saw it First Sitesimon, founded by three recent NYU grads, attempts to generate recommendations not only from friends, but from people who share your browsing habits. In the process, the site adds a competitive component to web browsing. The original version of Sitesimon allows users to either select a list of sites that they were willing to share (white list) or to instead share everything by default but select the sites they aren’t comfortable sharing (black list). The next version will scratch the white list. “As you're browsing, we don't want to have people create a white list because a lot of what is fun about clickstream sharing is discovery through your friends,” co-founder Steven Gutentag says. “And if your friends end up on a random fun site and it's not white listed it's not going to show up and it's a hassle to do it.” Right now, the site operates on a friending system. You see what your friends are browsing and vice versa. Other user data comes in to play when assigning each user a “site score” that measures influence. Your score improves when you see a webpage earlier than other Sitesimon users and when other people on Sitesimon view pages through your clickstream. Much as there is a cachet associated with being the first to submit an interesting webpage on Digg, Sitesimon’s founders are betting that giving people credit for discovering cool stuff on the web will attract users. But they also want to leverage non-friend data in order to give users personalized recommendations based on others with similar browsing patterns. Gutentag compares it to the way that StumbleUpon learns what users like and don’t like as they spend more time using the service. “Our dream is that we can offer up better recommendations for what you should be looking at than you’ve ever had before without you having to do any work, such as [StumbleUpon's] thumbs up and thumbs down — without changing how you browse normally,” Gutentag says. Voyurl: Use Natural Behavior to Power Recommendations Working in the ad industry, Voyurl founder Adam Leibsohn occasionally hears stories about clickstream data collection methods that repulse him. Voyurl is a play on data collection that he feels good about. “I wanted a place that was driven by data, but uses that data to provide value back to the consumer,” he says. Voyurl’s current private beta site (which Mashable readers can check out any time in the next 36 hours by clicking here) gives users access to a feed of the community’s browsing data. They can follow other users to create a personalized feed or filter sites by categories that they’re interested in (Culture or Music, for instance). Any user can submit their data anonymously, and a “discover” feature gives recommendations based on their browsing habits and the browsing habits of their friends. People who are looking for great new sites can also browse top users, top URLs, top domains, and top categories. Leibsohn considers sharing content this way to be more conducive to conversation. “When someone engages you about the content, they've already consumed it,” he says. “So the conversation skips ahead of ‘Look at this thing, consume this thing,’ and instead goes into discussing the merits of it one way or another and a substantial dialog actually comes out.” Platforms like Twitter, Foursquare, and Facebook all take pains to collect data. The problem, Leibsohn says, is that these platforms only have access to their own users. Clickstream data paints a fuller picture of online activity. Voyurl is planning to somehow use this data in its business model (they won’t be selling it), but the startup is being a bit stealthy for now. “We intend to use data to make other services that people use way better,” Leibsohn says. More Startup Resources from Mashable:
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, inkastudio More About: browsing history, clickstream, dscover.me, privacy, sharing, sitesimon, startup, voyurl For more Startups coverage:
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| New Reports Peg Zynga Valuation at $10 Billion, IPO Planned for 2012 Posted: 18 Feb 2011 10:00 AM PST   Reports earlier this week pegged Zynga’s valuation between $7 billion and $9 billion. It turns out, that valuation might be more like $10 billion. According to separate reports from AllThingsD and The New York Times, the social gaming behemoth is close to completing a $500 million funding round. That’s twice as much as was previously reported by The Wall Street Journal. Likewise, The New York Times reports that Zynga is considering an IPO, perhaps as early as the first quarter of 2012. Stratospheric tech valuations are becoming less of an anomaly, thanks to continued funding rounds for companies like Twitter, Groupon and Facebook. Zynga is profitable, with revenue estimates of $500 million to $1 billion annually. Analysts continue to question Zynga’s longterm viability, given its reliance on Facebook, but over the course of the past year, the company has proven it can continue to grow its user base and make more advertising deals. CityVille, Zynga’s most recent social game release, has at times surpassed 100 million users, eclipsing FarmVille as the company’s top game. More About: ipo, social games, valuations, Zynga For more Startups coverage:
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| Thanks to Mashable’s Socially Savvy Supporters Posted: 18 Feb 2011 09:53 AM PST
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| Obama Toasts Tech With Industry Luminaries [PICS] Posted: 18 Feb 2011 09:11 AM PST   And a fine dinner it was at the Silicon Valley home of venture capitalist John Doerr, a partner with Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Take a look at the list of luminaries who were at the dinner with President Obama, discussing how government and technology businesses can work together to “win the future.”
Why did they get together for this high-powered hang out? Here’s how a White House official described the dinner:
Here’s another shot with Zuckerberg and Obama schmoozing before dinner:  We’re still trying to identify a couple of the people in the photo at the top of the page — let us know if you have any clues. What do you think they’re toasting? Images courtesy of Flickr, Pete Souza More About: barack obama, carol bartz, dick costolo, eric schmidt, mark zuckerberg, steve jobs For more Tech & Gadgets coverage:
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| A Search Engine Entirely Dedicated to Vinyl: Awesome or Anachronistic? Posted: 18 Feb 2011 08:48 AM PST   Not everyone has an awesome neighborhood record store run by an obsessive, borderline recluse who can suggest a disc based on the way you walk and your choice of drink. That’s why engineer Lucas Hrabovsky created Find You Some Vinyl, a search engine for finding records, at Music Hack Day in New York City. “I've been building up my vinyl collection recently, and I was tired of having to search a wide range of different sites every time I was curious looking into an album, new or old,” Hrabovsky says. “As massive as they are, services like Google Shopping don't generally link to the online vinyl stores that I actually use. And while Amazon has a pretty extensive vinyl catalogue, I'd much rather support smaller sites like Boomkat and Insound because I think what they do for music is really important.” Remember Musikki, the search engine that centers entirely around finding bands? Well, Find You Some Vinyl operates by the same principle. Say you wanted the new Radiohead album on vinyl — all you have to do is search “Radiohead, The King of Limbs,” and the service will hypothetically tell what record stores carry that disc, and provide a direct link to the “Buy” page. Right now, this hack is not fully built out — since it was constructed in a weekend — and only contains results from Amazon, Insound, Interpunk and Boomkat. Still, we can imagine it becoming useful once Hrabovsky adds more results and tightens up the UI a bit. “I'm definitely very interested in finding other sites to fold in,” Hrabovsky says. “I've worked on fixing most of the bugs and adding a few new features.” Photo courtesy of Flickr, hell*yeah More About: find-you-some-vinyl, music, music-hack-day-nyc, vinyl For more Media coverage:
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| Internet Restricted in Bahrain as Protests Escalate Posted: 18 Feb 2011 08:19 AM PST   As protests continue in Bahrain, data suggests that access to many websites has been restricted there. Arbor Networks, a security research company that tracks Internet traffic, told The New York Times on Friday that traffic into and out of Bahrain has dropped between 10% and 20% below expected levels. Traffic normally only drops that low during natural disasters or global sporting events. The graph below shows Bahrain’s Internet traffic levels this week compared to average traffic levels during the previous three weeks. The traffic this week has been significantly lower than usual. Arbor Networks told The Times that it couldn’t absolutely rule out technical difficulties as a cause for the drop, though the most likely cause was blocked websites. A Harvard University website that crowdsources reports of inaccessible webpages shows that many sites, including bahrainonline.org and bahrainrights.org, have been reported to be inaccessible. But almost all of the reports were made before the protests in Bahrain started. Last month, Egypt blocked websites like Twitter and Facebook in response to unrest before blocking the Internet altogether (See that graph here). The success that Egyptian protesters had in ousting former president Hosni Mubarak despite these drastic digital measures is often cited as enhancing the confidence of protesters in Bahrain, Algeria and elsewhere in the Middle East. While data suggests that Bahrain is restricting the Internet in response to unrest in the same way Egypt did, Arbor Network’s Internet traffic data shows nothing out of the ordinary in Algeria’s Internet traffic (at least between February 10 and 13).  More About: algeria, Arbor Newtworks, bahrain, Egypt, Internet block, protests For more Social Media coverage:
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| How Social Media Helped Toy Story 3 Win at the Box Office Posted: 18 Feb 2011 08:04 AM PST
Months before that, Disney and Pixar embarked in a wide-scale marketing blitz that covered television, print and social media. Using Facebook and YouTube to help promote the film, the studio raised awareness and successfully targeted demographics that don’t traditionally flock to Disney animated feature films. In the following, we take a closer look at the Toy Story 3 social media campaign. The CampaignFor Toy Story 3, Disney and Pixar heavily marketed the film across different demographics. Pixar films are unique in that they typically appeal to broader audiences and skew older than other animated films. Thanks to films like The Incredibles, WALL-E and Up, it’s not uncommon to see more adults than children packed into theaters when watching a Pixar movie. From the very beginning, Disney and Pixar made it clear that individuals in their twenties would be a big target for Toy Story 3. The TV and print campaigns for the film largely targeted families and younger children. In an interesting move, however, Disney ran a parallel campaign targeting twenty-somethings via Facebook, YouTube and movie blogs. In March of 2010, Disney and Pixar announced special cliffhanger screenings of Toy Story 3 at college campuses around the country. Using Facebook, students with a valid college ID could sign up for special screenings of the film. These screenings were 65 minutes in length and designed to whet viewers appetites for the final release in June 2010. Targeting college students and doing special campus screenings was the first sign that Disney was serious about targeting socially savvy audiences. Pixar and Disney also targeted older Generation X viewers with its “Groovin’ with Ken” character profile. The clip, which is very Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous in its approach, introduces audiences to the character Ken. Voiced by Michael Keaton, Ken is one of the funniest characters in the film. Here’s the YouTube clip: Going ViralIn April 2010, Disney and Pixar raised the ante for social media campaigns everywhere with the release of the Lots-o’Huggin’ Bear “vintage” YouTube commercials. Purportedly from the 1980s, these ads oozed nostalgia. From the lighting to the clothing, the ads could easily be mistaken for something from 1983. To add to the effect, the clips were given a “bad tracking” VHS effect. Directed by Chris Cantwell, the two ads were shot in high-definition. The Toy Story 3 Blu-ray edition features a 90-second “making-of” clip showing the ads both untreated and then treated for YouTube. The details in post-production — as well as the decision to release the clips on YouTube — made the Lotso spots a viral sensation. To date, the main Lotso clip has been viewed more than 1 million times on YouTube — and we imagine that number can be multiplied several times to counter the variants and copies floating around the web. These ads, which were released in late April 2010, immediately opened up a wave of press and blog coverage that extended far beyond the typical movie news cycle. The ads worked because it gave viewers a look into the the alternate reality of an animated film — while also acting as a genuinely cool Internet video. Moreover, the ads managed to promote the film without promoting it. The advertisements were for a new character in the Toy Story universe. This character is integral to the film, however his role in the story is not revealed from the faux ads. The faux ads were successful enough that Disney released an actual collector’s edition Lotso toy in the fall of 2010. Targeting AdultsA marketing tie-in between Toy Story 3 and Dancing with the Stars aired in May 2010. Airing on the Disney-owned ABC, a special segment showcased how Dancing with the Stars influenced the animation of a Latin dance number. This aspect of the campaign felt the most false to us. As funny as Spanish Buzz is in Toy Story 3, the tie-in with Dancing with the Stars just feels awkward. The fact that the appearance received little coverage even across movie and Disney-focused blogs indicates that perhaps this wasn’t the strongest part of the campaign. The ResultsToy Story 3 was a huge hit with critics, and with fans. The film has gone on to gross over $1 billion dollars worldwide, making it the most successful animated film of all time. Even before the film’s release, it seemed inevitable that Toy Story 3 would be nominated — if not win — the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. For Disney, however, that’s not enough. In November, Walt Disney Studios Chairman Rich Ross launched a tongue-in-cheek Oscar campaign for the biggest award in Hollywood: Best Picture. Speaking with Pete Hammond at Deadline, Ross said:
The campaign continued to run through January, and Disney has compiled a gallery of the campaign posters. This Oscar campaign is really a cut above.  When Oscar nominations were announced last month, Toy Story 3 received five nods — including Best Picture, Best Animated Feature and Best Adapted Screenplay. Toy Story 3‘s chances at taking home Best Picture are a long shot, though — it’s only the third animated film in history to secure a Best Picture nomination. In the end, the campaigns for the film before, during and after its release have solidified Toy Story 3‘s role in history, both as a film and as a case study for effective uses of social media and viral marketing. Series Supported by Oneupweb
The Behind the Social Media Campaign Series is supported by Oneupweb, an award-winning agency specializing in search marketing, social media and design for mid-to-enterprise level brands. Download Oneupweb's free whitepaper, "The Bloody Truth about Social Media" to learn how to cut through the clutter and be sure to catch up with them on Facebook and Twitter. More Business Resources from Mashable:
More About: Behind the Social Media Campaign Series, Film, MARKETING, movie marketing, Movies, toy story 3 For more Business & Marketing coverage:
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| Jimmy Fallon Plugs Band With QR Code [VIDEO] Posted: 18 Feb 2011 07:14 AM PST   In the old days, when a musician pushing a new album appeared on a talk show, the host would hold up the album cover, but Jimmy Fallon this week may have started a new trend by offering up a QR code instead. Fallon had Tyler, The Creator and Hodgy Beats of Odd Future on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday. Before the performance, Fallon held up an LP-size QR code that, when viewed with the proper app, led viewers to oddfuture.com, which features a video of Tyler The Creator’s “Yonkers.” The effect of the plug will no doubt be magnified by the fact that the clip has become a Trending Topic on YouTube Trends with more than 50,000 views since the clip was posted yesterday. For Fallon, this is just the latest in a long line of innovative social media outreach programs. Fallon has been a pioneer among his fellow talk show hosts in the use of Twitter, has enthusiastically disemminated clips of his show online to reach a digital savvy audience and has picked up on Internet memes like “Double Rainbow,” which he performed as Neil Young. More About: jimmy fallon, Mobile 2.0, Odd Future, QR Codes For more Business & Marketing coverage:
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Companies ranging from American Airlines to Sports Illustrated have used 2D codes to promote their products or services. Here's a quick snapshot of some of the best examples:
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