Mashable: Latest 29 News Updates - including “Powermat Plans to Bring Wireless Charging into Your Car and Home” |
- Powermat Plans to Bring Wireless Charging into Your Car and Home
- HANDS ON: Kindle App For iPhone & iPad Now Shows Real Page Numbers
- New Site Makes Group Buying From Farmers Easy
- iPhone 4 Named Best Mobile Device at Mobile World Congress
- DKNY Sweeps Fashion 2.0 Awards
- Obama to Meet With Zuckerberg & Other Tech Execs During San Francisco Trip
- IBM’s Watson Supercomputer Defeats Humanity in Jeopardy
- Pulse Pretties Up Mobile Apps With Picplz, Vimeo and Reddit Integration
- Tablets of the Mobile World Congress [PICS]
- Digital Marketing & Social Media Job Openings
- 360 Degree Music Video Creates a Dreamy, Haunting World
- Venmo Refreshes iPhone & Android Apps With Social & Location Features
- Inception & The Dark Knight Get iPad Special Editions
- Need Free Condoms? There’s an App for That
- Sneak Peek: Video-Sharing App From Justin.tv Guys On the Way
- Archie Comics Go Digital With Graphic.ly
- Fashion Designer Derek Lam Unveils Crowd-Selected Collection for eBay
- Startup Dinevore Serves Up Restaurant Recommendations From Sources You Trust
- Justin Bieber, MTV & Facebook Take On Cyberbullying
- Crocodoc Launches Embeddable HTML5 Document Viewer & Annotator
- Lil Wayne Steals Oreo’s Record for Most Facebook Likes in 24 Hours
- Create a Custom (Creepy) Fanpage for Your Favorite Band
- What Happened Wednesday At Mobile World Congress
- HOW TO: Stream Your Media to Every Device in the House
- Yelp’s Growth Is Accelerating, Despite Increased Competition From Groupon & Google
- Homeless People Start Tweeting in New Awareness Initiative
- Hands On With HTC’s New Smartphones & Tablet [PICS]
- Help an Unknown Band Get Its Picture on the Cover of Rolling Stone
- NYU Fellow Resigns Over Offensive Tweets About Lara Logan’s Assault
- HOW TO: Jump-Start Your Career by Becoming an Online Influencer
| Powermat Plans to Bring Wireless Charging into Your Car and Home Posted: 17 Feb 2011 04:27 AM PST      Out of all the stands at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week, Powermat’s was the hardest to get into. The company that specializes in wireless mobile device charging insisted on scanning your badge and asking you a couple of questions before letting you into their wireless empire. What they had to show there was quite interesting, though. They showed us their standard array of Powermat cases which let you charge your phone simply by placing it on the special Powermat surface. It works nicely on BlackBerry models, where you can simply replace the back cover with a Powermat-enabled one, but somewhat clumsy on the iPhone 4 which requires a case whose design we didn’t particularly like, but Powermat plans to introduce colored versions soon, which will hopefully improve the visual impression. The iPhone 4 bundle, which includes the case and the receiver, will set you back $59.99. The charging process takes about the same amount of time as standard charging, and doesn’t hurt the battery in any way; actually, it might even save its life thanks to Powermat’s technology that makes sure the mat delivers the “exact amount of power needed.” The company, we were told, plans to expand from the U.S. and the UK to many other European countries this year, and of course, they plan to launch Powermat cases for many of the new devices presented at the MWC this year. The most interesting bit is probably Powermat’s plan to integrate its wireless charging technology into many objects in your everyday life, such as airplane seats or a desk lamp. Also, Powermat claims it has a deal with General Motors to integrate the charger into the Chevy Volt (or Opel Ampera, if you’re in Europe). We’ve seen the prototype and it looks really nifty, as it’s basically the same storage compartment between the seats, only with Powermat’s charging capabilities. The plastic surface doesn’t differ from what you’d usually expect in a car and is resistant to pretty much everything you throw at it, including water spills. Given the fact that Powermat’s wireless charging technology does add the extra clutter of a modified or an external device case, we’re not sure how quick the adoption rate will be. But the company has definitely laid down ambitious plans; if it manages to bring its technology to the mainstream audience through objects such as cars and furniture, Powermat has a bright future ahead.   More About: Mobile World Congress, Powermat, wireless charging For more Tech & Gadgets coverage:
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| HANDS ON: Kindle App For iPhone & iPad Now Shows Real Page Numbers Posted: 16 Feb 2011 09:37 PM PST   Not long after the Amazon Kindle got a software update that shows real page numbers, the feature is now available on the Kindle app for iOS. I tested the update, available now as a free version 2.6 download from Apple’s App Store, on both iPad and iPhone 4, and found welcome additions to an already-good reading application. At first, it seemed like the real page numbers weren’t working on any of the books I own, but after archiving the books and re-downloading them, I noticed that the newer and more popular titles were suddenly equipped with page numbers. The new page numbers were only on about half of my books, but Amazon says there are more page-numbered books on the way. You wouldn’t think having page numbers on a reader app would be all that important, but it is. Thank goodness I don’t have to depend on those cryptic numbers such as 2121 – 2296 anymore. It did no good to call out those numbers to members of my book club, where the response was usually a dozen pairs of rolling eyes as they opened their paper books, knowing full well there was no such thing as page 2296. Now, the page numbers on my iPad match the ones in the books. Finally, we can all literally be on the same page. There’s another convenience on the app’s home screen that shows you a series of small dots that represent your progress through each of your books. Light-gray dots show the portion of the book you haven’t read yet, and larger light blue dots show how much you’ve read. Nice. And now, you can look up words on Google and Wikipedia within the application, another useful addition. Now, the only thing missing from this excellent reader is that page curling animation of Apple’s iBooks app. Add that to the next revision, and Amazon Kindle for iOS will be nearly perfect. Home Screen, iPhone The blue dots show your progress in each book. iPhone version Page numbers and a percentage, along with those old weird numbers. iPad List View There are those blue progress-revealing dots. More About: amazon, app store, ipad, iphone, kindle app, Kindle for iOS, reader, software, trending For more Tech & Gadgets coverage:
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| New Site Makes Group Buying From Farmers Easy Posted: 16 Feb 2011 08:00 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: With Wholeshare, users can easily pool their orders to purchase from farmers that only sell in bulk. Genius Idea: You might prefer to buy your food from local farmers, but few farms will take orders for delivery unless you buy enough of their products to make the trip profitable — usually more items than one family can reasonably eat. For years, locavores have dealt with this conundrum by banding together to buy as a group or forming a food co-op. Wholeshare wants to take the arduous organization burden out of this process. The company’s website, which is still in private beta, allows users to form buying groups for their offices, apartment buildings, churches, neighborhoods, or friends. Each member of the group has a personal cart, but the order is only placed with the farmer once a minimum order amount is reached. After the group reaches the order minimum, the food is delivered to one place. By buying this way, users save themselves price markups that grocery merchant wholesalers and grocery stores add to the cost of food. By selling this way, farmers get access to a new market without drastically changing their business processes. They can still treat the group as a single buyer. It’s also easier for them to take a drop-off trip to complete guaranteed sales than to spend several hours at a farmers’ market. The company has hit two trends at their intersection. People are paying for access to good food (Whole Foods has expanded to 300 locations) and many are turning to online delivery services such as Fresh Direct and Peapod for their groceries. Wholeshare differs from these services in that it doesn’t need to buy delivery trucks or manage inventory. It just efficiently connects consumers with farmers and collects a transaction fee. The San Francisco-based company is starting out its service in New York, but we’re betting that’s a connection for which local food enthusiasts in every state would be happy to pay. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, thesuperph. Series Supported by Microsoft BizSpark
More About: Food, group buying, local eating, sustainability, Wholeshare For more Startups coverage:
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| iPhone 4 Named Best Mobile Device at Mobile World Congress Posted: 16 Feb 2011 07:31 PM PST   The Apple iPhone 4 was named Best Mobile Device at the Global Mobile Awards 2011 at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The phone was praised by judges, and according to Apple Insider, the judges said they picked the iPhone 4 because it has a “great screen, sharp design, fantastic materials, and phenomenal ecosystem for app developers. In a tight race, the iPhone 4 builds on the success of its predecessors to set the pace for smartphones.” However, the iPhone 4 wasn’t competing against that stellar group of mobile devices introduced at CES 2011. Up against the iPhone 4 for this year’s awards were the HTC Desire, LG Optimus 7, BlackBerry Torch 9800 and the Samsung Galaxy S. Fair enough, though, because the iPhone 4 is also last year’s model. Even though an HTC phone was nominated for best mobile device and didn’t win, HTC won the award for Device Manufacturer of the Year. The judges praised the Taiwanese company, saying that it has “built its market presence from nowhere, with fresh branding and marketing and a strong portfolio of devices across many platforms. In particular, it has proven an exceptionally popular and enduring phone manufacturer. With great communication and good customer service, this is a well-deserved award.” In my opinion, this is a well-deserved award. I tested the HTC inspire 4G, and found its design and construction to be of the highest quality, rivaling that of the iPhone 4. There were lots of awards handed out at the ceremony, including App of the Year on the Apple platform, Angry Birds. Here’s the entire list of winners. Did the best apps and devices win? More About: award, barcelona, Best Mobile Device, Global Mobile Awards 2011, iphone, Mobile World Congress, trending For more Tech & Gadgets coverage:
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| DKNY Sweeps Fashion 2.0 Awards Posted: 16 Feb 2011 06:02 PM PST   DKNY won four of the eight awards presented at the Fashion 2.0 Awards at the Trump Soho Hotel on Wednesday evening. DKNY edged out top-nominated contenders Bergdorf Goodman and Gucci in the categories for Best Twitter, Best Mobile App, Best Blog and Top Innovator. Levi’s won Best Facebook Page, Bluefly was recognized for Best Online Video, Armani Jeans’s “The Room” was awarded Best Website, and Tumblr took home honors for Next Big Thing in Tech (we couldn’t agree more). Like the Mashable Awards, winners were determined entirely by popular vote, following an open nomination round. DKNY’s “PR Girl” rallied her Twitter followers for votes in the final days, securing the brand’s place on top. The awards are designed to recognize innovation in an industry that, before the latter half of 2010, was sincerely behind other industries in its adaptation of social media, live streaming, mobile and 3D (or, in some cases, “4D”) technology. A livestream of the awards ceremony, co-hosted by Style Coalition and TheFind, is embedded above. You can also check out the full list of nominees and winners (in bold) below. Best Online VideoAdidas Originals, “Star Wars Cantina” Best TwitterDKNY (winner) Best FacebookAdidas Best Mobile AppBergdorf Goodman Best BlogBergdorf Goodman Best WebsiteArmani Jeans (winner) Next Big Thing in TechBigLive Top InnovatorAsos More About: armani jeans, burberry, dkny, fashion, fashion 2.0 For more Social Media coverage:
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| Obama to Meet With Zuckerberg & Other Tech Execs During San Francisco Trip Posted: 16 Feb 2011 05:36 PM PST   U.S. President Barack Obama is paying a visit to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerbuerg and a roster of other technology executives during a trip to the San Francisco Bay Area this week. On Thursday, February 17, Obama is slated to sit down with Zuckerberg and other tech CEOs at a private dinner during his overnight trip to the West Coast. President Obama will not be making any public appearances in the San Francisco area. According to White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, “The focus of the discussion is innovation and job creation, and these are representatives of businesses… who know a lot about private sector job growth.” While innovation, one of the key talking points from the President’s recent State of the Union address, is to be the main topic of discussion, “Obviously other topics could come up,” said Carney. For security reasons, neither the White House nor Facebook representatives can confirm any other details, but a full roster of attendees will be released soon. Social media has played a big part in Obama’s presidency, and it has also played a huge role in international politics recently. We’re interested to learn what may come of the President’s meeting with San Francisco’s technology leaders, and we’ll report more about that meeting as details emerge. More About: facebook, mark zuckerberg, obama, politics For more Tech & Gadgets coverage:
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| IBM’s Watson Supercomputer Defeats Humanity in Jeopardy Posted: 16 Feb 2011 05:02 PM PST   It’s official: The machines are smarter than mankind, at least when it comes to Jeopardy. IBM supercomputer Watson has emerged victorious against its human competition in a three-day competition between the massively intelligent machine and two of Jeopardy‘s greatest champions: Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. Yesterday, the competition wasn’t even close, with Watson earning $35,734 and his human competitors earning a combined $15,200. Today though, humanity — specifically Ken Jennings — gave Watson a run for its money. At one point during the third day of competition, Jennings (a 74-time champion) was up $15,000 to Watson’s $11,673. However, it wasn’t even close in the end; Watson earned a total of $77,147. Jennings collected $24,000 in three days of competition, while Rutter garnered $21,600. “I, for one, welcome our new computer overlords," Jennings humorously wrote on his video screen, ceding the Jeopardy battle to his mechanical competitor. For winning the three day competition, Watson will be awarded a $1 million prize. The intelligent machine won’t be keeping its winnings, though; IBM will be donating the prize money to World Vision. Watson’s victory is the culmination of years of research and development for IBM. Watson calculates hundreds of algorithms simultaneously to parse human language complexities such as puns in order to find the answer through its massive database. The machine is powered by 90 32-core IBM Power 750 Express servers with a total of 16 terabytes of memory. More About: IBM, Jeopardy, Ken Jennings, Man vs Machine, watson For more Tech & Gadgets coverage:
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| Pulse Pretties Up Mobile Apps With Picplz, Vimeo and Reddit Integration Posted: 16 Feb 2011 04:40 PM PST   Pulse — the iPhone, iPad and Android social news consumption app from startup Alphonso Labs — is proving Wednesday that it’s far more than a stylized RSS reader with the addition of six new content sources. Pulse now features six popular social media sites as sources: Reddit, Digg, Vimeo, YouTube, Picplz and Flickr. The application is pulling content from these social sites via APIs instead of RSS feeds, a big first for the company. Application users can now consume the most favorited YouTube videos of the day, watch Vimeo videos curated by staff, pan through Picplz’s most interesting photos, scroll through the most viewed photos on Flickr, read up on what’s hot in the Digg community and digest Reddit’s top news. The content quality will, obviously, vary by the source and the users who do the creating. But Pulse’s tailored, lean-back approach to social stream consumption, more so than the content nuggets themselves, makes this update noteworthy. “For a lot of our users, Pulse has now become their go-to ‘browser’ for consuming content,” reads an article announcing the new sources. The primary point is that the startup never intended to build an RSS reader for the iPad. Instead, it’s a much richer experience designed for consuming web content of all varieties. With that in mind, one should anticipate Pulse to add additional sources via APIs in the weeks ahead. “We wanted to experiment with social news, photos and videos — hence, we picked these initial sources. All these services have really neat APIs, and it literally took Charles [new team member Charles Chen] two weeks to get this up and running,” says co-founder Akshay Kothari. “Many more to come — stay tuned!”  More About: APIs, digg, flickr, picplz, pulse, pulse news, reddit, Vimeo, youtube For more Social Media coverage:
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| Tablets of the Mobile World Congress [PICS] Posted: 16 Feb 2011 04:01 PM PST   Going to the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this year, we knew that one of the hot topics will be tablets. What we didn’t know, however, is that many of those would be unnamed, non-descript machines, running many oh-so-similar, yet different versions of Android, ranging from Android Froyo (2.2) with a couple of modified variants, several flavors of Gingerbread (2.3 – 2.4) and finally Honeycomb or Android 3.0, the only version of Android that’s officially designed for use on tablets. Don’t get us wrong, many of the Android tablets we’ve seen are very capable and quite usable, but the differences in software can get annoying after you’ve tried the first three. Based on visuals alone, we would be hard pressed to choose any of these. The hardware specifications between many of the high-end devices presented at the fair are quite similar, so the choice for potential buyers will ultimately boil down to form factor, software and price. Still, the subtle differences in style can make the difference for those who care about looks. Check out the gallery below and tell us in the comments which ones you fancy! Acer Iconica Acer Iconica Acer Iconica HTC Flyer HTC Flyer HTC Flyer Huawei Ideos S7 Huawei Ideos S7 Huawei Ideos Slim Huawei Ideos Slim Intel MeeGo Tablet LG Optimus Pad LG Optimus Pad Motorola Xoom Motorola Xoom Nvidia Kal-el Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Toshiba Tablet Toshiba Tablet Toshiba Tablet Viewsonic ViewPad 10Pro Viewsonic ViewPad 10Pro Viewsonic ViewPad 10 Viewsonic ViewPad 10 Viewsonic ViewPad 7 Viewsonic ViewPad 7 More About: android, Mobile World Congress, MWC, tablets For more Tech & Gadgets coverage:
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| Digital Marketing & Social Media Job Openings Posted: 16 Feb 2011 03:32 PM PST
If you’re seeking a job in social media, we’d like to help out. For starters, Mashable‘s Job Lists section gathers together all of our resource lists, how-tos and expert guides to help you get hired. In particular, you might want to see our articles on How to Leverage Social Media for Career Success and How to Find a Job on Twitter. But we’d like to help in a more direct way, too. Mashable‘s job boards are a place for socially savvy companies to find people like you. This week and every week, Mashable features its coveted job board listings for a variety of positions in the web, social media space and beyond. Have a look at what's good and new on our job boards: Mashable Job PostingsEvents Sponsorship Manager at Mashable in New York, NY. Executive Assistant at Mashable in New York, NY. Associate Design Director at Mashable in New York, NY. VP Product at Mashable in San Francisco, CA. Ruby on Rails Developer at Mashable in San Francisco, CA. Regional Sales Director at Mashable in San Francisco, CA. Regional Sales Director at Mashable in New York, NY. Events Content Coordinator at Mashable in New York, NY. Ad Ops Manager at Mashable in New York, NY. Community Intern at Mashable in New York, NY. Mashable Job Board ListingsDirector of Marketing at Hot Shot Media in San Francisco, CA. VP, Client Services at Bernard Hodes Group in Seattle, WA. Web/Ecommerce Manager at Norma Kamali in New York, NY. Sales & Business Development Manager at Maker Studios, Inc. in Los Angeles, CA. Sr. Web Developer at Zuberance in San Carlos, CA. Community Manager at Team Epiphany in New York, NY. Hiring Editor at UrbanDaddy in New York, NY. Associate Director, Social Media at Attention in New York, NY. Software Engineer at Pronto Content in New York, NY. Marketing Manager, Offline at StyledOn.com in Beverly Hills, CA. Marketing Manager, Online at StyledOn.com in Beverly Hills, CA. Digital Marketing Manager at Digitas Health in Wilmington, DE. Digital Marketing Manager at Found Animals Foundation in Los Angeles, CA. Community Ambassador at Quirky in New York, NY. Outreach Director at High Country News in Paonia, CO. Director, US Search Marketing Operations at Pronton.com in New York, NY. New Media Marketing Manager at Advanced Soccer Media in Long Beach, CA. Virtual Executive Assistant at Sportsgrants Foundation in Hood River, OR. Manager, Production at United States Tennis Association in White Plains, NY. Senior Editor at LaunchSquad in San Francisco, CA. Junior Programmer at Adfero Group in Washington, DC. Interns for a new social media platform in Lutz, FL. Director of Mobile Services at Intridea in Washington, DC. Director of Marketing and Communications at Intridea, Inc in Washington, DC. Assistant Marketing Manager at The Learning Annex in New York, NY. Interactive Creative Director at Proof Advertising in Austin, TX. Social Media Syndication Intern at Mekanism Inc in San Francisco, CA. Audience Development Coordinator at Revision3 in San Francisco, CA. Smart Phone App Developer at a local boutique in Towson, MD. Digital Strategist at 180LA in Santa Monica, CA. Global Practice Lead, Social Media at ExactTarget in San Francisco, CA. Internet Marketing Specialist at Blue Magnet Interactive in Chicago, IL. Director of Social Media Strategy at Likeable Media in Boston, MA. Social Strategist/Producer at Flok in Singapore, Singapore. Junior Web Designer at G3 Communications in NJ. PHP Software Engineer at WebPT in Phoenix, AZ. Director of Product Management at StyledOn.com in Beverly Hills, CA. PHP Programmer at Local Boutique in Towson, MD. Salesforce Engineer/Admin at Hedgeye Risk Management in New Haven, CT. Salesforce Engineer/Admin at Hedgeye Risk Management, LLC in Capistrano Beach, CA. Digital Designer at Hedgeye Risk Management, LLC in New York, NY. Director of Product Management at The Seattle Times Company in Seattle, WA. Head of Communications at Concern Worldwide US – Innovations Project in New York, NY. Social Media Coordinator at Bright Horizons in Watertown, MA. Application Developer at Workday Inc in Pleasanton, CA. Director Public Affairs and Communications at American Express in New York, NY. UI/UX Expert at Arkadium, Inc in New York, NY. Sr Assoicate, Project Management at Digitas Health in New York, NY. VP of Sales at Digitaria Interactive/JWT in San Diego, CA. Linux/Windows System Administrator at Tableau Software in San Mateo, CA. Linux/Windows System Administrator/a> at Tableau Software in Seattle, WA. Freelance Media Professionals at Solvate in New York, NY. Interactive Producer at Hearst CT Media Group in Fairfield, CT. Digital Strategy Manager – Mobile at Arc Worldwide in Chicago, IL. Senior Perl Engineering at Synacor in Buffalo, NY. Senior Identity Management Engineer at Synacor in Buffalo, NY. Product MAnager at The Orchard in New York, NY. Social Media Consultant at Page One Social Media Team in San Francisco, CA. Digital Project Manager at Mirrorball in New York, NY. Social Media Strategist at Starworks Group in New York, NY. German Speaking SEM Analyst at Pronto.com in New York, NY. Mashable‘s Job Board has a variety of web 2.0, application development, business development and social networking job opportunities available. Check them out at here.
Got a job posting to share with our readers? Post a job to Mashable today ($99 for a 30 day listing) and get it highlighted every week on Mashable.com (in addition to exposure all day every day in the Mashable marketplace). Image courtesy of iStockphoto, YinYang For more Social Media coverage:
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| 360 Degree Music Video Creates a Dreamy, Haunting World Posted: 16 Feb 2011 03:03 PM PST   We know, 360-degree technology in music videos isn’t exactly a new concept (the Black Eyed Peas just released an app utilizing it), but this new video from composer/musician Craig Wedren is worth checking out. We can’t embed it here, but if you head on over to the dedicated website, you’ll enter a world littered with silent beaches, stark white rooms, suburban living rooms and fallen natives. According to Wedren, the piece depicts a hero’s journey that explores how imagination interacts with the mundane aspects of everyday life. Make sure to explore the whole landscape with your mouse, or else you’ll surely miss something. The video is for the song “Are We,” (now available on iTunes [iTunes link]) which is the first single off of Wedren‘s new album and interactive film Wand, due out in May. Just add this to a growing list of innovative music videos, which already include choose your own adventure videos, multi-browser HTML5 experiences and those created via crowdsourcing. More About: Craig Wedren, music, video For more Media coverage:
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| Venmo Refreshes iPhone & Android Apps With Social & Location Features Posted: 16 Feb 2011 02:46 PM PST   Social payments startup Venmo has long had iPhone and Android apps to support its pay-anyone-anywhere mission. The startup is releasing Wednesday new versions that add faster payment options, Foursquare and Facebook Places integration, new sharing controls and better tracking features. Venmo strikes a different chord from the likes of PayPal or other micro and mobile payment companies by focusing on features that cater to existing interpersonal relationships, and creating a social experience around friend-to-friend transactions. With these latest applications improvements, the still invite-only startup (hint: Use the invite code “mash216″ to sign up) pumps up the volume on these assets. The startup has introduced Venmo Places, for instance, so users can attach their expenditures to places, as pulled from Foursquare and Facebook. The feature lets users see how often and how much they’re spending — and how that stacks up against friend spending — at venues. Because users can also publish payments “tagged” at a place to their various social networks, Venmo sees this behavior as a “check out” — the checkin’s other half.  Sharing payments, in general, is now a much improved experience via the new Venmo application for iPhone and Android. Users can better control when and where they share payments, as well as configure push notifications for payments made by friends. Venmo has introduced a Quick List feature in the app to make even easier paying or charging the people you transact with the most. Recent contacts are now called out separately, which should help speed up the payment process. Also new is a Stats screen that highlights total payments, transactions per friend and payments per location. The micro spending report follows each payment to give users a bit more insight on their on-going payment activities.  The latest version of Venmo for iPhone is out now, and the Android update is slated for release later this evening. Altogether, the new and improved Venmo apps dramatically enrich the mobile application experience and help the startup maintain a personality distinct from its competition. The latest crop of features are welcome additions, but even better is the startup’s continual efforts to speed up the exchange of funds to and from users’ bank accounts. Venmo was recently able to forge important bank partnerships thanks to the growing number of transactions it processes. “Last month we processed nearly half a million dollars in transactions,” says CEO Andrew Kortina. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, dem10 More About: mobile payments, social payments, venmo For more Startups coverage:
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| Inception & The Dark Knight Get iPad Special Editions Posted: 16 Feb 2011 02:24 PM PST   Get ready, Christopher Nolan fans. Special versions of the films Inception and The Dark Knight are now available for iOS. These two films are the first to get the “App Edition” treatment from Warner Bros. Digital Distribution. Not only do the apps include full access — streaming and via download — to the feature film, they also include access to special features, photos, behind-the-scenes trivia and robust multi-lingual support. We should point out that both Inception and The Dark Knight are available for purchase from the iTunes Store and those downloads can be transferred to iOS devices. Pricing is nearly equivalent (Inception is $2 cheaper via the iTunes Store) but the App Editions offer a variety of interesting features. The first big difference is availability. Warner Bros. tells us that the App Editions are available in more than 30 territories — including China, Brazil and the Netherlands — areas that didn’t have access to the films via the iTunes Store. Additionally, the menus in the apps are customized in 16 languages and subtitles are available in 34 different languages. Beyond international accessibility, the app/movie experience itself is rewarding. Check out this video to see The Dark Knight in action: A Tablet-Friendly Movie ExperienceThanks to my Blu-ray addiction, I actually have digital copies of both The Dark Knight and Inception. After purchasing The Dark Knight App Edition, I feel I can accurately compare the overall movie “experience” between the app and a standard digital download. The App Editions version of the film allows users to choose between streaming or downloading the title. That works quite well when you consider that the download size of The Dark Knight is 2.2GB. On a broadband connection, that’s not terrible, but for on-the-go devices, it is problematic. Having the option to stream the movie is a great feature. What I especially like about the streaming option is that it is device independent. That means that if I want to download the film on my iPad, I can — while still just streaming the film on my iPhone. From a video quality perspective, to my eye, I couldn’t see any differences between the downloaded copy from within The Dark Knight* App Edition and the MP4 file I have of the film from the Blu-ray release a few years ago. This isn’t HD, but it’s high quality and there was very little fragmentation or noise in the picture. The Dark Knight is, well, dark (in color, anyway) and as nice as the iPad’s IPS screen is, some scenes were a bit hard to make out. For what it is worth, that is true of the digital copy as well. Raising the brightness of the screen can help a bit for some scenes that extensively use shadow. Although I was surprised by how good the overall experience of the app was on the iPhone, the apps are really best accessed on the iPad. The app is easy to navigate between sections and allows users to select chapters of the film the way you would on a DVD or Blu-ray title. Extra features, like photos, videos and soundboard information are also accessible. The apps also let users tweet their favorite quotes from the film at select intervals and browse the official and fan streams of a film from Facebook or Twitter. The quotes appear as an overlay on the playback screen and pressing a Twitter or Facebook icon will post the quote to the viewer’s stream. As extra features go, the App Editions aren’t going to offer anything that owners of the DVD, Blu-ray or iTunes Extra editions don’t already own. That said, we were impressed with the features offered — though we would have loved some director commentary tracks. The additional choice of subtitle offerings, however, is a real boon for international viewers. This Could Be the FutureWith App Editions, Warner Bros. is doing something very interesting by offering digital content in a way that is interactive, portable and still feature-rich. Because AirPlay is still only supported in certain video implementations (something we hope to see changed in iOS 4.3), the only notable missing feature of App Editions is the ability to stream content to an Apple TV.  If that feature were added — or if the Apple TV gets app support at some point — I could actually see myself buying an App Edition of a film rather than the DVD or digital download. Warner Bros. says it is planning to release a full slate of catalog and new release titles as App Editions throughout 2011. Frankly, we think this is smart. More and more content consumption is taking place on tablets and smartphones, and offering an optimized experience on those devices makes sense. What do you think of iPad versions of feature films? Let us know. More About: app editions, inception, ipad apps, iphone apps, Movies, the dark knight For more Media coverage:
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| Need Free Condoms? There’s an App for That Posted: 16 Feb 2011 01:58 PM PST   New York City has launched a new smartphone application that helps users find free condoms in their area. NYC Condom Finder, which the city launched Monday as part of National Condom Awareness Day (yes, there is a holiday for condoms), is a simple app available for iOS and Android. It taps into your phone’s GPS to find the five closest NYC locations that give out free condoms. With nearly 1,000 locations throughout one of the world’s most populous cities, you’re probably going to be able to find some free condoms within walking distance of your location. The app also includes tips for storing and using condoms, as well as a complete list of locations in NYC that give out free condoms. Despite the potential ridicule you’ll receive for having a condom app on your phone, the initiative makes sense. NYC wants to become the safest city for sex in the world, and consistent, correct condom use goes a long way to preventing STDs and unwanted pregnancies. The city launched the NYC Condom program in 2007, distributing millions of rebranded LifeStyles condoms throughout the city and advertising through everything from fliers to an official Facebook Page. The program has received criticism in the past for potentially promoting sex among children. There’s no word yet when the free condom finder apps will make their way to other cities.  More About: condom, iOS, iOS app, iphone, iphone app For more Mobile coverage:
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| Sneak Peek: Video-Sharing App From Justin.tv Guys On the Way Posted: 16 Feb 2011 01:55 PM PST The guys at Justin.tv are hard at work on a video-sharing app that sounds much like Instagram for video, and they’re keeping a lot of its features under wraps at present. Still, they’ve just provided us with a little taste of the upcoming action in the form of some screenshots and a demo video shot using the app. Socialcam is a video-sharing app for mobile that will make uploading video to one's social network a snap. At the moment, it’s set for release in early March. As we said before, the app focuses less on live broadcasting — a field previous Justin.tv-fashioned apps have set out to conquer — and more on the social aspects of video. We’ll be checking out the app soon ourselves and will have more to report in the coming weeks, but in the meantime, we think that Socialcam could really take off, especially since it’s coming out in such proximity to SXSW. (Just imagine the lifecasting possibilities!) Check out the video above — shot using the app — as well as the gallery of screenshots below for a peek at the goods. On the Web   On the iPhone In Facebook's News Feed E-mail Notification For more Video coverage:
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| Archie Comics Go Digital With Graphic.ly Posted: 16 Feb 2011 01:39 PM PST   Beginning this April, the Archie family of comic books will be available digitally on the same day the physical books are released. The digital books will be coming to fans via Graphic.ly, the comic-focused startup that’s shaking up the way consumers interact with comic books and graphic novels. Graphic.ly is offering digital access for the six core titles in the Archie series, including Archie, Archie and Friends, Betty, Veronica, Betty and Veronica and Jughead. The comics will be available for $1.99 per book. In a release, Archie Co-CEO Jon Goldwater said, “When we announced plans to go day-and-date through our own, standalone app, our friends at Graphic.ly immediately reached out and said ‘We want to do this, too.’” “They’ve been so professional, easy to work with and innovative in everything they do, it took less than a minute to agree,” he said. “We like and respect the team at Graphic.ly and are excited to get more creative and forward-looking in the work we do with them. As always, Archie will continue to push forward on digital and lead the charge into this new frontier." Likewise, Graphic.ly CEO Micah Baldwin said, “Archie Comics are an institution, and we’re proud to be able to offer them to our community, especially now that their titles are going day-and-date. We consider the team behind Archie Comics to be a big part in what we’ve been doing at Graphic.ly, and I personally can’t wait to see what more great things will come from our partnership.” Users can get a glimpse of what the future holds at the Archie page on Graphic.ly, where you can currently purchase older Archie titles for $0.99. Graphic.ly recently announced it had raised a $3 million Series A for its work, which in the future will likely revolve around “bonus features” for popular comics and graphic novels. The company has released desktop and web apps, as well as free apps for iPad and iPhone. An Android application is in the works. More About: archie, comics, graphic.ly, graphicly For more Media coverage:
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| Fashion Designer Derek Lam Unveils Crowd-Selected Collection for eBay Posted: 16 Feb 2011 01:37 PM PST   Upscale fashion designer Derek Lam unveiled Wednesday a new, 16-piece collection designed exclusively for eBay. The designs debuted simultaneously at Fashion Week headquarters in Lincoln Center and on ebay.com. Consumers are invited to view and cast votes for their favorite pieces, made from a combination of poplins, denim and printed georgette in simple, easy-to-wear designs, at dereklam.ebay.com. The five dresses with the greatest number of votes will then be produced and made available in sizes 0 to 16 for purchase on ebay.com in May. Each will cost between $125 and $295 — by no means cheap, but significantly more reasonable than the $1,000+ price tags attached to items in Lam’s primary collection. What’s unusual is not that Lam is producing a one-off collection for eBay – big-name designers like Vera Wang and Alber Elbaz of Lanvin have partnered with the likes of H&M and Target in similar initiatives in the past — but that consumers are getting a say in what part of the collection makes it to market. Since the birth of the ready-to-wear industry, fashion editors and department store buyers have determined what of a designer’s collection gets produced — not consumers. Now, thanks to a more social web culture and online tools for voting and purchasing, consumers are getting the opportunity to decide (collectively, at least) what items are manufactured, whilst merchandisers are able to more accurately estimate demand and adjust production accordingly. "Having a direct and immediate dialogue with the online audience is what makes fashion exciting and relevant in this moment," Derek Lam observed in October, when the collection was first announced. "eBay's technology offers me a unique and innovative opportunity to reach new and existing customers directly, and to create fashion they desire." More About: derek lam, ebay, fashion, fashion week, new york fashion week, nyfw For more Social Media coverage:
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| Startup Dinevore Serves Up Restaurant Recommendations From Sources You Trust Posted: 16 Feb 2011 01:29 PM PST   Instead of focusing on crowdsourced reviews, as most social restaurant sites do, Dinevore wants to help people find recommendations from sources that they trust. “No one has ever called a friend and asked for a restaurant review,” says founder Jeremy Fisher. “It’s not a natural behavior. But pretty much everyone’s made a restaurant recommendation… it’s an activity that lots of people are doing without any external incentives.” Dinevore users create lists of restaurants that they have been to or want to eat at, such as “The Best Pizza in New York” or “My Favorites.” Other users can follow these lists. When they do so, all of the restaurants on it are displayed in a personal recommendation feed. Following users works the same way. Each personal feed is automatically organized by proximity to its owner’s current location, but it can also be organized by most listed or highest rated and be filtered by neighborhood, cuisine, and price range. The startup’s approach to recommendations contrasts with that of Yelp, Urbanspoon, and Zagat, which allow users to search and rate local restaurants, but don’t account for their personal tastes. “I’m personally pretty discriminating when it comes to recommendations,” explains founder Jeremy Fisher. “I have a couple friends that I really trust, and I also like to get recommendations from New York Magazine, The Times and Serious Eats. If that’s the signal I want, Dinevore makes it really easy to tune into that signal without any noise. It’s equally easy for someone who doesn’t relate to professional critics to tune those critics out.” Dinevore’s list format allows users to choose which recommendations to take seriously based upon the recommender’s dining history. If someone’s profile constantly lists burger joints, and you love burgers, you might want to follow that person. But if a user consistently lists fine cuisine, you might opt against following that person. The format also makes Dinevore an appealing platform for publications and food critics. New York Magazine, Village Voice, and The New York Times have already started posting restaurant lists on the site. Andrew Knowlton, the restaurant editor at Bon Appetit Magazine has listed more than 500 restaurants. “Its a good way to get a little more exposure for content that our critics work really hard on,” explains Jenny Miller, an assistant editor at New York Magazine‘s food blog, Grub Street. “Those lists can live on, they’re not just published once and forgotten. It’s nice that they have a place where they can continue to provide a service.” Users can keep track of which restaurants they’ve eaten at on a list of recommendations, using Dinevore instead of printing out a page from the NY Mag website and pinning it to a bulletin board or creating an excel document. Soon, they’ll be able to do so using unofficial Android and iOS apps being developed with Dinevore’s API. The easy (and soon to be mobile) access Dinevore gives to short recommendations from both friends and experts reminds us a lot of Twitter. We’ll admit that the idea of foodies spending a ton of their time creating recommendation lists is a tad unbelievable — but no more so than Yelp’s idea that people might spend time writing restaurant reviews. And look how that turned out.  Image courtesy of iStockphoto, aldra More About: Dinevore, Food, Recommendations, reviews, startup, yelp, zagat For more Startups coverage:
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| Justin Bieber, MTV & Facebook Take On Cyberbullying Posted: 16 Feb 2011 01:11 PM PST   Justin Bieber has teamed up with MTV and Facebook to take a stand against cyberbullying. The teen star called for young people to post an action to MTV’s Draw Your Line, a virtual map and support forum that tracks efforts to stop digital abuse. To spur participation, Bieber is offering a chance to win one of 14 prizes just by posting an action. The contest lasts until March 31. Draw Your Line is part of MTV’s “A Thin Line” campaign, aimed at helping America’s youth to recognize and prevent digital abuse. Nearly 800,000 people have already taken action as part of the campaign. Facebook has also joined in, promoting the collaboration on its Facebook Safety Center. It’s an interesting choice to pick Bieber for a campaign against cyber bullying. Aside from being a teen himself (and having a new movie to promote), Bieber himself is often a prime target of digital abuse (cough, trolls) and web pranks. He has become an unwitting and unexpected representative for dealing with cyberbullying. The contest promises to raise awareness and encourage submissions to Draw Your Line, but it’s difficult to measure the actual outcome. It’s nearly impossible to gauge the validity and veracity of claims like “I just watched a video about digital abuse” or “I just spoke to someone about cyberbullying.” There is also no limit on the amount of times an individual can post to the website. Given the fervor that Bieber usually creates, it’s possible that Draw Your Line could receive a fair share of spam from people just wanting to win prizes like a personalized voicemail greeting.  It’s a tough balance and one that has more to do with the teen star’s haters and admirers than his intention to do good. Bieber brings much deserved publicity to the real threats of cyberbullying, but avid fans could also outshine the site’s core message as they clamor for prizes. So far the responses seem positive, but what do you think? How can you verify participation in a crowdsourced app? What are the pros and cons of a celebrity endorsement? Let us know in the comments. Image courtesy of Flickr, Jenn and Tony Bot More About: bullying, cyberbullying, digital abuse, facebook, justin bieber, mtv, social good, social media For more Social Good coverage:
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| Crocodoc Launches Embeddable HTML5 Document Viewer & Annotator Posted: 16 Feb 2011 12:55 PM PST   Y Combinator-funded startup Crocodoc has launched what it calls the world’s first embeddable HTML5 document viewer and annotator. Most document-hosting embedding services like Scribd (another Y Combinator startup) or Docstoc utilize Adobe Flash to display documents. Although Scribd has an HTML5 viewer, it’s limited to use on Scribd.com. Crocodoc‘s document viewer though is built entirely in HTML5. That means it’s viewable on not only modern browsers, but on mobile devices like the iPhone as well. It also lets users annotate documents. Collaborative highlighting, drawing and note taking are all available in the HTML5 embeddable viewer. As part of today’s launch, Crocodoc is also launching a partner program for integrating Crocodoc into other web services. Its inaugural partner is enterprise social communication tool Yammer, which is using the company’s new API to launch documents shared on Yammer in an embedded version of Crocodoc. Unlike Scribd or Docstoc though, Crocodoc is focused on the enteprise and application business. The service lets users quickly upload documents and share them with friends or co-workers. Its simple set of tools let users annotate the document in real time. We’ve embedded an example of Crocodoc’s HTML5 document viewer: More About: Crocodoc, HTML5, HTML5 Viewer, scribd, y combinator For more Tech & Gadgets coverage:
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| Lil Wayne Steals Oreo’s Record for Most Facebook Likes in 24 Hours Posted: 16 Feb 2011 12:53 PM PST   Rapper Lil Wayne has broken the Guinness World Record for most Facebook likes on a single post in 24 hours — a record only too recently created and briefly held by Oreo. Yesterday, Oreo attempted to set the record with a post to the brand’s Facebook Wall. The post read, “‘Like’ this post to join Oreo fans around the world in setting a Guinness World Record for most “Likes” to a post in 24 hours. Oreo is the world’s favorite cookie, and with your help, it will be the most ‘Liked.’” Shortly after that post surfaced, Lil Wayne announced to the world that he was also going after the Guinness World Record for most Facebook likes in 24 hours. At the end of the 24-hour period, Oreo had 114,619 likes; five hours later, when the rapper’s 24-hour period had expired, his post had 588,243 likes, easily trumping Oreo’s bid for the Guinness World Record. (Though the company was honored for its brief record in a Guinness ceremony this morning.)  Around 16.7 million Facebook users “like” Oreo’s page on the social network; Lil Wayne’s fanbase weighs in at 20 million Facebook users strong. However, the high level of engagement between Weezy and his fans tipped the balance in his favor. Mazy Kazerooni is Lil Wayne's digital manager. He told us yesterday that the stunt was intended to show off Lil Wayne’s social media chops. "I want people to think 'Bieber, Gaga and Lil Wayne.' The traffic we do is ridiculous and no one really knows," Kazerooni said. There’s a valuable lesson in this exercise for social media marketers; although the brand failed to accomplish its goal of holding onto a world record, it did get a ton of brand recognition and positive press along the way. Still, a brand, no matter how delicious, endearing, or ingrained into the American experience, is unlikely to have the Pied Piper-like pull of an internationally known star. More About: facebook, Facebook Like, guinness world record, lil wayne, oreo, weezy For more Social Media coverage:
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| Create a Custom (Creepy) Fanpage for Your Favorite Band Posted: 16 Feb 2011 12:13 PM PST   Ever loved a band so much that you’ve gone rooting through their trash, just to feel close to the mundanity of their everyday life? No? Me neither. But I bet there’s a couple among you who have hosted embarrassing, Geocities-esque fan sites. That’s the premise behind Fans Forever and Ever, a fun little hack created by Greg Sabo during this year’s Music Hack Day in New York. The hack, which uses APIs from The Echo Nest and musiXmatch, basically creates a crazy-as-hell fanpage for any artist you choose. Type in, say, the name of my favorite band, Man Man, and you’ll receive a disturbing enthusiastic webpage featuring poems (which are sometimes murderous, sometimes fawning), quotes from a fictional web master, lyrics, photos, etc. “These fanpages weren’t interesting because they were informative,” Sabo says, referring to Geocities fanpages of yore. “They were teeming with personality. Most obviously, they had a strong ‘folk design’ aesthetic, with people hacking barely functional HTML and CSS with sometimes hilarious results. We’ve moved towards a web where normal users exert less and less control over page design, and I think something’s being lost there.” Check it out for a quick midday, mid-week laugh — unless you find yourself identifying with said fictional webmaster. Then you should seek counseling. More About: api, hack, man-man, music, music-hack-day-nyc, musixmatch, the-echo-nest For more Media coverage:
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| What Happened Wednesday At Mobile World Congress Posted: 16 Feb 2011 11:55 AM PST
Livestand, announced last week, isn’t exactly new, and nor is the iPad — but amid the frenzied launches of a half-dozen Android tablets (and the Android village, pictured), it stood out like a visitor from Mars. No doubt some in the audience wondered if they were seeing the next-generation tablet OS that Google CEO Eric Schmidt hinted at yesterday. (After all, that too starts with an “i.”) Bartz was sharing the stage with Intel CEO Paul Otellini, who was likewise short on new product announcements. Instead, Otellini offered a coy hint — that there would be smartphones based on Intel chips for the first time launching sometime this year. From whom, he wouldn’t say. “I don’t want to preannounce our partners,” he said. “I think it’s going to be pretty exciting.” Following Bartz and Otellini to the stage were Stephen Elop, CEO of Nokia, and Jim Balsille, co-CEO of Research in Motion. Technically, these guys own the top two mobile operating systems in the world, Symbian and BlackBerry. But nobody expects them to maintain that position for long, given the inexorable rise of Android and iOS. Elop and Balsille chose different ways to deflect that kind of questioning — Elop by pointing out all the good things Nokia does in the developing world, and Balsille by drawing attention to his recently-launched BlackBerry tablet, the 4G PlayBook. Instead of using it, though, he merely held it screen-forward throughout his keynote and Q&A, like a totem. For the rest of the day, there was a palpable sense that the show is getting ready to wind down. Announcements were thin on the ground, although Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha did confirm long-standing rumors that his Xoom tablet would cost $799 on Verizon Wireless when it launches later this month. A Wifi-only version will cost $600 — the same entry price point as that mysterious Martian object, the iPad. Series Supported by Snapdragon by Qualcomm
The Mobile World Congress Series is supported by Snapdragon by Qualcomm. Qualcomm's Snapdragon chipset platform is redefining mobility by offering an optimal combination of mobile processing performance, powerful multimedia, wireless connectivity and power efficiency. The Snapdragon family of chipsets is designed to power a new generation of advanced smartphones, tablets, and other smart devices. More About: mobile phones, Mobile World Congress, Mobile World Congress Series, MWC2011 For more Mobile coverage:
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| HOW TO: Stream Your Media to Every Device in the House Posted: 16 Feb 2011 11:46 AM PST
One of the most frustrating aspects of living in a world full of connected devices — computers, smartphones, iPads, set-top boxes, game consoles — is getting those devices to talk to one another. Microsoft and Apple have both improved the overall home networking experience on Macs and Windows computers — making it easier to share content on a local network — but increasingly, users want to access that content via other devices. Fortunately, a growing number of companies are developing software and services to make sharing content across devices easier and less stressful. We’ve put some of these services through the paces and have outlined what they do, how much they cost and what audiences they serve. DLNA: A Primer Before getting into the services themselves, I want to give a little bit of background as to how various media sharing technologies currently work. Believe it or not, most video game consoles, Blu-ray players and a growing number of set-top boxes and connected television sets support have the ability to talk to one another over a network. In 2003, a group of consumer electronics companies established the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) with the stated goal of “using standards-based technology to make it easier for consumers to use, share and enjoy their digital photos, music and videos.” More than 250 companies are members of the DLNA and thousands of “DLNA Certified” products have been produced. These devices are given various classes that can do different things with media based on their specifications. Using a set of networking protocols called Universal Plug and Play (UPnP), these devices can talk to one another. Most major consumer electronics companies are members of the DLNA, a notable exception being Apple (which has its own DAAP protocol in place of UPnP). The problem with DLNA isn’t so much that devices don’t support the protocol — a growing list of consumer electronics devices do. The problem is actually getting the devices to talk to one another. Different device classes can do different things and this can limit how content can be shared. As an example, the DLNA’s “How it Works” page describes the process of getting photos from a DLNA Certified camera onto a DLNA Certified TV:
If you found that confusing, you’re not alone. Life is too short to worry about what devices are certified as what class — let’s look at some software that can help make sharing files across devices more clear. 1. TwonkyServer (Mac, Windows, Linux)How it Works: TwonkyServer is a DLNA/UPnP compatible media server that will let you send content from your PC to other connected devices in your home. You set up the software on your Mac, Windows or Linux box and can then choose what media to stream to devices around your house. Price: $19.95 Why We Like It: TwonkyServer is a powerful way to access media on your Xbox 360, PS3, connected TV or Blu-ray player. The software, especially on Windows, is easy to use and it works well with networked audio systems and other AV equipment. Who It’s For: TwonkyServer is for the more sophisticated user who needs a server that works on Mac, Windows or Linux. Once set up, TwonkyServer is easy to use. Its general configuration process isn’t very complex, but there are a lot of options, so be sure to take your time. Android owners can take advantage of the free TwonkyServer Mobile app. This app lets you share music, photos and video from your phone to your connected TV or Blu-ray player. For iPhone users, Twonky recently released Twonky Mobile [iTunes link] for iOS. This app is $2.99 and acts as a remote control for various DLNA devices in the home. 2. Playback (Mac OS X) How it Works: Playback is designed to help Mac users share media with a PS3, Xbox 360 and other UPnP devices. It works with iTunes, iPhoto, Aperture, and Adobe Lightroom. Price: $15 Why We Like It: Playback is one of the only Mac-optimized DLNA/UPnP servers around. It’s easy to set up and configure and it works with lots of popular Mac media programs. We love that it can automatically convert MKV files into a format playable on the Xbox and PS3, no transcoding required. Who It’s For: Playback is for Mac OS X owners who want a way to interface with an Xbox 360, PS3 or other UPnP device, without having to mess with a lot of settings. 3. MediaRover (Mac and Windows)How it Works: MediaRover is an extremely simple way to share iTunes libraries across a home network. Once installed on a Mac or PC, you tell MediaRover where you want it to store your music (works great with an NAS). Install MediaRover on your other computers, and it will keep the two libraries in sync, meaning that a new playlist created on a PC can be accessed in iTunes from a Mac. Likewise, new song purchases are automatically transferred across computers. MediaRover also works with connected devices like Sonos, Boxee, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and many other UPnP devices. Price: Free Why We Like It: MediaRover is one of the best ways to manage and merge multiple iTunes libraries. When used with an NAS, it’s also a great way to keep a backup of all of your music files across a home network. Who It’s For: Families with multiple computers and iTunes accounts will find MediaRover useful. Even if you just have one iTunes account, MediaRover is a great way to keep music synced across machines. 4. XBMC (Mac, Windows, Linux, Apple TV) How it Works: XBMC is an excellent open source digital media center for your Mac, PC or Linux machine. The team recently announced support for the new Apple TV 2 and jailbroken iPad and iPhone 4 devices. XBMC has a customizable interface that can be accessed from a TV or computer and it also supports DLNA and UPnP streaming (meaning you can send content from an XBMC-powered computer to a DLNA or UPnP device in another room). Price: Free Why We Like It: XBMC got its start as a media player mod for the original Xbox. Over the last 8 years, the project has continued to evolve and add features, as well as support for new platforms. The popular Boxee media center software is based on XBMC. XBMC is powerful, customizable and once set up, relatively easy to use. Who It’s For: Once configured, XBMC can be safely used by people of all technical stripes. The initial configuration process, though, might be daunting and overwhelming for someone who isn’t well-versed in the minutia of HTPC setup and with the nature of setting up shared folders over a network. To get the most out of XBMC, users really need to spend time playing with the options (there are tons of them) and settings. Still, the out of the box experience is a nice compliment to a computer or laptop hooked up to an HDTV. 5. PlayOn (Windows)How it Works: PlayOn is software that runs on Windows that lets users pump Internet content and stream other media to the Wii, Xbox 360, PS3, Roku, Google TV and a slew of other devices. Price: $39.99 for the first year, $19.99/year thereafter or a one-time payment of $79.99 Why We Like It: PlayOn is very easy to use and set up. It is one of the most complete DLNA/UPnP solutions and a great choice for users that want to get Flash or Silverlight content to devices like a PS3, Wii or Xbox 360. Who It’s For: PlayOn is for Windows users (Mac OS X is not supported) who want an easy way to set up a DLNA/UPnP media server, without necessarily knowing what those acronyms mean. 6. Roksbox for Roku (Mac, Windows, Linux and Roku) How it Works: Roksbox is a private Roku channel that lets you access content from your Mac, Windows or Linux PC. Using this channel, you can browse folders and shares on your network for playback on Roku. Price: $15 (registration required) Why We Like It: The Roku is already a great way to stream video from services like Netflix, Amazon Video on Demand and Hulu Plus. Roksbox adds the ability to stream local content from your Mac or PC into the mix. This is a great way to turn the Roku into a bona fide iTunes streaming server. Who It’s For: Roksbox is for Roku owners who want to add a bit more power to their digital streaming box, but understand that performance and video quality aren’t going to compare with the official Roku offerings. 7. Libox (Mac and Windows)How it Works: Libox is a social media manager that works on the Mac, PC, web and on iOS. Using Libox, you can access and stream content from other devices on your network or download files from your other computers without having to worry about configuring a bunch of settings. You can also share files and folders with friends using the web interface. Price: Free Why We Like It: Libox is very easy to set up and use and is a great way to keep your content accessible across devices. It is a great way to solve the “what computer is that video/photo/song on?” dilemma. The latest editions to the iPhone app make sharing and accessing media from a mobile device even easier. Who It’s For: Libox is for users who primarily access content from a computer or a mobile device. Although TV apps are in the works, Libox is a computer/laptop/iPhone/iPad device for now. Bonus: Unifi (Mac and Windows, Coming Soon)How it Works: Unifi is a new media management service from RealNetworks. It’s designed as a way to keep photos, videos and music accessible across lots of different devices in a seamless way. It works a lot like Libox, except Unifi also has a cloud storage component, making data accessible from the web even if your computers are turned off. Price: TBA. RealNetworks told us at CES that they are looking at offering free plans and various paid cloud storage plans. Why We Like It: Unifi was one of the real surprises for us at CES 2011. The software was built to work with the applications users already use to manage photos, videos and music and the interface is clean and easy to use. We also really loved that Unifi has built-in utilities to clean up album meta data and create full music albums from tracks scattered across folders and machines. Unifi is taking a very consumer-oriented approach to media management and the company is putting a lot of effort into usability and consistency. Who It’s For: Users that want a way to access photos, videos and music from whatever computer or smartphone they happen to be using, without having to configure any settings. Your PicksThere are dozens of good media servers and software solutions on the market. What software do you use to manage media across your home network? Let us know in the comments. Series Supported by Dolby  The Innovative Entertainment Series is supported by Dolby. On February 18th, Adam West comes to Facebook to make status updates sound amazing. “Like” the Dolby page to get started. More Tech Resources from Mashable:
More About: connected tv, DLNA, entertainment, Innovative Entertainment Series, libox, List, Lists, MediaRover, playback, playon, Roksbox, tech, TwonkyServer, Unifi, XBMC For more Tech & Gadgets coverage:
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| Yelp’s Growth Is Accelerating, Despite Increased Competition From Groupon & Google Posted: 16 Feb 2011 11:18 AM PST   Local review and search service Yelp says its growth is accelerating, despite increased competitive pressure from Google, Groupon, LivingSocial and others. Yelp CFO Vlado Herman discussed the company’s business strategy, revenue model and competitive landscape with investors at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference in San Francisco. He revealed that the website garnered 45 million visitors in January and just hit 16 million reviews in the last week. That’s up from 39 million users in November and 15 million reviews at the end of 2010. While Yelp users wrote 6 million reviews in 2010, the company is on track for 9 million in 2011. Restaurant reviews are still the plurality of Yelp’s reviews, but not by much. Twenty-five percent of reviews are for restaurants, but another 25% are in the shopping category (which includes everything from the local flower shop to J.C. Penney). Local entertainment, services and health and beauty each constitute 10% of the platform’s reviews as well. Herman also explained Yelp’s three key revenue models: local subscriptions, its international advertising product and its daily deals product, which it rolled out in Q3 and Q4 last year. Its local subscriptions product is still the company’s primary revenue driver, generating $300 to $1,000 in revenue per business per month. Its advertising business is also strong, Herman says, because of its young, locally-targeted demographic. As for the competition, Herman didn’t seem particularly worried. The moderator asked the Yelp CFO about Google, especially changes it made last year that made its Places product more prominent in search results. Herman responded that it hasn’t had any negative impact on its traffic or business, though the company says that Google is ramping up its local sales force, which could put the search giant in direct competition with the local reviews site. Groupon and LivingSocial also have expansive local sales forces, giving Yelp even more competition in the local space. More About: Google, groupon, LivingSocial, yelp, Yelp CFO For more Business & Marketing coverage:
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| Homeless People Start Tweeting in New Awareness Initiative Posted: 16 Feb 2011 11:12 AM PST   It’s easy to ignore someone when you don’t know or care to know anything about them. But it’s different when that person shows up in your social media stream, telling you about a lonely day on the street or simply wishing you a happy Valentine’s Day. Underheard in New York is an initiative to help homeless New Yorkers speak for themselves through Twitter. Four homeless people — Danny (@putodanny), Derrick (@awitness2011), Albert (@albert814) and Carlos (@jessie550) — were given their own prepaid cell phone, a month of unlimited text messaging and a Twitter account.  The goal was to raise awareness and give a peek inside the daily struggles and unexpected challenges of being homeless in a major urban city. Between January 2009 and January 2010 the total number of unsheltered individuals within New York City rose an estimated 34%; this figure doesn't include the tens of thousands staying in shelters. Underheard in New York’s co-creators provided the men in the project with some basic training on how to access and use Twitter. Underheard in New York (@underheardinNY) was developed by Rosemary Melchior, Robert Weeks and Willy Wang, three interns at the BBH advertising agency. They, like all interns, were issued the challenge: “Do something good… Famously.”  The back half of that mandate is sure to cast aspersions on the project’s motives. The team has been careful and upfront about the challenge. Its website reads: “We decided famous was just another way of saying make people listen. Go big. Be heard. Make real change.” Weeks insists the initiative was started with the utmost sincerity. While Underheard in New York has no direct fundraising component, Weeks hopes it will help people better understand homelessness and inspire them to volunteer or donate to shelters like the NYC Rescue Mission. The Mission helped select the four men, who all sleep there at night. The Mission has a long-standing relationship with BBH.  Weeks explained that these four men serve as a pilot group that the team hopes to expand with more Twitter accounts and voices from the New York area. Although the co-founders will close the initiative after their internships end, Weeks is looking at a bigger picture. “I think for us the project is over when it’s over, unfortunately. But hopefully the project has a lifecycle beyond what we’re doing. Maybe another organization will adopt our strategies, raise awareness.” Most of the money and support has been coming from BBH, which has acted as advisors and provided $1,000 in funding, most of which has gone to paying for the phones. Accordingly, the four men are typing away on inexpensive, Samsung clam-shell phones. “Part of the point is that that very basic technology works for what we’re trying to do,” Weeks said.  Right now, the four accounts don’t have a ton of followers but they do contain some moving insights about loneliness, hardship and the basic human kindness shown by — and shown to — these four men. Is a program like this useful only if it can go viral? What did you make of the tweets and will you be following them? Let us know in the comments below. More About: charity, homeless, homelessness, non-profit, social good, social media, twitter For more Social Good coverage:
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| Hands On With HTC’s New Smartphones & Tablet [PICS] Posted: 16 Feb 2011 10:29 AM PST   HTC arrived at the Mobile World Congress armed with six different smartphones and a tablet. Mashable managed to get pictures of every device — even if the ChaCha and Salsa were ensconced behind glass. We did manage to get some hands-on time with the device maker’s new tablet, the 7-inch HTC Flyer, as well as the upgraded lineup of high-end Android-based handsets. How do these devices look in the flesh? Check out our gallery: HTC ChaCha and HTC Salsa HTC kept these behind the glass! HTC Desire S HTC Desire S HTC Desire S HTC Flyer HTC Flyer HTC Flyer HTC Incredible S HTC Incredible S HTC Incredible S HTC Wildfire S HTC Wildfire S HTC Wildfire S More About: android, htc, MWC2011, tablets For more Mobile coverage:
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| Help an Unknown Band Get Its Picture on the Cover of Rolling Stone Posted: 16 Feb 2011 10:28 AM PST Look who’s getting into the crowdsourcing game. Rolling Stone magazine is asking its readers to help one band achieve the ultimate in rock ‘n’ roll street cred: its image on the cover of the iconic print publication. Today, Rolling Stone announced its new “Do You Wanna Be A Rock & Roll Star?” contest, for which the mag has selected 16 unsigned acts to face off for a chance to appear on the cover of the August issue, as well as score a contract from Atlantic Records. Readers can learn about bands and listen to their jams on a page dedicated to the contest, and keep up with favorites via posts, galleries and videos. The eight most-voted-for bands will record music with a major producer, after which a second round of voting will occur in March. The four remaining acts will then play a live showcase for editors and music execs, which will lead to a battle of the bands at Bonnaroo in June. The victor of said battle will appear on the August 1 episode of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and, of course, the cover of Rolling Stone — the first unsigned (until getting that Atlantic contract) band to have that honor. While we commend the fact that such an established magazine is giving some unknowns a shot, this contest seems a little, shall we say, archaic. (Reminiscent of flop TV series I’m With Rolling Stone.) Yes, being on the cover of Rolling Stone is still a major honor, to be sure, but we can’t ignore the old media feel of the contest. A photo in a print product, a record contract and a TV spot as a prize? What about digital? How will this band be featured on the web and on mobile? We’ll be interested to see how this contest progresses, and how the public reacts to the endeavor. Will you participate? More About: jimmy fallon, media, music, rolling stone For more Media coverage:
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| NYU Fellow Resigns Over Offensive Tweets About Lara Logan’s Assault Posted: 16 Feb 2011 09:52 AM PST   Following a series of offensive tweets about the sexual assault of CBS chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan in Cairo Tuesday, New York University has accepted the resignation of Nir Rosen, a fellow at the university’s Center on Law and Security. Logan was covering the celebrations in Tahrir Square for a 60 Minutes feature on February 11 when she and her crew were “surrounded by a dangerous element amidst the celebration,” CBS reported. Logan was then cut off from her team, surrounded and then suffered a “brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating” before a group of women and Egyptian soldiers rescued her. She returned to her hotel with the CBS team and then caught the first flight Saturday back to the U.S., where she was hospitalized. She was released from the hospital Tuesday evening. Shortly after news about the assault was released, Rosen, a veteran war correspondent, tweeted, “Lara Logan had to outdo Anderson. Where was her buddy McCrystal,” referring to Anderson Cooper’s beating in Cairo at the beginning of the month. He added later, “I’m rolling my eyes at all the attention she’ll get,” citing his view that she is “a major war monger.” Following a few backlash comments on Twitter, he responded, “Yes yes its [sic] wrong what happened to her. Of course. I don’t support that. But, it would have been funny if it happened to Anderson too,” suggesting that it somehow would have been amusing if Anderson Cooper had also suffered a “brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating.” (Rosen says that, at the time, he was not aware of the severity of the attack.) Rosen has since deleted both tweets and apologized repeatedly on Twitter. “[I] forgot Twitter is not exactly private,” he tweeted, later saying that he “never meant to hurt anyone” and has “brought shame” upon himself and his family.  Rosen also handed in his resignation to NYU, which the university has accepted. “Nir Rosen is always provocative, but he crossed the line yesterday with his comments about Lara Logan… They were cruel and insensitive and completely unacceptable,” Karen Greenberg, the executive director at the Center on Law and Security at NYU, said in a statement. “He has apologized, withdrawn his comments, and submitted is resignation as a fellow, which I have accepted.” “However, this in no way compensates for the harm his comments have inflicted. We are all horrified by what happened to Ms. Logan, and our thoughts are with her during this difficult time,” she added. Image courtesy of Mediabistro More About: lara logan, media, nir rosen, nyu, twitter For more Media coverage:
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| HOW TO: Jump-Start Your Career by Becoming an Online Influencer Posted: 16 Feb 2011 08:17 AM PST   David Spark is a veteran tech journalist and the founder of the media production and consulting firm Spark Media Solutions. Spark blogs regularly at Spark Minute. Follow him on Twitter @dspark. For all the advice about how to approach and attract influencers, I haven’t seen much written about how to actually become an influencer. It’s important, because once you’re seen as an influencer, you're seen as an industry equal and a resource. You’re no longer perceived as a nuisance constantly broadcasting your own agenda, hoping others will relay. Being an influencer yourself is an often overlooked way to engage with other influencers. It takes time, but it is worth it. There is also financial benefit to becoming an influencer. People of influence have increased value, and can charge more for their services. Always wanted to be an influencer but didn’t know where to start? Here are some effective techniques. 1. You Must Create ContentWhether it's a blog, podcast, YouTube channel, or an endless Twitter stream, you absolutely must be a content producer. People who don’t produce content online often feel overwhelmed. They claim they don’t do it because they don’t have the time. If you can't create content, you simply can't be an influencer. Content is the currency of social media and search. You must expose your voice with some type of published editorial. 2. Go After a Niche Failing to be an influencer is often the result of conceding the title of “industry influencer” to someone else. For example, why try to be a “social media” blogger if Mashable or other sites already own that space? It may be difficult to go head-to-head with established companies, but you could own a small slice of that very large pie. In an interview I did with tech influencer Robert Scoble, I asked him if he were starting fresh today how would he go about building his influence. He said he'd go after a very specific subset of a popular market like Nick O'Neill did with AllFacebook.com. A few years ago O'Neill saw Facebook trending and jumped on it as a source to write about. O'Neill is now considered a Facebook authority and is invited to a number of Facebook-related events. 3. Create a Regular Series Whatever you choose to do, make sure to produce it regularly and let your audience know when to expect it. Andrew Warner, host of the Mixergy, a blog and video podcast for and about entrepreneurs, saw a dramatic change in his traffic and credibility when he shifted his video production from a casual once or twice a week, to every single day. While the increased traffic was a nice result, it wasn’t Warner's goal. He shifted to a daily interview schedule with the intent of becoming a better interviewer. 4. Request to Interview Influencers
John Jantsch, founder of Duct Tape Marketing, built his reputation off of the reputation of others. In my interview with Jantsch (part of my “9 Successful Techniques for Making Money from Podcasting” series), he admitted that when he started he was a complete unknown. Even with few listeners, the fact that he had a podcast gave him tremendous access to well known people and authors. Asking influencers to be interviewed on his podcast was a great way to make an introduction. All he did was send an e-mail with the subject line, "Interview request." Not knowing who Jantsch was at the time, many well known social media luminaries, such as Seth Godin and Guy Kawasaki, agreed to be on his podcast. Those interviews initiated relationships that resulted in both Godin and Kawasaki contributing to Jantsch's book. Warner has had similar experiences. His interviews have become the launching point for great influencer relationships. In addition, Warner admits that he's perceived as an expert through association. Each person Warner interviews puts him in a different world in his audience's eyes, thus increasing his influence to an even broader market. People love to give their opinion and it often doesn't matter if your audience is small. They simply appreciate it when you give them a forum to express their viewpoint. 5. Offer Yourself for an Interview
The trick to offering yourself up for an interview is to know the editorial of the outlet and who specifically to ask. If it's a magazine or blog, you’ll want to know who is the editor of the section you want to be on. If it's a TV show, you’ll want to know who is the booker or associate producer. When you contact the media outlet, make sure you reference a previous piece, complement it, or offer up an alternative contrary viewpoint, then suggest that you could be that viewpoint. Susan Bratton, founder of Personal Life Media, did this with me on my now defunct “Be the Voice” podcasting series. She heard my podcast and offered herself up as an interview, saying that the editorial of my podcast fit in with the model of how she started her business. She was right, and a great interview. I've interviewed her a couple of times since. An excellent service for offering yourself up for interviews is Help a Reporter Out. It’s a resource that effectively matches journalists with sources in times of need. 6. Contribute (for Free) to Well-Trafficked Media Outlets Many blogs and media outlets take free contributions from their readers and viewers. It can be as simple as a guest post to a well known industry blog or an eyewitness video contributed to CNN's iReport. Some publications have built their brand and reputation on accepting contributions and filtering only the best stories. Contributors often do it solely for the sheer honor of being seen in such a respected publication. In return for these free contributions, you can ask for a mention of your name, business, and a link to your business and social media accounts (e.g., Twitter and/or Facebook Page). Your appearance in the well-trafficked publication can increase your visibility, your Twitter followers, Facebook fans, and search ranking. 7. Go After Your Industry's “Whale” PublicationsSimilar to the above advice, set your sights on the biggest/most respected media outlet in your industry. It's far more valuable for you to get a tiny little 20-word blurb in your industry's top tier media outlet than it is a cover story in your industry's third-tier publication. The goal is to get your name and content in it … anywhere. Once you're in, you can work your way up and out. Going after an industry whale is how I got started in tech journalism. About 15 years ago I met an editor from PC Computing Magazine and inquired about writing for the magazine. Now defunct, PC Computing was one of the top three tech publications alongside PC Magazine and PC World. My first assignment was to write a tiny little 200-word review in the back of the magazine. I spent 10 hours on that review to make sure it was perfect. Then I got another review, and another. I was offered the chance to write features and cover stories. Having the PC Computing seal of approval gave me the street cred to request and land other tech publishing jobs. 8. Connect Your Story With a Current Trend
Mixergy's Andrew Warner got wind of this argument and simply extended an invitation to both Mullenwag and Pearson to come on his show and air their grievances. He saw the story brewing and capitalized on it. The interview with the two blogging founders resulted in huge traffic for Warner and became a real turning point in the success of his show. You can find more examples of this technique in another piece I wrote for Mashable entitled, “Trending Topics: 5 Ways Companies Used News Trends for Business Success.” 9. Connect Your Brand With a Much Bigger BrandI used to produce and host two different podcasts for Sprint. While Sprint was a big brand at the time, it was completely unknown in the podcasting space. In an effort to raise the profile of Sprint’s podcasts, I specifically sought out interviews from Sprint’s two biggest sponsor partners, NASCAR and the NFL. I interviewed the IT director from the NFL and the IT director from Joe Gibbs Racing, who at the time had Tony Stewart. Since the brands were so huge, it gave us an excuse to issue press releases, and as a result, both interviews netted huge traffic for our then completely unknown podcast. If you're going to interview people at big brands, you'll probably have to go through the company's media relations department. Don't be bullied into giving your traffic numbers, but be ready to explain the editorial of your podcast, your audience, and what you want to interview the subject about. 10. Engage With Your Audience To be an influencer you have to influence someone. Your audience, the ones who consume your content, are the first ones to perceive you as an influencer. They're also going to be the first ones to describe you as an influencer to others. That's why it's critical to engage with your audience. It's the technique Revision3 has used to build its audience base. According to CEO Jim Louderback, Revision3′s hosts and producers spend 40% of their time engaging with their audience. Advertising alone can't convince someone that you're an influencer, but your audience can. Not only should you respond to their queries, but you should think of fun and engaging ways to interact with them, such as contests, that they'll want to participate in and tell their friends about. Conclusion — It Takes TimeWhile FOX's American Idol is designed to make you think people can be made into celebrities overnight, the truth is it doesn't happen that easily. It takes hard work. The difference between the people who make it and those who don't, is dedication and wisely targeted efforts. More Business Resources from Mashable:
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Juanmonino More About: business, how to, influence, influencer, MARKETING, social media, social media marketing, Video Lists For more Business & Marketing coverage:
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Name: 
If Mobile World Congress keynotes were all you knew, you might be forgiven for not knowing about the existence of the iPad. The Apple tablet has been conspicuous by its absence on stage at the Barcelona show — that is, until Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz pulled one out at her keynote this morning. Bartz was demonstrating Livestand, an app that serves up stories from multiple sources tailored to your interests, a little like 
Many successful podcasters who were at one time complete nobodies have built their street cred and successful businesses by associating themselves with people more well know than themselves. The reason the “Can I interview you?” technique works is because everyone loves to give their opinion. The audience that will hear it is often a tertiary consideration.
Producing media takes a ton of work. Many people have this mistaken notion that there are tons of checks and balances before an interview or story is put on the air or in print. Quite the opposite, especially with media outlets that have to produce tons of content, like 24 hour news networks. They're so overloaded that they're more than happy when you do their job for them.
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