Mashable: Latest 29 News Updates - including “Google and DOE Build a Map for Electric Car Owners”

Google and companies such as Pacific Gas and Electric Co., Tom Tom, and Best Buy (which hosts charging stations in some of its parking lots) have entered a partnership called the GeoEVSE Forum. Its purpose? To build a database of all charging stations and electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) locations.

On the user end of the deal, you get an interactive map at the Alternative Fuels and Advanced Vehicles Data Center, letting you search and browse for charging stations accross the USA. You can filter the map by fuel type (electric, biodiesel, hydrogen etc.), station type, station owner and payment method. You can also view stations by state, or even map a route for your alternative fuel vehicle.

The data, collected and maintained by the DOE Clean Cities Initiative and National Renewable Energy Laboratory, is also available to third parties, meaning it might soon become part of your in-car navigation system.

[via CNET]

More About: Electric Car, Google, Map

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Take a look at the video above, and you’ll see that the iPhone version of RockMelt looks a lot different from the RockMelt desktop browser. Its mission is carried over nicely to the iPhone, though, where social media takes center stage, even requiring you to log into Facebook when you first launch the app.

After that, you can add your Twitter account and a variety of website feeds that make this browser work like an RSS reader. If you’re reading an article and for example, have to board a plane without Wi-Fi, you can save that article for later.

And if you’re a user of the RockMelt browser on Mac or PC, everything you do is in the cloud, so whatever happens on the iPhone version is also visible on any devices running RockMelt.

Here’s the best news yet: It’s free.

More About: facebook, iphone, RockMelt, social browser, trending, twitter

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Name: Innobell

Quick Pitch: Innobell makes calls and instant messaging on mobile devices inherently more social.

Genius Idea: Use applications during phone calls.

Inspired by a frustrating phone call during which he was unable to adequately describe his whereabouts, 20-year-old Israeli entrepreneur Shai Magzimoff set out to build an application that would simplify the exchange of information over the phone. “If I’m connected to the person I’m talking to, why can’t I use all of my applications with that person?” he rationed.

Innobell, released earlier this month for Android, brings Magzimoff’s vision to fruition. The application allows users to exchange a wealth of practical, social and entertainment content while talking on the phone or chatting in the app.

The Innobell user can make a call, as usual, and then select from the service’s social media add-ons to turn the call into the unusual — an interactive conversation that extends beyond words and onto the web.

Innobell users can play games with each other, share photos or other content from Facebook, exchange money via PayPal, trade Wikipedia articles or websites, share their location courtesy of Google Maps and simultaneously watch YouTube videos together. Beginning next week, users can even exchange Groupons. The same content exchange possibilities are available to Innobell chat users.

“Why am I supposed to bump my phone?,” Magzimoff questions.

He is, of course, referencing Bump, a mobile application that lets users exchange photos, music, social media and contact details by bumping phones together. He reasons that the act is unnatural when compared to the familiar behavior of phoning a friend. “My grandma can understand that,” he says of exchanging information over the phone. “When she’s calling someone, that’s when she’s connected to that person.”

Apart from device idiosyncrasies and Innobell’s single platform experience, Magzimoff has nailed rich and social media data exchange via phone or chat. Users love it, he says, and are clamoring for Innobell to add Twitter, release a version for iPhone and introduce VoIP calling functionality.

He’s happy to oblige the requests. An iPhone version of Innobell is slated for release in the next three months. Application users can also expect to see new add-ons integrated into the experience on an ongoing basis.

Innobell is based in Tel Aviv, Israel and has raised more than $200,000 from an investor friend of Magzimoff’s. The startup plans to earn money through affiliate marketing and revenue sharing with developers.

Call

Innobell add-ons

Chat contacts

PayPal money exchange

Play a game

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: android, bizspark, innobell, social media, spark-of-genius

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Behind on her car payments, Beacham started receiving as many as 23 calls per day from MarkOne Financial before it found her on Facebook, according to the Orlando Sentinel. A Florida judge put a stop to the phone calls and online messages in a preliminary ruling, barring the debt collector from calling her, or from contacting her, anyone in her family, or any of her Facebook friends.

According to the Orlando Sentinel, this is the first court decision of its kind, and it could strike fear in the hearts of debt collectors everywhere, who are eager to use any legal means necessary to get that money back.

The woman didn’t have enough money for car payments, but she somehow was able to get an attorney to represent her in court. However, that attorney is Billy Howard, who’s in charge of the consumer protection department at personal-injury law firm Morgan and Morgan, a well-heeled outfit that includes big names such as former Florida Governor Charlie Crist. We’re guessing the firm is taking care of the expenses of this high-profile lawsuit.

There’s another side to the story: The woman needed to pay her bills, or sell her car. She signed a contract to do so. Or, she never should have bought a car she couldn’t afford in the first place. But there are always extenuating circumstances. There’s middle ground here, where debt collectors should be able to reasonably collect their debts, but within limits.

The question is, where is that line debt collectors shouldn’t cross? Commenters, tell us what you think.

Image courtesy Flickr/eric731

More About: Car Payments, Debt collector, facebook, harassment, trending

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Conga, launching in public beta in New York and San Francisco Wednesday, defines itself as a proximity-based social network. It’s designed to connect individuals from different social spheres who have or will gather at the same place at the same time.

“It started with a simple idea,” explains co-founder Ryan Kennedy, “What if it was possible to go back in time, to nearly any moment in life, and reconnect with people around any of the places we'd ever been?”

Kennedy tells me that part of the motivation for starting Conga came from a personal desire to uncover missed romantic connections — he was, of course, single at the time. Now happily off the market (but not thanks to Conga), Kennedy still believes that there’s something magical about making missed connections not so missed.

“We go through life and interact with all these people, but how do we tap into relationships with people sitting right next to us?,” he says. “We’re looking to fill that gap.”

Conga is structured around the notion of the moment, tapping into the user’s location history via Foursquare and Twitter to build out a replete record of where he’s been and who else has been. The user can manually enter moments as well.

Each moment has its own page and serves as a point of rendezvous. The site manufacturers a layer of collaboration over these moments to introduce users who have crossed paths and give them a means to communicate and share information.

The startup’s most intriguing feature is its ability to list the people the user “congas” with (ie. crosses paths with) under the People tab. Here, Conga unravels the mystery of the unknown and presents the user with his most frequent missed connections. I can, for instance, see that I’ve crossed paths with Noah, someone I do not know, at least 13 times. Clearly, Noah and I have more in common than we may realize. Conga has merely surfaced these commonalities to subtly suggest that we should connect.

But Conga’s purpose extends beyond these person-to-person connections. The founders speak of Conga as a place to reconnect with people you’ve interacted with in the real world. Weddings, conferences, reunions and other group gatherings are all Conga-worthy because users can come together around a specific place and time to share things that happened at that moment.

The service has a few drawbacks. At launch, it’s limited to users in New York and San Francisco, the site is a bit difficult to navigate and overlapping activity will be minimal until more users sign on. Still, there’s certainly something to the notion of using location data to fill in the blanks.

Conga is self-funded by co-founders Ryan Kennedy and Todd Fast. The startup is in the midst of raising an angel round to finance operations.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, RonTech2000

More About: conga, proximity-based social network, social network, startup

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Do you remember life before Evite, Facebook Events, and Eventbrite? Handwritten paper invitations and RSVP phone calls seem like relics of a forgotten age. The web has dramatically changed the way people plan special occasions. Social media is making it easier than ever before to plan, promote, and execute a wide range of events from industry conferences, client events and partner symposiums, to large social gatherings and charity events. What's more, social media allows you to solicit feedback and extend the life of your event by inviting attendees to connect via online communities before and afterward.

Whether you just want to generate a bit of buzz or instead have specific goals to increase ticket sales and attract top speakers and attendees, social media can make the planning process smoother by leveraging digital word-of-mouth. Here are eight tips for best results.

1. Establish Your Event-Related Channels

The months and weeks before your event is a critical promotional period. Use every social media channel at your disposal to get the word out about your event, and encourage people to share information on the event in return for small rewards. For example: "Share this event with 20 friends for 10% off your admission." Start by creating an event page on Facebook and an event hashtag on Twitter, then create an event blog where you'll post updates about it (new speakers, registration discounts, etc.). Make sure your Twitter hashtag is specific to your event or organization, without being too long.

Once you've created these pre-event social links, populate them with lots of content. If it's a social event, post video or music clips, create a pre-event contest, or connect event-goers through socializing and games. For a social or community event, content should be engaging, fun, and shareable in order to drive word-of-mouth interest. If the event is more corporate in nature, offer fans and followers sneak peeks at topics to be discussed, or special pre-conference articles and presentations.

2. Provide Incentivized Word-Of-Mouth Promotions

Make sure that everyone who follows or likes your event on Twitter and Facebook is rewarded for their interest. Offer fans and followers special discounts or content. To incentivize people to register for the event, offer them early-bird discounts, invites to pre-event parties, or other rewards. If you really want to boost the power of word-of-mouth, you can use tools like Meteor Solutions to identify your key influencers, then actively motivate and reward them for sharing information about your contest.

3. Make Registration Social

Don't forget to use a social registration service like EventBrite, which not only makes registration easier and more streamlined, but allows attendees to share their event activity with friends. Other popular social event invitation platforms include Plancast and Twtvite. Most of these services are highly integrated with social networking platforms and can be configured with user caps and privacy options.

4. Use Location-Based Services and Checkin Rewards

Geo-location sites let you set up a page with rewards including badges, coupons, specials, or gifts. These location based services are easily integrated with other social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, so checkins will be shared with larger networks. When attendees come to your event, you can reward them for checking in at different stations, panels, or activities. Rewards such as free ice cream, a gift card, or other small incentives can be redeemed after the show.

5. Bring your Event to Life With Twitter

Using social media during an event can mean the difference between a flat, boring affair and one where attendees are engaged and excited. But too much real-time social interaction can also derail the main presentations or talks.

First and foremost, encourage attendees to tweet during the event using the established hashtag. An active Twitter stream during your event not only engages participants in real time but also allows people who could not attend to get a feel for the sessions and topics being discussed. Some event organizers set up a huge screen behind speakers to display hashtagged tweets in real time. But again, this "backchannel" can backfire if the tweets become negative or go off-topic. All that interaction can derail speakers as they try to respond in real-time to all the "interference."

6. Include Non-Attendees

Don't forget to set up a livestream during the event using Facebook or UStream so fans can follow along online. Facebook enables you to store this stream so that people can watch it after the event proper. You can also create a YouTube channel for the event to post videos before, during, and after. Encourage non-attendees to ask questions through Twitter or Facebook during the event and answer them live.

7. Post-Mortem: Extend the Shelf Life of Your Event

Your event doesn't have to end the day it's over. Social media can keep the momentum going for many weeks and months afterwards. On your blog, post a "wrap up" of all the key highlights. You can add links to presentations, key learnings, and other downloadable documents. Of course, you'll want to post photos on the blog and on Facebook, and continue tweeting about the event even after it's over. You can post thoughts, ideas, or links to longer articles that might be of interest to those who attended.

Another great way to keep your event from fading fast from people's memories is to create ways for attendees and other interested parties to continue socializing, discussing, or debating topics covered there. Do whatever you can to keep the conversation alive.

8. Use Social Media Metrics to Measure Success

Consider using online surveys to ask attendees for feedback on panels, venue, speakers, topics, and other facets of the event. Facebook polls are fun, easy ways to get quick responses and feedback from attendees. Be prepared for honesty. If someone has a negative comment to share, make sure to address their comment or concern and store the information to improve next year's event. Lastly, pull total social media stats from sites like Search.Twitter.com and Social Mention, or set up Google Alerts ahead of time. If the results are positive, don’t be shy about publicizing some of these metrics to highlight the reach and impact your event had.

Image courtesy of Flickr, dhammza / off

More About: business, event, event planning, List, Lists, social media

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In-app purchasing (or in-app billing) on the Android platform is one of the most attractive ways to monetize a mobile app. Android developers now have access to a source of previously unavailable revenue. They can offer premium features, including unlocked content, paid downloads, upgrades and expansions for games and content packages.

As Android developers start to integrate in-app billing into their mobile offerings, they should know what works and what doesn’t. Drawing from my company’s experience helping thousands of customers optimize their products with in-app purchase features, I’ve compiled this list of best practices.

The Dos

• Do make it clear in the description that the downloaded app can be augmented with additional features via in-app purchase. This is an app's first opportunity to market future add-ons and they should let users know upfront that the app is feature-rich and expandable.
• Do make the purchase process super obvious to the user. Users should never feel they purchased something by accident, nor should they be unsure what's going to happen once they click the purchase button. Plus, refunds are a pain to process and should be avoided at all costs.
• Do test different pricing. Try to offer a variety of items at different prices. A user may not want to fork over $20 for a fully featured app, but it’s possible that they will pay for a lite version at a reduced price. Don’t take the option off the table.
• Note: Pricing is one area where iOS and Android differ. Apple prices by “Tiers,” with tier 1 starting at $.99. Apple then converts that into the local currency for international markets. Android has no tier system; developers set an arbitrary amount. Android just deployed currency conversion, but not everything is supported. Developers should pay careful attention to Google’s guidance on this.
• Do evaluate a freemium revenue strategy whereby the app is free with in-app purchasing options. People have unpredictable ideas about how much apps are worth. Some are unwilling to pay even $0.99, but that may change once the user is hooked. Once they are engaged, users are less cautious about spending money on additional features and content. Developers using the freemium model can hedge their bets against subjective valuations of their apps.
• Note: In-app purchases can increase the per-user value of a simple app download. Free apps have greater reach and up to 10 times more users than paid apps, by some counts. With greater reach, conversion rates also go up. With that tenfold increase in exposure, a free app has the opportunity to attain the same revenue as paid apps by converting only one-tenth of its user base. Remember, revenue from app downloads can only be collected once per user. In-app purchases allow ongoing revenue from each user.
• Do repurpose existing and archived content to leverage the long tail on the mobile channel. Most companies will have some content they can turn into an in-app purchase. A news app, for example, could offer back issues, or even single articles, as in-app purchases. For example, an app for a recording artist could sell live versions of songs or outtakes from a recording session. Many brands have existing content that engaged fans will pay for. The mobile channel offers an easy way to tap into that demand.
• Do consider the size of the app. There are two ways to add content to an app after the initial download: unlocking hidden content for users post-download, and offering additional content as in-app downloads. Most apps are limited in size. iOS directs users to a WiFi network for apps over 20MB, whereas Android limits apps to 50MB. Apps that contain hidden content are less dynamic than those with content downloaded later. Because the app already exists in its entirety, the only way to add or change the content is by updating the app. Developers should be aware these additions will increase the complexity of the app.
• Do think about subscriptions. Subscriptions are a realistic and viable revenue model for any app. A smart strategy is to offer some content for free to generate demand and prove an app's value to users. Developers can offer premium content or unlimited access to content through subscriptions to drive revenue further than an ad network could do alone.

The Don’ts

• Don’t underestimate the market. According to independent metrics firm AndroLib, the rate of Android application growth has been on a nonstop increase for months, and it shows no signs of slowing down. Gartner predicts Android will command 49.9% of the smartphone market by 2012. There is huge potential.
• Don’t offer an app that can't stand on its own without additional features. Ideally, an app pleases users as-is and whets their appetite for more content. A useless app — or one with disingenuous pricing — will not motivate users to make in-app purchases. Similarly, a free app that only works well with a $9.99 in-app purchase is a big turn-off and a disincentive to users to pay for more.
• Don’t grumble about the fees that Google or Apple will take from the transaction. These markets offer distribution to an enormous audience, and is well worth the 30% revenue share
• Don’t Make the free version of the app so featureless or devoid of interesting features that users lose excitement. Developers must strike a balance between what makes the app good enough to engage users and what makes users want to pay for more.
• Don’t neglect your app. New content and features drive increased app usage from existing customers, many of whom are likely to purchase additional in-app content. Angry Birds does this to great effect by continuously adding new levels. At the end of the day, delighting users should be the ultimate goal of developers. It's critical to driving increased monetization.
• Don’t think in-app purchase or in-app billing (IAB) is easy. These are complex features that require significant investment in developer knowledge and time. The revenue is worth the effort, but don't underestimate the engineering required to properly integrate IAB.

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Key Differences Between iOS and Android


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• Google IAB uses Google Market/Checkout for all transactions. All terms and conditions of that system apply to Android IAB. Accordingly, app developers have to be responsible for their own taxation and related reporting. This varies from iOS, where Apple does all business on behalf of the apps. In addition, Apple handles all international taxation and related matters and cuts the app publishers a check at the end of the process.
• Google IAB requires users to have a Checkout/Google account to complete the purchase. This will manifest as a Google branded pop-up in the app, which will include all the credit card and related purchasing info associated with the account. iOS in-app purchase is tied to the user's iTunes Account, and does not have any branding associated with IAP. Note that although IAB might be Google/Checkout account based (and likely will continue to be) the payment options are expanding. Developers are advised to stay up to date with changes on the platforms.
• Google’s in-app purchasing APIs lack the ability to transmit all details of an app's inventory (such as its price) to the app. iOS, on the other hand, is easier to set up, as the price and description are pulled directly from the developer's iTunes Connect account.
• Neither system is particularly friendly for identifying your end-users, making refunds a challenge. Google has a leg up here because app publishers will have all the tools of Market/Checkout at their disposal. These tools enable canceling purchases, processing refunds, and so on. Apple offers none of this.
• Apple’s currency conversion is more straightforward and easier to understand. Google has only just begun to roll this out.

Regardless of what platform you use, in-app purchasing is a huge market waiting to be conquered. Share your own tips or experiences in the comments below.

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Interested in more Mobile Marketing resources? Check out Mashable Explore, a new way to discover information on your favorite Mashable topics.



More About: android, App, business, In-App Billing, in-app publishing, Mobile 2.0, mobile apps, mobile marketing

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The number of checkins on Saturday set a new record for Foursquare, which only reached the milestone 100 million total checkins in July 2010.

The service’s first-ever Foursquare Day was held April 16, 2010. This year, a total of 19 mayors — including Mayor Bloomberg of New York City — declared April 16 Foursquare Day in their cities and towns. Additionally, more than 1,200 events were organized around the world. And one superfan even got a checkin-themed tattoo. Ouch.

Did you attend an event or celebrate Foursquare Day on the 16th? Tell us all about it in the comments.

Images courtesy of Flickr, Foursquare.

More About: foursquare, foursquare day, location

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Zuckerberg‘s first question to Obama focused on the economy and how the U.S. will turn things around while bringing down the deficit. He discussed rolling back tax cuts for the wealthiest individuals and cutting the budget to reduce the deficit. “We have a long-term problem with Medicare and Medicaid,” Obama noted, stating that “20% of the patients account for 80% of the cost” of most hospitals.

Most of the time though, President Obama addressed questions from the audience, as well as user-submitted questions collected via the web. During this line of questioning, Obama addressed the housing crisis, clean energy research, immigration policy, Medicare and education reform.

Many of the questions came from Facebook employees. One asked Obama about a recent budget proposal from representative Paul Ryan. The employee asked Obama if his budget plan was bold enough. “The Republican budget put forward is fairly radical,” Obama responded. “I wouldn’t call it particuarly courageous,” he added before continuing with criticism of the viability of Ryan’s plan.

Another question focused on how the government would slow the rise of health care costs. Obama responded by saying that the government should provide incentives to invest in new IT technology that would reduce costs.

At the end of the town hall meeting, Zuckerberg, who was uncharacteristically wearing a suit coat and tie, presented Obama with a uniform he’s more familiar with: a Facebook hoodie.

Here are photos from Obama’s visit to Facebook headquarters:

Protesters Outside Facebook HQ

Protesters Outside Facebook HQ

Protesters Outside Facebook HQ

Protesters Outside Facebook HQ

Protesters Outside Facebook HQ

Protesters Outside Facebook HQ

Protesters Outside Facebook HQ

Facebook Live Town Hall

Facebook Live Town Hall

Facebook Live Town Hall

Daniel Brusilovsky & Joey Primiani at Facebook HQ

Facebook Live Town Hall

Facebook Live Town Hall

Facebook Live Town Hall

Facebook Live Town Hall

Nancy Pelosi at Facebook HQ

Mark Zuckerberg Takes the Stage

President Obama & Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg

President Obama & Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg

President Obama at Facebook HQ

President Obama at Facebook HQ

More About: barack obama, facebook, Facebook HQ, facebook live, Facebook townhall, obama, president obama, trending

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Ten weeks ago we announced the private beta test of Mashable Follow, a new social layer at Mashable that lets you follow the topics that interest you, create a profile on the site, share stories to your multiple social networks in a single click, connect with friends and much more.

We're pleased to say the private beta has been extremely successful, and now we're opening up Mashable Follow to all our users. We appreciated all of the feedback that we received from our beta users and going forward we're still seeking your feedback on how we can improve. Please let us know if you have ideas.

This is just the beginning. Mashable Follow is the start of a long process for us: A process that will see Mashable transform from a news site into a news community that is powered by our readers.

What’s Mashable Follow About?

Mashable has been growing quickly over the past year — we’ve grown faster than ever before, and we’re producing up to 45 original stories per day. But all that new content can be overwhelming: What if you only want to read about startups, or marketing, or iPhone apps? That was the starting point for Mashable Follow: To customize Mashable to meet your needs.

Mashable Follow makes your Mashable experience more social, more useful and more personalized to you: You choose the news you want to read and share.

Here’s what else Mashable Follow can do:

• Easy log-in: Log in to Mashable with your Twitter or Facebook account – no need to create a new one!
• Follow topics: The new “Follow” buttons on every story let you subscribe to those topics via your “My Stories” feed (and coming soon, email!). Whenever we publish a story matching your topics, you’ll be notified.
• Simple sharing: Given that the Mashable community loves to share, we wanted to make sharing our stories even easier – so we did! Mashable Follow allows readers to add their Facebook, Twitter, Google Buzz and Digg accounts (and more coming soon!) to their profile pages and share to all of these services in a single click.
• Profile pages: Mashable Follow also lets you create a profile page on Mashable, promote all your social media accounts, and connect with other Mashable community members who share your interests.
• Badges: For a bit of fun, Mashable members can now earn badges for sharing stories, connecting with other Mashable users, commenting on articles, following topics and more. Over time, we hope to create more substantial rewards for our most engaged readers, awarding more influence to our most dedicated community members and allowing them to set the news agenda.

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The upgraded product comes with a bevy of new features. In addition to faster performance and a streamlined UI, the new Analytics also packs quite a lot of improved and entirely new functionality.

Users can create multiple dashboards, up to 20 per user; and each dashboard can contain up to 12 widgets. Users can also set interaction goals (for example, you might use Google Analytics to track and optimize file downloads or video views), graph and compare certain metrics over time, and toggle between multiple profiles and sites while focusing on one report.

Right now, Google Analytics users can switch between the old and new versions of the product. The Googlers working on Analytics are soliciting feedback and are also prepping for even more new features in the future.

Stay tuned for features such as exporting reports to PDF, emailing reports, migrating reports from old Analytics to new Analytics, linking new AdWords and AdSense accounts to Analytics, email scheduling and In-Page Analytics.

Will you be switching to the new version of Google Analytics now, or will you wait for bug fixes and more features?

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“We sold every iPad 2 that we could make in the quarter,” Apple’s CFO Peter Oppenheimer said on the company’s earnings call Wednesday.

During the question-and-answer portion of the call, Apple COO Tim Cook delved a bit deeper into the situation. The company is facing staggering demand from consumers for the iPad 2 and is heavily backlogged, he said.

The company is below its channel inventory target range, but Cook does not attribute iPad supply issues to the Japan tsunami, and is not predicting any material supply or cost impact during fiscal quarter three. However, he did say that the situation is uncertain.

So, why was Apple unable to meet demand for iPads during the quarter? The company said complications with planning and product transitions had something to do with the matter, but did not disclose specific reasons.

The company is, however, asserting its ability to produce large quantities of iPads for the quarter ahead, although it cannot promise to meet demand. “I’m confident that we’re going to produce a very large amount for the quarter,” Cook said.

Apple rolled out iPads to 25 more countries at the end of March, and will be placing them in 13 additional countries in the week ahead.

More About: apple, apple earnings call, Apple iPad, iPad 2

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Clear Channel Radio has announced that its iHeartRadio App is now available on the iPad, widening the listening experience of its 750 digital radio stations for iOS-toting music lovers.

As soon as we heard that iHeartRadio was hitting the iPad, we immediately wondered if Clear Channel would be integrating any of the features from Thumbplay, which was acquired last month, into the new app. No such luck — the app is a streaming radio app with no on-demand to speak of.

Still, there aren’t that many music streaming/subscription services on the iPad — Pandora and SiriusXm are two of the big ones on the device — so the launch is notable all the same. And it’s free, which is a plus.

In fact, iHeartRadio stands more in competition to Vevo’s app than Pandora’s when it comes to functionality, as it features more content and social aspects than just music.

iHeartRadio has been available on the iPhone for a while now (and other devices and handsets), but the iPad version of the app adds a lot more functionality, including videos and social sharing.

First thing’s first, though: music. The app has a ton of stations and you can search content by station name, location, genre, tagline or call letters. Users can also see what’s playing on any given station by tapping the station icon.

Once you find a station you like, you can add it to Favorites for easy access later (you can also “favorite” songs, but not for future full listening — so it’s more like a bookmark); share the station via Facebook, Twitter or email; buy a song on iTunes; and view lyrics. The app also features music videos and interviews, which you can share via your social channels, as well as galleries.

The whole experience is designed to be wholly lean-forward. Images of bands scroll by when you’re listening to any given station, and you can also scroll through the station’s Twitter feed. However, the app can also streamed via AirPlay to Apple TV, so it can serve as background music.

We can see this app being a boon to ebook-reading commuters, seeing as how one can fire up a station and go about one’s business.

What iPad app do your prefer for pumping up the jams?

Photo courtesy of Flickr, João Pedro, uai!

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Giving is big business. Every year non-profit organizations solicit companies in the hope of obtaining much needed funding to accomplish their missions and help others. Giving USA reports corporate giving increased 5.5% to $14.1 billion in 2009.

Businesses are willing to give, but are often confused as to which causes might be best for them. A successful match can lead to a fulfilling partnership and helping others, while a mismatch may lead to disaster. Businesses can build stronger relationships with their stakeholders through their charitable endeavors. Helping others while helping themselves can lead businesses to bigger profits.

Here are some quick tips and pro advice for helping your business choose the right charities to support.

First Steps

• Clarify your business' values: A great place to start is your mission statement. Most companies use their mission statement as the philosophy that guides their daily operations. Clarifying your mission will help you see the natural connection between your organization and a potential charity partner. You will be able to help identify other goals more readily in other areas of your business.
• Find out where your stakeholders are donating: Survey your customers to identify which causes and non-profits they support. Demographic and psychographic profiles may provide you with more insight about the cares and concerns of your customers. Identify what is important to them and any specific causes they may support on their own. Choosing a cause which resonates with your customer shows you are in tune with the matters that are important to them.
• Don't forget your employees: As the heart and soul of a business, employees’ concerns should be taken into consideration as well. Identify if there is a need coming from within your company. Choosing a cause that your employees care about will get everyone excited and yield better campaign participation.

Picking a Charity

Now that you've done your research, it's time to actually pick a charity.

• Determine the criteria for the potential charity: You should consider certain factors such as the size of the charity, the age of the organization and whether the charity will do its work locally, nationally or internationally.
• Narrow it down: Search for charities that meet your criteria. Here is the tedious part. Giving USA cites there were more than 1 million charities in the United States in 2009. You may want to enlist another person or a committee to help with the selection process. GuideStar.org has a wonderful search function that allows you to pick through its database by criteria.
• Compare mission statements: Choose organizations whose mission statements resemble or complement your company's values. Organizations that share the same ideals may work more harmoniously toward a common goal. List the non-profits that fit your predetermined criteria and focus the remainder of your search on these organizations.
• Make sure organizations are registered with the IRS and have proof that meets the criteria for tax-exempt organizations. If your chosen organization doesn’t meet these specifications, your company's contribution may not be tax deductible. The Better Business Bureau, CharityNavitagor.org, GuideStar.org, Charity Watch and the Charity Review Council are great resources for helping you determine legitimacy and accountability. If the organization does not show up on any of these databases, ask to see its letter of determination. Faith-based non-profits not listed with these resources may still be legitimate. Ask to its official listing in a directory for its denomination.
• Transparency and accountability is key to obtaining funding from any donor in the non-profit sector. Foundations require the organizations to keep track of financials to ensure the monies are spent as promised. A reputable charity will define its mission and programs clearly, have measurable goals and use concrete criteria to describe its achievements, according to GuideStar.org.
• Trustworthy non-profits will discuss their programs and finances. GuideStar.org suggests avoiding non-profits that use pressure tactics to obtain funding or won't share internal information.
• Be confident in your partnership. If an organization makes you feel uneasy, it was not meant to be. Do not pair with them. Many reputable organizations do the same kind of work and use funds wisely to do good deeds.
• Give your partnership a trial run. Test your partnership by donating to a small project before doing a large campaign. Observe how the charity works during the process. Check for accountability, transparency, and trustworthiness. You will get a sense of how well your organizations work together without the large commitment up front.

Charities are a fulfilling way to further the mission of your organization while helping the community in which you live and work. Keep these tips in mind the next time you conduct your next cause marketing or charitable campaign, and your organization will be sure to come out ahead.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Devonyu

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The company announced that it sold 18.65 million iPhone units in the second fiscal quarter, 4.69 million iPad units and 3.76 million Macintosh computers. The company’s gross margin was 41.4%.

As has been the case the last few quarters, the only negative in Apple’s financial picture is the iPod division. iPod sales declined 17% from the year-ago quarter, with 9.02 million units sold.

Looking forward to the next quarter, Apple is predicting earnings per share of $5.03 on $23 billion in revenue. It isn’t clear from Apple’s filing what the projected impact from the devastation in Japan will have on Apple’s upcoming product announcements.

We’ll have more coverage of Apple’s earnings later this afternoon.

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There are several groups protesting in front of Facebook headquarters. About 30 people are protesting the president’s visit for a variety of causes.

One group of Filipino citizens is upset about a lack of action on immigration. Several other protesters have issues with his economic policies and rising gas prices. There are also anti-war protesters lining the sidewalks.

Here are some photos of the protesters:

Protesters Outside Facebook HQ

Protesters Outside Facebook HQ

Protesters Outside Facebook HQ

Protesters Outside Facebook HQ

Protesters Outside Facebook HQ

Protesters Outside Facebook HQ

Protesters Outside Facebook HQ

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Meet Matt Simpson of Tempe, Arizona. He’s a web-savvy 30-something, and he’s using Facebook’s self-service ad platform to find a long-term romantic partner.

In the recent past, Mashable staffers have been the target of a few campaigns from people who want to get our attention, either for news coverage or for a job. Facebook’s hyper-specific data on users makes it possible for those ad-buying individuals to narrow their campaigns to reach only a select few targets — the people most likely to respond to the ad.

Simpson has taken advantage of those capabilities in a new way. Since he knows what he wants — an emotionally balanced, intellectually and spiritually mature woman — he was able to set his campaign parameters to include women with an expressed interest in yoga, meditation and books by spiritual authors.

On his blog, Simpson notes that on most dating sites, women are bombarded with requests and messages. Too often, those pings are based on shallow, physical criteria. By creating a subtle way to reach out to women who share his deeper interests — and by allowing them to “opt in” to learning more about him rather than seeing his name in a deluge of suitor-sent missives — he might be increasing his odds of finding love online.

And at a cost of $0.75 per click, he might end up saving money rather than using a dating site or trying his luck in the real world of bars and coffee shops. So far, he’s spent less than $20 for his campaign, where women indicate they’d like to get to know him better; for contrast, a Match.com membership, where women are more on the defensive, would have cost him around $35 per month.

Simpson says he’s had no dates yet, but he was contacted by six women in the first week of the campaign.

“For tech-savvy folks like us,” he wrote in an email, “the gut reaction toward ‘creepy’ is not as strong. However, the public at large seems to have a difference reaction — either because it’s invasive or because it seems desperate.

“I think it’s a promotion-versus-attraction issue. The proliferation of dating sites has helped America accept attraction-based online dating. Promotion-based online dating is new. There’s got to be a reason that the big dating sites don’t offer added profile exposure for purchase.”

What do you think of the campaign? Weird, creepy, interesting — or perhaps even something you’d try yourself?

More About: advertising, dating, facebook, facebook ads, love, relationships

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The researchers, Pete Warden and Alasdair Allan, discovered the hidden file while collaborating on a potential data visualization project. “At first we weren’t sure how much data was there, but after we dug further and visualised the extracted data, it became clear that there was a scary amount of detail on our movements,” Warden told The Guardian.

You can watch Allan and Warden’s discussion about the data and how it can be surfaced in this video:

What Does the Data Say

The data, which is stored as a log in a file called “consolidation.db,” contains longitude and latitude coordinates along with a timestamp. Right now, it appears that Apple has been recording this information since iOS 4.0 was released last June. Allan and Warden think that this information is determined by cell-tower triangulation. Although it isn’t always exact, it can give a very detailed overview of where an individual (or their phone) has traveled over a period of time.

Visualizing the Data

Beyond simply revealing that this data is available and, with a little work, accessible, Warden and Allan created a web app that can create a visualization of a user’s location information from an iPhone or 3G iPad.

Warden and Allan are not the first two data scientists to uncover this data store. However, they have created the most layperson accessible proof of concept that can showcase how this data could potentially be used.

What Does this Mean

As Warden and Allan make clear, right now, there is no evidence that the data ever leaves the user’s custody or that it is transmitted to anyone else. In other words, for someone to access this information, they need physical access to your phone or your computer with data backups, along with the wherewithal to actually use it.

The bigger question is: why does this data exist in the first place? Moreover, why is this data not encrypted within a backup? Sure, users can choose to encrypt their iPhone backups, but this is the type of file that strikes us as being encryption-worthy from the start.

Realistically speaking, the likelihood that this data could be used for evil is miniscule. We would be far more troubled if this information was accessible to other apps or was sent to Apple. Having said that, its very existence raises questions that Apple should be forced to address.

More About: apple, iOS 4.0, iphone, privacy, security, where 2.0

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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg are about to interview President Barack Obama in a live town hall from the company’s headquarters. Update: although the live event is over, we have pics of the event, Obama and Zuckerberg here.

The discussion will be carried to millions of people via Facebook Live, the social network’s official streaming video/TV channel. The town hall, which begins at 4:45 p.m. EST/1:45 p.m. PST, will feature Zuckerberg and Sandberg asking Obama about the economy, funding innovation and the future of technology. In addition, Obama will answer questions submitted via the web. And Mashable will be there, covering the president’s remarks in person.

Facebook has welcomed countless celebrities through its doors (Katy Perry comes to mind), but Obama is by far the highest profile public figure to ever walk through Facebook’s doors. Just two months ago, Obama visited Silicon Valley to wine and dine with technology’s most prominent figures, including Facebook’s young CEO.

For your convenience, we’ve embedded the live video feed for today’s conversation as well as a live Facebook Comments stream so you can opine about Obama’s performance in real time.

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For instance, American Express launched an app called For Everything You Do that lets consumers nominate people in their LinkedIn network for Administrative Professionals Day. The person with the most nominations overall gets a $2,500 gift card from the company’; 100 randomly selected entrants will get a $25 gift card.

Meanwhile, a new app called "LinkedOut" promoting Volkswagen's Passat in Holland lets you compare how well-networked you are on the site vs. others. After signing in using your LinkedIn profile, the app lets you choose others in your network to challenge. You win each round (education, experience, recommendations and connections) by having more of each. The winner's avatar gets a giant head.

The app is part of a campaign in the Netherlands that supports the tagline, "Nogal vol van zichzelf," which translates to "Quite full of himself." The site asks users to "discover within three minutes how full of yourself you are" and offers the chance to win a free Passat.

A rep for LinkedIn says the company's marketing solutions group worked with AmEx on its program and Dutch agency Achtung on the VW campaign, but couldn't provide any other information. The social networking site made its API available to developers in late 2009.

LinkedIn, which recently passed the 100 million member mark, appears to be virgin territory for most marketers who have focused more of their social media outreach efforts on Facebook and Twitter. But while some view advertising and marketing as intrusive on Facebook, the business-oriented LinkedIn may prove more hospitable.

How do you think marketers could leverage LinkedIn’s platform? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Note: Dutch translation for this article provided by Alexandre Mandy.

More About: apps, linkedin, volkswagen

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Whereas before, detailed analytical info had been available via raw data from downloadable spreadsheets, now there’s a lot more at-a-glance info. We spoke with the two YouTube product managers responsible for the launch to find out more.

“After talking and meeting with a lot of partners over the last few months, the primary need and use case we found was that, understandably, a lot of partners want to come in quickly within the browser interface to see how they’re doing, see how their videos are perfoming and get some feedback by which they can optimize their videos or their creative process,” explains Andy Stack, YouTube product manager for partner reporting and financial profitability.

“So this is really a goal of putting some industrial strength analytics into a nice web interface that anybody from a blossoming YouTube individual star to a marketing professional at a major record label will be able to quickly browse to see how their videos are doing.”

Familiar tools like Hot Spots and the engagement report will still be available, but we’ve taken a moment to highlight the new reports available to you in Partner Analytics that promise much improved data on many aspects of your YouTube content.

1. Views Report

With an interface that’s familiar to anyone who has used Google Analytics, the first new report looks at views. You can specify a date range and see how the views trend over time, while the content box allows you to group content at the channel or video level. You can also look at views for any videos you’ve claimed as yours from user generated content.

Particularly useful, you’re now able to see unique viewers, which is something YouTube is introducing for partners with this preview launch. “This is actually a great key metric that our partners can now see to get a very good feel for their actual audience and reach,” says Stack.

“Clearly some users watch multiple videos, so it’s really important for our partners to know from an advertising standpoint, what’s my core audience? What’s my core active audience on a video, or on a channel? So now we’ve got a way for you to view your unique viewers against your views either on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.”

2. Demographics Report

If the age range and gender of your viewers is useful data for you, then the demographics report will be of particular interest. It gives you a chance to break content down by channel level, video level or claimed content level at which point you can see the age groups and gender. A bar graph, pie chart and table will help you visualize the data.

3. Estimated Earnings Report

As far as your YouTube earnings go, the new Partner Analytics offers a more up-to-date, and user-friendly format.

“In general there are two sources of revenue for YouTube Partners,” explains Stack. “Either sold directly by YouTube or sold through AdSense for Video. What we’re surfacing here is a way that’s much clearer to see and with very recent timing — we’re delivering this data with just a few days’ delay. Partners are able to see how much the channel is earning them, so this is what they are taking home in terms of money in their pocket.

“A great improvement of this interface, over what has been, is that you can view by video. So if you click on a specific video, you’ll get the earning information for that video. But you can also search on a particular video name, so this is something that is a lot easier to do now. A lot of partners want to know how a certain video is earning over time and now you’re easily able to do that with this interface.”

4. Subscribers Report

“This a really exciting feature for our users. We are now breaking out which videos drive the most subscriptions. Previously it was just ‘your channel got X subscriptions, gained X, lost Y and the net is X minus Y.’ Now you can actually see which videos are actually driving those subscriptions,” says Ted Hamilton, YouTube product manager of video analytics.

“This is very important to Partners … who want to be able to tell which of their videos is most successful at driving subscriptions. This helps show how they can repeat those successes or how can they promote those videos more. This is something our users have been really asking for.”

Equally valuable is the column of subscribers lost, which will show the same data, but for users who unsubscribed after watching certain videos.

5. Playback Location Report

The playback location report allows you to see where playback is taking place, whether that’s on your own website via embedded videos, on another site, on your channel page, on your YouTube watch page, or on a mobile device. You can also sort this data by geographic location, and by daily, weekly or monthly time lines. When combined with the traffic sources data (below) you’re being offered a very clear idea of how people are discovering your content and just how they are consuming it.

6. Traffic Sources Report

“The traffic sources report allows you to see where your traffic is coming from, which is helpful especially when you drive down to the individual video level. You can break it down to external websites to see what traffic is coming to you via other sites like Facebook or Twitter and a list of other sources,” says Hamilton.

“If you’re viewing the statistics for a particular video, you’ll be able to drill in and see the external website and how many views were from that external website.”

In addition to helping pinpoint those locations on the web where your viewers come in from, the traffic sources will also offer the valuable information about which Google search and YouTube search terms have directed viewers to your content.

Looking Forward

These exciting new reports are just the start of what Stack, Hamilton and their respective teams have planned for the future of analytics and insights on YouTube.

An “ad type” report is currently a work-in-progress that will allow you to see how much you are earning per ad type per geographic area. Also in the pipeline is functionality that will allow you to compare various stats on two different videos.

And if you’re a consumer-level user of YouTube, you’ve not been forgotten. “The vast majority of these features will also be available to our consumer users later this year via Insights,” Hamilton told us. He wouldn’t be pressed on an exact timetable, but told us: “You should be seeing a lot of progress over the next three months.”

Which of these new reports will be the most useful to you? What other analysis tools would you like to see YouTube offer? Have your say in the comments below.

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Before the startup had even launched an app, it had already started gaining traction by partnering with organizations like The National September 11 Memorial & Museum and UNICEF. Since launching its iPhone app [iTunes link] in March, the service has gained about 40,000 active users and collected about 8,000 stories. On Wednesday, it is launching its first Android app.

The most interesting feature of both apps is a “geoplay” option that creates a playlist based on a user’s location, even as he or she moves. It is now possible, for instance, to walk the length of Manhattan and hear stories that relate to different neighborhoods as you are passing them.

If you’re in Seattle, you might hear musings from user Chrisharley, who tells stories as he drives his cab. If you’re in San Francisco or New York, maybe you’ll hear a “sonic postcard” soundscape from sound design company Machine Head.

Users can also contribute a recording or listen to “featured” stories from around the world within the apps.

In the future, many of these stories might come from partnerships. Broadcastr already has one deal in place with NBC Universal that will put clips from the Oxygen Channel’s on-air talent on the platform. Paris Hilton, for instance, will record clips about 10 of her favorite places in the world and tag them to those locations. Viewers of her new reality show will also be able to submit clips about their own favorite places that will be integrated into the show’s website.

A similar project with Summer Stage will tag concert venues with clips from performing musicians. Partnerships with The Economist and New York’s Bryant Park are also in the works.

For now the partnerships aren’t providing any revenue for Broadcastr, but co-founder Scott Lindenbaum says that in the future, Broadcastr plans to charge brand partners for sponsored content. The startup is currently looking for funding and engineers to expand the product.

Linderbaum describes what Broadcastr is doing with sound discovery as similar to what location-based chat app Yobongo has done with meeting people and what location-based photo app Color has done with social photography. Pausing to put in a search query is disruptive in a mobile world, and location provides an alternative discovery mechanism.

“We started asking ourselves, how can my movement in the world be my search query?” Linderbaum says.

More About: Android App, Broadcastr, radio

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According to Prevent Blindness America, 53.2 million Americans aged 45 or older have some form of visual impairment, from mild to severe, and about 18% of those affected are “legally blind.” Despite their visual impairments, many of those people use the Internet every day, just like you and me. Further, as more and more people over the age of 50 become comfortable with technology, Internet usage among this demographic will only increase in coming years.

The web is full of tips on how to design websites for blind users, most of which are geared toward making your website accessible to screen readers. But as you can tell by looking at the numbers above, there is a large middle ground. The vast majority of individuals with visual impairments, even those considered legally blind, don’t need or use screen-reading software. However, the web can still be a difficult and cumbersome place to navigate when one can’t quite see it clearly.

Here are a few tips and techniques for making your site more accessible to these visually impaired users — and why they’re important.

1. Make Allowances For Enlarged Text

Often times, simply making text larger is all that a user requires. Consider offering alternate stylesheets with larger font sizes and make sure your layout doesn’t break when text-only zoom is enabled in the browser. Many visually impaired users will want to zoom in on the text without changing the scale of the entire site layout, which can lead to difficulties scrolling and tracking text over long lines.

Depending on your site’s target market, you may also want to consider making the default font a few points larger, and if you’re publishing articles or large quantities of text, it’s a good idea to offer text-only versions, so the user can then manipulate the text however he likes.

2. Contrast is Key

Eye diseases like Retinitis Pigmentosa, Glaucoma, Retinopathy and cataracts (some of the most common eye disorders out there) all lead to a significant decrease in contrast sensitivity — that is, the eye’s ability to differentiate between similar shades and levels of brightness.

But today’s layouts are detailed-oriented, often utilizing subtle gradients and slight shifts in value to create clean, modern, unobtrusive interfaces. For a user with normal eyesight, this makes for a very pleasing visual experience. To a user who struggles with contrast sensitivity, however, it can be a literal headache.

Consider offering a second version of your site with more contrast between elements. Make use of bold text for added readability on low-contrast items and avoid very thin fonts. Also, don’t use any JavaScript or CSS techniques that would prevent users from highlighting elements of the page with their mouse or change the default highlight behavior. Many visually impaired users make use of highlighting as a quick trick to increase contrast and to aid visual focus.

3. Be Mindful of Colors for Action Items

Genetic colorblindness affects about 8% of all men and about 0.5% of all women to some degree. Then there’s acquired color blindness, which can result from eye disease or injury (such as glaucoma or cataract) and drives the total number of colorblind users even higher. It may not always be feasible to offer these users an entirely different color scheme, and most users generally accept this. However, there is one place, where the use of color should be given the utmost attention — action items. When creating buttons or notices that call the user’s attention and require their direct interaction, try to avoid using color combos that are easily confused by colorblind users (red and green, blue and yellow) and make sure these elements contain clear, visible text or iconography that makes their purpose clear.

Placing a red “cancel” button next to a green “submit” button, for example, might cause visual confusion to a user who is red-green colorblind. Similarly, users with the seemingly misnomered “blue-yellow” colorblindness (more common in acquired colorblindness) are less able to differentiate between shades of green and blue.

4. Let Desktop Users Browse Your Mobile Site

If you offer a mobile version of your web site, don’t restrict it only to mobile devices. Layouts optimized for the mobile web are typically, by nature, more visually accessible than their more grown-up counterparts. Elements are often simplified (and thus easier to scale), more focus is given to text, and there is less overall visual clutter to potentially confuse users who have blurred vision or difficulties with contrast and color. Giving anyone access to the mobile version of your site can be a quick way to increase accessibility without adding a lot to development costs.

Note, though, that while they can be quite useful for sighted persons with vision problems, mobile websites that utilize large amounts of JavaScript and AJAX functionality are not ideal solutions for blind users who need to access the web via screen reading technology.

5. Use Keyboard Shortcuts to Aid Navigation

In addition to being useful to persons with screen readers, keyboard shortcuts can make site navigation for the visually impaired user far easier. With the addition of keyboard commands, it’s possible to navigate a site with the use of arrow keys and a few quick keystrokes, eliminating the need to follow a mouse cursor across a screen — and the associated need to keep shifting visual focus. This can go a long way toward reducing eye strain and frustration. Many users with visual impairments surf the web on large monitors (23″ or bigger), which can lead to a lot of head and eye movement, particularly at shorter focal distances. The less time the user has to spend following the cursor (which can easily become lost) around the screen, the better.

The Web Designer Series is supported by Wix.com, which brings amazing technology home to everyday people. Discover the amazing simplicity of its online Flash builder and enjoy creating beautiful websites with powerful drag and drop interface.

More Design Resources from Mashable:

- A 12-Step Guide to Fostering Your Creativity
- 8 Powerful & Inexpensive Desktop Design Apps
- HOW TO: Get Started with the Less Framework
- 8 Essential Web Typography Resources
- HOW TO: Turn Your Foursquare Data Into an Infographic

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, nu_andrei

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Think of Loopt Qs as Quora meets location-based networking meets Yelp. The idea behind Loopt Qs is to allow users to get useful information about a place in real time.

We talked to Loopt’s co-founder and CEO Sam Altman about the Qs and why this is part of Loopt’s future direction. Altman says that local mobile search is often less about discovering a new place or location to visit and instead is more about “what you do when you get there.”

That’s the goal of Loopt Qs — to connect users to real-time information about the place that they are already at. To do this, Loopt is using a community team from an area to draft Qs posed to users when they check in at a location.

Users can answer questions or view results. Users can also solicit feedback or share their own answers on Facebook and Twitter. For now, the community team will craft the questions, but eventually users will be able to ask their own questions.

Check out this video that gives an overview of the new feature:

Rather than simply looking at a list of tips from other users, a la Foursquare or Gowalla, you can get more specific information about a location and that information has the potential to be in real time.

Loopt is rolling out Qs in the San Francisco Bay area but will be taking the feature nationwide in the next few months. Altman also told us that Loopt will be integrating its various deals and coupon offerings with Loopt Qs in the future.

We like the idea of real-time, location-specific feedback. Still, we have to question the scale necessary to make the real-time component useful. Unless an area is heavily trafficked by other Loopt users, there is no guarantee that the feedback offered will be up to date. The Facebook and Twitter connections will obviously help broaden the immediate scope, but how many people will ultimately need to use Qs for it to gain traction is still an open question.

What do you think of Loopt Qs? Do its goals align with how you use local search? Let us know.

More About: foursquare, location, location based social networks, loopt, loopt qs, quora, yelp

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[UPDATE: While there were conflicting reports about the condition of Chris Hondros (see below), The New York Times now confirms that Hondros died of his injuries within a few hours of the attack.]

While Hetherington’s death has been confirmed by the Times and others, reports of Hondros’s death are conflicting. Approximately 40 minutes ago (1:30 p.m. ET), Vanity Fair tweeted, “Correction: Tim Hetherington’s death has been confirmed. Chris Hondros remains in grave condition.” The account also has a tweet directed at one of Hondros’s friends, saying, “So sorry. We are doing our best to get the most accurate information.”

Misrata is Libya’s third largest city, and has been under siege by military forces loyal to Colonel Muammar el-Qadaffi for the past several weeks.

The photographers had arrived by sea from Benghazi, where the rebel command is stationed, The New York Times reports. The photographers were stuck by a rocket-propelled grenade near the front lines.

The news was first reported on fellow photographer Andre Liohn’s Facebook Page, who confirmed the death first of Hetherington (pictured) and then, in a follow-up comment, of Hondros. Liohn said he was stationed at a Libyan hospital with both of the photographers.

The post has since been taken down, possibly because their respective families had not yet been notified of their deaths. The news has since spread rapidly on Twitter.

Another photographer, a British citizen working for the Panos photo agency named Guy Martin, is also gravely wounded, according to the Times.

A fourth photographer, Michael Christopher Brown, is suffering from shrapnel injuries but his life is not reportedly in danger.

More About: chris hondros, facebook, libya, media, social media, tim hetherington, twitter

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Information experience startup Qwiki, fresh off a $9 million funding spree, is out with its much anticipated iPad application Wednesday.

The iPad application resembles the Qwiki website in style but offers users an interactive experience tailored around touch capabilities and enhanced by location.

Qwiki for iPad is ultimately meant to give users a touch-enabled way to explore the world, or what’s nearby, through rich media presentations.

Users can browse or search for presentations as they would on the website, with the app highlighting nearby and popular Qwikis on the home screen. Users who select the explore option will dive into a location-centric interface for discovering Qwikis. Here, they can use their fingers to traverse the world and watch Qwikis by locale.

Qwiki for iPad [iTunes link] has been in the works since the company first started working on its rich media presentation platform. The experience was always designed to be touched, co-founder and CEO Doug Imbruce says. “Qwiki’s fundament belief has always been that media consumption is moving off the desktop,” he explains.

iPhone, Android and internet television versions of Qwiki are said to be in the works. The startup is also planning to weave additional content sources into Qwiki presentations in the near future.

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More About: ipad app, qwiki, startup

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For everyone out there who erupts into (unpleasant) convulsions every time a Lady Gaga song comes on the radio at the local grocery store — Weird Al Yankovic has your back.

This parody version of “Born This Way” — dubbed “Perform This Way” — popped up on Yankovic’s YouTube channel Wednesday with the message: “This is my parody of Lady Gaga’s song ‘Born This Way’ — which, I’m sorry to say, will NOT be included on my upcoming album. I will give the details of the whole Gaga saga (and offer free mp3 downloads of the song) on weirdal.com very soon.”

Yankovic has yet to post the story, but we’re guessing that Gaga took a pass because, well, the song is kind of negative (he even includes a slight dig at the fact that Gaga’s jam sounds awfully similar to Madonna’s “Express Yourself”).

Update: The anticipated “Gaga saga” blog post is now available. In it, Yankovic details the process he and his team went through to get approval to use the parody on his forthcoming album. His story includes this initial message that Yankovic’s manager sent to Gaga’s manager before the song was even written:

“I'd like to do a parody of Lady Gaga's ‘Born This Way’ called ‘I Perform This Way.’ The basic concept is that I, as a Lady Gaga doppelganger of sorts, describe the incredibly extravagant ways in which I perform on stage. Meat dresses and giant eggs would most likely be referenced, but also much more ridiculous made-up examples of bizarre wardrobe and stage production. As with all my parodies, it would be respectful of the artist, while having a bit of fun with her larger-than-life image.”

Gaga responded by saying she needed to hear the parody before she could make a decision, the blog says, so Yankovic worked quickly to write and produce the song for her to hear. Upon listening to the parody, Gaga shot down Yankovic’s request.

What do you think of Yankovic’s version and the “Gaga saga” blog post?

More About: humor, Lady Gaga, pop culture, trending, video, viral-video-of-day, weird al yankovic, youtube

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In this video, we get a behind-the-scenes look at one of the most important aspects of the Threadless website: the pics, man, the pics.

Far from being SkyMall-reminiscent catalog work (soccer mom hair and khaki pants all the way), the Threadless photos display real youngsters (employees and friends) in the Threadless office and around the headquarters’ Chicago neighborhood, goofing off in the company’s signature T-shirts.

In this interview with Threadless’s in-house photog Sean Dorgan and creative director Sean Donohue, PhotoShelter founder Grover Sanschagrin gets in-depth info on how, when and where Threadless’s eye-catching photography gets done. Ecommerce website designers, take note, and in the comments, let us know how you have handled or would advise clothing-store clients who need to uniquely display their wares.

More About: ecommerce, photography, threadless

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I don’t know about you, but when I’m in the mood to, say, listen to Twin Shadow’s “Castles in the Snow” on repeat for an entire subway ride, I fire up iTunes rather than something more social, like Rdio (which shows what you have on heavy rotation). Well, now our obsessive listening secrets are out of the bag.

Note: I am making this sound much more dramatic than it needs to be, because this app is rather rad in its simplicity and usefulness. Launched by .net/SharePoint developer Kaveh Azari last week, Songasaurus basically lets you connect to other users — either nearby or by searching their name — and check out their music collections.

Users have to accept your invitation to connect, so if you’ve been jamming to Bieber for the last week or so, it’s not like you’ll be forced to share that info.

“I created the app because I wanted a way for my friends and I to see what we were all listening to,” Azari says. “My taste in music is either all pop, or random, random stuff from the ’40s and ’50s. I always like to see my friends’ music libraries because most of them have better taste in music than me.”

Upon connecting, you can see musical activity via three methods: 1) What songs you have in common with your friends. Drill down to see how many times you all have listened to that song. You can also check out average song ratings, as well as skips. 2). Plays. See which songs you and your friends have listened to the most. 3). Timeline. See which songs people in your network have listened to recently. (You can drill down in the last two categories as well to see ratings, plays and skips.)

The app also lets you sort by artists and albums, listen to brief previews of jams, and buy them via iTunes.

Azari tells us that he’s currently working on a 2.0 version that will let you choose who, specifically, you want to view (so you can filter out that friend who really digs Gaga). He also hopes to include featured artists and publications.

Social listening apps are certainly de rigueur lately. Along with subscription services like Rdio, there’s also apps like MyStream, which lets you listen to songs simultaneously with friends, and Soundtrackr, which is like Pandora + Rdio with a helping of geolocation.

What apps do you prefer for (legally) sharing jams?

Image Courtesy of Flickr, Hygiene Matters

More About: mobile apps, music, Songasaurus

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The People’s Royal Wedding Album is designed to be a counterpart to the official royal album, capturing “the people’s view” of the Royal Wedding, a spokesperson explained. “Whether people are watching on TV, heading to London, holding a street party, making novelty baked or knitted goods, we want to see the pictures,” he added.

All are welcome to contribute to the album, wherever they may be celebrating. Users can upload their photos to the Flickr group on their desktops, and/or using the Flickit [iTunes link] smartphone app. (Once downloaded, go to Explore, then Groups, then People’s Royal Wedding.)

UK entrants can also compete for a chance to win a £5,000 honeymoon if their photo is deemed the best. Submissions are due by May 3.

Like YouTube, Yahoo UK also plans to stream the wedding live at uk.royalwedding.yahoo.com.

Image courtesy of Flickr, loopzilla

More About: flickr, royal wedding, Yahoo

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