Mashable: Latest 24 News Updates - including “Citibank First to Test Revolutionary Credit Card System, Card 2.0” |
- Citibank First to Test Revolutionary Credit Card System, Card 2.0
- “Auto-Tune the News” Curates: Our Favorite YouTube Videos This Week
- How iPad Magazine Sales Stack Up [REPORT]
- Android Gingerbread Confirmed, Mascot Arrives on Google Campus
- Biggest Military Leak in History: WikiLeaks Releases 390,000 Iraq War Documents
- Parrot AR Drone Review [VIDEO]
- Amazon: 14-Day Lending Coming to Kindle “Later This Year”
- Ustream to Roll Out Pay-Per-View and Ad-Free Options
- Mobile Credit Card Reader Square Now Open for Business
- Thanks to Mashable’s Socially Savvy Supporters
- 5 Beautiful Keyboards to Spice Up Your Boring Desk
- President Obama Tells Gay Teens “It Gets Better”
- New Macs No Longer Ship with Flash Player
- Facebook Goes Down; Second Major Outage in a Month
- Kanye West Will Answer Your Tweets Following “Runaway” Premiere
- 4 Winning Strategies for Social Media Optimization
- Samsung Galaxy Player 50: Android’s iPod Touch [VIDEO]
- How Entrepreneurs and Startups Can Get Involved in the Mashable Awards
- China Launches Online Map of the World
- SCVNGR Makes Major Enhancements to iPhone and Android Apps
- YouTube’s Musicians Wanted Program Goes Global
- Astronaut Checks in to Foursquare from Outer Space
- This Morning’s Top 3 Stories in Tech and Business
- 5 Great Games for Learning Stock Market Strategy
- Fashion Incubator Brings Young Designers to Market Online
| Citibank First to Test Revolutionary Credit Card System, Card 2.0 Posted: 22 Oct 2010 10:37 PM PDT      Next month, Citibank will begin testing Card 2.0, a groundbreaking new credit and debit card device that securely links multiple accounts. These futuristic cards stole the show at the DEMO startup conference last month in Silicon Valley. The cards have embedded buttons and graphic displays, yet they’re as thin and flexible as a normal credit card. Citi’s version of the card will allow users to select between two buttons on the card at the register. One button will let the user pay with reward points; the other button lets them pay with credit. Cardholders can pay with rewards points anywhere their Citi credit card is accepted. The cards will be called 2G (as in “second generation,” a naming convention similar to that of other mobile gadgets); each one will contain a chip and a battery with about four years of life. Citi’s employees have been testing 2G cards since May, according to reports, and the bank plans to roll the cards out to its customer base in mid- to late 2011. Some cardholders will be selected to start using 2G cards now. Citi’s Dividend Platinum Select MasterCard and its PremierPass Elite are both rewards-focused cards; they’ll be the first to be offered as 2G cards. Jeff Mullen is CEO of Dynamics, Inc., the company behind the cards. He told The New York Times that Citi’s 2G cards were mere baby steps, saying, “We are just scratching the surface with what these cards can do with these initial products… We are trying to be the innovation arm of an industry that has never had one.” Here’s a demonstration of how some other Card 2.0 products work: What do you think of Citi’s first “baby steps” with Card 2.0 products? Would the availability of these kinds of cards influence your banking decisions? Let us know what you think in the comments. More About: banking, card 2.0, citibank, credit cards, Dynamics, personal finance For more Tech coverage:
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| “Auto-Tune the News” Curates: Our Favorite YouTube Videos This Week Posted: 22 Oct 2010 06:17 PM PDT   This week, dearest cubicle commandos, we have chosen The Gregory Brothers of “Auto-Tune the News” fame to head up our YouTube roundup. Their theme of choice: “As-Yet Undiscovered, Idealistic Rock-Gods.” OK… Granted, this was a bit of a difficult theme for our staff to spin off , but they did quite admirably, riffing and improvising from the very bottoms of their virality-soaked hearts (viral content, not, like, actual viruses). Check out the weird and wonderful selection of jams below, kicked off officially by the Brothers Gregory: Complete, “Hoogie-Boogie Land”The Gregory Brothers: The unheralded rock gods Complete may have only played a few Texas roadhouse shows in the mid-’90s, but fortunately the Internet is forever. Thanks to the power of YouTube, future generations will be able to listen to their wailing vocals, scorching guitar riffs and fantastically polyrhythmic rhythm section. Best of all, rather than using their powers for evil, they sing about the power of love: the beauty of a sunrise, the wonder of a simple dream and the promise of the Utopian “Hoogie-Boogie Land.” Tool, Pantera, Metallica, Led Zeppelin — you are not worthy. Marvin Hawkins, “Hot Drinks”Brenna Ehrlich: Not only will this jam get stuck in your head for hours at a time, causing you to embarrassingly burst into song even in your sleep; it also teaches you that if you simply put a lid on a cup, things will really start looking up. The simple joys, people, the simple joys. Back To The Planet, “Daydream”Amy-Mae Elliott: Back to the Planet was an awesome early ’90s UK band formed from a group of hippie squatters who spent more time playing free festivals and protesting than they did trying to secure favorable record deals. They split in the mid-’90s, and I think various band members have succeeded, but it’s one of those interesting hypothetical questions to ask whether they could have gone further if they’d been more commercially minded and less idealistic. Kind of glad they weren’t though. Scouting For Girls, “Famous”Christina Warren: I won’t lie: I totally found this band, Scouting for Girls, because their song is in that Sony Google TV ad. Their second album came out a few weeks ago and is pretty good. This is a music video for one of the first singles. Little Roger and the Goosebumps, “Stairway to Gilligan’s Island”Lauren Rubin: Little Roger and the Goosebumps give us… “Stairway to Gilligan’s Island.” Way back in the early ’80s, before mashups became de rigeur, this guy was a visionary. He also got slapped with a huge cease-and-desist by the Zep themselves. Kings Of Leon – Shreds – Their Worst Performance EverEvan Wexler: I don’t know who you are, mystery Shreds rock god, but you play so perfectly badly over this Kings of Leon track that it’s hard to tell at first if it’s real or not. And then, suddenly, as the drummer blows a bubble, it becomes very real. Very, very real. “Paparazzi” Cover (Acoustic)Erica Swallow: Fernando Balino, who, like me, is an NYU Stern alum, has taken a non-businessy route post-Stern, and he has an amazing voice. His first YouTube video was posted about nine months ago and is a cover of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance.” But my personal favorite is his cover of “Paparazzi” (Yes, there’s a bit of a Gaga theme here). I have a feeling he’s going places. Phish Shreds ITBlake Robinson: Evan and I are having a Shreds-off. 1st Round US Air Guitar Championships 2009 SF Regional (Friday)Jay Irani: This guy isn’t a musical talent, but don’t tell him he isn’t a rock god. He’ll hear none of that! Reviews: Internet, YouTube More About: auto-tune the news, favorite-youtube-videos, gregory-brothers, humor, pop culture, viral videos, youtube For more Web Video coverage:
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| How iPad Magazine Sales Stack Up [REPORT] Posted: 22 Oct 2010 05:17 PM PDT   More and more publishers are jumping on the iPad bandwagon — we’ve even discussed why we think this is the reinvention of print — but what are the sales stats for the first crop of iPad magazines? Ad Age has taken an in-depth look at the first six months of iPad magazine sales. The verdict? Depending on the genre and the type of engagement, iPad sales represent a sliver or a sizable chunk of newsstand results. The data, which didn’t include Hearst’s new Esquire app for iPad, unsurprisingly showed that Conde Nast’s Wired is the most successful magazine on the iPad. The fact that the core Wired audience aligns well with many iPad owners (raise of hands – how many of you hadn’t purchased a copy of Wired in years before it hit the iPad? I know I hadn’t), not to mention its marketing campaign, is likely responsible for the continued success of the magazine on the new medium. Likewise, the fact that sales of Popular Science for iPad are equivalent of about 12% of newsstand sales is probably indicative of a tech/science connection with early adopters. In comparison, lifestyle magazines like Glamour and Men’s Health are pulling in less than 1% of iPad sales when compared to their newsstand counterparts. People magazine for iPad is averaging 10,800 copies a week. However, the People app is unique in that it is free for print subscribers. Time Inc. declined to breakdown how many of its downloads were from print subscribers. Regardless, like Glamour and Men’s Health, iPad downloads only equal about 1% of People’s single-copy newsstand sales. Magazines like GQ and Vanity Fair, which like Esquire, go for more in-depth articles and longer sustained reading experiences, are doing better than the lifestyle magazines but not as well as tech. GQ for iPad is averaging about 7% of its newwstand counterparts while Vanity Fair is doing about 2%. Just Getting StartedAs Ad Age notes, most advertisers that are embracing the iPad as a platform recognize that the digital magazine world is in its infancy. As impressive as iPad sales continue to be, they still only represent about 5.2 million US owners and the device is only six months old. It’s also important to note that where digital magazines are really poised to take off is with subscriptions. Apple and major publishers continue to hash away at terms that will bring subscription pricing to the iPad. We agree with Ad Age and with publishers, once subscriptions become an option, the iPad magazine game will get a lot bigger. Don’t Forget to Offer ValueWhen looking at what magazine titles are succeeding on the iPad and what titles are faltering, we can’t help but draw some direct correlations between those titles that have invested the most in the technology and those that are simply just putting a glorified PDF in an iPad-app wrapper. Esquire and Wired are two examples of magazines that are really designed to make the most of the iPad as a medium. As Josh Koppel of Scroll Motion, the company responsible for Esquire for iPad, expressed to us, “it’s about being additive, not reductive.” In other words, it’s not going to be enough to just offer a digital copy of text on a screen. Readers want a better experience. At least right now, providing that experience takes time. However, in the future, more tools and solutions for creating more robust experiences on the iPad will be available to publishers. It will be interesting to re-evaluate the state of the magazine industry on tablet devices in another six to 12 months. We think this is an area that is only going to get bigger over time. More About: esquire, gq, ipad, ipad apps, ipad magazines, media, men's health, people magazine, publishing industry, vanity fair, Wired For more Business coverage:
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| Android Gingerbread Confirmed, Mascot Arrives on Google Campus Posted: 22 Oct 2010 04:09 PM PDT   Although Gingerbread (Google’s codename for the next iteration of its popular Android platform) has yet to be officially announced, its mascot, a gigantic gingerbread man, has just arrived on Google’s campus. Android 3.0, a.k.a. Gingerbread, has been a topic of gadget-geek conversation for some months now. Since June, we’ve been hearing that the OS was slated to debut this fall. At that point, we said that Gingerbread represented a fork in the Android mobile operating system; Froyo and the 2.X OSes would be intended for mobile phones, while Gingerbread (and rumored 3.X successor Honeycomb) would start appearing on higher-powered mobile devices such as tablets. One Google exec pretty much confirmed this suspicion last month when he told reporters that Froyo was never intended as a tablet OS and that Google had other directions in mind for iPad competitor devices. And although some hardware companies have released Android 1.X- and 2.X-powered tablets (such as the Dell Streak and Samsung Tab), it’s not coincidental that some tablet manufacturers have held off on releasing Android-powered devices until Gingerbread is ready and available. We’re anxiously awaiting more details on Gingerbread and confirmation of its tablet-specific properties, but for now, the only official word from Google has been, “We’re baking something, and it’s pretty sweet.” Stay tuned for updates on Google’s plans for a new crop of Android-powered tablets to compete with the market-dominating iPad. But in the meantime, in this video, you can watch the statue being unwrapped and installed at Google’s Mountain View headquarters, where it stands next to an enormous frozen yogurt parfait that symbolically represents Android 2.2, a.k.a. Froyo: Reviews: Android, Google More About: android, gingerbread, Google, mobile OS For more Mobile coverage:
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| Biggest Military Leak in History: WikiLeaks Releases 390,000 Iraq War Documents Posted: 22 Oct 2010 03:01 PM PDT   WikiLeaks has once again captured international headlines with the release of 391,832 secret Iraq War documents that reveal new information about detainee treatment, civilian deaths, and the involvement of Iran in backing Iraqi militias. The Iraq War Logs, provided to at least a dozen media organizations including The Guardian, The New York Times, Del Spiegel, Al Jazeera, CNN and the BBC, offer an on-the-ground perspective into six years of the Iraq conflict. Some of the documents posted by Wikileaks, The NYT and others provide unprecedented detail into how the war conducted. Here’s a summary of the conclusions many media organizations have made about the documents:
While several media organizations have had time to analyze the documents, there’s definitely a lot more to be learned from today’s leak. The Iraq War Logs leak is the largest leak of military secrets in history, supplanting the record WikiLeaks set with the Afghan War Diary leak. Last week, we reported on the impending Iraq War Logs leak. The Pentagon, which has been preparing for today’s document release, responded to the Iraq War Logs release earlier today.
WikiLeaks is looking to get back to what it does best: leaking secret documents. Since the Afghan War Reports, WikiLeaks has seen its website go down and its funding blocked. Recent actions by founder Julian Assange, who has been embroiled in scandal, have led to internal strife at the organization. Reviews: Wikileaks More About: Iraq War Logs, julian assange, Pentagon, trending, U.S. Military, wikileaks For more Social Media coverage:
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| Parrot AR Drone Review [VIDEO] Posted: 22 Oct 2010 02:25 PM PDT Part hovercraft and part flying video game, Parrot’s new AR Drone is an aircraft that is controlled over Wi-Fi with an iOS app for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. By placing your left and right thumbs on two touchscreen buttons, you can make the Drone ascend, descend and rotate. The Drone moves forward, backward and sideways by tilting the iOS device in the direction you want to go. Check out the video for the full demo and let us know what you think of the AR Drone in the comments below. Reviews: iPhone More About: apple, Augmented Reality, demo, ipad, iphone, ipod, video, video games For more Tech coverage:
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| Amazon: 14-Day Lending Coming to Kindle “Later This Year” Posted: 22 Oct 2010 02:00 PM PDT   Amazon will allow Kindle users to lend books to each other for 14-day periods, the company announced this afternoon. The lending feature has been one of the primary selling points of Barnes & Nobles’s Nook e-reader, which is slated for a refresh next week. As with Barnes & Nobles’s lending feature, Kindle lenders will not be able to access the book on loan during the 14-day period, nor will they be able to loan the book to the same user more than once. “Not all books will be lendable,” Amazon added, noting that it was entirely up to the publisher or rights holder to determine whether to participate in the program. Amazon also announced that Kindle editions of newspapers and magazines, which have thus far only been accessible on the Kindle e-reader, will soon (“in the coming weeks”) be accessible via Kindle’s free apps as well. Support for periodicals will be added to the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch apps first, followed by Android and other apps “down the road,” the company revealed in a statement. Amazon plans to follow up with further details shortly. Reviews: Android More About: amazon, Kindle, nook For more Tech coverage:
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| Ustream to Roll Out Pay-Per-View and Ad-Free Options Posted: 22 Oct 2010 01:51 PM PDT   Live-streaming website Ustream will be adding some new features in coming weeks: the Ustream Open Pay-Per-View (PPV) program and ad-free broadcasting. Open PPV — currently available to only a small, hand-selected group — will allow anyone broadcasting via the site to apply in order to charge viewers for content. Once applicants are approved for the program, they will be able to monetize their content via PayPal. “We are initially launching with PayPal, and plan to roll out other payment methods later,” says Shari Foldes, Ustream’s head of marketing. “We are hoping to offer Open PPV to all users by the end of the year.” She says details of the revenue split between Ustream and broadcasters will be available once the program becomes available to everyone. Although a launch date has not been specified yet, the application process should be open soon. Those interested in the program can start signing up at ustream.tv/ppv to receive notices about the application process or submit requests for their own PPV shows. In the meantime, ad-free broadcasting should be launched sometime in early November. Once available, broadcasters will be provided with a variety of options, which the company won’t elaborate on just yet, but which will essentially allow them to remove ads. Take a look at a sample shot of a pay-per-view page below: Reviews: ustream More About: live streams, pay per view, paypal, ustream For more Web Video coverage:
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| Mobile Credit Card Reader Square Now Open for Business Posted: 22 Oct 2010 01:28 PM PDT   Square, the new mobile payment venture from Twitter Co-founder Jack Dorsey, has officially opened its doors. This means that anyone who downloads the the Square mobile app can now order a Square reader. Square tells us that it is also now shipping a slimmer, second-generation Square reader that is compatible with iPhone 4 and can capture a wider range of swipe speeds. Square is available on the iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and select Android devices, including the Droid, Droid X, Nexus One and Galaxy S. Merchants who are approved for Square accounts will be sent a free credit card reader for their device. Combined with the Square mobile app, the reader can take credit card payments. Merchants are charged 2.75% of the purchase price plus $0.15 to swipe a card. There are no monthly charges or set-up fees and no contract is required. Square made a big splash when it was announced last year. Since then, interest in the startup has mounted, especially as the micro-transaction space has really started to heat up. Mobile Payment Space Heats UpSquare is one solution, but there are other players in the mobile and personal electronic payment sphere; some, like Square, are acting as a way to capture payment information from a mobile device. Others are looking to eschew traditional credit and debit cards entirely. PayPal is investing in mobile payments and mobile transactions in a big way, and it seems to be paying off. Its parent company, eBay, reported solid earnings for the third quarter, in large part thanks to PayPal, which now contributes more than a third of eBay’s revenue. Over the past year, we’ve spoken with PayPal several times regarding its plans for mobile payments and it’s clear that the company wants to be available in as many situations as possible. The smartphone revolution is a driving part of the acceptance of micropayments in North America, with Visa already piloting programs in New York to accept payments via phone in shops and on the subway. Square UpIf you have wanted a low-cost way of accepting credit cards without having to deal with the hassle of a larger-scale point of sale (POS) system, Square could be a viable solution. By requiring only a connected mobile device and the Square card reader, payment processing will be available to vendors that would normally never be able to accept credit cards. Check out this video Square released a few weeks ago to see the product and service in action: Reviews: Android More About: android, electronic payment service, ipad, iphone, jack dorsey, micropayments, paypal, Square For more Tech coverage:
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| Thanks to Mashable’s Socially Savvy Supporters Posted: 22 Oct 2010 01:16 PM PDT
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| 5 Beautiful Keyboards to Spice Up Your Boring Desk Posted: 22 Oct 2010 12:45 PM PDT   If you’re using a desktop computer to navigate the online jungle, chances are you spend a good bit of time at a boring old keyboard. The good news is that you don’t have to settle for uninspiring hunks of plastic. It’s worth investing a little bit of money into something that you use so often. There are some really stylin’ keyboards out there, and we’ve picked out five of the best. Whether you’re a Mac or a PC (or both for that matter), read on for five fabulous input devices that will make staring at the keys a pleasure, rather than a chore. Let us know which keyboards you loved or your suggestions for other cool options in the comments below. 1. Microsoft Arc Microsoft has always enjoyed a good rep for their keyboards, but it’s not until its Arc range came along that stylish product design really came into play. More of a lifestyle accessory than a PC peripheral, the thinking behind the Arc keyboard is that as the home office expands into the living room (and beyond) this is the keyboard to go along with it. Wireless, with the magnetic nano-receiver folding underneath for easy storage, the Arc has a curved “dome” shape for comfortable use on laps. While it was launched in stylish black, it’s the special edition white and lime green version — available exclusively at Amazon.com — that gets our vote. Cost: Currently $57.19 (down from $59.95) 2. Logitech diNovo Edge Available for both Macs (complete with Command and Option keys) and PCs, Logitech’s diNovo Edge is a high-end keyboard with good looks and a great feature set. You charge up the Edge in its cradle (which also works brilliantly for upright storage if you’re short on desk space) with a two-hour juicing session giving enough charge for around two month’s use. Cool features include a touch-sensitive volume slider, a “TouchDisc” to scroll or move the cursor, and whisper-quiet scissor-switch keys. We’re not forgetting the looks of course, and the diNovo Edge delivers with glossy, semi-translucent, black Plexiglas, brushed aluminum and slimline 11mm dimensions. Cost: $179.99 3. Impecca Custom Carved Bamboo Keyboard Unlike rival products that only boast a bamboo base, this peripheral’s keys are also made from the natural material. Perfect for anyone that loves the touch of wood instead of cold chrome or plastic, the keyboard is a simple way to add a bit of eco-chic to your PC set-up. While the keyboard’s innards are still made of the same old stuff, at least you’ll know by going down the bamboo route, it’s one less plastic case to end up in a landfill. Cost: $69.99 4. Art Lebedev Optimus Maximus Let’s get one thing straight: The Optimus Maximus is not just a keyboard, it’s a work of art. From Russian design studio Art Lebedev, it certainly has a work-of-art price tag — a cool $2,400. You’re not just paying for instant geek credibility (although that comes standard), but near-limitless customization. Each of the keyboard’s 113 keys is a tiny, programmable OLED display. The potential is astounding. Keys could be programmed to display different alphabets, special symbols, macros, or shortcuts to various programs. It is, as the studio says, “a million keyboards in one.” We’d add — one keyboard in a million. Cost: Approximately $2,400 5. Apple Wireless Keyboard by ColorWare Apple’s Wireless Keyboard is beautifully slimline — a real study in minimalist design, with its low-profile anodized aluminum case and compact footprint (it’s around a quarter smaller than standard keyboards). However, as much as we like the actual design, that “aluminum-and-white” look is getting a little old. The perfect solution then, is to take an Apple wireless keyboard and give it the ColorWare treatment. The custom specialists will coat your keyboard in one of many cool hues and even color in the text in a contrasting color. As the perfect way to stand out from the Mac crowd, we’d struggle to imagine a classier peripheral for your Apple machine. Cost: : $119 to send in your own keyboard, $199 for the keyboard and the customization. BONUS: Keyboard Stickers! If you’re using a laptop and feeling a little sore about your lack of designer keyboard options, fear not! You can transform your laptop with some funky keyboard stickers. There are tons of designs to be found on the likes of Etsy and ArtFire. Our current fave is the LEGO-esque design shown above — bumpy brick looks without the texture! More Tech Resources from Mashable:
More About: accessories, apple, art lebedev studios, colorware, gadgets, impecca, keyboards, Lego, List, Lists, logitech, microsoft, peripherals For more Tech coverage:
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| President Obama Tells Gay Teens “It Gets Better” Posted: 22 Oct 2010 12:30 PM PDT President Barack Obama joined the hundreds of people offering online support to the gay community in an official video posted to YouTube this morning. In the video, President Obama expressed his shock and sadness for the gay teens who killed themselves after being bullied. He raised his own concerns as a parent and called for an end to bullying, saying, “We have an obligation to ensure that our schools are safe for all of our kids.” The video quickly turns more personal when President Obama addresses the viewer directly, imploring them, “You are not alone. You didn’t do anything wrong. You didn’t do anything to deserve being bullied… There are people out there who love you and care about you just the way you are.” Those struggles will lead to greater pride later in life and the desire to stand up against discrimination of any kind, Obama said. The video is part of a YouTube channel by sex advice columnist and gay rights activist Dan Savage called It Gets Better. The channel was created to offer hope and support to gay, lesbian and transgendered teens facing discrimination and bullying. The channel mostly displays user-submitted videos offering messages of hope from celebrities like Neil Patrick Harris, Ellen Degeneres and even Hillary Clinton. It Gets Better will also be turned into a book featuring essays from celebrities and ordinary people. Savage said the proceeds will be given to organizations supporting gay youth. While President Obama’s video contains some general political speak on discrimination, his surprising frankness during the direct address creates an honest and compassionate moment from the head of state. Check out the video or the channel to have a see for yourself. What do you think of the video? Do you think the project is headed in the right direction? What messages do you like the best? Let us know in the comments below. Reviews: YouTube More About: barack obama, bullying, dan savage, discrimination, gay, homosexual, it gets better, president obama, youtube For more Social Good coverage:
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| New Macs No Longer Ship with Flash Player Posted: 22 Oct 2010 12:13 PM PDT   A traditional hard drive isn’t the only thing missing from the brand new MacBook Air — Adobe Flash plugins are also missing from Apple’s latest pint-sized creation. As first noted by Engadget, the MacBook Air eschews long-standing Mac OS X tradition and does not include a pre-installed version of Adobe Flash player. It may seem as though the Apple/Adobe war over Flash is extending to the desktop. The initiative will first take effect on new MacBook Airs before affecting future shipments of other Macs as well. No one is precluded from installing Flash Player 10.1 themselves, however; it just means that Mac OS X will no longer ship with Flash Player already installed. Unlike Microsoft, Apple has traditionally included a version of Flash Player on both its machines and Mac OS X retail discs. This meant that users didn’t have to visit adobe.com/flashplayer to enjoy their YouTube videos or adultswim.com games. Apple spokesman Bill Evans told Engadget, “We’re happy to continue to support Flash on the Mac, and the best way for users to always have the most up to date and secure version is to download it directly from Adobe.” In the past, Apple has been criticized for including outdated versions of Flash in its OS updates. This is less of an issue when the outdated versions just don’t have as many bells and whistles, but can be cause for concern when security exploits are discovered in the shipping versions. The end user experience isn’t likely to change very much — you’ll just need to download Flash on your new Mac instead of checking for the latest updated version. Still, this is a clear sign that Apple plans to continue pushing its core technologies over those produced by third parties. For instance, Mac Rumors has also reported on Apple’s decision to stop future development of its own ports of Java for Mac OS X. Again, this doesn’t mean that Apple is saying developers can’t use Java on the Mac, but the company will no longer maintain its own Java port. A concerned Java developer contacted Steve Jobs. Jobs responded, “Sun (now Oracle) supplies Java for all other platforms. They have their own release schedules, which are almost always different than ours, so the Java we ship is always a version behind. This may not be the best way to do it.” Presumably Oracle can start providing its own Mac OS X builds for Java, or community implementations of Java 6 and OpenJDK can step in. As John Gruber notes, there is a difference between Java on the server and Java on the desktop. That doesn’t mean professional Java developers won’t still want to use Mac OS X to do their work. While Apple isn’t forbidding the usage of either Flash or Java on the desktop, doing less to include consumer support out of the box makes it clear that native applications (Cocoa, Objective-C) and web standards are where Apple wants to shift its users. Reviews: YouTube More About: apple, Flash, flash player, java, mac os x, mac software For more Tech coverage:
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| Facebook Goes Down; Second Major Outage in a Month Posted: 22 Oct 2010 11:49 AM PDT   Update: As of 12:00 p.m. PT, Facebook seems to be operational again. — Facebook is experiencing yet another episode of downtime, and the web is noticing. At approximately 11:35 a.m. PT, we began to notice issues with the world’s largest social network. Soon the entire network went down for us, and it seems that we’re not alone. There’s currently no word as to why the site is experiencing downtime, but we’re sending messages to our friends at Facebook to find out. We’re also noticing that some methods of posting to Facebook (e.g. Hootsuite) are still functional, so this may be a limited outage. By 11:50 a.m. PT, some of Mashable’s staff were able to access Facebook, albeit at a snail’s pace. Others weren’t able to access it at all. Today’s downtime comes less than a month after its “worst outage in over four years.”. On September 23, the social network went down for over three hours due to “an unfortunate handling of an error condition” involving its automated system for verifying configuration values. We’re investigating the exact cause of today’s downtime issues, and we’ll report back once we’ve learned more. Reviews: Facebook, HootSuite, Mashable More About: facebook, facebook down For more Social Media coverage:
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| Kanye West Will Answer Your Tweets Following “Runaway” Premiere Posted: 22 Oct 2010 11:09 AM PDT   Kanye West will be responding to fans’ tweets this Saturday, October 23, after his short film Runaway has its online and broadcast premiere. The film, which tells the tale of a fallen phoenix, will air on MTV and BET at 8:00 p.m. ET. It will also be streamed on each channel’s respective website, as well as VH1.com. West will then sit down for a live Q&A with Sway from MTV News, during which he will answer Twitter questions from fans who use the hashtag #askkanye. The rapper is no stranger to Twitter — he has more than 1 million users following his own Twitter account. Here’s a short clip with the rapper asking fans to participate in the tweet-centric interview: Image courtesy of Flickr, MTV Music Reviews: Flickr, Twitter More About: kanye west, mtv, twitter For more Entertainment coverage:
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| 4 Winning Strategies for Social Media Optimization Posted: 22 Oct 2010 10:54 AM PDT   Jim Tobin is president of Ignite Social Media, a leading social media agency, where he works with clients including Microsoft, Intel, Nike, Nature Made, The Body Shop, Disney and more implementing social media marketing strategies. He is also author of the book Social Media is a Cocktail Party. Follow him on Twitter @jtobin. Social media optimization (SMO) is the process by which you make your content easily shareable across the social web. Because so many options exist for where people can view your content, the content model for the web has shifted from, “We have to drive as much traffic to our website as possible,” to the more pragmatic, “We have to ensure as many people see our content as possible.” You’ll still want most people to see your content on your site — and if you’re doing it right they will — but helping people view content through widgets, apps and other social media entry points will accrue positive benefits for your brand. The more transportable you can make your content, the better. If you’re ready to get started with a social media optimization plan for your organization, read on for an overview. Why Social Media Optimization MattersBefore we get to the practical, let’s start with the “Why,” as in “Why you should care about SMO?” As you can see from the chart below, social networks are driving an increasing amount of traffic to an increasing number of websites. Sites like Comedy Central, Forever 21 and Etsy are seeing more traffic from social networks than they see from Google. How social referral traffic is performing for you most likely depends on two factors:
 Image credit: Gigya In other words, SMO can lead to increased traffic to your site, as friends encourage their friends to digest specific content. If you can appeal to a given person, their friends are statistically more likely to be interested in the same thing, so you’re likely reaching a well-targeted audience. Further, it also leads to improved search engine optimization, as major search engines count links as if they were votes for your site. SMO isn’t just about building a bigger social media presence for your brand. Whether or not your organization has a strong social network presence, the social networks of others can be leveraged to great effect. 1. Widgets and BadgesBefore the sudden ubiquity of Facebook’s Social Graph, widgets were the go-to tool that allowed others to “grab” your content and share it on their blogs, Facebook profiles, MySpace accounts, and dozens of other smaller social sites or programs like iGoogle. The NBA is a good example of an organization that has used widgets to great effect, allowing passionate fans to spread branded content across their social networks without ever landing on NBA.com to get it. At my company, we had one client who produces a lot of video tell us their video views doubled when they stopped forcing people to come to their site to see them. Below is an example of what a simple widget might look like before and after a user activates it to share content.  “Badges,” on the other hand, don’t necessarily have the “Get & Share” functionality. Rather, they consist of an embed code that allows the user to add an image to their blog that links visitors back to your content. This is obviously harder to implement than a simple share button, but there are several advantages. For example, each badge can have its own unique identifier connected to it, so a contest entrant can drive visitors back to their specific entry page, rather than to a general site. And each placement of the badge counts as a backlink to your site, as long as the person keeps the badge up. 2. Content SharingWhile most experienced social media marketers now understand the value of social sharing, there are some key points to be made here. First, offer options. According to social sharing plugin AddThis, Facebook is far and away the number one place where people share content through their widget, taking 38.52% of the pie. But that means that over 61% of shares are being made elsewhere. Having said that, I’m not a huge fan of those “Share This” and “Add This” buttons, unless they are supplemented in a way that features only a few major services. In fact, AddThis’ own data shows that its toolbox (which displays only a few major networks, instead of an expandable box of hundreds) performs 40% better than its regular widget. AddThis has even added functionality to that toolbox that shows different buttons for each user based on what sites they personally share to the most — even more targeting. Gigya, meanwhile, has a handy tool that allows people to share to multiple networks at once without even leaving your site. This is an excellent way to socially optimize your content.  3. Social Sign InThe goal of most websites is to attract visitors. Beyond that, you want the visitor to register. Why? Connected visitors tend to engage more than non-connected visitors — they’ve already engaged once by registering, after all. So if you can get the visitor to connect, you’ll likely see more time on site, more pageviews, lower bounce rate and, if you’re operating an e-commerce site, increased sales. The traditional long and cluttered registration form is a bit of a pain in the neck for users, and you may be asking the visitor to marry you when they’re not yet sure they even want to date you. Social sign-in can help solve this. For sites that already have a large database of registered users, however, social sign in can make things confusing, as you end up with duplicate records. To eliminate duplication, advanced sites are “sniffing” when a registrant may already have a conventional account, and asking those users to sync the accounts. This is something you should be thinking about now, before you end up with tens of thousands of split records. Similar to sharing, remember that Facebook is important, but you shouldn’t put all your proverbial eggs in one basket. Gigya reports that 46% of users sign in with Facebook, beating out Google as the preferred social profile for making connections to other sites. Echo, a multi-platform sign-in module you can use, reports that Yahoo is number one (34%) for sign in, ahead of Facebook (25%) on the top 10 sites they serve. Whatever data you believe, it’s clear that providing choices will increase your chances of success. 4. Social Commenting Leaving a comment on a site is nice. Sharing that comment with your social network is a traffic driver. Today, through programs like Echo, Gigya and Disqus, you can easily encourage people to share their comments more broadly. Facebook upped the ante dramatically when they added the “wordless” social comment, the Facebook “Like” button. And people who click the Like button typically have 2.4 times more friends than people who don’t, and they click on 5.3 times more links within Facebook than others. Levi’s implemented Facebook Likes across its site to great success. Jeans, of all things, went through the roof in terms of social commenting, and Levi’s quickly found that Facebook became its number one site for referring traffic. (Note: The “Recommend” button is simply the Like button with a different word, allowing people to share content without “liking” news articles about crime, for example.) Since Likes show up as one line of text, and Shares show up as a link with a comment, progressive sites are encouraging Shares immediately after someone presses the Like button. Unless you’re a news site or a blog, part of the art of this is figuring out where to implement social commenting and where to implement Facebook social plugins such as the Like button on your site. When you get it right, it can drive traffic, but it can also provide social proof that your content (be it a blog post or a pair of jeans) is “Like worthy.” Overall StrategyGiven the importance of the referral traffic and the fact that many search engines, including Google, Bing and Scour are currently incorporating social actions into their search results, having a strategy for socializing your website and your content is increasingly important. What do you think? Have I overlooked any aspects of social media optimization that you think are important? Be sure to leave your strategies in the comments. More Business Resources from Mashable:
Reviews: AddThis, Bing, Connected, Disqus, Facebook, Google, MySpace More About: blogging, BLOGS, business, content, facebook, Google, List, Lists, optimization, Search, search engine optimization, SEO, sharing, social media, social media optimization, widgets For more Business coverage:
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| Samsung Galaxy Player 50: Android’s iPod Touch [VIDEO] Posted: 22 Oct 2010 10:46 AM PDT Want to play with Android apps and features without actually having to buy another phone or enter into another carrier contract? If you live in France, you’ll soon have that option with the Samsung Galaxy Player 50. Samsung first announced its plans for the Galaxy Player 50 in August and it appears the devices are already hitting France, with roll outs in other parts of the world scheduled soon. Unfortunately, U.S. users shouldn’t expect to see the Android-based player until sometime next year. Presumably, Samsung has worked with Google to get this sort of approval. It makes sense too. The Samsung Galaxy S series has been incredibly successful for the Korean electronics giant and is arguably the first true hit on a global scale in the Android ecosystem. Spec wise, the Galaxy Player 50 is comparable to the new iPod touch, although judging by the video, it does seem a bit thicker. It features a 3.2-inch screen (so slightly smaller than the 4-inch AMOLED screen offered by the other Galaxy S devices), ships with Android 2.1, comes with Wi-Fi, DLNA, 8GB or 16GB of internal memory, a microSD card slot, support for GPS, DivX and FM Radio. It also has 2-megapixel camera and can record video. Prices of the new Galaxy Player aren’t available, but if you live in France and happen to see one for sale — please let us know the price in the comments. The horrendous compositing of the video aside (seriously, worst green screen ever), the device looks pretty neat. The iPod touch is a great gateway drug of sorts to the overall iOS ecosystem and an Android equivalent could be really exciting. What do you think of the Galaxy Player 50? Let us know. [via FortuneTech and Samsung Hub] Reviews: Android, Android Market, Gmail, Google, Google Maps, YouTube More About: android, galaxy player 50, iPod Touch, samsung galaxy s For more Tech coverage:
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| How Entrepreneurs and Startups Can Get Involved in the Mashable Awards Posted: 22 Oct 2010 09:38 AM PDT
If you haven’t nominated yet, now’s the time. We've opened 21 of the 25 categories so far, for which you can nominate a person, company, organization, app, device, gadget, video, URL or technology. Also, make sure to follow along in the Mashable Awards series that takes a closer look at nomination categories. Nominations will close at 11:59 p.m. ET on Monday, November 29. The top five nominees with the most nominations (subject to editorial policies and official rules) will move forward to the "Final 5 Voting Round" starting Wednesday, Dec. 1.  Place Your NominationsWhether you’re nominating yourself or a company you represent, the nomination process is simple and the best part is you can nominate once per category every day (meaning up to 21 total nominations per day). Submit your nomination in four easy steps:
 Suggested CategoriesHere are just a few of the categories we thought would be most interesting to you, but you can also see the full list here.
Get More NominationsIf you think you or your preferred nominee are right for a category, Mashable would like to provide a few tips to help you start promoting.
Suggest Nominations To Your CommunityIf there are people that you think deserve to be nominated for a category, you can always nominate them yourself or you can also encourage others to do so. Here are a few ways to spread the word:
Attend the Mashable Awards Gala at CES 2011In partnership with Cirque du Soleil, the Mashable Awards Gala event will take place in Las Vegas. It will bring together the winners, nominees, Mashable community, partners, media, the marketing community, consumer electronics brands, technology brands and attendees of the 2011 International CES Convention. Together, we will celebrate the winners and the community of the Mashable Awards at the Cirque du Soleil Zumanity stage in the beautiful New York New York Hotel. The event will include acts and performances from our partner, Cirque du Soleil Zumanity. In addition, there will be special guest presenters and appearances. Thanks for voting in the Mashable Awards! Are you in the consumer electronics industry? Register now for CES and receive FREE registration with priority code MSHB! Then make sure to attend the Mashable Awards Gala LIVE in Las Vegas. Date: Thursday, January 6, 2011 (during International CES Convention week) ![Register for Mashable Awards Gala at Cirque du Soleil Zumanity stage (Las Vegas - 2011 International CES convention) [Ticketed Event] in Las Vegas, NV on Eventbrite](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uVuT1aMGykYnGH7ANKkjPKnbvhhPK_vOcChJNNMUWA8FEYT2JpamsGiT6_whTDp014XDndl1GKD7Cm1pak85DJ1iFf0eN6DX313CbFUET4l24fS5iiUhYjbw=s0-d) Sponsorships are available. Please contact sponsorships@mashable.com for more information. Thanks to our sponsors: Mashable Awards Gala Partner:
Cirque du Soleil has brought wonder and delight to nearly 100 million spectators in 300 cities on five continents. In 2010 Cirque du Soleil, will present 21 shows simultaneously throughout the world, including seven in Las Vegas. For more information about Cirque du Soleil, visit www.cirquedusoleil.com Mashable Awards Online Partner:
The Fresh Diet is like having a Cordon Bleu chef prepare your meals in your own kitchen. There’s no cooking, cleaning, shopping – just fresh prepared delicious meals, hand delivered to your door daily! Whether you want to lose weight or just want to eat healthy, The Fresh Diet can help you meet your goals. The best news, we’re giving away a FREE week of The Fresh Diet every day on our Facebook page. Just click here to become a fan and you could be the next winner. Join now! Mashable Awards Gala VIP Lounge sponsor: Influxis specializes in the deployment of creative streaming solutions. Services include large scale deployment, mobile streaming, turn-key applications, and enterprise support with custom network options. With the unique combination of a worldwide network, knowledgeable developer support and nearly a decade of streaming media experience, Influxis is an essential partner to businesses, advertisers, developers, educators, and others who seek expertise in innovative streaming. Sponsorships are available. Please contact sponsorships@mashable.com for more information. Reviews: Facebook, Foursquare, Mashable, Twitter, YouTube More About: Awards, entrepreneurs, gadgets, las vegas, mashable, mashable awards, mashable awards 2010, Nominations, open web awards, social media, startups, tech, web For more Business coverage:
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| China Launches Online Map of the World Posted: 22 Oct 2010 09:29 AM PDT   China’s State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping has launched an official online map service called Map World. It allows users to explore and search for specific locations. The service is simple to navigate, even though it’s in Chinese. A zoom slider on the left and various views (map or satellite) populate the upper right corner. Zooming into most parts of the world will only result in a blank page after a certain zoom level, except in China and Taiwan where the images are available in higher resolutions. The 2D part of the service is similar to Google Maps, and works quite well in Firefox on a Windows system. A 3D viewing tool, that should make the viewing experience similar to Google Earth, is also available, but it was not functional for us. The official Chinese mapping service could spell trouble for Google Maps in China. According to Asiaone News, 31 companies have been granted a mapping license, including Nokia, Baidu, Alibaba and others, but Google China hasn’t officially submitted an application. Still, the Google Maps service is currently available (in a censored form) in mainland China at the address ditu.google.cn. The map is available at www.tianditu.cn or www.chinaonmap.cn. Reviews: Firefox, Google Earth, Google Maps, Windows Vista More About: china, geolocation, Map For more Tech coverage:
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| SCVNGR Makes Major Enhancements to iPhone and Android Apps Posted: 22 Oct 2010 09:09 AM PDT   Fresh off signing up user number 500,000, SCVNGR is out with a new release of its iPhone and Android mobile apps. The new apps focus on social improvements and better surface place activity happening across both SCVNGR and Facebook. The 3.5 release, internally referred as “Vulcan,” is a drastic reinterpretation of the SCVNGR service. While the core features have remained intact, the new apps tout a sophisticated dashboard layout, map-based views, activity grouped by visits, comments and post ratings. Most noticeable, at least in a superficial fashion, is the new dashboard layout. SCVNGR has reorganized the application experience into buckets: Friends Feed, Profile, Friends, Badges, Places, Rewards, Treks, Social Map and Settings. Functionality wise, we’re most impressed with the reworked activity stream in the Friends Feed section. User activity is now grouped into visits, so all checkins, photos, challenges and all the rest are grouped together by user, by place. You can also now leave a comment or select to “+1 this.” A “+1″ on SCVNGR would be your way of showing approval for a friend’s post; the action also rewards the friend with an additional point. The Social Map is also worth a good hard look. The startup has been able to surface your Facebook friend’s Places checkins ever since it introduced deep integration with Facebook Places. The Social Map visualizes that integration, plotting the whereabouts of both your Facebook and SCVNGR friends. You can also zoom in and out on the map, and adjust the time scale to zero in on what your friends are up to right now. You’d be right in recognizing the similarities between SCVNGR’s new design and the design of the Facebook iPhone app. The startup is using the Three20 Project framework for iPhone, originally developed by Joe Hewitt for Facebook and then open sourced. In a candid conversation with Mashable, SCVNGR founder and CEO Seth Priebatsch also shared that the startup has successfully managed to monetize its location-based mobile game. “I guarantee we’re making more money than anyone else in the space, by an order of magnitude,” says Priebatsch. The startup doesn’t publicly share current revenue numbers, but we do know that it made $1 million in 2009 — before the consumer apps existed — and that it’s making “many many multiples of that this year,” according to Priebatsch. He says SCVNGR made more money in the first three days of October then it did in all of September. SCVNGR 3.5 ScreenshotsDashboard Friends Feed Place Map Places Rewards Social Map Reviews: Facebook, Mashable More About: android, facebook, geolocation, iphone, scvngr For more Mobile coverage:
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| YouTube’s Musicians Wanted Program Goes Global Posted: 22 Oct 2010 08:59 AM PDT   At last year’s South by Southwest (SXSW), YouTube launched its Musicians Wanted program, which allows up-and-coming musicians to apply to become partners of the video-sharing site, thereby reaping the benefits of advertising and exposure. Back then, only U.S. artists could apply, but YouTube announced today via its blog that the Partner Program is now extending beyond the U.S. to Australia, Canada, France, Ireland, The Netherlands, Spain, the U.K., Sweden, the Czech Republic, Argentina and New Zealand. So if you live somewhere in that vicinity, head on over to the signup page now. There’s no doubt that initiatives like YouTube’s Musicians Wanted program have created a lot of new opportunities for artists who would have otherwise gone unheard. At a panel at music festival CMJ today in New York City, YouTube’s Music Manager Michele Flannery took the stage to speak on a panel about building an audience online, where she discussed the power of the video-sharing site: “It’s artist discovery, it’s people who love music, it’s sharing things that people like and want to get out,” she said. “When you get to YouTube it just expands it in another direction, further…. It makes the world a larger place and democratizes it.” Julia Nunes is just one artist who has benefited from the power of YouTube. A member of the Partner Program, this ukulele-playing songstress leveraged the site to play with the likes of Ben Folds and Ben Kweller. How? “I found that niche thing that people were interested in — and that was the ukulele,” Nunes said on today’s panel. Do you have a niche talent that you think the YouTube audience would dig? International folks — do you plan to join the Partner Program? Let us know in the comments, and then point us in the direction of your jams. Reviews: Australia, YouTube More About: business, cmj, money, music, social media, video, youtube For more Entertainment coverage:
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| Astronaut Checks in to Foursquare from Outer Space Posted: 22 Oct 2010 08:22 AM PDT   There's a new first in the realm of outer space social media activity: a Foursquare checkin. Moments ago NASA astronaut Doug Wheelock checked in to the international space station, hence unlocking the "NASA Explorer Badge." If space travel isn't in your immediate future, don't fret — there will soon be a way for NASA enthusiasts to unlock the badge themselves by checking in to NASA-related venues. The outerspace checkin officially kicks off a partnership between Foursquare and NASA, with NASA's new Foursquare page offering a list of the venues where you can unlock the badge. Users will also get tips about those venues when they check in using their mobile device. As an interesting related note, I moderated a panel earlier this year at TWTRCON New York with Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley, who was asked by someone in the audience from NASA what they had to do to get a badge (a frustration for many brands), which drew a few chuckles from the crowd. Crowley answered something to the effect of "do something really unique," and it would seem that's what ultimately has transpired several months later. NASA has been fairly ambitious in its own right when it comes to social media, however. Astronauts have been tweeting from space since 2009, and the recently launched NASA HD iPad app offers thousands of images that can be shared on Twitter and Facebook.  Reviews: Facebook, Twitter, foursquare More About: foursquare, NASA, space, trending For more Social Media coverage:
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| This Morning’s Top 3 Stories in Tech and Business Posted: 22 Oct 2010 06:37 AM PDT   Welcome to this morning's edition of "First To Know," a series in which we keep you in the know on what's happening in the digital world. We're keeping our eyes on three particular stories of interest today. Major Networks Block Programming on Google TV ABC, CBS and NBC are preventing Google from displaying their programming on its new Google TV device, the Wall Street Journal reports. A source tells Reuters that Google is actively negotiating with the three networks to enable access. China Launches Own Map Service China’s State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping (SBSM) has unveiled its official, somewhat primitive, Google Maps-like service, Map World. Google has not yet applied for an online mapping license in the country. HP Slate Officially Launches for $799 HP has finally unveiled the Slate 500, a Windows 7-based tablet PC with a 8.9-inch, 1024×600 resolution screen, a 1.86GHz Intel Atom Z540 processor, a Crystal HD accelerator, 2 gigabytes of RAM and a 64GB SSD. It has a USB port and two cameras: a 3-megapixel one on the back, and a VGA camera on the front for making video calls. It supports Wi-Fi but, disappointingly enough, does not offer 3G connectivity. These specifications make the Slate one of the most powerful tablets on the market, but its $799 price tag will make it tough to compete with the less expensive (and 3G-enabled) iPad. Further News
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, DNY59 Reviews: Facebook, Firefox, Google, Google Maps, Windows 7, iStockphoto More About: Google, google tv, HP, hp slate 500, map world, slate 500 For more Tech coverage:
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| 5 Great Games for Learning Stock Market Strategy Posted: 22 Oct 2010 06:15 AM PDT   The power of hands-on learning is indisputable. But when it comes to investing your money in the stock market, however, making a beginner’s mistake can cost you more than just your self-esteem. Thankfully, the web makes it easy to practice with virtual money. There are a multitude of online investment games like Investopedia and gnuTrade that play with virtual money, but not all of them are easy for beginners. Here are five of the best free (because you shouldn’t have to spend real money to play with fake money) online games for getting your feet wet. 1. Wall Street Survivor Invest $100,000 in virtual cash via drop-down menu choices. A friendly cartoon version of stock guru Mark Brookshire helps you make your final decision by providing some rating numbers when you input a stock. These include a rating for survivor sentiment, fundamentals, technical and a Motley Fool Rating. For additional help choosing stocks, the site has an impressive resource library that spans beginner, intermediate and advanced levels. Start with Investing 101 and consider taking advantage of the community forums if you have specific questions. Those who need a little help getting started can also choose to adapt one of the preset portfolios created by proven traders. While the $100,000 competition is most popular, anybody on the site can create a contest. Prizes vary, but most often consist of competitive pride. 2. HowTheMarketWorks Owned by the same company as Wall Street Survivor, this game is great for investors looking to gain experience with a new type of portfolio. In addition to stocks and indexes, there are options to experiment with Forex portfolios, penny stocks, mutual funds and short selling. Beginners can execute market order-based trades in a “fun mode” without worrying about things like set hours, maximum number of trades per day, per stock and order expiration. A “realistic mode” amps up the complexity after they’ve mastered the beginner level. Players can manage up to three stock portfolios and three Forex portfolios on the site at once. For each portfolio, they select a starting value between $100 and $500,000 and set how much virtual commission you are charged per trade. The competition aspect is optional. General monthly contests give each player $25,000 as a virtual starting point. Other public contests include challenging restrictions like “short sells only” or “penny stocks only.” Users can create their own password-protected games as well, which is a feature that teachers find helpful for creating class competitions. 3. Young Money Stock Market Game Young Money Magazine’s stock exchange game is easy to learn but also fairly realistic, which is a hard balance to strike. Realistic aspects include a virtual commission that’s taken out of each trade, adhering to market hours and rules about how you can invest. Unlike many investing games, trades are made at a real-time price. Learning aspects include convenient help icons on key terms and an intuitive tabbed interface. The site runs a monthly contest with a $100 (real) cash prize that goes to whoever gained the highest percentage. Players can also create their own contests or join other user-made contests. 4. MarketWatch Fantasy Earnings Trader Game MarketWatch will run this mock stock market contest for a total of four weeks, awarding the winner of each week with an iPad. It’s on week three right now, but there’s still time to get in on the competition for week four. You must have your selections picked before the week starts on Monday. The shares that you select are “purchased” at Monday’s open and will “sell” automatically at Friday’s close. The catch is that all players can only use the 15 to 20 symbols selected for each week. The companies are selected by the game owner for companies that are projecting their earnings during each week. Lining up picks is easy — players simply drag the company’s logo to their trading card and designate if they want to sell short or go long. Although there are some pros playing, this game is especially manageable for beginners due to the limited stock options for each week. 5. UpDown Like Young Money’s game, UpDown has helpful icons that explain key terms for beginners. More comprehensive resources in the education center mercifully cover even the most basic of investing concepts. Community features, like the opportunity to collaborate with a group and to see the most-bought and most-sold stocks, are also helpful for beginners. The “watch list” tool provides a convenient dashboard for monitoring potential picks. UpDown sponsors a monthly contest that rewards players who beat the market with real cash. More Business Resources from Mashable:
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, H-Gall Reviews: Rating, iStockphoto More About: games, gaming, HowTheMarketWorks, investing, MarketWatch, money, stock market, trading, UpDown, WallStreet Survivor, Young Money For more Business coverage:
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| Fashion Incubator Brings Young Designers to Market Online Posted: 22 Oct 2010 05:51 AM PDT   This post is part of Mashable's Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.
Quick Pitch: Garmz turns user-submitted fashion designs into actual garments based on popularity. Genius Idea: An 11-person startup based in London is on a mission to change the fashion industry, which it believes unfairly exploits the talents of young designers. The company has created a platform (currently in a proof-of-concept stage, its marketing director tell us) where young and emerging designers can upload sketches of their designs to be voted and commented upon by the community. Designs that get the highest number of votes and pre-orders are then turned into actual garments at no cost to the designers, so participants are encouraged to promote their work in channels outside of the community as well. Designers retain full rights to their work, although they have to hand over all distribution rights to Garmz. The startup works with the designers to build prototypes at a studio near its offices in Vienna, allowing them to maintain creative control while choosing fabrics and finalizing design details. One of the main differences between Garmz and sites like Threadless and USTrendy, which also produce and market top-voted users’ designs, is that designers can also determine the final price of their garments by specifying their profit margin on each piece sold; the company suggests that designers select a figure between five and 10 euros to be fair to customers. Typically, a total of 150 copies of each design are made in a range of sizes, and then sold and marketed on the site. Garmz will not disclose what percentage of the profits it takes. Since closing a low six-figure round of angel funding and launching in beta in June, the site has amassed 4,000 registered users, submissions from designers in 37 countries, and moved its headquarters from Vienna to London. The first garment, a pair of black cotton and chiffon draped shorts designed by Vienesse fashion student Simon Winkelmüller, was made available for purchase last week. Amina Akhtar, editorial director of social media marketing and consultancy firm iStyle Media, believes this is a win-win proposition for both designers and consumers. “A lot of young talent isn’t making it in fashion,” she explained. “To be a young designer right now, you need to have a lot of money backing you, usually from your rich family. If we level the playing field a little and allow consumers to have more access to a wider range of designers — regardless of whether the designer has a huge bank account — everyone wins. [Consumers] get more options clothing-wise, and younger designers get more customers and exposure.” What do you think of the concept? As an aspiring fashion designer, would this kind of opportunity appeal to you? Top image courtesy of Flickr, Fernando de Sousa Sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark
Reviews: Flickr More About: bizspark, crowdsourcing, fashion, garmz, spark-of-genius For more Social Media coverage:
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