Mashable: Latest 27 News Updates - including “Will You Get the Verizon iPhone? [POLL]” |
- Will You Get the Verizon iPhone? [POLL]
- Qwiki Creates Visual Presentations for Millions of Search Topics [INVITES]
- On MySpace’s New Strategy
- Microsoft’s Newest Acquisition Is About 3-D Gesture Controls
- Microsoft Shifts From Silverlight to HTML5
- Facebook to Hold Mobile Event Next Week
- Facebook Acquires Simple File-sharing Service Drop.io
- Our Favorite BooTube Videos This Week: The Halloween Edition
- WPP Partners With Buddy Media to Take Social Media Management Global
- Thanks to Mashable’s Socially Savvy Supporters
- Justin Bieber Movie Parody Featuring Star Wars Kid Hits the Web [VIDEO]
- A Bluetooth Headset for Pros and Skeptics
- New Clip From “TRON: Legacy” Hits the Web [VIDEO]
- 5 Free Halloween Music Playlists for Your Monster Bash
- The Mac App Store: The Good, the Bad & the Unknown
- 3 Steps for Creating and Protecting Your Business Name
- Foursquare Introduces Super Duper Swarm and Epic Swarm Badges
- YouTube Hits 1 Billion Subscriptions, Launches Widget to Celebrate
- Nominate Your Favorites for a Mashable Award and Win a Laptop [COMMENT CONTEST]
- 4 Ways to Visualize Voter Sentiment for the Midterm Elections
- PayPal Experiencing Outages
- Mashable’s Social Media Halloween Costume Contest Winners
- “Oregon Trail”-Inspired Zombie Game Is Apocalyptically Awesome
- 8 Ways to Reduce Your Site’s Bounce Rate
- Apple Is Now the World’s Fourth Biggest Mobile Vendor [REPORT]
- Top 3 Stories in Social Media, Tech and Business
- 4 Frighteningly Fun Zombie iPhone Games
- Mobile Shopping Startup CheckPoints Partners With Kmart
| Will You Get the Verizon iPhone? [POLL] Posted: 30 Oct 2010 02:17 AM PDT      It’s official: the Verizon iPhone is Apple’s worst-kept secret. The persistent rumors have reached such a frenzy that we’d be utterly shocked if Apple’s smartphone didn’t land in Verizon stores next January Today’s “confirmation” comes from Fortune, which says the Verizon iPhone almost didn’t happen due to differences of opinion between the two companies and their CEOs, Steve Jobs and Ivan Seidenberg. Specifically, Apple prefers AT&T’s GSM 3G network over Verizon’s CDMA technology. Apple will have to make a different version of the iPhone for it to work on the Verizon network. U.S. iPhone owners have complained for years about poor service on the AT&T network. A recent survey found that more than half of Verizon’s customers were very likely or somewhat likely to purchase the Verizon iPhone. How many people will rush to their local Verizon or Apple store if Steve Jobs does in fact announce the launch of a Verizon iPhone? That’s what we’d like to find out. We want to know what you, the Mashable readers, will do if the world’s largest wireless carrier starts selling Apple’s smartphone. Our poll is below; let us know why you voted the way to did in the comments. Reviews: Mashable More About: iphone, verizon, Verizon iPhone For more Mobile coverage:
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| Qwiki Creates Visual Presentations for Millions of Search Topics [INVITES] Posted: 29 Oct 2010 08:41 PM 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: Qwiki is a platform that uses proprietary technology to consolidate multiple data sources on search topics into an immersive information experience. Genius Idea: Information is easy to come by, especially on the web. A simple search for a person, celebrity, monument, restaurant or destination via a traditional search engine will return a bevy of results, albeit results that are mostly lifeless. Newly launched startup Qwiki aims to reinvent the way people experience information by providing interactive video presentations that are weaved together in near real-time from multiple data sources. Qwiki currently hosts upwards of three million rich and immersive presentations on a variety of people, places and things. The slick animation in each Qwiki is generated on-the-fly via data pulled from Wikipedia (for narration) and thousands of media sources. Most elements in Qwikis are interactive. So, video clips can be selected and viewed in their entirety and clicked photos will bring up slideshows. Related Qwikis, maps and timelines in Qwikis are also highly interactive. Qwiki is merely an alpha stage product, which means what you see now is a fraction of what the service is being built to do. Qwiki is today little more than a cool interactive reference tool, but the startup is actively working on a number of products and a platform strategy that will better showcase what its technology is capable of. In an interview with Mashable, CEO Doug Imbruce explained that Qwiki’s next two products — one for social media users and the other for small businesses — are slated for release in the the first quarter of 2011. The first offering will let users create Qwikis based around thier social data in aggregate, while the small business product will allow merchants to aggregate reviews from third-party sites like Yelp and turn them into Qwiki’s. These ideas are best experienced, and the company has released prototypes just for that purpose. The Qwiki on Asiate Restaurant is pulled together via Yelp data on the restaurant, the presentation on Keith Rabois is entirely comprised from LinkedIn info and the entry on Gregory Smith comes courtesy of information he’s shared on Facebook. Trust us, these are must-watch Qwikis. Qwiki for moble is also a work in progress. The startup’s iPad application is the most mature of the bunch and is slated for release prior to Thanksgiving. Even in Qwiki’s limited test tube stage, you can experience the startup’s impressive technology first-hand, but Qwiki’s ultimate goal is to become an, “ubiquitous layer that augments the traditional Web,” says Imbruce. And before you write off Qwiki as just a visual talking version of Wikipedia, keep in mind that the startup took home the top prize at the TechCrunch Disrupt demo event earlier this year. Imbruce also tells us that Marissa Mayer, who formerly was the VP of search for Google, played with Qwiki backstage for over an hour and was super impressed. Qwiki has raised a seed round of $1.5 million, but is currently fielding “substantial interest from the investment community,” and is actively participating in discussions around its next round, says Imbruce. Want to try Qwiki out? The first 1,000 Mashable readers wanting insider access to Qwiki’s alpha service can do so by signing up here.   Qwiki iPhone Alarm Clock PrototypeHere’s something fun. Imbruce shared the following video to highlight one of the other innovative projects in the works — a Qwiki-powered alarm clock for the iPhone. Sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark
Reviews: Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Mashable, Wikipedia, Yelp More About: bizspark, qwiki, Search, spark-of-genius, startup For more Tech coverage:
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| Posted: 29 Oct 2010 07:56 PM PDT   The Social Analyst is a column by Mashable Co-Editor Ben Parr, where he digs into social media trends and how they are affecting companies in the space. You’ve probably heard by now: the new MySpace is coming. It is not only redesigned, but it is the start of a completely new direction and strategy for what was once the world’s pre-eminent social network. As we reported earlier this week, the new MySpace is supposed to be a transformation from “a place for friends” to “a social entertainment destination.” While MySpace profiles, friend lists and newsfeeds will all remain once the transition is complete, MySpace will no longer focus on those things. Instead, it will focus on engaging a “Generation Y” audience with the entertainment and entertainers that they love. New features like Topic Pages will help users follow their favorite TV shows, music artists, actors and games. MySpace is also introducing a new type of user: the curator. Users that exhibit a following or expertise in a specific social trend or entertainment topic can gain curator status, which gives them access to an array of tools for facilitating content discovery and leading fans of a specific subculture. The company believes that when users connect with active curators, their engagement with MySpace goes up dramatically. This is one of the things CEO Mike Jones told me during a conversation we had last week about the redesign. The company is focused on encouraging four core behaviors: discovery, collection, connection and creation. MySpace wants its users to quickly discover new and interesting entertainment content via Topic Pages, recommendations and the newsfeed. It also wants to encourage curators to facilitate this discovery with Topic Pages and Entertainment Hubs. Connecting fans, curators and entertainers is the third key behavior MySpace wants to foster, while the final behavior, creation, is something users already do with their profiles. MySpace knows that most profiles are hideous abominations of good taste, so it’s encouraging users to switch to the much-cleaner Profile 3.0 design with some hip, artist-designed themes. Is “Social Entertainment” the Right Move? The redesign seems to be an affirmation of something we’ve known for a long time: MySpace’s strength is in entertainment, not social networking. It lost the technology battle long ago to Facebook, and only now is it realizing that it has to get out of its giant shadow in order to spark a turnaround. MySpace’s new strategy has some major risks. The big one is that it has now established itself as a product of a smaller niche (entertainment for “Generation Y”). In other words, it has a smaller potential userbase than Facebook or even Twitter. As I’ve said before though, MySpace lost the war with Facebook long ago. As a friend close to MySpace told me earlier this week, the company had to “go for it.” Staying the course would have doomed it to oblivion. The new design is a realization of who really visits MySpace and why they’re really there. Today’s youth connect with each other through Facebook, but many of them still get their entertainment fix from MySpace. The company’s strategic focus on finding better ways to deliver entertainment content in addicting doses is refreshing and the best (and most realistic) strategy at its disposal. While there are no guarantees that the new strategy will turn things around, the combination of a focused direction and a stylish design gives me hope that MySpace may actually be able to pull off one hell of a comeback. Its biggest obstacle will be convincing people to give it a second chance. Reviews: Facebook, MySpace, Twitter More About: Column, myspace, New MySpace, Opinion, The Social Analyst, trending For more Social Media coverage:
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| Microsoft’s Newest Acquisition Is About 3-D Gesture Controls Posted: 29 Oct 2010 06:31 PM PDT   Microsoft has acquired Canesta, the manufacturer of semiconductor chips capable of sensing movement and gestures in 3-D. The technology could be applied to everything from Windows 8 motion controls to its Xbox Kinect motion-sensing device. Canesta, founded in 1999, specializes in the 3-D sensors that power “Natural User Interfaces.” A NUI doesn’t require inputs like a mouse or a keyboard for user to interact with a program or interface; it gets its commands from natural human gestures. While the fictional UI utilized in the 2002 film Minority Report is the best-known NUI in popular culture, Microsoft actually owns two popular ones: Microsoft Surface and Xbox Kinect. Canesta has raised approximately $60 million in funding since its inception from investors including Carlyle Venture Partners, Venrock and Honda. The latter is hoping to use Canesta’s technology to help its cars detect and avoid obstacles. The financial terms of the Microsoft acquisition were not disclosed. Microsoft utilizes 3-D sensing technology from competitor PrimeSense in its Xbox Kinect gaming system, according to The New York Times. Kinect launches on November 4. Today’s deal may be more about Canesta’s intellectual property than it is about bringing more natural user interfaces to Microsoft’s products. Canesta is the owner of 44 different patents on 3-D sensing technology, processing algorithms and chip design. Having those patents handy will be useful in avoiding lawsuits as Microsoft experiments with even more NUIs. More About: 3-D, 3D, acquisition, Canesta, kinect, microsoft, Microsoft Surface3, Xbox Kinect For more Business coverage:
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| Microsoft Shifts From Silverlight to HTML5 Posted: 29 Oct 2010 05:28 PM PDT   Adobe isn’t the only company being tempted by the sweet taste of HTML5, Microsoft has a hankering for the stuff too. Despite its past efforts to shape Silverlight into the leading cross-platform runtime for the web and the desktop, Microsoft now says that its strategy and plans for Silverlight “has shifted.” ZDNet’s Mary-Jo Foley spoke with Bob Muglia, the president of Microsoft’s server and tools business about the lack of focus on Siverlight at the company’s Professional Developers Conference this week. Muglia’s response was pretty telling. Although he reaffirmed Microsoft’s commitment to making Silverlight the development platform for Windows Phone, he noted that the cross-platform solution Microsoft sees going forward is HTML. Speaking with Foley, Muglia said, “HTML is the only true cross platform solution for everything, including (Apple’s) iOS platform.” This is a big admission from the company that has spent years trying to push Silverlight as a cross-platform technology forward. As a video technology — indeed even as an application technology — Silverlight and WPF are actually pretty nice. I attended a two-day XAML workshop held at Microsoft’s Atlanta offices in 2009 and was very impressed with the capabilities and the toolsets that were possible within Silverlight. However, despite the prevalence of the .NET platform on Windows and in the enterprise, Silverlight has had a problem gaining traction across the web. With the exception of the Olympics and a few other live broadcasts, you almost never see Silverlight used on the web. Likewise, the number of desktop applications built using Silverlight are nascent in comparison to the growing number of Adobe Air applications. Aside from Seesmic Desktop, it’s hard to think of any cross-platform apps that are built using Silverlight. All the while, Microsoft is increasingly embracing HTML5. The company’s recent launch of Internet Explorer 9 beta was promoted using a number of different HTML5-specific web pages and promotions. Silverlight may not have been mentioned much during PDC, but HTML5 certainly was. It’s clear that Microsoft — like Adobe, Apple and Google — sees that HTML5 is the technology that will work across the broadest stretch of devices — and more importantly, will work on future devices. Yes, the W3C has stated that the HTML5 spec isn’t yet ready for full use, and in a broad, global sense, this is true. However, when you look at the types of devices that individuals will be buying today and tomorrow, and not the device they already own, it’s clear that HTML5 is the technology that is going to have built-in support. As a technology, Silverlight has a lot of promise and we think it is still interesting. Still, we can’t help but think Microsoft is making a better strategic move to focus on HTML5 as its cross-platform solution going forward. Reviews: Google, Seesmic Desktop, Windows, adobe AIR More About: HTML5, microsoft, pdc, Silverlight For more Tech coverage:
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| Facebook to Hold Mobile Event Next Week Posted: 29 Oct 2010 04:42 PM PDT   According to an invite sent to Mashable, Facebook will be holding “a mobile event at Facebook HQ” next Wednesday at Facebook’s offices in Palo Alto, California. The event will almost certainly contain major announcements regarding Facebook and mobile. Immediate speculation should surround the rumored Facebook Phone, which the company told us last month it is not building. While there’s a chance Facebook will announce its own branded smartphone (not unlike the Google Nexus One), we doubt this is the path Facebook will take. We do think this announcement is likely a hardware or platform-related announcement, though. They wouldn’t invite the Silicon Valley press corp for something as simple as an iPhone app update. Perhaps it’s launching its own mobile OS? We’re going to investigate and see what we can turn up on next week’s event. In the meantime we want to know: what do you think Facebook will announce? Reviews: Facebook, Google, Mashable More About: facebook, Mobile 2.0, trending For more Mobile coverage:
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| Facebook Acquires Simple File-sharing Service Drop.io Posted: 29 Oct 2010 03:28 PM PDT   Simple file-sharing service Drop.io has been acquired by Facebook. “Today, we're proud to announce that we've struck a deal with Facebook,” the company said in an announcement on its blog. “What this means is that Facebook has bought most of drop.io's technology and assets, and Sam Lessin is moving to Facebook.” Drop.io was led by Sam Lessin, a former consultant for Bain & Company. He attended Harvard University (2001-2005) and even knew Mark Zuckerberg during the early days of Facebook. Now he will take up a new role at the world’s largest social network. As a result of the acquisition, drop.io will be shutting down; paid accounts will be discontinued on December 15. This is yet another talent acquisition for Facebook; the data on drop.io will be deleted by the end of the year. We’ve included drop.io’s full announcement below. Let us know what you think of the acquisition in the comments:
Reviews: Facebook More About: acquisition, drop.io, facebook For more Social Media coverage:
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| Our Favorite BooTube Videos This Week: The Halloween Edition Posted: 29 Oct 2010 03:16 PM PDT   Is that a ghost? No… It’s just your cubicle mate Fred, and his pasty, pasty skin. Is that a vampire? Nope. Just your soul-sucking boss. Gah! A witch! Or… ugh, the reflection of your own face in your computer screen, gone evil from lack of sleep. Got Halloween on the brain at work today? Don’t we all? That’s why this week’s YouTube roundup theme is, naturally, All Hallow’s Eve. Check out our selection of creepy, crawly vids before taking off into the night this weekend, mingling with all the ghosts and ghouls and drowning yourselves with sugary sweets. Which do you like best: The tricks or the treats? KXVO “Pumpkin Dance”Matt Silverman: I will never not laugh at this. Leprechaun in Mobile, AlabamaVadim Lavrusik: They’re real, they’re really real! Mobile, Alabama has some leprechaun spottings, according to this hilarious news report. “I want the gold, give me the gold, I wanna know where the gold at!” Indian ThrillerBlake Robinson: BooTube can’t be complete without this silly video… The Cat With HandsBlake Robinson:… and this creepy video. The Nightmare Before ChristmasSarah Kessler: At least 10 years after seeing The Nightmare Before Christmas, I still occasionally get this song stuck in my head. “Werewolves Of London,” Warren ZevonAmy-Mae Elliot: Warren Zevon is not just for Halloween. Pumpkin DropSarah Kessler: I completely respect this as a form of entertainment. Are You Afraid of the Dark?Radhika Marya: The creepy laughter, the lurking clown doll… a classically effective opening sequence for a show that was appointment TV for a number of kids back in the day. The Simpsons – “No TV and No Beer?”Josh Catone: No beer and no TV make Homer something something… Banned Cartoons – Betty Boop – 1933 – “Halloween Party”Jay Irani: Ain’t no Halloween like a Betty Boop Halloween. Charlie Brown: “I got a rock”Christina Warren: I got a rock… The Watcher in the Woods TrailerJosh Catone: The Watcher in the Woods remains the only movie ever to give me nightmares. It’s a Disney movie. I’m not ashamed — that movie is terrifying. Halloween Lego MovieKaren Hartline: I have two separate scary instances with the movie Halloween to the point that I can’t even hear the theme song without freaking out. I couldn’t bring myself to actually open a Halloween YouTube clip, but found a Lego Halloween clip…of course it opens with the theme music, so DISCLOSURE…I couldn’t watch this clip, but I’m sure it’s cute. There’s also a Halloween Lego part 2, if you dare to watch it. Chad After DentistBrian Dresher: On a much lighter (and less scarier!) note…while not Halloween specific, here’s one of my fave clips with a Halloween costume, “Darth Vader Going to Dentist”, which is a parody of the viral clip, “David Going to Dentist.” “A Girl, A Boy, and a Graveyard,” Jeremy MessersmithBrenna Ehrlich: This new vid from Jeremy Messersmith is pretty awesome. I haven’t dug a Halloween jam this much since “Ghost of John.” Image courtesy of iStockphoto, RapidEye Reviews: YouTube, iStockphoto More About: favorite-youtube-videos, Film, Halloween, humor, music, pop culture, television, viral video For more Web Video coverage:
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| WPP Partners With Buddy Media to Take Social Media Management Global Posted: 29 Oct 2010 02:51 PM PDT   WPP, which bills itself as the world’s largest communications services group, has just announced that it is making a $5 million cash investment in Facebook management platform Buddy Media. This comes less than two weeks after Buddy Media announced its $23 million Series C round. WPP’s investment brings the size of the round to $28 million. In addition to the cash investment, the new partnership will also integrate the Buddy Media Platform with WPP’s own tools and products so that brand can more easily converge its traditional and Facebook marketing efforts. The Buddy Media platform lets brands maintain, measure and launch their Facebook presences in multiple countries and in multiple languages. The company currently powers the Facebook management tools in place by seven of the top 10 largest global advertisers. The partnership with WPP should only make those stats soar even higher. WPP has more than 140,000 employees in 2,400 offices around the world. It’s the parent company of advertising agencies like Grey Group and Y&R and is the world’s largest advertising company by revenue. As more and more brands start to invest in Facebook and other digital forms of communication, it’s increasingly important for tools to be available to individuals that manage those accounts. An interesting — and we think essential — part of the WPP/Buddy Media partnership is that the various WPP agencies will be trained on the Buddy Media Platform within the first year of the relationship. It’s not enough to just have the software and platforms, it is vital that the people using those tools have the training necessary to get the best results. I frequently discuss social media management strategies with companies both large and small. Time and time again, the subject of how easy a system is to use — or how well a user has been trained — is brought up as the reason why a solution does or doesn’t work. The social media management space is absolutely exploding, with companies like Vitrue, Involver and The Syncapse Platform all growing and improving their offerings. This is certainly a space with plenty of room for lots of players. With its partnership with WPP, however, Buddy Media is certainly poised for even more success. Disclosure: Buddy Media is a sponsor of Mashable. Reviews: Facebook, Mashable More About: Buddy Media, MARKETING, social media management, social software, WPP For more Social Media coverage:
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| Thanks to Mashable’s Socially Savvy Supporters Posted: 29 Oct 2010 02:48 PM PDT
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| Justin Bieber Movie Parody Featuring Star Wars Kid Hits the Web [VIDEO] Posted: 29 Oct 2010 02:20 PM PDT We knew that it would happen, we were just waiting for the axe to fall… Here come the “Justin Bieber Movie” parodies! The first to hit the web? An adaptation of Never Say Never featuring The Star Wars Kid, a.k.a Ghyslain Raza. Just the other day we informed you that a movie, sure to stop the hearts of many a teenage girl, will soon be hitting theaters: a biopic about tween dream Justin Bieber. In 3D. Oh, yes. Well, if you’re anything like the rest of us here at Mash, you’re probably going to wait until that flick comes out on DVD… and then shamefully watch every thrilling moment. Still, a parody trailer released just the other day subbing in the reluctant viral video star for Bieber presents us with a stirring narrative we would proudly attend in theaters, popcorn in hand — were it to actually exist. Here’s to you, Star Wars Kid, wherever you may be — which is law school, as it turns out. More About: humor, justin bieber, pop culture, star wars kid, viral video For more Web Video coverage:
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| A Bluetooth Headset for Pros and Skeptics Posted: 29 Oct 2010 02:05 PM PDT
The tiniest of devices, the Plantronics Savor M1100 Bluetooth Headset, is about as big as a baby carrot and weighs just 9 grams. Full disclosure, I am decidedly in the first category of traditionalists. Headsets just seemed like extra work to answer a call. I should not have liked this headset. But it really is worth a look even if you’re a skeptic. Despite it’s minute stature, the M1100 packs a ton of features into an intuitive user interface, but it’s also a breeze to connect and even easier to use. What changed my mind, and why should you look into device? Read on for my breakdown. User Interface The M1100 looks great. There are no gaudy flashing lights or projecting mics; the whole headset is a self-contained sliver of technology. A slim LED near the front of the device discreetly lights up blue or red when your battery is low or right when it’s powered on. Its weight means that the M1100 will sit comfortably in pretty much anyone’s ear, though I do recommend using the clear-plastic ear clip that’s included. Plantronics has somehow squeezed four buttons onto the headset, including a sliding on/off switch, cycling volume control, call button and voice recognition button. While it can be easy to mix up the call and voice buttons, or press them when trying to move the headset, the M1100 manages to streamline the calling process so even the simplest of users can quickly get on a call. One of the biggest selling points is that every feature on the headset can be controlled via voice command. Tap the voice button once and say any of 10 commands from “Redial” to “Am I connected,” and a slightly robotic but generally pleasant voice will respond. The voice features really take front seat when paired with Vocalyst, a hosted speech-enabled service that lets you send and receive e-mails, texts, record reminders and more. A one-year subscription is included for free, but after that you’ll have to pay $24.95 per year. The voice recognition works great at balancing out the simple, stream-lined design with some of the advanced features on Vocalyst. CallsThis is probably why you bought this thing: to make calls to people without using your hands. The good news is that the M1100 works great. A touch of the device or saying “answer” will connect you to your call with minimal delay. The reception isn’t perfect but it’s noticeably clear and problem-free thanks to the three separate mics buried in the M1100, one of which is dedicated to noise-cancellation. I managed to call and place an order for flowers (including providing the address, a message and credit card number) without any problems. Normal phone calls and conversations were similarly clear and problem free. The headset also picked up calls from a healthy distance — meaning you’d have to try and be out of range for it not to work. The M1100 boasts a 4-hour talk time and 7-hour standby time, which is important if your phone calls last longer than 3 hours, or more realistically, if you have calls spotted throughout the day. Bottom LineIf you’re a power user, the M1100 has all the features you’d expect and great call quality. It more than makes up for anything it lacks in immediate flare with the integration of Vocalyst. At $99.99, it is certainly not the cheapest headset out there. But if you are a casual user (or admitted skeptic) looking for a solid, simple, discreet headset, the M1100 is an equally great choice. More About: bluetooth, Call, headset, plantronics, review, savor M1100 For more Mobile coverage:
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| New Clip From “TRON: Legacy” Hits the Web [VIDEO] Posted: 29 Oct 2010 01:32 PM PDT During TRON Night last night, Disney showcased 23 minutes of new footage from the upcoming film TRON: Legacy. Disney has posted one of those clips, “Quorra Saves Sam” to its YouTube page. This is one of the first actual movie clips that has been released for the film — though we’ve already seen some of the early trailers and a music video of “Derezzed” by Daft Punk. The clip shows Quorra (Olivia Wilde) as she drives “off the grid” with Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund). Having seen a longer version of this scene in 3D last night, I can say it’s all quite stunning. Disney has been pulling out all the stops in its campaign for TRON: Legacy across a variety of mediums. In addition to the Facebook app TRONiVerse, an iPhone app and viral websites like Flynnlives.com, Disney’s overarching campaign has treaded into the territory of real-world viral marketing. As impressive as the breadth of the campaign itself is its length. For ComicCon 2009, Disney started sending out Flynn’s Arcade tokens to movie bloggers — and this was before any sneak preview footage for the film was even available outside of the camera-phone YouTube variety. TRON: Legacy is shaping up to be one of the biggest film releases this holiday season and Disney isn’t missing any opportunity to connect with fans online and off. If the clips we’ve seen so far are anything to go by, that hard work will pay off with box office success. What do you think about TRON: Legacy and Disney’s marketing campaign around the film? Let us know. Reviews: Facebook, YouTube More About: Film, movie clips, Movies, TRON, tron legacy For more Entertainment coverage:
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| 5 Free Halloween Music Playlists for Your Monster Bash Posted: 29 Oct 2010 01:07 PM PDT   Ah, the Halloween party playlist, the most perplexing of all celebratory preparations. Do you appease the masses and add some Gaga? Do you bust out the “”Spooky Soundz” tape you bought back in ‘95? Or do you just forgo music altogether and let the cackling of your tipsy guests score the show? If you’re still struggling to put together a list of jams for this weekend’s festivities, torture yourself no longer (save that pain and anguish for that last-minute trip to the costume shop) — we’ve got five free playlists from some top music discovery services to get you through this darkest of nights. 1. Slacker Radio: “Halloween Radio” Slacker serves up a super fun station with a mix of old standbys like Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’s “I Put a Spell on You,” George Thorogood’s “Bad to the Bone,” the Misfits’s “Ghouls Night Out” and Warren Zevon’s “Werewolves Of London.” More kitschy than modern, Slacker’s selection will work best for the kind of party where guests are actually willing to wear costumes — you know, beyond that lazy kind (i.e. wearing a nametag that says, “Hello, I’m Hamlet”). 2. Songza: “Halloween Station” With 273 songs, Songza’s curated playlist is truly a grab bag — from the Hellraiser theme, to “I Would Die 4 U” by Prince, to cartoon vomit sound effects (I skipped that one). Choose this station if you’re expecting a night of the unexpected. 3. Pandora: “Spooky Symphonies“ This is for the more classy among you — but not too classy, because there’s totally a song from Transformers on there. This station is all about moody drama, so if you’re planning on inviting ex-lovers or friends to your soiree, you’ll have a perfect soundtrack for the horror of emotions running wild. 4. Rhapsody: “Happy Halloween” Rhapsody has tons of playlists to choose from, with themes ranging from vamp jams to witch-house tunes. If you don’t have an account, you can only listen to 25 songs, but that should be plenty to get you going if you’re throwing a pre-Halloween-party-party. Or you could pony over the $9.99 for a Rhapsody account and go all night. 5. VEVO: “Halloween Haunt-Down”There are a ton of playlists floating around over at Vevo, and — bonus — they feature videos (obviously, since Vevo is a video site). If you’re planning on throwing a more risque bash, this is the source for you, as lists feature a lot more contemporary, creepy jams like “Monster Hospital” by Metric, “Gunmen” by Them Crooked Vultures and “Skeletons” by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, hidesy Reviews: Rhapsody, iStockphoto More About: Halloween, music, pandora, rhapsody, Slacker-Radio, songza, vevo For more Entertainment coverage:
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| The Mac App Store: The Good, the Bad & the Unknown Posted: 29 Oct 2010 12:58 PM PDT   Last week, Apple officially announced the Mac App Store as a major new addition to the Mac software ecosystem. Although the Mac App Store will be an integral part of Mac OS X Lion, it will make its debut this winter. Developers will be able to start submitting their applications for review in November. Since the announcement, a flurry of questions, concerns and expositions have hit the web – from Mac users and Mac developers alike. Ten days later, there are still more questions than answers, but developers are hesitantly optimistic about this new potential revenue stream. We’ve spoken with a number of Mac developers to get their thoughts on the Mac App Store and what their concerns are for the future. We’ve also evaluated Apple’s Mac App Store Review Guidelines to see just what concessions developers will need to make to be included in the Mac App Store. Finally, we have our own thoughts on what this means for the future of Mac software, for users and future developers. Not Participating in the Store, “A Mistake” for DevelopersWhen I think of successful independent Mac software developers, I always look at Daniel Jalkut. Jalkut, founder of Red Sweater and developer of apps like MarsEdit and Black Ink, was a software engineer at Apple from 1996 to 2002. In August, Jalkut penned an essay for Macworld titled “Why I’m sticking with the Mac.” When we spoke to him last week after Apple’s announcement, Jalkut said one of his concerns about the Mac App Store was whether he was going to lose his connections with customers. “Starting with the Mac App Store we don’t know if the same shift will take place, where the customers are Apple’s, and we’re just manufacturers for Apple,” he said. When we mentioned the possibility of customers still being able to buy apps directly from a developer, Jalkut responded, “Yes, but even then there is a shift where some set of my customers will be ‘mystery’ customers.” Still, for Jalkut, these concerns are ultimately irrelevant. “It might be worth complaining about some things. But I am either going to stay a Mac developer or quit,” he said. According to Jalkut, it would be a mistake not to take part in the Mac App Store. “After Apple’s success with the iOS App Store, many customers will think this is the only way to get software,” he said. “And by streamlining the install process, many customers who do know about other channels will find them distasteful in comparison.” Jalkut pointed out that an important difference between the Mac App Store and the iOS App Store is that “the Mac App Store is opt-in, but that means it’s also opt-out. So one major advantage versus the App Store is you can develop a Mac app, try to sell it through the Apple store, and if you’re not happy with it, or they’re taking too much of a cut, or they reject it, you’re not completely left out in the cold.” Growing Pains for Existing DevelopersLayton Duncan, founder of the iOS shop Polar Bear Farm, blogged his own response last week. As he says in his post, “I can’t help but think this should be exciting for both developers and customers, but right now my overwhelming feeling is a muted, conflicted ‘hmmmm.’ ” His reaction matches that of many existing Mac developers, because the structure of the Mac App Store review process is set up to mirror that of the iOS App Store. While there is a new review board and there are posted app review guidelines, this also means that in order to be included in the store, developers will have to follow a set of rules that they didn’t have to follow before. First, there’s the restriction of using undocumented APIs. This restriction is understandable, since Apple wants software to work as well as it can. But as Jalkut told us, responsible Mac developers go the extra miles for customers by carefully using private APIs. “There is a way to use private APIs with a reasonable fallback should the private API not be available,” he said. “The rest is behavior that is 110% what the user expects, and even what Apple wants for software on the platform.” That’s one potential hurdle. Another hurdle is that of pricing and upgrade pricing. If the Mac App Store is to follow the iOS App Store in its policies, it won’t be possible to do traditional “upgrade” pricing. Instead, developers have to look at either releasing in-purchase content kits (which don’t really work for a totally new app version) or charging all users the same price for a new version of the app. There needs to be a way for app developers to handle upgrades, especially since a lot of users are going to buy apps in the Mac App Store that they previously purchased directly from the developer. There’s also the issue of volume pricing and licensing. Yes, an advantage of the App Store is that Apple will presumably be handling the DRM and allowing the software to be used on whatever Macs are activated by the same iTunes account, but that puts developers in the position of having to lose the one license/one computer option. It also puts into question whether volume app store licenses will be available to businesses. Apple is making volume iOS purchases available to businesses, but it’s unclear if the Mac App Store will have these same provisions. As an end user, software updates happen to be one of my bigger concerns. Thanks to the Sparkle framework used by virtually every Mac app not developed by Apple, it’s super easy for developers to push out updates to customers. As great as the update mechanism for the App Store is, its problem is that each update has to be cleared by another review. That’s a hassle for developers who already have very structured bug fix and feature addition workflows in place. The Future of Mac SoftwareInstapaper’s Marco Arment recently blogged that “The Mac App Store isn’t for today’s Mac developers.” His post makes a good point: Most of the various concerns that are being discussed by current Mac developers miss the bigger picture. Future Mac OS X developers are going to be more likely to gravitate toward the platform because of the Mac App Store. Unlike Ryan Block, I have no doubt that if the Mac App Store was only filled with existing Mac developers’ wares, it would have more than enough content to be a booming success. I say this as someone who absolutely loves Mac software and is always on the lookout for the next cool thing. The myth that “there is no good software on the Mac” disappeared long ago. Thanks to Steam, even gaming — the blackhole of Mac software — has started to get some real traction. When it comes to tools, utilities, quirky projects and even big name hits, it’s hard to not find what you need on the Mac. If anything, the conversations I’m having have now changed from “Why isn’t this available on the Mac” to “Why isn’t this on Windows?” The number of iOS developers dwarfs the number of traditional Mac developers. While standard Cocoa has a lot more intricacies and can dive much deeper into hardware and file systems than what is allowed by Cocoa Touch, if you know Objective-C, you know Objective-C. The Mac App Store is going to bring a lot of new developers to the platform — and yes, we expect it will mean that smaller and more bite-sized programs will be created. That said, the Mac App Store isn’t without its faults. Until Apple is ready to open up about how cross-app sales will work, how exclusive titles will be in the Mac App Store and how upgrades, emergency updates and volume licensing will work, developers are going to have one hand in the Mac App Store and the other maintaining their own shops. That’s not economically sound for anyone. Still, as a Mac user and Mac software lover, I look forward to seeing what this means for the platform and what it will mean for the smaller developers who make great apps that never get the attention they might otherwise deserve. Reviews: App Store, Windows More About: apple, daniel jalkut, mac, mac app store, mac software For more Tech coverage:
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| 3 Steps for Creating and Protecting Your Business Name Posted: 29 Oct 2010 11:42 AM PDT   Nellie Akalp is the CEO & Co-Founder of CorpNet, her second incorporation filing service company. To learn more about Nellie, view free guides on starting and running a business, and receive a special discount, please visit CorpNet here. Your business begins with a name. It’s the cornerstone of your company identity and impacts your branding, company tone, and first impressions. Think about it. The branding of Target would be very different if the retailer still went by its original name, Dayton Dry Goods Company. Selecting the right business name for your company is important and it should be followed by taking the right legal steps. A prudent approach to naming entails three important steps: brainstorming, investigation and registration. Follow these three steps to make sure the name is yours to use for years and even decades to come. Step 1: The BrainstormHow you develop the perfect name is fairly subjective. Consider what’s important to you and your business; what’s the first thing you want a customer to think about with regard to your business? It’s best to brainstorm a dozen or so potential names. Poll your family and friends, and be sure to include your target demographic in this informal focus group. It’s also not uncommon for a business owner to sometimes miss an awkward pun or double meaning (case in point: a nail salon called Get Nailed). A descriptive name helps frame your company better than a generic one. For example, Speedy Electronics vs. Speedy. Adding this qualifier lets potential customers instantly know what you’re about. But don’t box yourself in with too-detailed a description; you might end up expanding your offerings down the road. Most importantly, don’t get too attached to any one name during the brainstorming process. It’s all too tempting to begin envisioning your company logo, web design, signage, business cards, and more. But you’ve got to make sure that perfect name is actually available to use. Step 2: The InvestigationBefore you invest too much energy and excitement in a name, you’ll need to confirm that it’s available in the state where you are planning to conduct business, as well as nationwide. You definitely don’t want to be on the wrong end of a trademark dispute. Beyond punitive damages and legal fees, you might be ordered to rename your company/product immediately. All the money, time and effort you invested building that brand will be wiped out, in an instant. And, if you try registering a trademark that is similar to an existing mark, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will reject your application straight away and you won’t be able to get a refund on your application fee. So how do you make sure you’re legally permitted to use a name?
Step 3: RegistrationAfter you’ve settled on a name, you need to register it with the proper authorities. This should be done as soon as possible to prevent someone else from registering it. An assumed name –- also referred to as a "Fictitious Business Name" or "Doing Business As (DBA)" — is the easiest type of registration. This involves applying for a name at the county government offices and paying a fee. You’re not actually required by law to register a trademark. Using a name instantly gives you common law rights as an owner, even without formal registration. However, you should consider registering your trademark for proper legal protection — after all, you’ve spent untold hours brainstorming the ideal name, and you’ll be putting even more effort into cultivating brand recognition. Registering with the USPTO is a relatively easy process. Expect to pay approximately $325 per class that your mark would fall under (that’s for filing directly online; it’s approximately $375 per class for paper filings). The process can take anywhere from 9 to 12 months once your application is submitted. So why register? Trademarks and brand names have value; they can be sold as corporate assets. But most importantly, trademarks registered with the USPTO enjoy significantly stronger protection than “common law” (unregistered) marks. Since registering the mark CorpNet, it has been exponentially easier to recover “CorpNet” on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. It can save a ton on the legal fees associated with getting injunctions and all because CorpNet registered the trademark. One last tip: If you are considering incorporating or forming an LLC for your business, you should do so before you register any trademarks. This places your trademark under the umbrella of the corporation or LLC. As you journey through the process, be sure to take each stage seriously. Your name represents your brand and business. You should consider the name thoughtfully, and then take the right steps up front to protect your name and identity. More Business Resources from Mashable:
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, pavlen Reviews: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, iStockphoto, poll More About: business, Business Lists, incorporation, List, Lists, small business, startups For more Business coverage:
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| Foursquare Introduces Super Duper Swarm and Epic Swarm Badges Posted: 29 Oct 2010 11:16 AM PDT   Foursquare “Super Swarms” of 250 people or more are now so frequent that the location-based startup is rolling out new badges to award users who convene in more massive quantities. Beginning today, when 500 or more Foursquare members are gathered together at the same venue (and checked in, of course), those users will be rewarded with a Super Duper Swarm badge. There’s also an Epic Swarm badge to commemorate events where attendance on Foursquare pushes past the 1,000 mark. “When we made the original Swarm badge we thought, ‘What are the odds of ever getting 50 Foursquare users together?’ And then we did the same with Super Swarm for SXSW. ‘Will anyone ever even unlock these?’” explains Foursquare co-founder and CEO Dennis Crowley. “And now they are unlocked on a regular basis — baseball games, concerts etc. So we needed bigger.” So what happens when 500-and-1,000-person swarms become commonplace? That’s a question even Foursquare is not prepared to answer. “In our internal badge meetings, we’re thinking, ‘What’s after this?’ We have no idea,” says Crowley. Though the badges themselves are pure novelty, they do represent the ballooning growth of Foursquare’s user base and highlight just how much activity the startup is capable of generating around offline venues. Reviews: foursquare More About: foursquare, foursquare badges For more Social Media coverage:
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| YouTube Hits 1 Billion Subscriptions, Launches Widget to Celebrate Posted: 29 Oct 2010 10:56 AM PDT   It’s been a week of milestones for YouTube — first, Lady Gaga’s videos hit 1 billion views, then the Promoted Videos program hit half a billion views. Now, YouTube is reporting that it has seen 1 billion subscriptions. That’s a lot of billions in seven days. According to the YouTube blog, the channel that raked in the billionth hit was MachinimaSports, and a ton of its channels have crossed the 1 million subscriber mark, including fred, failblog and universalmusicgroup. In celebration of the site’s ever-burgeoning following, YouTube is also rolling out a widget that video-makers can embed in their sites, which will allow people to subscribe to channels even outside of the video-sharing site. The code for the widget can be found on YouTube’s blog. Reviews: YouTube More About: youtube For more Web Video coverage:
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| Nominate Your Favorites for a Mashable Award and Win a Laptop [COMMENT CONTEST] Posted: 29 Oct 2010 10:47 AM PDT
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. In partnership with Cirque du Soleil, Mashable is hosting the Mashable Awards Gala, which 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. How to Enter the ContestThe 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 from today until Tuesday, November 2, 12 p.m. EST to be considered for either prize. Two winners will be selected, one for the laptop and one for the printer:
*Though nominations are open to readers outside the U.S., this contest is restricted to U.S. residents who are 18+ only.  PrizesPrize 1: Dell Inspiron 17R Laptop along with Push2TV connectivity kit  Prize 2: HP OfficeJet 6500A Printer  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! Sponsorships are available. Please contact sponsorships@mashable.com for more information. Reviews: Facebook, Mashable, Twitter More About: Awards, contest, entrepreneurs, gadgets, las vegas, mashable, mashable awards, mashable awards 2010, Nominations, open web awards, social media, startups, tech, web For more Tech coverage:
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| 4 Ways to Visualize Voter Sentiment for the Midterm Elections Posted: 29 Oct 2010 10:29 AM PDT   Elections ignite emotions. From inspirational campaign speeches to divisive community issues, political action compels citizens to share their feelings about candidates and issues from coast to coast. The web has made information about these emotions and trends more available — but the challenge has been making it more accessible. That's why many sites are using data visualizations to present voter sentiment. The simple interfaces and fun interactive components make number-heavy data easier to understand and more compelling than a spreadsheet. Here are four data visualizations worth checking out during the 2010 U.S. midterm elections. 1. The New York Times Race Ratings  Like most interactive graphics from The New York Times, these election maps and charts are beautifully designed. The user experience is the best of all the data visualizations listed here. States are color-coded by party with shading showing the likelihood that the leading party will win. Individual state profiles include smaller graphics breaking down previous election results by county. The Times makes it their own by including the FiveThirtyEight Forecast, showcasing politics reporter Nate Silver’s projections for each race. 2. PBS Mediashift Social Media Snapshot The only visualization not in map form on this list is the Social Media Snapshot of 2010 Senate Races. This graphic takes some of the most interesting voter sentiment information out there and makes it easy for users to compare data sets they’re interested in viewing. After a report from HeadCount.org showed that Republicans were more engaged than Democrats in this election cycle, Mediashift contributor Anthony Calabrese created it using Tableau Public, a free data visualization program. The graphic includes a drop-down menu from which users can choose a state. Each candidate’s Facebook and Twitter followers are then compared in a bar graph. Beneath this is a chart showing more granular data for the top 10 races, including the percentage of followers each candidate gained from September to October. 3. The Huffington Post Election Dashboard  The Huffington Post has taken full advantage of its Pollster.com acquisition by creating extensive poll analysis graphics. Unlike other elections visualizations, these maps provide all information up front. Hovering over a state on the main map brings up linear charts showing data from the latest polls and those from the past year, as well as social media trends measuring candidate mentions from Facebook, Twitter and Google Buzz. Clicking on an individual state directs you to a page with a larger version of the latest polls graph, some with polling data from past years. 4. Washington Post 2010 Race Maps  With an already politically minded audience, The Washington Post developed a map chock-full of elections data. It provides historical results not only for the current races, but also for presidential races. Maps can be customized to show districts, primaries and races to watch. It’s most original in allowing users to sort data by race, age, poverty rate and percent uninsured. Extras If you’re interested in even more visualizations to track the upcoming elections, the following tools are definitely worth a look. Though Google’s map focuses more on experts’ predictions than voter sentiment data, it’s worth checking out. You can compare expectations of top political opinions and find or contribute information about where to vote and what’s on the ballot in your area. Foursquare plans to launch an interactive map on election night with data from checkins at polling places. If this article wasn’t about the U.S. elections specifically, Guardian’s Data Blog would have made the list for its beautiful visualizations of poll numbers from overseas. More Political Resources From Mashable:
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, ermek Reviews: Facebook, Foursquare, Google Buzz, Twitter, iStockphoto More About: data visualization, elections, foursquare, Google, List, Lists, maps, mediashift, politics, tableau, the new york times, the washington post, visualization, visualizations, web apps For more Social Media coverage:
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| Posted: 29 Oct 2010 10:11 AM PDT   Note: PayPal’s APIs are now in the process of recovering. For the past hour and 45 minutes, PayPal has been experiencing some downtime. The company has posted on its blog and verified the outage over Twitter. PayPal says it is continuing to work to resolve the issue. The outage, which started at approximately 8:07 a.m. PT, is related to PayPal’s API. That means that some users are having a hard time logging into their accounts and sending or receiving money from PayPal. PayPal’s Live Site Status blog says that users might experience API timeouts and messages like, “Sorry – your last action could not be completed” on paypal.com.
In other words, if you are trying to use a site that either uses PayPal as its payment processor or uses PayPal’s APIs for payment processing, you might experience some problems trying to complete a transaction. As The Next Web notes, this sort of downtime is likely to reflect more poorly on PayPal’s customers — its merchants — rather than on PayPal itself. If a potential customer can’t complete a purchase, the first instinct is to blame the merchant, not the payment service the merchant uses. Of course, to be fair, the same is true when credit card and banking point of sale systems go down in retail stores. It’s no more the fault of Best Buy or a seller on Etsy if a payment processor is experiencing downtime, but the end result is that customers and merchants have a more difficult time completing transactions. PayPal has been updating its @PayPal and @AskPayPal Twitter accounts with updates. We’ll keep you updated as we learn more. Reviews: Twitter For more Tech coverage:
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| Mashable’s Social Media Halloween Costume Contest Winners Posted: 29 Oct 2010 09:49 AM PDT   Last week we asked you to submit photos of your technology and social media Halloween costumes for a chance to win a $400 Griffin Technology shopping spree. After enjoying a number of fabulous submissions on Flickr, Tumblr and in story comments, we chose the five most creative and charming Halloween costumes of the bunch. Check them out below. You may get an idea for a last-minute costume or see ways to tweak one you already have. Be sure to tell us which one is your favorite — and feel free to say what you’re dressing up as this Halloween. Congratulations to our winners and a big thank you to all who participated. Happy Halloween from the Mashable team! Team Social Media The SmartEd Services Marketing Team as a YouTube baby video (yes, that’s a real baby!), Foursquare’s Sad Mayor, the Facebook “Like” button, the Twitter Fail Whale and social icon Snooki. Submitted by Lindsey Al of Cleveland, Ohio. Sad Keanu Sad Keanu at the 2010 Screaming Mimi’s press party. Submitted by James from New York, New York. YouTube Video “White and Nerdy” video on YouTube with over 50 million views. Submitted by William Griggs of Nashville, Tennessee. Twitter Bird Twitter bird with real-time updates via whiteboard. Submitted by Christie Griffin of New York, New York. Mac Pro A Mac Pro hanging out in the Apple store in SoHo. Submitted by Jeff Shein of New York, New York. Thanks To Our Partners at Griffin Technology “Griffin Technology began designing and manufacturing technical solutions with an innovative flair in 1992. Griffin has grown to become one of the largest providers of accessories for personal computing and digital media including the iTrip family of FM transmitters and the groundbreaking Evolve Wireless Sound System. Griffin designs, manufactures and delivers useful and fun solutions for digital entertainment and personal computing to people in the Americas, Europe, and Asia, through major retailers and online.”Image courtesy of iStockphoto, tacojim Reviews: Facebook, Flickr, Foursquare, Mashable, Tumblr, Twitter, YouTube, iStockphoto For more Social Media coverage:
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| “Oregon Trail”-Inspired Zombie Game Is Apocalyptically Awesome Posted: 29 Oct 2010 09:08 AM PDT   Not satiated by “4 Frighteningly Fun Zombie iPhone Games?” Well, here’s another taste of the zombie oeuvre for ya: Organ Trail. If you were a fan of the classic computer game, Oregon Trail (and let’s face it, who wasn’t?), and love you some lumbering lovers of flesh (a.k.a. zombies), then take a break from the mundanities of this Friday morning and check out Organ Trail. The Flash-based game was designed by a group of indie designers called The Men Who Wear Many Hats. Like in Oregon Trail, you choose a profession (cop from Kentucky, clerk from Jersey City, lawyer from Miami), assemble your wagon train, and then — unlike Oregon Trail — set out on a post-apocalyptic trail and fight for survival zombie-infested world. Happy scavenging! [via The Daily What] More About: Flash, game, Halloween, humor, Oregon Trail, organ trail, pop culture, web apps, zombie For more Entertainment coverage:
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| 8 Ways to Reduce Your Site’s Bounce Rate Posted: 29 Oct 2010 08:54 AM PDT
Bounce and exit rates are often confused, but have different definitions and purposes. Bounce rate is the percentage of visitors that hit a page and don’t visit any others within the same site. It should be used to measure the effectiveness of landing pages and is connected to SEO and paid advertising campaigns. In some cases, a page may be designed to give the consumer the information they need and nothing else. In this instance, bounce rate may not be a relevant metric.
Web analytics guru Avinash Kaushik says a bounce rate of less than 30% is good, but with 60% or higher, you have a problem. Bounce rate stats will differ depending on the type of sites and pages you’re measuring. In Google Analytics, there is a benchmarking section that allows you to compare your site’s bounce rate and metrics to other sites based on size and category. A blog that offers all of its content on one page will have a high bounce rate. Generally speaking, blogs are reported to average an 80% bounce rate, and this paired with other metrics like time on site and number of comments could be more helpful. The best standard is to measure an individual page’s bounce rate over time. Here are eight ways to lower your site’s bounce rate. Add your own thoughts in the comments below. 1. Make Data-Informed DecisionsGood web design is critical, but quick iteration and optimization can only be accomplished with data-informed decisions. This will empower your designers to experiment more. Make sure the reporting is both easy to use and understand. Some of the top analytics packages have complicated user interfaces. In the end, the goal is to have usable and informative data. 2. Prioritize & Optimize Look at your highest volume entry and landing pages to compare good pages to bad pages. You can also use additional tools like Crazy Egg heatmaps to see the relationship between referrer and clicks. Once you find the worst offenders, test multiple variables and landing page approaches. If your traffic is less than 1,000 views per week, use A/B split testing for significantly different page design approaches. Use multi-variate testing with tools like Website Optimizer, Google’s free website testing and optimization tool, for situations where you have a lot of traffic and multiple factors and variations you want to test. 3. Utilize Profiling and SegmentationYou can monitor the bounce rates for geography/language, browser/operating system and traffic source to identify issues. Recently at my company, we noticed a high bounce rate for Firefox, relative to Internet Explorer on a page and found out there was a browser rendering issue. 4. Maintain Keyword IntegrityMake sure the keywords you are using in your metadata have low bounce rates and that you are reinforcing the term in the copy and content you are showing to site visitors. Your own brand or site name should have the lowest bounce rate for a keyword. In your search marketing efforts, if the bounce rate is high for keywords you are buying, you need to either improve the landing page to reinforce the topic or bid on keywords that are more relevant to your content. 5. Improve Loading Times The loading time of your webpage is not only an important factor in SEO, but also in having a visitor to stay on your site. Deactivate unnecessary plugins and optimize your images and code to speed up the loading time of your site. Your visitors will be more likely to view additional pages if your load times are faster. 6. Be Careful with External LinksOne of the consumer benefits of web publishing is that content providers often embed hyperlinks to reference external pages with more information. However, this can create an exit point for a user. You should be judicious in the use of external links or at least consider placing them toward the bottom of a page. 7. Don't Get TrickyThere are lot of other tricks you can use to lower your bounce rate, like embedding polls, contests, and other attention-grabbing clickable content. However, if the sole purpose of these tactics is just to lower your bounce rate, you may lose sight of what a real consumer is looking for. The temptation to use keyword and SEO-heavy headlines is strong, but if they misrepresent the content of an article or post, you may lose out on repeat visitors, even if your bounce rates are reduced temporarily. Although it is important to make a good first impression, a site’s mission to either sell, entertain or inform should always be primary. 8. Account for Social MediaAs more sites are discovered and consumed through social networks, the impact of these platforms on bounce rates is becoming more important. With social, there are limitations — like Twitter’s character count, for example — to properly qualify and represent the landing page content. Use relevant hashtags to qualify your content, along with other metadata, like location, that can add more information without pushing the character count of your message. On the other end of the spectrum, sharing links on Facebook can be a rich experience, with images, user-input and friend-tagging. Utilize these platform-specific features to enrich the reader’s experience. Series Supported by Bantam Live  The Small Business Tips Series is supported by Bantam Live, a web-based collaboration workspace for small business teams that combines “Social CRM” with project/task management and microblogging communication — all centered within a real-time activity stream. Business teams can share an address book and track contacts and conversations, track prospects and sales pipelines, and organize projects and tasks to get work done. With integrations to social networks, team members can search for keywords and reply to and import new contacts and their real-time profiles into Bantam Live. More Business Resources from Mashable:
Images courtesy of iStockphoto, 7nuit & Sabrina Pierson Reviews: Facebook, Firefox, Google, Internet Explorer, Twitter, iStockphoto More About: bounce rate, business, Crazy Egg, exit rate, external links, heatmap, Heatmaps, keyword, keywords, List, Lists, load times, metadata, SEO, small business, small business tips series, SMO, social media, web design, Web Development For more Business coverage:
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| Apple Is Now the World’s Fourth Biggest Mobile Vendor [REPORT] Posted: 29 Oct 2010 08:39 AM PDT   The changes brought forth by the explosive growth of the smartphone market are now very visible in the overall mobile phone market, as Apple surpassed RIM as the fourth largest mobile phone supplier, while Sony Ericsson dropped off the top five list for the first time in years. According to IDC, Apple’s market share grew from 2.5% in Q3 2009 to 4.1% in the third quarter of 2010, which propelled it to fourth place overall. RIM grew from 2.9% to 3.6% in that same period, which secured its fifth place, while Nokia, Samsung and LG kept the first, second and third places with 32.4%, 21.0% and 8.3% market share, respectively. IDC claims that smartphones will play an even more important role in the next couple of years. “This year, we are expecting the smartphone sub-market to grow 55% year over year. Vendors that aren’t developing a strong portfolio of smartphones will be challenged to maintain and grow market share in the future,” said Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC’s Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker.  Apple’s growth is even more impressive considering it sells only one (or two, if you count the iPhone 3GS) phone model — the iPhone 4 — while all the competitors have more than 10 phone models in their current portfolio. The fact that the iPhone 4 started selling in 17 new countries this last quarter certainly helped Apple increase its market share, but things are looking good for Apple on all fronts. The fallout from iPhone 4’s antenna issues has all but disappeared; Apple itself said it sold 14.1 million iPhones in Q3 2010, a 91% year-over-year increase, and Apple CEO Steve Jobs said the company still has “a few surprises left for the remainder of this calendar year." [via IDC] More About: apple, idc, iphone, mobile market, RIM, smartphone For more Mobile coverage:
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| Top 3 Stories in Social Media, Tech and Business Posted: 29 Oct 2010 07:50 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. Facebook is Testing a Places-Powered Deals Service? According to Nick O’Neill at All Facebook, Facebook is testing a new “Facebook Deals” service that is integrated into Facebook Places. This would give businesses the ability to provide discounts and specials when a customer checks in to a physical store. Facebook has declined to comment on the purported e-mail from one of the companies testing the service, and there are some inconsistencies in the e-mail’s wording that make us less than 100% sure that this is entirely accurate. However, the idea makes an enormous amount of sense. For more than a year, we’ve been talking about how the real potential of location-based services is at the hyper-local level. The success of companies like Groupon and the growing number of deals and sponsorships adopted by companies like Foursquare, Gowalla and Loopt makes it even more clear that this is a trend that is becoming more enticing by the day. It only seems natural that Facebook would assert its social graph to offer businesses and users a synergistic experience to incentivize checkins. NOOKcolor Processor Revealed When the NOOKcolor was unveiled earlier this week, Barnes & Noble did a pretty solid job of laying out the technical specifications of the device, with one exception — the processor. Engadget has confirmed that the NOOKcolor features a Texas Instruments ARM Cortex A8-based chip running at 800MHz. We still don’t know how much RAM the unit has, but coupled with an IPS-backlit capacitive touchscren and the underpinnings of Android 2.1, this $250 device just might turn out to be the Android tablet hackers and modders have dreamed of. YouTube CEO to Step Down WebProNews reports that YouTube co-founder and CEO Chad Hurley will be stepping down from his post and assuming an advisory role at the company. Hurley made the announcement at the F.ounders conference in Ireland. As WebProNews notes, Hurley was the last of the YouTube co-founders to retain close ties with the company after selling it to Google for $1.65 billion. At F.ounders, Hurley said, “Right now I am in the process of transitioning into the role of adviser, stepping down, still being involved in the company but it’s given me an opportunity to work on new projects.” Google’s Salar Kamngar has been handling much of the day-to-day business for YouTube for the past several years and he is the most likely person to assume Hurley’s position (assuming Google decides to keep the CEO spot). Further News
Reviews: Android, Facebook, Foursquare, Google, Gowalla, Windows, YouTube More About: Chad Hurley, china apple stores, facebook, Facebook Places, first to know series, iphone 4, morning brief, Nexus Two, nook color, nookcolor, youtube For more Social Media coverage:
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| 4 Frighteningly Fun Zombie iPhone Games Posted: 29 Oct 2010 07:07 AM PDT   Here at Mashable we love a good zombie. The grosser, the better. We imagine a few of you out there feel the same way, so we’ve scoured the App Store to find the best zombie-themed casual games available. Zombies have proven to be fantastic fodder for casual games — there’s no remorse for killing them as they’re already undead, and they’re generally slow enough that you have a chance to implode a few heads before they get too close to have your brains for dinner. Just in time for Halloween, here are four games (that aren’t the superb Plants vs. Zombies) that make killing the undead super-fun for the whole family. Check them out and let us know your favorites in the comments below. 1. Zombieville USA “Excellent practice for when the REAL zombie apocalypse occurs.”The story line is paper-thin, but when a game is as colorful and fun as this, the plot doesn’t really matter. Basically, there’s been some kind of zombie invasion and you’re just strolling the streets, picking up cash and ammo and wasting some undead along the way.  There’s a great “how to play” walk-through in both the “Lite” version (which is basically the first level, with a few control limitations) and the full version that will get you started without too much fuss. A side-scroller reminiscent of classic arcade games with cartoon graphics, Zombieville USA lets you choose to play as one of a number of (clichéd) characters. Each character has his own strengths and weaknesses, so you’ll find your favorite as you try them out. Controls are simple: Use the arrows to move, hit buttons (or the screen) to attack. The mechanics are easy — head through the levels entering houses to collect ammo or cash as you go. As you collect cash you can buy up to 15 alternative weapons (as well as med packs) to slay zombies more effectively at the level breaks. While simple in principle, you can soon get chomped on by zombies if you haven’t killed them, and it’s often hard to free yourself from their grip, at which point you’ll find yourself back at the start screen. We recommend beginning the game on “easy” until you get the hang of it. The gameplay can be a little repetitive until you get to later levels, but when you do, you’ll be rewarded with different types of zombies to blow away, vehicles to transport you in your zombie fighting, and even the odd survivor that will be your combat buddy — until they get killed. Gore Rating: This is cartoon-violence only, but there is lots of blood; the zombies’ heads explode as they “die” and some great sound effects (blood-curdling screams, a grandiose pipe organ and some really gory fleshy sounds) add to the atmosphere. Developer: Mika Mobile 2. Zombie Wonderland “More action! More madness! More zombie guts to clean up!”“Keep the zombies at bay in this frantic action game.” You control Chuck, an ordinary guy with a shotgun trying to help his neighbors in Niceville defend their properties from invading zombie masses. In addition to killing zombies, it’s your job to clean up any green zombie goo that gets spilled in the various gameplay locations.  If you thrive under pressure, this game is for you. With impressive three-dimensional, top-down gameplay (so you can swipe the screen to spin the perspective — great for spotting zombies at a distance) your job is basically to point-and-shoot at all zombies to get Chuck racing over to the nearest window to blow their rotten brains out. Meanwhile, you need to be thinking about cleaning up that zombie goo with a mop and bucket, boarding up windows, trying not to get your limbs chewed off, and prioritizing the dispatch of “flamies,” “grannies” and “meanies” over the more typical “greenies.” This is a highly addictive, fast and furious game, which means you really need to stay on top of all your tasks to do well and progress to the different areas in “story” play, or stay alive as long as you can in “survival” mode. Gore Rating: Unless you count small cartoon zombies exploding into piles of green goo, this isn’t really that gory. And the sound effects are more fun than frightening. Nothing to scare the horses here, but plenty of fast, fun gameplay. Developer: Chillingo/Xoobis 3. Zombie Smash “Smash them until they’re un-undead with creative zombie demolition.”It’s classic castle defense. You are defending a house from various undead types, but this is an extremely knowing, self-aware, funny “survival comedy” zombie game that uses different methods of gameplay to smash zombies into bits.  We can’t praise this game enough, especially considering its $0.99 price tag (Update: It’s now $1.99). There are various ways to play: campaign mode, in which you try and defend the house for 31 nights, and “endless siege,” which functions as a survival mode. Gameplay is both fun and funny. You start out by flicking the undead around until they smash into zombie body parts (great for stress relief), progress to shooting them, and then you can enjoy dropping all kinds of heavy objects on their rotting zombie heads. By collecting the stars that float up when a zombie bites the dust, you can “buy” extra objects to enhance the gameplay further. The game is full of fun extras such as “Easter mode,” which will give some of your zombies rabbit ears, slow motion recording of zombie deaths, and the nice ability to easily grab in-game screenshots and e-mail them to friends. Gore Rating: Both the in-game and the title graphics are great (iPad owners should petition the developer for an HD treatment, in our opinion) and the music, composed by game score expert Chris Huelsbeck, is brilliant. The zombie splats are really quite remarkable, thanks to the “sophisticated rag doll physics” that “produce unique and hysterical zombie deaths” as well as the “proprietary SplatterEngine™” that “renders adorable cartoon blood and gore in a convincing and entertaining fashion,” according to the blurb. We concur! Developer: Gamedoctors 4. Zombie Highway “It’s just you and your heavily armed passenger against a boatload of super-strong, leaping zombies.”As the developer says, “Cars. Guns. Zombies. What more could you want?” You’re driving along a post-apocalyptic highway that’s overrun by zombies intent on tipping over your vehicle, which would lead to your inevitable death. To get the zombies off your car, you either have to knock them over by driving close to stationery objects, or shoot the hell out of them from the back seat.  In the “classic” game mode, you control the car’s direction with the accelerometer, leaving your fingers free to touch the screen to fire off your weapons. This combo works well; it’s enough of a challenge to try and steer your car close to various objects to send the zombies flying, but not so much that you can’t blow a few away at the same time. As you progress through the game, you can collect better weapons (which you can switch in-game as you see fit or as ammo runs low) and see different types of zombies as the obstacles on the road become more of a challenge. You can also opt to play with no weapons, in which case it’s just down to your driving skills to get the zombies off your car, and then there’s the “hardcore” mode to unlock too. Gore Rating: As primarily a driving game, it’s not mega-detailed, but the zombies are what you might call anatomically correct, in the sense that they aren’t cartoonish. We like the realistic sound effects and the lack of music actually works well with the desolate environment. Developer: Renderpaz More iPhone Resources from Mashable:
Reviews: Zombieville USA More About: app store, apple, games, gaming, Halloween, iphone, iphone apps, iPhone games, List, Lists, Mobile 2.0, mobile games, mobile gaming, video games, zombies For more Apple coverage:
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| Mobile Shopping Startup CheckPoints Partners With Kmart Posted: 29 Oct 2010 06:22 AM PDT   Attention Kmart shoppers, CheckPoints is announcing today a partnership with the retailer, making Kmart a featured location where CheckPoints users can scan product barcodes to accrue points for immediately redeemable rewards. CheckPoints’ approach to mobile shopping is to offer rewards incentives for shoppers around retailers and brands via in-store product barcode scans. The startup launched roughly one month ago with Tyson Foods, Belkin, Energizer and Seventh Generation signed on as product partners. At Kmart, CheckPoints users will earn more points for checkins, as well as be provided with an in-app list of featured products that they scan via their iPhone to earn additional points. Kmart is the startup’s first featured location and the partnership is specifically designed to drive attention (read customers) to specific products on store shelves. While we don’t know the exact terms of the Kmart deal, we do know that CheckPoints charges to feature products and is monetizing its service through these types of brand partnerships. CheckPoints is directly competitive with the likes of Shopkick, which is also working on location-based rewards but requires retailers to purchase hardware that can automatically detect a customer’s actual presence, check them in and award points accordingly. CheckPoints alternatively verifies a user’s location through product barcode scans and can also serve up branded games to users post scan. CheckPoints is currently only available on the iPhone [iTunes link], but the startup plans to launch an Android version sometime this fall. Image courtesy of Flickr, robertstinnett Reviews: Android, Flickr, iPhone More About: checkpoints, kmart, MARKETING, mobile shopping For more Business coverage:
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