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Mashable: Latest 27 News Updates - including “New T-Mobile Ad Makes Fun of AT&T’s Network”

Posted by Ashim Adhikari on 5:19 AM // 0 comments

Mashable: Latest 27 News Updates - including “New T-Mobile Ad Makes Fun of AT&T’s Network”

New T-Mobile Ad Makes Fun of AT&T’s Network

Posted: 03 Nov 2010 03:00 AM PDT


T-Mobile’s new ad campaign wants to make sure you remember one thing: T-Mobile network has got 4G capabilities, while some of their competitors – such as AT&T – are still stuck with 3G speeds.

To illustrate this, a new T-Mobile ad takes on Apple’s tried and true I’m a PC, I’m a Mac format, representing AT&T’s 3G network as a heavy burden on the iPhone’s back.

The ad also highlights T-Mobile’s new HSPA+ handset, the myTouch 4G, which is launching today.

Check out the video below, and tell us how you like the ad in the comments.

More About: ad, att, Mobile 2.0, network, T-Mobile, video

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Flash vs. HTML5: The “Pong” Version

Posted: 02 Nov 2010 09:03 PM PDT


There has been a lot of talk surrounding the future of Adobe Flash ever since Apple banned it from the iPad. Central to the debate is Steve Jobs’ assertion that Flash is no longer necessary, thanks to the power of HTML5.

The debate is framed by many as Flash vs. HTML5, where only one can reign supreme across the web. Is that really the case, though?

A cool little app made by the people at Code Computerlove puts the debate in a new context. At first glance, it looks like a simple version of the popular computer game Pong. What makes this web app different from the rest though is that it uses both HTML5 and Flash. The right side of the board was coded in HTML5 while the left side of the game was made using Flash.

Here’s what Code Computerlove had to say about their app and the Flash vs. Flash debate:

“The Flash vs. HTML5 debate has caused much discussion over the recent months and it certainly got us thinking here at Code. We believe the two technologies are not in competition and each have their purpose, but thought it might be amusing to actually put them in direct competition.”

While we believe that HTML5 is the future, we don’t think Flash is necessarily the past, either. It still powers the vast majority of video on the web and can create beautiful web experiences that HTML5 simply can’t produce yet. If we didn’t tell you that Code Computerlove’s version of Pong was coded with two technologies, you probably would never have noticed the difference.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some more games of Pong to play.

More About: adobe, apple, Flash, HTML5, pong

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Get Custom Local Business Recommendations with Bizzy

Posted: 02 Nov 2010 07:46 PM PDT


Fledgling startup Bizzy has debuted a new version of its service that could be perhaps best thought of as a Netflix for local businesses — you tell it what you like, and it suggests places that you may also enjoy, based on its algorithm. We spoke with Founder, President and GM Gadi Shamia and VP of Marketing Ryan Kuder about the new product, where it started and where it’s going.

How the New Bizzy Works

The site has launched in Beta with a question and answer game, where users input their favorite local spots, such as sushi restaurants, late-night diners, nightclubs and pet shops. The quiz begins on Bizzy’s homepage, but doesn’t stop there. To continue personalizing your profile and choosing favorite spots, which enables Bizzy to better match you up with others like you, the company has a loop of hundreds of questions that are pervasive throughout the experience. You can also search for businesses to “favorite” and can even discover them on other profile pages or within the activity feed.

“Eventually we’ll get to the point where users will be able to ask questions. So, if you’re looking for a place to do whatever, we will distribute that question out through the feeds to people like you,” Kuder said.

User profiles include a list of the user’s answers/favorites, people like them and places they may like

The site won’t be available for full use until enough recommendations are logged. Once it hits the tipping point, the Bizzy team will begin sending out Beta invites to users who have already completed questions about their favorite businesses. These users will have first access to the product, where they can put Bizzy’s algorithm to test by browsing personalized recommendations based on rank, category or trends. Users will also be able to search for specific types of places, such as “pierogies in New York,” and the order of search results will be based on each user’s personal recommendations.

Eventually, the goal involves enabling users to enter searches like “cupcakes in SoHo” or “cheap dive bar in Midtown” and find personalized recommendations based on the service’s underlying network of recommendations from similar users.

Owning the Commercial Graph

The Old Bizzy focused on enabling users to opt into deals and updates from local businesses.

Founded in 2009, Bizzy was created with the very specific goal of owning the commercial graph.

“We didn’t know what we would build, but we had this idea that we wanted to own the commercial graph,” Shamia explained. “We looked at world and saw that Facebook [replaced] e-mail, phone calls and personal relationships and owned the social graph. LinkedIn replaced resumes, the Rolodex and other communications between professionals and owned the professional graph. And Yammer owns the inter-office graph, or colleague graph you could call it.”

Bizzy saw an opportunity to be the go-between for local businesses interested in reaching new customers through hyper-local deals and local neighbors seeking offers. The intention was to replace the e-mail marketing relationship with an opt-in method, in which users would pick which businesses they’d like to hear from, without exposing their inboxes to unwanted spam.

This previous iteration of the service is still available by clicking on “Old Bizzy” on the navigation bar.

Sizing Up the Competition

There are quite a few services out there that offer recommendations based on various metrics, including location, demographics and other data. Shamia and Kuder discussed some of the services that have mind share in the space they are entering. With steep competition, they still believe their product offers unique value to consumers.

“What we learned from our customers is that they really want to discover new places,” Shamia said. “There are plenty of discovery tools — there’s Yelp, there’s Google, there are many tools. It felt like none of them were quite right. We looked at the data we had and the customers we had and said, ‘If our end users want discovery and the businesses we have want to be discovered, let’s look at the current tools, see what they’re offering and see what we can do different.’”

Shamia’s point struck a familiar chord. If 100 people search for “lunch in SoHo” on Yelp, for example, they all get the same results. It is only after the search that they can begin to narrow down by price, distance, category and other features. Even after all of these selections are made, the next step is reading a slew of reviews that may or may not be useful. The problem, then, is personalization. While Yelp is a magnificent tool, there’s no denying that the search process is a bit laborious. Bizzy aims to solve that problem.

Adding Mobile into the Mix

Kuder pointed out that mobile will be a key component of Bizzy’s offering in the coming months. He referred to Yelp and Urbanspoon as key competitors in the space, explaining that Yelp’s app mimics its website with the same laborious process of narrowing down options and reading reviews. And with Urbanspoon, you simply shake the phone and get a random recommendation. It’s a tough sell to call either of these options personalized.

Whrrl, a location-based app that offers personalized recommendations based on where users check in using its mobile app may be a closer comparison to Bizzy’s soon-to-be-updated app.

Bizzy’s mobile experience is heading towards integrating the personal recommendations feature. The current mobile app is still a reflection of the Old Bizzy experience — you interact with the feeds and can locate nearby deals on a map. But keep an eye out for their new app for the iPhone (and later, Android) that will integrate this new level of personalization, enabling users to see their nearby recommendations. From the app or the site, you’ll also be able to benefit from integrations with various location-based services that you may already be using. As Kuder explained:

“We don’t want to build a checkin app. You’re already using Foursquare, Gowalla and Facebook Places. Our strategy is to be a layer on top of those… You can connect those accounts to Bizzy and when you check in to a location, [you can later add it to your favorites]. So, when you’ve been somewhere, it’s very, very simple to add that place into your mix. Every time you do that, your set of recommended places changes a little bit.”

The Bizzy team is energetic and full of ideas. If they can manage to gain a sizable user base, their service has the potential to compete with the big players mentioned. However, it’s worth noting that industry leaders like Yelp and Google, already with mass followings, could add personalization tools at any moment, making local search easier and more relevant for their existing users, and thus mitigating the need for a smaller entrant like Bizzy. It’s a toss-up a this point, but we’re looking forward to seeing Bizzy’s later iterations.

Your Take

Do you think Bizzy’s service offers a differentiated experience from the other players in this field? And will you use it? Let us know in the comments below.

Reviews: Android, Facebook, Foursquare, Google, Gowalla, LinkedIn, Yammer, Yelp, iPhone

More About: bizzy, facebook, Google, linkedin, yammer, yelp

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Apple to Triple Length of iTunes Song Previews

Posted: 02 Nov 2010 07:16 PM PDT


Apple has informed music labels that it will soon triple the length of music previews from 30 seconds to 90 seconds.

This change to iTunes has long been rumored, but we originally thought that Apple would double the song sample length to 60 seconds. Instead though, Apple is giving users a 90 second sample as long as the full-length song isn’t shorter than two minutes and 30 seconds.

From the letter sent by Apple to the labels:

“We are pleased to let you know that we are preparing to increase the length of music previews from 30 seconds to 90 seconds on the iTunes Store in the United States. We believe that giving potential customers more time to listen to your music will lead to more purchases.”

Longer song previews are a win for users and for labels. Our guess is that the change will lead to more purchases, and we don’t think users will be complaining about longer previews either.

[via MacRumors]

More About: apple, Clips, itunes, music

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iPhone Versus Android: Nielsen Delivers the Numbers [STATS]

Posted: 02 Nov 2010 05:57 PM PDT


Android smartphone market share trails iPhone market share by a scant 9 percentage points in a recent study from analysis giant Nielsen.

According to statistics on overall U.S. market share, Android is the single fastest-growing mobile platform. By contrast, Apple’s iOS shows an ever-so-slight decline.

Other operating systems, including BlackBerry and Windows Mobile, show sharp declines over the past quarter. Still, BlackBerry is the top mobile OS by the numbers, with around 30% of the total market share.

Last month, Nielsen’s stats showed that Android was the preferred platform of new smartphone buyers, suggesting that big-budget marketing campaigns for devices such as the Droid lineup and HTC’s Evo were paying off.

In fact, Androids outsold iPhones for the first time ever in the first half of 2010.

Nevertheless, these stats still show iOS devices as the leading smartphones in the Android-versus-iPhone battle. Today, Android has 19% of the mobile OS market, while Apple’s iOS smartphones have 28%.


Age also plays a role in which device a given smartphone user is likely to choose. Members of the under-35 crowd were more likely to be seen with an Android than were older folks. And BlackBerry held sway with users over 45. Apple dominated when it came to smartphone users ages 44 and under.



Based on these trends, we fully expect BlackBerry devices to sink below iPhones in popularity within the next quarter. And we’re sure it won’t be too long before Android and iOS are neck-and-neck in competing for smartphone dominance.

Do you think the consumer actions behind these trends are based more on device performance and facts or more on personal bias and marketing? We’d love to get your opinions in the comments.

Header image courtesy of Flickr, jesusbelzunce.

Reviews: Android, Flickr

More About: android, iphone, Nielsen, smartphone, stats, trending

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“Travel + Leisure” Arrives on the iPad

Posted: 02 Nov 2010 04:22 PM PDT


Travel + Leisure magazine has debuted its holiday issue on the iPad, the first issue formatted for the device.

Compared to the current run of magazines available for the iPad, Travel + Leisure is pretty standard. It features all of the same content and formatting as the print version — minus the ads — and with a few additional perks, such as a video tour of 42nd Street in New York with actor/writer/director Andrew McCarthy (which, unfortunately, crashed the app every time I tried to play it — but I trust is lovely), an enthusiastic audio review of six American wines by Wine and Spirits Editor Bruce Schoenfeld (which worked), exclusive slideshows, and four different cover choices.

Interactivity is limited and repetitive, but still useful. Users can click on different maps to identify recommended spots in a travel feature, click to see how the Dead Sea has shrunk in size over the past eighty years, or tab through a number of recommended outfits and gadgets within a single layout. None of it is particularly engaging on, say, the level of Esquire or PopOut! The Tale of Peter Rabbit for the iPad, however.

One thing the app does well is take advantage of web resources. A review of the singing of the Nuns of the Abbaye de Notre Dame de L’Annonciation is greatly enhanced by a link to a YouTube video of the singing. Users can also shop for many of the reviewed products via an in-app browser.

Fans of Travel + Leisure who want to read the magazine on the iPad should be pleased — not least because the first issue of the app is available for free in the App Store [iTunes link]. Subsequent issues will be available for $3.99 beginning next year.

Yet the app will need to do more to pull in fans of well-designed, highly interactive magazine apps like Wired and Popular Mechanics. The photography in Travel + Leisure is truly beautiful, but seems less so without the ability to zoom in and view them in full-screen and horizontal modes. A variety of interactive opportunities, such as quizzes and user-controlled graphics (like 3D models that could be rotated by the user), would likewise make the app more engaging.

How do you like the app? What magazine do you think has best taken advantage of the iPad?

Reviews: App Store, YouTube

More About: ipad, ipad magazine, magazine, media, travel + leisure

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Hands-on With Logitech’s Wireless Solar Keyboard [REVIEW]

Posted: 02 Nov 2010 03:40 PM PDT


Let’s just get two things out of the way: I love Logitech. The K750 is a keyboard.

It won’t change your life. It won’t even even help you type faster. It will, however, allow you to buy a few less batteries, as the K750 is solar powered, just like pretty much every calculator released since 1981.

If you’re thinking, “But, I haven’t changed the battery to my wireless keyboard in forever,” I’m with you. But it doesn’t matter — it’s the future and solar is hot right now.

For its part, the keyboard is about as functional as a keyboard can possibly be. It’s also as flat as a board. The closest the K750 gets to ergonomics is with two little kickstands that pop out the back to prop it at a slight angle. It is wider and easier to type on than pretty much any laptop keyboard out there, but if you’re going to opt for an external typing solution, you should select a device that will help prevent carpal tunnel syndrome. Seriously, it’s no joke.

Unlike many of Logitech’s keyboards, the K750 is a straight Windows keyboard. That doesn’t mean it won’t work with OS X, but the keys are labeled for Windows operations, which means you need to be a very confident typer to bang out text on OS X.

To its credit, the K750 does utilize Logitech’s excellent Unifying receiver. This technology allows multiple devices (like a keyboard and a mouse) through one, tiny wireless receiver. If you have a dozen USB devices (and, let’s face it, who doesn’t?), being able to cut out a few plugs is always welcome.

I said above that I love Logitech. It’s not that the company can do no wrong, it’s just that Logitech often does things very well. The K750 Wireless Solar Keyboard isn’t exactly an exception. By many standards, it’s a fine keyboard. The build quality is solid, the solar technology works well and the keys are responsive.

The problem is more the keyboard itself. There is just nothing special to it. It’s as though someone said, “Hey, we can totally build a solar powered keyboard,” and then, a few months later, the K750 was sitting on my desk. My biggest complaint is that the K750 isn’t a solar powered K350 Wave.

The K350 is an innovative keyboard, because it actually innovated as a keyboard. The wave ergonomic design is unique and typing on it is both faster and more comfortable. The K750’s solar cells are bells and whistles compared to the K350s wave ergonomics.

Solar powered keyboards are a decent idea. There’s no reason to power something with a battery when it can easily absorb light all day. But the idea will have very little general impact until its implemented into a keyboard with a genuinely good design.

That said, if you’re not a heavy typer and you’re just looking for a nice looking keyboard to sit on your desk that never needs batteries, you could do a lot worse than the K750. The rest of you should wait until the next version, when the device, hopefully, gets some ergonomics and a USB port that can charge your mouse via solar power.

The Logitech K750 Wireless Solar Keyboard costs $80 and will be available soon.

How To Win a Logitech Wireless Solar Keyboard K750

We have 12 Logitech K750 keyboards to give away, so after you read what we think about the K750, enter for a chance to win one before they’re available in stores. Here’s how to enter:

Submit your answer by Friday, Nov. 5 at 12 p.m. ET. Please use your real identity in the submission so that we may contact you via e-mail, Twitter or Facebook to let you know that you’ve won. We’ll announce the winners next week after the contest closes. At this time, the contest is limited to those 18 and older in the U.S. and Canada.

Thanks To Our Partners at Logitech

Logitech has been designing and manufacturing interface devices for nearly 30 years, starting with mice in 1981. With products sold in almost every country in the world, Logitech's leadership in innovation now encompasses a wide variety of personal peripherals (both cordless and corded), with special emphasis on products for PC navigation, gaming, Internet communications, digital music and home-entertainment control. Logitech products are distributed in more than 100 countries worldwide.

More About: keyboards, logitech, reviews, solar

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EXCLUSIVE: Join Mashable and SCVNGR to Celebrate the Launch of Rewards in NYC

Posted: 02 Nov 2010 02:39 PM PDT


SCVNGR and Mashable are teaming up at the Gansevoort Park Avenue NYC to celebrate the launch of SCVNGR rewards at more than 50 locations around New York City. The event will be held in The Red Room at the Gansevoort Park Avenue NYC on November 8 at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets are limited, so if you’d like to enjoy some hors d'oeuvres with Mashable, the SCVNGR team and its launch partner, you’re going to need to act fast. And be sure to bring your Android or iOS device to make new friends on SCVNGR and to learn how to unlock rewards around the city.

Limited registrations are available now through Eventbrite.

When: Monday, November 8, 2010 from 7:30 – 9:30 p.m.
Where: Gansevoort Park Avenue NYC, The Red Room, 420 Park Avenue South (at East 29th St — enter through Plunge).
What: Mashable / SCVNGR Rewards Night NYC Launch, hors d'oeuvres and cash bar.
Who: Mashable, SCVNGR, launch partners and you.
RSVP: Limited registration is available through Eventbrite.

Event Partner:

“SCVNGR is a game and playing is easy. Go places. Do challenges. Earn points! Discover cool new places. Do exciting new things. Share what you're up to with your friends. Get free stuff by doing quick, fun challenges at your favorite places as you go about your daily life.”

Event Host:


Food Sponsor:

The event is now at capacity and completely sold out.

More About: Events, geolocations, NYC, scvngr

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2010 Election Tops Obama’s Presidential Win in Online Traffic

Posted: 02 Nov 2010 02:30 PM PDT


It will still be at least a few hours before we know all of the results of today's mid-term elections in the United States, but interest in the proceedings is apparently so high that a long-standing (in Internet time) Web traffic record has already been broken.

According to Akamai's Net Usage Index for News, traffic to 100 top news sites (powered by Akamai's content delivery network) has already peaked at a higher level than Barack Obama's 2008 Presidential election victory – 4.6 million to 4.2 million page views per minute, respectively.

Although still not the biggest Web event of all-time based on Akamai's numbers – several World Cup matches from this past summer caused higher spikes worldwide – it does appear to be a record for a non-sporting event, even surpassing the recent Chilean miner rescue.

Not surprisingly, there's also tons of activity in the social media world surrounding today's events. Hundreds of thousands of tweets expressing everything from civic participation to views on specific issues are streaming in, while more than 20,000 people have already unlocked the "I Voted" badge on Foursquare.

We imagine there could still be a higher peak later on in the day depending on how the news unfolds. Akamai says they'll be continuing to track average streams by the hour on the entire Akamai network, average requests for content by the hour to the entire Akamai network and average page views per minute to news sites by the hour.

Images courtesy of iStockphoto, bns124, chriskocek

Reviews: Internet, World Cup, foursquare, iStockphoto, news

More About: 2010 election, akamai, politics

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4 People Who Let the Crowd Control Their Destiny

Posted: 02 Nov 2010 02:19 PM PDT


Imagine a world in which a convocation of observers made your every decision — from what you eat to what job you hold to who you date. Well, there’s a cadre of people out there who are currently living in such a state, and they’re not players in some lost Orwellian drama. No, they’re members of a burgeoning social media trend: Crowd sourcing your life.

Over the past few months, several projects have emerged that play upon the theme of relinquishing control of one’s life as a form of entertainment: From amateur productions to professionally produced web shows. Each is fascinating in its own right — an intimate glimpse into someone’s life that you as a viewer can actively participate in.

Living in the public eye is nothing new when it comes to web trends. Folks like Justin Kan — of Justin.tv — have been launching projects like this for several years, and reality shows have carved out a sizable niche in the realm of TV programming.

Still, the added element of strapping on the puppet strings and turning over one’s life to the masses makes this trend different from the Jennie Cams of old.

So why the proliferation of projects that tap into the ethos of the masses in order to create entertainment? “We are naturally inclined to like the idea of living someone else’s life or controlling someone else’s life or physically being inside of someone else’s body,” says Jamie Wilkinson of Know Your Meme. “That even goes back to the spookiness of ventriloquism. That theme of control and possession is a really common storytelling trope that touches on human nature.”

Also, the accessibility of the necessary technology has aided in the spread of average people becoming “Internet famous.” Still, novelty is always an issue when you’re aiming to cut through the clutter and emerge as a legitimate addition to the viral firmament.

“Things like that are interesting only when they’re unique,” says Justin Kan. “It’s becoming a lot easier to produce this content. For us, we had to produce [on] this 25-pound broadcasting device [to film Justin.tv]. Now we’re releasing an app that will broadcast from your iPhone or Android. Now more people are able to do this. I think there’s going to be a trend of more people creating video mobiley, on the go.”

We’ve taken a look at four instances of crowd sourcing one’s life — all of which launched around the same time, but include their own set of hardships and rewards. We’ve included glimpses into each project below, demonstrating the stresses and oddities inherent in handing over the reins to the world wide web.

1. David on Demand

David on Demand launched back in June, when David Perez put his life in the hands of his Twitter followers in order to snag the chance to attend the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival in France. Perez works for the ad agency Leo Burnett, who promised to send him to the fest if he undertook said task.

The 29-year-old recruiter agreed to don a pair of glasses complete with webcam, and follow the commands of his Twitter follows via @davidondemand for a full six days, during which he posted video of the proceedings to his website.

The most challenging task? “Have you seen my tattoo? That was a trying challenge,” Perez says. The recruiter got a tat of the Twitter Fail Whale at the behest of his followers. “In all seriousness though, there were more than 3.5 million Tweets coming in through @davidondemand, so it was challenging to keep up. I ended up completing about 20,000 requests. I also drank enough pink wine to kill a small horse.”

Despite the permanent reminder of the whole experiment now scorched into his arm (see the video above), Perez found the experience to be less trying and more eye-opening: “The Internet –- as I affectionately call all the people following the project –- surprisingly treated me wonderfully,” he says. “I went into this guided by the assumption that they would be my tormentors. Quite the opposite. They tweeted me water, a massage, naps, food and a chance to visit the seminars — which was why I was in Cannes…. I am continually floored at how the Internet personified itself. It’s amazing to me that something so deceptively cold could turn itself into a very real and human thing.”

Of course, the whole project was not just about personal discovery — it also served as a form of advertising for Perez’s company (he completed tasks during the conference itself). The idea of hitching one’s wagon to a viral trend is becoming more and more commonplace these days (see: The Old Spice Guy, etc), and Perez sees real promise in such endeavors.

“Crowd sourcing programs like David on Demand are effective for brands because they let people actually interact with brands,” he says. “People are starting to demand more spontaneous, real-time relationships with brands and these types of projects do just that. I think the world also likes being ‘talked to’ and not ‘talked at.’”

2. Dan 3.0

Dan Brown has achieved a goal that many can only dream of: He has leveraged his YouTube presence into a career. Brown first hit the video-sharing scene back in 2007 when he posted a tutorial to YouTube that showed viewers how to solve a Rubik’s Cube. “That won the 2007 YouTube Award for best instructional video; I was 17 years old at the time,” says Brown. “I decided to try to turn video blogging into a career after that and I guess it’s worked.”

This past August, Brown partnered with Internet television network Revision3 to launch a new web show called Dan 3.0, during which the 20-year-old (yup, he’s only 20) plans to record a daily log of his life for one year, the path of which will be left up to the whims of his followers. Revision3 fashioned a “decision engine” for the project, which allows viewers to submit tasks for Brown to execute.

So where did this idea come from? Back in January, Brown found himself in a kind of limbo when it came to novel vlogging ideas. It was 2 a.m. and he was in his customary blogger's uniform — half-naked in a Snuggie — when he came upon a documentary called Us Now, which detailed the state of the Internet, looked to its future, and the collaborative nature of the online space.

Struck by this concept, Brown decided to follow suit, launching a web show where he would take suggestions from viewers on how to live his life. "The more control you can give to communities, the better," he said, explaining the prudence behind letting a gaggle of strangers run the show.

Brown didn’t have that many rules in place when it came to what he was willing to do. “There are a few hard and fast rules,” he says. “1). Can’t change my girlfriend, 2). I’m not going to change my family, 3). They can’t change where I live permanently. 4). I’m not going to break any laws, 5). I’m not going to do anything that has a significant impact on others. We decided that I have veto power, but the agreement is, obviously, if I veto something that the viewers don’t think should be vetoed, I lose credibility.”

“We wanted to show the viewers that I am committed to this,” he says. “It’s not just a fleeting thing. It’s not just a cute little idea. I really am seriously excited about this and it’s a project that I consider to be deeply personal.”

Since the project launched this summer, Brown has hit a few bumps in the road. At one point, he disappeared for a stretch of time, which raised concern and ire among his followers (see above), and he doesn’t exactly update daily. Still, he’s been faithfully documenting of late and has even scored advertisers like Netflix and GoDaddy.

The videos that Brown has been creating, though rather lengthy in web terms, have been captivating. Yes, there’s a hefty amount of complaining and angst in the first few videos but Brown ultimately manages to present a unique coming-of-age narrative — moving into his own place, visiting his girlfriend and muddling through the (perhaps overly ambitious) project that he has locked himself into for an entire year.

Brown doesn’t hide the fact that creating a daily web show is a huge undertaking and that a less-than-polished aesthetic makes the show worth watching. It’s more honest than your average reality show.

3. Dating Brian

We introduced the world to Brian Moore back in July by making fun of his pants. The 23-year-old had just launched a video announcing his intent to date 30 girls in 30 days, all chosen by Twitter and Facebook.

“Even negative press is good press. [My capris] became like a talking point for the project,” Brian told me, after I apologized for the ill-fated crack once the project had wrapped. “It became one of the main talking points, and my [fellow] interns and I laughed about it constantly. There were drawings made of it in the office. Some guy drew a mood chart between sad to happy, and it would show different stages of how far up my pants would be rolled. Sad would be all the way down.”

His pants weren’t the only thing that went viral; the concept of a month of crowd sourced dating spread across the web post haste — which was a good thing for Moore, considering it was part of a project to be completed during his internship at ad agency BBH. The goal of the project? Make something — anything — famous. Needless to say, Moore and his cohorts succeeded.

Still, it wasn’t all about fame for Moore. “I had been in a long relationship that had ended about just over a year ago now,” he says. “So I was single, I had just come to New York. So I thought, why not do something crazy like that?”

“It started as a joke,” he says. “I was with a couple of friends, a couple of my fellow interns, over brunch one day, and I think I actually tweeted it: ‘What if I crowd sourced my dating life?’ Like reality show meets Web 2.0, meets dating, meets performance art, meets me.”

Although Moore — like Brown — got sidetracked a few times during the experiment (he didn’t manage to make a video for every date), he was successful in the end. Still, it was taxing to go on dates, hold down his internship and create videos of every single one of his outings. “If you’re going to be doing something almost reality show-like, and there are people’s integrities on the line, get somebody in between you and that person,” Moore recommends for would-be life bloggers.

“I did everything. I did all the video. I did all the web — the design of everything,” he says. “If it’s going to be something so personal like that, get someone in between that. Because I don’t want to say anything bad about any of my dates or anything like that. You might need to be a bigger a**hole than me to make it more interesting, to keep the drama going — because I just don’t like drama too much.”

And that’s the element that made this experiment so genuine: It could have been a hell of a lot bigger. Moore was even approached by VH1 and MTV, but he preferred to keep the project going on his own terms. “I wanted to keep it as real as possible,” he says. “Because, sure, it’s online, I’m in this internship and everything like that, but behind it all, I’m actually myself. I mean, I wasn’t being anyone different than who I am. Because I know how reality shows are — I wanted to distance myself as far from that personally and the project as a whole as I possibly could.”

Although Moore didn’t actually find love during this endeavor, he did take a lot away from the experience. “The first question that people ask me is: What was the worst date? But there really wasn’t one,” he says. “I got to see all these different parts of New York that I had never seen before and meet a lot of interesting people.”

Moore would even do the whole thing all over again — for someone else, that is. If you’re looking to have a slew of digital matchmakers at your beck and call, hit Moore up.

4. ControlTV

Control TV Image

If you’re still hungering for some crowd sourced action, you’re in luck — there’s currently a professionally made web show on the scene in which a hapless 20-something has relinquished his life to you, the viewers.

The show, which launched on October 6 and will run for six weeks, follows Tristan on his quest for self-improvement… at the hands of the voting public. Tristan’s life is live streamed 24/7 on the ControlTV website and then edited into 3-minute webisodes, which run on the site and across co-producer DBG's content network of 2,600+ sites. Viewers can sign up to be informed of polls that will sway Tristan’s life, and have the opportunity to vote throughout the day on his decisions.

Before the show was even cast, we chatted with executive producer Seth Green about the goal of this project. “This is not Aldous Huxley, this is not Animal Farm. This is a lighthearted premise and we are trusting the audience not to tread dark,” he told us. “It’s comedic, but we want to offer people the opportunity to help this guy improve his life. Find a job, find a girlfriend, figure out who he is in the world and we’re looking for people to offer their opinions and help him.”

So far, episodes have centered around finding a personal trainer, a girlfriend (via Skype conversations with various girls) and a profession (perhaps something in the music business). Tristan, like Dan et al., certainly has his moments of anguish, but the show mostly presents the whole thing as a positive experience. Still, it is a much slicker production — what with the blatant product placements for Snickers and Ford. (Tristan eats a Snickers after every workout, like some kind of highly caloric granola bar.)

The fact that there’s actually a super polished EdTv-esque show out there only contributes to the idea that projects of this nature are gaining traction. “It’s relevant in this moment in time because we as a culture have become judge, jury and executioner of our fellow man in a really interesting way,” says Green. “If you look at the way pop culture has extended and the way the tabloid culture has been [taking] life, people are very interested in the public and private comings and goings of any celebrities and they take on a collective point of view… There’s an interest in making someone do what you want and holding them accountable for what the public feels are the moral standards. So this kind of concept is really relevant in my opinion — in that sense, people are very interested in having some control over another person. Having their opinion be rewarded. Having their perspective and their insight being the law, in a way.”

“We’re just really excited to see what happens,” he says. “This is one of those moments where you stand on the precipice and you hope for the best, but we really just don’t know. And that’s kind of what’s so exciting about it. We have no idea how the audience is going to react to this guy. We have no idea how much they’re actively going to take an interest in making his life better. And we have no idea — within reason, because we’ll have some degree of control of how much this guy is tortured or not — we just don’t know what he’s going to take away from this experience and neither does the guy. And that to me is really exciting.”

More Web Video Resources from Mashable:

- 3 Things Any Video Needs to Go Viral
- 10 Memorable Viral Videos of 2010
- 10 Killer Tips for Creating a Branded YouTube Channel
- 5 Indie Films that Couldn’t Be Made Without Social Media
- 10 Incredibly Inspirational Moments on YouTube [VIDEOS]

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, nataq

Reviews: Android, Facebook, Internet, Justin.tv, Skype, Twitter, YouTube, iPhone, iStockphoto

More About: controltv, crowd sourcing, crowdsourcing, dan-3.0, dating-brian, david-on-demand, facebook, Film, justin-tv, MARKETING, online dating, television, twitter, video, youtube

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37Signals Creates iPad-Only Web App

Posted: 02 Nov 2010 01:38 PM PDT


Collaborative software maker 37Signals has just released its latest web app that works only on the iPad — Chalk.

Using HTML, JavaScript and CSS, Chalk enables users to “draw” their own diagrams, messages or notes on a virtual chalk board and then save those images for sharing with colleagues.

You can access the app by visiting chalk.37signals.com on the iPad. If you think changing the user agent will make Chalk appear on your desktop browser — think again — this app is iPad-only.

As 37Signals explains, the app was inspired by the chalkboards that are on the walls in the team rooms in 37Signals’ new office.

As a proof-of-concept — which is what we really think this is — Chalk is pretty fantastic. You can select either red or white chalk and draw objects or write out text. You can also erase what you’ve created using an “eraser” that is actually in the color/texture that matches the background. That’s a pretty neat way to get around the lack of a standard undo effect inside the web app.

You can choose to “lower the lights” in the app to show a drawing in a more dim setting and you can save the image you create to the iPad’s camera roll for e-mailing or sharing via social networks.

In a lot of ways, Chalk is very similar to 37Signals’ iPad app Draft [iTunes link], which is $9.99 and offers nearly identical functionality. Draft does have the ability to save and create multiple pages (rather than clicking refresh) and has better sharing options (including the ability to post to Campfire), but its interface and “feel” really isn’t any better than what Chalk offers. If anything, we’d say Chalk has a better feel and is easier to draw with than Draft.

To us, that’s actually what is most interesting about this app. In many respects, Chalk offers a functionally identical — if not superior — experience when compared to an iPad app created by the same company. Now this isn’t to say that there aren’t iPad apps that offer a better featureset than Chalk — Ideate, Penultimate and Adobe Ideas are all fantastic — but it does show just what is possible in the world of device-specific mobile apps.

Check out this video the 37Signals Team put together to show off Chalk:

More About: 37signals, chalk, ipad apps, web apps

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Foursquare Now Lets Business Owners Oust Cheating Mayors

Posted: 02 Nov 2010 01:24 PM PDT


Cheaters never prosper. Except in the realm of Foursquare, perhaps, where false checkins can sometimes garner mayorships. Well, those days are over, according to the geolocation service, which is announcing this week that business owners now have the ability to oust mayors who have come by their positions wrongly.

Several months ago, Foursquare aimed to put the kibosh on cheating by using your mobile phone's GPS location to verify your whereabouts, thereby rewarding only those that happen near the actual place in question. That way “armchair mayors” would be foiled, and only the worthy would reap the benefits of mayordom. Sadly, however, said precautions don’t prevent people from checking in near locations in question rather than in those places.

Well, now Foursquare is putting the power in the hands of the business owners, who likely know their “regulars” better than your phone’s GPS does. According to the company: “If a Mayor is flagged by a business owner, they’ll be removed from office immediately and the next user in line will take over as Mayor. We’re still in the very early stages of experimenting with this feature and will most likely be tweaking it based on feedback from business owners.”

The addition of moderation will likely be a welcome addition for businesses — including Mashable HQ, where Brett Petersel has been sitting on the mayorship for months now. Better watch your back, Petersel…

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, dlewis33

Reviews: foursquare, iStockphoto

More About: cheating, foursquare, mayor, money

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An Open Source, HTML5 Framework for iPad E-books

Posted: 02 Nov 2010 01:04 PM PDT


A group of Italian developers has just released a free and open-source framework for creating e-books for the iPad.

The Baker E-book Framework allows designers and developers to turn fixed-width HTML5 pages into an e-book format and publish the finished product. After that, all you need to do is follow the App Store submission guidelines, and you’re on your way to e-book greatness.

To design for the Baker Framework, simply build HTML5 pages with a fixed width of 768 pixels. You can test your HTML versions on an iPad using the Safari browser and iterate accordingly.

Don’t own an iPad? No problem. You can even test your e-book in a regular web browser without an iPad; just download the 768px-support ZIP file from Baker’s site.

E-book files are then packaged in the HPub format. You give Baker one folder containing all your HTML files and other materials, named 1.html, 2.html, etc. The HPub format is still under development; the developers on this project say the final format won’t require every page to be named in this way.

Finally, you download the Baker Framework, rename the Xcode project and include your book and icon. At that point, your e-book is ready for App Store submission.

To see an example of a Baker-created e-book, check out this free title, 5×15 Tokyo [iTunes link]:

“HTML5 is out there,” co-founder Davide Casali wrote us in an e-mail. “Why is nobody really making the convergence between the publishing industry and the web, and why are we confined to those crappy designed epubs?” he asks.

Casali and his team hope their creation will lead to more beautiful e-books and digital magazines on the iPad, and for other WebKit-enabled devices later.

You can download all the Baker Framework files at the official site, and you can get involved with the project itself on GitHub.

Do you think this will lead to more and better designed e-books on the iPad and possibly even play a role in the rise of tablets as e-readers? Let us know what you think of the Baker Framework in the comments.

Reviews: App Store, Safari

More About: e-book, foss, HTML5, ipad, ipad ebook, open source

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More Than 20,000 Foursquare Users Have Earned the “I Voted” Badge So Far

Posted: 02 Nov 2010 12:36 PM PDT


Earlier this year Foursquare announced that you could earn your very own digital “I Voted” sticker by checking in at your polling place and adding #ivoted to your shout. So far, 20,000 of Foursquare’s 4 million users have the badge in question.

As we noted last week, a number of organizations — including Rock the Vote, Pew Center, Google, JESS3 and the Voting Information Project — have partnered up with Foursquare to make this badge possible in 107,000 polling places.

If you head over to Foursquare’s elections site right now, you can see a bunch of stats that pertain to who has voted so far, including the number of checkins per state and the male to female ratio. Unsurprisingly, New York and California are leading the pack for checkins, which makes sense given their active tech scenes.

As we said last week, this project is just the beginning when it comes to integrating Foursquare and politics. Foursquare and its partners hope to use these findings to develop even further advances when the 2012 presidential elections roll around. It will be interesting to see what kinds of stats we can glean as more and more people get hip to geolocation.

Have you checked in to a polling place today?

Reviews: Foursquare, Google, foursquare

More About: election day, foursquare, Google, rock the vote, voting-information-project

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5 Media Format Flops Destined To Be Forgotten [VIDEOS]

Posted: 02 Nov 2010 12:23 PM PDT

MiniDisc Image

As Sony ends production of the audio cassette Walkman, and we witnessed the demise of the 3.5-inch floppy disk only a few months earlier, we got to thinking about formats that haven’t lived to see any meaningful milestones.

Since the first face-off between cylinder and disc records back in the late 1800s, the path of progress has been littered with corpses of failed tech. For every VHS, there’s a BetaMax, as consumer technology companies do battle in format wars.

We’ve taken a light-hearted look at five format flops, and we included some video insight into how they were marketed back in the day.

Have your say in the comments below, and let us know if you have ever used (or still do use!) one of the formats we’ve highlighted. Share your thoughts about what you think the industry has learned (if anything!) from its various format fails.


1. LaserDisc


Despite offering consumers a better resolution than home video rival VHS, the LaserDisc format had a few character flaws that made it a flop in the U.S. and Europe, although it did enjoy some success in the Far East.

Introduced in 1978 by MCA as the magnificently monikered "DiscoVision," the format enjoyed big-brand backing, including Philips and Pioneer, but was beaten by VHS' successor and ultimately the prevalent home video format today -- the good old DVD.

In addition to the high cost of the players and discs, those above-mentioned flaws included the need to turn over some discs half way through a film, that unwieldy 12-inch diameter that made the discs easy to damage, and the fact that, unlike VHS, you could not record to LaserDisc.

Meanwhile, an epidemic of so-called "laser rot," in which the discs were reported to develop a nasty rash and become unplayable certainly didn't help win the PR war.

Bonus Fact: Jaws was the first title pressed by DiscoVision in a full production run in 1978.


2. MiniDisc


In the early 1990s, Sony offered consumers a digital upgrade to the audio cassette tape with the MiniDisc, which provided up to 80 minutes of digital audio with fast seek times, a low skip risk and the big selling point of being re-recordable before CDs were.

Other big-name Japanese manufacturers got on board with players of their own, and although well-received by music fans, few record labels got behind the format, meaning little pre-recorded content was available. And integration into home stereo systems was also low.

The restrictive Sony software, with its ATRAC encoding, and the high cost of the kit primarily marketed to teenagers who couldn't afford it anyway meant that the MiniDisc was solely in the purview of the true fan.

Bonus Fact: The MiniDisc was rivaled by Philips' Digital Compact Cassette, which fared even worse.


3. Zip Drive


Zip drives filled a gap in the mid 90s market between 3.5-inch floppy disks and writable CDs, a good few years before USB flash drives were a twinkle in IBM's eye.

Launched by Iomega and offering a staggering 100 MB of storage (which was the equivalent of carrying around a shoebox full of floppy disks), the affordable disks enjoyed a period of popularity, with Apple one notable company that adopted the tech with built-in internal drives.

In the late 90s however, Iomega suffered some bad press with a "Click of Death" class action lawsuit brought against it for Zip drive failures. At the same time, CDs were becoming more attractive to consumers and just a few years later, Zip drives were virtually obsolete, although today Iomega will still sell you a 250MB version for $11.99.

Bonus Fact: At the time of launch, a 100 MB Zip drive offered the equivalent storage of approximately 70 floppy disks.


4. Super Audio CD/DVD-Audio


The main problem that both of these rival "audiophile" formats face is that people do not actually want them. The average consumer is still content with CDs, digital downloads or even the odd bit of vinyl, all of which offer decent enough audio quality in the home or car.

Requiring a 5.1 channel surround sound set-up, and special (read: expensive) hardware, neither format has taken off in any kind of meaningful way.

Super Audio CD comes from Sony and Philips and has been around since 1999. It offers a higher sampling rate and wider frequency and dynamic range than a normal CD and has found very limited success with classical music recordings. DVD-Audio hit the market a year later and boasts similar sound quality improvement, as well as greater storage capacity.

Although neither format has yet been declared officially dead, we wouldn't bank on either of them being around at the end of this decade.

Bonus Fact: Early PlayStation 3 models boasted playback of Super Audio CDs, a feature later dropped from the spec list.


5. HD DVD


HD DVD was one of two next-gen home cinema optical disc formats that offered greater capacity (and therefore better image resolution), sound quality and potential for bonus content that vied to be the successor to the popular, but aging DVD format.

Still fresh in the memories of many, the HD DVD versus Blu-ray fight was the format war of the naughts, a bitterly fought battle involving tech companies, retailers and movie studios that did the average confused consumer no favors at all.

Toshiba's High Definition DVD was the more logical successor of the DVD format, was more affordable, beat Blu-ray to market and was a more stable platform in the early days. But it ultimately lost out to the Blu team, which was bolstered by the PlayStation 3's inclusion of a Blu-ray disk drive.

After some major political moves by movie studios, most notably Warner Bros., Toshiba declared defeat in 2008, paving the way for Blu-ray to become the next-gen movie disk standard, although many question how long optical media has got left in a world of digital downloads.

Bonus Fact: At one point Warner Bros. proposed "Total Hi Def" - a disc with a Blu-ray format on one side and HD DVD on the other - as a solution to the format war.

More Gadget Resources from Mashable:

- 5 Vintage Apple Products That Time Forgot [PICS]
- Top 10 Modern Gadgets with Retro Styling [PICS]
- 10 Vintage Apple Ads That Time Forgot [VIDEOS]
- 10 Awesome Vintage Video Games You Can Play Online
- The Evolution of the Apple Mouse [PICS]

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, kemie

Reviews: iStockphoto

More About: advertising, blu-ray, commercials, gadgets, galleries, gallery, hd dvd, iomega, List, Lists, retro, sony, tech, video, videos

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Election Day: Who’s Getting the Most Buzz on Twitter?

Posted: 02 Nov 2010 12:07 PM PDT


Who’s getting the most buzz on Twitter this Election Day? Democrats? Republicans? How’s the Tea Party doing?

Twitter has become the de facto pulse-check system for many of us during times of crisis, celebration and decision making. Here’s some hard numbers — and some cool visualizations — of what Americans are talking about on Election Day.

Not surprisingly, the biggest topics (by keyword) that we’ve examined are politically neutral.

Twitter users are simply encouraging others to go out and vote… or they are making sarcastic comments about the perceived futility of voting or expressing dismay about the two-party system.

One interesting note on keywords: The Washington Post actually bought the hashtag #Election as a promoted trend, which now links to the newspaper’s online political coverage.

In fact, many of the top tweets today center around voting. However, most of the highly retweeted, election-related tweets are anything but encouraging and lean toward out-and-out cynicism or simply a lighthearted attitude toward voting:

And this image from Twitpic is making the rounds, as well:

Despite our stated indifference and irony, however, Americans are talking a lot about political issues, political parties and other election-related topics. Here’s a breakdown of some keywords about the election; this graph shows the number of tweets from the past 24 hours (data provided by Topsy).

As you can see, the issues at hand are getting more attention than individual political parties or even political right/left leanings. Surprisingly, the Tea Party is getting more buzz than either traditional political party, but this graph doesn’t account for sentiment.

We turned to Twitter Sentiment to get some idea of how Americans feel about the parties on Election Day. While many of the Tea Party tweets are disparaging (calling these political participants “wackos” seems common) or cynical (suggesting that a Tea Party vote does little to change the political process), tweets about Democrats and Republicans show a more balanced and typically American picture:

Finally, here’s a cool, Twitter-driven visualization of red-and-blue themed tweets from around the country, brought to you by The New York Times. This interactive module shows tweets about candidates running for governor or the U.S. Senate. You can even search for tweets about your candidates.

Will you be voting today? Have you shared your political preferences with your social networks online? In the comments, let us know what you think about how the web is — or isn’t — changing the American political process.

Image courtesy of Twitpic, adamcurry

Reviews: Twitpic, Twitter

More About: democrats, election, election day, News, politics, republicans, social media, twitter

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Facebook and Electronic Arts Sign Social Gaming Pact

Posted: 02 Nov 2010 11:07 AM PDT


Electronic Arts has just entered into a five-year strategic relationship with Facebook. Under the agreement, Facebook Credits will become the exclusive payment method for EA games on Facebook.

EA is undoubtedly feeling some heat from Zynga, the ever-growing startup that is reportedly now more valuable than EA.

EA acquired Playfish last year for a reported $400 million but has only just started to really embrace Facebook as a gaming platform. Thus far, EA has successfully ported its Madden and FIFA franchises to Facebook with Madden NFL Superstars and FIFA Superstars.

EA is also looking to bring its large catalog of successful gaming brands to the world’s largest social network, including Monopoly.

In addition, the gaming company is beta-testing its Pogo Games for Facebook app. This app will let players access approximately 20 games from one location, including Scrabble (in the U.S. and Canada), Boggle and Poppit!. This is where we think EA will have the most success. Pogo has a pretty big arsenal of addictive puzzle and board games that could prove quite popular on Facebook.

Having stronger integration with Facebook — which the agreement to utilize Facebook Credits certainly reinforces — will go a long way toward making EA a bigger name in social gaming.

Reviews: Facebook, scrabble

More About: EA, electronic arts, facebook, social gaming, Zynga

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What to Consider When Building an In-House Social Media Team

Posted: 02 Nov 2010 10:34 AM PDT


The Social Media Marketing Series is supported by Webtrends Apps, which lets you quickly create and publish Facebook, iPhone, iPad and Android apps. Learn more about it here or keep up with all Webtrends Social products by following its blog.

Building any kind of team is a challenge, but pulling together the people who are going to represent your company in the social media arena is a particularly tricky task.

What is the ultimate purpose of your social media team? Do you hire experts from outside the company or utilize existing employees? What do you look for in a social media executive?

We talked to professionals who have gone through the process — from big global businesses to small companies — to try and find some answers to these questions.

Have a read of their advice and let us know any useful experiences you’ve had in the comments below.

1. Set Clear Goals

Before you consider the question of who, you need to have already established the answer to why?

“Firstly, before you set up a team, you have to be clear who you want to talk to and engage with and what your internal goals are,” says Jakub Hrabovsky, head of web relations for Vodafone UK. “Is your main aim to entertain and engage, or are you considering using social media as a sales channel? You should be clear on what you want to measure. Engagement levels, buzz and sentiment or an increase in the number of sales — or perhaps both?”

Hrabovsky also points out that your social media team members will also need to be able to help customers — they may be the point of call that connected consumers head to. “If you’re a consumer-facing organization, you should include a customer care element to complement your social engagement team as well.”

2. Create a Social Media Policy First

Every company with a presence in the social space should have a social media policy, even if it’s just a few lines advising employees how you’d prefer they reference your brand online.

Creating a social media policy before you get a team in place will help you in deciding who to employ to implement it.

“Be sure you have a social media policy in place, so that your team is clear on how the company wishes to be portrayed in the space. A social media policy should be available to all staff too,” advises Dave Delaney, marketing specialist, online communications and promotions at Griffin Technology.

“You should first consider how you want your brand represented. Your social media team is going to be speaking for your brand, so it’s important that they are able to communicate in a way that shows the personality of your company,” says Kristen Studard, social media coordinator at Threadless.

“At Threadless we’re a very friendly laid-back company and we’re very excited about our products, which is why we use so many exclamation points in our tweets and status updates.”

If you are going down the friendly, excited, exclamation points route with your social media policy, then be sure to hire people who will find it easy to express themselves that way; if you’re aiming for a more staid, professional approach, then don’t pick someone who can’t pen a line without adding a smiley at the end.

3. Should You Recruit Internally or Externally?

The biggest question facing anyone working to create an in-house social media team is whether you should pull people from other areas of the organization — after all, they know the brand — or turn to outside “experts” who have a great grasp of the social space.

In an ideal world, says Vodafone’s Hrabovsky, you might be able to utilize existing internal experts.

“Ideally your social media team should include people who have had social media experience and it’s very likely these are already in your organization. The advantage is that internal hires know the company’s products and services, which is crucial for responding with the speed and accuracy the social media/online environment requires.”

Studard agrees. “The people you want on your social media team are the same people you’d want talking about your brand at a party — naturally social people who love your brand. Find the social media-savvy people who already work for you and are passionate about your brand and you’re onto something.”

Dell has likewise had success with recruiting from within the ranks. Kerry Bridge, head of digital media communications for Dell’s EMEA & global public sector, shares her experiences:

“We have found many Dell employees who were already participating in social media in their personal lives also had the desire and ability to listen and engage on behalf of Dell, too. Social media enthusiasts exist within every organization and common traits make them easily identifiable.

“Firstly, these people will be ‘early adopters’ of social media. They will be actively using multiple social media tools and will already have mastered the appropriate way to behave and build relationships within several networks. They will also tend to be natural conversationalists and passionate about a personal area of interest, actively engaging in conversations and networks around that, possibly even writing a personal blog.”

Even our own community manager at Mashable, Vadim Lavrusik, advocates hiring evangelists.

“Hire people that practice what they preach,” Lavrusik says. “This can be grabbing people internally who understand the company and would do well to represent it, but also from outside the company who would be great advocates of the company, product or platform. Hiring people who love the company that they represent will usually make them more knowledgeable of the company’s inner workings, making them strong candidates to represent it in the social space.”

4. Essential Skills to Look For

Passion for the brand and knowledge of the social space aren’t the only qualities that you need to look out for; there are other skills that a social media exec should boast.

“A social media team should have at least one person that knows their numbers and stats. Stats are crucial in not only measuring performance or ROI, but also in understanding your community and what they respond to, what works for them,” says Lavrusik. “Ideally, everyone on the team is comfortable enough to handle data and stats that are presented to them and be able to interpret what they mean.”

Bridge suggests considering the main functions of the job, when considering who might fill that role.

“Social and communication skills need to be accompanied with business skills, which will differ depending on what business objectives you are looking to achieve. Common skills to look for would be customer advocacy, writing skills, editorial planning and reporting,” says Bridge.

“For example if you are looking for someone to engage with customers on blogs and Twitter, then the customer listening and engaging skills would be paramount, however if you were looking for a blog manager, then editorial and writing skill should be prioritized,” says Bridge.

You also want people who pay great attention to detail and have the ability to manage several things at once. Patrick Parker, social media coordinator at Courant.com says, “Social media team members need to have multi-tasking down to a science.”

“Hire people who have OCD — I joke but am serious about this one at the same time,” says Lavrusik.

“You want people who are obsessed with detail but at the same time can be highly efficient and productive,” says Lavrusik. “That’s a tough balance. You want someone who pays attention to the detail of their content, strategy, message and projects, but also someone who can do it quickly. There’s nothing worse than having someone who writes sloppily and is updating a social profile with grammatical and punctuation errors. Platforms like Twitter aren’t just micro-blogging, [they're] micro-publishing.”

5. Stay Committed

Finally, remember creating your policy and building up your team are just the beginning. You need to be thinking long term.

“The most important thing is commitment,” says Hrabovsky. “Social media and online engagement isn’t something you can turn on and off at your discretion. Once you start listening and talking to your target audiences, they will expect you to be there for them every day, and to be successful you have to do just that. Don’t build a faceless presence — select the right people for the job, because they will be the voices and faces of your company online.”

And don’t forget that even the most suitable candidate needs ongoing development and possibly even further training, something that Dell is committed to.

“At Dell we send interested employees back to school: Social Media and Communities University,” says Bridge. “After they are given an overview of our principles and policies, employees decide which tools will enable them to have better connections and conversations with our customers. Social media gives Dell more opportunities to listen, connect and engage than ever before.”

These are just five topics you should consider when building an in-house social media team. Add your own thoughts in the comments below.

Series Supported by Webtrends

The Social Media Marketing Series is supported by Webtrends Apps, which lets you quickly create and publish Facebook, iPhone, iPad and Android apps. Learn more about it here or keep up with all Webtrends Social products by following its blog.

More Business Resources from Mashable:

- 4 Winning Strategies for Social Media Optimization
- 6 Ways to Recruit Talent for Startups
- 10 Essential Tips for Building Your Small Biz Team
- Should Your Company Have a Chief Marketing Technologist?
- 5 Big Social Media Questions from Small Business Owners

Images courtesy of Flickr, Mulad; Flickr, Håkan Dahlström; Dr. Seuss; Flickr, JanneM

Reviews: Android, Facebook, Flickr, Mashable, Twitter, blog, social media

More About: business, dell, in-house social media team, MARKETING, online marketing, recruitment, small business, social media, social media marketing, Social Media Marketing Series, social media team, threadless, vodafone

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Facebook Status Updates Tell the Story of Romance Gone Awry [INFOGRAPHIC]

Posted: 02 Nov 2010 10:00 AM PDT


A very interesting data visualization from infographic wizard David McCandless is making its way around the web, depicting the most common times a year that people break up — via Facebook status updates.

McCandless whipped out the chart during a TED talk this past summer. Apparently, he and his team scraped 10,000 status updates for the phrases “break up” and “broken up,” and made the following discoveries: 1). A ton of people break up before social occasions like Spring Break and the summer, 2). Mondays aren’t just the start of the work week — there’re the end of many a relationship, 3). People have the decency not to dump their significant others on Christmas Day.

The above chart is just another addition to a growing canon of information depicting both Facebook’s effect on — and role in — the dating realm. In the past, we have explored the negative effects of Facebook on one’s romantic life, as well as how some people use the social networking site to end things.

What effect — if any — has Facebook had on your dating life?

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, A1Stock

Reviews: Facebook, iStockphoto

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Join Mashable at CES (Mashable Awards)

Posted: 02 Nov 2010 09:50 AM PDT


The Mashable team will be at the 2011 International CES Convention Week in Las Vegas, NV and we’d love for you to join us! We’ll have our teams on the ground and the exhibit floor. We’ll be bringing you the latest news, interviews and livestreams from all of the hottest keynotes, booths and conference sessions.

Kicking off the opening night, Thursday, January 6, 2011, Mashable will host our 2nd Mashable Awards Gala at the Cirque du Soleil Zumanity stage at the New York New York hotel. There are a limited number of tickets available.

Thanks to our partner, CES, if you haven’t secured your registration yet and you are in the consumer electronics industry, you’ll receive FREE registration with priority code MSHB!

The Mashable Awards Gala at Cirque du Soleil Zumanity (Vegas)

In partnership with Cirque du Soleil, The Mashable Awards Gala event will bring together the winners and nominees, the Mashable community, partners, media, the marketing community, consumer electronics and technology brands and attendees from the 2011 International CES Convention to Las Vegas on Thursday, January 6, 2011. 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.

Date: Thursday, January 6, 2011 (during International CES Convention week)
Time: 7:00 – 10:00 p.m. PT
Location: Cirque du Soleil Zumanity, New York New York Hotel, Las Vegas
Agenda: Networking, open bars, acts, surprises and the Mashable Awards Gala presentations
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Socialize: Facebook, Foursquare, Meetup, Plancast, Twitter (Hashtag: #MashableAwards)

Sponsorships are available. Please contact sponsorships@mashable.com for more information.

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

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Mashable Awards Gala Partner:

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From a group of 20 street performers at its beginnings in 1984, Cirque du Soleil is now a global entertainment organization providing high-quality artistic entertainment. The company has more than 5,000 employees, including more than 1,200 artists from close to 50 different countries.

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

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Join us at the 2011 International CES®, the global platform for inspired ideas and innovation. With 2,500 exhibitors, CES continues to be the world's largest consumer technology tradeshow and always reflects the dynamic consumer electronics industry. The International CES is not open to the general public and all attendees must be in the CE industry to be eligible to attend the show. Register FREE for the 2011 CES with priority code MSHB, an exclusive promotion for Mashable readers.

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About Research In Motion (RIM)
Research In Motion is a leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of innovative wireless solutions for the worldwide mobile communications market. Through the development of integrated hardware, software and services that support multiple wireless network standards, RIM provides platforms and solutions for seamless access to time-sensitive information including email, phone, SMS messaging, Internet and intranet-based applications including the BlackBerry wireless platform. For the latest on BlackBerry products join us at www.facebook.com/BlackBerry.

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Aro Mobile is an intelligent mobile experience that includes better email, connected contacts, smarter calendar and improved browsing.

The Aro system automatically learns what's important in your life — the people, places, dates and organizations you care about most. In your communications, Aro automatically identifies people, places, events, dates, organizations and locations. From any recognized term, Aro offers quick action menus to speed up your day.

The unique Aro experience is powered by advanced web services: next generation natural language processing and semantic data analytics services. Aro gives you the power to see through the clutter and focus your mobile life.

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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.

Reviews: Facebook, Foursquare, Internet, Mashable, Twitter

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Partial Flash Support Comes to iPhone via Skyfire Mobile Browser

Posted: 02 Nov 2010 09:29 AM PDT


Mobile web browser SkyFire has been approved by Apple and is coming to the App Store on Thursday for $2.99, according to CNNMoney.

SkyFire can convert Flash videos — which the iPhone normally cannot display — into HTML5 on SkyFire’s servers, making it possible to view said videos on the iPhone after a short delay.

SkyFire has been around for a couple of years; after an extensive testing period, it originally launched for Windows Mobile and Symbian devices, later expanding to Android and now, finally, iOS.

Unfortunately, the technique doesn’t work with Flash games and other non-video Flash content, CNNMoney claims. It also won’t work with Hulu, which has banned SkyFire — likely because it only works in the U.S. and charges $10 per month for its Hulu Plus subscription, which allows users to access video via mobile devices.

Still, SkyFire sounds like a really nice alternative to the default iPhone browser; whenever you encounter a Flash video that you simply must see on your iPhone, SkyFire is pretty much the only viable option out there.

Check out a video preview of the SkyFire 2.0 browser for iPhone, recorded in August, below:

Reviews: Android, Hulu, Skyfire

More About: apple, browser, Flash, iOS, iphone, Mobile 2.0, Skyfire

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“Good Housekeeping” Gets the iPhone Treatment

Posted: 02 Nov 2010 09:04 AM PDT


Hearst and Zumobi have teamed up to bring Good Housekeeping to the iPhone with the new app, Good Housekeeping @Home.

The app, which is free, is the first iPhone application from Good Housekeeping. The app isn’t simply a reproduction of the print magazine, however; instead, it displays tips and ideas on cleaning, stain removal and home decor that is better suited to the iOS environment.

Good Housekeeping was founded in 1885 and reaches about 25 million readers per month. One of the things the magazine is known for is its Stain Buster tool, an encyclopedic reference of best advice for removing stains from fabric, upholstery and carpet.

The app includes complete access to this resource and you can search for specific stain types or browse through various types of stains from A to Z. You can then find out information for removing stains from the three different surface types and you can share those methods via Facebook, Twitter or e-mail.

The app also includes access to more general cleaning advice for cleaning wood floors, computers and electronics, marble countertops, etc.

A feature we really like is the ability to view 5,000 products that have won the Good Housekeeping Seal or the Green Good Housekeeping Seal. You can also browse the home decor gallery to get decorating ideas and inspiration.

Making Apps That Attract Advertisers

We spoke with Zumobi’s CEO Ken Willner about the app, Zumobi’s vision for bringing media to mobile devices and the importance of creating apps with replay value.

Zumobi’s other apps include Iron Man for iPhone, MSNBC.com’s app, the TLC app, The Today Show app and the Rachel Maddow app. As CEO Ken Wilner explained to us, Zumobi’s goal is to make apps that are unique, offer value and keep users coming back.

That’s a pretty common goal for mobile application developers — but what we find interesting about Zumobi is that the company is focused on creating apps that can have strong, natural tie-ins for advertising.

Rather than using traditional ad networks like AdMob or even Apple’s iAds service, Zumobi has its own BrandBlast advertising platform.

In a lot of ways, you could say that what BrandBlast does is a more targeted version of Apple’s hopes for iAds. Zumobi is able to create app-within-an-app experiences that are targeted and designed for the same people that are using the app.

For instance, the first advertiser for the Good Housekeeping @Home app is Macy’s. If you tap on the “Presented by Macy’s” logo in the top right-hand corner of the app, it takes you to a new interface that is very similar to Macy’s official iShop app and its mobile-optimized website. The “ad” shows you deals, coupons, free shipping offers and makes it easy to shop.

This is actually a very effective way of advertising because Macy’s is able to target its core audience — women — while users of the app aren’t getting inundated with unrelated advertising. It’s subtle and useful.

Because user retention is important for both the media companies and the advertisers involved in the app, Wilner told us that Zumobi evaluates its slate of apps at least once a quarter to see what’s working, what’s not, and what can be improved to make the applications more useful for users.

Apps to the Future

As Wilner and I discussed, the rate at which publishers, content creators and traditional media companies are embracing mobile platforms like the iPhone, Android and tablets like the iPad is in stark contrast to the relatively slow adoption of the web by those same companies.

Part of this, of course, is because the ongoing success of the web has taught content companies that you can’t put off adopting the next big forms of media.

Still, we can’t help but think that mobile applications go beyond just being an extension of the web. As we’ve noted in our discussions about the reinvention of print, what makes these applications unique is that they can provide an experience and a utility that goes beyond what is on a website or what is on a printed page or what you see on TV.

The fact that I can have an app with a rolodex of ways to get out stains when I accidentally knock over a two liter bottle of soda onto the carpet is something that goes beyond what’s available via magazine or on a website.

Likewise, the ability of so many applications to provide location-specific information via GPS is what makes mobile such a different sort of space.

It’s exciting to see mobile app makers and publishers working together to evolve content for these new mediums.

Reviews: Android, Facebook, Twitter, Zumobi

More About: good housekeeping, hearst, iphone apps, media, zumobi

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“Sesame Street” Does “There’s an App for That!” [VIDEO]

Posted: 02 Nov 2010 08:41 AM PDT

We know the Mash audience are big fans of Muppets and puppets, so when we saw this little vid this morning featuring the fictional “iPogo,” we couldn’t resist sharing — even if it does kinda teach children to be multitasking layabouts.

The Sesame Street crew has been all over the tech and social media scene of late — spoofing on the Old Spice campaign, rolling out an e-bookstore and parodying the commercials for yet another Apple product, the iPod.

We’re not really sure why the folks over at S-Street chose to merge an iPhone with the rather archaic pogo stick — seriously, when was the last time a kid played with one of those? But this simple tune is sure to rattle around your cranium for the rest of the day. You’re welcome.

Reviews: iPhone

More About: humor, iphone, ipod, pop culture, sesame street, television, video, viral video, youtube

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HOW TO: Gain Twitter Influence

Posted: 02 Nov 2010 08:16 AM PDT


The Digital Influencers Series is supported by Waggener Edstrom Worldwide (WE). To learn how to measure influence, visit http://waggeneredstrom.com/driveinfluence.

follow meGuy Kawasaki and Robert Scoble have vastly different philosophies when it comes to gathering Twitter followers. Kawasaki puts his bluntly: "My strategy is that Twitter is a marketing broadcast platform, and so the way it gets to be the best platform you could have is to have as many different followers as possible, which to put it mildly, is radically different from most people — who believe they should have a Kumbaya soulful experience with every follower."

Scoble, on the other hand, is more of a quality over quantity kind of guy: "Caring about number of followers is going to take you down a path that's not very satisfying…Even if you get the numbers, if you're surrounded by a million [jerks], is that as much fun as being surrounded by a thousand brilliant, fun, great people?"

Both Kawasaki — the co-founder of media aggregation site Alltop, author of nine books, and former Apple Fellow who uses Twitter to broadcast the interesting articles collected at Alltop — and Scoble, a blogger who has carved out a niche in world-changing technologies, have met their own definitions of success. Kawasaki has more than 300,000 followers on Twitter. Scoble has about 146,500 and a Klout score higher than Lady Gaga's (though she does admittedly have roughly a 6.5 million person lead in number of followers).

We spoke with Kawasaki and Scoble to get their keys to Twitter success. Here's what their advice had in common.

1. Aim for a Reasonable Goal

lady_gaga

There are two ways people end up with millions of Twitter followers. One of them is to be Lady Gaga or Justin Bieber kind of famous. The other is to have been lucky enough to be included on one of Twitter’s early “suggested” lists. Assuming that you aren’t a celebrity, neither of these is an option (Twitter has done away with the suggestion feature that laid the foundation for many a blockbuster Twitter account). Don’t try to get 1 million followers. Instead, aim for a more reasonable goal.

Kawasaki puts the critical mass of Twitter users at about 5,000. “For me, with a 300,000 follower base, when I ask a question…I will get 20 answers,” Kawasaki says. “I think if I had 5,000 followers, I would get one or two answers, which is all I really need. I think 5,000 is a good number. Any less and you're not really at critical mass, you don't have a breadth and diversity of followers. Any more and it starts becoming a full-time job to keep them happy.”

Instead of setting out to compete with Lady Gaga for the highest number of followers, both Kawasaki and Scoble suggest looking elsewhere for signs of success. “Are you dominating the conversation about a niche? Or are you even involved? If you want to be the place for discussing cookies, and whenever I do a search for cookies I don't see your name, that means you don't have influence,” Scoble says. “If I do see your name, you're part of the conversation, people are reacting to you, and you have lots of followers who are cookie makers — if Ghirardelli Square is following you and you have a conversation with Ghiradelli Square about chocolate and cookies — then I would say you are getting to the point when you have influence.”

Consider how many people retweet you, what Twitter Lists you’re on, and how many people check out the sources that you recommend when deciding how much influence you have. Sites like Klout and PeerIndex attempt to assign this quality a number, but Scoble suggests not relying on these metrics, either.

“If you can get to 1,000 people who are crazy about what you’re crazy about, that’s pretty cool,” he says.

2. Put in Some Quality Time

clock

You wouldn’t expect to master basketball by shooting a Nerf ball through your cubicle hoop a couple of times a day, so don’t expect to get good at Twitter without some effort.

“For me, it’s not a sort of casual, drop-by whatever,” Kawasaki says. “It is a core of my function to tweet and get followers. It’s not a hobby for me, nor is it is a diversion.”

Kawasaki writes about 100 tweets a day, most of which drive traffic to Alltop. He may be an extreme example, but the point holds true for any of the non-celebrity among us. In order to attract and maintain followers, you need to work at giving them consistent, interesting information.

3. Pick a Niche

unique

If you want to be known as the source for a certain topic on Twitter, make it a very specific topic. Scoble suggests starting out by thinking about what you’re passionate about. “If that's politics,” he says, “you have a lot of competition. There's…tons of sites and media companies that talk about politics. So being recognized as somebody who is credible in politics is really tough…But it's not so hard to be credible on something really, really small and very, very niche.”

In other words, don’t pick “politicians;” pick “republicans who wear blue ties.” Don’t pick “wine;” pick “merlots.” Scoble points to All Facebook as an example of this strategy in action. When this site launched, larger sites were already established as the go-to sources for the tech space as a whole. All Facebook built a reputation by becoming the go-to source for specifically Facebook news.

“Once you get recognized that you're good at covering a small niche,” Scoble says. “Then you can build out your brand and talk about other things.”

4. Keep Your Tweets Relevant to Your Niche

Bullseye

“The reason why people follow me is not because I'm some kind of hot babe,” Kawasaki says. “It's because I provide interesting links.”

If you’re not a celebrity, you need to be interesting in order to get people to follow you. And the only way to be consistently interesting is to find interesting things. More specifically, you need to find interesting things that fit your niche.

“It's not clear that you want Lance Armstrong to be finding interesting things about thermonuclear dynamics,” Kawasaki says. “But if Lance Armstrong found an interesting link about fighting cancer or riding bikes, a lot of people would find that interesting and retweet him.”

5. Respond in Order to Engage

follow me

Kawasaki always tries to respond to his Twitter followers. “I think that one has a moral obligation,” he says. “If someone asks you a question, then it's rude not to answer. That's at one level. The next level is that [responding] helps you get even more followers because people see that you are interacting with someone that they follow, and also it gives the person that you responded to added motivation to tell other people to follow you.”

Though Scoble isn’t able to respond to 100% of what is tweeted at him, he does make an effort to respond to about 80%. “If you are [able to respond to a majority of tweets], that's great,” he says. “That will get more people to engage with you, because they know that you are listening. And when they engage with you, they send more followers, because they're talking about you with your Twitter handle.”

Series Supported by Waggener Edstrom Worldwide

The Digital Influencers Series is supported by Waggener Edstrom Worldwide (WE). How do you measure your brand's influence in fast-moving online mediums? Winning and maintaining social influence demands ongoing measurement of conversations, trends and responses. Waggener Edstrom Worldwide finds the most influential voices that have the biggest impact on campaigns. To learn how to measure influence, visit http://waggeneredstrom.com/driveinfluence.

More Social Media Resources from Mashable:

- HOW TO: Become a Foursquare Power User
- 5 Most Engaged Brands in Social Media
- 5 Ways to Get a Job Through YouTube
- 17 Web Resources to Help You Decide on Election Day
- How Job Seekers May Use Social Media in the Future

Images courtesy of iStockphoto, Bibigon,lammeyer, redmal, DeanProductions

Reviews: Facebook, Twitter, blogger, iStockphoto, justin bieber

More About: Digital Influencers Series, followers, guy kawasaki, influence, influencers, Kawasaki, online influence, online influencers, robert scoble, twitter, Twitter strategy

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Give Your Friends Amazon Gift Cards via Facebook

Posted: 02 Nov 2010 07:35 AM PDT


Giving the gift of Amazon credit just got a bit more social, with the e-commerce giant adding a feature that allows you to buy gift cards for your Facebook friends and have them delivered via Facebook wall.

The feature works much as you'd expect. Head over to Amazon's gift card creator where a new "Facebook" tab is available, in addition to the traditional options of snail mail, print and e-mail.

From there, connect to your Facebook account and you'll be able to select the gift card recipient from your friend's list, the amount and delivery date. You can also enter a personalized message and choose from a number of different card designs.

Once your friend accepts the gift, it will show up on his or her Facebook wall as such:

To encourage some early usage of the feature, Amazon is giving away $5 gift cards to the first 10,000 customers that give an MP3-themed gift card to five of their friends.

While that's a nice promotion, we can see the feature gaining plenty of steam on its own as a last-minute gift option that — much like the Facebook gift cards that Starbucks now offers — is a bit more personal than an e-mail. It's also the latest tie up between Facebook and Amazon, who already work together to provide recommendations based on your social networking profile information.

Reviews: Facebook

More About: amazon, facebook, gift cards, Gifts

For more Social Media coverage:

9 iPhone Apps for Managing the Recruiting Process

Posted: 02 Nov 2010 07:30 AM PDT


This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

Typically when businesses decide they need to hire someone, they want to hire as soon as possible. So, time is of the essence in getting the position filled (with the right person, of course). When a single open job listing can yield hundreds of candidates, being able to manage the recruiting process becomes key.

Neither companies nor candidates want to be burdened with a bunch of administration. Instead of creating new processes or downloading a bunch of new apps, here are some iPhone apps you might already have that can help you manage the recruiting process.

Let us know in the comments below which mobile apps you use to streamline your company’s recruiting process.

Networking

You're at a networking event and meet someone who might be a good fit for your organization. You have a handful of business cards and could simply hand one over. But if that person already seems like a great lead, you probably want his or her information handy. Bump (free) is a useful app that allows you to swap contact info with another iPhone user by just bumping your phones together.

A similar app called SnapDat (free) allows you to store an electronic business card and send it via your phone. What's handy about SnapDat is you can set up a specific card for recruiting and only send out that card. For example, if you want to have a specific e-mail address set up just for candidates to send you resumes, you can include that on a special card.

If neither one of those work for you, BC Reader ($3.99) is a very handy business card reader that can be especially helpful if you’re at a conference. If someone only has a couple of business cards left, you can be a hero by simply scanning the card without taking the last one.

For some more suggestions on managing contacts, check out these iPhone apps for business networking.

Resumes

Once you've made contact with prospective candidates, you need to see their resume or bio. If you don't want to carry all that paper around with you, create a folder on DropBox (free) or Box.net (free) to keep digital resumes available for quick reference.

This is also great if you're traveling and a member of your management team wants to share a resume with you. He or she can place it in the folder and you can review at your convenience.

Scheduling

Business owners always have a full plate. Sometimes the most challenging part of the recruiting process is finding time to interview the candidate. Use Tungle (free) to keep track of interviews (or any other type of appointments). Tungle is a scheduling program that interfaces with your calendar (whether it's Outlook, Gmail, etc.).

Tungle allows you to give other people access to your calendar, so they can see your schedule and confirm appointment times with you.

Phone Interviews

Sometimes the role of a business owner is to interview the candidate face-to-face. Other times, the owner’s role could be to provide a final approval, for which a phone interview is perfect. And with new video calling tools, you can do face-to-face meetings over the phone. Skype (free) is a great app to facilitate these meetings, and for iPhone-to-iPhone specific meetings, you could use the iPhone 4’s FaceTime feature.

Follow-Ups and Reminders

The interviewing process can be full of deadlines. To keep your key deadlines on track, a reminder app can be invaluable. TextMinder will send you a reminder text message. And if necessary, it also allows you to set up reoccurring text messages for other tasks.

If you prefer to record voice reminders, try out VoCal (free).

Your Thoughts

Being a business owner means always having your eyes open for talent. Keeping track of candidates can be challenging. These apps can help you manage your recruiting process a little bit easier, and many of them can also be used for other areas of business.

What apps do you use to streamline your recruiting efforts? Let us know in the comments.

More Business Resources from Mashable:

- HOW TO: Choose the Best Workspace for Your Business
- 5 Winning Social Media Campaigns to Learn From
- 10 Emerging Social Platforms and How Businesses Can Use Them
- 10 Free WordPress Themes for Small Businesses
- 8 Funding Contests to Kick Start Your Big Idea

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, hidesy

Reviews: Box.net, Dropbox, Skype, Tungle, gmail, iPhone, iStockphoto

More About: bump, business, Dropbox, human resources, iphone app, iphone apps, List, Lists, Recruiting, Skype, skype iphone, small business, small business tips, tungle

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This Morning’s Top Stories in Tech and Social Media

Posted: 02 Nov 2010 07:11 AM PDT

Social Media News

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.

Oracle Acquires ATG for $1 Billion

Oracle has acquired e-commerce software provider Art Technology Group (ATG) for $6 per share, or approximately $1 billion in cash, both companies announced Tuesday morning.

Google Unveils API Console

Google has released an API Console, a new app designed to help developers manage their API usage for all their applications and websites.

Hotmail Introduces Cross-Platform Account Management

Hotmail users can now receive and send e-mails from other addresses, including ones from Gmail and Yahoo Mail.

Further News

  • More than 12 million users have now signed up for StumbleUpon, according to the startup’s CEO.
  • Location-based social network SCVNGR has begun expanding internationally and is now live in more than 70 countries.
  • iOS 4.2, which features, among other things, a new multitasking bar for the iPad, has been released to developers and should be available to consumers within the next few days or weeks.
  • Google has filed suit against the U.S. Department of the Interior for anti-competitive behavior. The company says the department did not seriously consider Google Apps as its client for handling messaging needs.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, DNY59

Reviews: Google, MSN Hotmail, StumbleUpon, gmail, iStockphoto

More About: atg, Google, hotmail, oracle

For more Tech coverage:

Dell Embraces Tablets and the Cloud

Posted: 02 Nov 2010 06:38 AM PDT


Update (1:31 p.m. ET): Dell has announced that it has agreed to acquire Boomi, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider, for an undisclosed amount.

Dell plans to launch several new tablets in 2011, Dell CEO Michael Dell said. Without giving any further details, he also announced an acquisition related to cloud computing later today.

Dell was one of the first companies to release an Android tablet, the 5-inch Dell Streak, and in September Dell Greater China President Amit Midha announced a 7-inch Android tablet, dubbed the Looking Glass, would become available “within the next few weeks”.

“We’re going to have a significant number of new tablets in the next year. There’s lots of debate about the size of the market, who’s buying these devices, and those questions always emerge when there’s a new form factor.” Dell said at an event in Hong Kong.

Michael Dell also said that his developers told him it was easier to develop software for Microsoft’s Windows platform than Google’s mobile platform, Android. Dell recently launched a Windows Phone 7 smartphone called the Venue Pro; perhaps Dell’s remark is a sign that the company is about to focus more on Windows Phone 7 smartphones, or possibly launch a Windows-based tablet as well.

Reviews: Android, Google, Windows

More About: cloud computing, dell, Michael Dell, Tablet

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