Mashable: Latest 29 News Updates - including “LivingSocial Is Giving Groupon a Run for Its Money, Thanks to Amazon” |
- LivingSocial Is Giving Groupon a Run for Its Money, Thanks to Amazon
- Facebook for Android Gets Updated with Deals
- LinkedIn’s IPO: An Overview
- How a Mobile Gaming Startup Is Turning Sports Spectators Into Players
- MPAA Shuts Down 50+ Torrent Sites in Global Sting
- Bill Gates & Marissa Mayer “Kinect” at Davos [PICS]
- YouTube, Flickr Show Escalating Violence in Egyptian Protests
- The Real Reason No One Reads Privacy Policies [INFOGRAPHIC]
- Internet Access & SMS Blocked in Egypt as Protests Escalate
- Verizon Acquires Cloud Services Company Terremark for $1.4 Billion
- “Golf Digest” Arrives on the iPad [PICS]
- How HSN’s New Crowdsourcing Project Could Shake Up Online Retail
- Online Community Crowdsources a Weapon For the Snow
- How Users in Egypt Are Bypassing Twitter & Facebook Blocks
- LinkedIn Files to Go Public
- Microsoft Sold 8 Million Kinects Over the Holidays
- Amazon Sales Up 40% in 2010
- Extreme Sports + Foursquare = Charity Win
- Kindle Books Now Outselling Paperbacks at Amazon
- Google Begins Testing Display Ads in Gmail
- How Many UX Designers Does It Take to Fix 5 Social Problems?
- Introducing Mashable’s First San Francisco Bureau Chief: Chris Taylor
- HOW TO: Ask and Answer Questions on Quora [VIDEO]
- INSIDE DAVOS: What It’s Like Inside One of the World’s Most Exclusive Conferences [PICS]
- Instagram Introduces Hashtags for Users & Brands
- Sony Next-Generation Portable To Include Two Quad-Core Chips [PICS]
- E-Commerce Site Lets Users Buy a Better Life For Girls in India
- Plixi Acquired by E-Commerce Site Lockerz
- Rupert Murdoch’s “The Daily” Officially Launching Feb 2
- INSIDE DAVOS: The World’s Elites Just Invaded This Tiny Town [PICS]
| LivingSocial Is Giving Groupon a Run for Its Money, Thanks to Amazon Posted: 28 Jan 2011 03:43 AM PST      LivingSocial’s traffic skyrocketed by 80% last week with a little help from Amazon, closing the gap between it and group-buying leader Groupon. Before last week, LivingSocial had 1/10 of the web traffic of Groupon. Thanks to Google’s $6 billion offer and Groupon’s subsequent rejection of that offer, the deal-a-day service has been experiencing a new wave of growth. The second largest competitor in the space, LivingSocial, experienced an uptick in traffic as well, but nothing as dramatic as Groupon’s rise. New data from Hitwise Intelligence shows that last week was a major inflection point for LivingSocial, though. It garnered 0.018% of all U.S. visits on the web, an 80% increase from 0.010%. Groupon, on the other hand, actually dropped by 20% to 0.035% market share of U.S. visits. Why the sudden spike in traffic? The answer’s simple: Amazon. The e-commerce giant made a strategic investment of $175 million in LivingSocial last month to counteract a potential Google-Groupon combination. Last week, LivingSocial offered 50% off of Amazon.com, which resulted in over 1 million Amazon vouchers sold. It was the biggest group-buying deal in history. With a deal as good as 50% off Amazon, it’s no wonder traffic skyrocketed so fast. However, we bet that when this week’s data comes in, LivingSocial’s traffic will fall back to Earth. Still, the Amazon deal gave LivingSocial a lot of attention and helped it sign up new customers, which could help accelerate its growth and bring it within striking distance of Groupon. Both companies are about to get some serious competition, though. Google is building its own group-buying service, Google Offers and Facebook is testing a group-buying prototype of its own.  More About: amazon, Google, Google Offers, groupon, LivingSocial For more Business & Marketing coverage:
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| Facebook for Android Gets Updated with Deals Posted: 28 Jan 2011 01:52 AM PST   Facebook for Android has been upgraded to version 1.5.1, bringing access to Facebook Deals and fixing a number of bugs. Deals, which are only available in the U.S. at the time, show up when you check into a place, with the surrounding places displaying a yellow icon if they offer deals. Unfortunately, Android’s fragmentation rears its ugly head here, as many of the comments on the official Facebook post complain about bugs not being fixed, new bugs appearing or some features going missing – depending on what version of Android the commenters use. The new version of the app is available free in the Android market. More About: android, deals, facebook, Google, smartphone For more Mobile coverage:
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| Posted: 27 Jan 2011 10:47 PM PST   It’s official: LinkedIn’s long-awaited IPO is coming soon. Earlier today, the business and social network filed paperwork with the SEC. While the document doesn’t reveal three important pieces of information — the price, date or number of shares for the offering — LinkedIn did reveal a lot of other interesting details. We’ve had a chance to comb through LinkedIn’s IPO paperwork and dig into the numbers. We’ve pulled some of the most relevant information from its S-1 and posted it here for your convenience. Here is our overview of LinkedIn and its IPO: IPO DetailsLinkedIn revealed that its “proposed maximum aggregate offering price” — the amount it is hoping to raise — is $175 million. Due to its status as a high-profile Internet IPO, our bet is that LinkedIn will be able to raise more than that when it eventually has its initial public offering. Morgan Stanley & Co. will be the lead underwriter for the IPO. It will be joined by Merrill Lynch, Allen & Company and UBS Securities. LinkedIn decided not to disclose the target price for its IPO or the date, though it will almost certainly occur before the end of 2011. According to SharesPost, a secondary market for trading shares in private companies, LinkedIn is worth $2.51 billion. That number will likely rise as the IPO approaches. Key Financial NumbersFor the first time, we have a clear insight into LinkedIn’s financial health, and overall it is strong. The social network was able to double is 2009 revenues to $161.4 million in the first nine months of 2010, led by increased revenue from advertising and job listings. We also learned that 2010 is the first year LinkedIn was profitable. While an income of $10.1 million isn’t that strong for a multi-billion dollar company, LinkedIn is definitely going in the right direction:
In addition, LinkedIn revealed its revenue breakdown. In Jan-Sept 2010, LinkedIn earned $161.4 million in revenue from three products: hiring solutions (job listings), marketing solutions (advertising) and premium subscriptions. Here’s the breakdown:
LinkedIn MetricsIn addition to the financial numbers, LinkedIn also released information about the health of its platform. LinkedIn revealed that it gains a new member every second and now has over 90 million total members worldwide, 40 million in the U.S. and 50 million internationally. That is up from the 55.1 million members it had in 2009. Here are a few key numbers you should know:
Top Investors and ShareholdersAs part of its S-1, LinkedIn had to reveal any shareholders with more than a 5% stake in the company. It also had to reveal the ownership stakes of its executive officers and directors. As expected, Reid Hoffman, the founder and chairman, owns the largest share of the company (along with his wife) at 21.4%. The three next biggest shareholders are venture capital firms Sequoia Capital, Greylock Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners. Together, they own approximately 39% of the company. The following is a list of LinkedIn shareholders with more than a 1% stake in the company:
Additional ReadingIf you’re still interested in LinkedIn’s IPO, you can check out LinkedIn’s length S-1 registration statement. More About: ipo, linkedin, LinkedIn IPO For more Business & Marketing coverage:
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| How a Mobile Gaming Startup Is Turning Sports Spectators Into Players Posted: 27 Jan 2011 09:45 PM PST    This post is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark as a new part of the Spark of Genius series that focuses on a new and innovative startup each day. Every Thursday, the program focuses on startups within the BizSpark program and what they’re doing to grow. While Thump CEO Chip Overstreet was watching the 2000 Rose Bowl with friends, he had an entirely normal conversation about what would happen next between the Wisconsin Badgers and Stanford Cardinal. At which point he was struck with a great idea. What if there was a game that allowed sports fans to compete with each other to most accurately predict the next play? At the time, smartphones and tablets were science fiction, Mark Zuckerberg was still in high school, and the term “social game” suggested Trivial Pursuit. Nine years later, Overstreet picked the idea back up and created Thump, a game that lives on iPhones, Android phones, BlackBerrys, Microsoft’s Slate tablet and Facebook. As sport fans watch a game, they can compete with a group of friends or strangers to be the most accurate predictor of what their teams will do next. The version for pro and college football launched in September. Baseball is planned to launch in March. Mashable recently talked with Overstreet about how Thump aims to offer a game that is compelling to both players and advertisers. Building on Existing Games Thump spent most of its first “season” working out kinks that come with trying to sync a real-time mobile game to a live event rather than acquiring customers. Though the game currently has few players, Overstreet doesn’t expect acquiring them to be much of a struggle. The game is compelling, he says, because it doesn’t really alter the tone of most sport fans’ current experiences. “Most sports fans tend to be guys, and guys have big egos, and we sit around and talk about sports and brag about how much we know about our teams, and we're constantly telling each other what we know is going to happen next,” Overstreet says. “And that's basically what we've done. We've wrapped the game around that existing behavior, giving sports fans the ability to record what is going to happen and see for certain just how effective they are at making those predictions." Using Multiple Platforms to Encourage Social Gaming The startup’s strategy is to be as ubiquitous as possible so that game-viewing buddies are never in a situation where incompatible devices prevent them from playing Thump games. Right now the beta version of Thump is only available on Apple products, but a mobile site allows Android and Blackberry users to log into the game as well. As of last month, a Facebook version also allows users to play and post about the game from their browsers. In the future, the game will also be available on Microsoft’s Slate tablet and interactive TV. Hitting the Advertising Sweet Spot Thump is betting that advertisers will find the game compelling because of its ability to synchronize content on mobile devices with content that is happening on live TV. For instance, brands will be able to sponsor trivia questions related to the game much like they often do in stadiums. Correct answers will win credits toward rewards like being able to double a bet or distract an opponent by having a cow dance across his or her screen during a critical point in game play. "We're getting consumers to engage in two screens at the same time,” Overstreet says. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, spxChrome Sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark
More About: football, social games, sports, thump For more Startups coverage:
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| MPAA Shuts Down 50+ Torrent Sites in Global Sting Posted: 27 Jan 2011 08:05 PM PST
The names of the sites themselves remain unknown; so far, however, the major players seem to be unaffected. The specific URLs are not being released because frequently the affected sites will spring up elsewhere online under a different TLD (e.g., TorrentMovies.com becomes TorrentMovies.info). Releasing the names of the sites would make it much easier for users to find their new URLs in the future. This news, while interesting and concerning, is a far cry from the 70-plus sites shut down by the Department of Homeland Security last November, the culmination of a brewing crackdown effort. Some torrent and file-sharing sites, including RapidShare, have even taken to hiring lobbyists of their own. A company spokesperson told Mashable recently, “Given the fact that the U.S. government is currently undertaking great efforts to fight copyright infringements on the Internet, our having a voice in Washington could be beneficial for us as well as for the U.S. government.” According to TorrentFreak, BREIN “has (temporarily) disabled more than 1,000 torrent sites in The Netherlands, and they are now helping the MPAA towards doing the same in the U.S.” In a BREIN release, the organization stated that it helped the MPAA take down around 29 sites last year; and earlier this month, it shut down 39 sites in the Netherlands for the MPAA, as well. BREIN also conducts these anti-piracy “stings” in 11 other countries, including Germany, France, Britain and Canada. Its director, Tim Kuik, said in the statement (via Google Translate), “There will be new sites, but we take them down fast so they cannot grow.” More About: BREIN, mpaa, piracy, torrent, torrents For more Tech & Gadgets coverage:
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| Bill Gates & Marissa Mayer “Kinect” at Davos [PICS] Posted: 27 Jan 2011 07:06 PM PST Fresh off today’s announcement that the company sold 8 million Kinects over the holidays, Microsoft hosted an XBox Kinect party tonight in Davos, Switzerland, during the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum. In attendance: Bill Gates chatting it up with attendees and Google’s Marissa Mayer enjoying the Kinect experience. But there’s more than tech on Bill’s mind. Tomorrow, he’s expected to sign a deal with David Cameron where the UK Prime Minister pledges support for Gates’ plan to wipe out polio. Xbox Kinect Party  
The event took place at the Sheraton Seehof
The purple carpet leads the way...
Kinect signage at the Seehof
Kinect signs poke out of the snowy Davos streets
The entrance to the Seehof contains a Windows Phone
... so is the Windows Phone coming in or going out?
Inside, a Microsoft-branded bar
Attendees enjoy a drink
The venue is packed with businesspeople, academics and media
The Kinect waterfall
Google's Marissa Mayer tries Kinect
Marissa and husband Zachary Bogue enjoy the event
Kinect on display - 8 million were sold over the holidays
Kinect ads on the TVs
A staff member plays a boxing game
Microsoft had staff to fill in when attendees weren't playing the games
... part of their role was to convince attendees to give it a try
"You are the controller" - smart messaging on the mirrors
These mirrors adorn the venue
Bill Gates is in the crowd -- can you spot him?
Gates openly chatted to attendees
Team games on Xbox Kinect
More Kinecting
The second bar, perfect for drunk Kinecting
Kinect cartoons adorn the venue
Microsoft staff are the experts at Kinect
...but attendees have a go too. Seems like Kinect is a hit at Davos -- not to mention the rest of the world.
More About: bill gates, davos, Google, kinect, marissa mayer, microsoft, WEF, world economic forum, xbox, Xbox Kinect For more Media coverage:
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| YouTube, Flickr Show Escalating Violence in Egyptian Protests Posted: 27 Jan 2011 06:29 PM PST   While most of Egypt is under an Internet and SMS blackout right now, the web is still showing the rest of the world a vivid and disturbing picture of what’s going on there. Sources, mostly on-the-ground news outlets, have been able to upload images and video of the protests and police reactions that have rocked the Middle Eastern nation. The anti-government protests are being staged to force the ouster of current President Hosni Mubarak; at least six have been killed in the demonstrations. While Twitter, Facebook and eventually the entire Internet have been blocked inside the country, we’ve still been able to get updates from citizen and professional journalists in Egypt. Here, we’ve gathered a collection of videos, mostly raw footage, posted to YouTube, as well as a few photos from Al Jazeera English’s Flickr stream. Warning: Some of the content shown below is inherently violent and may not be suitable for some people. Protests in Egypt, January 25-26 All images courtesy of Flickr, Al Jazeera English. Protests in Egypt, January 25-26 All images courtesy of Flickr, Al Jazeera English. Protests in Egypt, January 25-26 All images courtesy of Flickr, Al Jazeera English. Protests in Egypt, January 25-26 All images courtesy of Flickr, Al Jazeera English. Protests in Egypt, January 25-26 All images courtesy of Flickr, Al Jazeera English. Protests in Egypt, January 25-26 All images courtesy of Flickr, Al Jazeera English. Protests in Egypt, January 25-26 All images courtesy of Flickr, Al Jazeera English. Suez, Egypt: Pro-Democracy Egyptian Protests Mubarak Demonstrations28th Jan. 2010 - Storyful / Ed Rice compilation edit - Suez Egypt Pro-Democracy Egyptian Protests Mubarak Demonstrations - Full Story at: http://storyful.com/stories/1000000835-storyful-now-egyptian-protesters-continue-campaign [EGYPT] Protesters Go Up Against Truck Mounted Water Cannon, Cairo Demonstrations 017, 25/01/2011The 2011 Egyptian protests are a continuing series of street demonstrations taking place throughout Egypt from January 2011 onwards, with organizers counting on the Tunisian uprising to inspire the crowds to mobilize. The demonstrations and riots were reported to have started over police brutality, State of emergency laws, unemployment, desire to raise the minimum wage, lack of housing, food inflation, corruption, lack of freedom of speech and poor living conditions. The protests main goal is to oust President Hosni Mubarak who has been in power for more than 30 years. While localized protests were already commonplace in previous years, major protests and riots erupted all over the country starting on 25 January, known as the "Day of Anger", the date set by Egyptian opposition groups and others for a major demonstration. The 2011 protests have been called "unprecedented" for Egypt, and "some of the most serious civil unrest in recent memory" in the country. Hosni Mubarak presidency: President Hosni Mubarak has ruled Egypt since 1981. His government, which has been criticized in the media and amongst NGOs, is supported by the United States because of his "persecution of the Islamists generally supportive of Israel." As a result, the initial reactions to Hosni Mubarak's abuses by the U.S. were muted, and most instances of socio-political protest in the country, when they occurred at all, rarely made major news headlines. Corruption: While in office, political corruption in the Mubarak administration's Ministry of Interior has risen dramatically, due to the increased power over the institutional system that is necessary to secure the prolonged presidency. Such corruption has led to the frequent imprisonment of political figures and young activists without trials, illegal undocumented hidden detention facilities, and rejecting universities, mosques, newspapers staff members based on political inclination.On a personnel level, each individual officer can and will violate citizens' privacy in his area, using unconditioned arrests, common torture and abuse of power, depending on simply brute force, rather than law, to enforce order in the officer's designated area.[citation needed] This has resulted in the common belief that "A policeman is more dangerous than a criminal". The rise to power of powerful business men in the NDP in the federal government and People's Assembly led to massive waves of anger during the years of Ahmed Nazif's government. As a result, frequent laws and bills are passed, with undergiant monopolists (such as Ahmed Ezz's) influence serving personal and corporational financial interests rather than public's. Transparency International (TI) is an international organization addressing corruption, including, but not limited to, political corruption. In 2010, TI's Corruption Perceptions Index report assessed Egypt with a CPI score of 3.1, based on perceptions of the degree of corruption from business people and country analysts, with 10 being highly clean and 0 being highly corrupt. Egypt ranked 98th out of the 178 countries included in the report. Police Brutality: Khaled Mohamed Saeed died under disputed circumstances in the Sedi Gabr area of Alexandria on June 6, 2010. Multiple witnesses have testified that Saeed was beaten to death by the police, On 25 June Mohamed ElBaradei, former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, led a rally in Alexandria against alleged abuses by the police and visited Saeed's family to offer condolences. Economic Policy: About 40 percent of Egypt's 80-million population lives on or around two dollars per day, and a large part of the population relies on subsidized goods. Protests: In Egypt, at least six cases of self-immolation have been reported, including a man arrested while trying to set himself on fire in downtown Cairo. Abdou Abdel-Moneim Jaafar, a 49-year-old restaurant owner, set himself alight in front of the Egyptian Parliament. Scale of protests: Thousands were protesting in the capital of Cairo on the 25th of January, with 15,000 alone occupying Tahrir square; 20,000 in various locations across Alexandria, 200 demonstrators were in the southern city of Aswan, 2000 in the eastern city of Ismailiya; and about 3000 in the northern city of Mahallah. . Egypt Egyptian Protests Street Demonstrations Tunisian Uprising Mobilize Police Brutality Unemployment Raise Minimum Wage Housing Food Inflation Corruption Freedom Of Speech Living Conditions Hosni Mubarak Day Anger Civil Unrest Government Khaled Mohamed Saeed Sedi Gabr Alexandria Death ElBaradei Self-immolation Tahrir Square Aswan Ismailiya Mahallah Human Rights Revolution Tear Gas Activists 25/01/2011 Three dead in Egypt protests as fighting continued overnightTwo civilians and a police officer have died after a wave of unusually large anti-government demonstrations swept across Egypt, calling for the ouster of longtime president Hosni Mubarak. In central Cairo, crowds numbering in the thousands protested and clashed with police throughout the day. Shortly after midnight on Wednesday morning, security forces violently dispersed those who remained in Tahrir Square, the heart of the city, Al Jazeera's Adam Makary reported. Security officers fired tear gas, water cannons and rubber bullets to drive the protesters from the square, where they had chosen to remain throughout the night in protest. An Al Jazeera cameraman was shot with rubber bullets several times, including once in the face, Makary said. Telephone communication with people in central Cairo was nearly impossible, but Makary reported that the crowds, which had been peaceful, had been forced to escape the police, who fired dozens of tear gas canisters. But demonstrations occurred throughout Egypt. Two civilians died in the eastern city of Suez, according to an interior ministry offical. One, who had respiratory problems, died after inhaling tear gas; the other died after being hit with a rock thrown during a protest, the official said. In Cairo, a police officer died after being hit in the head with a rock during earlier protests in Tahrir Square, the official said. The demonstrations were reportedly the largest in years, rivaling those held against the Iraq War in 2003 and in favor of free elections and civil society reforms in 2005. On Tuesday night, hours after the countrywide protests began, the interior ministry issued a statement blaming the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's technically banned but largest opposition party, for fomenting the unrest. But the Brotherhood denied the accusation and had earlier stated its intention to stay out of the protest; indeed, some observers noted the lack of Brotherhood mobilization on Tuesday. algerian algeria cairo france mohamed bouteflika algerie émeutes riots maroc arabe england USA islam police ben ali egypt husni mubarak TUNISIE tunis news world war street israel محمد بوعزيزي tunisie egypt football الجزائر المغرب بوتفليقة تونس إنتفاضة حسني مبارك حرق العراق العرب الإسلام إسرائيل مصر القاهرة مصر الجزائر المغرب تونس الكويت دبي الإمارات قطر السودان البحرين لبنان فلسطين الأردن عمان ليبيا ا سوريا العراق العرب الخبر الأسبوعي الجزيرة العربية كرة القدم العاصمة القاهرة اليوم المغرب العار تونس الساحل الترجي الإفريقي علاء مبارك، محمود ياسين، محمود عبدالعزيز، حسين فهمي، صلاح السعدانى، يسرى، فيفي عبده، إلهام شهين، ميدو، شعبان عبدالرحيم، شريف منير، تامر حسنى، مرتضى منصور، محمد فؤاد، ماجد المصرى ، محمد سعد، محمد عطية, أحمد السقا، يوسف شعبان، محمح صبحي، زينة، إسعاد يونس، إبراهيم حسن, أحمد مكي، حكيم، هيثم شاكر، ،إيهاب توفيق، خالد الغندور،مصطفي عبده، مدحت شلبى، عمرو أديب, أحمد موسى، سمير زاهر أحمد بدير، فتحي عبد الوهاب، أحمد أدم، نهال عنبر، محمد حماقي،تامر البسيوني، إبراهيم حجازي، سعد الصغير، مصطفي البكري، ريهام سعيد و البنانيتين هيفاء وهبي و نانسي عجرم شوبير palestine libya algerie egypte egypte maroc muslim arab islam mohammed iraq saudi arabia bangladesh algerie maroc kabylie tunisie football sport humour comedie algerian egyptian Mass Egypt Anti-government Protest PlannedEgyptian activists protested for a third day as social networking sites called for a mass rally in the capital Cairo after Friday prayers, keeping up the momentum of the country's largest anti-government protests in years. (Jan. 27) Raw Video: Man Shot in Egypt ProtestViolence escalated in two cites outside the Egyptian capital Cairo on Thursday as anti-government protests continued to grip the country and challenge President Hosni Mubarak's regime. (Jan. 27) More About: al jazeera, demonstrations, Egypt, jan25, photo, protests, video For more Video coverage:
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| The Real Reason No One Reads Privacy Policies [INFOGRAPHIC] Posted: 27 Jan 2011 05:32 PM PST   It was quite in vogue last year to be incensed over the privacy-related misdeeds of a certain monolithic social network, but let’s be honest — did anyone ever read the privacy policy to begin with? How about the Terms of Service? Most of us eagerly (or irritatedly) scroll through the miles of legalese and click on the “I Agree — Sign Me Up!” button without reading a single word of what we’re agreeing to. Most of the time, there are no negative consequences, but every now and then, not knowing what you’re getting into can end up biting you. The website or app you’re signing up for could simply be tracking your clicks for their own internal measurement tools, but it could also be gathering data to sell to marketers and advertisers. It could be selling your contact information to a third party, as well. So why don’t more privacy-craving consumers read the privacy policies of the apps they use? The overwhelming answer is they’re just too long. The longest privacy policies among the top 1,000 websites would take around 45 minutes to read. The average policy takes around 10 minutes to read. And while most of the websites (72%, in fact) allow users to opt out of tracking mechanisms, around 40% require their users to take a few extra clicks to the Network Advertising Initiative’s website to opt out. What do you think: Should privacy policies and terms of service be short and sweet enough for users to actually read them, or do you think that would increase tracking opt-outs enough that it would hurt the companies in question? This infographic was created by SelectOut, an ad-tracking opt-out initiative, with data collected from the top 1,000 websites as per Quantcast. Click to see larger version. Lead image courtesy of iStockphoto, Russ Duparcq More About: advertising, infographic, MARKETING, opt out, privacy, privacy policy, tracking For more Business & Marketing coverage:
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| Internet Access & SMS Blocked in Egypt as Protests Escalate Posted: 27 Jan 2011 04:48 PM PST   Reports are coming in that Egypt is now under an Internet and SMS blackout, just hours before a new series of major protests are planned against the regime of President Hosni Mubarak. Sebone, a major Egyptian service provider based in Italy, is reporting that no Internet traffic is entering or exiting the country as of 12:30 AM Egyptian time. Reporters and citizens on-the-ground are also reporting that they are experiencing Internet and SMS outages. Egypt has been enveloped in unrest over the presidency of Hosni Mubarak, who has been in power since 1981. The protests have been partly inspired by the successful revolution in Tunisia that forced President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali out of power after 23 years. Facebook, Twitter and social media were key communication tools used by protesters to organize rallies. Just like Tunisia, Egyptian protesters have been utilizing social media to organize their own protests, using hashtags such as #Jan25 to communicate. In response to the protests, Egyptian authorities blocked Twitter and Facebook. Egyptian police have been cracking down on protesters using water cannons and tear gas. “I suspect the internet cutoff is just a fraction of what the government has in store for Friday,” CNN’s Ben Wederman, who is on the ground in Egypt, said on Twitter earlier today. We are monitoring the situation in Egypt closely. We’ve included some tweets on the Egyptian protests in the gallery below: Tweets on the Egyptian Internet Blackout
Tweets on the Egyptian Internet Blackout
Tweets on the Egyptian Internet Blackout
Tweets on the Egyptian Internet Blackout
Tweets on the Egyptian Internet Blackout
Tweets on the Egyptian Internet Blackout
Tweets on the Egyptian Internet Blackout
Lead image courtesy of Flickr, Al Jazeera English. Thanks to Mashable’s Jolie O’Dell and Vadim Lavrusik for their help with this article. More About: Egypt, facebook, internet, trending, twitter For more Social Media coverage:
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| Verizon Acquires Cloud Services Company Terremark for $1.4 Billion Posted: 27 Jan 2011 03:26 PM PST   Verizon has agreed to acquire IT and cloud services company Terremark Worldwide for a price of $19 per share, a total equity value of $1.4 billion. Terremark, which controls 13 data centers throughout the U.S., Europe and Latin America, will operate as a subsidiary of Verizon, retaining its own name and management team. Goldman Sachs and Weil, Gotshal & Manges represented Verizon in the deal, and Terremark was represented by Credit Suisse Securities and Greenberg Traurig. Verizon is hoping the Terremark acquisition will be a keystone in its “everything-as-a-service” cloud strategy, in which it plans to provide its enterprise and government customers “a powerful portfolio of highly secure, scalable on-demand solutions… through a unified enterprise IT platform and unique business cloud offerings that leverage the companies’ collective strengths,” according to a release sent out today. The goal is to be able to offer customers business intelligence and collaboration tools anytime, anywhere and on any kind of connected device. “Cloud computing continues to fundamentally alter the way enterprises procure, deploy and manage IT resources, and this combination helps create a tipping point for ‘everything-as-a-service,’” said Lowell McAdam, Verizon’s CEO. More About: acquisition, acquisitions, business, cloud, it, terremark, verizon For more Business & Marketing coverage:
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| “Golf Digest” Arrives on the iPad [PICS] Posted: 27 Jan 2011 02:49 PM PST   Among the growing roster of magazine apps on the iPad, two categories have emerged: those that replicate the print version in dull, PDF-like fashion, and those that replicate the print version, but with enough so-called “bells and whistles” to entertain a reader who isn’t even necessarily interested in the content. Conde Nast’s newest addition to the App Store, Golf Digest, is one of the latter. The app [iTunes link] is now available as a free download in the App Store. Issues are available as in-app purchases for $4.99 apiece. Currently, only the 2011 Hot List Special Issue is available — but before you get too excited about downloading it, note that the app is more than 400 MB. (In other words, it’s going to take a while to download, and carve out a significant chunk of your iPad’s storage space.) Now, I’m not particularly interested in golf, but the app’s snappish layout and interactive features kept me engaged through at least the first 40 featured golf clubs (there are 94 in all). Users can rotate four of these clubs for a 360-view, and listen as several clubs make contact with the ball. Video interviews and interactive quizzes are embedded throughout. There’s also video tutorials from famed golf instructors like Butch Harmon, which appear to be relevant to someone who, you know, might one day play the game… once. Text is light, since this is an issue dedicated to golf clubs and their specs. Ads are exceedingly well-placed alongside the rest of the content; in fact, I wasn’t able to tell I was looking at a Nike ad until I clicked to play the video, it replicated the magazine’s digital format so neatly. We expect regular Golf Digest readers will be pleased with the issue and, who knows, maybe some of you iPad magazine fanatics might find your way into a new hobby. Check out our gallery for a fuller preview below. 
More About: conde nast, golf digest, ipad, magazine, media For more Media coverage:
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| How HSN’s New Crowdsourcing Project Could Shake Up Online Retail Posted: 27 Jan 2011 02:45 PM PST   Macala Wright Lee is the publisher of FashionablyMarketing.Me. Wright Lee is a retail consultant whose firm, Fashionably Digital, specializes in marketing consulting for fashion, luxury and beauty brands. You can follower her on Twitter at @FashMarketing. Branded content has been a marketing trend that took the fashion retail industry by storm over the past year. Not to be outdone by their online competitors, television retailers like HSN, QVC and ShopNBC are using new and innovative multichannel marketing tactics in order to raise their profiles with the online audience. Leading this new multichannel approach is HSN. The retailer is changing — if not completely redefining — the meaning of home shopping with its new online product distribution channels. In particular, its use of the iPad and YouTube as social marketing and educational tools is impressive. The company is one of the largest video content contributors to YouTube (their channels host a massive library of more than 60,000 videos) and is the first of the home shopping networks to release an interactive iPad application that acts as a companion to the television and mobile shopping experiences it creates for its customers. However, even more intriguing than HSN’s bold push into the mobile and social spheres is the company’s recent gamble on fledgling consumer product entrepreneurs and its experimentation with crowdsourcing. The leverage of these retailers have is nothing to sneeze at. Designers and cosmetics companies can sell more product (by volume) via these outlets in one hour than they can in one year in a department store. And now, as the marketing of apparel and beauty products bleeds into the consumer electronics world, the model is ripe for innovation. Here’s how HSN is changing the game for consumer products and developing a new product pipeline that goes all the way from ideation to production to marketing to sale. A Crowdsourced Entry Point for Retail Entrepreneurs “HSN started to evolve its marketing strategy four years ago, when our current CEO Mindy Grossman felt it was more important for HSN to become a multichannel retailer that creates a curated shopping experience for its customers across multiple platforms,” said HSN Vice President of Advanced Services John McDevitt. “HSN had to have quality brands and designers with great stories; moreover, we had to have great storytellers to covey those stories to our customers. We don't just hire hosts, we bring in experts or the designers themselves to tell the stories." As part of that evolution, HSN recently launched a partnership with Quirky, a social product development company that uses crowdsourcing to bring new products to life. Each week, it engages its online community to collaborate on all aspects of product design and development — from ideation all the way to packaging. On January 29, Quirky CEO Ben Kaufman will be featured on HSN to sell the tech gadgets crowdsourced into creation by Quirky's community. HSN is taking the partnership a step further by offering all would-be entrepreneurs the opportunity to submit their product ideas for consideration on HSN's product submission page, and Quirky is running co-branded product creation competition with HSN on its blog. Essentially, with this partnership HSN has created an alternative to venture capital funding for entrepreneurs that are designing consumer product. This also marks a win for crowdsourcing as a mainstream marketing tactic with offline audiences. More Marketing Resources from Mashable:
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| Online Community Crowdsources a Weapon For the Snow Posted: 27 Jan 2011 02:34 PM PST   The U.S.’s northeast coast is buried under another blanket of snow, and coming to the rescue is Snowdozer, an unusual ice scraper that’s designed using crowdsourcing. Snowdozer is an invention appearing now on the website Quirky, a self-described “social product development company” that solicits product ideas from its user community, and then the rest of the Quirky community helps develop those products — not unlike Kickstarter. If an idea is deemed worthy by those users, Quirky’s team of engineers turn it into 3-D renderings. If enough people pre-order it, the company builds the product, and it becomes available in the real world. It’s a concept where products are brought to market by survival of the fittest. At this writing, there are 485 commitments for Snowdozer, with a total of 1,200 needed for the product to cross the threshold into production. The presale price is $17, with a retail price of $20 if it goes into production. It looks like the committee of users might have designed a competent scraper, using double blades to remove ice. Those twin scrapers are complemented by a snow brush on top, and a front grip allows you to press down hard enough for some serious leverage. There is an extendable handle that can reach all the way across the windshield, and for extra convenience there’s a hole from which to hang the thing when you’re not using it. If you’ve ever been caught in a snowstorm without a good snow scraper, you know how important a little device like this can be. Do enough people really want such a thing? That’s the beauty of Quirky; It lets the site’s visitors vote with their wallets. Snowdozer Looks like it's working. Snowdozer Twin blades cut through the ice. Would four be better, like a razor? Snowdozer Here's a diagram of its parts. Snowdozer That extendable handle makes it easy to store. Snowdozer Hope it doesn't scratch the hood. More About: crowdsourcing, Ice Scraper, Quirky, Snowdozer For more Tech & Gadgets coverage:
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| How Users in Egypt Are Bypassing Twitter & Facebook Blocks Posted: 27 Jan 2011 02:06 PM PST Update: Egypt’s Internet is suffering major outages, the Associated Press is reporting. A major Internet provider in the country is saying no Internet traffic is going in or out of the country. —   Protests in Egypt are expected to intensify with opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei’s return to Cairo, and reports of Twitter and Facebook being blocked inside the country by Egyptian authorities continue to surface through the social networks themselves, and according to HerdictWeb. Users are also reporting that SMS – short message service – is being blocked as well. Though it does appear that both Twitter and Facebook are still being blocked, many users are bypassing the blocks through proxy servers and third-party apps. Here is how they’re doing it. Mobile & Third-Party Apps Social mobile applications like Blackberry for Twitter or UberTwitter are still working for users in the country. Also, users are employing third-party apps like TweetDeck and HootSuite to update their Twitter and Facebook accounts. HootSuite Chief Technology Officer Simon Stanlake said that though prior users are able to access Twitter and Facebook from their site, new users wouldn’t be able to authenticate new accounts because it requires hitting Twitter.com. He said their iPhone application doesn’t require a web authentication, so new HootSuite users are accessing the site through their mobile app. Proxy Sites Accessing blocked sites through proxy servers seems to be the most common way that users are bypassing the blocks. Twitter PR acknowledged that though their traffic has diminished from Egypt, users were tapping into proxies and apps to tweet. Facebook users in Egypt were sharing different proxy sites that users can access, such as Proxy-Service.de, which enables access to blocked sites. The only disadvantage is that you have to put up with a bar at the top with display ads, which is how they make money to support the service. SoftwareMany are also using free proxy software like Hotspot Shield or Tor. Each requires downloading software to your computer and then clicking “connect” before getting started, but is enabling users to browse the web anonymously. The video above about how to install Tor has been making its way around the blogosphere. VPN Many users in Egypt are also using a virtual private network (VPN) to not only access blocked sites, but make the censors believe they’re trying to access the sites from another country. Some of these services even give you the choice of what country you’d like to mask your connection with, including the U.S. The beauty is that you can use it with smartphones as well. Though some users are accessing it through professional providers like USAIP, others are sharing free VPN access. Users of course should be aware of the risks and be cautious as the authorities continue to clamp down. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, mtrommer More About: censorship, Egypt, proxy, social media, twitter For more Social Media coverage:
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| Posted: 27 Jan 2011 01:51 PM PST  LinkedIn has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, setting the stage for the professional-focused social networking site to go public. Though the company does not reveal a price, number of shares, or date for its offering, it does offer insight into its financials. LinkedIn generated $120 million in revenue for 2009, and $161 million through the first nine months of 2010, where it also turned a profit with a net income of about $10 million. That revenue comes from three sources — advertising, job listings and premium subscriptions. The latter has declined significantly as a revenue source since 2007 (from 53% of sales then to 27% through the first nine months of 2010) while job listings and advertising have become the company’s primary growth areas (41% and 32% of revenue, respectively). In its filing, LinkedIn notes that Facebook, Twitter, Google and Microsoft are all potential competitors, writing that they “could develop competing solutions or partner with third parties to offer such products.” That said, the company finished 2010 with more than 90 million members, and claims to be adding 1 per second in its filing. Recently, private trading of LinkedIn shares valued the company at nearly $3 billion. That would make the company’s debut bigger than that of Demand Media, which went public on Wednedsay at a valuation of around $1.5 billion. With Skype, Groupon and potentially Facebook also in the mix of IPO candidates this year, LinkedIn’s offering will be another big barometer for the public’s appetite for Internet IPOs. For more Business & Marketing coverage:
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| Microsoft Sold 8 Million Kinects Over the Holidays Posted: 27 Jan 2011 01:49 PM PST   Microsoft sold 8 million Kinects in 60 days, contributing to strong overall sales for the end of 2010, the company reported today. The stellar Kinect sales helped Microsoft post a net income of $6.6 billion on revenues of $19.95 billion for its fiscal second quarter, which ended December 31, 2010. But sales of that product weren’t the only factor. Microsoft’s business division grew 24% year-over-year and Office 2010 was the fastest-selling consumer version of Office in history with license sales more than 50% ahead of Office 2007 during the equivalent period after launch. Microsoft also said that Windows 7 continues to be the company’s fastest-growing operating system yet. Microsoft has sold more than 300 million Windows 7 licenses and the OS is running on 20% of Internet-connected PCs. Microsoft didn’t divulge any sales figures around Windows Phone 7, but noted that developers are adding apps based on Windows Phone 7 at the rate of 100 per day. Microsoft released the Xbox Kinect in November and sold 2.5 million units in less than a month. More About: kinect, microsoft, office, xbox For more Business & Marketing coverage:
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| Posted: 27 Jan 2011 01:40 PM PST   Amazon has just released its earnings statements for the end of 2010, and it looks like the holiday season was a doozy for the online retail giant. Overall, sales were up 36% and totaled $12.95 billion. For the entire year, sales were up to $34.20 billion, a 40% increase from 2009. Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos said in a release, "Thanks to our customers, we achieved two big milestones. We had our first $10 billion quarter, and after selling millions of third-generation Kindles with the new Pearl e-ink display during the quarter, Kindle books have now overtaken paperback books as the most popular format on Amazon.com.” Since the beginning of this year, Amazon has sold 115 Kindle books for every 100 paperback books sold, and the company has sold three times as many Kindle books as hardcover books. For the post-holiday first quarter of 2011, sales are projected to be between $9.1 billion and $9.9 billion, a 28% to 39% year-over-year increase from Q1 2010. More About: amazon, business, earnings, finances, Kindle For more Business & Marketing coverage:
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| Extreme Sports + Foursquare = Charity Win Posted: 27 Jan 2011 01:12 PM PST   Now you can watch people Sports Authority has teamed up with Foursquare to help support the fight against breast cancer at the 15th Winter X Games, which run from today until January 30. Sports Authority has promised to donate $1 for every checkin to “Sports Authority at Winter X Games” at Buttermilk Mountain in Aspen, Colo. The money will go to Boarding for Breast Cancer, one of Sports Authority’s non-profit partners. Sports Authority will donate up to $1,000 per day until the games end. Although the X Games weren’t involved in planning the campaign, the games have long been proponents of giving back, including the “Get Caught Recycling” initiative. Given the popularity of the X Games — an annual tournament similar to an Olympics for extreme sports like skateboarding, freestyle motocross and snowboarding — it’s likely that Sports Authority will hit its $1,000 cap each day. Despite its trappings, the campaign is actually similar to traditional types of fundraising. Social media isn’t integrated so much as it’s a way for Sports Authority to track how much it needs to donate. The question is whether Sports Authority could raise more money and spread awareness by better integrating social media tools. One step in the right direction is the use of the #Xcellent hashtag to create a larger conversation and community around breast cancer awareness. Will you participate or check in? Do you think Foursquare is popular enough to pilot a campaign like this? Sound off in the comments below. More About: boarding for breast cancer, Breast Cancer, cancer, ESPN, foursquare, social good, social media, sports authority, x games For more Social Good coverage:
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| Kindle Books Now Outselling Paperbacks at Amazon Posted: 27 Jan 2011 01:11 PM PST   It's official: electronic Kindle books are now outselling paperbacks on Amazon, marking a major milestone in the publishing industry. The news was revealed in Amazon's fourth quarter earnings report, and comes just six months after the company announced that e-books were outselling hardcovers. In a statement, CEO Jeff Bezos said, "Last July we announced that Kindle books had passed hardcovers and predicted that Kindle would surpass paperbacks in the second quarter of this year, so this milestone has come even sooner than we expected – and it's on top of continued growth in paperback sales." The company adds that for 2010, it sold 115 Kindle books for every 100 paperback books, and “three times as many Kindle books as hardcovers.” Those numbers don’t include free Kindle books, making the numbers all the more significant. The growth in e-books, as well as strong sales of the Kindle 3, helped Amazon achieve $10 billion in a single quarter for the first time in its history. More About: amazon, e-books, Kindle, trending For more Media coverage:
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| Google Begins Testing Display Ads in Gmail Posted: 27 Jan 2011 12:13 PM PST   Google has begun testing display ads in Gmail user accounts, the company confirmed Thursday. “We’re always trying out new ad formats and placements in Gmail, and we recently started experimenting with image ads on messages with heavy image content,” a spokesperson wrote in an e-mail to Mashable. Google began running the test ads on Friday, January 21. The news came to light when Greg Sterling, a contributing editor at Search Engine Land, shared a screenshot of a display ad that appeared in his inbox this morning:  Google has been looking for ways to expand its display ad network, and Gmail is a logical next step. Google can serve ads based on keywords that appear in a user’s personal Gmail (Sterling was served an ad for organic men’s tees after opening an e-mail from a clothing retailer), although those ads will no doubt be distracting for many Gmail users. Yahoo Mail already serves display ads in users’ inboxes. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, pavlen More About: advertising, display advertising, Google, MARKETING, trending For more Business & Marketing coverage:
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| How Many UX Designers Does It Take to Fix 5 Social Problems? Posted: 27 Jan 2011 12:03 PM PST   How many UX designers does it take to fix social issues? The answer, according to UX for Good, a one-weekend design and think-fest for social good based in Chicago, is hopefully around “50.” UX for Good is a two-day design competition featuring 40 UX designers, 10 visual designers and a team full of volunteers. The participants will be divided into five teams to try to come up with solutions for five pressing and systemic social issues: unemployment, urban violence, public education, community mental health and cross-cultural understanding. In the spirit of social good, there’s no cash payout or trophy; instead, the teams of designers will be competing to solve their issues with the help of non-profit experts in their specific fields. These teams will be mixed with volunteering poets, architects and writers to help spur creativity. At the end of the conference, the teams will present their solutions to a panel of peers.  The idea is not to create a website or code a seamless graphic, but to use the skill sets of a UX designer to analyze social issues. “They’re really good systems designers, I don’t know if they knew that,” says Jeff Leitner, the founder and dean of Insight Labs and, along with Manifest Digital’s Jason Ulaszek, one half of the brains behind the event. UX for Good was born from a late night conversation between Leitner and Ulaszek. Without much of a model for how to do it, they put out a call to UX designers that wanted to take their skills at streamlining digital systems to the non-profit world. UX for Good attracted a glut of designers from places like Groupon, Sears and Cannon, and started wracking up sponsors. But why UX designers? Wouldn’t something like this be best served by non-profit thought leaders? Not so, Leitner says. UX designers are uniquely positioned as gatekeepers of the technological world and its human end user: They make technology make sense for people. “I think we stand at an interesting time when technology is so pervasive and solutions that take into account both humanity and technology are where the answers lie,” Leitner says. “And UX was designed to solve for that… it is the center of the venn diagram between technology and people.”  As much as the event is intended to solve major social issues by applying a streamlined, focused mindset, Leitner hopes that UX for Good will introduce UX designers as a major asset to social good campaigns. “It’s an introduction to the market place, or the zeitgeist, this group of people who are not being tapped to solve challenges,” he says. Leitner has received some pushback from designers claiming the mandate is well above their station, but an overwhelming majority has been game to try. Leitner was adamant that UX for Good is not just an academic exercise but a way of blowing open a whole new perspective on social good and motivating a new field of professionals to get involved. “You go to [a conference] and you sit in the dark and listen to really smart people and you talk in the breaks,” Leitner says. “And what we’re doing is taking a bunch of smart people and saying, ‘Now do something.’” If you’re interested in participating or getting involved the conference is planning a robust social media rollout including five live bloggers and live streams, also available on its Facebook Page. For more Social Media coverage:
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| Introducing Mashable’s First San Francisco Bureau Chief: Chris Taylor Posted: 27 Jan 2011 11:44 AM PST   We are thrilled to announce that Chris Taylor, formerly of FastCompany.com, will be joining Mashable as our first-ever San Francisco bureau chief. As bureau chief, Taylor will manage Mashable’s San Francisco team and oversee our reporting there. He will continue to expand our coverage of technology and gadgets, as well as the platforms, people and companies that drive innovation in this space. Taylor comes to us with an impressive and extensive career. He was most recently West Coast editor of FastCompany.com. Before that he served as West Coast editor for Fortune Small Business. Prior to his role with Fortune Small Business, Taylor was Future editor at Business 2.0, where he edited the "What's Next" section and wrote the "Future Boy" column for the CNN Money website. Taylor was also San Francisco bureau chief for Time Magazine, where he introduced Time‘s readers to Google, the iPod, the Xbox and Netflix. He was awarded the Public Relations Society of America's 2004 Award for Excellence in Technology Journalism for his Time Magazine cover story on SpaceShipOne. In addition to his professional work, Taylor helped launch The Bay-farer, a newspaper by and for kids at 826 Valencia, an organization founded in 2002 by author Dave Eggers and educator Nínive Calegari, dedicated to developing students’ writing skills. Taylor brings a solid reputation and strong relationships, and he is no stranger to the ever-changing tech beat. We're proud to welcome him to Mashable, as we continue to expand our coverage and staff in 2011. Taylor will start his new role with Mashable on Monday, January 31. Until then, we encourage you to follow him on Twitter @FutureBoy. More About: mashable For more Social Media coverage:
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| HOW TO: Ask and Answer Questions on Quora [VIDEO] Posted: 27 Jan 2011 11:29 AM PST Quora is a new social question and answer website that's receiving plenty of buzz. It functions on a simple premise: Ask a question (either to the community or an individual) and wait for the answers. You can also follow questions, topics, or people and read all the updates related to them on your home page. It’s simple enough, but beyond that, some of Quora’s features can get murky. One questionable feature is the “pop quiz.” Quora gives an impromptu grammar exam to all members who post a question for the first time. The quiz asks users to select the correct sentence out of a list of grammatically incorrect sentences. This is intended to keep post quality at a high level, however future use doesn’t require a quiz, so the grammatically-challenged could continue to post if they can guess correctly the first time. Another point of contention is the ability of users to edit others’ questions. For example, I recently asked, "Where can I find the best Hawaiian food in New York?" Another user edited my question to read, "Where is the best Hawaiian food in New York?" In this instance, I don't think my question was ambiguous enough to warrant an edit. Plus, if users can edit each other’s questions, why the need for the grammar quiz in the first place? In order to implement quality control on the answers people give, Quora employs a system of "upvoting" and "downvoting." Upvoting a response displays it higher up in the queue of responses. With enough upvotes, an answer will appear first in the queue, implying that its content is of the highest quality because the community approved it. All of these measures have so far made Quora more attractive and valuable to a smart but small user base of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and technologists. As the site grows, it will be interesting to see if the dynamics that make it useful today will still be in place. Will the popularity of certain users influence what gets upvoted and what doesn’t? Despite some shortcomings, I'd still recommend that anyone interested in Quora sign up and give it a try. If you don't like it, you'll know right away. If you do like it, you can find yourself getting sucked into the site and jumping from question to question, checking out topics that you never even knew existed. Have you tried Quora? What was your user experience like? Let us know in the comments below. More How To Resources from Mashable
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| INSIDE DAVOS: What It’s Like Inside One of the World’s Most Exclusive Conferences [PICS] Posted: 27 Jan 2011 11:02 AM PST We’re reporting this week from the World Economic Forum, in which top businesspeople, politicians, influencers and media gather to discuss the world’s biggest problems and how to solve them. One part of that solution will be technology, and we’re here to learn how tech is reshaping industries, communities and countries. What’s it like here in Davos? We’ve already shown you the small Swiss town that just got invaded by the likes of Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, George Soros and Arianna Huffington, but how about seeing inside the Congress Centre, where the conference itself takes place? Once you get beyond the tight security — including metal detectors and an electronic scan of your attendee badge — you’ll find the place swarming with world leaders and business people. There’s a small social media and tech presence here, too — YouTube is gathering videos on world issues on behalf of the WEF, while Facebook is live streaming interviews to the web. Meanwhile, journalists blog and tweet from the Centre thanks to the ubiquitous (and surprisingly fast!) Wi-Fi. Here’s an illustrated guide to one of the worlds most exclusive conferences. Images courtesy Lisa Bettany (@mostlylisa). Inside the Congress Center   Delegates first pass through metal detectors and the coat check -- removing their winter coats and gloves before arriving here, at the Congress Centre. WEF Badge Reader Badges are required to get beyond the police guards outside the center, and card readers inside verify visitors' identity to security personnel. Badges, meanwhile, also act as a status symbol -- a white badge puts you on the lowest rung, while colored badges indicate varying levels of importance. Delegates tend to peek at badges frequently, perhaps trying to access which attendees are the most important to talk to. WEF Badge Reading Machine Visitor badges also activate various machines around the Congress Centre: Place a badge near the reader and the screen displays the badge-holder's profile and personalized schedule for the conference. Congress Hall Congress Hall is where some of the biggest talks take place. Attendees must RSVP early to get access, however -- most talks fill up almost immediately. Global Village Meeting Area Attendees tend to meet and chat at the Global Village. Thanks to free, fast Wi-Fi at the adjacent Member's Lounge, journalists tend to spend lots of time here too. Various leaders pass through while journalists work -- Bill Clinton, Bill Gates and George Soros breezed through today -- but space is at a premium. Often no seats are available and meetings take place standing up. IdeasLab at Davos At the IdeasLab, speakers explore the theme "Doing Better With Less". IdeasLab Live Drawing As speakers talk, an artist draws a representation of the talk on the whiteboard. Industry Partners Lounge The Industry Partners Lounge is one of the few areas in the Congress Centre with food and drinks. Situated upstairs from the Global Village meeting area, it's popular with those meeting and working nearby. The sandwiches may be of the miniature variety, but between the constant stream of breakfasts, lunches and dinners at the various hotels, a meal is rarely hard to find. Entrance to the World Economic Forum This is the first thing delegates see as they enter the WEF. Media at Congress Hall Unsurprisingly, the WEF is packed with media -- it's common to get bumped by a camera lens or find yourself unexpectedly in the shot of a TV crew. Facebook Live Stream Facebook's Randi Zuckerberg is live streaming interviews from Davos. Here, she speaks with Robert Scoble. On Set at the Facebook Live Stream Facebook has been joined by YouTube this year as a WEF partner. Both companies are trying to make the WEF more accessible through social media. Downstairs at the Congress Centre The Congress Hall is down here. Social Entrepreneurs Corner At the Social Entrepreneurs Corner, those changing the world through social projects can chat. Young Global Leaders The WEF selects outstanding young leaders to join its YGL program -- members include Google's Sergey Brin and Larry Page, investor Peter Thiel and Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales. Bill Clinton speaks Bill Clinton is among the speakers at this year's conference. Clinton at the Congress Hall Clinton's appearance at the WEF was among the most highly anticipated sessions. Clinton on the big screen
Downstairs at the Annual Meeting Below the Young Global leaders area, a bar serves smoothies to attendees. More About: davos, WEF, world economic forum For more Media coverage:
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| Instagram Introduces Hashtags for Users & Brands Posted: 27 Jan 2011 11:00 AM PST   Instagram, the hit mobile photo-sharing service for iPhone users, is out with an update Thursday that introduces hashtags to its users and opens the service up to brand campaigns. App users can now add hashtags to their own photos in the caption or comment fields. Each hashtag has its own page where all photos with the same hashtag are displayed. Hashtags also have corresponding RSS feeds — http://instagr.am/tags/[hashtag name]/feed/recent.rss — which allow web users to view pools of Instagram photos outside the app for the first time. Hashtags are just as straightforward on Instagram as they are on Twitter, where the notion of tagging content with the #hashtag syntax for filtering purposes gained widespread recognition. Co-founder Kevin Systrom believes that there’s even more opportunity for connecting content and people through hashtags on Instagram. Hashtags should be a welcome added feature for users, some of whom have already gravitated toward the idea — #nofilter, for instance, has become a hashtag Instagram users have claimed to indicate that their photos are filter free. Even more potentially significant, however, is the opportunity hashtags create for brands and organizations. News media and brands have already begun experimenting with the service, but hashtags allow them to tap into Instagram as a platform for social media campaigns. “We looked around and thought, how can we build something that’s flexible for both users and brands?” says Systrom on the startup’s somewhat unexpected departure from more typical filter and feature releases. “This [addition of hashtags] shows that the company is innovating in an interesting direction,” he says. To illustrate the brand possibilities, Instagram has forged relationships with Charity: Water, Brisk Iced Tea, NPR and others, who are each launching hashtag campaigns Thursday. Charity: Water is asking users to share images of water in their life using #charitywater, and NPR is on the lookout for photos that capture the ideas of #love and #hate. Brisk Iced Tea is adding a product design element to their campaign. The beverage maker is soliciting photos tagged with #briskpic. Selected photos will be featured on a limited edition can of Brisk at SXSW. “This an interesting mechanism for larger brands to collect content under a hashtag,” says Systrom, who admittedly believes the feature addition will spawn exciting, unexpected use cases in the months ahead. Instagram is now focused on building an API and complimentary web service, Systrom says. In December, Instagram hit 1 million registered users after just 10 weeks. The service is still growing very rapidly, at the same pace if not faster, according to Systrom. #fashionrio page
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More About: charity: water, instagram, MARKETING, NPR For more Startups coverage:
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| Sony Next-Generation Portable To Include Two Quad-Core Chips [PICS] Posted: 27 Jan 2011 10:55 AM PST   We have more details about Sony’s upcoming next-generation portable gaming device, as well as a gallery of high-resolution press shots. Sony execs didn’t reveal much about the portable gamer’s processor Wednesday night at the rollout event, but now there’s more information, confirming a pair of powerful quad-core processors under the hood. For those technically inclined, there will be a quad-core ARM Cortex A9 processor inside, and sharing the graphics duties alongside that will be a quad-core Power VR SGX534MP4+ GPU. This is a seriously powerful engine, certainly in line with last night’s promise of the "most advanced" processors. Add to that the 5-inch, 960×544-pixel OLED touchscreen display with a touchpad on the back, and those new analog joysticks, and you have a handheld gaming machine that will update the Sony PlayStation portable franchise with aplomb. Too bad it’s not available until the end of this year — at least 10 months away, ample time for competitors to catch up. Here’s a gallery of official press pics from Sony, including a spec sheet: Sony NGP Spec Sheet It even has GPS. Sony NGP Press Pics Those two analog joysticks should be easier to use than its predecessor's nubs. Sony NGP Press Pics That's a capacitive touchscreen. Sony NGP Press Pics There's one of the joysticks from the side. Sony NGP Press Pics
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Sony NGP Press Pics There's a capacitive touchpad on the back. More About: gallery, playstation, Quad-core, Sony Next-Generation Portable For more Tech & Gadgets coverage:
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| E-Commerce Site Lets Users Buy a Better Life For Girls in India Posted: 27 Jan 2011 10:49 AM PST   “The Girl Store” is a rather jolting title for an e-commerce site, but that’s exactly what its creators were going for. “It’s true that girls are literally being sold into slavery, and we wanted to pick up that thought to make [helping them] provocative,” explains Corinna Falusi, the creative director of ad agency StrawberryFrog, which designed the campaign for NGO Nanhi Kali. The site asks visitors to “buy a girl her life back” by donating school materials to girls in India — thus helping prevent the common practice that its title alludes to. Visitors can scroll through a gallery of girls (the images are models, but names and ages belong to real girls) and choose who to purchase shoes, a uniform, pencils, or books for. When all of the items a girl needs in order to be allowed to attend school are purchased, the site displays an “off to school” label over her image. Girls whose names are on the site are among the 57,000 that Nanhi Kali helps educate in India, a country where female children are often seen as economic burdens and more than half of women are illiterate. Because their families are often reluctant or unable to pay for their education and dowries, they are at risk of being sold into slavery or marriage at an early age. The campaign’s metaphor for this risk, the e-commerce set up, creates an emotional response that has resulted in every available item posted being sold about 12 hours after the site launched on Wednesday. Extending this approach to a physical setting, the agency will also set up a pop-up store tonight in New York at which “customers” will be able to physically see the school supplies they are purchasing for girls.  More About: education, india, nanhi kali, social good, StrawberryFrog For more Social Good coverage:
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| Plixi Acquired by E-Commerce Site Lockerz Posted: 27 Jan 2011 10:36 AM PST   Social photo-sharing service Plixi, once known as TweetPhoto, has been acquired by Lockerz, a members-only e-commerce site. The terms of the deal aren’t known, but what we do know is that pairing a photo service with a shopping site seems like a bit of a head-scratcher at first glance. However, Lockerz has a social incentive — PTZ, or points, can be earned by watching videos, listening to music and inviting friends. And the points can be used to lower the price of onsite merchandise; in effect, social activity acts like coupons for Lockerz’s users. With the Plixi deal, we can imagine that “sharing photos” will soon be added to that list of points-earning activity, as well. “The acquisition enables Lockerz to offer its millions of members the most social and easy-to-use photo sharing experience, as well as introduce millions of Plixi customers to Lockerz’ interactive, engaging and rewarding site features, including e-commerce, music and videos,” said Lockerz CEO Kathy Savitt in a release this morning. Or, as Plixi CEO Sean Callahan said to us in an e-mail: “Lockerz members are already sharing photos across the web, and Thousands of Lockerz members have been requesting the ability to share photos with their friends on the social network. We want to create a one stop shop for Lockerz members and reward them for all the things they love to do on the web — which includes sharing photos!” Plixi will get its third name change to become Lockerz Photos, and new Lockerz features will be developed around Plixi’s existing feature set. Between Lockerz members and Plixi’s users (some of whom are high-profile celebs), the companies say their monthly unique users should be around 31 million. More About: acquisition, lockerz, plixi, tweetphoto For more Business & Marketing coverage:
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| Rupert Murdoch’s “The Daily” Officially Launching Feb 2 Posted: 27 Jan 2011 09:42 AM PST   An official launch date has been set for Rupert Murdoch’s much-anticipated (and recently delayed) tablet newspaper, The Daily. We’ve just received a press invite for the launch event, which will be held on the morning of Wednesday, February 2 at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. Murdoch will be joined by Apple’s Eddy Cue, vice president of Internet Services. The launch was originally rumored to take place on January 19 at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, where Murdoch was expected to be joined by Apple CEO Steve Jobs. (Jobs has since taken an indefinite leave of absence from the company, citing health issues.) A person familiar with the matter told AllThingsD that the launch was delayed by Apple, who needed some more time to fine tune its new subscription service for publications sold through iTunes. The Daily will be available in the App Store for a rumored $0.99 per week, or $4.25 per month. News Corp. has reportedly hired a staff of 100 people solely for this project, which has worked closely alongside Apple to make The Daily a great multimedia (as well as social) experience on the iPad. More About: apple, eddy cue, ipad, rupert murdoch, The Daily, trending For more Media coverage:
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| INSIDE DAVOS: The World’s Elites Just Invaded This Tiny Town [PICS] Posted: 27 Jan 2011 09:31 AM PST Every year about 2,200 of the world’s top businesspeople, political leaders and selected journalists gather in Davos, Switzerland to discuss the biggest issues affecting the world and how to solve them. The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, referred to simply as “Davos” by attendees, turns the sleepy Swiss skiing town into a mecca for the world’s elite. This year the World Economic Forum is embracing tech and social media like never before, with Twitter lists, live streaming on Facebook, YouTube Q&A and more. What’s more, they’ve invited selected tech publications — including Mashable — to see what goes on at the annual meeting. We’ll be reporting on the web’s impact on the world in 2011 and asking top technologists, politicians and businesspeople for their take on how social media is reshaping industries, organizations and even entire countries. It’s a strange combination: Suited business leaders, politicians and journalists trudging through snow-covered streets and squeezing into the town’s limited number of hotel rooms. Here’s a guide to the town that’s playing host to the world’s elites this week. Images courtesy @mostlylisa. The Town of Davos   Here's where it all happens: The snow-covered Swiss town of Davos. Davos Town Center Stop at the Davos town center to browse the local shops or catch a bus to the Congress Center, where the World Economic Forum takes place. Promenade 23 Promenade 23 is the main street through Davos -- the Congress Centre is at the end, with buses running back and forth to the hotels dotted along it. Hotel Davoserhof One of the hotels en route to the Congress Center -- space is tight here, and having a hotel room in Davos is preferable to traveling in from nearby Klosters. Houses in Davos The streets are steep, and snowplows with chains on their wheels must clear them all day to keep traffic flowing. Local Foods For those seeking a taste of local culture, cheese and sausages are available in the Davos town center. Cooking in the Town Center In the center of Davos, visiting elites can enjoy freshly cooked sausages for a mere 6 Francs. Coffee Shop Notice the policeman on the front of the shot: There are thousands here, as security is extremely tight. Walking around Davos When a bus or shuttle van isn't available, delegates must walk around snowy Davos to get to meetings and meals. Hence, comfortable shoes tend to accompany the smart suits worn here. India Inclusive at Davos India has a huge presence here -- billboards and buses promote the "India Inclusive" campaign. Hotel Belvedere Here's the best hotel to stay at during Davos: The five-star Hotel Belvedere is right next to the Congress Centre. Hotel Belvedere and CNBC Lounge CNBC has a big presence here -- the black extension to the hotel is home to the CNBC lounge, from where the TV news network reports. Outside the Belvedere Access to the Belevedere requires going through metal detectors. Helicopter Above the Belvedere Helicopters often fly over the Belvedere -- dignitaries or news crews? It's sometimes hard to tell. Security at Davos Security is high here -- police in their orange uniforms stand on almost every corner. Davos Registration Registration happens at a building near the Congress Centre. After providing a passport and securing a badge, delegates must pass through airport-style security before gaining access to the Congress Centre. Electric Cars to the Congress Center Electric cars transport delegates from registration to the Congress Centre. ...although some prefer to walk ...and this driver seems more relaxed than most of the deadly serious security guards that surround the Congress Centre -- he provided a peace sign for the camera. Congress Centre Tunnel This inflatable tunnel provides a route from the street to the Congress Center. End of the Tunnel ...and once you reach the end, you're inside the 2011 meeting of the World Economic Forum. More About: davos, WEF, world economic forum For more Media coverage:
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