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Mashable: Latest 29 News Updates - including “LG Optimus 3D To Have a Dual-Lens 3D Camera”

Posted by Ashim Adhikari on 5:11 AM // 1 comment

Mashable: Latest 29 News Updates - including “LG Optimus 3D To Have a Dual-Lens 3D Camera”

LG Optimus 3D To Have a Dual-Lens 3D Camera

Posted: 01 Feb 2011 04:19 AM PST


LG has announced it will unveil its glasses-free 3D smartphone, the LG Optimus 3D, at the Mobile World Congress which is held 14-17 February in Barcelona.

We’ve seen a lot of rumors and even an image of the device (see below), but now LG has gone on the record with some of the specifications. It will be LG’s most advanced smartphone, with a glasses-free LCD panel, a dual-lens camera for 3D recording, and HDMI as well as DLNA on the connectivity front.

We’ll have to wait until February 14 to find out more about the device, which, by the look of things, will definitely cause some ripples in the smartphone world.

More About: 3D, 3d camera, LG, Optimus, smartphone

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Chad Ochocinco Is Pleased With His New Motorola Xoom

Posted: 01 Feb 2011 01:42 AM PST


The wait for Motorola’s iPad killer, the Xoom, is almost over, as Motorola has started handing the device to celebrities to try out (and hopefully spread the word about it).

NFL’s loudest Twitter fan Chad Ochocinco did exactly that, posting an image of the device on Twitpic, adding on Twitter that the Xoom is “pretty awesome” and that Motorola “won’t be getting this back!”

Mashable’s Ben Parr had a chance to try the Xoom out at this year’s CES, but the device wasn’t fully finished at the time. Now, it’s probably just a matter of days until Motorola blesses us with an official launch date.

[@ochocinco via Engadget]

More About: chad ochocinco, Motorola, motorola xoom, Tablet, xoom

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Samsung & Dan Marino “Team Up for Autism” With Online Campaign

Posted: 31 Jan 2011 11:28 PM PST


Today, Samsung’s philanthropic arm, Hope for Children, and former NFL quarterback Dan Marino launched a new social
media initiative, "Team Up for Autism."

The online campaign will help raise awareness of autism and funds for research and treatment programs for children with autism.

All you have to do to help is share an infographic with your Facebook friends or tweet using the hashtag #teamautism. Each time someone shares or tweets with the prescribed content, Samsung has been donating $5 to the Dan Marino Foundation, which funds research and supports treatment programs that lead to autistic children, teens and young adults living independent lives.

To promote the campaign, Samsung and the Dan Marino Foundation have launched TeamUpForAutism.com, a site where visitors can learn more about autism and about organizations that are helping people who struggle with this disorder.

Currently, the Center for Disease Control estimates that one out of ever 110 children in the U.S. is living with autism.

Marino, whose son, Michael, is autistic, said in a release, “With more than one million children in the United States living with autism… I recognize the struggles families face. With the support of companies like Samsung, we are able to provide funding, resources, and, most importantly, support to people and families facing the challenges of life with autism."

A representative of the campaign spoke with us tonight, saying that so many high-profile social media users, including several celebrities, had shared about the campaign that the original $100,000 goal had already been reached and that new goals were to be set in the morning.

Here’s the infographic, created by digital agency JESS3.

To see full version, click the infographic and proceed to the Team Up For Autism site.

More About: dan marino, JESS3, samsung, social good

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How Egyptians Used Twitter During the January Crisis [INFOGRAPHIC]

Posted: 31 Jan 2011 11:00 PM PST


Over the past several days, Twitter and other social media platforms have been flooded with links, images and information about the current political crisis in Egypt.

Social media intelligence firm Sysomos has analyzed a lot of the Egypt-related tweets and mined them for important cues, such as keywords and location data, that might show us just how news and information about Egypt are being disseminated via social media.

Twitter has been framed — by its founders, no less — as an important news-bearing medium in this any many other situations of global portent. Even while the service, and in fact, all Internet access, has been intermittently blocked in Egypt during the crisis, news, video clips and images continue to spread around Twitter with the greatest urgency. In fact, Google today launched a voice-to-Twitter service specifically to assist Egyptian Twitter users wishing to act as citizen journalists.

“Given how social media is being increasing leveraged as a real-time reporting tool,” said Sysomos strategist Mark Evans, “we wanted to look at how many people are using Twitter in Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen — places in which there is active political protest.

“We analyzed 52 million Twitter users, and discovered that only 14,642, or 0.027%, identified their location as Egypt, Yemen or Tunisia… It is important to note this number probably doesn't reflect the number of Twitter users since many users in Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen likely do not provide their location information to protect their identities.”

Still, with all the tweets containing keywords like “Egypt” and “Yemen,” Sysomos had a lot of data to work with. Using the company’s Media Analysis Platform (MAP), Sysomos analysts created the following visual overview of Twitter users’ response to the Egyptian crisis:


More About: Egypt, sysomos, tweets, twitter

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Startup Launches to Save Men From Giving Bad Gifts on Valentine’s Day

Posted: 31 Jan 2011 09:32 PM PST


If anecdotal evidence is to be believed, men are notoriously bad gift-givers. Seattle-based startup Thoughtful launches its social gifting private beta product Tuesday — just ahead of Valentine’s Day — to help save the day.

The premise is simple enough: Men need help buying gifts; Thoughtful connects to Facebook to surface local experiences and gift recommendations that match their mates’ tastes.

Thoughtful curates gifts sourced from local merchants who work with the startup to feature their products and experiences. Gifts start at $25 and include affordable spa options or much pricer fare: clothing, accessories, Valentine’s Day dinners and romantic weekend getaways.

The service will continue to keep track of important birthdays, anniversaries, and special events and will follow up with reminders to ensure the user’s gift-buying plans are prepared accordingly.

"Guys don't shop — they buy," says CEO Chris Lynch. "There are a million places to shop online, but what most of us guys struggle with is having a good idea and then easily making it happen. Our app is built to recommend the perfect gift this year so that you can be the hero."

While Thoughtful is targeted at men, the service will work for women as well. To say the fairer sex is the more thoughtful sex is a gender generalization that doesn’t always apply.

Thougtful, for now, is restricted to beta users in the Seattle area, which means not all men can become Thoughtful “heros” overnight. The service plans to expand elsewhere in the future, but for now Mashable readers in the Seattle area can gain priority access by entering “Mashable” in the location field at signup.

Thoughtful is both a consumer and local merchant play, and part recommendation engine. It connects the dots between the three in a way that is unique from the multitude of daily deals sites already in existence. In November of 2010, Thoughtful closed an undisclosed round of seed financing and will go after additional funds later in the year.

Photo based on an image courtesy of iStockphoto, madtwinsis.

More About: facebook, social media, social shopping, social shopping startup, startup, Thoughtful

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iPhone App Strips Out Spam to Turn Twitter into a News Reader

Posted: 31 Jan 2011 08:44 PM PST


The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.

Name: Smartr

Quick Pitch: Smartr is a news reader for Twitter on the iPhone.

Genius Idea: Web denizens are turning to social sites to find and consume news more and more. Smartr, an iPhone app released in mid-December, is going after the social news crowd who turn to Twitter for their daily news fix.

Smartr for iPhone [iTunes link], which comes from natural language processing startup Factyle, gathers all the tweets in your Twitter timeline and determines which of them have meaningful content. The app then fetches the web pages housed within tweets and optimizes the content — text, images and video — for iPhone.

Instead of seeing tweets, the Smartr user views a Twitter feed filled with news snippets. “It’s a lens on top of your Twitter Feed,” says Factyle founder Temo Chalasani.

Users can click on updates in the filtered Twitter stream to read a Smartr reformatted, ad-free version of the article, share it with Facebook, Tumblr or Posterous, and choose to save it in-app or via Instapaper or Read it Later.

The application is best suited for news junkies who want an experience that automatically filters out checkins, badges, stickers and updates of the same ilk — updates the startup considers “Twitter spam.”

Poorly formatted articles with excessive ads will also get caught in Smartr’s spam filter, according to Chalasani.

The still-nascent application has a small but highly engaged audience, says Chalasani. App users are making Smartr their primary way of consuming content, and the team added in support for Twitter lists after its community clamored for the feature, he says.

Smartr just released an API, and next up is an iPad app slated to go live in 10 to 14 days. Future plans include feature updates to make Smartr even smarter — think automatic queries that pull in Twitter, Facebook or other web info on people mentioned in articles. The company may also add price tags to the applications down the line.

The team behind Smartr spent two years building their natural language processing technology and was awarded a $160,000 grant from the Canadian government in the process, according to Chalasani. Factyle has since opted to focus on applying its technology to mobile to engineer a more fluid content consumption experience.

Factyle is operating on funds supplied by friends and family, but is actively seeking outside funding. The startup’s line of mobile applications fall within the same category has those offered by the arguably more flashy Flipboard or Pulse. Factyle is betting that a significant pool of users will prefer the utility of Smartr over the magazine-style of the others.

Based on an image courtesy of iStockphoto, BartCo.

Series Supported by Microsoft BizSpark

Microsoft BizSpark

The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark, a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.

More About: Factyle, iphone app, Smartr, spark-of-genius, twitter

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“New York Times” Updates Homepage With Links to Twitter & Facebook

Posted: 31 Jan 2011 07:54 PM PST


On the same day it quietly rolled out an algorithm-based recommendations service, The New York Times added links to both its Facebook and Twitter accounts on its homepage.

Now, two tiny logos — one for Facebook and one for Twitter — appear to the right of the words “Follow us” under the New York Times header. The logo is situated between a search box and, perhaps ironically, a text ad for home delivery. Lists of stories recommended by editors and one’s Facebook friends are listed below.

At the time of writing, the newspaper has nearly 2.9 million followers on its main Twitter account and a little more than 1 million Facebook fans.

It’s yet another sign of the times in the ever-evolving — and increasingly overlapping — spheres of old and media.

More About: facebook, media, new york times, nyt, twitter

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Digg Gets an Overhaul to Draw Users Back

Posted: 31 Jan 2011 07:08 PM PST


Digg has launched an overhaul and redesign of the struggling social media service in an attempt to bring users back and regain some momentum.

This rollout incorporates three major changes for the site. The first is a redesign of the site based on user feedback. It places the key Digg topics — Gaming, Technology, Science, etc. — at the top of the page rather than on the side. Story pages have been cleaned up, and the “submit” box has been given more prominence. It now sits at the top of every page, while search has been been reduced to a magnifying glass icon that will display the search box when you click it.

The second part of the update focuses on profile pages and the return of profile statistics. At the top right of every profile page are the Digg, commenting, submission and following stats for every user. Digg says it took “much longer” than expected to import the Digg data from V3 to the current version. It’s definitely incomplete, though — my stats say I’ve made zero submissions and zero comments in my many years on Digg, both of which are definitely not true. Some data is still missing.

Finally, Digg has added a new slew of opt-in notifications for when your stories hit “Top News.” While “Top News” has lost much of its prominence since “My News” was made the default, it’s still a point of achievement to have a story you submit reach the front page, so it makes sense that many people would want to be notified when that happens. These notifications will appear either by e-mail or on-site.

The changes are designed to counteract Digg’s painful decline by adding the most-requested user features. Users famously revolted after the New Digg launched last August. Since then, Digg has been in decline, enough to force Digg to lay off more than one-third of its team.

The new features will be rolled out over the next few weeks and will be offered at an opt-in basis. Overall, they’re nice updates, but th company still has a long way to go to regain user trust and woo users back to its platform. Every little bit counts, though, when you’re trying to turn things around.

Check out the before and after screenshots, and let us know what you think of the redesign.

Above: Screenshot of the New Digg

Above: Screenshot of the Old Digg

More About: digg, digg 4.0, kevin rose, New Digg, redesign

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4chan Founder’s New Site Renders Meme-Making Easy

Posted: 31 Jan 2011 07:07 PM PST


We’ve heard rumblings about 4chan founder Christopher Poole’s (a.k.a. “moot”) new startup for a while now, and today he tells us that the first public version of the site is out the door.

Beta invites should be rolling out any moment now, as Poole is staggering their release to avoid too many people joining at one time.

“We want to scale the community slowly and organically,” he says.

So what exactly is this community that Poole is building? Well, it’s like 4chan — the image-based bulletin board that Poole founded seven years ago — but cleaned up, to a certain degree.

“4chan is an old-school, anonymous free-for-all. I love it,” Poole says. “There’s a reason I’m still involved with it…. [Canvas] is not meant to be 4chan 2.0, but it is in a similar space… It’s a more mainstream photo site.”

Canvas, like 4chan, is a forum that allows users to post content and engage with others, but instead of just posting to a board (ala 4chan), users must create accounts. These accounts are anonymous, however, and require very little information to set up.

Right now, the site only contains images — in the future Poole says different formats will also be added — which users can upload and remix with ease. In fact, Canvas includes a Remix Editor that lets you alter images on-site, without having to open up Photoshop.

Unlike on 4chan, where content is not archived, Canvas shows the genesis of an image — remix to remix. “Content creation as a collaborative process,” Poole says. “It’s not just the product that’s interesting — it’s that process.”

Poole has also added another element to Canvas to increase engagement: stickers. While on most image boards, there are lurkers and creators, Canvas lets users interact with content by dragging and dropping stickers — reading “LOL, “WTF,” etc — onto pictures. The stickers are very similar to those used on Buzzfeed.

“We like the drag and drop metaphor — dragging something on top of something else and altering it,” Poole says.

Stickers also serve as a way to promote popular content, and to organize the pictures by theme.

According to Poole, this new site is not directly connected to the highly controversial 4chan, so we wonder what kind of people it will attract — and how the denizens of 4chan will react to how easy it is to engage with Canvas.

Given that Poole has just joined New York City seed fund Lerer Ventures as a venture advisor (Lerer also acted as lead investor in a round of funding for Canvas), perhaps Canvas’s audience will be a bit more diverse than that of Poole’s first venture.

More About: 4chan, canvas, christopher-poole, humor, memes, Moot

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Foursquare’s University Badges Now Available at All Colleges & Universities

Posted: 31 Jan 2011 06:06 PM PST


Foursquare has just announced that its “Foursquare for Universities” program is now available at every college and university around the world.

That means the new-to-many-campuses university badges can be unlocked by any relevant checkins at any college or university campus around the globe.

Foursquare’s collegiate checkins program began about a year ago with a partnership with Harvard. At the time, the idea behind the partnership was to help students connect with colleagues, friends and professors through the app and to help campus visitors find their way around interesting and useful on-campus locations.

Last fall, Foursquare launched Foursquare for Universities, an official program to partner with many different schools. The program, which also made way for custom badges for each school, eventually grew to include more than 100 colleges and universities.

Since the Foursquare for Universities launch, more than 25,000 university badges were unlocked, and Foursquare said it received more than 1,200 requests from non-partner schools to bring the popular app to those campuses, too.

Now, university badges will be available at any campus around the world. Also, all students are encouraged to sign up for the startup’s ambassador program, which will give participants free Foursquare gear and tools for spreading the word about the location app.

The standard university badges (pictured in order below) include Bookworm Bender (for checking into a library or study area after midnight), Smells Like School Spirit (for five checkins to a sports venue), Quad Squatter (for 10 checkins at a common area), Munchies (for checkins at five separate campus dining facilities), and College Explorer (for checkins to any 10 different campus locations).

More About: colleges, foursquare, universities

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“New York Times” Quietly Rolls Out Recommendations Service

Posted: 31 Jan 2011 04:43 PM PST


Today, The New York Times quietly rolled out a new page that serves up a list of recommended stories based on recently read items.

Available at NYTimes.com/recommendations, the page is designed to help readers “see through the news fog,” NYT lead technology reporter Nick Bilton tweeted. It lists 20 recommended articles alongside personal data about the sections and topics one reads most often, suggesting that content is suggested based on those criteria rather than, for example, keywords.

As far as we can tell, the feature is not integrated into the rest of the site, at least not yet. And unlike The Huffington Post‘s recommendation system, for instance, there is nothing social about it — suggestions are based purely on one’s own reading habits, not the reading habits of one’s friends.

We’ve reached out to The New York Times for comment and will update this post with further information after a scheduled call Tuesday.

More About: media, new york times, nyt

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Facebook, Google, & IBM Partner With White House to Encourage Entrepreneurship

Posted: 31 Jan 2011 04:41 PM PST


After promising a basketful of tax breaks for small business in his State of the Union address last week, President Obama seems to be standing behind his commitment to entrepreneurship — at least where highly visible initiatives are concerned.

On Monday, the White House announced Startup America, a national campaign to encourage startups. The initiative will be chaired by AOL co-founder Steve Case. The campaign already has an impressive list of partners, including Facebook, Intel, IBM, HP, the Kauffman Foundation, and Google.

These partnerships bring a lot of cash to the table, but not everyone is convinced the new campaign represents a true opportunity for startups. Small business blog Gigaom, for instance, called the program “an opportunity to get a lot of press, with low returns for actual startups.”

While few particulars about the program have been named, most partner commitments fall under three categories: creating workshops for current business owners, bringing classes in entrepreneurship to higher education, and funding new businesses.

Aside from making an effort to “marshal private-sector resources to spur entrepreneurship in the U.S,” the federal government’s largest named commitment to the campaign is $2 billion that it will direct to match private sector investment funding for startups in under-served communities and for early-stage investing in firms with high growth potential. The initiative through which this will be accomplished — the Small Business Investment Company program — has existed since 1958.

But even though the government’s role in the campaign appears to be more “marshall” than “game changer,” the campaign might still have an important role to play in the startup landscape.

“It affirms the importance of startups and entreprenuership, and I think every bit helps,” says John Borthwick, the CEO of New York tech incubator Betaworks.

While the West Coast’s culture of entrepreneurship is most clearly flourishing, Borthwick says smaller communities of startups are popping up in just about every major city of the country. Efforts like Facebook’s promised “Startup Days” events might sound fluffy, but they also may help grow and mature entrepreneurship in these cities.

“Having government deeply involved in entrepreneurship is not something that’s a good use of resources,” Borthwick says. “but the process of enabling entrepreneurship is valuable for the country.”

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Timotale

More About: entrepreneurs, small business, startups, state of the union, whitehouse

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MacBook Air Suspended From Balloon in Apple Store Display [VIDEO]

Posted: 31 Jan 2011 03:49 PM PST



Apple’s marketing prowess apparently extends beyond its TV spots and much-hyped press conferences — it goes into in-store displays as well.

The above video, captured in an unidentified Apple Store, seems to have taken inspiration from Pixar’s Up. A MacBook Air, which is touted for its light form factor (it weighs roughly three-quarters of a pound), is shown suspended from a balloon. (Admittedly, it could be a cardboard replica, although it effectively conveys the message either way.)

Interestingly, Apple’s ads for Air seem to have mostly played up its thinness rather than its weight. Perhaps the company should tap its store personnel for more marketing suggestions.

[Via TNW]

More About: apple, macbook air, MARKETING

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The Truth About Cutting the Cable TV Cord [VIDEO]

Posted: 31 Jan 2011 03:12 PM PST


Ad agency Hill Holliday recently conducted an experiment, asking five families to give up cable TV in favor of connected TV devices for a week.

The growing availability of online content and video subscription services, coupled with an exploding market for connected devices, has pushed the idea of cord cutting — or dropping a traditional cable TV subscription package in favor of online video sources — into the mainstream. But how viable is the concept, really?

For its experiment (which the agency stresses was not intended as a scientific research study), Hill Holliday provided each family with a different connected device: the Roku, Apple TV, Xbox 360, Boxee Box and Google TV.

The agency conducted interviews with the participants at the beginning and end of the week, and also had the participants record their own thoughts throughout the process. Hill Holliday compiled that footage into a short video clip and presented the results of the experiment at last week’s TVnext summit.

Check out the video:

Connected Devices Aren’t Cable Box Replacements (Yet)

The big takeaway from the experiment is that in their current iteration, connected devices are not drop-in cable box replacements. Ultimately, this makes a lot of sense.

As Hill Holliday notes in its write-up of the experiment, none of the connected devices used in the study are advertised as cable TV replacements. Most of these devices are promoted as a way to augment regular TV viewing and not as a sole provider of video content.

Where connected devices fall short of emulating the cable TV experience (at least in this experiment) can be separated into two areas:

  • Lack of live content
  • User experience

The Live TV Conundrum

Live content is a problem for which there is no easy solution. Live streams of special events — the Olympics, the State of the Union, global rock concerts — are becoming more common, but traditional programming is still largely available online only after it has aired on regular TV.

Live sports content is actually making a lot of headway on connected devices — with subscription offerings from the MLB, NBA and NHL. This content is great for sports fans — it’s basically akin to the various packages offered by satellite providers like DirecTV — but it can be expensive for the viewer who just wants to watch an occasional local or national game.

Interestingly, the solution for live content on connected devices is actually being offered up by the cable companies themselves.

After ignoring users who consume content on devices that are not traditional TV sets for the better part of the decade, cable companies are finally ramping up their own connected offerings.

In December, Comcast released the first version of its XfinityTV app for the iPad. The initial release of the app allows users to treat it as a giant remote control, but future versions will include the ability to stream OnDemand content on the iPad. Comcast has also said it will offer live TV streaming through the app in the future as well.

Meanwhile, Verizon is already testing some live streaming apps for the iPad and other tablets.

I have long been of the opinion that the cable companies have the most untapped potential in the evolving connected device market. Rather than competing against offerings from Amazon, Netflix and iTunes, cable companies should leverage their strengths and make content more accessible on computers, tablets and smartphones.

What Connected Devices Can Learn From Regular TV

The biggest hurdle for connected devices, in their current form, isn’t necessarily with content — it’s with usability.

One of the experiment’s participants commented on how TV is a “passive” experience. This is true. For better or worse, television requires very little effort on the part of the user. Aside from changing the channel or looking at the onscreen TV guide, television is just “there.”

Connected devices, on the other hand, demand a lot more user effort. Viewers have to make conscious choices about what content they want to watch. This is fine if someone wants to watch a specific movie or TV show, but it can be less satisfying for the channel surfer. There is much less serendipity built into the current generation of connected devices.

TiVo, arguably the biggest disruptor in the television industry during the last 25 years, understood the importance of becoming part of the passive experience. TiVo updates itself in the background, fuses its interface in with that of the cable box and works just like a living, breathing VCR.

Aside from content disputes, the biggest user complaint we hear about Google TV is that it is too hard to use. In other words Google and its partners didn’t take a TiVo approach to integrating with the living room.

Likewise, even the best set-top boxes have usability issues that prevent them from truly operating as background devices. A frustrating aspect of setting up Boxee or Roku is that despite being “connected,” these devices require using a computer or smartphone to set-up or enable accounts with Netflix or Pandora. Apple makes the Netflix sign-in process much less time consuming, but even then, a user cannot sign-up for a Netflix account from within the Apple TV.

Connected devices and their associated services are by design, not going to match the totally passive nature of a traditional television set. That doesn’t mean that the setup process and playback options can’t be better optimized to fit in with other aspects of the television.

Where this is particularly true is when it comes to finding content. Rather than having to search services individually, connected devices could take a page from Clicker’s playbook and make it simple to search across providers from a single interface.

What Connected TV is Good For

The nature of this experiment was purposely strict. Still, in my own unscientific experiments, I have seen some different results when observing how regular TV watchers (and non-techies) adapt to connected devices.

For Christmas this past year, I got my parents — who represent the older end of the 18-65 television viewing demographic — a Roku box. I did not get this box as a cable replacement, but I intended for it to augment their viewing options. After I set it up and signed them up for Netflix, my parents love the Roku box, which they use to watch old movies and catch up on old episodes of 24

On a similar note, I got my mom an iPad for her birthday back in August. The device has become an integral part of her life and she takes it everywhere. Just this weekend, she was telling me how she uses the ABC app to catch up on her TV shows while putting on makeup in the morning.

Neither the iPad nor the Roku has taken on the role of replacing the regular cable box. The DVD player is certainly getting less use and TiVo — particularly for newer content — is less loved. But both devices are simply a way to extend and enhance viewing options, not a way to replace existing methods.

Connected devices are becoming a reality and cable companies should be worried that consumers now have alternative ways to view content on their TV sets. Premium movie services like HBO and Showtime should also be concerned about Netflix’s growing dominance. Plus, while connected devices might not be ready to replace cable boxes yet, for many people they certainly can justify a switch to a less-expensive cable package.

Still, from my own observations (as well as the results of the Hill Holliday experiment), the real impact of connected devices is to the viewing ecosystem as a whole, rather than just the cable specific niche. For now, connected devices are best used to augment viewing options.

What do you think of the results of this experiment? Have you traded in cable for a connected device? Let us know in the comments.

More Digital TV Resources from Mashable:

- 5 Reasons Connected TV Could Flop in 2011
- 4 Predictions for Connected Devices in 2011
- Why Connected TVs Will Be About the Content, Not the Apps
- What Consumer Electronics Companies Must Do to Make 3D Profitable
- 7 Pairs of Stylish 3D Specs for Fashionable Film Fans

Photo courtesy of Flickr, theogeo

More About: Apple TV, boxee, connected devices, connected tv, hill holliday, iptv, roku, trending, tv

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New York City Subway System Comes Alive in HTML5 & Javascript [VIDEO]

Posted: 31 Jan 2011 02:56 PM PST

If you live in New York City, you most likely have a love/hate relationship with the subway (one that tends to wander toward “hate” more often than not).

Well, Brooklynite, musician and Google Creative Labs employee Alexander Chen has created a little HTML5/Javascript art project that is sure to put a smile on your face next time you’re crammed into a crazy person’s armpit whilst enjoying the eclectic symphony of children crying on your morning commute.

Conductor, Chen’s recently released project, is an interactive subway map that pulls data from the MTA's public API to illustrate the motions of the New York City transit system.

Colored lines representing each train move across the screen in accordance with the real cars, and every time they intersect, they produce a “twang!” — like a stringed instrument. You can also “play” the map by tugging on a line with your mouse.

“As a viola player, it was interesting territory to try to replicate that feeling of tugging at a string,” says Chen, who lives off of the G line (known as the “Ghost Train” to locals) in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn.

“Once I had that code down, my wife and I were talking about what other things could work, and a subway map came to mind. My friend has a Vignelli map on his wall, and it’s really beautiful.”

“I’ve also always liked the idea of inanimate objects generating music, coming alive,” he adds. “With all of the emphasis on realtime and location-aware technology, I thought it would be interesting to create a website that begins in realtime, but time slowly unravels.”

According to Chen, the map is not wholly accurate — so, New Yorkers, we don’t suggest using it to get to work on time or anything. The train launch time in the lower left is apparently on par with reality, but the map is mostly an exercise in creativity.

“For example, the 8 train and K train, which exist on Vignelli’s map, don’t exist anymore,” Chen says. “So in my world, I run them from 12 a.m. to 2 a.m., like ghost trains.”

You mean like the G?

More About: art, HTML5, javascript, mtv, subway

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Google Launches Voice-to-Twitter Service To Help Protesters in Egypt

Posted: 31 Jan 2011 02:42 PM PST


A group of engineers from Google, Twitter and SayNow (which Google acquired last week) were hard at work building a speak-to-tweet service for protesters in Egypt this weekend.

The service, which is already live, enables users to send tweets using a voice connection. Anyone can tweet by leaving a voicemail on one of three international phone numbers: +16504194196 or +390662207294 or +97316199855. Tweets sent using the service will automatically include the hashtag #egypt.

People can also listen to the messages by dialing the above numbers, and by clicking on the links posted to @speak2tweet.

“We hope that this will go some way to helping people in Egypt stay connected at this very difficult time. Our thoughts are with everyone there,” Ujjwal Singh, co-founder of SayNow, and Google product manager Abdel Karim Mardini wrote in a blog post.

More About: Egypt, Google, trending, twitter

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Google Spent More on Lobbyists in 2010 Than Yahoo, Facebook & Apple Combined

Posted: 31 Jan 2011 02:28 PM PST

lobbyists

Google dropped $5.16 million on lobbyists in 2010, according to the Lobbying Disclosure Act Database. The sum represents a 29% increase over the $4 million the company spent in 2009.

The search giant hired its first lobbyists in 2006 and has increased its spending in the category every year since.

With issues like net neutrality, online privacy and online tracking getting legislative attention in 2010, it’s no surprise that the company’s lobbying budget continued to increase throughout the year. Google spent more money on lobbyists in 2010 than Yahoo, Facebook and Apple combined, the lobbying disclosure database reveals.

Facebook, which filed its first lobbying disclosure in Q2 of 2009, paid lobbyists $351,390 last year, while Apple spent $1.6 million and Yahoo spent $2.2 million.

Google’s increasing monetary dedication to influencing policy decisions worries some privacy advocates who oppose the company’s policies.

“It's a huge increase and shows that Google has become a high-stakes influence peddler throwing its weight around Washington like the rest of corporate America,” says John Simpson, a privacy advocate with Consumer Watchdog, a group that regularly opposes Google’s decisions.

The search giant spent about 34% less on lobbying than Microsoft, a company that generated almost 50% more revenue than Google last quarter.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, tforgo

More About: Google, lobbyists, net neutrality, Online Tracking, privacy, trending

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HarperCollins Plans To Publish Novel Submitted To Social Network for Teen Writers

Posted: 31 Jan 2011 02:08 PM PST


Thanks to HarperCollins’s crowdsourced social network, one teen writer from Ireland will get the chance to see her novel, The Carrier of the Mark, on the printed page.

According to a release from HarperCollins, Leigh Fallon had attempted to get her novel published in the past, to little avail. Finally, she submitted the book to Inkpop — a Kickstarter-esque site for teen authors — and soon her manuscript was voted into the “Top Five.”

Such an honor garners books a review by an editor at HarperCollins, and, perhaps, publication. Fallon is the first to have her book chosen for print (it’s about paranormal romance, surprise!), but more books will be announced soon. Fallon’s book will come out in the fall of 2011.

"The opinions of our readers matter to us,” says Susan Katz, president and publisher of HarperCollins Children’s Books.

“Inkpop is HarperCollins Children's Books' first site (and not the last) to really put the users' voice and ideas in the forefront. Social media is incredibly empowering if used correctly, and HarperCollins recognizes this and is gearing up to make social media the cornerstone of all of its digital endeavors."

Inkpop has been on the scene for around a year, during which 60,000 projects have been uploaded.

More and more we’re seeing Internet denizens taking on the role of cultural curators — Kickstarter has partnered with Sundance to make filmmakers’ projects a reality, and services like Roadrunner Records’s Sign To Me and Crowdbands turn fans into music industry professionals.

What do you think of this trend of crowdsourcing what content rises to the top?

Photo courtesy of Flickr, timetrax23

More About: books, HarperCollins

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New Technology Measures Emotional Responses to Web Videos

Posted: 31 Jan 2011 01:48 PM PST


Startup Affectiva is building technologies to measure emotion in web video. It is technology the founders, MIT scientists Dr. el Kaliouby and Dr. Rosalind Picard, are looking to perfect with the help of a newly awarded $150,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Affectiva, a commercial rendering of MIT’s FaceSense (also NSF-funded) technology, was originally dreamt up to help those with autism spectrum disorders better understand emotion. The founders now see the potential of opening their emotion measurement technology for market research, product testing and development, clinical use and other academic purposes.

In its current web state, Affectiva analyzes a single facial expression associated with happiness: the smile. Viewers, who must grant the application permission to “watch them,” tune in to a film trailer. The software tracks when the user smiles, and he or she can see the complete “Smile Track” once the viewing is complete.

This early prototype is centered around the smile, but Affectiva’s software is capable of analyzing multiple expressions and associating them with states of minds. More of those technologies will be carried over to the web thanks in no small part to the NSF grant.

With the new funds, the team now has a six-month window to move Affdex, its facial expression recognition technology, to a cloud environment. The company is also eligible for $600,000 in additional grant funding and has enough runway to go without outside funding for the immediate future.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Yakobchuk.

More About: Affectiva, facial recognition, grant, mit, NSF, video

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How Journalists Are Using Social Media to Report on the Egyptian Demonstrations

Posted: 31 Jan 2011 01:45 PM PST


With the Internet still inaccessible for the majority of people in Egypt, much of the international community is relying on journalists with satellite phones for real-time updates on the violent protests calling for Hosni Mubarak to resign after 30 years in power.

The demonstrations are continuing despite the government’s attempts to block communications channels, including the Internet, SMS, TV broadcast by journalists, and mobile networks. Pundits have been weighing in on the role of social media in sparking the uprising, and whether it is a necessary ingredient in accelerating modern revolutions or simply an over-hyped notion.

In some respects, the attempt to block communication has done little to stifle reports coming out of the country. Though much of the citizenry isn’t able to broadcast themselves, their stories are being told and amplified by reporters. What’s interesting is that the information flowing out is a hybrid of the “old school” reliance on reports from journalists on location and “new school” amplification through the social web.

Real Time Tweets

Journalists on location have been updating their Twitter accounts with 140-character stories. Ben Wedeman of CNN has been posting noteworthy updates. Sometimes they are quotes from sources he’s interviewing and other times he is simply commenting on his observations.

Though Twitter use by journalists for reporting isn’t anything new, what’s notable is that it has evolved and matured since the Iran elections, with more journalists using the tool for real-time updates. Also, several news organizations like NPR, CNN, The New York Times, Al-Jazeera English and others have curated Twitter lists of journalists and citizens tweeting from Egypt.

Facebook Storytelling

Journalists like Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times have not only utilized Twitter for short updates, but also Facebook Pages. Kristof has been posting rich and detailed updates to his Facebook Page based on his reporting. He’s not only including information about the demonstrations, but also his observations of and personal reactions to the tense situations on the streets of Cairo.

The challenge is that Facebook is often difficult to search through and the newsfeed shows posts based on an algorithm. However, it’s clear that information from journalists and citizens regarding the Egyptian demonstrations is being posted regularly on the platform.

Live Streaming & YouTube Videos

After having their Cairo bureau closed and press credentials revoked by Egyptian authorties, Al-Jazeera journalists continued to tweet and call in anonymously to report on the protests to the news organization’s live stream. Al-Jazeera English and other news organizations like Russia Today utilized YouTube to post updated video reports on the demonstrations.

Live Blogs

Journalists on the ground in Egypt and web producers of news organizations live blogged updates to their websites. The Washington Post’s live blog of the Egypt protests often curated information being posted across the social web, such as tweets and videos from journalists on location. Katharine Zaleski, executive producer and head of digital news products at The Post, said the social media team has been updating the blog with all relevant updates coming from Twitter, Facebook and other platforms since the protests began.

Other notable live blogs include The New York Times, CNN, Reuters, Al-Jazeera, Guardian, BBC, and The Huffington Post.

Tumblr Curation

Utilizing its newly launched curated topic pages feature, Tumblr has created an Egypt page that is being curated and contributed to by journalists and news organizations like The Atlantic. Playing to the strengths of Tumblr, the page includes an array of short updates, videos and photos from Cairo, while crediting original sources.

The page enables you to sort based on curated, popular and real-time posts that include the #Egypt tag. Anthony De Rosa, a technologist at Reuters, is the top contributor to the page, updating his own Tumblr regularly with the latest and notable updates on Egypt.

Audioboo Updates

On top of opening up all of its content under creative commons, Al-Jazeera has been posting audio reports from its journalists to Audioboo, which makes it easy to record shareable audio recordings on-the-go from your mobile device and contextualizes that recording with the location, available photos and other information.

The report below, for example, came from an Al-Jazeera producer shortly after he and his colleagues were detained by Egyptian authorities. They were shortly released after, but their video equipment was confiscated.

Listen!

Image courtesy of Flickr, Al Jazeera

More About: cairo, Egypt, facebook, jan25, journalism, News, protests, social media, tumblr, twitter, youtube

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This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Justin.tv To Launch Social Video-Sharing App

Posted: 31 Jan 2011 01:26 PM PST


The guys over at Justin.tv are planning to launch SocialCam, a video-sharing app for mobile that will make uploading video to one’s social network a snap, in early March.

Back in September, Justin.tv released apps for Android and iPhone that allow users to stream live video recorded on their smartphones directly to the Justin.tv website.

Matthew DiPietro, VP of marketing and communications at Justin.tv, says the team learned an important lesson from this first crack at apps: Broadcasting live may not be the coolest aspect of the mobile video experience. In fact, more than 90% of video views came after the videos were posted.

With SocialCam, Justin.tv is focusing more on the social aspect of mobile video. Much like Instagram, which makes it easy for people to snap pics and share them on the fly, SocialCam uploads video automatically, letting users tag people in the video and share that video with friends across social media platforms.

“SocialCam is created to be social at its core,” says DiPietro. “It takes the idea of watching home movies into the social generation.”

We’re not exactly sure how the app works yet — the team gave us a sneak peek with the screenshots below — but we could see it catching on.

As of right now, the app is slated to launch on Android and iPhone pre-SXSW. You can sign up to test it out here.

iPhone

Android

More About: android, iphone, justin-tv, social media, videos

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Facebook To Launch Third-Party Commenting Platform

Posted: 31 Jan 2011 01:20 PM PST


Facebook is about to launch a commenting platform to compete with the likes of Disqus and other third-party services, sources familiar with the matter have told us.

The rumor was first reported by Cnet Monday afternoon. People familiar with the matter have confirmed that a commenting platform is in the works and that Facebook has been reaching out to prominent media organizations to partner for the launch. We also learned that:

  • Users can use the platform by logging in through Facebook or Twitter.
  • Comments are threaded, and can be voted up (“Liked”).
  • Comments can be synced across a publisher’s site and Facebook Page, meaning that a comment made on a publisher’s site will show up on its Facebook Page, and vice versa.

Currently, some publishers allow users to log in to their sites using their Facebook credentials, enabling users to cross-post their comments to Facebook as status messages or wall posts. The new commenting platform will potentially allow for a much deeper — and more harmonious — integration between Facebook and third-party sites.

It’s another step in Facebook’s ultimate determination to dominate the web, to evolve from a destination site into a service that’s integrated into every part of the online experience.

We have reached out to Facebook for official confirmation and will update this post with any further information.

Update (6:02 p.m. ET): Facebook has confirmed that it is working on a new commenting system, but insists that it is an update to the existing plugin and not a new product. “Based on feedback from developers about ways to improve our existing comments plugin, we're testing an updated plugin that leverages authenticity and social relevancy to increase distribution. We’re testing the plugin on our Facebook Blog and Developer Blog but have no further details to share at this time,” a spokesperson wrote.

More About: facebook, media

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Motorola Evokes “1984″ Ad To Tweak Apple [VIDEO]

Posted: 31 Jan 2011 01:09 PM PST



Motorola is picking a fight with Apple, attempting to use the latter’s iconic “1984″ ad against the the company.

A video hyping an upcoming Super Bowl ad for Motorola’s Xoom tablet lays down the gauntlet. Called “Goodbye 1984,” the ad features a shot of Earth — from space — outfitted with a pair of iPod earbuds. “2011 looks a lot like 1984,” reads the ad. “One authority. One design. It’s time for more choices.”

The ad then touts features from the Xoom, like a dual-core 1GHz processor, 1080p HD video playback, a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera.

A rep from Motorola said that the company’s PR agency, Weber Shandwick, created the video, which is meant to hype a 60-second ad, by New York ad agency Anomaly, that will run in the second quarter.

When Apple ran the “1984″ ad during that year’s Super Bowl, the company posed as an alternative to the domineering PC industry, as represented by IBM. Twenty-seven years later, Apple is the industry behemoth with a market capitalization in excess of $300 billion, which is not only higher than IBM’s, but higher than that of any other company in the world, save ExxonMobil.

Not surprisingly, rivals have used Apple’s “1984″ playbook against the company. In 2009, Microsoft ran a campaign showing “average consumers” snubbing their noses at Apple’s high-priced laptops and choosing Windows-based machines instead. In 2006, SanDisk also launched a campaign called “iDon’t” that attacked iPod users as conformists.

Of course, one major flaw in Motorola’s argument is that, although Apple’s iPad has commanding share of the tablet PC market, smartphones based on the Android OS are actually more popular than ones based on Apple’s iOS, according to one study. It should also be noted that Motorola supplied Apple with its CPUs until 2006, when the company switched over to Intel.

More About: advertising, apple, Motorola, Super Bowl ads

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100+ Upcoming Social Media & Tech Events

Posted: 31 Jan 2011 01:02 PM PST

social_media_events_guide1

Every week, Mashable puts together a calendar of upcoming social media and web events, parties and conferences. Would you like to have your conference or event listed here? If so, please contact us for the Mashable Media Partnership Guidelines document. If your event meets our requirements, contact us at least one month before your event to establish a media partnership with us. For more upcoming listings, check out Mashable’s‘s Events section.

In the meantime, here are some tips on how to network, share your information and/or promote your event(s) using social media:

Mashable’s Weekly Social Media and Marketing Event Guide is proudly supported by Eventbrite, the Web’s Event Marketplace.

Upcoming Mashable Events

February 8, 2011, New York, NY: Mashable's fifth NextUp NYC, The Emerging Skills of Tomorrow's Journalist, will focus on the skills that news organizations will demand and the tools journalists will need to be successful as they redefine the way they report, produce and distribute their content. The night will consist of networking and a conversation led by Vadim Lavrusik, community manager and social media strategist at Mashable, with:

+ Jay Rosen, journalism professor at New York University and blogger at PressThink.org
+ Jenna Wortham, technology reporter for The New York Times
+ Drake Martinet, associate editor for D: All Things Digital/The Wall Street Journal Digital
+ Laurie Segall, money and technology reporter for CNN

This is a ticketed event. Please click here to purchase tickets.

January 31 – February 3, 2011, Toronto, Canada: Attend the Advanced Learning Institute's 23rd updated forum on Social Media for Government: How To Engage Your Employees & Citizens By Using The Latest Web 2.0 Technologies To Drive Communication Results, to learn how to incorporate social media into your communications & marketing plans & leverage the latest interactive Web 2.0 tools & techniques to advance your organizational goals. Hear practical advice from: ON Ministry of Labour; Toronto Police Service; Northern Lights Canada; Royal Bank of Canada; Genome Alberta; ON Ministry of Health & Long-Term Care; Public Service Commission of Canada; City of Ottawa; Halton Region, ON & more. Register and mention Mashable to save $200!

February 1-3, 2011, San Diego, CA: The Green Data Center Conference will analyze new technology that will not only benefit our environment, but also save organizations money and increase efficiency. Industry experts and executives will gather to discuss the growing importance of green technology and the associated benefits. Corporate case studies will be presented to demonstrate how existing data centers have been retrofitted and new facilities built from the ground up. This conference will share valuable information that can be taken back and used immediately to gain measurable ROI. Register and use the promo code GDCSD10 to save 10%!

February 1-3, 2011, Santa Clara, CA: O'Reilly Strata Conference: Making Data Work – Turn data into decisions at Strata, the new conference from O’Reilly Media, focusing on the business and practice of data.Unprecedented computing power and connectivity are bringing new layers of experience to our lives in how we manage and present data sets of all sizes. Throughout three days of training, breakout sessions, and plenary discussions, O’Reilly Strata connects the decision-makers, practitioners, and leading vendors from enterprise and the web who are at the leading edge of this space. Topics include data science, acquisition, organization, machine learning, visualization, and more. Mashable readers can save 15% on registration with the promo code str11msh.

February 1, 2011, Mountain View, CA: See George Zachary, General Partner of Charles River Ventures and early investor in Twitter, speak at The Founder Showcase – Silicon Valley’s premier startup pitch and networking event. This quarterly event brings together over 300 investors, founders, and members of the press to hear talks from leading CEOs, and pitches from 10 hot technology start-ups. Over $1.5mm has been raised by presenting companies at previous Founder Showcase events. Tickets start at just $40 – to register or enter the free Pitch Competition, go to FounderShowcase.com. Mashable readers get 15% off by using the discount code mashable_15.

February 2-4, 2011, Austin, TX: Turn up the heat on your digital campaigns at Digital Marketing Forum 2011. From social media to email marketing to online advertising and beyond — DMF will cover everything you need to know to ignite your digital strategy in 2011. Best of all, each session will include examples from B2B and B2C campaigns—ensuring a highly relevant conference, no matter your level or target audience. So add some kick to your campaigns and join us in Austin February 2-4 and save $100 with code MASH100. It’s going to be spicy! For more information, please click here.

February 2-3, 2011, San Francisco, CA: Marketing and customer service are on a collision course. Social media now shine a bright light on customer service interactions, which increasingly have brand implications. Customer care can also offer valuable insights for marketing and product development. How many companies are adapting and turning this to their advantage? Still too few as old modes of thinking remain entrenched in organizations. Opus Research's Conversational Commerce Conference (C3) brings together a diverse array of interested groups and stakeholders to discuss the new social media landscape and its joint impact on marketing and customer care.

February 2, 2011, Los Angeles, CA: CBS RADIO presents SOCIAL: THE NEW MEDIA, an all-day exploration of the social media landscape for small business owners and entrepreneurs. High-profile trendsetters will break down the basics, present case studies and provide the tools needed to help business owners energize, strategize and monetize. We'll look into streamlining operations, building growth strategies and developing customer loyalty through social media. The event will take place at the historic Avalon Hollywood. For more info and tickets visit http://cbssocialmedia.com. Register and use the promo code CBSMASH when purchasing tickets and save $10.

February 2, 2011, Austin, TX: Toyota, REI, Texas Instruments, Kellogg Company, and more will share case studies in corporate social media at BlogWell Austin: How Big Brands Use Social Media. You’ll learn how to get started, get past roadblocks, and make your social media program phenomenal — in one afternoon, for just $250. Get practical, how-to advice on creating great content, getting management buy-in, educating employees, keeping lawyers and regulators happy, simple and ethical disclosure, and engaging fans. Presented by GasPedal and SocialMedia.org. Register with the promo code THANKSMASHABLE and save 10%!

February 3, 2011, New York, NY: Did you ever want to meet, shake hands and give your summary to OVER 30 of the hottest VC Funds & Angel Investor Groups in the the NYC area? FundingPost is hosting its VC Showcase in midtown, NYC! At this VC Conference, OVER 30 VC Funds & Angel Groups will be exhibiting their firms during a great cocktail party setting. Each Fund will have their own table setup for the sole purpose of meeting great new companies. The first 29 Funds have already been announced! Register and use the discount code nyvcs.

February 3, 2011, San Francisco, CA: Calling all early-stage startups! Vator, one of the largest business networks dedicated to entrepreneurship, is holding its first Splash event for the new year. The event will take place on the evening of Feb. 3 at Cafe du Nord in San Francisco. Ten startups can win a chance to present onstage in front of venture capitalists from AngelPad, August Capital, Greylock, Google Ventures, Javelin Venture Partners, SV Angels, Shasta Ventures, Mayfield, Norwest and more. Keynote speakers include Pandora founder Tim Westergren and ngmoco founder Neil Young. And, the afterparty entertainment stars Cover Flow. To be among the 10 finalists onstage, enter the competition here. Register and use the promo code Mashable25 for a discount!

February 4-5, 2010 Atlanta, GA: SoCon11, the South's premier social media networking event celebrates five years on February 4 – 5th at Kennesaw State University, just outside Atlanta. The two day SoCon11 event kicks off Friday night at the historic Carter Center complete with music, gourmet dinner buffet, and cash bar. Following is a day of networking and break-out sessions with some of the biggest names in digital media. This year it's all about mobile and as always, social media. Register and use the promo code MASH for 20% off.

February 7-11, 2011, New York, San Francisco, London, Hong Kong, Toronto, Sao Paulo, Rome, Istanbul and Paris: Coming this Februar to a city near you is the first 2011 edition of Social Media Week, to be held simultaneously in New York, San Francisco, London, Hong Kong, Toronto, Sao Paulo, Rome, Istanbul and Paris. Social Media Week is a co-curated, distributed conference featuring hundreds of free events taking place over the course of the week in interesting venues across each of the nine cities. Topically framed around social media, events include panels, parties, product demos, meetups and more, put on by media, communication and technology companies around the globe. Social Media Week was held for the first time in February 2009 in New York City. 2010 followed with an event in February that expanded to NYC plus five more cities, adding London, Berlin, San Francisco, Toronto and São Paolo to the fold, plus an event in September in Los Angeles, Bogota, Buenos Aires, Mexico City and Milan. Social Media Week 2010 attracted more than 17,000 attendees across 450 events, nearly all of which were made available for free to attendees thanks to sponsorship from a number of global brands, including Meebo and PepsiCo. Learn more about the February 7-11, 2011 event at http://socialmediaweek.org.

February 7-10, 2011, Orlando, FL: ARC's 2011 World Industry Forum: Driving Innovation, Sustainability and Performance will take place at the Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld! This forum will focus on challenges that will help you develop winning strategies. It provides an ideal environment for industry executives to collaborate, share ideas, and find new ways to attack their most pressing problems. The event includes sessions on the major issues facing our industry, with multiple tracks that enable executives to explore these topics from different perspectives. Owner/operators, solution providers, & technical experts will all benefit while contributing to the community's body of knowledge.

February 7-10, San Diego, CA: Online Marketing Summit, the premier educational event for marketing professionals, is coming to San Diego this February. Learn from the online marketing experts of Dell, Cisco, Intel, McDonalds, Google Disney and YouTube sensation Justin Bieber. Join your marketing peers to share ideas, hear from expert practitioners, and learn best practices in the areas of: Social Media, Search, Email, Analytics, and more! Register with the discount code SMART20 for 20% off.

February 7-9, 2011, New York, NY: Now in its 10th year, the ePharma Summit is going to be bigger than ever. We are looking ahead to new trends and opportunities in digital marketing with unparalleled insight from leading industry innovators. Join us for more novel mobile strategies, more regulatory insights, more customer perspectives, and more examples of what is really working now from the organizations you admire most. Join us February 7-9 in New York City at the most respected digital marketing event for the life sciences industry as we explore innovative e-strategies and proven techniques to drive business. Register with promo code XP1606MASH and save 10%.

February 8-10, 2011, San Francisco, CA: Social Media Strategies Summit – We have researched the social media buzz to develop and present to you a top of the line marketing conference that you can't afford to miss. With in-depth case studies from the nuts and bolts to micro-blogging and sustaining online communities, you leave with a refreshed vision to take your marketing plan to the next level for 2010 and beyond. Register and use the promo code MASH to receive a discount.

February 8, 2011, Los Angeles, CA: Federated Media presents Signal LA: The Content Marketing Conversation. Signal, a series of 1-day events is produced for senior decision makers in the media and marketing business. If you’re involved in the digital media ecosystem, you belong at Signal. The speaker line-up is stellar, and we're really excited for what we're sure will be an interesting, informative and impactful day. Please join us! More information and registration details at www.federatedmedia.net/events. Register with the promo code SIGMASH1 to save 10%!

February 8, 2011, Atlanta, GA: Mongo Atlanta is a one day conference focused on MongoDB, the leading open source, non-relational database. The conference will feature sessions on schema design, indexing, administration, replication, sharing, and more. In addition to several of the MongoDB developers from 10gen, confirmed speakers include Hugh Watkins of Ericsson and Jeremy McAnally of Intridea. The event is sponsored by 10gen, the company that develops and supports the database. Until January 18th, you can register at the early bird rate, which is half off the general admission price. Mashable readers may register and use the promo code mashable to receive a discount.

February 8, 2011, Springfield, MO: Social Marketing Boot Camp with Sarah Evans – Limited tickets are available for this unique boot camp style event with nationally renowned expert Sarah Evans. You'll spend a full six hours of session time with Sarah, taking an in-depth look at the role of social media in marketing your business or organization. You wont just learn effective social media marketing techniques, but will look at how social media works in conjunction with traditional marketing and public relations and why that's important, practical ways of engaging customers and prospects, case studies, help with creating a social media based marketing plan, hints and tips, ways to make your brand stand out online, effective engagement, latest trends, tools and resources, and plenty of opportunities for discussion and Q & A. Register and use the discount code MASHABLE to save $25 on each standard registration.

February 8, 2011, London, UK: Building the Social Web for Museums, Galleries and Education: As a part of the Social Media Week, BrightLemon are bringing together leading lights of the Museum, Gallery and Education sector to share best practices, advice and case studies that explore the viral power of social networks. There will be an array of impressive presenters who will be demonstrating how leading lights of the Museum, Gallery and Education sectors create online communities that promote learning and engage audiences. Additionally, as part of the event, there will be networking opportunities later in the evening. For more information and to register, please click here.

February 14-17, 2011, Washington, DC: Attend the Advanced Learning Institute's 23rd updated forum on Social Media for Government: How To Engage Your Employees & Citizens By Using The Latest Web 2.0 Technologies To Drive Communication Results, to learn how to incorporate social media into your communications & marketing plans & leverage the latest interactive Web 2.0 tools & techniques to advance your organizational goals. Hear practical advice from: ON Ministry of Labour; Toronto Police Service; Northern Lights Canada; Royal Bank of Canada; Genome Alberta; ON Ministry of Health & Long-Term Care; Public Service Commission of Canada; City of Ottawa; Halton Region, ON & more. Register and mention Mashable to save $200!

February 14-16, 2011, New York, NY: O’Reilly Tools of Change for Publishing Conference (TOC) – Explore the new world of “Publishing Without Boundaries” at the 5th annual O’Reilly Tools of Change for Publishing Conference (TOC). This premiere event provides an unparalleled opportunity for stakeholders from across the book publishing and tech industries to network, share ideas, engage in lively debate, and come away with the knowledge and inspiration to lead change within their own organizations. Not only does TOC cover what's working now, but we also look ahead to what will work as publishing transitions to the next phase. The people who attend TOC are the people who are shaping publishing's future. Mashable readers can save 15% on registration with the promo code toc11mash. http://www.toccon.com/toc2011?cmp=mp-conf-tc11-mashable-banner-ad

February 14, 2011, Barcelona, Spain: The Mobile Premier Awards are among the most influential events in the mobile industry and the point of reference in early-stage innovation during the Mobile World Congress. An international jury of the most recognized mobile industry experts will select the 20 finalists from all the local AppCircuses held during 2010 to showcase their app in a 3-minute pitch at the event in Barcelona in front of investors, operators, media companies, peer entrepreneurs, and press and influential bloggers. Register and use the promo code #BCNMASHABLE to receive a 10% discount.

February 15-17, 2011, San Jose, CA: FAST ’11 explores new directions in the design, implementation, evaluation, and deployment of storage systems. Learn from leaders in the storage industry with ground-breaking tutorials by experts such as Brent Welch, Mostafa Khalil, Benjamin Reed, and more. This year’s innovative 2-day technical program includes 20 technical papers, Work-in-Progress Reports (WiPs), and two poster sessions. FAST’ 11 promises to be an exciting conference presenting leading examples of current research and a strong vision of the future of file and storage technologies. Learn more by clicking here. Receive a $75 discount by entering FAST11MASH upon registration.

February 15, 2011, New York, NY: iKids is a new one-day event designed to help you connect your app business with leading kids entertainment brands. Featuring case studies, expert panels, networking sessions, a global research presentation and an Apps Showdown format, our program will challenge and inspire you to approach your mobile business in new ways. For more information and to register, please click here.

February 16-17, 2011, Berkeley, CA: Content Marketing is a key digital trend for 2011. Come to the first conference dedicated to leveraging content to attract more customers: Contentmarketing2011.com. The conference will bring together leading brands, ad agencies, publishers, PR professionals and service providers to focus solely on the latest strategies, solutions and technologies in digital content marketing. The conference will reveal through real-world case studies how to use content marketing to increase business and explore the future of this extremely powerful marketing tool. Mashable readers can register with the promo code mashable and save $100 off the early bird rate.

February 16, 2011, San Francisco, CA: VigLink is hosting a one-day Forum and Communities Conference in San Francisco and will bring together leading brands, forum owners and community managers to explore strategies in forum and community development.
During this one-day event, a team of renowned experts will provide guidance on how to effectively engage with community, give tips on how to maximize the value of your communities and offer insights into new services to try and trends to watch out for. This is the ultimate event for anyone involved in creating communities. Register with the promo code mashable to get a 10% discount.

February 16, 2011 London, UK: What can gaming do for your brand? Is now the time for that games app and what's so special about social gaming? How can brands be part of the gameplay and is gaming right for your brand? Our speakers will make the case for brand-games collaborations and showcase their gaming successes at IAB HQ in central London. There’ll be short lively presentations, a panel/audience discussion, plus a networking and drinks session where the conversations can flow. Register today for 20% off the full price of £125 at www.brand-e.biz/games.html using the discount code MASHABLE.

February 17, 2011, Miami, FL: Interested in meeting early-stage Angel Investors and Venture Capitalists in Florida? Then register for the FundingPost event on Thursday, Feb 17, 2011, at The University of Miami. FundingPost has hosted 175+ sold-out venture events in 20 cities over the past 9 years. At our next event, the panel of investors will focus on Early-Stage Venture Investing: How to meet investors, pitch them, and what it really takes to get them to write you a check! Guest Moderator, Daymond John, star of the ABC show Shark Tank will be moderating the panel. Register and use the promo code miami11.

February 20, 2011, Kfar Maccabiah/Ramat Gan, Israel: Join us for the MEGAComm Conference for marketing professionals and technical communicators. This 5-track, full-day event will feature sessions for marketing managers, sales directors, technical writers, documentation managers and many others. MEGAComm is our FIFTH annual conference, and offers a unique opportunity to hear from the experts in both these important English-based industries, network with hi-tech professionals from all over the country, and expand your knowledge. Keynote speakers include Jeff Pulver (well known entrepreneur and Producer of #140conf) and Danny Ayalon (Deputy Foreign Minister of Israel). Features session will include SEO, WordPress, Agile Documentation, Single-Sourcing, MediaWikis, Managing Content and much more. For more information, please click here.

February 21-23, 2011, New Delhi, India: The RadioAsia conference is a yearly event designed to address on-going developments in radio broadcasting content and services while highlighting the near future opportunities and challenges. This annual conference is organized by the Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC) , Asian Broadcasting Union (ABU) and Singapore Exhibition Services Pte Ltd for leading radio media practitioners, communication specialists, policy makers, academicians and students from across the Asia Pacific region and beyond. The theme for this year’s conference is “Radio on Air Everywhere – Adopting Multiplatform Strategies” keeping in tune with the changes in the medium due to globalization, convergence and technological advances. Register for the conference to learn more about the radio industry in Asia.

February 21-22, 2011, Tampa, FL: Facebook Masters Training & the social media conference for marketers, Social Fresh is not about concept, but focused on drilled down learning and case studies from the front lines. Learn what social media can really do for business bottom lines.Two days, 16 industry leading speakers, and Facebook Masters Training. As well as keynote Paula Berg of Linhart PR and Southwest Airlines social media veteran. Register now and use coupon code mashable for 25% off.

February 21, 2011, Tel Aviv, Israel: The upcoming Israel Dealmakers Summit 2011 hosted by Landmark Ventures will bring together a high-profile audience of 350+ Chairmen, CEOs, Investors and Technology Professionals across the Digital Media, Internet, Mobile, Cloud, Enterprise Software and Hardware sectors to discuss the future of Israel's economy, from large enterprises to the thriving start up culture, and ongoing role as an integral part of the global marketplace. The summit will additionally feature a VIP Delegation of 20-25 leading US & European corporations and investment funds who will all be speaking at the conference bringing a unique global perspective.

February 22, 2011, Los Angeles, CA: 3rd Annual Gravity Summit at UCLA – The Power of Real-Time; Social Media Marketing for Executives. Learn how to master the tactics and strategies of real-time social media to build brands, get customers and increase the bottom line. Speakers from Fast Company, DIRECTV, Mashable, WeberShandwick, Orci, Lexus, and more. Legendary music artist and Twitter star MC Hammer receives “Social Media Marketer of the Year” award in person. Join 200+ business leaders on campus at UCLA to learn from top brands and thought leaders in the field as they talk about understanding and harnessing the new real-time social media platforms and tools. Register with the promo code GRAVSUM1 and save $60!

February 23, 2011, Portland, OR: Join hundreds of your online marketing peers for the Fifth Annual SearchFest Internet Marketing Conference in Portland on February 23, 2011. Thought leaders and industry experts from around the country–including major brands like Intel, REI, and the New York Times–will deliver in-depth presentations on topics including Advanced Search Engine Optimization, Social Media Marketing, Universal Search, Analytics, Paid Search Marketing and many more. Register with the promo code MASHABLEPDX to save 10% on your General Admission ticket!

February 23, 2011, Los Angeles, CA: DIGIDAY:ON MEDIA: Where THE digital media moguls caucus on the business of buying and planning and advertising across digital platforms. There is an enormous media market that media agencies have to master: Online Media, Social, Video, Mobile, Search, Apps, Ad Networks, Email, Targeting, Measurement, Emerging Platforms, and much more and media execs are constantly seeking the highest performance and most innovative platforms to help them run, create, engage and deliver their digital advertising creative and messages to their target audiences. ON MEDIA will be an event that brings together the leading media executives, buyers and planners for the ONLY a high level one-day summit to help them discuss and debate the current state of buying digital and how they can thrive in today’s fragmented media economy. Join us for this one of a kind meeting of the digital media moguls in Los Angeles. Register and use the promo code ONMASH to save $100 (Mashable reader discount).

February 24, 2011, Los Angeles, CA: DIGIDAY: MOBILE APPS: The event will bring together the leading executives from top mobile agencies, blue-chip brands, mobile app developers, mobile advertising networks, and content owners to discuss the explosive Mobile “app-vertising” market. The “app-vertising” business is igniting the imaginations of brand marketers worldwide and serving up a land grab for an increasingly valuable piece of real estate on the omnipresent mobile device in our pockets. The industry pioneers, visionaries, and leaders will converge to take a deep dive into the emerging mix of branded mobile applications and in-application advertising that is finally poised to deliver on the promise of mobile marketing. Attendees will learn and gain key insights on the innovative brands, the killer mobile apps, dynamic integrated content and offers, video, storytelling, and the rich functionality of apps. And a whole lot more! So what does the future hold for app-vertising? Find out at DIGIDAY: MOBILE APPS! Register and use the promo code APPMASH to save $100 (Mashable reader discount!).

February 24, 2011, New York, NY: TV Apps, Social TV, Content & Viewer Experience – Talk NYC kicks-off 2011 with an in-depth look at the emerging world of TV apps and social TV. Attendees will learn about and discuss the current state of these new spaces, in which directions they are heading, and how to take advantage of the opportunities these new spaces present. Please join us for an evening filled with engaging discussions and cross-industry networking. Featured leaders include Alex Iskold, CEO of GetGlue, Michael Wolff, editorial director of Adweek Group of Companies, and Ricky Van Veen, founder of Collegehumor.com.

February 24, 2011, New York City: The 11th Annual Digital Music Forum! We are the only event in the United States that brings together the top music, technology and policy leaders for high-level discussions and debate, intimate meetings and unrivaled networking about the future of digital music. Digital Music Forum is known worldwide for the news that is made in our auditorium, the deals that get done in our hallways, and the friendships and partnerships that are forged year after year. Why wait by the sidelines, when you can join the event that is helping to drive the industry’s future! Pre-registration Rate of $399 (a $300 saving) available till January 28, plus receive 15% off with the promo code MASH15! Don’t miss the opportunity – Book NOW to reserve your seat!

February 25-27, 2011, Los Angeles, CA: The 9th Annual Southern California Linux Expo, the premier community run Linux / Open Source conference, will feature tutorial sessions designed to show users of all skill levels what Open Source can do and how to do it. Whatever your interest is in Open Source, SCALE 9X will have something for you. Register and use the discount code MASH9 for 35% off.

February 25-26, 2011, Miami Beach, FL: We’re launching 9 companies. Judged by 3 investors, 1 entrepreneur & 1 journalist. With $25k in cash & prizes. Now that was just day one! On day 2 we’ve got everyone from Ashvin Kumar to Zed Shaw speaking at this event. Covering Web Development, Marketing, Community Building, User Experience & straight money making – there is no business subject that will go untouched! SuperConf is going to be epic. Register with promo code MASHABLE for $35 off a 2 Day ticket.

February 27 – March 1, 2011, Palm Desert, CA: Be part of the exclusive unveiling of the most promising new products and prototypes of 2011. DEMO Spring 2011 provides a window into technology’s future and introduces you to the people and companies who are paving the way. Attend DEMO Spring 2011 and you'll have access to this exceptional group of global innovators, be the first to see 70 new product demonstrations and 30 AlphaPitch presenters, test drive products, and network with leading venture capitalists and angel investors, CEOs, dealmakers, entrepreneurs and demonstrators. Register with promo code MSH1 and save 25%!

February 27, 2011, Dubai, UAE: The new market dynamics facing our region require new thinking to stay ahead. This year's expert speakers at the Corporate Communications 2011 conference have decades of experience, real-world case studies and practical communications strategies to share. Take the benefit of their experience today and apply it in your workplace tomorrow! For more details about the Corporate Communications 2011 program, speaker line-up and other information, visit our website www.iirme.com/corpcomm. To register, simply click here or e-mail Janet.

Feb 28-March 1 & March 3-4, 2011, Singapore & Hong Kong: Join us at this interactive two-day conference on Social Media & PR to acquire effective PR techniques for boosting your brand image and reputation. Find out how companies like Boeing, BASF, BT Asia Pacific, SAP, Microsoft, HP, Kia, Dow Jones and more have successfully grasped the intricacies of social media to make it work for them. By the end of the conference, you’ll be able to successfully integrate both new and traditional media into your PR strategies! Register today and save 10% when you enter Mashable under Additional Info.

February 28-March 1, 2011, Sydney, Australia: Social media marketing has rapidly evolved to the extent that it is no longer enough to just get on board the “social media marketing train.” Marketers are bombarded with tools and technologies without a real understanding of integrating social media effectively. Social Media Marketing – The Way Forward enables marketers develop and manage a sound strategy for your ongoing and future social media marketing projects, with practical and valuable insights shared by some of the most successful brands and campaign creators in both B2C & B2B social media marketing. Register with the promo code MPMASH and save 10%!

February 28, 2011, San Francisco, CA: The Future of Money & Technology Summit will bring together over 500 of the best and brightest thinkers around money, including entrepreneurs, developers, visionaries, press, investors, authors, solution providers, and organizations who work with them at the convergence of cash and commerce. We meet to discuss the evolving converging industries of finance & technology, and to do business in a proactive, conducive-to-dealmaking environment. Come learn & share how innovations in technology are changing the way we do business on a global and local scale. For more information, please visit www.futureofmoney.com. Register and save 10% by clicking here!

February 28, 2011, Israel: The Future of Nonprofit Summit: Israel (#FONSI) brings together some of the best professionals, innovators, lay leaders, organizations, brands, and other passionate people to explore tools and ideas to move the vital third sector forward. Join us for a day of innovation, collaboration and excellence where you will learn best practices, innovative ideas and valued case studies. Visit http://www.fonsi.co for complete details.

March 1-5, 2011, Hannover, Germany: CeBIT is the world’s largest trade fair showcasing digital IT and telecommunications solutions for home and work environments. The key target groups are users from industry, the wholesale/retail sector, skilled trades, banks, the services sector, government agencies, science and all users passionate about technology. CeBIT offers an international platform for comparing notes on current industry trends, networking, and product presentations. For more information, please visit: http://www.cebit.de and to receive your complimentary visitor registration to this elite event, please email lguiang@hfusa.com.

March 1-2, 2011, London, UK: TFM&A is the UK’s largest and longest running multi-channel marketing, media and advertising event. TFM&A will be delivering the latest industry insights, trends and developments as well as leading suppliers of digital, direct, data and CRM solutions. With free seminars and keynotes from big names like Microsoft Advertising and Experian, over 200 exciting exhibitors, a dedicated networking bar and cafe and many more show features, take advantage of your FREE entry to create a campaign that becomes a classic. Register at t-f-m.co.uk/mashable.

March 2-4, 2011, New York, NY: Borrell Associates' Local Online Advertising Conference is designed for executives responsible for developing, managing, marketing, and selling local online advertising. Clay Christensen is part of an all-star lineup of more than 50 speakers who will explore the transformation of local media brought on by the Internet and mobile media. Borrell will explore who’s making money in local online, mobile and social advertising, and offer attendees the tactical intelligence to help them “hit the ground running” when they return home. Register to attend at the Grand Hyatt in NYC or Attend@ Your Desk with a streaming pass. Save $100 with code BA100.

March 2-3, 2010, San Francisco, CA: EyeforTravel's Social Media Strategies for Travel Conference is North America's number one social media event for travel professionals. Now in its fourth successful year, the event brings together top travel brands to share key insights on how to maximize the impact of your social media initiatives. The two days are packed with case studies, presentations and networking opportunities. Please use the promo code MASHABLE for a $100 discount on the admission price.

March 2-3, 2011, Barcelona, Spain: Innovative e-Marketin is our exciting cross-industry event in which we offer you the opportunity to uncover the secrets to success from the most experienced e-Marketers in the world and learn how to put ideas into practice in the form of social networking activities, brainstorming sessions, talking circles, keynote case studies and insightful presentations. Why not treat yourself to one of our exclusive VIP passes? Let us pick you up from the airport and drive you directly to the venue. Register with the promo code EMK11/004 to save 10%.

March 2, 2011, Orange County, CA: Invisible or Remarkable? Seth Godin is back for one night only live and in person in SoCal. Join us for an unprecedented night of networking and evening with best-selling author, A-List lecture circuit speaker and marketing expert Seth Godin. This event is expected to sell out early. Reserve your spot now by clicking here.

March 2, 2011, Berlin, Germany: FEI is Europe's first and only event to solve your industry challenge in real-time. Explore best in class presentations by top multi-nationals, collaborate with world renowned experts, Listen to real-world visionaries choreographing "next" best practices, and participate in a real-time case study where you will tackle industry challenges and work to propel the industry forward. FEI is no ordinary conference — this is truly a catalyst for change. Register and use the promo code FEI2011MASH to save 20% off the standard rate.

March 3-5, 2011, Orlando, FL: unGeeked Elite Retreats brings together 24 speakers over the course of three days. The format is styled as an “open discussion” with topics centered around enhancing, positioning and leveraging both the internal and external brand. PPTs and Prezi’s are strongly discouraged and instead, on-going and intimate discussions among keynotes, regional speakers and attendees are encouraged. Speakers include: Amanda Hite, Dan Schawbel, Jeff Power, Amber Osborne and more. Register with the promo code unGeekedFlorida and save 5% off regular ticket price.

March 4-5, 2011, Louisville, KY: Code PaLOUsa is a two-day, eight-track software development conference in Louisville, KY that’s designed to cover all aspects of software development regardless of technology stack. We will have sessions revolving around Microsoft, Java, Ruby, PHP, and Clojure; along with sessions on higher, platform-agnostic levels. There will be 60 technical presentations and panel discussions from well-known professionals in the software development community and a keynote talk from Douglas Crockford of Yahoo! and JavaScript/JSON fame. For more information and to register, please visit codepalousa.com.

March 5, 2011: Telecommuting, the holy grail for many developers. Not work from home but work from where you are. Because after all, "Work is what you do, not where you go" Day Camp 4 Developer #2:Telecommuting will help developers understand the benefits and risks involved in telecommuting along with offering practical advice on what tools you and your team need to master in order to successfully distribute your team geographically. In one day we cover five important topics that every developer needs to understand before starting to telecommute. Register with the promo code MASHABLEROCKS and save $5.

March 7-9, 2011, San Mateo, CA: The Android Developers Conference, March 7-9 in San Mateo, CA, is the world’s premier independent event dedicated to building, marketing and managing apps for the Android platform. The format includes dozens of top technical classes, workshops and breakout classes. Mashable readers can receive a $100 discount off the Full Event Passport and/or gain free admission to the exhibits (first time registrants only – cannot be combined with other offers) by inserting the code MEDIASPONSOR on the registration page.

March 8-10, 2011, San Jose, CA: At Search Marketing Expo – SMX West, you'll learn to maximize ROI from paid search advertising, optimize your website content for superior organic search results, expand your skills with local and mobile advertising expertise, master social media marketing on Twitter, Facebook and other SMM networks, boost conversions, and increase sales. Use the promo code smx100mashable and save $100 off your registration. For more information, please visit http://smxwest.com.

March 8-9, 2011, Brussels, Belgium: Are you looking to unleash the power of social media for CRM? As new channels and strategies emerge it is increasingly important to meet face-to-face to share knowledge, challenges and experiences. Enterprise Social 2.0: CRM will bring social media marketers and CRM experts together to share knowledge through real-world case studies, best practices, lessons learned and offering networking opportunities with some of the biggest brands and businesses today. Past speakers include: Google, Kodak, L'Oreal, Philips, Nokia, Lego, Siemens, Vodafone, SWIFT, SAP, Roger Smith Hotel, Dominos Pizza, Airbus and more. To receive a special discount, register now!

March 8-9, 2011, Amsterdam, NL: We’ve brought back some of your favorite speakers, as well as a number of new ones, and we’ve also added a few surprises to keep everyone on their toes. With some of the most interesting and engaging presenters from around the globe, FITC Amsterdam 2011 will be 2 days and 2 nights that will leave you inspired, energized and awed. Join us for an event that you will never forget! Register with the promo code Mashable10 and save 10%!

March 9, 2011, Dubai, India: The Cloud Computing World Forum Middle East and Africa will feature all of the key players within the Cloud Computing and SaaS market providing an introduction, discussion and look into the future for the ICT industry. Register today and get inspiration on how to address your latest issues with advice from real-life end-user case studies and practical examples. Register with the promo code MEAmash20 and save 20%!

March 11, 2011, San Jose, CA: The International Search Summit is partnering with SMX to run its global search and social media program at SMX West. Focusing specifically on international and multilingual topics, the summit will run on 11th March and give delegates the opportunity to attend both events. Topics at the Summit will include international link building, managing global content, international SEO case studies and multilingual video optimisation. The agenda can be found here, and will be regularly updated with confirmed speakers. Combo or Summit only tickets are available. Early Bird rates apply and Mashable readers can get $100 off the booking price with the discount code ISS@SMXmashable. For more information and to register, please click here.

March 14-15, 2011, Jacksonville, FL: Paging all health care communicators! Social media won't be flat lining anytime soon. Join us at our Health Care Marketing and PR Social Media Summit, hosted by Ragan Communications and Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media. Explore the hottest social media case studies and learn how to transform your communications strategy with mobile health applications. Empower yourself to convince executive non-believers that social media doesn't waste employees' time, but it actually increases productivity! Register with the promo code MASH11 to get a $100 discount on this previously sold-out conference. Can't attend? We're webcasting the entire experience!

March 15, 2011, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Want to know successful stories on how big brands build their brand and reputation online? Everyone can go online, but can you STAY online? Our conference, Digitalize Your Marketing Strategy, is going to be most anticipated event of the year! WE are bringing you the Malaysian's most valuable brands, review their successful stories and provide you hands on tips to manage your online marketing strategy. Our privileged speakers from Digi, Dell, Unilever, Intel and Microsoft will share case studies using social media, digital and search engine. Register with the promo code DYMSMASH and save 20%!

March 16, 2011, Washington, DC: The Innovative Giving Foundation presents the 2011 Innogive Conference – "Mobile Giving Applied". This will be a one day event focuses on applying the best practices in mobile giving and communications for social good, and will address integrating SMS appeals, mobile apps and other emerging innovative giving technologies. The Innogive format combines a great mix of respected keynotes, riveting innovation speakers and super informative panels and hands on classes. Organizations of all sizes should attend! Register and use the promo code IGF for $50 off.

March 17-19, 2011, Washington, DC: The annual Nonprofit Technology Conference (NTC) is the Nonprofit Technology Network’s signature event, a three-day gathering bringing together nearly 2,000 nonprofit professionals from around the world to collaborate, innovate, and maximize effectiveness. Our members share the common goal of helping nonprofits use all aspects of technology more effectively; the NTC brings them face-to-face to connect, learn — and return to their organizations brimming with the energy, strategies, and networks they need to change the world. For more information and to register, please click here.

March 19, 2011, Cape Cod, MA: Geek Girl Tech Boot Camp (Cape Cod 2011): Geek Girl Boot Camps are full-day technology “unconferences” for women, taught by women, of all ages and knowledge levels where you can find workshops on everything to do with computers and the Internet! Workshops include PC and Mac, Social Media (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.), Location (foursquare, Gowalla, Yelp) Photoshop, QuickBooks, Blogging, Podcasting, WordPress, Google Tools, Dreamweaver, Video, Inbound Marketing, digital photography, and more. The workshops are designed for Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced. There are Discussion Groups and an all day Help Desk. The Mission of Geek Girl Camp is to educate and empower every girl and woman at every age level, on every skill level, at every income level on computer technology with fun and provide a legacy by giving back and paying it forward. Mashable readers get an exclusive $30 discount off the standard pricing of $139 with special code mashable2011 when registering!

March 21-23, 2011, Boston, MA: BIA/Kelsey's Interactive Local Media is the definitive conference on local digital advertising and marketing. Join the interactive local media community in Boston for ILM East where the focus will be on new local marketplaces, keying in on the latest developments in search, mobile, geolocation, reviews, group buying and deals. Register with the promo code ILMEMASH and save $200!

March 21, 2011, Orlando, FL: The Mobile Web and Apps World Forum is the official Mobile Web and App event of International CTIA. Now in our 4th great year, we will once again bring together top minds from around the world to discuss how to develop, market, deploy and monetize mobile web and applications. This year's theme is "rise of mobile application commerce" and includes Facebook commerce, location based and viral marketing issues.

March 22-24, 2011, Washington, DC: The Publishing Xchange is a two-plus day interactive conference with discussions revolving around the latest market dynamics as they relate to real-world publishing and marketing processes. You'll learn about the latest technologies and how to achieve the greatest return on your efforts and investments while utilizing the new media channels. Choose from 6 tracks produced by Outsell, The Seybold Report, InfoTrends, Thad McIlroy The Future of Publishing, What They Think and IDEAlliance. Discover the future of publishing, how to implement a cross-media campaign, how a printer can make the leap into this new world & so much more!

March 22-24, 2011, Washington, DC: Ready or not, the way workers create, manage, share and consume information is changing in profound and unprecedented ways. Join us as thousands of technologists and business users from the world’s top companies gather to explore the technologies that are changing the way the world works. Choose from 19 conference tracks and programs, including the SharePoint Summit @ info360, EMC's Information Intelligence Summit @ info360 and Oracle @ info360. Visit www.info360show.com for details.

March 22, 2011, Orlando, FL: After the overwhelming response to our first tablets event in San Francisco (formerly iPad and Tablets: Entertainment and Publishing Apps) we are proud to once again present the next Future of Tablets event at International CTIA in Orlando. We will be covering issues that are important to the publishing, media and entertainment industries. Topics include market research and trends, deployment on multiple platforms, digital newsstands, ad-funded, sponsored and premium apps, business and revenue models, incorporating multimedia communities and much more

March 23-24, 2010, Las Vegas, NV: Hear groundbreaking social media ROI case studies at Social Pulse 2011: The Corporate Social Media Marketing Event! This conference provides corporate marketing leaders from across industries the newest insights and case studies on how to drive measurable results and marketing ROI through smart social media strategy. Moving beyond theory and assumptions, it is the only conference that focuses on social media initiatives that have generated measurable results for America’s leading corporations. Register online or call 1-800-647-7600, and use the promo code MJK233 to save $200!

March 23, 2011, New York, NY: The Social Consumer: Case Studies and Roundtables — Representatives from PepsiCo, Sony, Unilever, Kotex, and others will demonstrate the best case studies of how leading brands engage, influence and service consumers through innovative social programs. Register and use the promo code MASH for a discounted rate of $155.

March 23, 2011, New York, NY: GigaOM presents "Structure Big Data" That “fire hose” of information pouring through your company’s databases and systems? That data, whether real-time or historic, presents an enormous opportunity to gain business insights to maximize profits and improve products. Structure Big Data, GigaOM’s newest conference, is focused on helping technology executives develop a big data strategy. Turn your company’s information into your next big revenue opportunity. Register with the promo code BDMASH and save $100!

March 28-29, 2011, Paris, France: The Marketing 2.0 Conference features leading social media experts who will discuss and learn about the social media initiatives from brands, advertisers, researchers and analysts. Hear from leading people in social media about their strategies, revenue models and how they are approaching upcoming trends in the field. The event will also examine the current market conditions, future forecasts and predictions from leading researchers. Use the promo code mash2011 to receive a discount off the registration price.

March 29-30, 2011, San Francisco, CA: Following the success of our inaugural summit, the SSN 2nd Alternative Payment Systems Innovations Summit will enable industry senior executives and decision-makers to share implementation challenges and success stories for capitalizing on the explosive growth of the rapidly evolving mobile payments arena. Merchants, payment processors, telecom carriers, developers and solutions providers will gather for provoking discussions on topics such as upcoming plans for accepting mobile payments in stores, facilitating collaboration amongst all players in the mobile payments space and direct-to-mobile billing. Register with the promo code APSIMA1 and save $300 off registration rate!

March 29-30, 2011 London, UK: Social Media World Forum Europe is now in its 3rd year, the event this year will be providing a format for networking, engagement, and lots of social media debate around the latest tools, technologies, platforms, and emerging trends within social media marketing. With over 4000 attendees last year, the show has grown significantly to become one of the leading shows in its field, hosting a variety of free to attend workshops & conferences for marketers, pr professionals, developers, and the like. Mashable readers receive a 20% discount when they register and use the promo code MASH2011.

March 29, 2011, New York, NY: GE, H&R Block, Scholastic, Walmart, Scripps Networks, HP, and more will share case studies in corporate social media at BlogWell New York: How Big Brands Use Social Media. You’ll learn how to get started, get past roadblocks, and make your social media program phenomenal — in one afternoon, for just $250. Get practical, how-to advice on creating great content, getting management buy-in, educating employees, keeping lawyers and regulators happy, simple and ethical disclosure, and engaging fans. Presented by GasPedal and SocialMedia.org. Register with promo code THANKSMASHABLE and save 10%!

March 31 – April 1, 2011, New York, NY: Produced by Mediabistro, AllFacebook and SocialTimes, Socialize: Monetizing Social Media unites business leaders in gaming, virtual goods, social mobile, marketing, and media for two days of learning, connecting, and sharing about all things social. Attendees come to Socialize for the real-world insight that our unique blend of industry heavyweights, business visionaries and results-oriented practitioners bring to the table. Expert speakers include Mitch Joel (President, Twist Image), Ian Schafer (Founder and CEO, Deep Focus), Geoff Cook (CEO, myYearbook), and more. For full details and registration, visit the site. Register with the promo code SOCMASH and save 15%!

April 4-6, 2011, Boston, MA: SOCIAL MEDIA & COMMUNITY 2.0 STRATEGIES is a unique event that focuses on the business value of social media for established brands, as well as entrepreneurial companies. It brings together community experts with lines of business leaders who are using social media strategically to drive their business. From setting the strategy, to operationalizing it, to measuring the results – this event is a high-level think tank for and by those particularly focused on understanding and improving efforts and investments in the Social Media & Community space. Join the evolution and register today (Save 20% with the promo code SOCIAL11MASH).

April 4, 2011, Munich, Germany: The International Search Summit is partnering with SMX to run its global search and social media program at SMX München. Focusing specifically on international and multilingual topics, the summit will run on 4th of April and give delegates the opportunity to attend both events. Topics at the Summit will include international link building, the impact of display on global search, international SEO case studies and multilingual video optimisation. All sessions will be in English. The agenda can be found here, and will be regularly updated with confirmed speakers. Combo or Summit only tickets are available. Early Bird rates apply and Mashable readers can get 15% off the booking price with the discount code MASHABLE011. For more information and to register, please click here.

April 6-8, 2011, Phoenix, AZ: K-12 educators from across the country are invited to the Mobile Learning Experience 2011. Over the course of three days dozens of breakout sessions are offered. Leaders and visionaries like Travis Allen, Graham Brown-Martin, Scott Meech, Tony Vincent, and Susan Wells give inspirational, informative, and practical presentations. In addition to breakouts, there are keynote presentations, panel discussions, app sharing opportunities, and scavenger hunts. Topics include classroom management, assistive technology, higher-order thinking, movie-making, research, and personalized learning. Register at http://mobile2011.org.

April 6-8, 2011, New York City, NY: Have you ever wondered what it would be like to ring the closing bell at NASDAQ? Now you don't have to – you can be there as an added bonus for attending our conference The 2011 Content Summit for Corporate Communicators & PR, presented by Ragan Communications and hosted by NASDAQ OMX. You'll discover new ways to tell a story that are echo-worthy in both social media and traditional media. Register with the promo code MASH11 to save $200 off the regular registration price.

April 6-8, 2011, Los Angeles, CA: Hispanicize 2011, the 2nd Annual Hispanic PR & Social Media Conference, is the first and largest conference devoted to Latino social media, bloggers and public relations professionals. The three-day conference will feature top industry keynote speakers and more than 24 professional development sessions. It’s also the first event to gather all the Latino and multicultural bloggers together. For more information, please click here.

April 6, 2011, New York, NY: The annual We Media Conference features the people and ideas shaping media, technology and society. This year's conference is a lightening-strike for fast-movers: a one-day event filled with must-have intelligence, inspired ideas and brilliant people looking ahead to what’s next and what to do about it. Dozens of new projects, hundreds of new relationships and scores of solutions, partnerships and investments have emerged from the activities and key connections forged at We Media conferences around the world. The conference also features the finals of the $50k We Media PitchIt Challenge, a contest to help turn two startup ideas into something real. Register with the promo code WEMASH and save 10%!

April 7, 2011, Los Angeles, CA: Social Media Advanced Skills Huddle – SMASH is an interactive conference designed to help you make better decisions about deploying social media for marketing, public relations and corporate communications. Presenters and attendees will huddle to air issues, seek advice, and tap into each other’s wisdom while arriving at practical solutions. This event is part of a series of unique how-to huddles on the campuses of the world’s best universities, taught by some of America’s top social media practitioners and experts. SMASH pushes the traditional conference into something much more interactive and practical. Register and use the promo code smashmash11.

April 12-14, 2001, New York, NY: Market Research and Insights In Action is a connecting platform where global leaders meet to discuss strategic and key topics, exchange most recent experiences, and brainstorm on future developments. The event will include keynote presentations, case studies, interactive sessions, workshops, talking circles, panel discussions, business meetings and formal and informal networking activities designed to link and connect senior executives within the field of Market Research and Consumer / Customer Insights. Why not treat yourself to one of our exclusive VIP passes? Let us pick you up from the airport and drive you directly to the venue. Register with a promo code MRIUS11/003 to save 10%.

April 13-15, 2011, Singapore: The Internet Show Asia 2011 is a series of seminars and a large end-to-end showcase of the latest internet technologies and solutions. More than 10,000 attendees will be at the exhibition and conference to find new ways of doing internet business and enhancing product offerings through the internet – through case study presentations and speaking directly with solution partners. The show will aim to increase your ROI, it's all about business, not a technology show. For more details and registrations, please visit www.theinternetshows.com/2010/Singapore.

April 14-15, 2011, Toronto, Canada: Gain cutting edge strategies to manage the risks and uncertainties involved in your organization's use of social media – all in just 2 days! Attend The Canadian Institute's Advanced Forum on Managing Legal and Business Risks in Social Media, and walk away with the tools you need to prepare a thorough plan for your organization to successfully navigate this ever-changing online world. Register and use the Mashable discount code 248CX01 to save 15% off the conference.

April 18-20, 2011, Dubai, UAE: Planet of the Apps Arabia 2011 is a three day conference dedicated to the opportunities and challenges of mobile applications in the Arab world. The event is for app developers, content providers, device manufacturers, network operators and brands to meet and discuss the current challenges and opportunities presented in this growing market. Key issues addressed will include; the sustainability of the current business models, consumer engagement, developer recruitment, app discoverability, platform choice and the importance of social media networks. Register with promo code Mashable and save 20%!

April 18-19, 2011, London, UK: The Mobile Research Conference is the must-attend annual event for brands, agencies and academics interested in engaging consumers and capturing real-time feedback through mobile phones. Mobile, along with social media and online networks, represents the latest frontier for market research. Attend MRC 2011 and discover how to engage respondents, extract insights for product innovation and optimize marketing activities. This 2-day event is designed for consumer insights professionals; corporate, agency and academic survey researchers; mobile operators and tech companies. Register and use the promo code FF-MASHABLE to receive 20% off the main registration price!

April 26-28, 2011, San Francisco, CA: GSMI presents Mobile Marketing Strategies Summit. GSMI has diligently worked to find the best, brightest and most distinct speakers in the Mobile Marketing industry. Our 2011 Mobile Marketing Summit will provide valuable information, through case studies, presentations and hands on workshops. Attendees will leave the conference with the tools and knowledge needed to keep their brands competitive in the Mobile Marketing industry. Register and use the promo code MikeSM.

April 26, 2011, Los Angeles, CA: LA Games Conference – Over 300 of the most influential decision-makers in the games industry gather for the LA Games Conference to network, do deals, and share ideas about the future of console, PC, online and mobile games. LA Games Conference – now in its 4th year – features a lively and fun debate on timely cutting-edge business topics, demos as well unrivaled access to some of the most progressive companies in Hollywood, Silicon Valley and beyond. We invite you to join us at the event and take part in the discussion with executives, creators, investors, analysts, press and gamers who will be instrumental in shaping the future of this booming business. For a limited time we are offering a special Early Bird Rate of $299 – a $400 saving, plus plus receive 15% off with the promo code MASH15! Don’t miss the opportunity – Book NOW to reserve your seat!

May 2-4, 2011, Toronto, Canada: Now in its 10th year, FITC Toronto is one of the largest and longest running events of its kind in the world. With some of the most unique and engaging presenters from around the globe, FITC Toronto is a blitz of presentations, demonstrations, and panel discussions, sandwiched between the legendary FITC parties and abundant networking opportunities. Register with the promo code Mashable10 and save 10%!

May 2-3, 2011, Chicago, IL: At Technology Driven Market Research, the focus is on presenting ground-breaking tools and technologies that are being used NOW and those on the horizon. These technologies are enabling “in the moment” research to more clearly understand consumer behavior. Through real-world experienced based presentations, this event will look at brand-mind placement, eye tracking research in a virtual retail environment, social gaming as a research device, and social and mobile analysis plus much more. Register with the promo code TDMR11MASH and save 20% off the standard rate.

May 3-7, 2011, London, UK: Digital Shoreditch is the voice of everything happening in Shoreditch. The festival explores and celebrates digital technologies; unites the digital community; and provides a platform for sharing knowledge. The activity culminates in a series of exhibitions, parties, presentations, open studios and games.

May 4, 2011, Washington, D.C.: ConAgra Foods, United Health Group, the IRS, the U.S. Navy, and more will share case studies in corporate social media at BlogWell Washington, D.C.: How Big Brands Use Social Media. You’ll learn how to get started, get past roadblocks, and make your social media program phenomenal — in one afternoon, for just $250. Get practical, how-to advice on creating great content, getting management buy-in, educating employees, keeping lawyers and regulators happy, simple and ethical disclosure, and engaging fans. Presented by GasPedal and SocialMedia.org. Register with promo code THANKSMASHABLE and save 10%!

May 9-11, 2001, Chicago, IL: School of WOM is the Word of Mouth Marketing Association’s annual spring conference. School of WOM will provide marketers with in-depth practical knowledge on the arts and sciences of Word of Mouth and Social Media marketing. School of WOM attendees learn the techniques, methods, and processes that are being implemented into your business practices today that they can bring back and implement tomorrow. At School of WOM, you’ll learn to stay ahead of the competition and ensure your company remains talkable for all the right reasons. Go to www.womma.org for more information. Register and use code the promo code WOMMASOWMASH when registering for the event.

May 12-14, 2011, Chicago, IL: unGeeked Elite Retreats will be held at the SYNCUBATOR and brings together 24 speakers over the course of three days. The format is styled as an “open discussion” with topics centered around enhancing, positioning and leveraging boththe internal and external brand. PPTs and Prezi’s are strongly discouraged and instead, on-going and intimate discussions among keynotes, regional speakers and attendees are encouraged. Speakers include Julian Smith, Jason Falls, Spike Jones, Amanda Hite and more. Register with promo code unGeekedChi and save 5% off regular ticket price.

May 16-19, 2011, Prague, Czech Republic: The TERENA Networking Conference (TNC) is the largest and most prestigious European research networking conference – over 500 participants, including decision makers, networking specialists and managers from all major European networking and research organisations, universities, worldwide sister institutions and industry representatives attend. Through keynote speeches by renowned specialists and many parallel sessions, TNC presents an overview of the latest developments in research networking, both in the technical field and in the areas of application and management. For more information, click here.

May 16-18, 2011, London, UK: The Future of Web Design (FOWD) hits London again this May! Following on from the success of last year, we’re bringing you 3 full days of essential web learning: a day of in-depth workshops, followed up by a two day conference, covering all of the hottest topics across two stages. Big names, rising stars, great networking opportunities and some fabulous catering thrown in for good measure. Hope you can join us!

May 17-19, 2011, London, UK: The World E-Reading Congress brings together digital and print publishers with e-reading platforms and device manufacturers to discuss the business models and opportunities provided by the growth of the e-reading industry. Publishers must be prepared for this dramatic industry upheaval. They must learn how to embrace this disruptive technology and the World E-Reading Congress will enable them to discover how they can profit from the E-Reading revolution. Visit our website for more information and register before January to save 10%!

May 17-18, 2011, Sydney, Australia: With an estimated 200,000 loyalty programs currently operating in Australia, it is vital for businesses to understand how to make their brand stand out from the crowd. More than ever, your success hinges on your ability to gain a greater understanding of your customers’ wants and needs.Traditional modes of marketing have evolved and it is necessary to embrace more personalised communications across numerous channels. The Customer Loyalty 2011 Conference is a case-study driven program that will explore different strategies to add the value that your customers want from your loyalty initiative. It will discuss evolving definitions of best practice in loyalty marketing and help you make your mark in this evolving multichannel landscape. Register with the promo code CC*MASHABLE and save 10%!

May 24-26, 2011, San Francisco, CA: All About the Cloud. Save $100 with the promo code PRMMASH to attend the software industry's leading ISV conference on Cloud Computing. (Note: discount valid off the individual non-member rate only and does apply to current attendees.) You'll join an anticipated audience of more than 500 senior executives from ISVs, resellers, and platform / technology providers, as well as the industry's leading analysts, bankers, venture capitalists and the media. Key networking events include: a Golf Tournament, a Speed Networking Event, a Mardi Gras-themed Welcome Reception and an offsite Networking Reception featuring the Microsoft Rock Band Challenge. For details, including registration information, please visit AllAbouttheCloud.net.

May 24-26 2011, Gateshead, UK: Thinking Digital is an annual conference where the world’s greatest thinkers and innovators discuss the latest ideas, innovations and technologies. The conference provides an experience like no other, stimulating new thinking and new ideas. It's about what you'll learn, and who you'll meet. Our eclectic schedule means you'll listen to world-class authorities, meet amazing people, be entertained and outrageously inspired! When you leave Thinking Digital you'll know about things that you previously didn't even realise existed and have become part of our unique community. Register with the promo code TDCMASH and save 10%.

May 25, 2011, London, UK: The Guardian Sustainable Business Awards aim to showcase genuine innovation in corporate sustainability and reward those who take sustainability to the very heart of their business. Enter the awards today at guardian.co.uk/gsb-awards to get the recognition you deserve. Winners will be invited to a ceremony held in London in May and will feature in a supplement published on guardian.co.uk. All entries meeting the criteria will be added to the new Guardian Sustainable Business best practice exchange – an online database allowing sustainability professionals to share their learning. Enter before February 7th at guardian.co.uk/gsb-awards.

May 29-30, 2011, Dubai, UAE: Social Media Marketing – The Way Forward – It is undeniable that social media has fundamentally transformed and evolved the architecture of business, communications, and the dissemination of information and influence. In July 2010, Facebook announced it had over 500 million users worldwide,of which at least 15 million were in Middle East.Survey findings also indicated that one out of five Facebook users is from Asia or Middle East. Participants at this two-day conference will be exposed to the intricacies of corporate social media strategies tailored for your industry. Participants would gain insights to maximizing the usage of social and establishing and maintaining a good relationship with consumers, thus effectively introducing their brands online and engaging long-term relationship with the audience. For more information, please click here.

June 8, 2011, Singapore: With the phenomenal growth of apps worldwide, Asia is the next big market to watch out for. Planet of the Apps Asia is the leading event dedicated to mobile applications in Asia. The two day conference plus a dedicated masterclass day brings together the mobile application ecosystem in one location. The event will shine on a light on the latest innovations and showcase the latest solutions in the world of mobile applications. Be part of this definitive event and network with professionals from all around the globe.

June 16, 2011, London, UK: The Augmented Reality Summit is designed to explore this new dynamic reality and provide delegates with the perfect opportunity to uncover Augmented Reality in full and explore the opportunity's AR brings any brand or company. The AR Summit is positioned at the forefront of this exciting continually developing new industry. Whether you are a Brand, Advertiser or Agency, Technology provider or Developer looking to meet key industry figures, keep up with the latest developments, technology's & tools or simply to network with other from the world of AR – Register and use the promo code ARMASH to save 25%!

June 27-29, 2011, Las Vegas, NV: The Future of Web Apps (FOWA) is coming to Vegas. After successfully running shows in Miami and London, the conference hits Vegas for the first time in June. A conference for web developers and entrepreneurs, there are 3 days of jam packed web fun including a day of workshops and 2 conference days of two tracks. As well as App Clinics and Expo Area, you can learn and network with people who have passion for the web! Register with the code FOWA_MASHABLE and receive 10% off our 2 day conference passes.

September 6-8, 2011, Cleveland, OH: At Content Marketing World, you'll learn how to transform your marketing department into a storytelling factory, engaging your prospects and customers in all the right channels with the right messages– including social, mobile, email, online and even print and in-person strategies. Through 24+ breakout sessions and amazing keynotes led by worldwide experts, you'll get the tools you need to be a successful content marketer. Plus, you'll experience the best of what Cleveland has to offer, starting with our opening night reception at the infamous Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Register and use the promo code mash to receive $100 off the current price of a ticket.

September 12-13, 2011, Renaissance Glendale, Phoenix, AZ: The third Social Media Optimization Summit event, presented by Multifamilypro, brings together small to mid-sized business owners with an interest in putting social media to work successfully within their organizations in ways that are proven to generate results. The event offers two full days of intensive, hands-on workshops from the intermediate to advanced level, led by top social media experts. The unique "See it. Hear it. Do it." approach allows attendees to learn by doing, and begin immediately applying newly-acquired skills and knowledge while the event is underway. See what others are saying about the event and register now at optimizationsummits.com and use discount code Mashable to save $100!

Sept 21-22, 2011, London, UK: ad:tech London is the UK’s essential free to attend event for professionals seeking to stay ahead of the latest interactive media, advertising and marketing trends. The event unites advertisers, media owners and agencies to harness the power of digital and deliver real marketing ROI. Alongside the exhibition, there is also a conference featuring 100+ international speakers for serious digital innovators and marketers. Mashable readers can take 20% off their conference ticket price. Register online now with the promo code MASH11 at www.ad-techlondon.co.uk.

September 26-29, 2011, Kaua’i, HI: The Search and Social Woot! is an elite conference unlike any other that will provide you with the strategies and complete know how to thrive in this ever changing environment. Each day begins with morning sessions around the hottest topics. With Keynote Bruce Clay of Bruce Clay, Inc. and speakers from corporations such as Real Networks, Network Solutions, AT&T, Microsoft Bing and Logitech. Afternoons are spent in a relaxed environment including planned activities in which individual attendees can get to know speakers and each other on a more personal level continuing the discussion and building long lasting relationships. Register and use the promo code SSWootMash to save 10%.

September 29-October 1, 2011, Atlanta, GA: As pet owners, bloggers, consumer brands and those connected to the industry – including veterinarians – continue to build upon social media & marketing, pet social media education & networking is an extremely important aspect to mobilizing efforts and to address the challenges faced by pet owners. Whether you use YouTube, Twitter, Dog/Catbook or online forums to gather & share information about pets, it's increasingly important for this community to have a face-to-face forum. Established in 2009, the BarkWorld Conference & Expo is the only pet social media conference covering ALL facets of social media & pet education. Our 2011 annual conference will focus on many topics, including: how to take great photos your pet & use it online, how to build/design a blog & monetize, mobile applications, metrics/SEO, pet food demonstrations, promoting your pet/business via social media and using online forums. Join us for this 2 ½ day conference. You'll be amazed with the information you'll walk away with and the new connections you'll make; your well-trained, leashed, pet is welcome. Register with the promo code MASH2011 to receive a 25% discount.

November 16-18, 2011, Las Vegas, NV: The WOMMA Summit is the only word of mouth marketing conference where research and measurement integrate with online social media and offline conversations. The Summit is a year-end review of BEST and NEXT practices in word or mouth and social media marketing in addition to future trends. WOMMA Summit showcases through leadership from some of the innovative and forward thinking. Go to www.womma.org to learn more about the event and use code WOMMASummitMASH when registering for the event.

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The Mashable Weekly Social Media and Marketing Event Guide is proudly supported by Eventbrite, the Web’s Event Marketplace.

Eventbrite is an online events marketplace where tens of thousands of individuals, businesses and organizations of all sizes manage, promote and sell tickets to their events. Make your event a success on Eventbrite.

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HOW TO: Create a Facebook Engagement Policy

Posted: 31 Jan 2011 12:30 PM PST


The Facebook Marketing Series is supported by Buddy Media, Power Tools for Facebook. Unsure how to respond on Facebook? Download Buddy Media's free whitepaper, "The Definitive Guide to Social Media Moderation and Publishing." With more than 700 status updates posted on Facebook per second, you need a game plan.

As Facebook has become a primary customer interaction point for businesses, many companies have established formal policies for how community managers and employees should engage with fans. These engagement policies run the gamut from a brief checklist of best practices to a multi-page legal document with detailed instructions on how to handle issues.

Since every company’s goals, style and tone are different, it’s important to develop policies that fit your business. Here are six steps to get you started.

Categorize Posts

The first step in creating engagement guidelines is to categorize the different types of posts you’re likely to see on your page. One approach is to group posts into broad categories — such as praise, complaints, questions and general conversation — so you can create basic guidelines for responding to each.

Ben Foster, VP – Digital Strategist at PR agency Ketchum, recommends going a step further and creating a detailed decision tree for posts. This would include asking questions such as “Does the response include a suggestion for the brand?” and “Is the response positive and favorable to the brand and/or messaging?” and guiding the community manager in how to respond accordingly.

Establish Acceptable Response Times

The next step is determining acceptable response times — depending on the size and nature of your business and fan base, this could range anywhere from a few minutes to a day or more.

Chris Dessi, a Managing Partner at Drive Action Digital, advises clients who are compiling policies with the firm to address any issues arising on Facebook within (at most) an hour. “Even if you have no idea how to address the issue, people need to know you’re aware of it, or they may take to the virtual streets,” he cautions.

Your response times should also be driven by the type of post you’re responding to, with complaints and questions taking priority over praise and general conversation. Meaghan Clawsie from interactive marketing and advertising agency Smartycake suggests that even if you aren’t able to answer someone’s question immediately, you should at least let them know right away that you’ll respond soon with an answer. She also recommends that companies with busy pages assign multiple people the responsibility of responding to fan inquiries, including having someone manage the page at night if necessary to respond outside of normal business hours.

Develop Guidelines for Resolving Issues

How you respond to issues is just as important as how fast you respond.

Jesse Chemtob, engagement manager at wine site Snooth.com, recommends guiding community managers to take conversations offline (to e-mail or a phone conversation) when resolving issues.

Heather Whaling of Geben Communication agrees. “Your policy should differentiate between a ‘troll’ and constructive criticism. If someone leaves a viable complaint or feedback on your Facebook Page, respond. Odds are, someone else shares their concerns, so you want the company response to be accessible for everyone else to read. But don’t get into a heated back and forth. If the situation continues to escalate, ask the person to contact you by phone or e-mail so you can find a solution to their individual problem.”

In some cases, you may also want a manager to weigh in before responding to inaccurate, accusatory or negative comments about the company. Starr Hall, author of “Get Connected: The Social Networking Toolkit for Business“, suggests developing a formal review and approval process for responses in these types of situations.

Create a Process for Handling Inquiries

Inevitably, your Facebook Page will garner customer service inquiries even if this is not the primary purpose of the page. You can minimize this issue by clearly posting your customer service URL and phone number on your page. BigCommerce, an e-commerce software provider, went as far as to integrate its customer service URL into the main image on its Facebook Page. You should also come up with a stock response to customer service inquiries that includes a link, address and/or phone number where the fan can direct their inquiry.

You may also generate reporter queries on the page or about your program – make sure your community manager and team have a process for promptly responding to (or handing off) these types of requests.

Set Clear Ground Rules For Fan Posts

Foster recommends creating an external policy for fan comments, with stated guidelines on the “Info” tab about what constitutes objectionable content and how you will handle offensive or inappropriate posts. And while some social media advocates say that you should never delete negative comments, according to Krista Neher, CEO of BootCampDigital, this isn’t always the best route.

“One of my clients was constantly attacked by a consumer advocacy group that totally detracted from the actual conversations happening on the page by the fans,” said Neher. “They adopted a policy of deleting those comments and created a clear policy on what was or wasn’t appropriate. In addition, the commenters were notified about the policy and given other groups or discussions where their comments would be more appropriate.”

Neher also recommends creating a policy for what your employees can post on the page. This policy should include what is or isn’t OK to post about work, suppliers, vendors, customers, coworkers or your boss. “I have seen many posts that are thinly veiled complaints about workplaces disguised as questions or general comments,” says Neher. “Make sure that your employees know what they can and can’t post as well as the potential implications.”

Set the Appropriate Tone

Once you’ve established the ground rules for when and how to engage, the final step is providing guidelines for what to say and how to say it. Successful engagement typically involves being open, friendly and authentic. Clawsie coaches clients to “think of their Facebook Page as a dinner party, and they are the charming, engaging and witty hosts. Their job is to make everyone feel comfortable and to facilitate interaction.”

Michelle Cox, vice president of marketing at Metacafe, suggests that brands “keep it real. Be true to your brand personality. Today’s consumers are savvy and seek a relationship with the brands they trust. Be genuine in your tone and straightforward with your message.” This approach appears to be working: Metacafe reports that one-third of the 70,000+ fans on the Metacafe Movies Page regularly engage with the brand.

Series supported by the Buddy Media Platform

The Facebook Marketing Series is supported by Buddy Media, Power Tools for Facebook. Unsure how to respond on Facebook? Download Buddy Media's free whitepaper, "The Definitive Guide to Social Media Moderation and Publishing." With more than 700 status updates posted on Facebook per second, you need a game plan.

More Facebook Marketing Resources from Mashable:

- HOW TO: Engage and Mobilize Facebook Fans Beyond the "Like"
- 5 Facebook Giving Campaign Success Stories
- 5 New Ways to Market Your Brand on Facebook
- Top 5 Emerging Brand Trends on Facebook
- The Biggest Brands on Facebook [INFOGRAPHIC]

More About: business, facebook, Facebook Marketing Series, trending

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World Bank Opens Data Catalogue for Social Good Competition

Posted: 31 Jan 2011 12:06 PM PST

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Voting has just opened on the World Bank’s Apps for Development Competition. The competition marks the first time the World Bank, an international institution that makes loans to developing countries, made available its catalogue of development data to the general public.

Apps for Development tasked the public and developer communities to take the World Bank’s data and create tools, games, apps or analysis to solve the global issues. A gallery of the submissions can be found here.

All the submissions were required to use World Bank data and work to solve the Millennium Development Goals, a list of philanthropic targets to be reached by 2015. The goals are linked to topics such as world poverty, education, health, gender equality, sustainability, and HIV/AIDS.

Started in October of 2010, Apps for Development received 107 submissions from 36 countries. Submissions included SMS services and children’s games for the iPhone, as well as educational and statistical modeling tools. While a panel of experts will determine the final winners, the public can start voting on the Popular Choice award at the competition website.

The winners will be announced at the joint meetings held by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in April.

The competition is part of the World Bank’s Open Data initiative meant to connect its resources with a talented pool of professionals. It’s also a huge resource for developing nations where access to free and transparent data can be limited.

“Think of it as a new kind of R&D, done without traditional fundraising and project management — a way for, in this case, an [international organization] to innovate in full view of the public, and in collaboration with highly-engaged technologists, no matter where they reside,” said Aleem Walji, Practice Manager for Innovation at The World Bank, via e-mail. The Bank is hoping tech elites in Silicon Valley will take notice and use the data to create new solutions that the organization itself doesn’t have the resources to pursue or fund.

Do you think competitions like this are enough to galvanize a community of elite developers? Let us know your thoughts below.

More About: apps for development competition, Crowdsource, crowdsourced, mdg, millennium development goals, social good, world bank

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Why Social Media Is Bringing Back Our Grandparents’ Values [OP-ED]

Posted: 31 Jan 2011 11:28 AM PST


This post reflects the opinions of the author and not necessarily those of Mashable as a publication.

Josh Rose is the EVP, digital creative director of ad agency Deutsch LA, who, when time permits, moonlights as a photographer. Follow him on Twitter: @joshrose.

On January 4 at 9:46 p.m., I posted this message to Facebook:

"Vegas tomorrow. Who's in?"

I was preparing for my drive/pilgrimage to Las Vegas for CES. And, as one does, I alerted 500 of my closest Facebook friends of this fact. I didn't even think much of it.

The next morning, before I settled into the long drive, I stopped in to my local coffee shop. Ashley, who works there and knows my kids' names, asked, "Your usual?” And then added, "Heading off to Vegas, huh?" She'd seen my status update.

Some may find this intimacy alarming. I found it oddly comforting. I bet this is what it was like for my grandparents, in a time when communities were close-knit; when someone knew if you were going on a trip or noticed if you didn't show up somewhere. But this is just one of many parallels between our behaviors today and those of our grandparents. Here are a few more ways I think that social media has bridged these generations, culturally speaking.

The Return of the Slide Show

Our grandparents celebrated travel. Being worldly and seeing things that others hadn't was a privilege. It opened your eyes to the world and that knowledge made you a more enriched person. But you also shared those stories with your friends and relatives. To go, see things, and then come back home and share your observations through pictures and stories — that was part of the experience. I can still remember sitting next to that slide carousel.

We're doing that today with Flickr, Instagram, blogs and Facebook photos, to name a few. There's a theme in iMovie that makes your video look like a beautiful travel log.

Two years ago, I went to Japan for a few weeks by myself. I logged all my experiences on a Posterous site for my friends and family to see. My parents' generation never did this. They just kind of disappeared for a while, then came home. But it is remarkably similar to the behavior of my grandparents, who wanted to tell the stories and bestow their knowledge to anyone who'd listen.

The Return of Family Bonding

Our grandparents talked with their parents. Family dinners were an essential part of life, not to mention ball games, religious discussions, family outings and just plain hanging out on the porch. But the culture of our parents’ generation became somewhat more escapist; James Dean, punk rock, The Outsiders, TV dinners, video games, and yes, even the Internet.

But, a good portion of our grandparents’ sensibilities are back today, thanks to social media.

Kids aren't blocking their parents from their Facebook profiles — well, OK, some are, but not all of them. Teens are texting their parents about their comings and goings. And although it looks a whole lot different than the Cleavers' family dinner, in a strange way the book is wider open today than it has been in 100 years. Because of blogging, tweeting, checking in and status updating, the lock is off the diary.

Additionally, emotions are more accepted. Pain more vocalized. I know someone on Facebook who is dealing with cancer and posts regularly about that for all her friends and family to see. We are rediscovering what we once knew inherently; community makes us less lonely.

The Return of Being a Regular

Our grandparents didn't frequent a lot of places. They had less to choose from, but they also understood the symbiosis of the customer/retailer relationship. I had one older relative who went to the same restaurant so much they named a sandwich after him. That's old school, right? Maybe more new school than we realize.

Isn't this what we're doing with location applications like Foursquare, Facebook Places and Gowalla? Yesteryear's sandwich naming is today's Mayor's Badge. We're being rewarded for our patronage in ways reminiscent of the days when you could put something on a tab, and the owner knew your name; when frequent patrons got the best seats in the house.

If I "Like" your organization, I become part of your community; privy to your deals and offers. That's the kind of preferential treatment that used to be a part of daily life. And, not coincidentally, restaurants are probably doing some of the most interesting things with social media today.

And, really, word-of-mouth is the oldest form of marketing. Social media often reflects on the tools, but it's our opinions, spoken aloud, which are the true story — and fuel — in this medium. I'm as encouraged and excited today with where technology is leading us as I was the first time I saw my Grandpa Joe turn on that slide carousel. In a funny commentary on how he saw the world changing, he used to tell me, "There's only two of us left. And I'm not sure about you."

I think he'd like where we're going.

Where do you see social media rekindling the values of previous generations? Let us know in the comments.

More About: community, op-ed, Opinion, social media, trending

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Google Docs Gets “Gmail-ified”

Posted: 31 Jan 2011 11:09 AM PST


Google has released an update to Google Docs that makes it easier to find, organize and share documents. The refresh focuses around the Google Docs document list, the page where users choose which documents they want to access or edit.

The search giant has launched a series of new filters designed to help users more quickly navigate larger caches of documents. It has added visibility filters so users can find private documents, public documents or draft documents. It also has added ownership filters so it’s easier to find the documents based on author, or documents others have shared.

Google Docs has also gotten another addition, thanks to Gmail. Google has added a “priority sorting” filter to the documents list, bringing the most important documents to the top of the page, a feature based on Gmail’s popular Priority Inbox feature that algorithmically sifts through a user’s e-mail and tags the most important threads.

Google has also added a preview pane to the documents list. It sits on the right-hand side of the page and displays information like last viewed, tags and who has access to the document. If it’s a multimedia document like a video or a photo, you also have the option to play or view the file as a full-screen slideshow.

The final addition is the inclusion of a “home” menu item. Again, it’s like the Gmail inbox, in that users control which content is in the home list, and they can essentially archive documents that they’re no longer using. Google has also changed “folders” into collections, which works exactly like Gmail labels.

At every single level, this update is about the “Gmailification” of Google Docs. The Google Docs team has applied Gmail’s organization principles in order to make it simpler to navigate. It’s a rather clever update that should prove effective at managing document overload. The sheer disorganization of Google Docs turns off some users (including me), but the combination of new filters, a priority sorting feature and the “home” menu should make that a problem of the past.

More About: gmail, Google, google docs

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Startup Applies Hot-or-Not Style Ratings to Professional Networks

Posted: 31 Jan 2011 11:02 AM PST

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LinkedIn recommendations are awkward. You need to solicit them, they’re not anonymous, and they are generally too vague to be particularly useful to potential employers.

Now, startup Mixtent is launching an alternative reference system that asks professionals to play a game of skill set “hot or not” with their LinkedIn networks, instead of writing recommendations.

After one connects his or her profile to Mixtent, the application asks the user to choose two people who share a particular skill. It then asks the user to decide which person is better at it. The algorithm is built to generate comparisons that are fair (so an intern doesn’t get matched against an SVP, for instance), and relevant to the user’s own skillset. If it fails in either respect, there is an option to skip that comparison. In return for their participation, users discover how others have rated them.

Aside from being easier to complete than a written recomendation, co-founder Jonathan Gheller says the hot-or-not format provides more valuable information for both job seekers and recruiters.

“When you start the system, you don’t start by telling me ‘this is who I am, this is what I’m good at, and these are the people who rock and these are the people who stink,’” Gheller says. “The system is completely intermediated to actually capture good data, and even though it looks like a game, it’s not gameable.”

By compiling data about how people are rated against each other, the company will be able to give fairly objective recommendations for job openings — an ability Gheller hopes will one day serve as the company’s bread and butter.

Mixtent isn’t the first company to recognize the niche for online professional recommendations as an opportunity. Honestly.com, formerly called Unvarnished, has provided a platform for anonymous reviews since its launch last year. Ostensibly, Honestly.com reviews are more honest (at times, painfully so) than those found on LinkedIn. But they still lack the crowdsourced objectivity that Mixtent claims to bring to the table.

Mixtent will also compete with companies like Monster.com and Careerbuilder.com to be the service that recruiters turn to when they want help finding the right matches for open jobs. The startup’s database of about 600,000 rated professionals, which it collected during its beta stage, pales in comparison to the number of resumes archived on these sites. But Gheller is betting that the social layer will make his system a more valuable resource.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, broken3

More About: linkedin, Mixtent, professional network, ratings

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Mashable Weekend Recap: 15 Stories You May Have Missed

Posted: 31 Jan 2011 10:47 AM PST


It was a busy weekend here at Mashable, with a revolution underway in Egypt, Zuckerberg yukking it up on Saturday Night Live, and a new version of Angry Birds on the way.

Afraid you missed something? If you did, we’re here to get you all caught up — the perfect way to spend some quality time on a Monday.

So here it is, a weekend’s worth of Mashable goodness, all laid out for you in a neat column. Take it all in, and then make it a great week.

News and Opinion Essentials

8-Year-Old Girl Lectures Egypt's Mubarak on YouTube [VIDEO]

Twitter Declares, "The Tweets Must Flow"

BlackBerry Service Restored in Cairo? [UPDATED]

How Much Does Identity Theft Cost? [INFOGRAPHIC]

Helpful Resources

HOW TO: Land a Job at 9 Hot Startups

Plug Hub Makes That Mess of Cables Disappear [PICS]

42 New Social Media Resources You May Have Missed

Another 10 Creative Uses of the New Facebook Profile [PICS]

Top 10 Twitter Trends This Week [CHART]

Weekend Leisure

Review: Logitech's Mouse for Couch Potatoes [PICS]

Chewsy Looks to Add Flavor to Dish Reviews

10 Incredible Interactive YouTube Videos

HANDS ON: Garmin StreetPilot for iPhone [PICS & VIDEO]

Zuckerberg Appears on "SNL" Alongside His Cinematic Counterpart [VIDEO]

"Angry Birds Rio" Game to be Released in March [VIDEO]

More About: Egypt, facebook, garmin, hands-on, logitech, twitter, Weekend recap, Zuckerberg

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1 comments to "Mashable: Latest 29 News Updates - including “LG Optimus 3D To Have a Dual-Lens 3D Camera”"

  1. Anonymous says:
    February 9, 2020 at 3:52 AM

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