Mashable: Latest 29 News Updates - including “HOW TO: Follow New York Fashion Week Online” |
- HOW TO: Follow New York Fashion Week Online
- Verizon iPhone’s Arrival Creates AT&T iPhone Aftermarket
- Twitter Revamps Android App
- Starbucks CEO Invests in Groupon, Joins Board of Directors
- LIVE: Never Say Never Director Jon Chu Talks 3D Movies & Bieber-mania [VIDEO]
- Google Wants to Plan Your Wedding
- Make Your Next Dinner Reservation Using Yelp’s Mobile Apps
- Facebook Launches Pages Redesign
- Watch Egyptian President’s Address Live on YouTube
- Startup Lets Music Fans Request Radio Play via Facebook & Twitter
- Google Adds Extra Layer of Security to User Accounts
- SoundCloud Hits 3 Million Registered Users
- Groupon Offers 50% Off Flowers From FTD.com
- HOW TO: Optimize Your Social Media Budget
- Microsoft Unveils Internet Explorer 9 Release Candidate
- What Are the Skills of Tomorrow’s Journalist? [VIDEO]
- Watch Out Y Combinator, There’s a New Startup Accelerator in Town
- Top 10 Funny YouTube Videos About Twitter
- 10 Free iPhone Apps for a More Romantic Valentine’s Day
- Picasso Exhibit Gets Interactive With QR Codes & Augmented Reality [PICS]
- The 4 Biggest Stories in Tech, Mobile & Social Media This Morning
- Sonos Android App Controls Wireless Music Systems [PICS]
- Gartner: Symbian Is Still the Number One Smartphone Platform [REPORT]
- Amazon Launches Windows Phone 7 App
- Nissan’s Electric Sports Car of the Future Debuts Next Month [PICS]
- YouTube Enlists Help for Music Rights Management
- New App Considers Your Travel Time When Providing Appointment Alerts
- Would Google or Facebook Pay $10 Billion For Twitter?
- Startup Bridges the Gap Between Internet-Connected TVs and Mobile
- Here’s What People Are Saying About Mashable Follow
| HOW TO: Follow New York Fashion Week Online Posted: 10 Feb 2011 01:55 PM PST      American fashion designers are welcoming thousands of friends, celebrities, buyers and media to Lincoln Center to unveil their fall 2011 collections at New York Fashion Week Tens of thousands more will be tuning in online and via their mobile phones, as designers stream live video footage of their shows on the web and attendees distribute their 140-character-or-less reviews and mobile snapshots over Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Foursquare and other social networks. With so much to see, following Fashion Week online can be nearly as overwhelming as attending in person, so we’ve gathered together the best online resources to help you enjoy the experience on your platform of choice. If there’s any we’ve missed, please let us know in the comments section below. Live Video Building on success from seasons past, a fair number of brands are continuing to live stream their runway shows on their websites, Facebook Pages, and through video-serving partners such as Livestream and Style.com. We’ve compiled a list below, which includes the full schedule of shows that will be streamed on Livestream.com. Click on the names below to find the livestream. Vena Cava Wayne Peter Som Perry Ellis Jason Wu Rebecca Taylor Rebecca Minkoff Costello Tagliapietra Nicole Miller Richard Chai Alexander Wang Altuzarra Preen DKNY Calvin Klein Collection, Men’s Thakoon Cushnie et Ochs Tommy Hilfiger Ohne Titel Donna Karan Alice + Olivia Betsey Johnson Kevork Kiledjian Marc Jacobs Rad Hourani Diesel Black Gold Marc by Marc Jacobs Sophie Theallet Tibi Michael Kors Oscar de la Renta Jeremy Scott The Blonds Calvin Klein Collection, Women’s Videos will also be uploaded to the official Fashion Week channel on YouTube after the show.  Twitter has opted not to launch another sponsored microsite for tracking Fashion Week on the microblogging website, but users can still follow along by tracking the #nyfw hashtag. If you’re looking for more streamlined coverage, we have a few favorites we recommend you follow: @womensweardaily @EHolmesWSJ @elvainadine @DetailsMatt @evachen212 @cutblog @CNFashion Tumblr Tumblr is the darling of New York Fashion Week this year. The blogging startup has brought 24 fashion bloggers to New York for the nine-day series of events, and many large brands and fashion-oriented publications have launched Tumblr blogs ahead of the festivities. It’s also the name on everyone’s lips at the various conferences and panels being held in New York this week. Tumblr has put up one of the best resources for following fashion week online at tumblr.com/nyfw, which displays posts curated by Tumblr’s “internal staff of editors,” Tumblr Fashion Director Rich Tong tells us. Users can navigate to the “Popular” and “Everything” tabs to see a wider range of content tagged with nyfw, and view a nearly comprehensive list of livestreaming shows. Fashion News Sites For those of you who prefer more editorially heavy coverage, here our top four picks for fashion news throughout the week: Official New York Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Site This contains the full show schedule, current and past footage from runway shows and designers bios. Style.com posts some of the most intelligent collection reviews during Fashion Week, accompanied by loads of photographs and videos of the runway. If you’re more interested in behind-the-scenes stories, see Style.com’s People + Parties section. Editorial coverage and slideshows by The Wall Street Journal. (The WSJ is also streaming all of the tweets and Foursquare checkins of its fashion reporters here.) The New York Times‘s style blog contains short updates from on and around the runway throughout the week, often accompanied by slideshows. More Fashion Resources from Mashable:
Image courtesy of GoRunway.com, Monica Feudi More About: fashion, List, Lists, new york fashion week, nyfw, social media, tumblr, twitter For more Social Media coverage:
            |
| Verizon iPhone’s Arrival Creates AT&T iPhone Aftermarket Posted: 10 Feb 2011 01:47 PM PST   It looks like many smartphones were abandoned by those rushing to be among the Verizon iPhone’s first users when the device hit shelves Thursday morning. In fact, eBay has already made 130,000 offers to purchase these used phones, and most of them are for AT&T iPhone models. In anticipation of a phone-swapping trend, eBay announced a two-week promotion on February 8 that guarantees at least $200 for select models of functional used smartphones on its Instant Sale platform. For some phones, eBay is offering a price more than $100 higher than Verizon’s trade-in value. It looks like the anticipated wave of resellers will pan out. Three days into the promotion, 130,000 eBay site visitors have requested offers for used smartphones. It’s too early to tell how many of these will actually send their phones to eBay in order to actually redeem the offers. Most of the offers have been for used iPhones, and various models of the phone have taken six spots on the list of the top ten most requested offers during eBay’s promotion. BlackBerry and Android phones split the remaining four spots. This iPhone majority doesn’t necessarily indicate that AT&T is experiencing a mass exodus in favor of Verizon. Android phones only started outselling iPhones in the first quarter of 2010, which means there are more of them out there to resell. There’s also a possibility that eBay’s offer guarantee prompted the rush to resell old phones on the site rather than the Verizon iPhone launch itself. Even so, the interest in selling even the latest model of the iPhone (early adopters of the iPhone 4 still have more than a year to go to finish their 2-year contracts) must be less than comforting to AT&T.  More About: att, ebay, Mobile 2.0, resell smartphone, smartphone, Verizon iPhone For more Mobile coverage:
      |
| Posted: 10 Feb 2011 01:43 PM PST   Twitter has launched a new version of its Android app, revamping its interface to match the ones used in its iPhone and web apps. The entire interface has been redesigned from the ground up. Unlike the old interface, which had a focus on pure simplicity and lacked many of the features available on its iPhone counterpart, the new interface includes a revamped menu bar. It puts the timeline, @mentions, direct messages and additional options like lists, retweets and favorites at the top of the page. Search and Compose are now available on the top right as well. Twitter has also added the ability to use the app without signing in. This gives users the ability to browse the Twitterverse without the need to sign up, though Twitter has also added that option, too. Finally, Twitter for Android now includes a universal search function. If a user searches for “cats,” he or she will be presented the option to either perform a traditional Twitter search, search only nearby tweets, find people named “cats” or go to the Twitter profile of @cats. The update brings the app closer to the functionality provided by its iPhone and iPad apps. Twitter got its official iPhone app when it acquired Tweetie last April. The company launched its Android app later that month.  More About: android, Android App, twitter, Twitter for Android For more Mobile coverage:
      |
| Starbucks CEO Invests in Groupon, Joins Board of Directors Posted: 10 Feb 2011 01:06 PM PST   Starbucks Chairman, President and CEO Howard Schultz is joining Groupon‘s board of directors Thursday. This news is predicated on Schultz’ venture capital firm’s investment in Groupon. Maveron LLC, a firm with offices in Seattle and San Francisco, has given Groupon an undisclosed amount of funding. Groupon recently closed a colossal $950 million Series D from Andreessen Horowitz, Battery Ventures, DST, Greylock Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Maverick Capital, Silver Lake and Technology Crossover Ventures. Considering Starbucks’s focus on social media marketing and Groupon’s focus on large, national brands, the relationship makes sense. In fact, we recently named Starbucks one of the top five brands that use social media particularly well. The company’s Foursquare experiments in consumer rewards have yielded interesting case studies in a still-young space, and the brand’s participation in social media has shown unquestionable return on investment. Groupon founder and CEO Andrew Mason said in a release, “As CEO of one of the world’s most iconic brands, Howard is an invaluable addition to the Groupon board. His experience in building the culture and business of Starbucks and his relentless focus on innovation to improve customer experiences brings a unique combination of skills to our Board of Directors.” More About: groupon, starbucks For more Business & Marketing coverage:
      |
| LIVE: Never Say Never Director Jon Chu Talks 3D Movies & Bieber-mania [VIDEO] Posted: 10 Feb 2011 12:50 PM PST   Never Say Never, AKA the Justin Bieber movie, hits theaters on February 11. Today, February 10, starting at 4:00 p.m. ET, Mashable will be chatting with the film’s director, Jon Chu (@jonmchu) about what it’s like to make a 3D concert film, Bieber-mania and how social media has influenced the marketing efforts for the project. Concert films have been a cinematic staple since the early 1960s. From The Beatles to the Jonas Brothers, it’s not uncommon to see the pop or rock sensations of the moment on the big screen. The fact that this film is in 3D is part of a growing trend, not just for fictional narratives and action films, but for concert documentaries. We will be asking Chu about his past experiences with films like Step Up 3D and what influence that had on his latest project. We’ll be using Tinychat for this conversation, which means Mashable readers can join in the fun. Users can log in, watch our conversation and ask questions in the chat. video chat provided by Tinychat More About: 3D, jon chu, justin bieber, Movies, never say never, tinychat For more Social Media coverage:
      |
| Google Wants to Plan Your Wedding Posted: 10 Feb 2011 12:49 PM PST   Google is taking on an unlikely role: wedding planner. Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Google has rolled out a dedicated site where consumers can create a wedding website, edit photos and plan their wedding using wedding-specific templates in Google Sites, Google Docs and Picnik. The company announced the move today on its official Google blog. Google teamed up with wedding planner Michelle Rago for the templates, and Rago also provides tips to the soon-to-be-betrothed. To spread the word, Google is also hosting a wedding sweepstakes offering a prize of $25,000 and the chance to get Rago to help plan your wedding. The site is the latest attempt by Google to insinuate itself into consumers’ lifestyles. In 2008, Google launched Google Health, which is designed to let users organize, monitor, track and use health information on the site. But there’s a thin line between providing helpful information and invading privacy: In 2009, Google Health partnered with CVS to provide patients online access to their prescription drug history via their Google Health accounts, raising issues about Google’s access to sensitive personal information. More About: Google, google health, weddings For more Social Media coverage:
      |
| Make Your Next Dinner Reservation Using Yelp’s Mobile Apps Posted: 10 Feb 2011 12:01 PM PST   Yelp iPhone, iPad and Android application users will be able to book reservations for restaurants in-app, thanks to the startup’s expanded integration with OpenTable beginning Thursday. The mobile enhancement means that make-a-reservation options have been added to Yelp business pages. Users can now click to select a date, time and party size, and book a table without ever leaving the application. The feature mirrors Yelp’s OpenTable integration on the web, and it makes for an exceptionally seamless, one-step experience should the Yelp user already have an OpenTable account. The web integration has received overwhelmingly positive feedback from users and prompted the company to bring table booking to its mobile apps, according to a company spokesperson. Thursday’s mobile update also comes just ahead of celebrated and sometimes-dreaded Valentine’s Day. Yelp and OpenTable could potentially save the procrastinators among us from the associated relationship fallout of being left without a table. Yelp’s mobile apps continue to grow in importance for the senior startup. In December, 3.2 million unique visitors used a Yelp mobile app. The apps also now account for 35% of all Yelp searches. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, perepelova More About: Mobile 2.0, opentable, yelp, yelp mobile For more Mobile coverage:
      |
| Facebook Launches Pages Redesign Posted: 10 Feb 2011 12:00 PM PST   Facebook has begun rolling out a full redesign of Facebook Pages. The changes will make the Pages look and operate more like user profiles. The new Pages redesign was first seen in December, when Facebook accidentally launched it and quickly took it down. The update not only removed tabs, but it gave page admins the ability to post and comment on other Facebook Pages through a “Login as Page” feature. Those prototype features have made the cut for today’s launch. As Facebook’s Rohit Dhawan, the lead product manager for Facebook Pages, explained to me earlier today, the company has wanted to redesign Facebook Pages ever since it launched the profile redesign. “We strongly believe you should have consistent experiences when possible,” Dhawan said. The big difference everyone will notice will be the new layout. The left-hand menu for editing pages has been removed in favor of a new navigation menu that replaces the old tabbing system. And like the Facebook Profiles redesign, the left-hand “Information” box is also gone. However, page admins can now add info about their brand at the top of the page under the main title. The right-hand menu has also been tweaked. There is now a section that features the page’s admins (if you so choose) as well as a section that shows users how many of their friends have also “liked” that particular page. Finally, just like profiles, a page can now feature relevant photos at the top. This could lead to some very creative uses for Facebook Pages.  Log In As Your Facebook PageThere are some other notable differences between the new Facebook Pages and the old version, especially for page admins. The “Login as Page” feature gives admins the ability to interact with the rest of Facebook as a page, not an individual. For example, I could log in as Mashable and start commenting and “liking” things on Facebook Pages that have “liked” Mashable. Admins will also see a different News Feed if they are logged in as their page; It will display the most important news from the pages you’ve “liked.” “A page can now use Facebook as if they were an individual with the ability to interact with other pages,” Dhawan said. “It provides intersting content when people are visiting the page. ” Pages can’t do everything a user can, though. Most importantly, they cannot post on a user’s wall or comment on his or her status. The lone exception is for a user who has opted for the “everybody” privacy setting; Pages can comment on status updates for those individuals. The other update Facebook is adding is an “Everyone” filter that brings the most interesting and engaging posts from a page’s community to the top of the page. This makes it easier for users and admins to easily find the most “liked” and commented conversations on a particular page. The new Facebook Pages are also smart enough to filter out posts that are not in a language you speak. The new design launches today as a preview for Facebook Page admins. Before switching, they can check to see what their page will look like and tweak elements of the design before launch. The company is also releasing a Page Tour and a manual to explain the new design. Admins will have until March 10 to switch over though, before Facebook automatically updates every page to the new design. More About: facebook, facebook pages, Facebook Redesign, trending For more Social Media coverage:
      |
| Watch Egyptian President’s Address Live on YouTube Posted: 10 Feb 2011 11:56 AM PST   YouTube will live stream Al Jazeera’s coverage as Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak addresses the nation at 3 p.m. ET. [Update: As of 3:25 p.m., Mubarak has yet to make an appearance.] Mixed reports indicate that the president will resign. Protests against Mubarak’s presidency have continued in Egypt during the past 17 days. The government has responded by shutting down Twitter, Facebook, and then the entire Internet. On February 1, Mubarak promised that he would not run for office again after his term expires in September, a concession that many protesters were not satisfied with. Al Jazeera has led the world’s media in coverage throughout the protests, and it has used its obviously superior coverage to leverage a campaign to bring the news network to the United States. For now, however, many Americans are accessing its broadcast on the Internet. YouTube has made this a bit easier by hosting a live stream of its coverage. More About: Egypt, mubarak, protests, video, youtube For more Social Media coverage:
      |
| Startup Lets Music Fans Request Radio Play via Facebook & Twitter Posted: 10 Feb 2011 11:55 AM PST Remember the old days, when you used to call in to request that the DJs over at KXPY play “Kiss From a Rose” on the “Phat 5 at 9″? Well, you no longer need to dial to request, as startup Spins.FM has made the process super simple via a new web service. The service, which launches in public beta today, is pretty easy to use. Simply visit the Spins.FM site, search for the song you want, choose your location from a map, and the service is able to find a list of local stations. Choose a station, and either post a request to that station’s Twitter or Facebook Wall — all from within Spins.FM.   According to David Baker, founder of Spins.FM, the service has already enlisted artists like Mike Posner, Bryan J, Mann and Travis Porter to test out the service with customized artist pages. Spins.FM will also soon be working with Jive Records artists –including Britney Spears (the service had received more than 1,400 requests for “Hold It Against Me” before Spears’s page had even gone live). Baker cites Posner as a particular success story — his page went live back in April, at which time his song “Cooler Than Me” hadn’t been picked up by any stations. Three months later, the page had 14,692 unique visitors, and the song was ranking quite well on the Billboard U.S. pop radio charts. Baker realizes that Spins.FM was not the sole reason for the song’s success, but he does think that it helped the jam get early spins on the radio. Starting today, any artist can attempt to mimic Posner’s success by signing onto the service for free — features like custom design and metrics will come with a fee, though. Request pages can also be embedded on websites and featured as a tab on Facebook. At this juncture, you may be wondering: “Who the hell even listens to the radio? What good does that even do for artists?” According to Baker, “Despite the popularity of Internet radio among fans, from a business perspective, terrestrial radio is still the driving force behind paid iTunes downloads and demand for nationwide shows and appearances. With Spins.FM artists and labels now have the ability to use social media to drastically increase radio play at a fraction of the cost of traditional radio promotion.” Adam Farrell, VP of Marketing at Beggars Group, would tend to agree. “In general, I’d say that no matter how much we think all music discovery happens online these days and is what everyone talks about, the silent majority out there still listens to the radio.” Still, while we can see this service being a boon to established musicians and those on major labels — and we like that any artists can add themselves to the roster — we wonder if it will be of any use to those artists who don’t generally get radio play. Kip Berman, lead singer of the band The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, says that it’s hard for indie bands like his (which is signed to Slumberland Records) to get on the radio. “It’s actually a really big deal for a band like ours that doesn’t normally get on those kinds of playlists,” he adds, joking that his grandma habitually lobbies for the band to get on the radio. “So if a DJ gets a Comic Sans e-mail from someone named Kaye requesting Pains,” he says, “well, her grandson says ‘Thank you!’” We wonder what effect Spin.FM will have on the careers of bands not yet in the Britney Spears firmament, or if it will be a more useful marketing tool for established musicians alone. Photo courtesy of Flickr, João Pedro, uai! More About: britney spears, radio, spins.fm, startup, web app For more Media coverage:
      |
| Google Adds Extra Layer of Security to User Accounts Posted: 10 Feb 2011 11:31 AM PST   For those worried about the threat of being hacked — and these days, who isn’t? — Google is here to help. The company is rolling out an optional extra layer of security for all Google accounts, mostly to boost the confidence of Gmail and Google Docs users. The two-step verification process should be familiar to just about anyone who’s signed up for an online banking account. The first step is a regular password; the second step involves a code number sent to your mobile phone. You get the code via text message or an automated call, then enter it on the website. And if that’s too much of a hassle, there’s also an app — called Google Authenticator — for iPhone, Android or BlackBerry that will generate a code for you. This isn’t a new technology for Google. Two-step verification has been offered to enterprise users since September, when it was implemented in Google Apps. For Google account holders, it’s opt-in. And no, you don’t have to go through the mobile verification part every time you want to check your Gmail. The two steps only kick in when you’re logging into your Google account on a new web browser, through a new application or on a new mobile device. As Google points out, it is devilishly easy for a hacker to access large chunks of your online life once he knows your password, especially if you don’t change it from site to site. “There are plenty of examples (like the classic ‘Mugged in London‘ scam) that demonstrate why it’s important to take steps to help secure your activities online,” writes Google Security product manager Nishit Shah on the Official Google Blog. “Your Gmail account, your photos, your private documents—if you reuse the same password on multiple sites and one of those sites gets hacked, or your password is conned out of you directly through a phishing scam, it can be used to access some of your most closely-held information.” The idea behind two-step verification is that it relies on something you know — your password — as well as something you have — your phone. A hacker or a thief may gain access to one of them, the theory goes, but it’s far more unlikely that they’ll have both. Which is all well and good, but it also means that there’s a new golden rule for Google account holders: Never, ever store your password anywhere on your mobile device. For more Tech & Gadgets coverage:
      |
| SoundCloud Hits 3 Million Registered Users Posted: 10 Feb 2011 10:48 AM PST   Following SoundCloud’s Global Meetup day Wednesday, the music-sharing platform is announcing that it has hit a milestone: 3 million users. According to the company, it has taken SoundCloud — which launched in 2008 — less than 100 days to add 1 million members to its community. “It’s also great to reach this number on the back of Global Meetup day, which we celebrated in 517 cities around the world yesterday,” says Alexander Ljung, SoundCloud’s founder and CEO. “We asked our community to create locally and share globally and saw thousands of users taking their online experience into the offline world, creating an amazing social experience.” SoundCloud has been on a roll lately when it comes to expansion — the company recently announced that it plans to open an office in San Francisco (its first North American outpost) and hire new staffers, and also revamped its mobile offerings. For more Media coverage:
      |
| Groupon Offers 50% Off Flowers From FTD.com Posted: 10 Feb 2011 10:10 AM PST   Groupon is running a 50% discount offer on flowers via FTD.com, one of several deals the company and its chief rival, LivingSocial, are introducing before Valentine’s Day. Groupon’s offer for $40 worth of flowers for $20 is available today on FTD’s website, not through the company’s stores. The limit is two per person and one application of the deal per order. Groupon posted the deal yesterday and it will remain up until midnight CST on Friday, February 11. The offer is good through June 15. Groupon rep Kelsey O’Neill says that this is the first year Groupon is offering a national deal for Valentine’s Day. “We were a lot smaller last year,” she says. “This is the first year we’ve put a big focus on Valentine’s Day.” In addition, Groupon has introduced other local Valentine’s Day deals including Tango Evolution classes in Atlanta, a weekend winery trip in Washington D.C., a couples’ spa treatment at Tru in San Francisco and a hot air balloon ride for two in Toronto. For its part, LivingSocial this year has introduced Flirt Fest, a program that rewards purchases with Deal Bucks, which can be used for future buys. The promotion, which runs February 8 to 14, gives Deal Bucks based on the number of purchases. On February 15, the Deal Bucks get credited to your account. For instance, if you buy two different deals during Flirt Fest, you get $5 Deal Bucks. Three different deals give you $15 Deal Bucks. Five deals give you $50 Deal Bucks. If none of those deals are in your area or don’t appeal to you, consider these 10 Valentine’s Day Gifts for the Special Geek in Your Life. More About: groupon, LivingSocial, valentine's day For more Business & Marketing coverage:
      |
| HOW TO: Optimize Your Social Media Budget Posted: 10 Feb 2011 09:58 AM PST   As marketers focus on optimizing their social media programs this year, return on investment is going to be a huge consideration. As a result, marketers will — and should — take a more calculated approach towards budgeting for social marketing initiatives. Prioritizing spending on particular social activities, though, is a task that hasn’t quite been mastered by most companies. Analyst Jeremiah Owyang and Founder Charlene Li of digital strategy consulting firm Altimeter Group, released a report on Thursday about “How Corporations Should Prioritize Social Business Budgets.” In short, the report concludes that budgets should be based on the maturity level of a corporation’s social business programs. Altimeter interviewed 140 corporate social strategists to create a standard for categorizing programs into novice, intermediate and advanced maturity levels. When asked about their programs, about half of respondents identified their programs as intermediate, while the rest were almost equally split between novice and advanced. The below graph is an overview of the priorities that each type of program should focus on. Read on for a more in-depth look at these goals.  Assessing Your Social Program’s Maturity LevelThe report includes an assessment guide for figuring out where your corporation stands in the social world. The assessment covers topics such as leadership and organization models, processes and policies, education programs, measurement techniques and technology adoption to rank where your business ranks in maturity. Check it out on page seven of the full embedded report below. Novice ProgramsThe average budget for novice social programs is $66,000, and an average team includes about 3.1 people in a centralized format, according to the report. Programs in the novice stage are often just testing out or experimenting with social media. Altimeter’s report suggests that programs in this stage focus on organizational models, staffing and education programs. Here are some top tips:
Intermediate ProgramsIntermediate level social programs enjoy a budget of slightly more than $1 million and a team size of about 8.2 employees. As programs move into this stage, the focus should shift to scaling, getting community members more involved in social programs and increasing efficiency through social media management tools. Advanced ProgramsWhile advanced programs often entail having many more teammates (20.8 on average), their budgets aren’t much higher than those of intermediate programs, at around $1.3 million, according to the report. Larger corporations have the ability to support cross-functional teams, instead of fostering smaller groups of direct reports, which explains the huge leap in team members, but lack of proportional budgeting. Once a social program becomes more advanced, the core goal should be increasing social media integration throughout the entire business. Here’s how to do that: This overview is just a taste of how businesses should begin budgeting for corporate social media programs. View Altimeter Group’s full report below for a deep dive into best practices at each social program maturity level: More Social Media Resources from Mashable:
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Pgiam More About: budget, budgeting, business, Charlene Li, Jeremiah Owyang, marketing budgets, social media, social media roi For more Business & Marketing coverage:
      |
| Microsoft Unveils Internet Explorer 9 Release Candidate Posted: 10 Feb 2011 09:32 AM PST   Microsoft has released the Internet Explorer 9 Release Candidate (IE9 RC) to the masses, bringing the browser one step closer to a final launch. In September 2010, Microsoft released the IE9 Beta, its “reinvention of the browser,” featuring updated compatibility with web standards like HTML5, an overhaul of the user interface and hardware acceleration for apps running within the browser. Unlike the betas though, the IE9 Release Candidate is ready-to-ship code. This is the final test drive for Microsoft’s new browser, a chance to catch any last-minute bugs. After that, IE9 will have its official debut. The IE9 RC boasts improved browser and JavaScript performance from the IE9 Betas. Microsoft says it has made more than 2,000 changes since the first Beta to improve system performance. The company also now claims that Chakra, the IE9 JavaScript engine, is the fastest engine, based on the SunSpider Benchmark. The tech giant is also touting new UI improvements from the Beta, including a focus on reducing unnecessary pixels. It has reduced the frame pixels by five since the Beta. The menu has also been updated with a menu bar toggle feature and a “paste and navigate” shortcut that lets you automatically perform a search or visit a web address based on what’s in your clipboard. One big UI change users will notice is a change in tab layout. In the betas, tabs appeared on the right-hand side of the search bar, but IE9 RC includes an option to turn tabs into a separate row under the address bar. This is especially useful for those of us who multi-task constantly in the browser (we wish the tabs were on top, though). Lastly, Microsoft has put the emphasis on security and privacy. It has enabled tracking protection (its version of the “Do Not Track” list), added a more robust ActiveX filter and SmartScreen malware protection for the download manager. Microsoft has been pushing IE9′s privacy features as a selling point in recent months. If you’re interested, you can download the release candidate.  More About: IE9, internet explorer, Internet Explorer 9, microsoft, trending For more Tech & Gadgets coverage:
      |
| What Are the Skills of Tomorrow’s Journalist? [VIDEO] Posted: 10 Feb 2011 09:19 AM PST As part of Social Media Week, Mashable hosted its fifth NextUp NYC educational series event Tuesday evening at 92YTribeca with a smart group of panelists exploring emerging skills of tomorrow’s journalists. The event included networking, an announcement of Mashable Follow and a panel conversation with journalists. Discussions touched on the continuing evolution of technology and its effect on the journalism industry, as well as how journalists can better train themselves and improve their skills. For those who missed the event, Mashable‘s David P. Alexander produced the video above, with highlights from the event. The panel, led by Mashable‘s Vadim Lavrusik, included:
  Thank You to Our Sponsor
More About: event, journalism, mashable, nextupnyc For more Social Media coverage:
      |
| Watch Out Y Combinator, There’s a New Startup Accelerator in Town Posted: 10 Feb 2011 09:00 AM PST   Today’s entrepreneur is emboldened by choice — the choice to select from an ever-growing list of startup accelerators, or incubators as they’re often called, that provide guidance from industry veterans and a pittance of cash to cover operating costs. Variances in reputation, funding-to-equity ratios and post-graduation funding opportunities separate these accelerators. Not all are created equal, and few measure up to the now esteemed Y Combinator, but the six-month old seed fund 500 Startups — which is announcing Thursday its own accelerator program — is attempting to take a shortcut to greatness by riding on the coattails of founder Dave McClure’s web fame and extensive list of contacts. Eager founders need not apply to the 500 Startups Accelerator, as applications will not be accepted. This could either be a genius move or a bullheaded one that severely limits its pool of opportunity. Instead, the only way in is through a recommendation from a respected contact. That’s how 11 handpicked fledgling companies found their way inside 500 Startups’s inaugural class. This class and future ones will receive anywhere from $25,000 to $100,000 in seed funding in exchange for roughly a 5% stake in the company. The startups will spend their three- to six-month educational stay in a creative space in Mountain View, California, designed to help them flourish. 500 Startups hopes to host three programs per year. Despite the no-fun sound of its anti-application process, McClure insists that one reason to choose 500 Startups is for the culture. “We like to think that what we’re doing is ground breaking, but we don’t take ourselves too seriously, and we still have fun,” he says. “There’s a strong community element to almost everything that we do.” The program has design at its core, says McClure, who speaks of an ideal founder being one with a strong technical background and an actual prototype — he’s not looking for “napkin ideas.” Designers-in-residence and mentors will coach and guide founders to build products with a strong UX, while supporting them in marketing, customer acquisition and distribution efforts. So, will InternMatch, Baydin, 955 Dreams, YongoPal, Spoondate, Ninua, Crowdrally, Rewardli, Wednesdays, SpeakerGram or one unnamed “super secret startup” be the next breakout web or mobile service? We may know come Demo Day on April 6 and 7 when the startups make their debut in front of investors. Demo day, and the days that follow, will not only put the graduating class of startups to the test, but will also serve as a litmus test for the accelerator program itself. Sure, McClure’s investor friends will make an appearance, but will they pony up venture capital to these crop of upstarts and lend credence to the program? With Yuri Milner and SV Angel offering every Y Combinator startup $150,000 in convertible debt, Y Combinator is in a position of power to attract the best talent in town. 500 Startups is an admirable competitor with a solid offering and a mentor network that includes brilliant minds at Facebook, Twitter, Google, Groupon, Skype and nearly every other buzzworthy company in town. Still, there’s no way to cheat your way to top dog. A startup winner with a high valuation, big exit or huge IPO will be the only silver bullet for 500 Startups. But, if today’s startups can take what the world perceives as a shortcut to these achievements, then perhaps a newly launched accelerator can do the same. Image courtesy of Flickr, @Photo More About: 500 startups, accelerator, dave mcclure, startups, y combinator For more Startups coverage:
      |
| Top 10 Funny YouTube Videos About Twitter Posted: 10 Feb 2011 08:44 AM PST Twitter is a great source of comedy. Whether it’s poking fun at the platform’s self-promotion potential, giggling at celebs’ bizarre tweets, or marveling at the everyday minutia, Twitter is built for fun, and to be made fun of. We’ve scoured YouTube to bring you 10 amusing videos all about the micro-blogging service that range from parody to satire, all the way through to just downright silly. The nature of the videos means some contain language and themes not suitable for younger viewers or the workplace. So, if you’re old enough to vote and your screen is pointed away from the boss, check out the gallery below for some Twitter-themed comedy gold. 1. Twitter Movie TrailerRated Awesome imagines what "The Social Network" trailer would look like if its subject was Twitter. "The Twit Network" is the amusing result. #turtle. 2. Celebritweets Theater - Taylor SwiftPure comedy gold is created at the exact place where celebs meet Twitter. Celebritweets makes the most of these moments, taking a tweet and animating its back story. Here, Taylor Swift's tweet about deer and road safety gets lambasted. 3. Twitter 101This classic clip from the YouTube vaults (well, 2006) shows Biz Stone explaining the then fledgling (and still known as "twttr") service with its SMS-based concept. How times have changed... 4. Twatif? - "The Office"This clip imagines the consequences of being restricted to 140 characters in real life. Set in "The Office," be prepared for some racy double entendres. 5. Josh Groban Sings Kanye West TweetsAh, Kanye. You've been a constant source of entertainment since you took up Twitter. With kids and grandma already having had a go at reading West's tweets aloud, here, as seen on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Josh Groban sings the hip hop star's tweets. Groban somehow manages to make them sound even more ridiculous than they already are. 6. Twitter CopsIf only there was such a task force as the "Twitter Cops," our streams would be a little less mundane. 7. Tweet ItThe Pantless Knights mix up iPhones, iPads, hipsters, Michael Jackson and Twitter to create a techie-tribute music video to top them all. 8. Twitter in Real LifeMicro-blogging hits the streets in "Twitter in Real Life." We wonder how many of our tweets we'd actually hit "send" on if we were first forced to read them aloud. 9. Twouble with TwitterThis hit animation sees a Twitter-shy, reluctant twenty-something taken up into the Twitterspere where he meets some familiar characters. Note: Due to Current's copyright restrictions this video may not play in your country. 10. Flutter: The New TwitterYou're not still using Twitter are you? That's so 2010... More Video Resources from Mashable:
More About: comedy, funny, gallery, parodies, twitter, video, video gallery, videos, viral videos For more Video coverage:
      |
| 10 Free iPhone Apps for a More Romantic Valentine’s Day Posted: 10 Feb 2011 07:15 AM PST February 14, love it or hate it, is just around the corner. Valentine's Day is yet another holiday that has been over-marketed and over-commercialized, judging by the onslaught of pink hearts and red roses, but if you have someone in your life to profess your love to, you won't mind a little visit from Cupid this year. If you're planning a special night, the following 10 free apps can help you take your romance game to the next level. And even if you aren't presently in a relationship, Valentine's Day is good excuse to tell someone that they're special. C'mon, you can break out the warm fuzzies, at least for one day. 1. Valentine RADIO   As you get ready for your Valentine's Day festivities, you can set the mood with some romantic music. Valentine RADIO is a compilation of 20+ radio stations from around the country and streams the music directly to your phone so you can get your Luther Vandross, Barry White and slow jam fix. 2. Valentine Photo Free -- Picture With Love If you want to demonstrate your love in more visual ways, you can send a custom-made Valentine's Day photo that you personally designed. The Valentine Photo Free app lets you personalize photos with cutesy images like hearts, swirly designs and presents. You can e-mail your creation to the lucky recipient or post it on a social network to publicly declare your love. 3. Be Mine Lite Be Mine Lite is another Valentine's Day card-making app, but rather than decorate photos, this one lets you choose from a number of templates to create you custom card. You can add a whole slew of visual effects –- like hearts, whimsical swirls, flowers –- and declare your love. There is also a paid version for $0.99 that offers a wider variety of backgrounds and effects. 4. California Blooms If you're more of a traditionalist and prefer to go the rose route, California Blooms is a great app for ordering that beautiful bouquet on the go. The app features gorgeous photos of the variety of bouquets they sell, as well as information on the care and handling of roses, and California Blooms' eco-friendly growing process. The company is so confident in the quality of its roses that it guarantees your satisfaction or your money back. 5. Candy Valentines Hearts Free No Valentine's Day is complete without those little, all-too-familiar candy conversation hearts. With this app, you can add anyone's name to the "I ♥" message and send the image to the lucky recipient. If you'd like to pay for the full version ($0.99), you can create your own entire message and have more options for background designs and colors. 6. Cook's Illustrated You know the expression "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach." Well another to consider is "The way to a woman's heart is by cooking her dinner." Yes, it's that simple. The Cook's Illustrated app tries to make it even easier. Featuring 50 of the magazine's best recipes (and complementary videos for each), this app will provide you with the perfect meal for a romantic evening. 7. Say I Love You If you really want to impress your special someone, how about whipping out "I love you" in a different language? This app provides simple translations of these three special words in a large variety of languages. So if you want to learn to say it in Indonesian (Saya cinta padamu) or Ukrainian (Ya tebe kahayu), or a host of other languages, now you can. 8. Love Horoscopes Gather your daily horoscope and your forecast for love with this app. It shows you a three-day range (yesterday, today and tomorrow), provides lucky numbers and also offers a view of how likely you are to achieve success in attributes like wellness, creativity, money, work and more. 9. Love♥ As you're professing your deepest feelings, you can mix in profound quotes with the help of the Love♥ app: A compilation of beautiful sayings about the magic of love. Quotes include: "Within you I lose myself. Without you I find myself wanting to become lost again." What a way to sweep someone off his or her feet! 10. Tiffany & Co. Engagement Ring Finder Guys, you've wined and dined her, now, it's time to step it up. If you're ready for the big leagues, this is a great app to see a selection of engagement ring styles and see what's au courant in the world of ultimate bling (just don't look at the prices). Before you even have a chance to pop the question, she'll be screaming "YES" as soon as she sees that little blue box. BONUS: Anti-Valentine's Day Sounds If you hate Valentine's Day and are just bitter all around, consider downloading the Anti-Valentine's Day Sounds app. You can commiserate with other haters and listen to the no-frills app spew things like, "Roses are red, violets are blue, you suck," or "Valentine's this." It's $0.99. (You must really hate the holiday to buy this app.) More iPhone Resources from Mashable:
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, DNY59 More About: apps, iphone, iphone apps, Mobile 2.0, mobile apps, social media, trending, valentine's day For more Mobile coverage:
      |
| Picasso Exhibit Gets Interactive With QR Codes & Augmented Reality [PICS] Posted: 10 Feb 2011 07:01 AM PST   Pablo Picasso once said, “Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.” True, but they can also help sell an exhibit. Case in point: The Martin Agency in Richmond, Virginia, put a small budget toward a campaign promoting the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts’s Picasso Exhibit “Picasso: Masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso, Paris,” which begins February 19. The campaign includes QR codes in print and out-of-home ads plus a dedicated Facebook Page. The QR codes access a website featuring 15 pieces of Picasso’s art, plus a link to buy tickets. (The website, discoverthemaster.com, is different when accessed via a mobile phone. When reached from a desktop or laptop, it leads to the exhibit’s Facebook site.) “We started thinking about Picasso and how progressive he was as an artist and it made sense to use technology,” says Keith Cartwright, group creative director at the Martin Agency. One problem, though: QR Codes are so ugly. Here, the agency found a solution by incorporating the QR codes into a portrait of the artist. Ads sporting QR codes will soon go up in 33 Starbucks locations in Richmond. Go inside and you can see augmented reality visions of Picasso’s art on the walls using a Layar browser. Fans in Philadelphia will also be able to see the exhibit via AR at an empty store space on South Street. (Below is a mock-up of how the Philadelphia exhibit is supposed to look.) A Facebook Page, meanwhile, includes information on geocoordinates in various cities where fans can experience Picasso’s work via AR. The Facebook Page also includes several Picasso renderings, plus a link to buy tickets. Below are the geocoordinates for displays in New York’s SoHo neighborhood. Cartwright says that he felt the agency had to do its best to publicize the exhibit, which will feature 176 pieces of the artist’s work. The bold images were designed to get a reaction, he says. “We just wanted to provoke, which is what Picasso wanted to do.” More About: Augmented Reality, museum, QR Codes, starbucks For more Mobile coverage:
      |
| The 4 Biggest Stories in Tech, Mobile & Social Media This Morning Posted: 10 Feb 2011 06:49 AM PST   Welcome to this morning's edition of "First To Know," a series in which we keep you in the know on what's happening in the digital world. We're keeping our eyes on four particular stories of interest today. Google & Facebook in Early Talks To Acquire Twitter Sources familiar with the matter have told Wall Street Journal that Facebook and Google executives have engaged in "low-level talks" to acquire Twitter for between $8 billion and $10 billion. HP Unveils Tablet & 2 New Smartphones HP unveiled a new line of webOS devices Wednesday, including the much-anticipated TouchPad tablet, a credit-card sized phone called the Veer, and a larger, more multimedia-rich smartphone called the Pre 3. Verizon iPhone 4 Arrives in Stores Consumers can now purchase a Verizon iPhone 4 at a number of retailers, including Apple, Best Buy, Walmart and Verizon stores. Phones are also available for online order. The So-Called Facebook Phone Has Been Unveiled INQ has unveiled the long-rumored “Facebook phone” — except it’s not actually branded by Facebook. Further News
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, DNY59 More About: facebook, Facebook Phone, Google, HP, hp touchpad, INQ, twitter, Veer, Verizon iPhone 4 For more Tech & Gadgets coverage:
      |
| Sonos Android App Controls Wireless Music Systems [PICS] Posted: 10 Feb 2011 06:01 AM PST   This free Android control software for Sonos wireless multi-room music systems includes unique features that aren’t available on the iPhone version. If you’re not familiar with Sonos S5 wireless speakers, you can place them in any room in your house, or pair two of them together. They use Wi-Fi to tap into your network and find all of your digital music for instant playback, and can also play almost any Internet music service. You can control Sonos wireless speakers ($400 apiece) from a Mac or PC, but it’s a lot easier to use an iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch or Android phone to do the controlling. The iPhone/Touch and iPad apps for Sonos has been available for months, but until this Android app is released next month, the only choices for Android have been third-party apps that in my opinion are sluggish and don’t work as well as the Sonos control app I’ve been using on iPhone. I’m hoping the Android version will match the quality of the iOS versions. Sonos reps told me today the Android version will be better, able to do some things the iOS version can’t. For instance, the physical volume controls on Android phones will be capable of raising and lowering the volume of the Sonos speakers, which must be done using the touchscreen on the iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. Another unique feature of this Android version is speech recognition, where in addition to typing the name of the song, you can speak the name of the tune you’re looking for. Sonos and said this works when the music is playing loudly, which I’d like to verify with my own testing. This could be a significant convenience over the iPhone version, which can be cumbersome if you want to find a single track in a large collection. Mashable‘s Brenna Ehrlich used Sonos’s multi-room system, controlled with iOS devices, recently in a demo of music subscription service Rdio. You can view some of the Android app screenshots and products stills in the gallery below. Sonos Android: Now Playing Screen Now Playing Screen Sources Screen Control Speakers in Different Zones Sonos S5 Wireless Speaker More About: Android apps, sonos, Sonos S5, Wireless speakers For more Tech & Gadgets coverage:
      |
| Gartner: Symbian Is Still the Number One Smartphone Platform [REPORT] Posted: 10 Feb 2011 05:27 AM PST   A recent report from Canalys touted Android as the top smartphone platform in Q4 2010, but a new report from Gartner disputes that claim. According to Gartner, Symbian barely edged out Android in the fourth quarter with the help of Symbian-based products by Fujitsu and Sharp, and legacy products from Sony Ericsson and Samsung. The trend, however, is clear in both reports. According to Gartner, Android grew 888.8 percent in 2010 with 67 million units sold, which made it the number-two smartphone platform. Nokia’s Symbian is still in first place with 111.6 million units sold in 2010, but it’s not growing fast enough to keep up with the exploding smartphone market, which is why it dropped from 46.9% market share in 2009 to 37.6% in 2010. Another winner besides Android in 2010 was Apple’s iOS, which nearly caught up with RIM’s BlackBerry OS, with 15.7% market share and 46.6 million units sold compared to RIM’s 16% share and 47.5 million units sold.  In the near future, Symbian’s market share will surely drop some more. Nokia CEO Stephen Elop announced radical changes with his “Burning Platform” memo several days ago, and a recent tweet by Google’s Vic Gundotra (claiming that “two turkeys do not make an eagle”) fuel speculation that Nokia is about to embrace Microsoft’s mobile platform, Windows Phone 7. With 4.2% market share in 2010, Microsoft is still tiny compared to its competitors, but with Nokia on its side, it might become a formidable player in the smartphone market. However (and if Nokia really plans to team up with Microsoft and switch to Windows Phone 7), many questions remain unanswered. For a huge company such as Nokia switching to yet another smartphone platform will likely be a painful process, and it might take months or even years before we see the results of Nokia’s change in strategy. One thing is certain: the table above will change dramatically by the end of 2011. Gartner’s report is available here. More About: android, Gartner, platform, smartphone, Symbian For more Mobile coverage:
      |
| Amazon Launches Windows Phone 7 App Posted: 10 Feb 2011 02:19 AM PST   Shortly after launching an official Kindle app for Windows Phone 7, Amazon has launched an app that lets you browse, search and purchase products on Amazon directly from your Windows Phone 7 device. The app is free to download, and it features support for Windows Phone 7-specific swipes, letting you quickly slide between product details, reviews, related items, etc. Other features include one-click ordering, wish lists, package tracking and prime member support. If you’re worried about security, you’ll be happy to know that the purchases go through Amazon’s secure servers. Amazon App for Windows Phone 7 is available here. [via The Next Web] More About: amazon, App, microsoft, Mobile 2.0, smartphone, windows phone 7 For more Mobile coverage:
      |
| Nissan’s Electric Sports Car of the Future Debuts Next Month [PICS] Posted: 09 Feb 2011 10:17 PM PST   Three months after Nissan rolled out its Leaf electric car, it’ll be showing off ESFLOW, a more-powerful electric sports car that can travel 150 miles before it needs recharging. Propelled by a separate electric motor on each of its rear wheels, the Nissan ESFLOW is a two-seater that can zip from 0 to 60 MPH in less than 5 seconds. It debuts next month at the International Motorshow in Geneva, the same venue where that spectacular Pagani C9 Huayra car we showed you last weekend will roll out. Even though the ESFLOW is designed from scratch according to GizMag, it’ll use key components from the Nissan Leaf, such as its lithium-ion battery packs. Price wasn’t mentioned, however, the Nissan Leaf lists for $32,780, and this sportier Nissan will have a lighter and more expensive body made of aluminum and composite materials, driving its price higher. There’s more exotica, including brake and gas pedals that adjust electronically to fit each driver, fly-by-wire steering and video cameras and screens instead of rear-view mirrors. Add up all these features, and the result is not going to be a cheap car. Like most concept cars, the ESFLOW is an ambitious design, but Nissan says it’s a “production-ready” vehicle. We’re thinking it looks a lot like the Chevy Volt when it was a concept car, which became much more conventional by the time it reached an actual assembly line. How do you like ESFLOW, readers? Does its styling beat a Tesla Roadster? Would you be willing to put up with a range of 150 miles so you could drive this little pocket electro-rocket? Nissan ESFLOW, Front Side Nissan ESFLOW, Side View Nissan ESFLOW, Front View Nissan ESFLOW, Rear 3/4 Nissan ESFLOW, Taillights More About: Batteries, Electric Car, gallery, Leaf, Lithium Ion, Nissan, Nissan ESFLOW, Sportws Cars For more Tech & Gadgets coverage:
      |
| YouTube Enlists Help for Music Rights Management Posted: 09 Feb 2011 09:05 PM PST   YouTube has just sealed a deal with RightsFlow, a music publishing rights management company. RightsFlow today announced an agreement with YouTube to assist with music rights management. The deal allows YouTube to enlist RightsFlow's help in processing and managing music rights, and it should help the online video company to make rights administration a lot faster and simpler, which would in turn drive royalties for rights-holders, including publishers and songwriters. It’s a complicated process, but the importance of music to YouTube is undeniable; we’re sure that with the volume of music on the site, from UGC clips to official music videos from major recording artists, YouTube can use all the help it can get. David G. King is YouTube’s product manager responsible for rights management. In a release, he said, “We are excited to be working with RightsFlow to help address the complexities around music rights management.” RightsFlow is a licensing and royalty service provider for artists, record labels, distributors, and online music companies. The company specializes in rapid song identification in particular, as well as in “obtaining bulk physical, DPD and ringtone licenses including streaming, tethered and limited download rights.” Currently, RightsFlow provides licensing for 12,000 clients and controls a database of 23 million songs. It helps its clients, which now include YouTube, to obtain licenses from publishers and songwriters all over the world, including major, independent and artist-controlled works. The company also runs Limelight, a service to help musicians get the rights to cover songs. Image courtesy of Flickr, wordswithoutthoughts. For more Media coverage:
      |
| New App Considers Your Travel Time When Providing Appointment Alerts Posted: 09 Feb 2011 08:39 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.
Quick Pitch: Ripple Mobile’s first app, OnTime, alerts you when you need to leave for your next event based on your current location. Genius Idea: Business travelers have a habit of squeezing appointments into their schedules like they’re putting together a jigsaw puzzle. But in unfamiliar territory, it can be hard to gauge how much time is needed to travel from one meeting to another in a different location. Enter OnTime, Ripple’s first app for iPhone (Android and BlackBerry apps are on the way). The app pulls in whatever calendars are loaded onto your phone, and uses the Google Maps API to help the user assign each appointment an address. It then sends push notifications when it’s time to leave for an appointment based on how much travel time is between your current location and destination. Other apps send push notifications based on times that you enter, but OnTime is the only app I’ve found that will calculate based on my location AND give me turn-by-turn directions with travel conditions. There’s also an option to set alerts for a bit of cushion time before leaving for meetings, pick and choose which calendars to receive notifications for, and send an e-mail or text message if you are running late. When you arrive at your location, the app will ask you if you’d like to share it to Facebook or Twitter. Except for a public transportation setting (president and co-founder Kevin Miller assures me this feature is on the way) and an option to check into Foursquare within the app (a future possibility), I can’t think of anything else I would want my appointment keeper technology to handle. So far users seem to agree with me. Since the app launched on December 21, not a single person who has downloaded it has deleted it. While Miller isn’t disclosing how many people this includes, the app has appeared in the list of top 25 paid productivity apps. Average use frequency, which doesn’t include push notifications, is three times per day. All of revenue from the app comes from its $1.99 price tag, so the fact that customers appear to be happy bodes well for business. In order to compete with free productivity apps — even less cool ones — OnTime will need to prove that it is far superior. Especially when the price on each version of the app raises to $4.99 thirty days after it launches. In the future, Miller hopes to build more apps that will eventually integrate with each other. His next project involves an app that will make it easier to “connect, communicate, and stay in touch.” Without specifics, this sounds less than exciting. Then again, “an app that makes scheduling easier” probably didn’t do OnTime much justice while it was in stealth mode, either. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, StudioThreeDots Series Supported by 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: OnTime, Productivity Apps, Ripple Mobile, Scheduling apps For more Startups coverage:
      |
| Would Google or Facebook Pay $10 Billion For Twitter? Posted: 09 Feb 2011 07:44 PM PST   We’re hearing chatter about a possible sale of Twitter, and extraordinary valuations are part of the conversation, with various executives talking about numbers upwards of $10 billion. According to the Wall Street Journal, Facebook and Google executives have engaged in “low-level talks” with Twitter. According to the WSJ’s “people familiar with the matter,” those discussions are estimating the value of the microblogging service “in the neighborhood of $8 billion to $10 billion.” High, indeed, but there’s a high value placed on attention, and Twitter’s getting that: In fact, the company set an all-time record for tweets during a sporting event during the final minutes of last weekend’s Super Bowl, recording an astonishing 4064 tweets in a single second. The overall record was set last New Year’s Eve in Japan where revelers sent a total of 6,939 tweets per second just after the clock struck midnight. Now that’s engagement. What do you think, readers? Is Twitter actually worth somewhere between $8 billion and $10 billion? Please let us know in the comments. More About: facebook, Google, trending, twitter, valuations, wall street journal For more Business & Marketing coverage:
      |
| Startup Bridges the Gap Between Internet-Connected TVs and Mobile Posted: 09 Feb 2011 07:10 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.
Quick Pitch: MOVL has created a proprietary technology platform that connects users on mobile devices and Internet connected TVs to allow for quick deployment of apps. Genius Idea: Atlanta-based MOVL is a startup dedicated to making social TV apps a reality. Using its homegrown MOVL Connect Platform, the company is focused on building apps for Google TV, Samsung Internet TV and PCs that users can interact with using an iPhone, BlackBerry or Android device. Lots of startups are looking at creating content for the various connected TV platforms on the market, but MOVL’s approach is interesting in that it actively works with smartphone devices for user input. At CES 2011, MOVL took home the $200,000 grand prize in Samsung’s Free the TV Challenge for its social TV game, WeDraw. WeDraw is like a TV version of Pictionary or Win, Lose or Draw. Users connect their smartphones to the app and then take turns drawing words on their handsets for others to guess. What the user draws on the iPhone or Android device shows up on the TV. MOVL has also created an app called WeTeli. Dubbed a “social video jukebox,” WeTeli lets users transmit videos from YouTube to a Google TV or Samsung Internet TV. Users can vote videos up or down, adjust a queue and add comments right on the screen. MOVL seems to position WeTeli for use in a bar or other public space, but we think the living room component works well too. Yes, most connected platforms can access YouTube natively, but being able to control or create a queue from a smartphone is likely going to be a better user experience than trying to navigate TV remote control. Likewise, the fact that multiple people can contribute content gives this particular app an edge.  One of the problems for would-be TV app developers is the fragmented nature of the connected device space. The lackluster response from consumers to Google TV only underscores how complicated this space is. Platforms need companies like MOVL to create compelling content that can convince consumers to tune into the connected living room, but on the flip side, the app companies need to choose the right platforms for their wares. We like the promise of what MOVL is offering for social TV. We’d love to see the company look at extending it platform to work on more devices (Boxee, Roku and maybe Sony’s various platforms). What do you think of social TV apps? Let us know. Series Supported by 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: connected devices, connected tv, Mobile 2.0, MOVL, social tv For more Startups coverage:
      |
| Here’s What People Are Saying About Mashable Follow Posted: 09 Feb 2011 06:45 PM PST   Since launching Mashable Follow yesterday, we’ve been overwhelmed with the positive and constructive feedback from other media outlets and our own social community. After getting thousands of requests for invites to join this social news community, we’re continuing to send out invites as we iterate and improve on the product. Our team is gathering feedback from beta testers and elsewhere to add new features before we open it up to the larger community. Below are some of the highlights and reactions we’ve gathered. We’d love to get yours in the comments below. Media Coverage
Community Reactions A Mashable reader reacts to the Follow launch on Twitter.   Translation: "Mashable reinvents the world of online publication with Mashable Follow."   A Mashable reader reacts to the Follow launch on Facebook.   More invites are coming soon!  Thanks to Epipheo Studios for producing our awesome Follow introduction video.  Looking forward to the future of Follow!  A Mashable reader reacts to Follow on Quora. More About: community, mashable follow, social media For more Social Media coverage:
      |
Name: 
Name: | You are subscribed to email updates from Mashable! To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 comments to "Mashable: Latest 29 News Updates - including “HOW TO: Follow New York Fashion Week Online”"
Post a Comment