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Mashable: Latest 29 News Updates - including “Group Texting War Heats Up: Fast Society Launches New Android App, Updates iPhone App”

Posted by Ashim Adhikari on 5:12 AM // 0 comments

Mashable: Latest 29 News Updates - including “Group Texting War Heats Up: Fast Society Launches New Android App, Updates iPhone App”

Group Texting War Heats Up: Fast Society Launches New Android App, Updates iPhone App

Posted: 08 Mar 2011 04:09 AM PST

SXSW is drawing near, and word around the proverbial water cooler is that group texting apps are slated to be the next big thing at geek spring break. Accordingly, Fast Society is out today with a revamped version of its iPhone app, as well as a brand new Android version.

Fast Society is a group texting service that, in the past, billed itself as an app for party- and concert-goers. It distinguished itself from competitor GroupMe by adding time limits to group texting session, as well as geolocation.

Now, the app is out with a slew of updates, which include:

  • In-app messaging: You can now chat within in the app, which saves on texting costs. You can also toggle between SMS and push notifications if you so desire. GroupMe also recently added this option.
  • Channels: There are now channels that let you talk to up to five teams.
  • Permanent teams: Fast Society also removed its time limits in some cases, allowing you to keep a team going forever (a la GroupMe).
  • Past team view: Conversations are not lost after a time limit is up. You can go back and check out old conversations in past team view — a kind of digital scrapbook of your night.
  • Public invites: Instead of just inviting people via your phone’s contact list, you can now share public invites on Twitter and Facebook and choose who among the respondents to include in your chats.
  • Photo-sharing: GroupMe also just added this feature, so now the two services are even.
  • Shout outs: In addition to conference calling, you can also record a message and share it with your friends.
  • New location-sharing features: You can now share your current location, as well as share locations that you want to visit. So, for instance, if I was at one show at SXSW, and I wanted my friends to go to another show at another venue, I could share that location and address easily within the app.
  • A new “rally” feature: Let’s say I decided to go to the aforementioned show. I can invite friends along, and those who decide to go will be grouped into a new team.

We had the chance to check out these tweaks last week at the Fast Society offices, and everything seemed to be in working order (although, phones on Verizon have been having connectivity issues of late, so we hope that gets sorted out by launch).

Our only qualm: The app almost has too many features. If we’ve learned anything from highly successful startups like Twitter, simplicity is key when it comes to attracting new users. A lot of Fast Society’s new features seem a little extraneous, and almost overshadow more user-friendly additions like push notifications and photo-sharing. For instance, are “Shout outs” really necessary?

We can easily see consumers getting overwhelmed by options, teams and features. Still, this influx of new attributes puts the service on par once more with GroupMe when it comes to extras like photo-sharing.

GroupMe is decidedly the darling among group texting apps — it just updated its iPhone and Android offerings, and in January scored $10.6 million in Series B funding in a round led by Khosla Ventures (with participation from additional new investors, including General Catalyst Partners and First Round Capital, and previous investors Lerer Ventures, Betaworks and SV Angel). Fast Society, on the other hand, has yet to garner VC funding.

The simpler, more barebones group-texting app Beluga has also just gained a massive foothold in the realm, as it was recently acquired by Facebook, and instant messaging app Kik announced Monday that it will add group messaging and photo-sharing features to its iPhone and Android apps.

Yes, the battle of the group-texting apps has begun, and the battlefield on which the victor will be crowned will likely be SXSW. Who are you rooting for?


Teams






Creating Teams





Shout Out





Location





Team Length





Invite




Image courtesy of Flickr, Stephan Geyer

More About: Beluga, fast-society, groupme, sxsw, texting

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Android Overtakes BlackBerry As the Top U.S. Smartphone Platform [REPORT]

Posted: 08 Mar 2011 02:07 AM PST


The trend was obvious for quite some time, and now it finally happened: Android is the most popular smartphone platform among U.S. subscribers.

According to comScore’s data, Google’s Android rose from 23.5% market share in October 2010 to 31.2% in January 2011, enough to securely grab the first place from RIM’s BlackBerry, which fell 35.8% in October 2010 to 30.4% in January 2011.

Apple’s iOS experienced a minute growth in the same period: from 24.6% to 24.7%, while Microsoft and Palm continued losing market share, ending at 8.0% and 3.2%, respectively.

Recent data from Canalys showed that Android is also the world’s most popular smartphone platform, and with the onslaught of Android smartphones this year, we’re sure that Android will continue doing well throughout 2011.

[via comScore]

More About: android, blackberry, ComScore, iOS, platform, smartphone

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Adobe Releases Flash-to-HTML5 Converter, Codenamed Wallaby

Posted: 07 Mar 2011 11:44 PM PST


Monday night, Adobe released a new, experimental Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool codenamed Wallaby.

Wallaby is an AIR app that lets devs and designers quickly and simply convert Flash Professional files to HTML5 — and when we say “simply and easily,” we mean it’s a matter of dragging and dropping. The company is specifically hoping this tool will make it easier for designers and developers to get their content onto iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad.

We saw a demo of Wallaby last fall; while some of the company’s CS5 software offered HTML5 plugins already, we said Wallaby was different because it supported elements and resources within animations, not just the animations themselves.

Wallaby is being released on Adobe Labs; Adobe is asking devs and designers to take it for a test drive, see how the HTML5 code looks, and give feedback accordingly.

Adobe has had an interesting time trying to articulate its position on Flash and HTML5 over the past year or so. To put it briefly, the company feels there’s still room in the current technological and creative spaces for Flash, but it doesn’t think that either Flash or HTML5 has to exist to the exclusion of the other. Therefore, as a company that, to a large extent, exists to serve the creative and development communities, it wants to create great tools for both the HTML5 and the Flash camps.

In a release, a company rep stated, “With more than 3 million Flash developers in the creative community, Adobe continues to look for new ways to help them build on their existing skills and to make their content available to the widest possible audiences. User response to the Wallaby technology preview will enable Adobe to better understand what types of innovations are needed in our long-term investments in both Flash and HTML5 technology.”

Check out last fall’s demo of the app, and in the comments section, let us know what you think of Wallaby so far. And if you do decide to download Wallaby yourself, let us know how it worked out for you.

More About: adobe, design, developers, Flash, HTML5, wallaby

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Find & Start Impromptu Parties at SXSW With Hurricane Party

Posted: 07 Mar 2011 10:23 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: Hurricane Party

Quick Pitch: Hurricane Party is a free mobile app that helps friends find, share and create spontaneous parties.

Genius Idea: A backchannel for nearby, right-now parties.

A South by Southwest veteran knows that the best get-togethers are those that spontaneously come about without rhyme or reason. A couple friends decide to escape from the bustle of the show and hide away in a nearby dive bar. Those friends message their friends and a mini, more intimate party is born.

Hurricane Party bakes these natural social behaviors into its newly launched iPhone application for two powerful purposes: finding and starting impromptu parties.

A great party is one where the right elements come together in much the same fashion that hot air and cold air meet to produce a hurricane, explains CEO and co-founder René Pinnell of the Austin-based startup.

The true test of Hurricane Party’s application-meets-nautural-phenomena theory will come in just a few days at SXSW, a hurricane of its own where thousands of film, interactive and music nerds descend upon Austin for one giant week-long fête.

Hurricane Party may be ready for its coming out party, but the startup has been gestating since 2008. Pinnell, then an aspiring filmmaker, returned to school to study design. On his first day, Pinnell and his partner were instructed to hybridize biomimicry and emerging systems for a class project. This dissection of natural systems inspired Pinnell to start thinking about the relationship between hurricanes and spontaneous gatherings.

The idea only matured into a business in 2010 after being incubated at Capital Factory, an Austin accelerator program. Today, Hurricane Party has seen months of alpha testing in Austin and represents the passion of its four-man team — Pinnell is joined by co-founder Eric Katerman and engineers A.T. Fouty and Richard McClellan.

The app is self-explanatory in purpose and practice, though there are several features worth noting. Hurricane Party pulls in events from Facebook to seed the experience, but only shows (or allows) events happening within 24 hours from the present time.

Location also factors into the experience, so the app only displays parties taking place near the user’s geographical whereabouts. These calculated party filters ensure that the app gets users “off the couch, out the door and spending time with friends,” says Pinnell.

In creating parties, users have the simplest and most obvious options: who, what, where and when. The would-be party-starter has three privacy choices and can choose to keep the event invite-only, open it up to Hurricane Party friends or make the party public.

Hurricane parties also have associated media streams, which currently just consisting of chats and photos. The in-chat photo experience already offers party goers a visual way to discuss party happenings, but the experience is one that Pinnell hopes to make as rich as possible over time.

Eventually, Hurricane Party will monetize through in-app specials. Think of specials as daily deal alternatives attached to events or venues. The startup is experimenting with specials as we speak and recently offered half-price tickets to a Big Boi concert in Austin, for instance. But the feature is still a manual, nascent commercial offering. Later in the year, local businesses can expect to see a DIY site where they can sign up to run and manage their own deals.

Hurricane Party’s immediate future is wrapped up in the SXSW festival; it hopes to hawk the app as the perfect way to gather friends together for more intimate affairs. “We’re going to really bring it at SXSW,” says Pinnell. “We want to reclaim the festival.”

Hurricane Party will rely on its users to do the reclaiming themselves, but not without a little nudge in the right direction. The startup is sponsoring the Ice Cream Man at the show, which means users can use the iPhone app to track down impromptu ice cream parties in downtown Austin and be rewarded with free frosty treats.

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: austin, capital factory, hurricane party, iphone, spark-of-genius, sxsw, sxsw 2011

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Bizzy Introduces the Checkout to Mobile Apps

Posted: 07 Mar 2011 09:07 PM PST


Bizzy, a web and mobile service for personalized local business recommendations, is updating its iPhone and Android apps to introduce a new “Check Out” feature. Users can now check out to leave short, emoticon-style reviews of venues on their way out the door.

The Bizzy venue checkout is meant to be the opposite of the checkin, which we’ve seen in a slew of applications, from Foursquare to Facebook Places.

Instead of sharing a location with friends, the checkout conveys sentiment — offering up “Love it,” “Meh” or “No thx” emoticons. Responses help Bizzy better recommend places to the user in the future. App users can also add Twitter-sized micro-tips or reviews and share them on Facebook or Twitter.

Bizzy, a wholly-owned subsidiary of ReachLocal, tries to be just different enough from the Yelps, Google Hotpots, or Foursquares of the world with its own twist on local business discovery. The service relaunched in November 2010 to focus on recommending places of potential interest to users by matching their personal tastes against others with similar tastes.

The overall Bizzy experience feels far less innovative than it should be — users are asked to complete a series of questions at signup — and fails to give the user the ability to self-refine their tastes by dietary preferences or the like.

For now, the social media user already juggling a handful of location-based apps for place discovery need not add Bizzy to his app arsenal, but this could change if members start adopting the checkout feature and recommendations improve.

More About: android, bizzy, checkins, checkout, iphone, location-based apps

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Our Favorite Music App Today: Like.fm, a Shareable iTunes in the Cloud

Posted: 07 Mar 2011 08:44 PM PST


Some say there’s a music startup bubble; we say, “Bring it.” Few apps are more welcome in our browsers and on our desktops than ones that help us enjoy our favorite tines.

Today’s pick is Like.fm, a brand new app that lets you track the music you play — both on your computer and on the web — make a playable list of your favorites on the web, and share what you’re listening to with your friends.

The app harnesses the power of YouTube, Pandora, iTunes and a slew of other music apps to gather information about the music you listen to, then give you options to play that music and discover more music while you’re away from your own computer or MP3 player.

Here’s how it works: First, you quickly sign up for Like.fm using your Facebook account — the service lets you automatically follow any Facebook friends who are also using the app, a feature which you can adjust later.

After signing up, you install a background-running, lightweight desktop app that tracks what you’re listening to on iTunes or another desktop music player. You can also choose to install a similar web tracker that keeps tabs on the music you’re getting from Pandora, YouTube and a slew of other sites.

Once you’re signed in, just start listening to music as you normally would. Like.fm creates a history of what you’ve listened to in real time. If you don’t like an item in your history, you can always delete it from your profile page. If you listen to a song at least 80% of the way through, it gets added to your profile’s summary.

Anything that you’ve listened to on your computer or on the web, you can play on Like.fm from any web browser that can handle YouTube videos; the songs run in a tiny, embedded YouTube player, and each song is a video. Any song on the site can be added to your Like.fm queue by clicking the plus sign next to the track name.

Of course, you can also see recommendations from your friends, and you can play and add their songs to your queue, as well. The app also has pages for specific artists; you can play and add those songs to your queue, as well.

Once you start your queue’s autoplay, it runs the same way an iTunes playlist would; it’s continuous and doesn’t require a lot of fiddling around on your part. Then again, its features are pretty basic so far; you can only create on queue, and the queue isn’t sortable or searchable — not yet, at least.

You can also write reviews for individual songs, get lyrics (via Lystener), download your entire play history as a text file, share songs to Twitter or Facebook, and participate in a handful of other lean-in features that music fans are sure to love.

Like.fm is a Y Combinator startup; since it’s freshly launched, it’s still got a few bugs and is likely going to add a bunch of new features in the near future.

For now, though, we’re thoroughly impressed with what we’ve seen so far; the app is simple, a pleasure to use, extraordinarily functional, and free, to boot. Give it a shot, and let us know what you think in the comments.

Image courtesy of Flickr, noctopia.

More About: cloud, itunes, like.fm, music, web app, y combinator, youtube

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Opera Opens Mobile App Store That Works With (Almost) All OSes

Posted: 07 Mar 2011 06:36 PM PST


Monday, Opera opened a brand new mobile app store that works across most major mobile platforms — and quite a few lesser platforms, as well.

You can access the app store from pretty much any phone and any mobile browser. The Opera Mobile Store‘s collection of mobile apps contains software for Android and BlackBerry devices as well as devices with Palm, Symbian, Windows Mobile and Java OSes. iOS and Linux-based mobile OSes are the only notable exceptions.

Apps are conveniently divided by category, or you can choose to see featured and “top” apps. The vast majority of the apps that we saw were free.

As Opera VP Mahi di Silva told The Register, “In the past, we’ve focused on developing the best and most widely used browser, and we’re now expanding into services.

“We’re creating a service for users, but we’re also creating a device-agnostic app store for developers so they can not only reach the 100 million who use Opera’s mobile browser but people who use any browser.”

Here’s an idea of what the store looks like on an Android:

The company has also launched a developer portal for mobile devs who want to publish their app to multiple platforms at once.

Cross-platform mobile development — and more and better tools for such development — was a key prediction of ours for 2011. It’s interesting to see how various dev shops and tech companies are working to bring about a smoother, less disparate experience both to users of apps and to those who make mobile apps for more than one platform.

Give Opera’s mobile store a shot, and in the comments, let us know what you think of it.

Image courtesy of Flickr, mroach.

More About: mobile apps, mobile store, opera

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Buying an iPad 2: What You Need to Know

Posted: 07 Mar 2011 05:28 PM PST


On Friday March 11, Apple’s iPad 2 will become available for purchase online and in retail stores. Early trade-in activity surrounding the original iPad suggests that that the iPad 2 will be in high demand.

As with last year’s original iPad and the iPhone 4, we anticipate crowds and long lines at various Apple retail stores across the United States. Are you interested in buying an iPad 2 this weekend? Here’s what you need to know.

Online or In-Store

With the original iPad and the iPhone 4, Apple allowed individuals to place pre-orders online or to reserve a device for in-store pickup.

With iPad 2, Apple is eschewing the pre-order game. Instead, the iPad 2 will be available via Apple.com at some point early Friday, and in retail stores starting at 5:00pm.

Online reports indicate that Apple.com sales will start at 12:01am PST on March 11, 2011. East coast buyers, set your clocks for 3am.

At Apple.com, users can choose between white or black variants in Wi-Fi or Wi-Fi + 3G. Users can select either Verizon or AT&T for their Wi-Fi + 3G unit.

Apple promises “fast, free shipping,” which indicates they are using 2-day Fed Ex or UPS. Depending on when an order goes through, it’s possible users could get units on Monday March 14, 2011. We’ll be realistic and expect that most users who place an order on Friday will receive their packages on Tuesday March 15, 2011. Like Caesar, you’ll need to watch for the Ides of March.

Apple retail stores will begin selling the iPad 2 at 5:00pm. Typically, Apple shuts down its stores for a few hours prior to launch in order to get signage, inventory and staff in place. Lines may start at some outdoor Apple stores as early as Friday morning (if not Thursday night), but indoor mall locations may start later, depending on mall policies and general shopping traffic.

Retail Partners

In addition to the Apple retail stores, the iPad 2 will also be available at Best Buy, Target, Walmart and Sam’s Club.

Verizon Wireless will also be selling the iPad 2 on Friday March 11, 2011.

None of the retail launch partners have specified if sales will take place both in-store and online, but we expect that in-store sales will not begin until 5:00pm.

It isn’t clear if AT&T will be carrying the iPad 2 at launch (we’ve reached out to them for comment), but 3G variants from both carriers should be available at retail partners like Walmart and Best Buy. Neither AT&T nor Verizon will be carrying the Wi-Fi only models.

Models, Colors, Carriers

There are eighteen different iPad 2 units: the nine listed below, available in either black or white.

  • iPad 2 16GB Wi-Fi: $499.00
  • iPad 2 32GB Wi-Fi: $599.00
  • iPad 2 64GB Wi-Fi: $699.00
  • iPad 2 16GB Wi-Fi+3G Verizon: $629.00
  • iPad 2 32GB Wi-Fi+3G Verizon: $729.00
  • iPad 2 64GB Wi-Fi+3G Verizon: $829.00
  • iPad 2 16GB Wi-Fi+3G AT&T: $629.00
  • iPad 2 32GB Wi-Fi+3G AT&T: $729.00
  • iPad 2 64GB Wi-Fi+3G AT&T: $829.00

Unlike the white iPhone 4 debacle, Apple promises that white iPad 2 units will be available on launch day. It’s really anyone’s guess as to the breakdown between color choices. Apple retail stores will likely have the most white units in-stock, with retailers like Best Buy, Target and Walmart carrying mostly black units.

Tips From iLine Veterans

Having covered — and waited — in numerous iLines in the past, these are my suggestions:

  • Best Buy, Target or Walmart stores near an Apple retail store are likely to be less crowded. Customers who want the fastest purchase experience should check the retail locations closest to the Apple Store.
  • If you have a color/size preference, order online. Waiting in line for a few hours only to find out that the model you want is out of stock is no fun. If you want a specific color/capacity, reduce your stress level and order online.
  • Plan for non-iPad 2 shoppers. Wireless stores get pretty busy on Friday nights even without the iPad 2 — keep that in mind before heading to the local Verizon or AT&T store.
  • Avoid the Austin-area Apple stores. South By Southwest coincides with the iPad 2 launch, meaning thousands of geeks will be in town and may descend on the store. Locals and visitors alike should steer clear. Just thinking about it makes me queasy.
  • Check Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare for line reports and information on how busy particular locations are.
  • Wait for Saturday. It isn’t uncommon for stores like Best Buy and Walmart to get Friday deliveries. We imagine that at least some iPad 2 inventory will be delivered for the weekend, which means that Saturday mornings are a good time to try local stores — and if you’re brave — the Apple Store.

Online or In-Line?

Are you planning on getting an iPad 2? Will you brave the retail lines or are you going to try your hand at online ordering?

Let us know in the comments.

More About: apple, best buy, ipad, iPad 2, Target, verizon, WalMart

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Charlie Sheen Looks for Intern in First Ad Plug on Twitter

Posted: 07 Mar 2011 03:14 PM PST



Charlie Sheen has lost his day job, but he’s winning over sponsors — one of them, at least — on Twitter.

Earlier today, Sheen tweeted, “I’m looking to hire a #winning INTERN with #TigerBlood. Apply here – http://bit.ly/hykQQF #TigerBloodIntern #internship #ad.”

That link leads to a site from Internships.com, which paid for the mention, according to Krista Thomas, vice president of marketing at Ad.ly, which organized the deal between Sheen and the advertiser. Thomas says the tweet resulted in 8,000 in two minutes. Since the tweet was posted, there have been more than 127,000 clicks, she says. The tweet is the first such paid endorsement from Sheen’s Twitter feed since he joined the site March 1.

Last week, Sheen set a Guinness World Record for the least amount of time to reach 1 million followers on Twitter, a feat that took him 25 hours and 17 minutes. Sheen currently has more than 2 million followers on Twitter.

Ad.ly represents more than 1,000 celebrities on the microblogging service, according to the company’s website, including Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, Kim Kardashian and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reports that CBS fired Sheen Monday from the sitcom Two and a Half Men.

Image courtesy of Flickr, Ash90291.

More About: ad.ly, charlie sheen, twitter

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YouTube Takes Another Step Toward Legitimacy With New Acquisition

Posted: 07 Mar 2011 02:46 PM PST


In a move that’s been grinding through the rumor mill since December, YouTube has acquired web video production company Next New Networks.

The New York-based company is the independent online video producer behind more than 25 branded networks and popular Internet programming distributed through YouTube.

Lately, we’ve been hearing a lot of buzz from YouTube’s camp about ramping up original programming. In December, it acquired Widevine, an on-demand video service known for its multiplatform DRM and adaptive streaming technologies.

According to The New York Times, this move doesn’t necessarily mean YouTube and parent company Google will be producing original programming themselves.

"We want to make as clean a line as possible for us to build the platform on YouTube and then let the content production happen with our partners," Tom Pickett, director of global content operation at YouTube told the Times.

YouTube also announced it is creating a program called YouTube Next to help denizens of the site (read: partners) make better videos by providing grants and training.

We wonder if this program will have anything to do with recent rumors that YouTube plans to build out its YouTube Partner Grants Program (launched in July) with big-name celebrities, offering them channels in which they could share their own original content.

The company did add a little Hollywood shine today as well: It hired the former head of digital distribution at Paramount, Alex Carloss, to head up on content acquisition.

According to the Times, Google will pay less than $100 million for Next New Networks.

Photo courtesy of Flickr, Evelyn Proimos

More About: acquisition, Google, Next New Networks, youtube

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Rdio for Mac Feels Like iTunes in the Cloud

Posted: 07 Mar 2011 02:36 PM PST


Subscription music service Rdio released a brand new native app for Mac OS X on Monday. The app brings the full Rdio experience — including music playback, playlist creation, sharing and mobile syncing — to Mac OS X without the need for the web browser.

The app, which is different from the older Adobe Air application (the Air app is still available for Windows users), has a slick interface and bears more than a passing resemblance to iTunes. The difference is that the app is populated entirely by Rdio’s collection of streaming on-demand albums, songs and playlists.

The Rdio for Mac app is free but requires a subscription to the service to use. Users can sign up for a seven-day free trial without having to enter any credit card information within the app itself. Rdio offers desktop streaming plans for $4.99 per month and desktop and mobile access for $9.99 per month.

iTunes for Streaming Music

Nearly a decade ago, I was addicted to Rhapsody’s subscription music service. This was back when Real Networks owned the company and in a time before the iPhone. One of the best features of the service, for me, was the Windows desktop client. It made it easy to search albums, add albums to my collection, and create and subscribe to playlists and Internet radio stations.

When I became a full-time Mac user and found that Rhapsody didn’t offer a dedicated Mac client, it was time for me to give up the service.

That was nearly four years ago. In that time, subscription music services like Rhapsody have become the latest craze. Sure, the business model isn’t completely proven, but the advent of mobile versions of apps and ubiquitous web connections makes services like Spotify, MOG, Rdio, Rhapsody, Qriocity and others a worthwhile investment for a growing contingent of users.

Most of these services have great mobile apps, but when it comes to the desktop, most services ask the user to use a web browser or an Adobe Air application. This is fine for listening to pre-selected mixes or a few tracks, but it can make finding and organizing music more complex and it requires that browser tab stay open for music to keep flowing. If the browser crashes — there goes your music. If Flash decides to act up, there goes your music.

Spotify smartly introduced desktop apps for Mac and Windows early in its lifetime. Few other services have followed Spotify’s lead. We’re glad that Rdio decided to create a native Mac app.

Everything that you can do in the web browser, you can do in Rdio for Mac. In fact, the user interface across the website, the iOS app and the Mac app is remarkably consistent. Although we suspect that the bulk of this Mac app is really nothing more than a web browser in a wrapper, the advantage of being a dedicated application means that media keys can be used to control playback, volume and track selection and other shortcuts can be configured to view information at a glance.

It also means that from a resources perspective, the app is more friendly than using Adobe Air or the Flash-based website.

Sharing and Discovery at Full Attention

The app makes it easy to search for music by artist, track or album name and then add songs or albums to your collection, your playback queue or to a specific playlist. Users can also choose to listen to radio stations that either encompass just the artist or band they select or similar artists as well.

The social discovery aspect of Rdio — something the service really promoted when it first launched, but that we haven’t seen it hammer on quite as much since — has prominent place in the app.

Upon sign up, users can connect their Twitter, Facebook and Last.fm accounts to Rdio and they can find friends from various social networks and e-mail services. Rdio also shows off some prominent influencers that users can follow and see streams of what albums or tracks those users are sharing or listening to.

Rdio for Mac also makes it easy to share a track or album to Facebook or Twitter or to embed a 30-second clip of the song on a website. The sharing process is similar to what Apple introduced with Ping, but it’s implemented in a way that’s actually useful. Rather than auto-tweeting whenever I purchase a song, I can choose to share a song or album across my social graph. I can also choose to leave reviews for albums and then share those reviews.

Mobile Sync

Rdio makes it easy to sync tracks or playlists with the mobile app. That makes it super convenient to put together a playlist or album queue that you can enjoy on your mobile device — even if you’re offline. The mobile app will sync with Rdio’s servers and download files you tell it to sync.

Playlists that you subscribe to in Rdio for Mac are also visible in the Rdio mobile apps. Again, this adds to the feeling of consistency across the service.

iTunes Sync

One of Rdio’s more unique features is that it can scan your iTunes account and add the albums already in your collection to your Rdio library. The Mac app makes the mirroring process simple and the process is fast and fairly accurate. There are times when meta-data that doesn’t match exactly might yield only partial album completions, but in my small test library (about 5,000 songs), about half were located and added to my Rdio collection.

You can buy music directly from the Rdio app for certain playlists or songs — just like you can on the website. The app automatically adds any downloads to iTunes for offline playback. We do wish there was a way to sync playlists between Rdio and iTunes — or at least import iTunes playlists. If Rdio could import iTunes playlists, the app would almost be the perfect iTunes drop-in replacement.

Are you interested in using a native desktop app for an online streaming service? Let us know.

More About: mac apps, mac os x, MOG, music, rdio, reviews, rhapsody, spotify

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Al Jazeera Launches Twitter Dashboard To Track Uprisings in Egypt, Yemen, Libya & Bahrain

Posted: 07 Mar 2011 02:21 PM PST


Qatar-based news outlet Al Jazeera has launched a Twitter dashboard to illustrate tweets about uprisings and revolutions around the world.

The dashboard tallies the daily number of tweets about developments in each listed country (the site is currently tracking Egypt, Yemen, Libya and Bahrain) and shows the average number of such tweets per minute for each country. It also graphs the number of such tweets from each country over time and shows a visual representation of the “hashtag distribution for each country getting the most attention in the Twittersphere.”

Al Jazeera has led the world’s media coverage of protests and revolutions throughout the Middle East and Africa. Some have called the uprisings the news network’s “CNN moment.” (CNN's coverage of the Gulf War is largely responsible for launching its current popularity, much the same way current events have catapulted Al Jazeera’s standing.)

But considering other projects such as Iamjan25.com, real-time tweet visualizer HyperCities Egypt and other news organizations’ interactive maps of real-time tweets from the same areas, it seems as though Al Jazeera was uncharacteristically late to this idea.

Even so, the dashboard provides a handy, at-a-glance gauge of where and how people are using Twitter to discuss uprisings in the Middle East and the Arab world.

Image courtesy of Flickr, Maggie Osama

More About: al jazeera, bahrain, dashboard, Egypt, libya, twitter, Yemen

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YouTube Video of the Day: Cyndi Lauper Sings to Stranded Airline Passengers

Posted: 07 Mar 2011 01:44 PM PST

Anyone else flying to SXSW this week? Anyone secretly wishing that their flight will be delayed so that Cyndi Lauper can swoop in and save the day with a song?

This video went up a few days ago, featuring the pop star belting out “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” over the loudspeaker at Buenos Aires’ Jorge Newbery Airport.

This impromptu performance calls to mind a recent unlikely performance by Kanye West. He recently took to the PA on a Delta flight to serenade jet setters with songs like "Gold Digger" and "Good Life."

Which singer would you rather have alleviate your traveling woes?


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More About: cyndi-lauper, viral-video-of-day

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How Fashion Retailers Are Redefining E-Commerce With Social Media

Posted: 07 Mar 2011 01:32 PM PST


Alisa Gould-Simon is the Director of Marketing & Communications at Pose.com, a free mobile shopping application. She is a fashion consultant and writer; her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian and The Wall Street Journal. You can follow her on Twitter at @alisagouldsimon.

Once simply a counterpart to brick-and-mortar retail, e-commerce has quickly become an independent force in fashion — one that shows no signs of curbing its exponential growth. In just a few years, e-commerce has become an integral retail component for monolithic brands, department stores and fledgling designers alike. Furthermore, from Etsy to eBay, Net-a-Porter to Gilt Groupe, the net of fashion retailers that exists solely online has never been cast so wide. These four properties have proven the power of directly connecting buyers and sellers, as well as the potential for high-fashion sales online. Now, numerous startups are following in these e-tailers' footsteps, while simultaneously redefining the e-commerce landscape.

Empowered Consumers

As the world of online shopping continues to evolve and adapt to consumer demands, certain themes have proven paramount: namely personalization and social sharing. Highly disruptive to the traditional fashion retail model has been the adoption of crowdsourcing. Seasoned e-tailers like Threadless and ModCloth have proven that allowing an engaged consumer base to determine what products to manufacture is in fact a highly effective business model. Overhead is minimized greatly; not to mention, it throws fashion's decades-old (and decidedly problematic) seasonal model out the window. It’s the ultimate empowerment of the consumer.

Two recently launched capsule collections are employing crowdsourcing to determine which pieces will be produced: Business of Fashion's Imran Amed is partnering with London accessories house Bill Amberg on a line of leather goods, while eBay lets consumers choose which Derek Lam fashions would be produced for a collaboration between the two.

Meanwhile, two new startups — Garmz, which launched out of the UK last summer, and NYC's Fabricly, now in its fourth month — are taking on crowdsourced fashion but in a more refined, highly editorialized way. Both Garmz and Fabricly are getting their footing by offering exclusive product from burgeoning designers. Both host an ongoing open call for new collaborators and rely on consumers' word-of-mouth as a key marketing tool. "We are getting great e-mails, photos, tweets and Facebook messages by our customers," Garmz co-founder Andreas Klinger says. For Klinger, social sharing is essential to the viral spread of any startup, but it is also especially indicative of the future of e-commerce. "If you combine patterns seen in social software (especially gaming) with information and feedback distribution in real time (including video), you can see where I believe e-commerce will go in the next few years."

Soufi Esmaeilzadeh, CEO of Desquval, which launched in November, echoes Klinger's sentiment. She cites the essentials for every social fashion brand: “Twitter share, Facebook share, the ability to share reactions to product, love product, login through Facebook Connect and connect with other social networks so as to share activities with friends." While Desquval creates original editorial around each designer and encourages an open dialogue between featured designers and shoppers, social engagement — both within and beyond the website — is of the utmost value. "We want to be a one-stop-shop: Enter the designer's world, hear from them, see their look book, see their press coverage," and buy.

The Value of Exclusivity in an All-Access Web Culture

When shopping online, consumers respond best to items that feel “special,” be they crowdsourced or packaged along with compelling editorial. Inherent in its retail model, newly launched Moda Operandi is hoping to fuel the appetites of off-the-runway shoppers whose favorite catwalk pieces weren't being put into production because of increasingly risk-averse store buyers. "There is a woman out there who wants these pieces," Moda Operandi CEO (and former VP of Gilt Groupe) Aslaug Magnusdottir says. A self-proclaimed “pretailer,” Moda Operandi is a reaction to "the traditional buyer making their edit and putting product into stores work[ing] a lot better 10 years ago [back when] the general public didn't have access to everything coming down the runway."

In order to transfer real life trunk shows online, Moda Operandi is capturing each runway piece in high resolution, with 360 degree bite-sized videos to boot. The site also boasts a membership-only structure intended to preserve an air of exclusivity. Currently, the site is focusing solely on ready-to-wear and couture collection preview sales, but Moda Operandi plans to diversify by adding home goods, as well as men's clothing and accessories, Magnusdottir says.

Of A Kind, the brainchild of New Yorkers Claire Mazur and Erica Cerulo, follows a similar path toward building consumer loyalty and promotion of product. "We saw a big opportunity to empower designers by giving them the ability to put out these great ideas and put out great product," Mazur says. Of A Kind hosts sales of limited edition and exclusive product from up-and-coming but established designers, while simultaneously releasing substantive editorial, covering everything from the designers' creative inspiration to their favorite neighborhood haunts. "The main criteria is that there is an interesting story: something that can capture the imagination. The most important thing is the story," Mazur adds. A great story, after all, is key to a product or brand meeting its viral potential.

Also vital for Of A Kind's success thus far, its host: Tumblr. "You put up a picture and people re-blog it 200 times. You don't have to do that much in terms of marketing," Mazur says. "We'd been on Tumblr long enough to know … it's a really beautiful, visual platform, and Tumblr is a breeding ground for early adopters." Like Garmz and Fabricly, Of A Kind's platform moonlights as a crowdsourcing tool. "Our blog section has been an incredible testing ground for us. If our post on a shirt we love gets re-blogged 100 times, we start thinking, 'we should commission a designer to do something like this.’ ”

As for the biggest thing Of A Kind shoppers are asking for? "More social media integration … they want to be able to tweet about a purchase or add it to their Facebook page," Mazur says. "They've asked to see how other people are wearing and styling our product. So, we started a Facebook album to account for so many people taking pictures of their purchases."

More Fashion Resources from Mashable:

- 6 Ways to Design Your Own Jewelry Online
- How Premium Fashion Brands Are Maximizing Their Social Media ROI
- Why Fashion’s Top Brands Are Flocking to Tumblr
- 3 Ways to Design Your Own Clothes Online
- 7 Stellar Examples of Branded Content from the Fashion Industry

More About: business, e-commerce, fashion, retail, social media, social media marketing

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LivingSocial Offering Local, Short-Term Deals

Posted: 07 Mar 2011 01:25 PM PST


LivingSocial is getting deeper into the local ad market today with Instant Deals, a mobile feature that lets consumers find deals within a half-mile radius.

The feature, available through LivingSocial’s mobile app, is test launching in the company’s hometown, Washington, D.C., and will highlight nearby deals that are usually for a much shorter term than the company’s regular offers, which are live for 24 hours and then can be redeemed for six to 12 months.

For example, LivingSocial is offering a deal in Washington for the Spy Museum that’s good for four hours. Equinox, a local restaurant, will run deals on Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays to help drive traffic during slow times. Some 44 merchants have signed up for the program so far, a rep says.

LivingSocial isn’t the only company eyeing local mobile search for growth. AT&T last week announced ShopAlert, a mobile service that notifies consumers of nearby deals from Hewlett-Packard, Kmart, JetBlue and others. That service is available in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco.

More About: att, LivingSocial, Mobile 2.0

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Kik Enters Group Messaging Race With New Feature

Posted: 07 Mar 2011 01:17 PM PST


Instant messaging app Kik announced Monday it will add group messaging and photo-sharing features to its iPhone and Android apps, joining two of today’s most intense startup battles just in time for SXSW.

The startup also announced an $8 million round of Series A funding with RRE Ventures, Spark Capital and Union Square Ventures that will help support the new features.

Kik launched its instant messaging app in October 2010 to great success. Within 15 days, the startup had 1 million users. Within three weeks, it had been downloaded 2 million times. And since then, it has added about another million users who use the app to send free, chat-like messages (it’s like BlackBerry Messenger, but it works across multiple operating systems) — and picked up a lawsuit from RIM along the way.

Group messaging is a natural extension for Kik, but the app will join a host of other serious contenders in the space. GroupMe and Fast Society both offer SMS-based services for communicating between groups, but unlike with Kik, normal text-message fees apply when messages are sent. The advantage of using SMS, however, is that everybody — despite what phone they’re carrying or whether they’ve downloaded an app — can participate in a group conversation the same way.

Facebook’s latest acquisition, group messaging platform Beluga, is more like Kik in that it primarily focuses on instant, chat-like communication. The app also makes it easy to share photo and location information, and those who don’t have smartphones or don’t have the app installed can participate in conversations using SMS or a desktop component.

Kik CEO Ted Livingston thinks the app can set itself apart by offering a more flexible conversation platform.

“We think [other group messaging apps] are still not quite right yet, because they still have the same ‘talk to all’ mentality,” he writes on the Kik blog. “I don't know about you, but it's not often I want to message all my college friends at once. Or all of my soccer friends at once. Or everyone from work at once. But these other apps force me to do just that. It turns what could be a dynamic conversation into a mobile message board.”

The new version of Kik allows users to add people or leave conversations as they are in progress. In other words, I can introduce you to Joe and then leave you two to continue the conversation without me.

Adding the ability to share photos at the same time as it added a group feature was a smart move on Kik’s part. All of the contenders mentioned, with the exception of Fast Society, have photo-sharing capabilities. And as mobile photo-sharing apps — such as Instagram, Picplz and Path — take off, it’s becoming clear that sharing photos is something that tech-savvy consumers want to do.

Whether or not they want to do so using the same app that they use to send group messages — or even, come to think of it, that the majority of them want to send group messages — has yet to be proven.

More About: Beluga, fast-society, funding, group messaging, groupme, Kik, photo sharing

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100+ Upcoming Social Media & Tech Events

Posted: 07 Mar 2011 12:42 PM PST

social_media_events_guide1

Every week, Mashable puts together a calendar of upcoming social media and web events, parties and conferences.

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

Mashable SXSWi House — March 13-14, 2011, Austin, TX:
The Mashable SXSWi House 2011 will break the mold of the traditional SXSWi events schedule. Working with SXSWi and our partner sponsors, we will create a two-day platform that will include private events, VIP networking hours and large open parties. From Sunday, March 13 to Monday, March 14, Mashable will be hosting a combination of private events, open houses, meet-and-greet opportunities and of course, two nights of parties with open bars. The event is open to all 21+ SXSWi badge holders. Please RSVP on Eventbrite at http://sxswi.eventbrite.com.

Mashable Connect — May 12-14, 2011, Orlando, FL:
Mashable Connect 2011 will be an intimate experience that brings together leaders from the digital world for a weekend away to share and connect offline. Set away from the distractions of traditional conferences, Mashable Connect will recreate the Mashable web experience on the grounds of Disney World, creating an environment where attendees can truly engage and build lasting connections. The invite-only conference will cover new territory, break news and feature special events, with a touch of Disney magic.

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 7, 2011, Toronto, Ontario: Today’s global market is consistently changing. How do you know what’s happening now and how do you innovate and create marketing strategies to stay ahead of the curve? The Art of Marketing brings thought leaders from around the globe and gives you direct access to cutting edge thinking and real world experience. On March 7th, 2011, join 5 internationally renowned bestselling authors including Guy Kawasaki, Gary Vaynerchuk, Avinash Kaushik, Dr. Sheena Iyengar & Jeffrey Hayzlett at Canada’s #1 marketing conference. Register with promo code MASH23 and save $50.

March 8-10, 2011, Washington, D.C.: Join hundreds of CARE supporters to advocate for women and girls around the globe at the CARE Conference & International Women's Day Celebration. Events kick off on March 8 with a celebration in honor of the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day. The conference begins March 9 and will feature keynote speakers Melinda Gates and Laura W. Bush, as well as panel discussions led by issue experts from around the world. On March 10, CARE advocates will hear from keynote speaker Judy Woodruff before heading to Capitol Hill to meet with their members of Congress and ask for their support on key policies that work to combat global poverty. For more information and to register, visit careconference.org.

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 13-18, 2011, San Francisco, CA: Come to the eMetrics Marketing Optimization Summit and learn how to turn customer touchpoint data into insight… whether it’s search terms, ad response, web behavior, customer satisfaction, mobile activities, social media attitude or transactions. Attendees will: Investigate Social Media, Online Media, Mobile Marketing and as always, Marketing Analytics; Soak up intelligence from keynotes, breakouts, Clinics, Labs, Round-table Discussions and your peers.; Take advantage of unparalleled networking.; Enjoy parties, receptions, and the WAA Awards Banquet. For more information and to register, please click here.

March 14-17, 2011, Chicago, IL: Attend the Advanced Learning Institute's 3rd Forum on Strategic Internal Communications: How To Use Social Media & Traditional Communication Tools To Engage Employees, Drive Performance & Add Value, to learn how to how to transform the role of internal communications to one that adds value to your business. Hear practical advice, firsthand, from leading organizations such as: Southwest Airlines; American Red Cross; Dean Foods Company; Sprint; Mars Chocolate North America; Northwestern Mutual; Kaiser Permanente; City of Milwaukee, WI; Edelman Change and Employee Engagement; and more. Register and mention Mashable to save $200.

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 17-18, 2011, Vilnius, Lithuania: LOGIN 2011 is a festival, dedicated to the Internet, technology, trends and creativity. It is the biggest Internet event in the Baltic states, held annually in Vilnius, Lithuania. More than 2000 participants from all over the Baltics will gather to listen to inspiring keynote speeches, participate in seminars and creative workshops. Login 2011 – more than 40 speakers, such as Peter Sunde (The Pirate Bay), Ben Hammersley (WIRED), Christian Heilmann (Mozilla), Aral Balkan (Nokla Labs) just to name a few! For more information, please click here.

March 18, 2011, New York, NY: Facebook, In-Depth is an intensive full-day event that educates marketers and senior management on the world's largest social network. L2 is inviting an unprecedented group of scholars, thinkers, entrepreneurs, technologists and exemplar brands for a full day immersion on Facebook. Topics covered will range from best practices on branded Facebook pages to growing your fans and followers to Facebook commerce and advertising. Register with the discount code Mashable_friends to get 25% off.

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 21-25, 2011, New York, NY: Learn how to power up your online campaign through search, social and display at SES New York Conference & Expo. Search, social media, behavioral targeting, mobile, and video are just a few of the areas marketers have struggled to keep pace with within the last year. Advancements like Google Instant, Yahoo’s merger with Bing, and Twitter’s launch of Promoted Tweets, are just a few of the technological advancements which marketers have had to absorb. Helping marketers keep pace with a quickly developing digital landscape, the SES Conference & Expo series brings in experts from throughout the industry, providing insight, case studies, and tangible tactics for businesses to employ. SES New York, one of our most comprehensive shows of the year, attracts up to 6,000 attendees annually from leading brands across the business landscape. Attendees join to connect with the digital community at large, looking to build in-house skills in an array of digital marketing fields. Register with the promo code 20MASH and SAVE 20%.

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 21-22, 24-25, 2011, Hong Kong & Singapore: Branding in a Digital Age – Join us at this 2-day conference to learn the best methodologies and tactics to boost your brand. Obtain a clear understanding of consumer behaviour and trends, and leverage on this knowledge to amplify your brand through digital platforms. Find out how brands such as Virgin Mobile, adidas, Dell, Sunkist, Flawless, Allianz and the Hong Kong Tourism Bureau have successfully incorporated digital as a means of delivering real-time, holistic and interactive brand experiences. Learn practical and actionable solutions from real-life case studies, and how to implement these new-formed insights for your brand! Register today!

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 24, 2011, Tulsa, OK: It's time for the very first Social Media Tulsa Conference. Social media thought leaders, internet marketers, PR specialists, mobile pioneers, and tech enthusiasts all in one place for a day of sharing knowledge, sparking ideas, and networking with the best from all walks of life. It all began with Social Media Day Tulsa at Fat Guys Burger Bar in the historic Greenwood district. Social Media Tulsa is a community that invites its members to gather and talk about the impact of Social Media on business, news, entertainment, sports, non profit, and other topics. Registration includes lunch, sessions, and beverage coupons. Register and use the promo code SMTulsaMash for a 15% discount.

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 28-31, 2011, San Francisco, CA: The Web 2.0 Expo brings together thousands of designers, developers, entrepreneurs, marketers, and business strategists each year to learn and discuss the latest web technology trends and challenges. At the next Web 2.0 Expo, we’ll reveal the key pieces of the digital economy and the ways you can leverage important ideas for your own success. We'll apply the economic filter to data collection, social connections, social media platforms, browser successes, old media in new channels, and global commerce. Register for this multi-track conference and expo with code websf11bart4 to save 20% on all conference passes, or register and use the promo code websf11bae4 for a FREE Expo Hall Only pass.

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 30-April 1, 2011, Boston, MA: NSDI ’11 brings together leading researchers to explore the design principles of large-scale networked and distributed systems. This year’s technical program includes 27 technical papers with topics including data-intensive computing, energy and storage, debugging and correctness, and more. NSDI ’11 will also feature a poster session showcasing early research in progress. Take advantage of this opportunity to meet with premier researchers in the computer networking, distributed systems, and operating systems communities. Register and use the promo code NSDI11MASH for a $100 discount.

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%!

March 31, 2011, Toronto, Canada: Influence People is hosting a one-day Social Media Monitoring event. It will bring together some of the finest minds in social media to highlight the best tools and techniques for listening and measurement. Topics include sentiment detection, influencer analysis, how to measure social media ROI, data access and quality, small business monitoring and reputation management for brands. Speakers include Murray Newlands, Trey Pennington and Joseph Thornley. Register with the promo code mashable to save 10%.

April 1-3, 2011, Washington, DC: Please join us for the first annual Social Learning Summit, brought to you by the American University Social Media Club. This weekend conference will bring together students, educators, and professionals to learn from each other and with each other about a broad swath of topics at the intersection of social media, technology, and education. Speakers include professors, researchers, students, and professionals from all fields of study, and all are invited to attend. Registration is only $10, so register today!

April 4-7, 2011, Vancouver, BC: Attend the Advanced Learning Institute's 25th Updated Forum on Social Media for Government: How To Engage Your Employees And Citizens By Using The Latest Web 2.0 Technologies To Drive Communication Results, to learn how to incorporate social media into your communications and marketing plans, and leverage the latest interactive Web 2.0 tools and techniques to advance your organizational goals. Hear practical advice from: BC Ministry of Environment; Department of National Defence; City of Seattle, WA; BC Public Affairs Bureau, City of Oshawa, ON; Genome Alberta; Alberta Environment; Deloitte and more. Register and mention Mashable when registering to save $200!

April 4-7, 2011, Cannes, France: The mobile media, technology and entertainment industries converge for Connected Creativity, the first-ever global forum on connected entertainment, April 4-7th, in Cannes, France. As a part of MIPTV, Connected Creativity participants get the full benefits of joining 10,000 industry players at the world's greatest gathering in TV and media. This multi-billion dollar content market gives the world its first taste of the newest content that will shape the year to come for TV, Internet, mobile and all video-rich platforms. For more information and to register, please visit connected-creativity.com.

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, San Francisco, CA: Data 2.0 Conference – Learn from Google, Microsoft, SimpleGeo, Factual, and 50 other innovators about what's next in the world of data. The first conference to examine the growing importance of information accessibility in business, technology and society, the midVentures Data 2.0 Conference focuses on how the web is becoming the new database, and how businesses can better analyze and monetize this information. Discussions will span the next decade of data, from the data ecosystem and commoditization of information, to personal data control and open data initiatives. How will you use data to better target your new customers? Register and use the code data2mash for a 15% discount.

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 5-6, 2011, San Francisco, CA: iStrategy is an inspirational, 2-day, digital media conference for senior executives who believe that the success of their business requires a sound digital strategy. iStrategy has recruited keynote speakers, panelists, workshop facilitators and attendees with expertise in the online channels that drive successful outcomes and tools that provide ongoing measurement including: Social Media, Mobile Marketing and Applications, Display Advertising, SEO/SEM, Email Marketing, Database Marketing, Web Analytics, E-commerce and Content Strategy. Register with the promo code MASHSJ10 to receive a 10% discount off the ticket price.

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 first time. 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, London, UK: The third Social Media in Recruitment Conference will again help recruiters get the most from using Social Media through Case Studies, Latest Trends and Best Practice. Discover how the British Army introduced Social Media in recruiting, how Nokia uses LinkedIn on a global basis to build a talent pipeline, and how the European Personnel Selection Office in Brussels (who have careers web sites in twenty three different languages) use multilingual Social Media sites to attract new hires. Register and save 10% with the discount code MASHABLE.

April 7, 2011, London, UK: MI EXPO, a one day conference and exhibition taking place at The Delfina London is a platform showcasing innovation within the marketing sector. The event promises to inspire and educate, whilst bring together the companies and individuals driving the industry forward creating networking and new business opportunities. The Marketing Innovation Awards, nominated for by the UTalkMarketing Community will take place at the end of the day during a drinks reception. Register and use the promo code MASH15 to receive a 15% discount.

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 10-13, 2011, Denver, CO: 360|Flex, the world’s first and still best Flex Developer conference, will be held in Denver, CO and bring together the best and brightest of the Flex development community! Speakers include many leading community members and Adobe engineers. With more than 50 sessions, including hands-on training the Sunday before the conference, 360|Flex offers more content than any other Flex/AIR developer event in the world. Register and use the promo code flexmash to save 20% off the ticket price.

April 11-14, 2011, Santa Clara, CA: The O’Reilly MySQL Conference & Expo is an interactive learning community, spreading the latest and best knowledge on MySQL and related technologies to the global open source community. Harness the power of MySQL and celebrate the huge MySQL ecosystem over 4 days of in-depth training, sessions, plenary discussions, case studies, networking with hundreds of your peers, and more. Register and use the discount code mys11msh to save 15%.

April, 11-13, 2011, London, UK: The London Book Fair is the global marketplace for rights negotiation and the sale and distribution of content across print, audio, TV, film and digital channels. With 1600 exhibiting companies from over 50 countries, the fair brings together all corners of the international publishing industry to meet and do business. Celebrating its 40th year, The London Book Fair has grown into an industry hub bringing you three days of education, networking and business opportunities. For more information and to register, please visit www.londonbookfair.co.uk/mashable.

April 11-13, 2011, San Francisco, CA: Mix and mingle with more than 10,000 digital marketers at ad:tech. Discover the latest innovations in social media, mobile, search, e-mail, location-based marketing and much more. Find hundreds of the hottest digital marketing and advertising companies to network with and learn from. For more information and to register, please click here.

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 12, 2011 New York, NY: The Sentiment Analysis Symposium bridges technology and business in one of the most exciting applications to emerge in recent years: software that discovers business value in opinions and attitudes in social media, news, and enterprise feedback. The Sentiment Analysis Symposium provides an unmatched opportunity to learn about sentiment technologies, how they are applied, return on investment, and how to choose from among the many available solution options. Meet and learn from fellow experts, business executives, and practitioners. Keynotes, presentation tracks covering important business applications, a start-up showcase and peer-networking opportunities are planned.

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 13, 2011, Knoxville, TN: Some of the brightest minds in social media in the country are coming to Knoxville for this can't-miss marketing and PR event of the year: Social Slam 2011! Join for us for four expert panels and nationally acclaimed keynote speakers, including: Jay Baer, Christina "CK" Kerley, Trey Pennington and Brian Winter. For more information, please visit socslam.com.

April 14-16, 2011, New Orleans, LA: Whether you're a mom entrepreneur, blogger, a brand trying to connect with moms, or are just passionate about the online world, Mom 2.0 Summit is the conference for you. Talk shop with social media influencers, industry leaders and leading brands as they share best practices. Discuss ways to create smarter web-based marketing, and discover social media tools that engage your audience and build relationships. Register and use the promo code mashable2011 to save $35 off the ticket price.

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 16, 2011, Everywhere: What started in 2010 as a grass-roots efforts to motivate people to get out and check in is back and now with the support of over 100 local foursquare committees around the world. On April 16th (4 and 4 squared) foursquare users are self-organizing meetups, lectures, swarms, scavenger hunts, and much more. Foursquare users can visit 4sqday.com to find out about about nearby events. Find out how cities such as Cincinnati are getting Foursquare Day officially proclaimed by reading the blog. The official slogan of Foursquare Day 2011, selected by fans in an online vote, is “Foursquare Day: When the World is Your Venue.” Events are not profit-driven and no event is too big or too small.

April 17-21, 2011, Las Vegas, NV: The Mobile Connections Conference is a first of its kind technology event that provides technical cross-platform knowledge for mobile developers. Attendees will gain understanding on how to leverage cloud-based services, how to market and sell apps, app security solutions and the latest market predictions. Developers will be able to network with peers, IT professionals, carriers and a wide range of mobile infrastructure, product and service vendors. Register with promo code 100MASH and save $100!

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 19-21, 2011, Santa Clara, CA: Now in it's 7th year, Where 2.0 is the premier conference for all things location-aware. Join us where the grassroots and leading-edge developers building location-aware technology intersect with the business leaders, marketers, and entrepreneurs seeking out location apps, platforms, and hardware to gain a competitive edge. Register now and save 25% with the discount code whr11mash.

April 25-30, 2011, Philadelphia, PA: Philly Tech Week is a week-long celebration of technology and innovation in Philadelphia. Rock to 8-bit chiptunes, discover the ins and outs of augmented reality, or see the next great Philly startups as Technically Philly hosts over 25 technology-focused events in the city of Brotherly Love. Most events are free.

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!

April 28, 2011, New York, NY: Don't miss the Guardian newspaper’s gathering for leaders working across all sectors who are proving that, through the use of technology and the internet, we can make the world a better place. Confirmed speakers include Nicholas Negroponte, Craig Newmark, Arianna Huffington, Nathan Eagle, Jeff Jarvis, Emily Bell, Iqbal Quadir, Bruce Schneier and Benjamin Bratton among others. For more information, please visit www.guardian.co.uk/activate/new-york.

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 9-11, 2011, Minneapolis, MN: Content strategy is the next big thing. Is it your thing, too? Whether you’re a content strategy veteran or curious about where to start, Confab: The Content Strategy Conference is for you. Real-world case studies from major companies like Disney, eBay, Facebook and Merck. Hands-on workshops. All the experts. Mix and mingle with other content strategists. Share your insights. Hear the insights of others. Plus, there will be some fantastic parties. Get ahead of the curve in your business and career … come to Confab: The Content Strategy Conference. Register with the promo code MASHABLE and save $150.

May 10-11, 2011, Hollywood, FL: Following an incredible inaugural year in 2010, the annual Social Media Customer Response Summit is back with more excitement and even better sessions addressing the industry's key issues. This year’s theme will focus on ideas surrounding how corporate America is responding to emerging ‘Customer Response’ channels through social media, web 2.0, video streaming and mobile applications. During this two-day seminar, attendees will be able to listen, learn and collaborate with prominent industry leaders such as Bob Simmonds of Disney, David Thornton of Bank of America, Robert Lamb of AT&T, and Jim Moloney of General Motors on the challenges/benefits with using an ‘interactive social media customer response strategy,’ and what technological developments will continue to affect the industry, plus much more. C-Level executives interested in attending can find more information about the Summit’s Agenda & Registration at customerresponsesummit.com.

May 11-12, 2011, Amsterdam: iStrategy is an inspirational, 2-day, digital media conference for senior executives who believe that the success of their business requires a sound digital strategy. iStrategy has recruited keynote speakers, panelists, workshop facilitators and attendees with expertise in the online channels that drive successful outcomes and tools that provide ongoing measurement including: Social Media, Mobile Marketing and Applications, Display Advertising, SEO/SEM, Email Marketing, Database Marketing, Web Analytics, E-commerce and Content Strategy. Register with the promo code MASHEU10 to receive a 10% discount.

May 12-14, 2011, Chicago, IL: unGeeked Elite Retreats brings together 24 speakers during three days. The format is “open discussion.” The topics focus on enhancing, positioning and leveraging both the internal and external brand. PowerPoints and presentations are strongly discouraged, and instead, on-going and intimate discussions among keynotes, regional speakers and attendees are encouraged. Speakers include: Amanda Hite, Jason Falls, Oliver Blanchard, Spike Jones, and Anita Campbell. Register with the promo code unGeekedChicago and save 5% off regular ticket price. Tickets includes the latest book from Olivier Blanchard and entry into the Chris Brogan Roast.

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 16-17, 2011, Atlanta, GA: Digital Summit 2011 will feature more than 100 speakers and an audience of more than 1,000 Internet execs, entrepreneurs and senior marketers. Join dozens of industry leaders and innovators in the conversation on topics such as social media, mobile, cloud computing, online advertising, analytics, search, video, e-commerce and more. Top brands and thought leaders converge on one of America’s Most-Wired Cities. Register and use the promo code MASH for 20% off.

May 17-19, 2011, Boston, MA: In the ever-changing world of social media and mobile marketing, organizations are finding it difficult to navigate the complicated legal waters. At the 2011 Social Media Legal Risks and Strategies Summit, attendees will have the opportunity to learn practical strategies for staying compliant with regulations and safeguarding against legal risks. During this three-day summit, attendees will learn, first-hand, from top legal minds from such brands as, The Walt Disney Company, General Mills, General Electric and The Better Business Bureau. Register and use the promo code MikeSM to receive a discount. http://socialmedialegalrisks.com

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 18-19, 2011, Boston, MA: Text analytics has grown from an interesting but little known software application into an invaluable commercial tool being used by businesses worldwide. Forward thinking executives across a myriad of industries are using text analytics solutions to increase efficiency and unlock essential information that they never had access to before. Whether you are a software developer, an experienced analytics user, or new to the text analytics industry, the Text Analytics Summit is the only place to get the information that you need to stay ahead of the competition and profit from text mining. Register and use the promo code mashable to save 10%.

May 18, 2011, London, UK: The International Search Summit is partnering with SMX to run its global search and social media program at SMX Advanced in London. Focusing specifically on international and multilingual topics, the summit will run on 18th May and give delegates the opportunity to attend both events in just one trip and on one pass. Topics at the Summit will include international link building, managing global content, international SEO case studies and emerging markers. The agenda will be regularly updated with confirmed speakers. Combo or Summit only tickets are available. Early Bird rates apply and Mashable readers can get a 15% discount on the booking price with the discount code MASHABLE011. For more information and to register, please click here.

May 19-20, 2011, Miami, FL: Following the success of the 2010 edition, LBS LATAM returns in 2011 to continue the discussions and thought provoking market topics of interest. Responding to industry demands, the conference will be held for two days in Miami, Florida. For more information, please click here.

May 20-22, 2011, Ft. Lauderdale, FL: SheCon’s 2011 New Media Expo is the industry’s first free, three-day social media event that is bringing together some of the industry’s most renowned experts to condense a four-year journalism school experience into three days of new media sessions, with sessions and panels ranging from general to specific, niche market discussions. Combined with the educational sessions, the expo will bring together a diverse group of exhibitors that will be focusing on a brand integration, rather than forced brand interaction, concept for engaging and building relationships with attendees.

May 23-24, 2011, San Francisco, CA: Produced by Mediabistro and SocialTimes, Socialize Media Optimization Conference (SMOC) is a two-day event dedicated to social media optimization and social advertising. Boost search engine visibility, increase linkability, and fuel your readers' desire to share your content. Industry leaders will also show you how to get results whenadvertising on the social web in terms of strategy, targeting, privacy, and metrics. Our experts include Brian Solis (author, Engage), Rohit Bhargava (SVP, Digital, Strategy & Planning Group), Gary Ware (Covario), and many more. Register and use the promo code MASH to save 15%.

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 25-27, 2011, Portland, OR: WebVisions explores the future of web design, technology, user experience and business strategy in a punchy, new format! The all-star lineup of speakers includes author Douglas Rushkoff, design strategist David Armano, mobile researcher Rachel Hinman, usability expert Jared Spool, design ethnographer Kelly Goto and many more. Take advantage of package deals for workshops and conference passes, discounts on hotels, and networking events and after hour parties. Register here and save up to 30% off the standard admission rates! rates.

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 5-9, 2011, San Francisco, CA: The 2011 Semantic Technology Conference (SemTech) is the world's largest educational conference for the community of executives, technologists, researchers, investors and customers who are involved with semantic technologies. The SemTech conference draws together more than 1,000 forward-thinking technology and business leaders from around the world, representing the entire marketplace of vendors, developers, researchers, start-ups, investors and customers. SemTech 2011 features five days of presentations, panels, tutorials, announcements, new company/product launches, and conversations. It’s a place for new learning, professional networking, and business development. For details and registration, visit the site. Register and use the promo code MASH to save 15%.!

June 6-8, 2011, Chicago, IL: The Art & Science of Integrating Traditional & Social Media Marketing – Measure Up, is the world's most comprehensive cross-dimensional view of marketing measurement best practices. With a focus on return on investment (ROI) as it relates to the integration of traditional, online and mobile activities; specifically, social media, this event explores analytics across the entire marketing mix and incorporates those results into marketing strategies and tactics to drive higher revenue, profit and brand share. Register and use the promo code XU2308MASH and save 10%!

June 7-8, 2011, Munich, Germany: a4uexpo Europe is the largest pan European Affiliate and Performance Marketing Conference. With over 1000 delegates, a diverse conference programme, a focus on quality, knowledge transfer and unparalleled networking opportunities with delegates and key industry figures from around the world, a4uexpo Europe is a must attend educational and networking event. Whether a new or established affiliate, agency, entrepreneur, search specialist, merchant or network – a4uexpo is the conference for those serious about making an impact in Affiliate and Performance Marketing. Register with the promo code MASHABLE25 and save €25 on a full conference pass for a4uexpo Europe.

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 15-18, 2011, Nairobi, Kenya: The spotlight in AfriTech Kenya 2011 will be on "Brand building using a digital platform." It’s projected to be the largest gathering of digital media gurus and industry shapers in the African continent. The conference will be held at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC) June 15-18, 2011. Outstanding business luminaries, philanthropists, government decision-makers and investors will be participating during this four-day historic summit. For more information and to register, please visit afri-tech.com.

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 11-14, 2011, Denver, CO: Come join the best and brightest of the iOS development community at 360|iDev, the first iOS developer event to be held by the developer community! Speakers include many leading community members, and app store success stories. With more than 40 sessions, including hands-on training the Sunday before the conference, 360|iDev offers more content than any other iOS developer event in the world. Register and use the promo code iosmash to save 20% of the ticket price.

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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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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10 Terrific Tilt-Shift iPhone Photos

Posted: 07 Mar 2011 11:35 AM PST


Tilt-shift has been around in analog photography for years, but a crop of iPhone apps that simulate the effect has led to some great iPhotography experiments.

You’re no doubt familiar with the classic tilt-shift photos that makes cityscapes look like toy towns with “fake miniature” people and vehicles. Here, we’ve looked beyond that and found 10 fantastic photos that make use of the shallow depth of field to great effect.

Have a look through the gallery below for our hand-picked tilt-shift showcase. Let us know in the comments below which ones you think have made best use of the special effect.


1. Delaware & Paulinskill by Robert Yaskovic




Fly fisherman Robert Yaskovic mixes black and white and color in this effective diptych.


2. Catzilla by Sherry Chen




The tilt-shift effect helps make "Catzilla" look even more otherworldly in Sherry Chen's fun photo.


3. Not a Train by !Phone




Captured at the Durango & Silverton narrow gauge railway, this photo looks like it could have been a snap of a toy train set.


4. Up or Down by Sascha Unger




This picture was taken at the "Kunsthaus Tacheles," a former department store in Berlin. Perspective and a narrow band of focus combine to create an arresting shot.


5. The Diver by Max Berkowitz




Max Berkowitz can congratulate himself on superb timing, grabbing this shot at the perfect moment. The tilt-shift adds a summery haze to the image.


6. Ready to Seat by Scott Williams




A little cross-processing and some tilt-shift wizardry turn an everyday, ordinary setting into an extraordinary image.


7. Stoneridge Mall by Stephen Hollingsworth




The Stoneridge Mall in Pleasanton, California is here transformed by tilt-shift.


8. Anticipation by Max Berkowitz




Max Berkowitz has focussed on the boy's face for a striking picture that captures a split second in time.


9. Miniature View by Mariano Lopez




This beautiful view of Murcia is enhanced by tilt-shift, making the landscape and the clouds even more dramatic.


10. Mind the Gap by Curly Phil




The image pops thanks to some clever techniques. The out-of-focus background allows some lovely colors, great texture and the spot-on framing to shine through.

More iPhone Photography Resources from Mashable:

- iPhotography: 10 Pro Tips for Snapping Perfect iPhone Photos
- 15 Incredible iPhone Dog Photographs
- 10 Stunning iPhone Sports Photographs [GALLERY]
- 10 Essential Websites for iPhone Photographers
- 10 Incredible iPhone Portrait Photographs

Image courtesy of Flickr, Michael Sutton

More About: galleries, gallery, iphone, iphoneography, iphonography, iphotography, List, Lists, Mobile 2.0, photography, Photos, tilt shift

For more Mobile coverage:

A Look at Mashable Connect 2011

Posted: 07 Mar 2011 11:06 AM PST



We’ve noticed a lot of excitement around Mashable Connect 2011, our invite-only event at Walt Disney World® in Florida this May. After producing more than 50 events for Mashable, we felt that it was time to put all of our experiences together in one event that will bring the online Mashable experience offline in a unique setting.

The event will bring together digital leaders across a variety of industries — including marketing, consumer electronics, entertainment and more — to make connections and exchange ideas around how brands, organizations and communities are connecting through social and digital tools, and innovation.

There will be special networking opportunities like activities in the Disney Parks and, as always in true Mashable form, a few surprises!

I also personally wanted to say how excited I am for this event. I know that the participants will greatly benefit from being a part of the experience: from great networking and brand building with some of the key influencers across industries, to sharing ideas and inspiration, to getting to better know the Mashable team.

Why attend Mashable Connect 2011?

Walt Disney World®
We wanted a setting where people could spend time together away from the distractions of day-to-day schedules and meetings. From our speakers to our attendees to our partners and sponsors, this will be a larger networking opportunity where people aren't checking in and out in between meetings.

Walt Disney World® is a magical place that continues to be a pioneer in imagining the near and distant future.

We've chosen the ideal time for the ideal weather for the ideal conference setting. The Contemporary Resort has top of the line accommodations and is perfectly located for some of the surprises that we have in store.

Content and connections
Together, we will explore how communities and audiences are connecting with each other through social and digital innovations. We will share best practices and case studies. This will come in the form of keynote speeches, Q&As, conversations, case studies and networking sessions.

Participants will hear from esteemed and provocative speakers and spend time with influential and thoughtfully selected members of the digital community including executives, entrepreneurs, brand managers, designers, developers and members of the Mashable team.

Invitation only
For our first Mashable Connect event, we wanted to keep it as intimate as possible to deliver the maximum ROI for our attendees. To do this, we wanted to make sure we are working with a key group of people to create the best experience possible.
 
Who is attending?
Our attendee list is curated by the Mashable team. We are looking for digital leaders within leading companies, brands and organizations. Titles range from CEO and founder and community manager to marketing directors.  We already have a strong and interesting list of attendees from such organizations as 92Y, American Association of Advertising Agencies, Behance, Buddy Media, Constant Contact, Converseon, CNN, Deep Focus, Edelman, Fenton, Ford, HBO, Hilton Worldwide, Gowalla, Intridea, iStrategyLabs, Microsoft, NBC, Ogilvy, Pepsico, Radian6, Rackspace Hosting, Saatchi & Saatchi, Scripps Networks, SocialVibe, Thrillist, Tumblr, TV Guide, UN Foundation, Universal Music Group, Wells Fargo, Xerox and Yahoo. And of course, the majority of the Mashable team will be there to get to know our community even better.

What are the surprises?!
We can't tell you just yet, but we have some big names and special events that will be once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.

What is included in the registration price?
Our registration is all-inclusive and includes content, meals, special events, hotel rooms and transportation:

  • 3 nights at the iconic Contemporary Resort at Walt Disney World® with gourmet meals and refreshments
  • More than 20 content sessions that provide a behind-the-scenes look at some of your favorite brands
  • Unique and creative networking opportunities with industry leaders and key influencers
  • Connecting with Mashable editorial, community and business teams
  • Special events and activities within Disney Parks
  • Opportunity to gain new perspective away from the traditional conference setting
  • Exclusive access to pre-event online networking
  • Complimentary transportation to and from Disney’s Contemporary Resort to Orlando International Airport (MCO) via Disney's Magical Express

Who are the speakers, so far?

  • Scott Belsky, Founder & CEO, Behance
  • Rohit Bhargava, SVP, Global Strategy & Marketing, Ogilvy
  • Sabrina Caluori, Director of Social Media & Marketing, HBO
  • Craig Engler, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Syfy Digital
  • KC Estenson, Senior Vice President & General Manager, CNN Digital
  • Elizabeth Gore, Executive Director Global Partnerships, UN Foundation
  • Josh Koppel, Founder, Scrollmotion
  • David Karp, Founder, Tumblr
  • Rob Key, CEO, Converseon
  • Michael Lazerow, CEO, Buddy Media
  • Marcel LeBrun, CEO, Radian6
  • Adam Rich, Co-founder and Editor-in-Chief, Thrillist
  • Steve Rubel, SVP/Director of Insights, Edelman Digital
  • Ian Schafer, CEO, Deep Focus
  • Raymie Stata, SVP, Chief Technology Officer, Yahoo
  • Christy Tanner, Executive Vice President & General Manager, TVGuide.com & TV Guide Mobile
  • Josh Williams, CEO, Gowalla

Can I bring my family or guests with me?
The content and activities within the conference are geared for attendees only. However, we welcome you to bring your family to experience the parks. Our event is Thursday evening to Saturday late night, so Thursday day and Sunday are perfect opportunities to spend time with your family. There is an extra charge for additional adults for hotel rooms so special accommodations will need to be made. Contact us if you plan to bring your family.

Apply now to attend Mashable Connect 2011: mashable.com/connect/application

More About: Events, mashable connect

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Popular Gay Dating App Grindr Now on Android

Posted: 07 Mar 2011 10:48 AM PST


Grindr, the popular location-based app gay guys use to find other gay males, is out today with an Android version. The release could help the Los Angeles-based company rapidly expand beyond its 1.5 million male users who already use the iOS and BlackBerry apps in 180 countries.

Grindr for Android, compatible with devices running Android OS 2.1 and higher, offers a photo- and location-centric male browsing experience, just as the other applications do. Users also can participate in mobile chat sessions with other nearby Grindr members and initiate cross-platform meetings.

A premium version of Grindr, costing $4.97 a month, removes the banner ads, loads more guys to choose from, includes message notifications while the application is running in the background and increases the amount of favorites a user can have.

In the two years after it launched, Grindr has grown to be a not-so-underground hit among gay men in urban areas — more than 56,000 users are in the New York area. The service currently sees 3,000 new users join each day, and the average user spends 1.3 hours using the app on a daily basis.

Purportedly, the startup is also working on a version of Grindr for straight men and women that would be less hookup focused and more Craigslist Missed Connections-esque.

More About: dating app, gay men, grindr, location based social networks, social media, trending

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Book Will Write the History of Egypt’s Revolution in Tweets

Posted: 07 Mar 2011 09:45 AM PST

read

Twitter’s role in the resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is disputed. But nobody disputes that the microblogging platform helped tell the story of the revolution as it unfolded.

Now, OR Books plans to use tweets posted during the protests to create a 160-page history of the event. Tweets from Tahrir, which is set to hit bookshelves April 21, will compile tweets and photos linked to in tweets to walk readers through every day of the revolution in 140-character-or-less snippets.

“Raw emotion bursts from their messages, whether frantic alarm at attacks from pro-government thugs or delirious happiness at the fall of the dictator,” reads a description of the book. “To read these tweets is to embark a rollercoaster ride, from the surprise and excitement of the first demonstration, to the horror of the violence that claimed hundreds of lives, to the final ecstasy of victory.”

This is quite a departure from existing tweet anthologies — like Sh*t My Dad Says — which tend to cover less serious topics. As The New York Times points out, the editors might run into some interesting legal questions with the new approach, in particular the question of who owns the rights for others’ tweets. OR Books is in the process of contacting authors to get their permission.

Whether the format will indeed capture the raw emotion, frantic alarm and timeline of the demonstrations is an another matter. An excerpt of the book is posted below; let us know what you think the comments.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, mattjeacock

More About: Egypt, Revolution, Tweets from Tahrir, twitter

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Google Acquires BeatThatQuote for $61.5 Million

Posted: 07 Mar 2011 09:30 AM PST


Google has broken new ground in the personal finance realm with the purchase of UK price comparison website BeatThatQuote for $61.5 million (£37.7 million GBP).

BeatThatQuote, launched in 2005, provides price comparisons for UK loans, insurance, legal services, utilities and other financial products. It was named one of the UK’s fastest-growing websites by Nielsen in 2007.

“Our team is excited about becoming a part of Google,” BeatThatQuote Managing Director John Paleomylites said in a statement on the company’s website. “We look forward to working with their engineers to create new tools making it easier for consumers to choose the right financial products. We think we can offer more transparency and better pricing information than existing online offerings.”

It’s likely that Google will use BeatThatQuote as its foothold into the UK financial products market. Google has recently shown interest in price comparison technology as well, most recently utilized in the company’s mobile shopping apps.

By adding price comparison results to search, Google can get a piece of the transaction whenever someone starts searching for a home loan or a new car insurance policy on its search engine. The potential revenue from those transactions could make this acquisition quickly pay off.

More About: acquisition, BeatThatQuote, Google

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8 Essential Developer Apps for Multiple Platforms

Posted: 07 Mar 2011 09:21 AM PST


The Cross-Platform Apps Series is supported by VMware Workstation, the most reliable, secure way to run multiple operating systems at the same time. To keep up with VMware Workstation updates, follow the team’s blog or find them on Twitter or Facebook.

For any web developer, making sure your workflow stays streamlined and efficient is essential. Even small projects can grow quickly in size and go through several iterations and stages of development. You want to have an editor that’s flexible but unobtrusive, source control that works, with lots of options, and tools to keep it all organized, just a few keystrokes away.

Last week, we took a look at some great Windows, Mac and Linux productivity applications that you may not have heard of. Now we’ll take a closer look at eight more applications for web developers. These tools have a variety of uses, but they all share one quality — they allow you to spend more time writing good code and less time dealing with project overhead.

Since we love efficiency so much, let’s dive right in.

1. Sublime Text


If you’ve been in the industry for any length of time, chances are you’ve heard of Sublime Text. Sublime is a powerful and flexible code with a robust feature set and a powerful Python language-based plug-in system, so you can further add functionality to the application. The $59 price tag may seem a bit steep (Sublime is free to try for as long as you like), but this program delivers.

With Sublime Text 2 Alpha currently available in Windows, Linux and Mac OS, Sublime offers up tools such as Goto Anything‚ a fuzzy-find utility that lets you quickly search and navigate to any project file, multi-select capabilities for fast multi-column editing, project management and instant project switching. It also offers many other features you’d expect a great editor to have — line syntax highlighting, regexp find and replace, and code snippets libraries.

2. Kate

Looking for something a little different? Kate is the default text editor for the KDE shell, but it’s also available for Windows and Mac (and works just fine in other Linux window managers).

Free and open-source, Kate has a wide array of great features for code editing. Some of Kate’s features include regexp find and replace, syntax highlighting and code folding, support for multiple encoding types, block selection and auto-indentation. Kate also has customizable keyboard shortcuts and a scripting language to extend the editor via plug-ins.

3. SmartGit

Git has rapidly become one of the most used and most popular version control systems around. The basics of Git are easy to learn, but its more advanced features can get confusing fast, especially when not everyone on your team is a die-hard code monkey. Enter SmartGit.

SmartGit provides a streamlined, powerful graphical interface for Git. Available for Windows, Linux and Mac, SmartGit (written in Java) makes browsing, cloning and committing to repositories easy, thanks to a familiar file browser interface and a graphical histories that easily diagram commits, branches and tags. SmartGit is free for non-commercial use, and commercial licenses start at $69, with bulk discounts available.

4. CSSTidy

Anyone who’s ever worked with CSS knows how quickly a stylesheet can get out of hand. Keeping your CSS neat and well-organized isn’t always easy, and utilities like Sass aren’t always an option. For situations like this, CSSTidy comes to the rescue.

This free, open-source application for Windows processes, cleans and compresses your stylesheets. CSSTidy can strip out duplicate rules, remove whitespace and comments, correct misplaced semicolons, and convert rules to shorthand syntax, and more. A quick run through CSSTidy before going live makes sure your CSS files are neat and fast-loading.

5. Toucan

Another great, free Windows application from the folks over at PortableApps, Toucan is backup, synchronization and encryption utility that will help you keep your private data secure and safe.

Make, restore, synchronize and encrypt all of your code and sensitive information (like all of those passwords) quickly and easily using Toucan’s simple GUI. Toucan offers more advanced features, as well, including rules that let you specify guidelines for file management, a command line interface and a powerful scripting system using the Lua programming language.

6. Transmit

Sure, an FTP program may not sound very glamorous, but the $34 Transmit application for the Mac OS is the cream of the crop.

Transmit boasts a slick, intuitive interface with support for a number of protocols, including FTP, SSH and even Amazon S3. Other features include default permissions and auto-continue on error and a flexible UI that supports single or multi-panel layouts (with quick look and coverflow), which make Transmit’s remote file management seamless and simple.

7. MySQL Workbench

The name alone makes this free application for Windows, Linux and Mac sound like more of a powerhouse work horse than just another pretty GUI, and that’s pretty much exactly what MySQL Workbench is — a no-nonsense GUI front-end for the MySQL database.

Complete with administration tools and powerful query building and table management utilities, Workbench (which comes straight from the MySQL developers), offers a robust desktop application for interfacing with, building, testing, optimizing and maintaining your MySQL database.

8. Snippets

If you’re like most developers, chances are you collect code — those little bits of brilliance that crop up here and there, only to prove invaluable a couple of weeks down the road. At $39, the Snippets app for the Mac OS gives you some place to store all of those stray lines of delicious source code.

Snippets sits quietly in your menu bar and waits for you to come along and drop code into it. When you enter a new snippet, you’ll also have the ability to add labels (tags) for faster search and indexing. You’ll also be able to give each snippet a description. Clean, small and unobtrusive, Snippets stays out of the way until you need it and lets you quickly add, browse and search for just the right bit of code when you need it.

Conclusion

As a web developer, getting and staying organized is key. Good software helps you get work done faster and more efficiently, letting you focus on writing great code. We’ve gone over eight applications that go a long way in helping to achieve these goals — tools that let you edit, organize, back up and manage code across multiple platforms, but our list is by no means exhaustive. We’d love to hear about some of the great developer tools you can’t live without.

Series Supported by VMware Workstation

The Cross-Platform Apps Series is supported by VMware Workstation, the most reliable, secure way to run multiple operating systems at the same time. Winner of more than 50 industry awards, VMware Workstation transforms the way technical professionals develop, test, demo and deploy software. VMware Workstation is an integral component of any serious technical professional's toolkit.

If you have an older version of Workstation, upgrade today to experience its new improved features. As a special bonus, you will receive a free copy of VMware ThinApp Starter Edition with the purchase of VMware Workstation. This offer expires on April 30th, 2011.

More Dev & Design Resources from Mashable:

- HOW TO: Design & Program a Facebook Landing Page for Your Business
- Learning Ruby: Expert Advice for Advanced Developers
- 10 Premium Tumblr Themes Worth Paying For
- HOW TO: Get the Most From Crowdsourced Design Competitions
- HOW TO: Get More Out of Your Fonts

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, kemie

More About: Cross-Platform Apps Series, csstidy, kate, Linux, mac, mySQL Workbench, smartgit, snippets, sublime text, toucan, transmit, Windows

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Jennifer Aniston Smart Water Ad Lampoons Viral Memes [VIDEO]

Posted: 07 Mar 2011 08:48 AM PST

Smart Water sends up the whole idea of viral videos, with nods to memes such as Double Rainbow, animated dancing babies and lip-syncing kids, in a new ad featuring that recurring subject of Internet interest: Jennifer Aniston.

The nearly 3-minute ad features Aniston, a longtime Smart Water spokeswoman, being directed to include elements that will make the ad go viral. Aniston portrays herself as a naif to such things. “I’m here to talk to you about Smart Water,” says Aniston. “But in this day and age, I can’t just do that, can I? … I have to make a video apparently that turns into a virus.”

Aniston then appears with puppies, a parrot, dancing CGI babies and a Double Rainbow guy clone, before kicking a fan in his privates. “Sorry, but that should be worth about 100,000 hits,” she explains. Finally, Aniston suggestively drinks from a Smart Water bottle, getting her three “Internet boys” hot and heavy. The punchline? They decide to call the would-be viral video “Jen Aniston’s Sex Tape.”

Smart Water’s not the first marketer to realize the viral potential of stereotypical Internet memes. For instance, in the 2009 film Funny People, Jonah Hill’s struggling comic character put out a YouTube video of himself playing with kittens to get attention. That video has gotten more than 250,000 hits in real life.

What do you think? Can Smart Water have it both ways? Or is this idea not so smart after all? Tell us in the comments.

More About: advertising, double-rainbow, jennifer aniston, MARKETING, Smart Water, trending

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Skype To Start Running Ads This Week

Posted: 07 Mar 2011 08:17 AM PST


In an attempt to create a new revenue stream, Skype this week will roll out ads from the likes of Groupon, Universal Pictures and Visa.

New advertising will appear in the home page in Skype, according to the company’s blog. Chief marketing officer Doug Bewsher says Skype has already run some test ads via online music service Rdio “in the last month or two.”

In the post, Bewsher says the ads are designed to be unobtrusive and “won’t interrupt your Skype experience.” The company also plans to target the ads based on “non-personally identifiable” demographic data, though users can opt out of sharing such information.

Skype offered the following example of what the ads will look like.

Skype’s move comes after the company mulled over advertising for some time. In May, then-CEO Josh Silverman told The Telegraph the company is challenged to keep Skype-to-Skype calls free and maintain quality of service. That led the Skype team to “seriously consider” including ads from third parties.

Advertising represents an enticing potential source of revenues for Skype. In its prospectus with the SEC, Skype cited advertising as one of its potential sources of income. That led Fortune to conclude that advertising could bring in as much as $200 million in annual revenues for Skype.

More About: advertising, groupon, Skype

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4 Simple Programs for Managing Employee Goals

Posted: 07 Mar 2011 07:58 AM PST

goals


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

“What does my job contribute to the company’s overall mission?” “Which projects are my top priorities?” and “How can I grow in my position?” are questions that every employee should be asking, and every company must answer. Assigning and tracking goals is an effective way to both answer them and to make sure that personal and corporate objectives align.

While goal-driven performance management may be as effective in a 50-person company as in a 5,000-person company, most software programs for this purpose come loaded with features to suit the latter.

Here are four programs that concentrate on the features small businesses need to track employee goals at a price they can afford.

If your business uses these tools, let us know about your experiences in the comments below.

1. Lifetick Coach

Lifetick

The manager component to the Lifetick independent goal setting app, Lifetick Coach, is intended for life coaches or mentors to track their mentees’ progress. Features such as mentee-mentor messaging, group communication, SMART goal planning and core value-based goals also make it a viable option for small businesses. Unlike other goal-tracking programs, employees using Lifetick Coach set up their own goals and designate tasks that might help reach those goals. This process empowers employees to organize their goals while giving managers full visibility of their progress.

Price: $29 per month for up to eight employees

2. CreateSmartGoals

CreateSmartGoals

CreateSmartGoals is another hosted solution to managing employee goals. Managers can set goals for the entire organization, a specific department, or specific employees, who note their progress in a results journal. They can also designate the status of goals and what percentage of each goal is complete. But without the ability to break goals into smaller tasks, the platform becomes more of a task manager than a large-lens goal-setting mechanism.

Price: $30 per month for up to 10 employees

3. Goalscape

Goalscape

Goalscape is the ultimate tool for visualizing goals. Your company’s main goal (i.e. “make more money”) goes in the middle circle of the interactive infographic, and subgoals go around it. Each subgoal can be broken down into more subgoals by adding further layers to the infographics. The space each goal takes up can be adjusted to signify its relative importance, and shading signifies progress on each goal.

You can invite as many collaborators as you want into the infographic as well as share it with all of your employees. A helpful feature that allows you to designate who is responsible for the completion of each subgoal, as well as attach notes and files, makes it helpful for managing projects, and the infographic is slick enough to include in presentations.

Price: About $12 per month

4. WorkSimple

WorkSimple

With WorkSimple, you can assign departments, employees and yourself goals, which are either visible to the entire company or to only the employee and manager. Employees report their own progress and check in on goals that are aligned with their own. When it comes time to give employee evaluations, the platform automatically compiles a report based on goal performance and asks employees to self-evaluate.

Price: $60 per year

Image courtesy of Flickr, xJasonRogersx

More Small Business Resources from Mashable:

- 5 Essential Web Apps for the Lean Small Business
- 5 New Online Services Perfect for Small Businesses
- What Does Web Design Say About Your Small Business?
- 10 Customizable Holiday Gifts for Your Tech-Savvy Office
- 10 Ways Business Leaders Can Turn Ideas Into Execution

More About: goals, Goalscape, Lifetick, List, Lists, Performance Management, small business, WorkSimple

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Mark Zuckerberg’s Puppy Gets a Facebook Page [PICS]

Posted: 07 Mar 2011 07:29 AM PST


The millions of people who saw The Social Network might not believe it, but Mark Zuckerberg has a softer side, an aspect underscored by his latest project: a Facebook Page for his new puppy.

Beast, a fluffy white Puli, got his own Facebook Page, which features pictures of the Facebook CEO and founder and his girlfriend, Priscilla Chan, holding and playing with the pup. So far, Beast has gotten about 2,000 “likes.” Zuckerberg and Chan are listed as the Page owners. Facebook reps could not be reached for comment on the Page’s authenticity.

The Page is the latest move by Zuckerberg that draws a friendlier and more complex portrait than the Academy Award-nominated movie. Since the release of that film, which portrays Zuck as a monomaniacal businessman, he has given $100 million to Newark’s schools, appeared on Saturday Night Live and sat down for a humanizing interview on 60 Minutes. Zuckerberg also appears to be at the front of a new trend: Creating Facebook pages for family pets.

Is this latest move a PR ploy or puppy love? Tell us in the comments what you think, and check out the pics below.


Mark Zuckerberg and his new puppy, Beast





Zuckerberg, Priscilla Chan and Beast





Beast goes for a ride





Zuckerberg and Chan hold Beast





Beast





Beast sits by a full-grown Puli





Beast and another Puli





Beast





Beast





Beast sits on Chan's lap





Zuckerberg plays with Beast





Zuckerberg holds his new puppy





Zuckerberg and Chan play with Beast





invite




More About: facebook, mark zuckerberg, PUBLIC RELATIONS, the social network

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Western Digital To Acquire Hitachi for $4.3 Billion

Posted: 07 Mar 2011 07:19 AM PST


Storage giant Western Digital has entered a definitive agreement to acquire Hitachi in a cash and stock transaction valued at approximately $4.3 billion, the company announced.

Under the terms of the agreement, WD will acquire Hitachi for $3.5 billion in cash, and Hitachi will become the owner of 25 million WD common shares valued at approximately $750 million. After regulatory approvals, the transaction is expected to close during Q3 of 2011.

In 2006, Seagate acquired hard disk manufacturer Maxtor in a $1.9 billion deal, which helped the company keep the title of the world’s largest hard disk manufacturer until 2010. Now, Western Digital will increase its lead by a large margin, capturing nearly 50% of the market.

More About: acquisition, Hitachi, Western Digital

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New Video-Sharing App From Justin.tv Now Available

Posted: 07 Mar 2011 06:58 AM PST

We’ve been hearing for weeks about Socialcam, a new video-sharing app from Justin.tv, and today it becomes available on the iPhone and Android.

This isn’t the team’s first crack at apps — 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 — as well as making it dead simple to upload. Upon logging into Socialcam, the first thing we noticed was how similar it looks to Instagram, which makes it easy for people to snap pics and share them on the fly. In fact, if you’re an Instagram user, you should have no issues figuring out how to use Socialcam.


If you take a look at the screenshot above, the UI is pretty simple. There’s a feed with all of your friends’ videos, a feed with your own vids (this is a feature Instagram lacks — I personally find it a little hard to find one’s own pictures on that app), the camera, a tab that leads to whom you’re following, your followers, suggested followers and settings.

All one has to do is turn on the camera, record, add a title, tag friends in the video and share via Facebook, Twitter, e-mail or SMS. You can also “like” and comment on videos. (Click here to check out a video I made of my ‘hood that makes it look as if I reside in a post-apocalyptic nightmare.) Yes, this sounds a bit similar to Qik, however Socialcam is free and Qik doesn’t have a tagging option.

The tagging option, says DiPietro, is the key to Socialcam’s success. “We hope tagging will insert a level of shareability that will wow everybody,” he says. “It’s super sticky and viral. Facebook is so sticky because when you sign up, there’s already pictures of you on there that you haven’t seen. There’s content that you want that you didn’t know was there.” He hopes that same will be true for Socialcam. You can tag people in videos who aren’t using Socialcam, as its plugged into your social networks.

While we can see this app becoming very popular among news sources and lifecasting celebs, the team says, “We built it very specifically for friends and family. However, that’s the exact same thing that Mark Zuckerberg was thinking about when he launched Facebook, and Facebook is a much more widely used platform now.”

At launch, the Justin.tv team has built an easy-to-use, slick tool for video-sharing (we would have loved it if they had included filters, a la Instagram, however). It will be interesting to see if it catches on during SXSW this week and next.

If you want to check it out for yourself, surf on over to the Socialcam website for more info.

More About: justin-tv, socialcam, video

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Angry Birds, Twitter’s Worth & Android Malware: This Morning’s Top Stories

Posted: 07 Mar 2011 06:47 AM PST

Social Media News

Welcome to this morning's edition of "First To Know," a series in which we keep you in the know on what's happening in the digital world. We're keeping our eyes on three particular stories of interest today.

Angry Birds Is Coming to Facebook

Rovio CEO Mikael Hed says the immensely popular Angry Birds game is coming to Facebook next month with "completely new aspects to it that just haven't been experienced in any other platform."

Private Trading Raises Twitter Valuation to $7.7 Billion

The latest auction of Twitter shares on Sharespost values the company at $7.7 billion, which is almost twice as high as the microblogging service’s valuation after a round of funding in January.

Google Unleashes Kill Switch for Android Malware

Google turned on a remote kill switch over the weekend, removing the 58 malicious apps downloaded to 260,000 Android smartphones earlier in the week.

Further News

  • TweetDeck has announced that a new version of its iOS app is due to be released in the "next couple of weeks."
  • Al Jazeera English is planning a new talk show centered on social networking.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, DNY59

More About: android, angry birds, facebook, first to know series, Google, twitter

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