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Mashable: Latest 29 News Updates - including “Google Celebrates Charlie Chaplin’s Birthday with an Animated Doodle”

Posted by Ashim Adhikari on 5:41 AM // 0 comments

Mashable: Latest 29 News Updates - including “Google Celebrates Charlie Chaplin’s Birthday with an Animated Doodle”

Google Celebrates Charlie Chaplin’s Birthday with an Animated Doodle

Posted: 15 Apr 2011 03:30 AM PDT


Google is celebrating Charlie Chaplin’s 122th birthday with a special animated Doodle which is actually a short movie in Chaplin’s style.

Born Charles Spencer Chaplin on April 16, 1889, Charlie Chaplin was an English actor and director, well known for his comedy work in the silent film era. His style of visual, slapstick comedy, as well as his legendary hat and mustache made him one of the most recognizable pop icons of all time.

Google’s Doodles were once mostly static images, but lately Google has been experimenting with animated and interactive logos, which are becoming more and more intricate. Two that come to mind are the recent “animated particles” Doodle and the animated one which celebrated John Lennon‘s 70th birthday.

[via Google]

More About: animation, charlie-chaplin, Doodle, Google, google doodle

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T-Mobile G2x Now Available for $200

Posted: 15 Apr 2011 02:06 AM PDT


T-Mobile has a new device in its Android roster, the T-Mobile G2x. It is essentially the same phone as LG Optimus 2X, which makes it one of the most powerful Android devices on the market.

The T-Mobile G2x features a dual-core 1 Ghz Tegra chip, a 4-inch WVGA screen, 8 GB of memory (expandable up to 32 GB via microSD memory cards), a 1,500 mAh battery, an 8-megapixel rear camera with 1080p recording capabilities and a 1.3-megapixel front camera for video calls. Also present are HDMI, accelerometer, a gyro sensor, and a micro-USB port. The device is currently running Android 2.2, upgradeable to 2.3 at a later date.

The suggested retail price for the T-Mobile G2x is $499.99, but after an instand discount and a mail-in rebate it goes down to the (now standard for this class of device) price of $199.99, with a two-year contract attached. The device is currently available exclusively online; it will be hitting the store on April 20.

[via T-Mobile]

More About: android, LG, LG G2x, Mobile 2.0, phone, smartphone, T-Mobile

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Get Ready for the Nintendo Wii 2 [REPORT]

Posted: 14 Apr 2011 10:42 PM PDT


Nintendo could be revealing a HD successor to the Wii console this summer, according to new reports.

There hasn’t been a new gaming console since the launch of the Wii and PlayStation 3 in November 2006. However, Microsoft has breathed new life into its console, the Xbox 360, thanks to the Kinect. The Wii, which has been best the best-selling console for years, is about to lose its first place position.

While Nintendo intends to respond to the Xbox threat by cutting the Wii’s price next month, it looks like the gaming company has another trick up its sleeve: a brand new HD console. According to Game Informer‘s sources, Nintendo plans to unveil a new console at the E3 conference in Los Angeles in June or potentially sooner.

Very little is known about the rumored console, not even the name (Wii 2? Wii HD? Wii 360?), but it’s likely to be more powerful than the Xbox 360 or the PlayStation 3, according to Kotaku. Nintendo has apparently been showing off the system to third-party developers so they can prepare titles for the console’s eventual launch in late 2012.

The Wii captured the hearts and minds of casual gamers with its innovative controller system and its lower price point, but the specs and visuals of its rival consoles are far stronger, giving them greater longevity. Microsoft has also mitigated the Wii’s advantage with causal gamers, thanks to Kinect. Perhaps that’s what is driving Nintendo’s rumored decision to be first on the market with a new console.

More About: games, gaming, Nintendo, nintendo wii, trending, Wii

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Google’s Earnings: 4 Takeaways

Posted: 14 Apr 2011 09:27 PM PDT


Google’s Google’s Q1 earnings are out, and the verdict isn’t good. While its revenues and profits are up by 27% and 15% respectively, its earnings per share didn’t meet Wall Street expectations. Google’s stock price has taken a beating in after hours trading as a result.

That’s not the only thing hidden in Google’s earnings, though. The numbers tell a deeper story about the search giant’s priorities and its biggest challenges. There are surprising jumps in Google’s R&D, stock-based compensation and marketing expenses. Why are all of these expenses on the rise?

To answer that question, let’s dive into the numbers. Here are some takeaways from Google’s Q1 earnings:

1. The talent wars are taking their toll on Google

One of the biggest increases in Google’s Q1 financials was the rise in stock-based compensation expenses. In Q1 2010, Google doled out $291 million in stock options and bonuses. In Q1 2011, that number rose 48% to $432 million.

We know that Google’s been working overtime to retain its current employees, as well as expand its current workforce. Last year, Google gave everyone a 10% raise and a $1,000 bonus. But that hasn’t been enough to stop Facebook, Twitter and others from raiding its talent. Google’s even reportedly making massive counteroffers of $50+ million to keep its top employees from jumping ship.

The lack of engineers to meet the high demand in Silicon Valley has created a war for talent between the world’s top tech companies and the thousands of startups in the Bay Area. The result is that Google has to pay more for talent, and it’s going to get worse.

Prediction: the $432 million it spent in Q1 will be nothing compared to what it spends in Q4 this year.

2. R&D is way up, but why?

Google spent a lot of money on R&D this quarter. In Q1 2010, Google spent $818 million on R&D ($627 million if you remove stock-based compensation). In Q1 2011, that number jumped by a whopping $408 million to $1.23 billion ($989 million sans stock-based compensation).

So what caused the dramatic rise in research and development? While Google declined to break down its R&D line items, we assume it looks something like this:

1) Social
2) Social
3) Social

It’s no secret Google has a poor track record on social media. While YouTube has turned into a strong property, Google Buzz was one of 2010′s biggest tech flops. It’s been developing products like +1 and advanced social search, but none of these projects have been enough to fight off the Facebook threat.

Social media success is so important to the company that bonuses are now tied to Google’s social media success.

We’re sure there are other factors contributing to this quarter’s inflated R&D budget (Android, Chrome), but we bet social is a major contributing factor.

3. Google’s flexing its marketing muscle

In Q1 2006, Google spent $191 million on sales and marketing. In Q1 2010, that number was $607 million. In Q1 2011, that number skyrocketed to $1.03 billion –that’s a shocking increase of 69% in just one year.

What is Google spending all that money on? During today’s earning call, CFO Patrick Pichette defended the $1+ billion rise in operational expenses. One thing he pointed out: Google’s increased spending has made Android a dominant mobile platform. 350,000 Android devices are now being activated every day. There’s a reason why people are predicting Android could own half of the smartphone market by 2015.

We’ve seen an increase in Google’s marketing efforts over the last few years, and that’s reflected in the spending. Android has been the big beneficiary, but Chrome has gotten some the spotlight as well. SVP Jeff Huber said on today’s call that 40% of Chrome’s 120 million users came from its marketing efforts.

For years, Google spurned traditional marketing, but in competitive markets like search and mobile, it simply needed to pony up the cash to get the word out about its products. The investment seems to be paying off so far.

4. Google’s in very good shape

Google’s stock may be taking a beating right now (the stock is down ~5.5% in after hours trading), but overall Google’s doing just fine. Revenue is up 27% and profits are up 15%, despite the big increase in spending. Those are solid metrics that point in the right direction.

The big increase in operational spending is something to worry about, but most of those investments are in marketing, R&D and personnel — the types of investments that typically pay off through better products. It would be a different story if the increases were coming from operational inefficiencies or a bloated staff, but neither seem to be the case.

The bottom line is that Google’s revenues are growing, and that trend doesn’t show any sign of changing.

More About: android, chrome, Google, google chrome, Google Earnings

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Do We Need an Online Trophy Case For Our Digital Achievements?

Posted: 14 Apr 2011 08:38 PM PDT


This post is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark as a new part of the Spark of Genius series that focuses on a new and innovative startup each day. Every Thursday, the program focuses on startups within the BizSpark program and what they’re doing to grow.

In the digital realm, achievements take the shape of badges, pins, points, stamps and other paraphernalia that startups and games dole out to users who check in at locations, complete tasks or repeat some form of “good” behavior.

To some, these achievements are meaningless baubles. To others, they are trophies to be celebrated with friends. For the latter group there exists Score.ly, a fledgling startup.

Score.ly aggregates badges and activities via APIs from 12 different social media and entertainment sites. On Score.ly, users connect accounts such as Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Gowalla, GetGlue, Flickr, XBox Live, Netflix and so forth, and Score.ly grabs their earned achievements, awards badges of its own and then houses them all in user “Folios,” short for portfolios.

“It’s an online trophy case,” founder Elizabeth Fuller explains.

An Online Trophy Case

Fuller, ever-curious about the way in which people choose to represent themselves, has been thinking about the discrepancies between real-world achievements and online accomplishments for years.

She, along with business partner David Leibowitz, started to think specifically around the idea of an online trophy case as a place to collect and share achievements in the summer of 2010. The idea grew into a business after the pair pitched the startup at a Startup Weekend event in New York city and won $10,000 in seed money from AOL Ventures.

Score.ly then launched an alpha version of the site in September and has since go on to receive a tempered response for online denizens. The startup isn’t publicly releasing the exact size of its user base, but the number is in the tens of thousands.

Are These Collectors Items?

Not all trophies are created equal. An honorable mention is far less memorable than a first place or grand supreme showing. Does the same stratification exist for digital awards, and which, if any, have lasting value?

And will our children and children’s children one day see our online trophies as testaments of real achievement? Will they say, grandma, “I can’t believe you unlocked the Douchebag badge on Foursquare? Tell me how you did it!”

Perhaps not. Still, Fuller insists that Score.ly’s small user base is actively engaged. “We’ve noticed that people linger on, and get excited about, the LeaderMap,” she says.

The LeaderMap is a portion of the site where Score.ly users can sort a leaderboard of friends by achievements, kudos (Score.ly’s answer to the “like”), Twitter followers, Foursquare badges and the rest.

But, Fuller sounds uncertain about what the startup can realistically do with the achievements it aggregates in the long run. Her answer to the question, “What’s the point of collecting these things?” is barely tangible. “We’re looking at new ways to aggregate and spread this information,” she says.

The young startup has plenty of time to explore the “So, what?” question, and it even has a few ideas around monetization that Fuller’s not ready to disclose.

So, is this a give-it-time-to-mature startup or a service that celebrates a temporary fad in internet culture? That’s for you to decide.

Image courtesy of confidence, comely, Flickr

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: badges, bizspark, foursquare badges, gamification, score.ly, spark-of-genius, startup

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Fab.com’s Pivot From Gay Network to Daily Design Deals & Inspirations

Posted: 14 Apr 2011 06:47 PM PDT


Fab.com has succumbed to the ultimate startup buzzword: the pivot.

What launched as Fabulis.com, the feature-packed, socially savvy site for gay men has become Fab.com, the site that gives users daily design inspirations and sales up to 70% off retail.

Founder and serial entrepreneur Jason Goldberg has some experience in the daily deals scene; Fab.com began offering Groupon-like deals for gay men back in February. But the pivot from a gay-focused portal to a design and lifestyle site marks an entirely new direction for him and his team.

As Goldberg wrote at the time of the pivot, “Gay rights progress over the past year had a positive impact on the gay community but a negative impact on the demand for our services.” In other words, with LGBT-positive messages and attitudes spreading around the social web and gay men finding relevant activities and deals on mainstream sites, why did gay men need a segregated deals/social space online?

In an email, Goldberg continued this train of thought. “I do not think there is much of a viable business for building a web-based community for gay men beyond dating and hookups,” he said. “Gay men are more and more comfortable living ‘out’ on sites like Facebook, Yelp and Foursquare. … The mainstream sites are fulfilling the demand from gay men as gay men are able to participate on them with all of their friends, not just with their gay friends.”

Moving forward, Goldberg and company will be trying to find the profitable sweet spots between design and deals.

“Design is a lifestyle, and it's social,” he wrote. “People love sharing great designs!”

With that in mind, the first major feature launch of the new Fab.com is the Inspiration Wall. Half crowdsourced moodboard, half design geek Tumblr, the Inspiration Wall allows users to upload and browse inspiring images.

Images can be uploaded from one’s computer, from Instagram, and from Google Images, with more upload options coming soon. Users can browse images by color, by tags, by recent uploads and by popularity; you can also search to see images tagged with specific terms. Settings can be adjusted to show small, medium or large images.

Ultimately, the Fab.com team hopes to turn this kind of inspiration into “approachable and affordable” flash sales for design products.

Fab.com’s design flash sales will begin in five more weeks. We’ll keep an eye on the site to see whether Goldberg’s pivot pans out; in the meantime, would-be users are being asked to sign up for priority access now.

In the mean time, what do you think of the Inspiration Wall? Let us know your opinions in the comments section.

More About: daily deals, design, Fab.com

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Girl Does Really Good Animal Impressions, Delights Web [VIDEO]

Posted: 14 Apr 2011 05:18 PM PDT

Because it’s almost the weekend, and because it’s sunny in NYC, you get another viral video today! Behold: Some girl who does really good animal impressions.

YouTube user Mel describes the video thusly: “I was studying abroad in NZ when my friends found out that I can do animal noises. So, they had me do them in front of a video camera. They suggested that I make a YouTube account and post it… Well, here it is! Enjoy!!”

If YouTube really does launch channels, I nominate Mel to head up the inevitable “Animals Doing Things Channel.”

[via Reddit]

More About: viral video, youtube

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Google’s Revenue Up, Earnings Fall Short

Posted: 14 Apr 2011 04:23 PM PDT


Google has announced its first quarter financial results, revealing that its revenues increased by 27% — but earnings fell short of Wall Street estimates.

Google managed to generate $8.58 billion in revenue, an increase of 27% from the $6.78 billion it earned in the first quarter of 2010. Some 69% of its revenue came from Google-owned websites, while 28% of its revenue was generated via AdSense.

The company is still mostly global: 53%  of its total revenue came from international sources, almost identical to the 52% international revenue it generated in Q1 2010.

The search giant’s profits also increased. Google earned an operating profit of $2.8 billion, a 15% increase from its Q1 2010 earnings ($2.49 billion). That translates to an income of $8.08 per share. While that’s an increase from last year, Wall Street estimates had it at $8.12 per share.

As a result, shares of Google stock are currently down in after-hours trading. At the time of writing, Google shares were down 30.94 points to 547.57, a decline of 5.35%.

Why did Google miss the estimate? It’s partly due to increased costs for marketing, hiring and R&D. Research and development spending shot up by 50% to $1.23 billion, marketing costs skyrocketed by 69% to $1.03 billion, and stock-based compensation expenses rose by 48% to $432 million. Those giant bonuses last year are taking their toll on the company’s bottom line.

Google reported that it had 26,316 full-time employees as of March 31, up from 24,400 employees at the end of last year.

More About: Google, Google Earnings, income, Revenue, trending

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The iPad Will See You Now: Meet Dr. Chrono

Posted: 14 Apr 2011 03:55 PM PDT


We’ve seen consumer gadgets being used by medical practitioners already, but an iPad app called Drchrono is taking medicine to a new level of paper-free convenience.

Drchrono is an EHR (electronic health record) app for the iPad. It allows doctors to complete everyday tasks and access information without having to turn to paper records. The information gathered and accessed through the app is also available from any web browser, iPhone or Android device, since the app syncs with the Drchrono web-based healthcare platform.

The app’s features are intended to improve the ways in which doctors interact with patients. For example, physicians can use the app for scheduling appointments, writing e-prescriptions (which can be sent to any U.S. pharmacy), paperless billing, note taking, medical speech-to-text transcription, and drug interaction tests. X-rays, EKGs and lab results can be uploaded to the app, where they can be tagged and viewed later.

And as the makers of Drchrono point out, the app can go with the physician into the exam room. A web app or non-web-based computer software, on the other hand, require the practitioner to be in front of a computer.

Records are updated in real time, and the app’s makers are constantly adding new features. All the data storage is HIPAA-compliant, as well.

Here are a few demo videos to give you an idea of the app’s UI and features:

It’s free for doctors to use the app on one iPad. Adding more devices requires subscriptions that range between $99 and $199 per month. Meanwhile, using Drchrono qualifies medical practitioners for a $44,000 in economic stimulus incentives through the HITECH Act, which has earmarked $19.2 billion to get doctors to transition from paper records to digital ones.

The app comes with free online training and daily demos for physicians who have questions about the app or want to learn more about its features.

Drchrono is a Y Combinator startup co-founded by Michael Nusimow and Daniel Kivatinos. “Our vision is to have an iPad in every doctor’s office with our app on it,” Kivatinos said in an email. “We are trying to build out the most friendly electronic medical record platform ever used by doctors.”

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, melhi

More About: dr chrono, drchrono, EHR, EMR, health, ipad, medical, medicine, y combinator

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Flipboard Nabs $50 Million in Funding, Bringing Valuation to $200 Million

Posted: 14 Apr 2011 03:23 PM PDT


Flipboard has confirmed a $50 million round in recent funding, bringing the company's valuation to $200 million.

The funding was originally reported in All Things D, based on an interview with CEO Mike McCue. "We're obviously thrilled, because we think it confirms our focus that people want a beautifully designed way to interact with content and to share it," McCue says in the article. "And there is a lot more to come–on a scale of one to 10, we're just at a two or three."

Flipboard spokeswoman Marci McCue confirmed the report, adding that Insight Venture Partners is the lead investor. Others include Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Index Ventures and "most of the individuals who originally invested, as well as Comcast." The report lists other investors, including Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey and actor Ashton Kutcher.

Flipboard introduced its iPad app last summer, calling it "the world's first social magazine." The app, which may also be available for the iPhone this summer, presents curated content from a user's Facebook and Twitter feeds in a magazine-style format on iPad devices.

More About: ashton kutcher, Flipboard, Insight Venture Partners, ipad, Kleiner Perkins

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How a Carmaker Let Consumers Like It on Facebook — Without a PC or Phone [VIDEO]

Posted: 14 Apr 2011 02:58 PM PDT

With more than 600 million users, Facebook's mobile strategy transcends the need for smartphones, as seen in a recent Dutch promotion for Renault.

In the video above, the carmaker was filmed seeking to boost its Facebook "Likes" with a push at the Amsterdam Motor Show, using RFID-enabled cards. Attendees at the show could use the cards to check in to pillars near Renault's cars and log in to their Facebook accounts where they could "Like" various models.

Renault's effort is one of just a handful that have used RFID to bridge Facebook's online world with real-life experiences. Others include a Coca-Cola Amusement Park promotion in Israel last summer that let attendees update their statuses with RFID bracelets and one from Asics, which let friends and family send individualized, Facebook-derived messages to runners in the New York Marathon via a video screen.

More About: facebook, MARKETING, Renault, rfid

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Apple Adds “Do Not Track” Features to Safari [REPORT]

Posted: 14 Apr 2011 02:35 PM PDT


Apple‘s Safari browser is joining the ranks of Internet browsers implementing do-not-track features — a move that’s in line with consumers’ and legislators’ wishes.

According to several reports, including one in the Wall Street Journal, a forthcoming version of Safari released to developers includes an option that lets users prevent cookies from tracking their browsing behavior. The browser is part of a test version of Mac OS X Lion.

Do-not-track and similar privacy options have been a large part of the public discourse about security in web browsing. Congress recently introduced a Do Not Track Me Online bill that would allow consumers to opt out of online tracking. It would work a lot like the Do Not Call registry, which allows consumers to opt out of telemarketing phone calls. And the FTC has been exploring do-not-track options since last year.

Major web browsers have preempted them by adding do-not-track features. Firefox 4 led the way, allowing users to opt out of advertising-related tracking.

Internet Explorer 9 followed suit with an option called “Tracking Protection” that allowed consumers to disable third-party ad software from reporting on their activities.

Google has released a Chrome extension called Keep My Opt-Outs, a “one-step, persistent opt-out of personalized advertising and related data tracking.” So far, the company hasn’t announced any plans to include a native no-tracking feature.

Are you a Safari user? Would you welcome no-tracking options in the browser? Give us your take on this news from Apple in the comments.

More About: apple, browser, do not track, safari

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Airbnb Lets You Rent a Country … For $70K a Night

Posted: 14 Apr 2011 02:13 PM PDT


Sometimes, a couch just doesn’t cut it. For travelers looking for a bit more bang for a lot more bucks, vacation rentals startup Airbnb has added extravagant listings fit for a king — literally.

The startup, in partnership with Rent a Village by Xnet, is now renting entire Austrian villages, German towns, a Swiss ski-resort and even an entire European country. The Principality of Liechtenstein rents for $70,000 per night. Bargain hunters can rent a German or a Swiss village for a mere $50,000 a night.

“With Xnet and Airbnb, events take place throughout the idyllic landscape of your host destination, not in some generic hotel,” says Airbnb. “The local people earn a living, because each event draws heavily on local vendors and service providers for everything from accommodations and catering to infrastructure and activity production.”

And if you so choose, says the startup, “the mayors and marching bands can welcome you with a custom medieval festival and present you the key to the city. Or perhaps a wine tasting event at a prince’s estate followed by a fireworks show is more your style.”

After closing its $7.2 million Series A round in November, Airbnb said it would use the funds for global expansion. “With the additional funding … we will be able to take even larger steps,” co-founder Nate Blecharczyk said. Consider this the first of them.

More About: AirBNB, startup, travel, vacation rentals

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Behind the Scenes: How Yoostar Is Building a Social Platform Around Movie Karaoke [VIDEO]

Posted: 14 Apr 2011 02:06 PM PDT

Technology expert Scott Steinberg is the CEO of high-tech consulting firm TechSavvy Global, and a frequent tech analyst and gaming expert for ABC, CBS and CNN. He’s covered the field for 400+ outlets from NPR to Rolling Stone, is the founder of GameExec Magazine, and hosts the video series Game Theory, hailed as "the smartest take on the video game industry."

Thousands of social games exist on Facebook. Thousands of console games also enjoy regular spins on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii gaming systems. But as yet, seldom do they play nicely together.

Intriguingly though, the former is suddenly and unexpectedly making its influence felt on set-top devices courtesy of movie karaoke game Yoostar 2. Some may argue that the title's innovation lies in using Sony's PlayStation Eye (PS3) or Xbox 360's Kinect camera to insert live video of the player into dozens of classic Hollywood TV and movie scenes. But beyond doubling as Arnold in The Terminator or joining the cast of Mad Men, one of the more intriguing features is the software’s complete integration with the Facebook game Yoostar Playground.

You can seamlessly upload video performances online via PlayStation Network or Xbox Live right to social networks, where others can vote, bestow Internet fame and follow your antics. Using the service, it's not only possible to share viral videos of you doing your best impression of Marlon Brando in The Godfather via Facebook and Twitter. You can also earn rewards that unlock content in the disc-based console versions of the game.

Granted, it's a relatively simple application of social networking principles translating over to traditional gaming experiences — and in this case, a highly casual one at that. The title has also come under fire by critics for some technical hiccups and its lightweight play, better suited for breaking the ice at a dinner party than button-mashing marathon gaming sessions. But in an era where social and console game developers continue to clash over the direction of software development, it stands as a unique experiment. Whereas larger publishers like Electronic Arts tend to silo social games (e.g. World Series Superstars) into standalone experiences, Yoostar 2 represents one of the first efforts to bridge the gap between devices and platforms.

Curious to learn more, we recently paid Yoostar's offices a visit. As the above video illustrates, significant sea changes may be afoot for the games industry — and, of course, that some of us may want to rethink our acting careers.


Interested in more Gaming resources? Check out Mashable Explore, a new way to discover information on your favorite Mashable topics.

More About: facebook, gaming, kinect, Movies, PS3, social games, tech, video, video games, yoostar 2

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Glee Cast Will Cover Rebecca Black’s “Friday”

Posted: 14 Apr 2011 01:42 PM PDT


The Internets are leaking all over the TV, reportedly, as modern musical comedy/drama Glee will be covering Rebecca Black’s smash-hit viral sensation, “Friday.”

The news comes from Vulture, who is reporting that the event will occur during the show’s prom episode and will feature Kevin McHale (wheelchair-bound Artie), Chord Overstreet (Justin Bieber lookalike, Sam), and Mark Salling (punk Puck).

Last week, YouTube did a study that showed that “Friday” was still holding strong in searches. This new injection of buzz from Glee should keep the song tripping through the zeitgeist for a while yet.

More About: end-times, Friday, GLEE, music, Rebecca Black

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Social Media for Small Businesses: 6 Effective Strategies

Posted: 14 Apr 2011 01:27 PM PDT

smb woman image

Nellie Akalp is CEO of CorpNet.com, her second incorporation filing service based on her strong passion to assist small business owners and entrepreneurs in starting and protecting their business. She has formed more than 100,000 corporations and LLCs across the U.S. To learn more about Nellie and see how she can help your business get off the ground quickly and affordably, please visit here.

Many small business owners I encounter are either too busy for social media, or they don't truly understand Facebook, Foursquare, or Twitter. So they choose to delegate these tools to interns or specialists. This may not always be in the best interest of the company.

I'm not a social media expert. Far from it. I haven't ousted any mayors yet, and probably won't anytime soon. But I am a small business owner and entrepreneur who truly embraces the unique opportunity that social media offers. Nothing else gives me such a direct way to “talk” with my clients and community on a daily basis. And people are what brought me into business in the first place.

Over the past few years, I've made it a point to explore and understand the social web around me. And while I'll be the first to admit there's a lot left to learn, here are a few key lessons I've discovered so far.

1. Your Customer Knows Best

Social media has little to do with you; it's all about your audience, customers, or whomever you're trying to reach. Marketing 101 says to think like your customer thinks. And the same holds true in social media. In my particular business, my clients aren't necessarily flocking to Foursquare or augmented reality, but they are using LinkedIn and some other niche sites (in addition to Twitter and Facebook).

Not sure where your customers are on the social web? Just ask. Early on, I found myself asking clients if they were using any social networks. Most of the time, this simple question led to an interesting conversation and great insight on how I could take part and provide value. You don't always have to be the expert — you can let your customers show you their way.

2. Social Media Isn't Necessarily Free

Social media is attractive to small businesses because of its perceived price. You can set up a new blog, fan page, video site, and Twitter account without paying a dime. There's no expensive software, or costly media buys. However, even though there's a low price tag to enter the game, social media is far from free. It requires time, energy, and effort. It's a never-ending commitment to create interesting content, listen to conversations, and respond.

Instead of rushing to join any and every social media community out there, I prefer the slow and steady approach. Pick one or two communities that are important in your market. Determine your key goals and define who will be responsible for keeping activity going day in and day out. And just remember that your time is valuable. This new marketing is far from free.

3. Don't Measure Success by Follower Counts

Starbucks has more than 1.3 million followers on Twitter. You probably don’t, and that’s OK. As a small business, you shouldn't get caught up in the numbers game or try to keep up with the big brands. Growing your community is important, but you should be focused on who's engaging with you and at what levels. I know it's tempting to pay a service to deliver thousands of followers literally overnight. However, in the long run it's more important to have a devoted, enthusiastic community. Be patient. It's organic growth that matters. Things don't (and won't) happen overnight.

4. Social Media Doesn't Equal Self-Promotion

I'll be honest; my first experiment in social media wasn't too successful. I spent all my time posting and tweeting about my company, our news, and services. And the process became incredibly frustrating since I saw little results for my efforts. It wasn't until I began working with some very smart people that I realized two things:

  • I needed to show the person behind the company, and
  • I needed to focus on my customers, and not my company.

I began searching across the web for people looking for help and began offering advice and information. That was my “ah-ha” moment, and when social media began clicking for me.

5. Learn From the Experts

There are some great companies and brands doing great things with social media, so there's no reason for you to reinvent the wheel. Put on your consumer hat for awhile and take note of the various social media campaigns, or just general interactions, that appeal to you. I got in the habit of bookmarking and noting particular blog posts or company responses on Facebook.

But, we can't just be copycats. Beyond any ethical considerations, there's an effectiveness issue. Just because something worked for one company doesn't mean it's going to work for your community. You've got to learn from the work of others, while tailoring their experiences to your own particular needs, goals, and customers.

6. Get Help Without Relinquishing Your Identity

As a business owner, I know you simply can't take care of everything. And you simply can't be an expert in everything. You hire employees to specialize in or take care of certain areas of your business, and you contract outside help (a.k.a. outsource) other jobs as well. There's tremendous value in hiring a social media consultant or agency to help you. You shouldn't, however, hand over the reins entirely.

In my particular line of business, I like to be in control of establishing the relationship with my community and creating my networks. I've also decided I want to play a large role in defining the message and content for all our communications, as well as engage with every tweet and blog comment directly.

Small business owners will be well-served by working closely alongside their social media expert to learn about the various social platforms, communities, and protocol. By spending just a little bit of time each day with your agency manager or consultant, you can learn how to use the platforms and interact with communities. As a result, you'll become more comfortable and proficient using these tools yourself. At the end of the day, it will result in more authentic interactions. More than anything, the key is to get in there and try. You have to start somewhere.

Interested in more Business resources? Check out Mashable Explore, a new way to discover information on your favorite Mashable topics.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, skynesher

More About: business, MARKETING, small business, smb, social media

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Reebok App Uses Social Media Peer Pressure To Hold You To That Run

Posted: 14 Apr 2011 01:09 PM PDT


As some have discovered, social media can be used to hold yourself accountable for weight-loss goals. But what about for taking that scheduled run?

Reebok hopes to play that role with a new app called The Promise Keeper available on the iPhone and Android. Reebok’s app tells your Facebook friends and Twitter followers when you plan to take a run. If you don't, then the app will tell them that, too. (One downside of the app is that it’s based on an honor system: You’re required to tell Promise Keeper when you completed your run by pushing a “finish” button.)

The app promotes Reebok’s ZigTech running shoes and is a way to expand into consumers' lifestyles a la Nike Plus or Adidas miCoach. Nike Plus added a Facebook component in October that lets users solicit their Facebook friends for moral support as they run, but the app lacks the accountability angle of Promise Keeper.

Matt Powell, an analyst at SportsOneSource, says he believes Reebok's app is the first of its kind, though Nike Plus is pretty comprehensive. "It's really ubiquitous," Powell says of Nike Plus. "It's a huge hit."

For more on Promise Keeper, see the video below:

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Apple Releases iOS 4.3.2, Updating All iPads & Some iPhones

Posted: 14 Apr 2011 12:58 PM PDT


There’s a free update now available for iOS devices, now at version iOS 4.3.2.

What’s new? It’s mostly a bug fix that corrects issues with FaceTime, which has been accused of blanking and freezing screens during video calls. This will fix that, along with some 3G connectivity issues international users were having when trying to connect 3G networks. For iPads with Verizon 3G accounts, there’s a separate 4.2.7 build that addresses only security issues.

Beyond those useful fixes, security updates fill out the bulky 666.2 MB download, a devilish process in more ways than one because of its size and the fact that you still have to use iTunes and an entire computer just to install a software update.

So now that we’ve all downloaded and updated all of our iPhones and iPads, including iPads 1 and 2, the fourth-generation iPod Touch, the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4, do any of them feel different? No. But we can rest assured that our FaceTime calls will proceed without incident, and those security updates have rendered our cherished baubles bulletproof. That is, until the next hack or bug comes along.

More About: apple, downloads, iOS, ios 4.3.2, ipad, iphone, iPod Touch, software update

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NPR Facebook App Will Warm Public Radio Fans’ Hearts

Posted: 14 Apr 2011 12:39 PM PDT


NPR fans rejoice: Now you can show your affection for public radio via Facebook, as NPR has just launched a new app replete with trivia and other bells and whistles.

"People not only have an affinity for NPR but an affinity for each other, as listeners," Kinsey Wilson, NPR's general manager of digital media told Nieman Journalism Lab with regard to the app. "We're the only news organization where public trust has increased over the last decade."

Upon activating “I Heart NPR,” you can “put yourself on a map” of other NPR listeners and click around to see which stations have the most fans. You can then answer trivia after listening to audio clips from NPR stories or identify NPR theme songs (I got vivid flashbacks to listening to The Thistle & Shamrock with my parents. We were cool like that.) More games will be unlocked with every 100,000 new users.

The app is a perfect Facebook addition for all NPR listeners currently celebrating the fact that public radio managed to retain its federal funding.

Image courtesy of Flickr, santibon

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The Impact of the Social Web on Media Agencies

Posted: 14 Apr 2011 11:43 AM PDT


The Modern Media Agency Series is supported by IDG. Marketers and media companies have a lot of opportunity in the social Web. IDG Global Solutions President Matt Yorke says marketers can do it themselves or work with a publisher that is a trusted source for their prospects.

Facebook was born in 2004 as a simple directory of profile pages for Ivy League students. Twitter emerged one year later, imploring people to chirp what they're up to. When these social platforms launched, few people understood the promise they held for marketers and the opportunities they would bring for brands. Five years later, we have Facebook Pages, branded Twitter accounts, pimped out YouTube pages and badges on Foursquare.

Social media has had an incredible impact on a brand's marketing program, but often the brand works in tandem with a media agency to perfect its communication and create its approach on these innovative new platforms. Social media has forced agencies to work quicker, longer and harder — all while keeping up with the newest Facebook features and location-based app. Its impact on agencies and their work can not be underestimated. We spoke with three agency representatives who describe exactly how social has affected the way their agencies work.

In a roundtable discussion, Mashable spoke with (pictured above from left to right):

Let’s start by defining a media agency because there seems to be overlap in Venn diagram among social agencies, media agencies, marketing agencies and advertising agencies — is that blurry to me because I'm not in it, or is it blurry to everyone?

Kroll: We used to talk about media agencies primarily in terms of about print publications and television. About 10 years ago, we started to see a shift to digital. … In the last few years, with the real blossoming of Facebook and the evolution of Twitter, social media has become more of a player in how brands are engaging with consumers through social media. And just like 10 years ago when [agencies] were thinking about how to integrate digital, we're now starting to think about how to integrate social in our strategy as well as our campaigns. And technology is moving incredibly fast.

Owens: We're not a media agency, we're not a developer. The lines between what an agency does have been blurring quite a bit, and social media has exacerbated that because social is a pervasive layer. A lot of stuff happens under our roof, and it's a lot harder to draw a box around who does what, even within our own organization, let alone with our partners.

Berkowitz: Really, it comes down to defining "media." And now social media is an incredibly important part of the media, and it has changed the nature of what a media agency is.

When Twitter and Facebook started becoming widely used, was there a resistance to embrace it in campaigns?

Berkowitz: In 2006, a lot of the questions we were getting from clients were things like, “Should we be blogging? What's MySpace?” We got H&R block to be one of the first brands on Twitter. It wasn't common yet, but we figured that if it made sense for clients, we would do it, even if we didn't see it as a realistic revenue stream yet.

Owens: We certainly had to hit a level of critical mass, but after that point, we just saw it as a space in which to innovate. We saw people being creative in those mediums and wanted to align with that creativity and inspire and incentivize it … so we drove our clients strategically into them. From very early stages, [Facebook and Twitter] were part of the way thought about connecting and doing things that were engaging.

Kroll: We try to look at where the consumers of our brands are and how best we can carry on a conversation with them where they are. Even in the earlier days, a lot of fans created pages [for brands] on Facebook, and the question changed from, "Do we get involved here?" to "How do we engage with them where they want to be and how do we help create the environment for them to converse with the brand?”

How does social media fit into a campaign –- is it something you tack on at the end or has it become integral to the campaign?

Kroll: It's thought of as an integral piece. When we're creating a campaign, we think how social is going to play into that and how we’re going to measure it to make sure it's impactful. And we want to create an experience that's shareable — that’s social. Especially as Facebook Pages evolve to emulate the user profile page, brands are becoming more personable -– consumers are engaging with a brand as someone they know, so we try to keep that experience going.

Owens: Social is pervasive in everything we do — I can't think of a project in the past 12 months where it hasn't been an assumed part of the exercise. And even where you don't think you'll find social media, there is a social media layer on nearly everything, and that's just a function of the technology being available. Any exercise that we do increasing an experience for a brand in this day and age includes social media. It just has to.

Berkowitz: Social is pretty well integrated in terms of what we do. Early on, the social media group co-opted the customer insights team, which integrates feedback from social, whether it's a specifically social program or not.

How does your agency structure the social media team? Is there one point person for each project?

Kroll: We don't really have a separate social media team. … It’s been ingrained within our culture. We try to live by integrating it throughout, so Mediavest is really proud of the fact all that all of its strategists and planners are cross-athletes who understand mobile and social and digital, so it's become a part of the overarching, holistic planning process. In that way, I think we're a little different than [Razorfish and 360i], since we're involved in developing the overarching strategy, whereas these guys get to play with the nitty gritty of the campaign.

Owens: We're a bit of a hybrid. We do have social experts who drive that portion of our business, but they're not able to be on every team. Consequently, each team member, whether he’s in planning or UE or creative is, as Kroll says, “a cross-athlete,” but we pull in those experts when need be.

Berkowitz: We do have a growing social media team — we now have more than 20 community managers. Having people who know what to say and when to say it is a lot different than anything else that other people are doing. Digital word of mouth influences marketing, so we've brought on people who are building a lot of relationships. And then we have social media strategists and digital media strategists, but as someone who works with all of them, I have a harder and harder time knowing who's who — that line’s blurring a lot.

Kroll: You used to be able to see very delineated pillars between what was accessible via mobile or web or television, and now the platform is sort of becoming agnostic — it’s more about the behaviors that people are doing through their preferred platforms. Because of that I think we're seeing social become more of a horizontal engagement instead of being pillared into a separate section.

Are the teams at your agency less delineated than they used to be?

Owens: I think a lot of agencies are still ramping up their social staff — as David mentioned, in community management — and those people tend to be more delineated for us as well. But at the strategic level, it is becoming less delineated. Everything is driven from the same insights and business objectives, and then you farm out production responsibilities to specialists or where the best skill sets lie — but that's farther down in the tactical process. So in some ways it's more blurry, and in other ways it's more distinct because there are certain skill sets that are growing.

What social platforms are winning out with clients?

Berkowitz: For a lot of our clients, the default communities are Facebook and Twitter, and then there's YouTube. We have constant discussions about Foursquare, and then there are flavor-of-the-month platforms. In the CPG and shopping spaces, Shopkick comes up a lot — we'll see if that's still the case in six months. In the next month, I imagine that most of the meetings will mention Color. We're seeing a lot of interest in GroupMe and Beluga after SXSW. It varies by who the client is, what makes sense for them and where all the buzz is.

Owens: I'm finding increasingly that success is driven by two things — the category that you're in and the consumer segment you want to talk to. For Mercedes Benz, we found a terrific connection with brand enthusiasts on Twitter, and we've arguably found a great connection with loyal brand owners on Facebook. Then Mercedes uses private communities for people who really want to pierce the veil of the brand. It depends on what consumer segments you're trying to reach, and we've definitely found nuances between the platforms.

Kroll: I would agree with that. A majority of our brands are on Facebook, but you have to think about where their consumers and brand advocates are and where they're already having these discussions — and then find organic ways to integrate into the conversation without it feeling forced or unnatural.

How else has social changed the way your agency works?

Kroll: Social media has changed the way we think about campaigns. Campaigns used to have a start date and a stop date, and with social media, it becomes more of an always "on." You can't engage in a conversation and then just drop out of it, because you have people who are engaged with you.

Owens: The mistake that agencies made from a consumer experience standpoint 25 years ago was to separate creative and media into two silos — social media has exacerbated that need to bring those two back together because consumers want to experience things that marry the two. When I do a creative brief to our team, I'm briefing tech, UE, creative and media all at the same time — and that's because of social media. I've noticed a whole lot more war rooms –- people used to be comfortable in their cubes and you'd do the waterfall approach, [but now it's more collaborative].

Another thing that's changed at Razorfish is the speed at which we work. The pace of producing content has become much faster and there's a 24/7 approach to getting things out there — social media is something that can not wait. We do trends analysis almost on a daily basis now. … From a research, planning and creative interaction standpoint, we're always on and always tapped in to the pulse of the audience. And that fundamentally changes the way we plan against creative and media executions. The Rebecca Black experience could come and go in a matter of weeks, and it could be a great opportunity for a client to add to the conversation, but you don't have a month to figure out how to execute it. Social changes us as an agency, and it challenges the client to change, too — client approval processes have been condensed.

Berkowitz: A few years ago you could get away with people being "too cool" for social media. … You can’t have people like that around anymore. They need to get the core changes in consumer behavior and time spent online and mobile and social media. You need everyone to appreciate what's happening, and ideally taking part in it.

With all the new tech and startups, how does everyone stay up to speed?

Owens: We have specific social media experts in every regional office, and they are constantly bringing in partners and doing lunch and learns about new technologies, and we have training schedules that allow people to deep-dive into topics that interest them. We also have “affinity groups” that are like an extracurricular activity so you can explore something that interests you –- non-profits and social media or location-based services.

Kroll: We do the same — we bring in people who are doing interesting technologies and we have conference calls and lunch and learns and bring in brand teams to think about how they use a technology and discuss what's coming down the road. It's collaborative and curious, and it’s fascinating to watch.

Berkowitz: Training and learning is a bigger and bigger investment here. We do lunch and learns and we have a bar in the office, so companies can come sponsor happy hours. We also use internal wikis and video-training modules, and we do "Bagels with Berky" every other week for people who want to wake up a little early and talk about the newest innovations. In the last one, we talked about Color, and Facebook Polls and Google +1 will be talked about in the next one. That's one of the biggest changes at the agency — we're all doing do much and consuming so much and the phone is always ringing, so carving out time to really think is one of the biggest challenges we have, even though it benefits us so much.

How do you think your agency will change in the next 5 years?

Kroll: During the dot-com era, knowing HTML was a skill that could get you on the fast track, but now it's something you need to know in order to deal with digital, and I think the same is true for social. It's still so new that being able to grasp it and not only understand how to set up a Page, but the nuances of engaging and the larger marketing and media picture allow you to have a strategic advantage. But 5 or 10 years from now, that will be so commonplace. There will be some other cutting edge material.

Berkowitz: We've evolved from a search marketing agency to a full-scale digital marketing agency. The biggest change that's now bearing through is the role of mobile and how that's playing a much different role than social did. For us, anyone coming onboard is going to need to have some appreciation for and familiarity with mobile marketing. We're including mobile as part of every major program we're planning. Within a few years, everyone in every department will need to understand the implications and opportunities in mobile inside and out.

Owens: Right now we're at a point where it's still very valuable to have social media experts, so these folks are tapped into all the tech innovation and platform innovation, ans we'll bring them in to spur and inspire some of the ideation. But in the future I think we'll hire fewer experts and more generalists.

I also predict a much smaller agency. Tech is allowing some of the more day-to-day tasks to be more efficient and automated, and consumers are becoming part of the creative process with us, so the burden of creative processes may go down a bit as we start to co-create. I think [the agency] will become a more strategic core or nucleus of individuals who are finding ways to engage consumers, without having the big research methodology.

Series Supported by IDG

The Modern Media Agency Series is supported by IDG. Marketers and media companies have a lot of opportunity in the social Web. Start by identifying social influencers in your industry or product category and participate in conversations with appropriate content and links. IDG Global Solutions President Matt Yorke says marketers can do it themselves or work with a publisher that is a trusted source for their prospects.

More Social Media Resources from Mashable:

- 5 Fresh Digital Media Trends to Watch
- The PR Pro’s Guide to Twitter
- How Tasti D-Lite Has Raised the Bar for Social Media Success
- 9 Digital Marketing Lessons From Top Social Brands
- HOW TO: Get the Most Out of Facebook and Twitter Promotions

More About: 360i, Agency, color, digital marketing, facebook, foursquare, Mediavest, Modern Media Agency Series, Razorfish, shopkick, twitter, youtube

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7 Mind-Blowing Xbox Kinect Hacks [VIDEOS]

Posted: 14 Apr 2011 11:11 AM PDT

Peter VanRysdam is the CMO of web design company 352 Media Group and the author of Marketing in a Web 2.0 World. Connect with him on Twitter @Peter352.

In just more than six months since the November 4 launch of Kinect for Xbox 360, Microsoft has done a complete 180 when it comes to hacks. The company has gone from not condoning hacks, to not protecting them by design to supporting hacks with a software development kit (SDK), which was released at its MIX developer conference in Las Vegas.

This development kit means we can expect a slew of new applications coming out soon, making it the perfect time to look back at the innovators who managed to create some unique hacks for the gaming hardware without any software support, aside from open-source drivers from other hackers.

Take a look below for Kinect-fueled UIs, music videos, remote-controlled helicopters and more, and let us know your favorites in the comments.


1. Minority Report


Be honest: It's the first thing you thought of when you heard about the Kinect. Well, it didn't take researchers from MIT long to replicate Tom Cruise's famous scene from Minority Report. After Kinect's release, they put out a video mimicking the film, as well as the source code itself.


2. Gesture-Based World of Warcraft


If you thought creating a Twitter plugin for World of Warcraft was a marriage of two great technologies, then this is right up your alley. University of Southern California's Institute for Creative Technologies created a toolkit for Windows that leverages Kinect's sensors to allow for hands-free questing. This may result in an army of very fit gamers. That, or it could cut down the time players spend in the game.


3. Virtual "Hole in the Wall" Game Show


If you always wanted to appear on the Japanese-inspired game show "Hole in the Wall" and were crushed by its cancellation, there is still hope. Frog Design created a Kinect version of the game for the 2011 SXSW Interactive opening party. It's almost exactly like the show, minus the bruises. They also deserve kudos for the 8-bit inspired interface.


4. Invisible Man Hack


Everyone has dreamt of invisibility at some point. This next hack gets pretty close by using the background image and overlaying it on a person. Maybe this won't let you spy on real people, but you can use it to spy on video conferences.


5. Flying Kinect Robot


I assume the military has taken note of this next hack, in which MIT and UC Berkley researchers teamed up to create a quadrocopter capable of autonomous flight. It uses the Kinect to take note of its surroundings, including newly introduced obstacles, to navigate a preset path.


6. Kinect Helps the Blind


Here's a hack that is both cool and practical. A team from the University of Konstanz in Germany paired the Kinect with a vibrating belt for tactile feedback, a laptop backpack for a brain and a Bluetooth earpiece for verbal instructions to create a tool that can help the blind navigate on their own. It even reads QR codes, which allows the setup to provide even more information to the wearer. Of all the hacks so far, this is the one that seems most ready for mass production. Sorry, World or Warcraft controller.


7. Kinect Recliner


This was actually one of Microsoft's own hacks, which shows off what can be done with its developer tool kit. The planned release date is later this spring. Microsoft's coding4fun.com team wheeled a Kinect-controlled recliner on stage during Wednesday's Mix11 keynote.Gestures not only control the omni-directional wheels but also the recline and horn functions.Does it count as a hack if it was made by Microsoft to show off the new SDK? Not really, but it is still cool enough to make the list.

Disclosure: The author’s company developed the graphics and XAML coding for the recliner app.


Interested in more Tech & Gadgets resources? Check out Mashable Explore, a new way to discover information on your favorite Mashable topics.

More About: gadgets, hack, hacks, kinect, tech, technology, xbox, xbox 306, Xbox Kinect

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Early Arcade Fire Footage Turns Up on YouTube

Posted: 14 Apr 2011 10:46 AM PDT

Before winning a Grammy and perplexing the world, Arcade Fire played house parties. Just like you — only, they were actually good.

Pitchfork has just surfaced this clip, which it says comes from 2002, before the band’s first disc, Funeral, came out.

It’s interesting to see a band that has been lauded for its recent innovations — from an HTML5 interactive video that garnered them an MTV OMA nom, to a Vevo livestream at Madison Square Gardens in New York, to a go at Twitter’s @earlybird program (RIP) — in such a stripped-down setting.

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New York Mayor Proclaims April 16 Foursquare Day

Posted: 14 Apr 2011 10:34 AM PDT


New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has proclaimed Saturday, April 16, 2011, “Foursquare Day.” New York joins 13 other cities that have already officially recognized the Foursquare fan-created social media day.

“Now therefore, I, Michael R. Bloomberg, Mayor of the City of New York and the aspiring ‘Mayor’ of City Hall, in recognition of this exciting event, do hereby proclaim Saturday, April 16th, 2011 in the City of New York as: ‘Foursquare Day,’ ” Bloomberg writes on his website.

Bloomberg stopped by Foursquare’s New York office early Thursday to celebrate the occasion and hand deliver the official proclamation.

The mayor’s office reached out to Foursquare about getting involved after the startup’s enthusiastic fan base used Twitter to campaign on behalf of the event, co-founder Dennis Crowley says.

There’s also a bit of hometown pride in play here. Foursquare is one New York’s standout startups, a fact not lost on the mayor. “With Foursquare leading the way, we look forward to this generation's innovators and entrepreneurs making their mark on our city in the years to come,” Bloomberg writes.

Foursquare Day got its start in 2010 after Tampa optometrist and Foursquare user Nate Bonilla-Warford deduced that because four squared is 16, 4/16 should be known as Foursquare Day. The idea found traction with users who rallied around the concept and took to social media channels to promote and share the event.

Interestingly enough, last year at this time, Foursquare was fast-approaching 1 million users and was hoping the media attention surrounding its fan-generated Foursquare Day would help the startup cross the milestone. Just one year later, Foursquare is closing in on 8.5 million users and continues to see steady growth.

Image courtesy of Flickr, MariSheibley

More About: foursquare, foursquare day, Michael Bloomberg, new york, new york city

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Now You Can Select Your Own Image As a Background in Gmail

Posted: 14 Apr 2011 10:22 AM PDT


Ever since Google let us choose our own colors in the Gmail interface, we’ve been rocking a garish crimson motif, but there was something missing. Why couldn’t we choose our own photos as backgrounds? Now we can.

Our wish was granted on Thursday, when an announcement on the Gmail Blog said you can personalize the Gmail interface with your own photos, coming from either Google’s Picasa or your own hard drive.

Here’s how you can make it happen when you’re in Gmaill:

  • Go to the Settings menu
  • Click the Themes tab
  • On the bottom left, select “create your own theme”
  • Click on the link that invites you to select your own background image
  • Choose an image, either from Picasa or from your own hard disk
  • Enjoy your new look

Images courtesy Google, Gmail Blog

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Control Netflix Movies Using Gestures or Voice With Kinect

Posted: 14 Apr 2011 10:02 AM PDT


Watching and controlling Netflix movies on the Xbox 360 is now even more effortless, with added support for gesture and voice control from Microsoft Kinect.

After downloading a software update from the Xbox 360 Video Marketplace, Kinect will react to your gestures and voice when you're using Netflix.

That means you can play, fast-forward, rewind and pause movies and TV shows by controlling that magical hand on the bottom left of your screen with your own movements. Or you can just say “Xbox, Play,” for example, and your movie starts.

There’s a catch, according to Xbox 360 Digest. Although all the Netflix movies are controllable using Microsoft Kinect, getting to them from elsewhere in the Xbox 360 interface will still require an Xbox 360 controller or remote unless you’re in a “special recommendations” section, where you can navigate between personally recommended movies and TV shows with the Kinect controller or your voice.

So what is the point of this? Well, if you can’t find your remote or Xbox 360 controller, now, yelling at the TV will actually help. Your friends and colleagues might also be impressed by your wizardry, controlling Netflix movies with various gestures, or with your singularly commanding voice.

We’re thinking this Netflix control via Kinect is a gimmick. But it could be useful if you need to take a quick bathroom break, calling out “Xbox, pause” over your shoulder as you bolt for the bathroom. But hey, it’s a free update, and if you already own the Kinect sensor hardware, this could be a fun toy to play with.

More About: gesture control, kinect, netflix, software update, voice control, Xbox 360

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Introducing the Global Innovation Series

Posted: 14 Apr 2011 09:49 AM PDT


Building on Mashable‘s coverage of the latest in technology, gadgets, digital media and web culture, we’re pleased to announce the Global Innovation Series. From solar rooftop technology to self-driving cars, the series explores the future of urban technology, highlighting innovative ideas that are improving local communities around the world. The Global Innovation Series is presented by BMW i, a new concept dedicated to providing mobility solutions for the urban environment.

Thus far, we’ve written about the technology behind smart traffic apps that alleviate urban congestion and the ways in which mobile payment solutions are redefining commerce for merchants and consumers alike. Each week, we’ll bring you another revolutionary idea that has transformed a community.

And we’re looking to you — readers all over the world — for even more innovative ideas. If you know of a forward-thinking technology or startup that deserves to be a part of the Global Innovation Series, submit it to Mashable editors here.

More About: BMW, Global Innovation Series

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BlackBerry PlayBook Enters the Tablet Race [REVIEW]

Posted: 14 Apr 2011 09:31 AM PDT


This review was co-authored by Mashable’s Christina Warren

First announced in September, the BlackBerry PlayBook, Research in Motion’s (RIM) ambitious entrant into the tablet market, is now set to hit stores on April 19 at $499.

Mashable has been testing out the device over the past week and also talked to Mike Lazaridis, the founder and co-CEO of RIM, about PlayBook, what it means for his company, and the opportunity he sees in a space that’s getting more crowded by the day.

Read on for the pros, cons and our view as to whether or not PlayBook stands a chance against iPad and the slew of Android options already available.

Build, Form Factor and Screen

Out of the box, the PlayBook feels sturdy and compact despite weighing in at just 425 grams. The front of the device is glass and there are no buttons. The rear is a soft rubberized plastic that feels good in the hand. The sides have that same rubberized coating, which makes us feel more secure about potential drops — and that’s before adding any of the optional accessories.

Unlike the Xoom and the upcoming Acer Icnoia Tablet, the BlackBerry PlayBook breaks away from the 10-inch form factor popularized by the iPad, opting instead for a 7-inch device, making it much more akin to the original Samsung Galaxy Tab.

Last October, Steve Jobs famously called 7-inch tablets “tweeners,” stating that the devices are too large to be a smartphone and too small for a tablet. Generally speaking, we feel that 7-inch screens can still make for a great ereader (like the Kindle), but don't quite make sense in a tablet.

The PlayBook is interesting, however, because even though it does have only a 7-inch screen, its resolution of 1024×600 makes it feel — at least in landscape mode — very similar to an iPad. Further, in landscape, the text is clear, graphics are bright and the keyboard feels good to the touch.

The problem, at least for us, was using the device in portrait mode. Reading text on most websites was almost impossible without significant zooming, and the keyboard was uncomfortable even in short periods of time. Unfortunately, using the device solely in landscape mode presents other challenges, like typing long emails or documents because the keyboard takes up a significant portion of the screen real estate. Switching to portrait mode allows more visible text, but that text is smaller and the keyboard is difficult for even small hands to navigate.

Beyond the size – which we ultimately do find to be less desirable than iPad and larger Android tablets — the screen on the device is WSVGA rather than IPS (as seen on the iPad). That said, colors still look good in portrait and landscape mode from a variety of different angles, and the touch screen itself is capacitive and very responsive. The accelerometer works in all directions and is fast.

User Experience

We have to give RIM credit for making its UI both familiar and original at the same time. The interface is easy to pick up, but it contains some of its own subtle touches that make it stand out. Compared to prior offerings from RIM, BlackBerry OS 6.0 probably comes closest in terms of experience, but it is still a far cry away from what RIM has crafted with the PlayBook (which bases its OS on QNX).

Perhaps the biggest differentiator with the PlayBook is the way the entire screen is used. The black bezel on the top and bottom of the screen isn’t just for looks — it’s touch sensitive too. Rather than using a home button like the iPad or an on-screen button like Honeycomb, swiping a finger up from the bottom will minimize an app and show the home screen. The menu or status bar is accessible by swiping down from the top of the screen or diagonally from the top left of the screen. Swiping from the lower left or right side allows users to quickly switch between open apps.

Accessing notifications — one of the best features of BlackBerry OS — is as simple as just tapping on them in the status bar. Notifications can be dismissed by swiping from left to right or accessed by tapping on the notification. The system is unobtrusive and it works.

We also really like the way the PlayBook handles multitasking. Switching between open apps feels much more fluid than on the iPad. Lazaridis showed us what he calls "a presenters dream" – switching from a presentation to a video that's already loaded in the background – and the experience is indeed quite seamless. The PlayBook also excels in the more common situation where you want to reference something from a website or a document in an e-mail.

That said, for switching between more task-oriented apps, the PlayBook doesn’t offer any major benefits over the iOS version of multi-tasking. Having continuous access to certain applications — like a Twitter or IM client — from the status menu in any application would give the PlayBook an advantage here. At this stage, however, multi-tasking is still more like fast-app switching.
On the whole, we quite like the UI. It feels more finished than Honeycomb and has a consistent look and feel.

Apps

It's no mystery that one prominent reason BlackBerry has lost favor in recent years to both Apple and Google is because of its relative lack of apps (or more to the point, lack of quality apps).

With the PlayBook, RIM is taking an interesting — if risky — multi-faceted approach to platform development. In addition to being able to run apps built in Adobe Air, the PlayBook will support older BlackBerry OS apps and (though not at launch) Android 2.x apps via a virtual machine.

The PlayBook ships with a variety of pre-installed apps, including Docs to Go (an app for opening, creating and editing Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents), Need for Speed Undercover and Kobo Reader.

Need for Speed Undercover is a fantastic example of what type of games can be played on the PlayBook. The game is a dead-ringer for PS2/Xbox versions of the Need for Speed series and the accelerometer works great with the game.

Unfortunately, the web browser and some multimedia apps aside, that pretty much covers all of the truly native PlayBook apps. The apps in the App World are sparse and the rest of the applications on the home screen are really just web shortcuts. While Lazaridis pointed out in our interview that the 3,000+ apps at launch is the most ever for a tablet, that's moot given how many apps now exist for PlayBook's rivals.

Another downside to consider is that in order to access the BlackBerry mail client, BlackBerry Messenger and an address book, users need to connect their BlackBerry devices to the PlayBook through a Bridge mode that allows the PlayBook to access data without actually storing any data on the device itself. While great for security, it's rather inconvenient.

Moreover, at this time, non-BlackBerry owners will need to use a web client for receiving and sending email. For a company like RIM that has made its mark by understanding messaging, not having a native messaging client available without bridging to another BlackBerry is a bitter pill to swallow.

Browser

RIM is playing up the fact that the PlayBook supports Adobe Flash 10.2 out of the box as one of its biggest advantages. In our testing, Flash video worked well in the WebKit-based browser, as did Flash elements like banner ads and animations. Some Flash-based games seemed a bit slow and some heavily Flash-based sites like Google Maps really didn’t work well in the included browser. Most web pages, however, rendered quickly and accurately in PlayBook's browser.

Users and developers continue to debate the merits of native apps versus web apps. One area where native apps clearly win is with device-side integration. On one hand, it’s great that the full Facebook experience is provided by PlayBook in the browser. On the other hand, the fact that a user can’t get notifications from Facebook or easily access messages from a central location is a loss.

Ultimately, the browser is good, but isn’t a replacement for the need of native apps for certain purposes.

Connectivity and Camera

The two cameras on the iPad 2 have been panned — and rightly so — for being decent-enough for video but not usable for still photos. With the PlayBook, RIM has delivered solid optics that for both the rear and front facing cameras. The PlayBook is still too large to act as a real optical device, however, it should work quite well in the field and for video chat (though at launch, there is no native video chat app for PlayBook).

As far as connectivity is concerned, the PlayBook has a mini-HDMI port that allows users to interact with content, games and video on a second screen. Lazaridis played this feature up in our meeting, saying that this makes the PlayBook valuable for both presentations and a social experience – for instance being able to connect your PlayBook to your TV to share music or movies.

"[We're] enabling a use case that everyone has been wanting but no one has been able to fufill in a technology that is affordable and powerful," he said. While we agree the user experience here is friendly, we think it's still to-be-determined if this becomes a common use case for tablets, especially in the age of Internet connected TV.

A more impressive innovation that will have an immediate impact for PlayBook owners is its ability to sync wirelessly with your desktop or laptop computer. Once setup through BlackBerry Desktop Manager, there's no need to connect your PlayBook to your computer – files automatically sync over WiFi.

Sink or Swim?

The BlackBerry PlayBook does offer some notable innovations. The user experience, web browser, cameras and connectivity features are competitive with rivals. For BlackBerry's big base of corporate users, the ability to seamlessly open Microsoft Office documents and the PlayBook's presentation potential are also a plus. Further, BlackBerry smartphone customers won't have to pay for a data plan if they want 3G connectivity, since they can just connect their devices and tether. That's significant cost savings over the life of a tablet.

That said, the appeal of the PlayBook is currently very much limited to existing BlackBerry smartphone customers as a result of the limitations around e-mail and messaging. Even for those customers, however, the user experience around messaging isn't as seamless as it is on iPad or Android devices. The obvious lack of apps is also a big drawback for potential BlackBerry and non-BlackBerry customers alike until Android apps become available on PlayBook. Ultimately, we also still prefer a larger screen, though PlayBook has made the most of its 7" form factor.

RIM plans to address most of these drawbacks in future updates (though don't get your hopes up about a larger screen). Still, unless the ideal use cases we found for the device and the cost savings of attaching to your existing BlackBerry data plan are deal-makers for you, we would not recommend PlayBook over iPad 2 or the Motorola Xoom at this time.

More About: blackberry, blackberry playbook, mike lazaridis, playbook, RIM, tablets

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Charitable Checkin Turns Your Good Deeds Into Rewards

Posted: 14 Apr 2011 09:01 AM PDT

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DailyFeats is taking the checkin and making it philanthropic. The site (and upcoming mobile app) lets users post their actions via SMS, web, email, Foursquare or Google Talk.

Each act earns the user points that can be redeemed for actual rewards and discounts. Those acts range from minor choices like choosing to snack on an apple rather than a piece of cake, sending a thank you letter or larger projects like volunteering your time to a non-profit. Small projects earn less points, while difficult projects earn more points.

As they post more feats, users start to build a social identity based on their actions. DailyFeats encourages users to pick actions categories that matter most to them such as “health,” “family” or “citizenship.” In this way, the site is also a social platform where users flesh out profiles based on their philanthropic interests.

This concept of a charitable social layer has taken off on other online platforms like Jumo or Causes.com. People are becoming more conscientious of how they’re perceived online. This social layer based on philanthropic interests is both an easy way to track causes and a positive way to self identify.

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DailyFeats has managed to integrate its social layer with targeted coupons and sponsors. Certain actions unlock specific discounts. For example, Monster.com sponsors “!newskills” and “!makeconnections” sections whereas 1-800-Flowers.com sponsors “!sympathy” sections. It’s a smart way to target consumers and encourage good deeds at the same time.

There is, of course, a bit of a catch. All of the actions are self-reported. A great majority of them are fundamentally impossible to check. How would one know if I ate fruits and vegetables this morning? Did I really send the thank you card I said I did? This wouldn’t be an issue if there wasn’t real money — in the form of rewards and deals — on the line. So how do you prevent your user base from gaming the system just to get a discount somewhere?

The answer comes down to trust, says DailyFeats CEO and co-founder Veer Gidwaney. One of the site’s tenets reads: “We trust our members.” Gidwaney says there are some checks built into the system. If users register 8,000 acts in one day, for example, the team then personally checks any blips. This is made more difficult when one considers the fact that users can count pretty much anything as a “good feat.”

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The site was formed as a way to promote good deeds of any nature and ultimately to make America a better place. It might be odd to think of massive change coming from people “working out,” “snacking better” or “reading the news” but the team sees those choices as gateway philanthropy. People may start by making themselves better, but they’ll eventually graduate to projects with more impact. The hope is that this next step won’t just be to get more rewards, but to actually embrace DailyFeats’ positive ethos.

The site just added new features allowing users to add “meaning” to their actions — users can attach the reason they did a feat. Did they eat vegetables to lose weight? To support local farms? To detox? Users can then search for and connect over these reasons. It’s a crucial point that many sites based on game-mechanics miss — philanthropy isn’t just about what a person did, but why he or she did it.

What do you make of DailyFeats? Is the honor code a losing gamble online? Do sites like this actually get people more engaged with philanthropy? Sound off in the comments.

More About: charity, dailyfeats, dailyfeats.com, non-profit, social good, social media

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Flipboard Gives Oprah Content the Star Treatment

Posted: 14 Apr 2011 08:58 AM PDT


Oprah has come to Flipboard. Starting Thursday, the Oprah Winfrey Network and Oprah.com will claim an official "Oprah" section on Flipboard, the iPad-based magazine app.

The Oprah content will be featured prominently on Flipboard’s front page, along with the reader's recommended content from Facebook and Twitter. The Oprah section, which is based on her Twitter feed, will not only draw content from print sources like O, The Oprah Magazine and OWN, but also from her syndicated program, The Oprah Winfrey Show, in the form of videos counting down her farewell during this final season. For those who don't want Oprah content, though, the channel will be easy to discard — just hit the X on the app in edit mode.

Launched last summer, Flipboard calls itself "the world's first social magazine" and presents curated content from a user's Facebook and Twitter feeds in a magazine-style format on iPad devices. Apple dubbed Flipboard the "iPad app of the year" and several publishers have realized its potential, including Sports Illustrated, which launched a Swimsuit Edition feed to the app last December.

Flipboard rep Marci McCue says the company added the Oprah content because "her audience is important for the iPad." Flipboard has no immediate plans to give any other media property the same kind of treatment. Meanwhile, Flipboard is planning to release an iPhone app this summer, McCue says.

More About: Flipboard, ipad, iPad 2, magazines, oprah

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Checking In on Foursquare or Facebook Becomes a Game With Virgin America

Posted: 14 Apr 2011 08:32 AM PDT


Virgin America, which has sought to make flying more fun than mundane for its customers, is now trying out a similar philosophy for those waiting at one of its terminals.

The airline has launched a program at the new Terminal 2 at San Francisco International Airport, combining Foursquare and Facebook checkins to award badges such as "ground crew" (one to four checkins) and “captain" (50 checkins). Passengers will randomly be awarded prizes — like T-shirts and flight vouchers — based on the checkins.

In order to take part, consumers have to agree to Facebook's Terms of Service on the Terminal 2 Takeover app, created by Context Optional, on Virgin America's Facebook Page. Once consumers opt in for the program, they'll find various surprises at the terminal checkin areas, like video games and artwork.

Terminal 2, which opens Thursday at the airport, includes a "Recompose" lounge, mood lighting, organic dining and elevated work tables with outlets and Wi-Fi. The video below provides more details.

More About: facebook, foursquare, MARKETING, virgin america

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