Mashable: Latest 8 News Updates - including “Google’s Gmail Motion Prank Turned Into Reality [VIDEO]” |
- Google’s Gmail Motion Prank Turned Into Reality [VIDEO]
- HANDS ON: Chumby8, a Bigger, Better Networked App Player [PICS]
- 5 Ace Acoustic Amplifiers for the iPhone
- Disney and Pixar Go Viral With “Cars 2″ Faux Ads [VIDEO]
- HOW TO: Get the Most From YouTube Editor [VIDEOS]
- HOW TO: Land a Job at Facebook
- Spy Shots: Windows 8 With a Ribbon Interface? [GALLERY]
- Email Provider Epsilon Responsible For Gigantic Security Breach
- 10 Hilarious Vintage Cellphone Commercials [VIDEOS]
| Google’s Gmail Motion Prank Turned Into Reality [VIDEO] Posted: 04 Apr 2011 12:40 AM PDT      Remember Gmail Motion, the new feature that lets you use body gestures to compose and send emails in Gmail? It was obviously an April Fools joke, but now it’s also real, courtesy of the folks from the Institute of Creative Technologies. The technology is jokingly dubbed SLOOW – Software Library Optimizing Obligatory Waving – and it uses a Microsoft Kinect camera to control Gmail. The same team used the technology, which is actually called Flexible Action and Articulated Skeleton Toolkit (FAAST), to play World of Warcraft using only body motions in December 2010. Amazingly enough, it works pretty much as Google had intended: you can type text into Gmail by using body gestures, and send an email by “licking” the stamp and slapping it onto an imaginary envelope. Check out the video below for a demonstration. [via ict.usc.edu] More About: april fools, gmail, Gmail Motion, kinect, SLOOW For more Tech & Gadgets coverage:
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| HANDS ON: Chumby8, a Bigger, Better Networked App Player [PICS] Posted: 03 Apr 2011 04:58 PM PDT   The third model of the Chumby line is about to hit the streets on April 5, and the bigger, better networked app player is called Chumby8. We got one of the first ones available for review. What the heck is a Chumby8, anyway? Depending on how you’d like to use it, at $199, it’s either the most sophisticated alarm clock in the world, or it’s a clunky, anachronistic distant relative of the iPad with a non-removable kickstand in the back. Like its older brethren, the Chumby Classic and Chumby One, Chumby8 wirelessly connects to your Wi-Fi network, and then lets you use one of its 1500+ apps such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and Pandora. By far, its strongest capabilities are its alarm clock features, able to launch apps or wake you up to music or anything else, whenever you schedule them. I’ve been a Chumby user for a couple of years now, so I’ve grown accustomed to its idiosyncrasies. Why did I call it a clunky distant relative of the iPad? Because if you compare its screen with that of the iPad, this one feels like a throwback to the ’90s. It doesn’t use the easy capacitive touchscreen of most of today’s tablets that requires just the lightest of touches. Instead, it has an old-fashioned resistive touchscreen that’s a lot less sensitive, making you push harder or even use a fingernail to assure that it works. It takes some getting used to. Chumby8′s 8-inch 800×600 LCD touchscreen has narrow viewing angles, so unless you’re sitting right in front of it, it looks dimmer as you move to the side, or above or below it. Even though it looks fairly sharp and bright, it’s just not a very good screen. For a device that costs $200, you’d expect its screen to be better than this. It has a 800MHz Marvell Armada 166 processor whose clock rate is almost twice as fast as the Chumby One (compare the Chumby One and Chumby8 here), giving it snappy performance when launching apps. But its comparatively sluggish graphics performance still won’t allow it to smoothly dissolve from one picture to the next — it’s capable of about 10 frames per second, making it a mediocre digital picture frame. That harsh criticism aside, I love the Chumby, and this one improves upon the virtues of its groundbreaking predecessors. It’s great to be able to insert a CompactFlash, MMC or SD card into it, and then it will either play your music or photos from there, or let you load them onto its 2GB internal flash drive. You can even upload pics to photo sharing sites from it. There are also a couple of USB ports into which you can plug an Ethernet adapter and extra storage. And if you’re a hacker, look at all the crazy things you can do with this Chumby8. I especially like the new design. Take a look at the gallery below, and you’ll see that this is one solidly-built unit, its rubberized finish is available in either red or black. It has a couple of speakers hidden inside, giving you decent sound, albeit without enough bass to take them seriously. There’s a 3.5mm audio jack in the back where you can plug in external speakers, resulting in the most sophisticated clock radio in the world, able to pick up more than 10,000 Internet radio and podcast stations. If you’re looking for a Pandora alarm clock with a relatively giant screen and all kinds of versatility, this might be the one for you. Like its predecessors, Chumby8 has multiple scheduling capabilities, letting you turn on music or any of its apps at predesignated times. You can program it to go into Night Mode at bedtime, showing the time but at a dimness that’s dark enough for even the most light-sensitive whiners to get to sleep. Then, you can program it to wake you to your favorite Internet radio station while displaying your Twitter feed. There’s an welcome new capability that was sorely missing in the first two Chumbys: It lets you tap links within apps, and then it will open up a Webkit browser that has fairly snappy performance, well, except for that awkward touchscreen navigation. Even so, this is a big improvement, giving you the ability to actually use Twitter and Facebook, tapping on links and reading them in a browser. By far, the strength of Chumby 8 is its huge library of apps (different from Android or iPhone apps, and able to run Flash), including some of the most creative, clever clocks I’ve ever seen. In fact, if you want to use this as an extravagant alarm clock, it nails it. If you’re thinking this will be a good digital photo frame, it’s barely passable, but as a less-than-half-priced iPad substitute, it’s not, nor was it meant to be. Chumby8 is good for doing things such as watching a few YouTube videos before you go to bed, that is, if you don’t have another device that can do a better job. That’s the rub with Chumby: What is it for? People who want to use its myriad functions probably already have a device that can do all of them better. But this one does all of its tricks with an even a bigger screen than its predecessor, so if your needs fit within its narrow niche, and you have an extra $199 to blow, Chumby8′s a lot of fun. Chumby8 Front View Chumby8 Side View Compact Flash and SD card ports Chumby8 Rear View USB ports, 3.5mm audio jack, power Home button on top Pandora! Chumby8 UI: Channel Selection Set up your apps, grouped in channels, on the Chumby website. Then they show up here. Unlike previous models, you can arrange, add and delete apps on the device, too. Pre-loaded Music Apps You can keep playing music from these apps while you view others. Main Screen Tap the crescent moon icon, and Chumby8 goes into Night Mode, which shows just a stock clock, dimmed down. Great for those who need near-total darkness to sleep. Settings Network Configuration It works almost automatically, but lets you get into manual settings. Brightness Controls I have Night Mode dimmed down as much as possible here. Device Info Alarms & Tasks Schedule almost anything Chumby8 can do as a task or alarm. Photos & Videos Plug in a flash memory card, it shows up here Photos: Memory Card Choose which pics will display here. More About: Chumby8, First Look, hands-on, Networked App Player, pandora, reviews For more Tech & Gadgets coverage:
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| 5 Ace Acoustic Amplifiers for the iPhone Posted: 03 Apr 2011 04:29 PM PDT   There is a range of iPhone “speakers” available that require not one iota of power beyond simple, good old-fashioned analogue acoustics. As well as offering an unusual and stylish stand solution, these “passive amplifiers” will boost your iPhone’s audio output by around 10 decibels — not exactly room filling sound, but not bad for a planet-hugging, power-free solution. If you think you could use some of that acoustic goodness in your iLife, then take a look through our gallery of the five best solutions available. Let us know which one blows your trumpet in the comments below. 1. Bone Collection Horn Stand While it might look like something Shrek would attach to his iPhone, this funky, colorful horn attachment will give you around 13 extra decibels and can be used in both landscape and portrait mode. Cost: $24.95 2. Phonofone III The glorious Phonofone III is as much sexy ceramic sculpture as it is passive amplifer. Cost: $195 (CAD) 3. Griffin AirCurve Play Griffin's affordable solution uses a built-in coiled waveguide to up your iPhone's audio levels. Its transparent design lets you "see" it work. Cost: $19.99 4. Koostik Described as the "natural alternative" to your plastic-y speaker docks, each koostik is hand-made from a solid block of wood, with various natural finishes available. Cost: From $85 5. Tembo Trunks Tembo Trunks amplify the sound from your iPhone's earphones. Especially suited to travelers, they are stackable, collapsible and virtually indestructible. Cost: From $39  Interested in more Gadget & Accessory resources? Check out Mashable Explore, a new way to discover information on your favorite Mashable topics.More About: accessories, gallery, iphone, iphone accessories, iphone speakers, List, Lists, speakers For more Tech & Gadgets coverage:
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| Disney and Pixar Go Viral With “Cars 2″ Faux Ads [VIDEO] Posted: 03 Apr 2011 04:14 PM PDT Building on the highly successful campaign from Toy Story 3, the marketers at Disney Pixar have crafted this hilarious and well-produced faux used car advertisement in honor of Cars 2. Cars 2 hits theaters on June 24, 2011, which means this is the perfect time to crank up the marketing buzz. The new faux spot debuted at the WonderCon comic, sci-fi and movie convention this weekend, via the Twitter handle @ChromeLeaks. A car featuring the Twitter name was on display at the convention, too. Users who visit the URL cars-n-deals.com are treated to the faux advertisement above. The spot, which was directed by Chris Cantwell (the same guy who directed those amazing Toy Story 3 ads), is for Cars N’ Deals of Emeryville. The spot features subtle hints about the upcoming Cars 2 and even has a working phone number. Hidden within the ad is a URL for an exclusive clip of Cars 2. We won’t spoil the surprise by posting the link, but viewers might want to hit the pause button on YouTube at the 57-second mark. As with the Lots-o-Huggin’Bear ads, the Cars N’ Deals spot will probably make more sense within the context of the full film itself. We can’t wait. More About: cars 2, chris cantwell, disney, Film, Movies, pixar, toys story 3, viral video For more Media coverage:
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| HOW TO: Get the Most From YouTube Editor [VIDEOS] Posted: 03 Apr 2011 03:14 PM PDT YouTube‘s online Editor launched in June last year as a very basic video editing suite originally borne from one of Google‘s “20%” projects. Now it has seven full-time developers working on it and new features are gradually being introduced. Mashable spoke to Tom Bridgwater, a YouTube software engineer and one of the founding members of the team that developed Editor, about how to get the most from the free video editing software. If you’d like to know how to trim your videos, improve the image quality and add free music, then take a look through the gallery of short video demos below. Let us know your favorite YouTube Editor function — and what else you’d like to see in the future — in the comments below. 1. Intro to EditorThe YouTube Editor is comprised of three areas -- the media picker window on the top left, the preview video window on the top right and the "storyboard" across the bottom of the screen. "We choose to go with the storyboard metaphor because we felt it was easier in concept," explains Bridgwater. "It's like a storyboard where you just take Post-It notes and stick them on the wall in the order in which you want things to happen. "As opposed to having to fiddle around with dragging times and getting everything lined up perfectly -- it's more just 'this is the sequence of videos' and that's what you're focussed on." To open the YouTube Editor once you're signed in, click on your username in the top right of the screen, select "Account" or "My Videos" then hit the "YouTube Editor" tab. 2. Adding Clips to the StoryboardAdding clips to the storyboard is super simple. Just drag them into the storyboard window, or click the plus sign on the video you want to add. Once the clips are in you can drag and drop to re-order them, or remove them from the storyboard either by dragging them back up to the media picker window or clicking the "x" in the top right corner. Bridgwater has a tip for anyone who wants to use several parts of the same clip in your finished video. "You can use one video multiple times by just putting it into the storyboard multiple times." So if you want to repeat a clip, or use the beginning and end of a clip at different times in your final video, just add it to the storyboard as many times as you want to use it. 3. Rotating ClipsIf you need to rotate a clip, simply hover over it in the storyboard window and hit the arrow icon. You can now rotate it 90-degrees left or right until it's at the correct orientation. When it is, hit save. "This was a huge thing when we added it because we have a lot of users who upload from their mobile phones," says Bridgwater. "Certain phones are able to send orientation information, other phones aren't. It's not very standardized how phones communicate the orientation of a video. In the upload priocess we try, if the phone gives us that information, to rotate it, but it's often not done. So this gives users the opportunity to rotate a video back to the correct orientation after they've uploaded it." 4. Trimming ClipsYou can trim the beginning and end of clips in Editor. Hover over the clip you want to trim and select the scissors. You can now drag the handles along the frame strip to cut unwanted footage. As you drag the handles, the player above seeks to where you're dragging to, but you can get even more precise, as Bridgwater explains: "Say someone walks into a room and you want to start the clip at the moment they enter. You can step through frame by frame by using the little left and right arrows at the top of those drag handles. This means you can 'nudge' the start point and the end point on a frame-accurate basis." 5. Changing the Brightness and Contrast"Brightness and contrast are just pretty much like an old TV set where you have the two knobs," states Bridgwater. "And black and white just makes the video a black and white video." Simple enough, but the near-live preview is pretty handy. "Our mantra for the video editor is that the preview has to be 'what you see is what you get'" says Bridgwater. "We show you a lower resolution version of the video that you're putting together with all the effects. You don't have to wait more than a couple of seconds, no matter what you do." To access these controls, hover over the clip you want to adjust, select the wand icon and then you can play around with the settings to get the best result for you. Checking the "Preview effects side by side with original video" will allow you to do just that. 6. Stabilizing ClipsThe stabilization functionality is new to Editor, and it's something that YouTube is pretty proud of. Perfect for stopping citizen journalism-style clips from being too bumpy, the tool can also be used on any clip shot on a handheld device that could use some stabilization. You can try the effects out in Editor with near real-time previews, as Bridgwater explains: "Editor can actually do a preview of a stabilized clip in real time. This is in contrast to a lot of desktop video editing software where you click the 'stabilize this video button,' go and get a cup of coffee and wait for it to do its work." To try out the functionality you need to hover over the clip you want to edit, hit the wand icon and then check the box next to the stabalize options. It works on a sliding scale, which Bridgwater elaborates on: "If you are on the left end, the less stable end of the slider, your video will be slightly more shaky but the advantage is that you lose less of the video. The way any stablization works, no matter what algorithm you're using, is by cropping the video a slight amount. In our case, at the less stable end we crop 3% of the video and on the far right end we crop 30%." So how does the algorithm work? "Video that is shot professionally and made to be stable typically uses dollies and tripods, so the camera itself remains stable. What this algorithm does is tries to recreate what the camera motion should have been if you were using one of those tools, a dolly or a tripod." 7. Adding TransitionsEditor gives you the option to add transitions to your clips, at the beginning and end of your video, and in between the clips themselves. The transitions last for two seconds. Clips adjacent to a transition must be at least two seconds long. If there is a transition on both sides of a clip, then that clip must be at least four seconds long to accommodate both transitions. To add a transition to your video, go to the media picker window and click on the bow tie icon. You can now drag and drop your selected transition into your storyboard. One thing to note about transitions," says Bridgwater. "As you drag and drop the transition it'll give you some feedback about exactly where it will land. The feedback, the blue highlight, will straddle clips and transitions to show you where the thing you're dragging will land." More transition tips from Bridgwater include: "If you put a transition at the very beginning, before the first clip, or at the very end, after the last clip, it's going to transition from or to black. If there's a transiton between videos the audio between those two clips will [also] similtaneously cross fade between the two videos while the transition is occuring." 8. Adding Music"You can replace the audio in your own video with a track from our library of free songs," says Bridgwater. To find a song, go to the media picker window and hit the musical note icon. There are around 50,000 songs for you to choose from. You can search via genre, artist or keyword. To preview a song simply hover over it and hit the play arrow. To add it to your storyboard hit the plus symbol. 9. Managing MusicOnce you've added a song to your storyboard you can manage it by scrolling down to the bottom of the page where your choice is displayed. To remove it entirely simply hit the "x" or to adjust the levels, here's Bridgwater's explanation of the functionality. "If you put an audio track in the storyboard it will replace the entirity of the audio for your edited video, but you can choose how it's mixed." "If the slider is all the way to the left -- set to 'only music' -- it's the same result as you get using the regular 'AudioSwap' feature on YouTube. If the slider is all the way on the right you might as well have not added to the track because it won't be heard over the clip's audio. With Editor you're able to do a mix anywhere in between. Dead center is an even mix betwen the original audio from the video clip and the music track that you've selected, so you can choose the balance." 10. Previewing Your VideoOnce you've edited your clips and added any music or transitions you want, you can preview the finished product simply by hitting the play button on the preview window on the top right of the screen. 11. Naming and PublishingWhen you're happy with everything, you'll need to give your video a title. To do this just type in the text box on the top right of the screen. Then you can hit the publish button to send your video live. If you hit publish without giving your video a name then YouTube will give it a default title comprised of the date and time. You can still edit this after you've published it. Simply load up the video and hit the "Edit video detail" button that's just beneath the YouTube logo on the top left of your screen.  Interested in more Video resources? Check out Mashable Explore, a new way to discover information on your favorite Mashable topics. More About: how to, howto's, online video editing, video editing, youtube For more Video coverage:
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| HOW TO: Land a Job at Facebook Posted: 03 Apr 2011 01:56 PM PDT   So you want to work at Facebook, one of the world’s hottest companies — what do you have to get your foot in the door and get noticed? It’s not going to be easy — you have competition. Facebook received 250,000 job applications last year and is consistently rated as one of the best places to work. And with Facebook’s IPO around the corner, the competition for jobs is only going to heat up. There are plenty of ways to get noticed and stand above the crowd, though. I chatted with Thomas Arnold, head of recruiting for the social network, on what the company looks for and what it takes to get a job at Facebook. What Jobs Are Available at Facebook? Ever since Facebook announced it was moving to a bigger office and raised $2 billion in funding, it has been ramping up its hiring. While there are many openings in legal, communications, HR, marketing, online operations, business development, IT, design, user experience and internationalization, the company is especially looking for technical talent, especially software engineers and product managers. The Facebook Interview ProcessI actually went through the entire Facebook interview process in 2008, before I joined Mashable as an associate editor. And while it’s definitely changed since I applied for a job on the company’s User Operations team, the basic format has remained the same. The first step is almost always a recruiter phone-screening — Facebook will begin exploring your resume, asking you about your previous work, especially about what you’ve built and what leadership roles you’ve had in the past. Sometimes there’s a second screening, depending on the role. If you pass the screening, the company will fly you out to its Silicon Valley headquarters for a series of on-site interviews with the hiring manager (your potential future boss) and a group of your peers — in other words, you will be interviewed by the members of the team you’re hoping to join. As Arnold explained to me, these interviews are designed to determine whether you have the skills for the job and whether you’re a cultural fit. The group then makes “a collective decision on whether you’re a great fit” for the position. The process itself greatly varies from group to group — expect more technical skill challenges if you’re applying for an engineering job. Oh, and one extra piece of advice from me: Always put the user first in any scenario or interview question. Standing Apart From the CrowdWith more than a quarter of a million applicants, how does Facebook whittle down the applicant pool? “We’re primarily looking for builders,” Arnold says. He explains that Facebook has an entrepreneurial spirit and is a flat organization, and thus it’s looking for people who can thrive in that environment. Employees need to be self-starters who don’t need a lot of direction, so autonomy and self-motivation are highly valued. Builders — especially engineers who like to build projects on their own and have cool, working products or apps they can show off — are sought after by the Facebook team. If someone builds a unique application and/or solves a problem in a way that hasn’t been done before, he’s going to get Facebook’s attention. Strong applicants to Facebook also “just get the social space,” Arnold says. They not only understand the product, but can see the company’s vision. Even more important is that they’re active users of the product. This may seem like a no-brainer, but Arnold says his team finds a lot of applicants who haven’t used their Facebook accounts in weeks or even months. And that is a very clear sign to Facebook that the person won’t be a good fit. Finally, it’s very helpful to know someone at Facebook who can vouch for you — this was true even when I interviewed with the social network three years ago. While I got special consideration due to my unique history with Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, I still had a Facebook reference. Final Thoughts While I ultimately failed to secure a job at Facebook, you don’t have to let that be the case for you. For those of you applying to non-technical roles, be sure you’re active users, understand the company culture and have a resume filled with leadership and “builder” activities. It’s more impressive if you launched an organization or product than if you simply took it over. For technical talent, the best thing you can do is build something. If you build a really impressive iPhone application that gains some traction, you’re going to get noticed. If you are a major contributor of open source code to various projects, you’re going to get noticed. In the end though, the big filter is cultural fit. There isn’t really much you can do to prepare for that — the Facebook team simply knows if you’re going to mesh well with them or if you’re not going to be able to keep up. And as I said before, be sure to have an employee refer you. Otherwise, you’re going to have a really difficult time just getting the phone screening. Have you gone through the interview process and landed a job at Facebook? Tell us in the comments below. Social Media Job ListingsEvery week we put out a list of social media and web job opportunities. While we post a huge range of job listings, we’ve selected some of the top social media job opportunities from the past two weeks to get you started. Happy hunting!
More Job Search Resources from Mashable:
More About: careers, facebook, Facebook Jobs, hiring, job interview, job search, job search series, jobs For more Social Media coverage:
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| Spy Shots: Windows 8 With a Ribbon Interface? [GALLERY] Posted: 03 Apr 2011 12:41 PM PDT   Microsoft is experimenting with a ribbon interface for parts of Windows 8, and we have a gallery of leaked screenshots showing examples of an early build. Microsoft Word users are already familiar with the idea of a ribbon interface, where a tabbed and extra-tall toolbar resides at the top of the page, offering dynamic groups of icons in an attempt to make the user interface more efficient. Microsoft also added the ribbon interface to a couple of applets within Windows 7, including Paint and WordPad. We’ve already shown you leaked pics of Windows 8′s taskbar, but what we see here are experiments with Windows Explorer (for you Mac users, that’s the Windows version of the Finder), adding various groups of tabbed ribbons at the top of the window. As you’ll see in the gallery, these leaked pics, courtesy of our new pals at WithinWindows, show a UI that’s very much under construction, with most of the future icons substituted by mere placeholders so far. We also included a bonus screenshot in the gallery, a peek at the Windows 8 login screen that was revealed on Friday and many thought was an April Fools’ Day joke. While it’s been confirmed as the real thing by a few different sites, we’re thinking its design will probably change before Windows 8 hits the streets, which we’ve heard might happen in early 2012. None of this is too pretty yet. We’re giving this artwork the benefit of the doubt, because Windows 8 is still in its early developmental stages. But we’ve gotten used to the ribbon interface in Microsoft Office 2007, and can understand its inherent efficiency. It gives interface designers a way to place lots of controls within easy reach, rather than burying them under multiple menus. On the other hand, with today’s wider screens, it doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense to use up even more vertical space on user interface elements. What do you think, commenters? Is Microsoft moving in the right direction with Windows 8? Ribbon Menu Screenshot courtesy WithinWindows Ribbons Screenshot courtesy WithinWindows Status bar Screenshot courtesy WithinWindows Windows 8 Ribbon Screenshot courtesy WithinWindows Windows 8 Ribbon 2 Screenshot courtesy WithinWindows Windows 8 Ribbon 3 Screenshot courtesy WithinWindows Windows 8 Logon UI Screenshot courtesy WithinWindows More About: Leaked Screenshots, Microsoft Windows 8, Ribbon interface, Spy Shots, Windows Explorer For more Dev & Design coverage:
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| Email Provider Epsilon Responsible For Gigantic Security Breach Posted: 03 Apr 2011 10:48 AM PDT   Epsilon, the world’s largest permission-based email marketing services company that serves TiVo users and many more, reported a breach in its security Friday, and the list of companies affected keeps on growing. TiVo users had a rude awakening this morning, finding out the email address they’d given to TiVo as part of their account registration had been compromised. According to SecurityWeek, Epsilon is currently disclosing even more companies whose email marketing lists had been compromised. Noticing the problem first with grocery retailer Kroger, Epsilon continues releasing company names that were affected by the breach. Here’s the list gathered so far:
Considering that Epsilon has more than 2,500 clients sending 40 billion emails each year, this list could keep growing. TiVo tried to sooth victims, saying the release of personal data “was limited to first name and/or email addresses only.” Here’s the email we received from TiVo this morning: While TiVo attempts to minimize the implications of this security breach, email addresses are now in the hands of those who would break into the database of a huge email conglomerate. This means those addresses might be targeted with phishing schemes, spam, and other annoyances. Now that they have a list of confirmed email addresses, those spammers and other miscreants will have much better success at targeting their victims. Other organizations such as Citi, Marriott Rewards and Ritz-Carlton Rewards also warned their users, with lots more warnings probably on the way. More About: email, Epsilon, Kroger, security breach, tivo, US Bank For more Tech & Gadgets coverage:
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| 10 Hilarious Vintage Cellphone Commercials [VIDEOS] Posted: 03 Apr 2011 08:31 AM PDT If you remember the days when having a “transportable” telephone meant you had to carry around a powerpack the size of a beer cooler, then this collection of videos is going to send you down memory lane. For anyone who doesn’t recall those golden years, this gallery is a fascinating insight into the cellphone technology of yesteryear. Commercials are like windows onto a society’s cultural mores. Here you can catch a glimpse of what was aspirational at the time. Prepare yourself for some seriously retro tech, some cheesy commercial toons and some just plain awful hair and click through the gallery. Let us know in the comments below which ads are your favorites. 1. Ericsson CommercialLet's face it. The only reason that woman can hide her humongous phone is because her hair is so big. 2. BT Cellnet CommercialEx-Doctor Who Tom Baker sells out, sorry, advertises BT Cellnet phones by comparing them to a Roman amphitheater. We don't really get it either. 3. Radio Shack CommercialThis phone is only "transportable" in the very loosest sense of the word. 4. Nokia AdvertHere, Nokia takes an unusual approach by promoting the cell phone as a high-tech little black book for sleazy yuppies. 5. General Electric Cell Phone CommercialIf you ever wondered why General Electric never made it big in the cell phone market, this advert from 1989 should help shed some light. 6. Motorola Flip Phone CommercialMotorola's approach to flogging early cellphones was to highlight every single scenario in which such a device might prove useful. We get it already! 7. BT Pagers AdvertThis ad is so bad it's good. 8. Centel CommercialBilled on YouTube as the first cellphone ad, this ghastly video is all aspirational lifestyle and good looking, healthy and affluent people. It apparently didn't do Centel much good in the long run. 9. Qualcomm CommercialNow this is just plain scary. 10. Motorola DynaTAC CommercialWe leave you with our favorite video of the lot. This informative clip from Motorola brings the news that eventually, "seeing people using cellular phones may seem as commonplace as someone checking time on an electronic watch." Bring on the "cellular revolution!"  Interested in more Retro resources? Check out Mashable Explore, a new way to discover information on your favorite Mashable topics. More About: advertising, cell phones, gallery, List, Lists, Motorola, Nokia, retro, trending, video, videos, vintage For more Video coverage:
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