Mashable: Latest 29 News Updates - including “Sharing Blogger Posts on Google+ Has Never Been Easier”

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Mashable: Latest 29 News Updates - including “Sharing Blogger Posts on Google+ Has Never Been Easier”

Sharing Blogger Posts on Google+ Has Never Been Easier

Posted: 13 Dec 2011 01:43 AM PST


Google has added a new feature for Blogger users who have connected their blog with their Google+ account, making it easier to share a post with their Google+ friends, too.

After you publish a post on Blogger, you’ll see a box containing a snippet from your post. Before sharing the post, you can choose which Google+ Circles you’d like to share the post with, add an additional comment if you like.

If you’d like to go back and share another post on your blog, you’ll be able to do so by clicking on “share” below the entry in your post list.

Of course, if you don’t like the feature, you can disable it on the “Settings – Posts and Comments” page.

More About: blog, blogger, Google, sharing, Social Media, social networking

Bottlenose Is a Game Changer for Social Media Consumption

Posted: 13 Dec 2011 12:53 AM PST


Is reading your social feeds starting to feel like a full-time job without benefits? Bottlenose is launching a new service on Tuesday that aims to extinguish this common gripe — and it comes closer than any social media dashboard we’ve seen.

Bottlenose fights social media overload with flexible, granular feed customization options.

You can, for instance, follow just slices of Twitter and Facebook feeds, getting someone’s tech news while skipping their Foodspotting posts. It’s also easy to sort by author influence, trending in your network, your interests (it learns these based on your activity) and pretty much any other criteria. You can set up as many feeds as you want.

Any of these feeds can be viewed as a visual node map for quick browsing and have automatic actions such as “reply” or “send alert” attached to it. For instance, you could set up a rule that “for messages by people I have mentioned more than five times, show a desktop notification.”

Bottlenose’s biggest innovation, co-founder Nova Spivack says, is a new language analysis technology that is written in javascript and designed specifically for the short-form communication on social media, including shortcuts such as hashtags and @ signs. It enables the platform to develop a semantic understanding of information before sorting it however you’d like, and it’s turned heads from big companies. Earlier this year, Mashable reported that Twitter was interested in acquiring Bottlenose. Spivack says that the company has “turned down a big offer,” but didn’t confirm it came from Twitter.



Aside from this technology, there’s something unusual about how Bottlenose is sorting streams. Mainly, that it plans to allow third party developers add more default options for doing so. Through what it calls “assistants,” you can already add streams such as “suggested reposts” or “by influencers” or one of your own. When Bottlenose opens this “app store” to other developers, the library of instant feeds will grow.

“It’s just like Apple made the iPhone,” Spivack says, “but 99% of the functionality comes from Apple developers.”

Bottlenose may have Apple’s app store concept, but our one gripe with the product is that it doesn’t take the Apple route with regard to the rest of its design. They’ve given us everything, and we’re a bit overwhelmed.

The startup has the potential to avert what Spivack calls the Sharepocalypse. But in order to succeed, Bottlenose will need to convince users that its plethora of functionality is worth some initial learning investment.


"Sonar" Maps




Get a quick look at what is happening in your feed by clicking "Sonar" on your main feed. You can click around the nodes to see associated tweets. In this example, I've clicked "Pakistan."

Click here to view this gallery.

More About: bottlenose, Facebook, Social Media, Twitter

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ToutApp Brings Sanity To Repetitive Outgoing Emails

Posted: 12 Dec 2011 06:29 PM PST


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

Name: ToutApp

Quick Pitch: ToutApp lets you template and track your emails.

Genius Idea: Improving email rather than trying to replace it.

ToutApp founder Tawheed Kader set out to build an e-mail killer. But he found himself sending a lot of emails in the process.

“If you look at how different businesses communicate with each other — spread the word, do sales, figure out initaitves– all of those things require a network in which everyone is connected,” he says. “And that right now is email.”

Instead of killing email, he decided to improve it. He built a tool to help him with his pitches, which proceeded to take off faster than the product he had been using it to pitch. In 2010, he officially launched the free email helper as “ToutApp.”

ToutApp allows users to create and save email templates, track when recipients open email and to automatically update CRM systems such as Highrise and Batchbook. When another situation requires a similar email as one they’ve already templated, they can find the text, with the same files are attached and the same people CCd, ready to be tweaked and sent.

For people in sales, PR or business development who sends a lot of repetitive emails, these shortcuts can save a lot of time. Most of the app’s 12,000 users fall into those categories.



The biggest drawback of ToutApp used to be that it required users to navigate to a separate website in order to use it. Last month, the company began fixing this problem by integrating with Gmail (Outlook is on the way). It also launched a iPhone app in August that lets users apply their content-rich templates to mobile emails.

Though ToutApp does charge 99 cents for this app, most of its revenue comes from premium versions that offer multiple user accounts, higher email limits, more email templates and in-depth analytics. The free version allows for 25 emails per day using 10 email templates.

A point at which many startups are launching tools that aim, as Kader once did, to cut down on email and the term “email overload” is becoming a cliche seems like an odd time to build a business that depends on excessive messages sticking around. But Kader forsees any email reduction we manage to accomplish through new apps and social norms to be resticted to communication within teams and companies.

“In ten years from now, we'll still be using email,” he says, “but it will look different.”

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: bizspark, email, ToutApp

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NBA Fan’s Twitter Stunt Lands Him Job With Team

Posted: 12 Dec 2011 05:56 PM PST


On Friday, Mashable brought you the story of two NBA fans who took it upon themselves to help out their favorite team on Twitter, only to receive a legally threatening email. By the end of the day, though, the fans had traded in the Twitter accounts they created for box seats to the Philadelphia 76ers’ home opener and season tickets.

On Monday, the story took another turn and one of the fans, Jerry Rizzo, was rewarded for his entrepreneurial sprit with a full-time social media position with the team — “about as close as it gets” to the perfect job, he said.

The 76ers launched a fan voting contest last week to choose a new team mascot between three finalists. But the team failed to get the nominees on social media, so the 23-year-old Rizzo and his friend Hunter Coleman, a 22-year-old teacher, registered Twitter accounts for two of the finalists, @PhilEMoose and @BFranklinDogg.

They began tweeting from the accounts trying to help promote the contest and drive fan engagement. On Friday, however, they received an official email praising their loyalty to the team but requesting that they hand over the accounts, “pleasantly without the use of lawyers or anything like that."

Hours later, Rizzo — a communications graduate and self-described “social media sponge” who was at the time interning with a media group — called the organization to see what they wanted to do with the account. The team eventually offered them “a fair deal” — the box seats and tickets for potentially doing more work with the team — and Rizzo and his partner gave up the accounts.

Then on Saturday, 76ers CEO Adam Aron left Rizzo a voicemail asking Rizzo to call him back. Rizzo did, and Aron quizzed him about his interests and experiences, adding that he had been impressed by Rizzo’s online portfolio and work. On Monday, Rizzo went to team headquarters for a series of in-person interviews before sitting down with Aron again.

“He said, ‘We’d like to offer you a position with the team,” Rizzo recalled on Monday evening of accepting a social media coordinating position. “And I said, ‘Yeah.’ I mean, it would be kind of like a dream job for me.”

But, according to Beverly Macy, a Huffington Post contributor and author of the book The Power of Real-time Social Media Marketing, Rizzo’s story isn’t just a quirky tale — it’s also hard evidence of a larger shift in the communications industry.

“It just shows that people now have the ability to showcase who they are for good and bad, and that all of that is findable,” Macy told Mashable. “It says it’s about personal initiative and that if you have a love or an affinity for something just go do it, because you don’t know what might happen.”

Aron, who has said that enhancing 76ers’ social media presence was a priority since he took over as CEO in October, told Mashable that hiring Rizzo was his idea. Previously, more senior employees had been handling the team’s accounts in their spare time, but with no one fully dedicated to the task.

For his part, Rizzo said that setting up the mascot Twitter accounts brought about unintended, if appreciated, consequences.

“I knew when I was doing the accounts that I was handling them in a professional way, but it wasn’t for the purpose of getting a job or tickets or anything like that,” he said. “So I’m definitely surprised and super thankful that Adam Aron recognized my passion for social media and took the time to look at my portfolio and get to know me.”

Aron said that other job seekers would be well-served to learn from Rizzo’s online initiative.

“Jerry impressed us not just with his clever Twitter campaign, but he had also created a website that was just loaded with content that demonstrated his creativity and drive and that he is a good writer and knowledgeable about social media,” Aron said. “He did online what people have done in job-searching efforts for decades — put his best foot forward and demonstrated what he can bring to an employer.”

“Welcome to the brave new world,” Aron added.

More About: 76ers, Marketing, NBA, Social Media, Twitter

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The 10 Best Mac Apps of 2011

Posted: 12 Dec 2011 05:34 PM PST


The Mac App Store launched at the beginning of 2011 and has already surpassed 100 million downloads. The Mac App Store isn’t the only place for users to get Mac apps — and not all apps (or publishers) are in the Mac App Store — but the uptake amongst developers and users has been swift.

As 2011 comes to a close, we wanted to look at 10 of our favorite Mac App Store apps from its first year of existence.


OS X Lion




Apple's OS X Lion is a major overhaul of Mac OS X, fusing the best parts of iOS with the features that make OS X great.

At $29.99, it's a worthy update -- provided you aren't using any legacy pre-Intel apps. It isn't perfect and some power users might complain about the steps Apple has taken to "streamline" the OS, but it's a solid upgrade with lots of promise.

I believe we will come to see OS X Lion as a transitionary release for Apple, bridging the old world of the traditional Mac with the new world of the iPad and iPad-like devices.

Click here to view this gallery.

Mac App Store rules and sandboxing policies preclude some worthy apps (namely Parallels Desktop 7) from this list. Additionally, we tried to include apps that had launched in 2011 (or had significant updates in 2011).

There are thousands and thousands of apps in the Mac App Store, and we just aren’t able to highlight each app we love — so feel free to share your favorites in the comments.

More About: Alfred, analog, camtasia, clarify, cloudapp, fantastical, features, flare, mac app store, mac apps, marked, OS X Lion, pixelmator, reeder

Groupon to Offer Two Tickets Around the World in $10,000 Deal

Posted: 12 Dec 2011 05:19 PM PST

groupon flight around the world

Groupon is offering an unforgettable deal Tuesday — that is, if you can really call something with a $20,000 price tag a deal.

You can purchase Epic Deal: Jet Set Adventure, consisting of a pair of tickets around the world, through Groupon’s Epic Deals program. For $10,000 you get two economy class tickets, or $20,000 for two business class tickets, both including up to ten stops in North America, Europe and Asia (you need to stay in the Northern Hemisphere). The deal includes curated Grouponcierge experiences in three destinations, worth up to $500.

The tickets around the world are one of the company’s most expensive deals do date. Groupon’s high price-point Epic Deals have included an all-inclusive wedding package for $15,000, the chance to earn a private pilot’s licence for $4,800 and the Ellen DeGenerous VIP experience for $5,000.

The tickets in question are on Delta, Air France, KLM and Alitalia, must begin in the U.S. and must be booked within one year. You can’t return home after beginning your journey and the trip must conclude by Nov. 8, 2013.

SEE ALSO: Virgin America Lets You Rent and Name a Plane for $60,000 [VIDEO]

While the $10,000 price point may not sound like your typical daily deal, the company says it’s roughly a 50% discount. If you’re in the market for an incomparable holiday gift, money’s not a limiting factor, and you can take off the time to visit a minimum of three and a maximum of ten countries, this Groupon deal might be just the stocking stuffer you had in mind.

For the rest of us, we’ll just need to keep fantasizing about the multi-city ticket to Dublin, Ibiza, Stockholm, Moscow, Dubai, Kathmandu, Bangkok, Beijing, Manila and Tokyo.

More About: air travel, daily deals, groupon

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How to Watch the Higgs Boson Announcement Live

Posted: 12 Dec 2011 05:05 PM PST

higgs boson ATLAS

Tomorrow the European Organization for Nuclear Research, more commonly known as CERN, will reveal something about the Higgs boson. Back-to-back public seminars are scheduled for 2 p.m. Zurich time (8 a.m. Eastern) on Wednesday, Dec. 13, each from one of the main ongoing experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), CERN’s colossal, headline-grabbing atom smasher. And yes, Big Bang Theory fans, you can watch them live.

Also known as the so-called “God particle,” the Higgs boson is one of the most important particles in physics, since it’s responsible for creating mass itself. There’s just one problem: It might not exist. Although science said it should, so far no experiment has shown any sign of the elusive particle.

The science world has been buzzing with rumors about the Higgs boson in the past few weeks after details about tomorrow’s agenda leaked out. From what various physics sites have published, the seminars are expected to reveal strong signs of the Higgs boson particle, but not with enough certainty to call it a bona fide discovery.

That makes sense, since the LHC wasn’t expected to catch sight of the Higgs since it still hasn’t powered up to its full capacity yet (it’s running at about half energy). CERN Director General Rolf-Dieter Heuer told Canada’s National Post he expected the final word on the existence of the Higgs to come by October 2013.

You can watch the lecture live from CERN’s webcast here. Once the announcement is public, you can discuss it with other physics enthusiasts at CERN’s Facebook page. The blog Quantum Diaries is hosting a liveblog of the even. And, of course, you can read the news on Mashable.

More About: CERN, god particle, Higgs boson, large hadron collider, physics

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How the #Occupy Movement Is Spurring Tech Innovation

Posted: 12 Dec 2011 04:13 PM PST


Susannah Vila directs content and outreach at Movements.org, an organization dedicated to identifying, connecting and supporting activists using technology to organize for social change. Connect with her on Twitter @szvila.

The movement that began on Sept. 17 in New York City was initiated in Canada by a magazine editor who refused to join Facebook.

Ironically, the Occupy movement is not only benefiting from digital tools, but also adding to and transforming the landscape of new media available to today’s advocates. Instead of asking how digital technologies are transforming advocacy, is it more appropriate to ask how contemporary advocacy is transforming digital technologies?

SEE ALSO: How Occupy Wall Street Is Building Its Own Internet [VIDEO]

This concept first became apparent in the U.K., with the "Uncut" protests. There, student protesters developed a new tool called Sukey to help one another avoid police barricades.  

This fall, in New York's Zucotti Park, occupiers have developed new tools and appropriated existing ones. An early example of the latter was their use of the blogging platform Tumblr, which first gained popularity through New York's fashion and photography scene. But Occupy Wall Street’s use of Tumblr has transformed the tool itself into one more amenable to advocacy. With every new tag, note and reblog that corresponds to activism, the platform becomes more valuable for organizers.

Occupiers are also the most recent activists to take a stab at creating a "mesh network," or a localized, independent version of the Internet. (It doesn't use central hubs that can be shut down by governments.) During the Egyptian uprising in early 2011, mesh networks garnered interest as a viable workaround for future Internet blackouts, like the one instated by Hosni Mubarak. The Egyptian experience inspired projects called Open Mesh and Apps for the Apocalypse. And now Occupy has ignited The Free Network Foundation which, like its precursors, aims to harness the momentum of today’s protests to create technological solutions that will serve actions of tomorrow.

The new tools that have emerged from Occupy protests are direct responses to user needs. For example, when it became clear that cellphone microphones were insufficient for disseminating information across Zucotti Park, technologists joined with activists to create a phone-powered tool for real-time information sharing. The People’s Skype turns many phones into distributed PA systems, provided the devices have speakerphone capability and their users know the dial-in and pin number. The tool also allows for real-time voting using mobile keypads.

A new application for Facebook called the Occupy Network provides a simple but important fix for online organizing. Rather than sifting through the various groups, pages and events related to occupations, anyone can use this app to search by location and see which of his Facebook friends are involved.

Technology and social networks haven’t yet been able to accurately anticipate the needs of would-be users. Only enhanced communication between technology developers and users will foster advancement. Until then, major movements are taking the reins.

Image courtesy of Flickr, sebastien.barre, joncandy

More About: contributor, features, new media, occupy, Occupy Wall Street, Politics, Social Media

How to Make a Monkey: Meet the CGI Wizard Who Brought ‘Apes’ to Life

Posted: 12 Dec 2011 03:12 PM PST

apes image

It’s easy to lose yourself in the digital jungles of Avatar, the widescreen landscapes of The Adventures of Tintin or the uncannily human eyes of Caesar, star of Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

It’s also easy to forget that all this wizardry had to be created from scratch by a team of illustrators, animators and dreamers.

Joe Letteri is the Director of Weta Digital, the studio behind some of the most mind-blowing digital films in recent years. The giant ape from King Kong, J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantastical elves, wraiths and rangers from The Lord of the Rings trilogy, the shrimp-like mutants from District 9 and the PYT mutants from X-Men: First Class all came from Weta, which was co-founded by Peter Jackson in 1993.

Letteri has had a hand in some of the most technologically impressive films to date. What makes his work special is the blend of technical skill and passion for story-telling. His character don’t just look real, they move, act and feel real even if they’re giant blue aliens or hyper-smart chimpanzees.

Mashable spoke with Letteri about Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which is out on Blu-Ray on Dec. 13. Letteri also talked about the hardest things to illustrate, how to make a digital monkey come alive and the bright future of film and technology.

Q&A with Joe Letteri, Director of Weta Digital

joe letteri imageDo you think the Planet of the Apes franchise is better off without those monkey suits?

I do. Now we're looking at chimps as if we saw them in the zoo, so they have to look like real chimps. You can do that with a person, really. Once we figured out that we needed to make apes that could do everything a real person could do, there was no reason to fit everyone in a suit.

What's the most challenging thing to illustrate?

Eyes are still the hardest thing to do. We’ve done lots of them, and we've spent a long time trying to get them right. The things with eyes are that they're really subtle, but it’s crucial. If your character looks good but their eyes are dead, the character feels dead.

Is a human actor necessary to breathe life into a CGI character?

It absolutely is, especially for the performance aspect. We can look at chimps in the zoo, and we can animate them in key frames. But when you start talking about it in terms of acting, it becomes a little more difficult and a little more focused. With an actor there, you get these subtleties of response to actions — those little movements that we normally don't even pay attention to.

Weta has won five Academy Awards. Now there’s talk of nominating Caesar, from Rise, for a best actor award. Is that surprising?

It's not surprising because there were similar dicussions when Gollum first appeared — that we should be considering [motion and voice actor] Andy [Serkis] for an acting reward. Everything works together for us, because we use animation techniques which let us move anything with key frames. But there is no mechanical connection between what an actor’s face does and what a chimp’s face does. There's a translation [to interpret human expression onto that CGI frame]

Do you think of yourself as an artist or a scientist?

Both. There’s a lot of science and math and technology that goes into creating CGI, and there’s a lot artistry and creativity that goes into the feeling of a character.

What most excites you about CGI?

I like that sense of fooling the eye, that unbelievability — that this can't be real, but it is.

Does Weta have friendly competition with Industrial Light and Magic or other CGI companies?

A little bit. There's so much science involved with this that there is a large academic community of research that everyone tries to draw on and push forward, because people are interested in what are the effects we're seeing and how you create them. When you're working on a film, those techniques are under wraps until it's out. But then I think everyone’s pretty good about talking about it.

Do you have a dream project you’d like to work on?

I’ve had a chance to do so many things [dinosaurs in Jurassic Park, Na'vi in Avatar. the chimps from Rise of the Planet of the Apes], that I've been fortunate in that regard.

There are a lot of techniques and technology you can use but what and where you go with it … really depends on the story you're trying to tell.


Rise of the Planet of the Apes




Facial expressions need to be ported between the human actor and the digital character

Click here to view this gallery.

More About: CGI, Film, interview, technology

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Microsoft Brings iPad Support to OneNote

Posted: 12 Dec 2011 02:41 PM PST

Microsoft OneNote icon

Microsoft just updated its OneNote iOS app to support the iPad. The new version, OneNote 1.3, works on any device running iOS 4.3 or later, including the iPad and iPad 2.

Far from being just adding device support, the iPad version of OneNote makes full use of the tablet’s larger screen, with larger pages that can better accommodate things like maps, a menu sidebar, and other iPad-specific features.

Besides iPad support, OneNote 1.3 adds more languages, a tabbed user interface, table rendering and — for those worried about data charges — the option to sync notes only over Wi-Fi.

OneNote is Microsoft’s supercharged note-taking app. It was first offered with Microsoft Office in 2003, and was first ported to the iPhone in January this year. It’s part of Microsoft’s Office suite of products, though it’s the only Office app available on iOS… so far. OneNote uses Microsoft’s cloud service, SkyDrive, to automatically sync notes across devices.

Curious to see the app in action, I tried out OneNote 1.3 for iPhone. My notes synced with my online Windows Live account within seconds after edits were made — this cloud stuff really works. The interface is a little redundant and counterintuitive at times, though. Microsoft should take a few cues from the better To-Do list makers, like Errands.

Although the iPhone and iPad apps are free, you’re limited to just 500 notes. For unlimited notes, you must pay per device, costing $4.99 for an iPhone or iPod Touch, and $14.99 for the iPad. If you have more than 500 notes on SkyDrive, you can still view them on your iOS devices with the free app, Microsoft says, but you won’t be able to edit them or create new ones.

Is Microsoft’s expanded OneNote support a move toward bringing more Office apps to iOS? Stay tuned.

OneNote-ToDo

More About: iOS, ipad, ipad apps, iphone, microsoft, office, OneNote

Google Makes Young Girl Cry by Shutting Down Her Account [Updated]

Posted: 12 Dec 2011 02:20 PM PST


Rich Warren, a software engineer from Houston, Texas, never imagined his daughter would be brought to tears by Google. Sadly, that’s exactly what Warren claims happened — via a post on Google+ — when Google shut down his daughter’s account Sunday morning, because according to the company’s policy she is too young.

Google’s decision raises an important discussion about how young is too young for using the Internet, particularly in this increasingly digital age.

Warren started a Google account for her daughter so she could stay in touch with her grandparents and friends. Haruko, Warren’s daughter, also started a Blogger account as part of a class project. She’s now lost access to those blog posts, homework saved on her Google account and the contact information of far-away friends.

Under Google’s Terms of Service, you can’t use Google’s services if you’re not “of legal age to form a binding contract with Google,” or if you’re prevented from using Google’s services by the law of the country in which you live. In the U.S., Google must comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), under which children younger than 13 must provide the permission of a parent or guardian before giving out personal information online. Google doesn’t collect permissions for its services, and many other U.S.-based companies take this route to avoid dealing with COPPA.

Because Haruko was younger than 13 when her account was created, Google decided to shut down her account without warning. And then came the tears. Google’s Terms of Service clearly state their age requirement, but Warren argues Google had many ways to deal with his daughter’s account other than deletion.

What does Warren want?

“An apology would always be nice,” he wrote. “I’d like to know what my options are. Can I download her contacts and e-mails? Quite a few other people have had similar problems. Is Google doing anything to solve [the problem]?”

When asked for comment, a Google spokesperson said, “We have actually been asking for users’ birth dates on several services for years. Asking for age information helps us provide features like age-appropriate settings to our users, who are interacting more every day with the people they know. Under our policies, Google doesn't allow users who are under the age of 13 to have Google Accounts, unless they are using Google Apps for Education accounts through their school. This is similar to a lot of online services, as it’s very complicated for many providers to offer better solutions for children that meet the relevant regulations. It’s not as simple as just asking a parent for consent to let their child have an account — there are associated implications for data and privacy involved. We know that this data is important to people, and we want to help by finding the right solutions. We’re also working on designing special safety settings for teens.”

Should Google have warned Warren and Haruko before locking out her account? How young is too young for email and blogging? Answer our poll and discuss in the comments below.


Story updated at 9:45 p.m. ET to include comments from Google spokesperson. The post also incorrectly reported that Google directly receives permission for users of Google Apps for Education under the age of 13, it does not.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, AnaBGD

More About: Google

Smarter, Better, Faster: Alderbaran Releases NAO Next Gen Humanoid Robot [VIDEO]

Posted: 12 Dec 2011 01:42 PM PST


This real-life Wall-E, formally the Nao Next Gen from the French Alderbaran Robotics, is expected to be able to help children with autism and people who are losing their autonomy. The newest iteration of the robot has a 1.6GHz Intel Atom chip and two HD video streams, among other hardware and software updates.

SEE ALSO: 35-Foot Robot Snake Weighs a Ton, Causes Nightmares [VIDEOS]

Check out the video above to learn more.

More About: mashable video, robots

How to Craft a Smart Startup Exit Strategy

Posted: 12 Dec 2011 01:38 PM PST


Jason Lemkin is vice president of web business services at Adobe and former CEO of EchoSign. His operational experience spans the business development, sales, legal, human resource and finance fields, and he is an acknowledged expert in the field of electronic signature and electronic contracting.

Entrepreneurs often speak of their startups as if they were beloved children. The infant business must be protected, nurtured and loved. Its owner must be willing to feed it late at night, to fend off hurtful strangers, to sacrifice in multiple, unexpected ways. And often, those business owners must find a way to let go.

As businesses grow, they do not exactly move out, go to college and get married. However, digital startup entrepreneurs have similar goals for their businesses. "Exit strategies" don't mean entrepreneurs plan to get up and walk away from their businesses without looking back. Rather, entrepreneurs want to raise their startups, prepare them for bigger and better things and let them go, either through acquisitions, public offerings or organic growth. Our businesses can't stay babies forever.

So how does one craft a useful exit strategy for a digital startup? Start with these three elements.

Exit Strategy Do’s

  • Broad presence: For a digital startup to make it past the embryonic stage, it must have mass appeal. Can your service be sold to any industry? Is it accessible to buyers large and small? Does it solve a fundamental problem to which most everyone can relate?
  • A committed team: Finding a dedicated group of people to install at the core of your business is critical to a successful exit. Revolving doors don't yield results during the impressionable startup stage. You need the best people, and you need them to stay devoted to rearing your business.
  • Market need: The web business is growing faster than ever before, thus creating huge opportunities for digital startups. Entrepreneurs who can identify consumer needs in this growing market will see successful exits.

Exit Strategy Don’ts

With any three “do's," you’ll encounter three "don'ts." Here are three common mistakes that prevent business happy endings.

  • Uncertainty about your business model or ultimate goal: You must know where you're going if you want people to follow you. Although your business model will evolve as will your exit strategy, you have to at least start with a viable plan. Investors, partners, customers and employees will look to you to define the end game, so do it early. Then, keep your eye on the market and adjust as your business matures.
  • Going niche: Narrowly focused digital startups set out on a difficult path with an uncertain destination. The best digital plays are broadly directed, since web apps require wide user bases to breed profitability. Once you identify that expansive prospect group, make sure the idea you offer is fresh. Your idea should add value to an existing market or create a new market that has potential to grow. Copying someone else's plan, no matter how good it may be, is a mistake, especially in a niche market. But tweaking a good idea with broad appeal can lead to a positive exit.
  • Misusing the freemium model: Digital startups love freemium. Entrepreneurs want people to experience their products, so they oftentimes give them away. That's fine, as long as all those freebies result in upgrades. For a company to survive, it has to illustrate in its freemium model all the reasons why users should open their wallets for pro and enterprise versions. After all, a business requires paying customers to succeed, so a good freemium plan must appeal to a broad user base pair with a separate sales strategy that effectively converts users.

One more tip for the doting entrepreneur looking to shepherd his or her digital startup into the world: Iterate. If your first business model turns out to be misguided? Learn. Adapt. Try again. If the market you thought would go crazy for your service remains apathetic? Research. Revise. Re-release. Failures are learning opportunities. They're difficult, painful learning opportunities, but they’re ultimately valuable ones.

Whether you define the successful exit for your web app as an acquisition, an IPO or a mature, private company, getting there is easier when you stay focused on the goal without being rigid in its pursuit.

Image courtesy of Flickr, Jer Kunz

More About: contributor, entrepreneurs, features, How-To, Startups, web apps

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Google Street View Becomes ‘Google Shoot View’ in Unsettling Mashup [VIDEO]

Posted: 12 Dec 2011 01:03 PM PST


Here’s a rather uncomfortable use of the Google Maps API. Advertising agency Pool Worldwide blended Google Street View and a fake assault rifle to create “Google Shoot View.”

Users can tour the world firing away in a first-person-style shooter, a la Call of Duty. Check out the video above to learn more. (UPDATE: The site appears to be down.)

If you’re into something a little more beautiful and less violent, check out these five artistic uses of Google Street View.

More About: Google, Google Maps, google street view, mashable video

For more Dev & Design coverage:

Track Your Gift, Without Ruining the Surprise

Posted: 12 Dec 2011 12:52 PM PST


Exchanging package tracking information is the gift equivalent of a buzz kill. But Slice, an online purchase manager startup, launched a new feature on Monday that warns recipients to expect a delivery while preserving the fun of gift giving.

“Track With Friends” sends a gift-wrapped virtual box to the recipient’s email inbox before the real package arrives on their doorstep. With one click, a user can trace his or her incoming package on a map without becoming privy to its price and contents (senders can choose to include or omit this information as they see fit).

Slice’s core product is an add-on for Yahoo and Gmail that automatically organizes online purchases by extracting relevant information such as package tracking information, order numbers and customer service phone numbers from emailed receipts. To use “Track With Friends,” only the sender needs to be a user.

In order to access the feature, navigate to the “Track Shipments” page of the app and click the “Track With Friends” button. All of the information about the gift should already be there. Just customize your virtual wrapping paper, add a message and you’re good to go — spreading the word about Slice and holiday cheer with one email.

More About: Christmas, Hannukah, Holidays 2011, Kwanzaa, package tracking, Slice

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Charlie Sheen Accidentally Tweets Phone Number to 5 Million Followers

Posted: 12 Dec 2011 12:41 PM PST


Charlie Sheen accidentally tweeted his phone number to his more than 5 million Twitter followers while attempting to send a direct message to Justin Bieber.

Sheen — who first joined Twitter earlier this year — was eating dinner at elite French restaurant Guy Savoy in Las Vegas last week when he sent the pop star a message to give him a call.

“310-954-7277 Call me bro. C,” Sheen tweeted.

Although the message was intended to be privately sent to Bieber, Sheen actually sent his digits for all to see. It was promptly retweeted by Sheen's followers. The number has since been disconnected, and the tweet has been deleted.

According to the Daily Telegraph, a source at the restaurant noted that Sheen's phone received a flurry of calls and text messages. "Charlie saw the funny side and answered the phone a few times, saying things like ‘Ray’s Pizza’ and ‘Winning,'" the report said.

It isn’t the first tweet accidentally sent by a celebrity who thought he was sending a direct message. The infamous Twitter-based photo that led to Congressman Anthony Weiner’s resignation was also intended to be a DM.

This incident also begs a very important question: Charlie Sheen and Justin Bieber are friends?

Bonus: 42 Big-Name Twitter Accounts Launched in 2011

Sheen is just one of many well-known people who have joined Twitter in the past 12 months. Here are others:


@simoncowell




TV personality and music executive Simon Cowell is Twitter's newest celebrity. Cowell, who became a household name in 2002 as the brutally honest judge on American Idol, used his first tweet on Nov. 16 to pimp the U.S. version of The X Factor for which he's a judge. Since then, he has argued with @PiersMorgan, live-tweeted about his X Factor finalists (while dissing other contestants as well as fellow judges) and shared random thoughts just like most Twitter users do.

Click here to view this gallery.

Image courtesy of Flickr, Ash90291.

More About: charlie sheen, justin bieber

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OneUp Turns Live Football Into a Game of Play-Making Bingo

Posted: 12 Dec 2011 12:30 PM PST


For many, watching a sporting event in person or on TV is an all-consuming experience — coaching decisions spark heated debate, scores force spasmodic bellows or groans, and the external world dims out of focus. So will fans be willing to add another social layer to the sports they love?

OneUp Games’s developers are counting on it. The Florida company is introducing a line of social sports games that follow the real-life contests live. OneUp’s products add a new twist to the sports gaming experience: they are based on live sporting events rather than after-the-fact statistical analysis. However, they don’t rely on simple predictions of upcoming plays or results.

“If you think about the social sports gaming space, fantasy sports is all post-game focused, but we’re trying to set up a visceral competitive experience that is an actual companion to the game you’re watching,” OneUp CEO Daren Trousdell said in an interview.

The company released its first offering, Baseball Connect, in July, but it’s Football Connect, which came out in October, that has helped OneUp gain traction with social media-minded sports fans.

Currently available for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, Football Connect features all 32 NFL teams and is essentially a bingo-like contest based on individual NFL games. A 16-tile square board contains different plays that might happen in a game — for example a field goal, a pass completion of more than ten yards or a pass completion by a specific player. Players try to connect four tiles in a row while accumulating points from round to round. Less likely events have higher point values, and players can swap event tiles and employ other strategic moves.

The app also has a traditional game-tracking feature that allows fans to follow scores and statistics not directly related to Football Connect while chatting with other users.

Trousdell said that, while Football Connect and other OneUp products do represent a new step in the sports gaming space, they pick up on what sports fans have been doing with social media for years.

“During games, people are always texting with friends and tweeting with team-specific hashtags,” Trousdell said. “But so far there’s been no centralized place to contain that experience and that’s what we can do.”

Trousdell said Football Connect has already attracted well over ten thousand users, and that more than 50% of users who try it come back to play again. The game is monetized in part by fans paying for packages of possible tile swaps (ten swaps go for 99 cents, 250 for $4.99). Trousdell said the game is already generating revenue, but OneUp is still exploring more possibilities for monetization as it grows its user base.

“We’ve reached the casual fan base already, but we’re getting more diehard sports fans,” he said. “Our gaming layer isn’t so thick that it completely takes over the experience. It’s more of a social complement.”

In 2012, the company plans to expand to more platforms, add more sports and incorporate tangible rewards like free jerseys for winning players. Trousdell said to expect college football, NBA, college basketball, hockey and soccer games all within the next few months.

“Ultimately what we want to do is define the social sports space,” Trousdell said. “We can be the go-to social sports network, making live sports more fun and increasing the connections between fans. What ESPN is to sports content, we want to be to social sports and sports gaming.”

What do you think? Are sports fans immersed enough already in the games they watch and teams they follow? Can social sports gaming like this become a trend and replace traditional fantasy sports?

More About: basketball, football, social gaming, sports

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Need an App Pulled From Apple’s Store? There’s a Senator for That [VIDEO]

Posted: 12 Dec 2011 12:17 PM PST


Apple just pulled an iPhone app that’s been in the App Store for more than two years — and did so at the prompting of a U.S. senator.

The app, made by the company DriversEd.com, lets users make fake driver’s licenses, creating high-quality images with the real license templates for all 50 states. The app allows emailing of the images, which could then be easily printed and laminated.

How did it get into the app store in the first place? You might suspect this app simply slipped through the hundreds of iPhone apps that Apple reviews weekly and that had Apple taken a more thorough look it would have probably rejected it earlier. You might think that, but you’d be wrong.

In fact, the Coalition for a Secure Driver’s License (CSDL), a self-described crime-prevention and educational charity, had petitioned Scott Forstall, Apple’s senior vice president of iPhone software, personally to remove the app in April of this year. Apple apparently never responded.

That changed once Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) chimed in. Casey agreed with the Coalition’s stance that the app encourages criminal activity and poses a national security risk. The CDSL’s initial letter to Apple quotes a review of the app that reads: “I wonder how many terrorists, Medicare scammers, etc, will have to be caught before this app is either pulled or the vendor directed to make significant changes.”

The DriversEd.com’s page for the app gives the impression it’s intended as fun social exercise. It features a photo of a cat on a Colorado license, encourages users to share the fake licenses on Facebook, and bears the tagline, “Your coolest license ever.”

Senator Casey begged to differ. “While DriversEd.com markets the app as a fun game, it can also be used in a way that allows criminals to create a new identity, steal someone else's identity, or permit underage youth to purchase alcohol or tobacco illegally,” Casey wrote in a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook. “With a counterfeit license created by this app, a terrorist could bypass identity verification by the Transportation Security Administration, or even apply for a passport.”

So did Apple make the right call? And did they do it for the right reasons? Does it set a bad precedent for the company to bow to pressure from Congress — or does it help prevent Congress from regulating the app industry? Let us know in the comments.

[via MacRumors]

Image courtesy of iPhone Savior

More About: app store, apps, mashable video, national security, tim cook

Mars Has More Room for Life Than Earth [STUDY]

Posted: 12 Dec 2011 11:59 AM PST


Fans of epic Mars-based sci-fi novels, from Edgar Rice Burroughs to Kim Stanley Robinson, got some more Red Planet-based reading material to fire their imaginations Monday. A comprehensive survey from the Australian National University that suggests there is tons of room for life on Mars to exist in.

Granted, much of that room is in caves just below the planet’s surface, and much of that life will likely be microbes rather than little green men. But here’s the kicker — fully 3% of Mars has the right conditions to support life, the researchers say.

That may not sound like much, until you consider two things. Firstly, we’re talking about a percentage of the entire planet, from the core to the crust. And secondly, if you run the same numbers on Earth, just 1% of the planet’s volume can support life.

So Mars beats Earth in the living room stakes? It sounds crazy, but it’s true. “There are large regions of Mars that are compatible with terrestrial life,” study leader Charley Lineweaver told the AFP. “If you’re interested in the origin of life and how likely life is to get started on other planets, that’s what relevant here.”

SEE ALSO: Earth, Meet Your Long-Lost Sibling: The Christmas Planet

Mars’ surface is too cold (a biting minus 81 degrees Farenheit) and too low-pressure to support liquid water, the top prerequisite for life as we know it. But Lineweaver’s study, published in the journal Astrobiology, looked at geological data from decades of Mars missions — and concluded that it would be warm and pressurized enough for life to live just below the surface. Warmth from the planet’s core provides the heat, and soil packed in from above creates the necessary air pressure.

So are there vast empires of microbes — or even something bigger — lurking just below that dusty red surface? We should know more next August when NASA’s Curiosity Rover arrives on Mars. This next-generation space robot comes equipped with a laser beam that can blast rocks, and a robotic arm that can examine the results. What’s more, it should be landing next to a three-mile high mountain of Martian sediment. Geology has never been this much fun.

More About: Mars, Science, space

For more Tech coverage:

7 Top Tools for Reading the News Online

Posted: 12 Dec 2011 11:49 AM PST


The Trendsetter Tech Series is supported by smart. Test drive the space saving, eco-friendly, totally unique, smart. Visit smartusa.com to find a new smart center near you. smart — unbig. uncar.

Thanks to the low barrier of entry for online media, as well as an increasing number of channels to access content, more news is being put out across a greater number of platforms every week.

For consumers, this is largely a good thing. More content means more choice. But more content can also mean more noise, making it difficult for readers to access the information they really need.

With that challenge in mind, we’ve pulled together some of our favorite tools for keeping on top of news of all varieties, whether you’re the kind of person who likes to keep up with breaking international news, highlights in your industry or news from your personal networks. The list is by no means exhaustive, so if you’re using a tool you’d like to recommend to fellow Mashable readers, please share it with us in the comments section below.


1. Twitter




For breaking news, there are few better tools than Twitter. News of everything from sports team signings to earthquakes have broken first on the microblogging service. Perhaps most famously, news of Osama bin Laden's death spread on Twitter before it was confirmed by any mainstream source. But logging into Twitter.com every day won't keep you on top of news alone: You also need to find the right people, and organize your sources appropriately.

Here are a few tips:

Follow the right people. For breaking news, we suggest you follow @BreakingNews, @AP, @Reuters and @BBCBreaking. For other news, we recommend finding the Twitter feeds of news sources -- publications as well as individual journalists -- you read elsewhere, and looking through their lists to see who they're getting news from.

Get Twitter everywhere. In addition to Twitter.com, Twitter also has a range of apps for iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone 7 devices, as well as a mobile site for accessing Twitter through your mobile browser. Many of us also prefer to use Tweetdeck and/or Hootsuite on our desktops instead of Twitter.com.

Organize your news lists. If you follow hundreds or even thousands of other users on Twitter, creating lists around certain category or hashtags will help you keep track of a certain topic, hashtag or news event. You can do this on Twitter.com and through Twitter's third-party applications.

Click here to view this gallery.

Series supported by smart

The Trendsetter Tech Series is supported by smart. Test drive the space saving, eco-friendly, totally unique, smart. Visit smartusa.com to find a new smart center near you. smart — unbig. uncar.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, rubenhi

More About: features, mashable, Media, News, Trendsetter Tech Series

Bing’s Online Advent Calendar Offers Contests, Celebrities, Free Stuff

Posted: 12 Dec 2011 11:40 AM PST


Bing is getting into the holiday spirit with a digital Advent calendar that reveals free prizes, contests and videos such as celebrity interviews every day this month.

Only 12 days into the “Magical Holiday Calendar,” you still have more than half a month to “revel in the magic daily.” Monday’s gingerbread mitten (offered Dec. 12 on the calendar) showcases an interview with TV personality Kelly Osbourne. The Dancing With the Stars alum shares the Osbourne family’s Christmas traditions in the video (see below).

SEE ALSO: Bing’s Most-Searched Items of 2011

Click through the calendar or check out our quick recap below. What other fun Advent calendars have you stumbled upon this year?

Bing’s “Magical Holiday Calendar” Recap: Dec. 1-12

  • Dec. 1: Day one of Bing‘s calendar featured the search engine’s “Decisions That Shaped 2011” video, which recaps the major events of the past year and promotes Bing News.

  • Dec. 2: Users had the chance to win a Fiat 500.
  • Dec. 3: Day three pimped Bing’s holiday soundtrack on Spotify. “Get all jingly with it,” the calendar said.
  • Dec. 4: Bing encouraged users to get crafty by downloading its holiday stencils.
  • Dec. 5: Bing’s Bumble creatures use the search engine to learn how to be scary.

  • Dec. 6: This Bing Travel promotional video shows a gingerbread man and snowwoman happily riding a motorcycle.

  • Dec. 7: Day seven unearthed holiday-dessert stats, including apple pie and cake, well, topping the list of most-popular treats.
  • Dec. 8: A sweepstakes gave users the chance to win Live Nation Premium Concert Access, which would give one person and his or her friend free concerts all year.
  • Dec. 9: Bing gave users a free month of Hulu Plus.
  • Dec. 10: Bing teached users how to make a paper mistletoe.
  • Dec. 11: A video starred toys dancing to Body Language's "Holiday."
  • Dec. 12: Kelly Osbourne shares the Osbourne family’s Christmas traditions.

    • More About: bing, Holidays 2011, web design

Instantly Place Santa in Any Photo

Posted: 12 Dec 2011 11:34 AM PST


Instant Santa (Free) by Fueled, Inc. is a very funny holiday app for iDevices. The app allows users to create a modified image that shows Santa in any photo. Users can take funny photos of Santa in different poses in their homes, offices, or anywhere they can think of.

Use the iDevice camera to take a photo of any location and position the Santa shown around the screen. When the image is to your liking, tap "snap," and you have a photo of Santa in your surroundings. The app can place Santa while taking a photo, or users can select previously taken photos from the camera roll and place Santa in them. Once a photo has been taken, users can choose to share it on Twitter, Facebook, email or save it to their photo album.

Instant Santa allows users to move, rotate, and resize Santa to their hearts’ content. The app initially comes with one simple Santa; users can use in app purchases of $0.99 to unlock the "Good Santa" and "Bad Santa" image packs. Good Santa images have Santa placing gifts, reading his naughty/nice list, eating cookies, and other heartwarming poses. Bad Santa shows Santa's naughty streak and features funny (and slightly provocative) poses like chugging alcohol, fighting and even holding Darth Vader's lightsaber.

I was surprised at how well designed Instant Santa is; the developers thought of everything. Moving and resizing Santa is a cinch. The app's interface is simple and clutter free. All the gestures are straightforward; anyone should be able to effectively use Instant Santa. The poses are also very funny, especially the naughty ones.

Overall, Instant Santa is a great app for the holiday season. Convince your kids that Santa was really in their living room, or show co-workers a funny office Santa. Either way, be sure to check out Instant Santa in the App Store.

More About: App, Christmas, Holidays 2011, iphone app, mashable

Kremlin Reaches Out to Protesters on Facebook

Posted: 12 Dec 2011 11:04 AM PST

medvedev facebook kremlin russia protests

The Kremlin is using Facebook in a bid to quell anti-government sentiment, following the country’s largest protests since the fall of the USSR.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev posted on his Facebook Page Sunday, saying that he was ordering an investigation into violations during Russian parliamentary elections. The post, which has garnered more than 4,200 Likes and 13,000 comments, touts the freedom of speech and assembly, but also says the Russian president does not agree with the protester’s slogans.

Anti-government protesters are largely unhappy with the president’s remarks. The Telegraph translated some of the milder comments, including, “Go now, shame of the country,” “Dim, are you taking the mick?” and “Your time has gone, everything was decided yesterday, democracy will be created not by you.”

Protests in Moscow’s Triumphal Square and in other cities throughout the country last week, began after a YouTube video went viral. The clip shows a government poll worker filling in an elderly women’s ballot. Some 50,000 Russians gathered to demand the primary votes be recast and the head of the election commission Vladimir Churov be removed from office. The BBC wrote Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister and former president, has never experienced popular protests of this magnitude during his decade of political leadership.

Earlier this week, Trend Micro researcher Maxim Goncharov found pro-Kremlin Twitter messages were auto-generated by computers, spamming conversations and reducing the voice of decent. The bots used the protesters’ hashtag #триумфальная (Triumfalnaya) to drown conversations, while posting up to 10 messages per second.

SEE ALSO: 9 Social Media Uprisings That Sought to Change the World in 2011

It’s no surprise social media is influencing so many aspects of the Russian protests. In November, Internet monitoring company comScore reported Russia overtaking Germany as the European nation with the deepest Internet penetration, meaning the country was home to the most unique Internet visitors. The country has more than five million Facebook users.

VKontakte, Russia’s largest social network (similar to Facebook), denied a government request to shut down the accounts of government opposition groups, Russian news site RIA Novosti reported Dec. 8.

Do you think Medvedev made a bad decision by opening himself and his government up for ridicule on his Facebook Page? Share your reactions in the comments.

More About: russia, russian protests, social movements, uprisings

‘Comic Sans Project’ Seeks to Save the Web’s Most Hated Font

Posted: 12 Dec 2011 10:18 AM PST


1. Tumblr




The Tumblr logo itself is re-imagined with the Comic Sans treatment.

Click here to view this gallery.

Some fonts get no respect. This is true of Comic Sans, the ’90s-era Microsoft typeface that sought to emulate comic book text and failed miserably, by most accounts.

The font’s childish, unsophisticated scrawl and overuse by armchair designers has rendered it taboo in most artistic circles, and the sophisticated web at large enforces a moratorium on its use. Some have even campaigned to rid the web of it forever.

But despite the haters, French designers Thomas Blanc and Florian Amoneau have sought to spark a movement. Their new Tumblr, entitled the Comic Sans Project, tries to re-imagine the much-maligned font by posing a simple aesthetic question: What if the world’s most recognizable logos used Comic Sans?

“We have been inspired by all the jokes about Comic Sans we heard and read on the Internet every day,” says Blanc. “We wanted to create our own personal joke with those ironic logos. At the same time, we actually tried to defend Comic Sans [by] posting only logos which look good enough to us. Some of them work pretty well!”

SEE ALSO: A History of Western Typefaces [INFOGRAPHIC]

You can see the results above. With their six-day-old, half-ironic Tumblr, Blanc and Amoneau seem to have awoken a latent and widespread appreciation of the font — as if the world had been waiting for someone to say: It’s OK to love Comic Sans again.

“We received a lot of cheering emails and a lot of submissions from all over the world,” says Blanc, who intends to open the site to user-generated content soon.

What’s next for the Comic Sans Project? There are 20 more logos in the works, including NASA and M&M’s, says Blanc. “We also plan to use the benefits of this little fame to find a job in Paris. We will redesign logos of French advertising agencies and send it to them.”

Take note, kids. This is content marketing at its finest.

Images used with permission.

More About: comic sans, design, features, fonts, typography

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Barnes & Noble’s Nook Color Welcomes Netflix, Comics, More Apps

Posted: 12 Dec 2011 10:01 AM PST


Amazon's Kindle Fire isn't the only device gearing up for a major software update. Barnes & Noble announced plans on Monday to roll out a series of performance improvements and entertainment features for its Nook Color ereader, including a variety of apps such as Netflix and Flixter.

The Nook Color's 1.4 software update — which now resembles the operating system powering the Nook Tablet — gives readers far more options on how to interact with the device.

The company's “biggest ever update” for its year-old Nook Color includes access to Netflix's streaming service, allowing users to access popular movies and TV shows directly on the device. The update also features NookComics – which adds a large collection of full-color comics and Marvel graphic novels – and PagePerfect Nook Books with ebooks focused on images, such as cooking and art books.

The update also made various improvements to usability. The Nook Color now offers the flexibility to read books in portrait or landscape mode, adjust the text with additional font sizes and directly look up words in its internal dictionary. Viewing PDFs is also more interactive, as users can pinch and zoom in on images.

Although the company hasn't unveiled a service that allows Nook Color users the ability to download or rent movies through the device, Barnes & Noble noted that more video services are in the works. Apps for popular music services such as Pandora and Grooveshark are also available for download.

SEE ALSO: Nook Tablet Gives Kindle Fire a Run for Its Money [REVIEW]

Nook Color users can download the update now via its site or can do so through Wi-Fi when the company rolls out the option later this week.

Barnes & Noble is giving shoppers the opportunity to receive a free $25 gift certificate to the store when a Nook Color, Nook Simple Touch or Nook Tablet is purchased with a MasterCard. The offer is only valid for today, Monday Dec. 12.

Will the updates give the Nook Color a new advantage over the competition or is it still playing catch up?

More About: amazon, ereader, Gadget, nook color, Tablet, Tech

Facebook Is More Popular Than Google Apps on Android [VIDEO]

Posted: 12 Dec 2011 09:55 AM PST


A Nielsen survey released Monday reveals that the six most popular Android apps are the same across all age groups, although their exact rankings vary slightly. The most popular and most actively used app (after Android Market), not surprisingly, is Facebook.

To find out the other top apps, check out the video above.

SEE ALSO: 8 Best Android Apps for Photo Editing | 10 Android Apps for Health & Fitness

Android users, what apps do you use the most?

More About: android, apps, Facebook, gmail, mashable video

The Cutest, ‘Deadliest’ Fight in All of History [VIDEO]

Posted: 12 Dec 2011 09:36 AM PST


Each day, Mashable highlights one noteworthy YouTube video. Check out all our viral video picks.

If a viral video hits the Internet and millions of people have not yet watched it, is it still a viral video? How can these cute karate-kicking toddlers not make it big with their strangely intense, undeniably adorable fight to the death.

Both fighters have gathered in the pit, the audience roars with their tiny voices, a sensei watches to declare a winner, and one of the boys’ mothers laughs in the background. Okay, the video isn’t quite Thunderdome with all those missed kicks and incessant bouncing but shoot if the two combatants aren’t bouncing with rage.

The fight looks like a friendly and totally safe match at a Taekwondo school, but we think the kid in blue, with his high kicks, backwards leg-kick-things and stoic bounce has some serious promise.

It’s nice to see that actual humans are trying to reclaim the viral throne from kittens around the world, though at time of writing “The most intense taekwondo fight ever” had just 302 views, while racking up more than 10,000 likes and 257 dislikes.

Are you a hater, a lover or a fighter? And if you had to put money on one kid, who do you think won? Let us know in the comments below. We’re sticking with blue.

More About: Video, viral video, viral-video-of-the-day, YouTube

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How Are You Decking the Halls With Tech This Year?

Posted: 12 Dec 2011 09:22 AM PST


One of the best parts of the holiday season is decorating our homes and offices with festive trimmings. Whether it’s a simple wreath on the door, a menorah on the windowsill, or an all-out music-and-lights extravaganza, families across the world deck out their living spaces to spread cheer this time of year.

Mashable and CNN iReport want to know: How are you decking the halls with technology this holiday season? Have you wired up an amazing holiday village complete with model train, or made some social media themed ornaments to hang on the tree? Maybe you programmed an impressive light display, like CNN iReporter jstorm‘s Angry Birds-inspired light show:

 

We want to see whatever cool and creative ways you’ve incorporated technology into your holidays this year. Upload your photos or videos to the iReport assignment page by clicking the blue button below. If you’re a Twitter, Instagram and/or PicPlz user, you can share them there as well with the hashtag #holidaytech. Please submit your photos and videos by Friday, Dec. 16 at 12 p.m. ET. The best submissions could be featured on CNN and Mashable.


Image courtesy of iStockphoto, gobyg

More About: Christmas, contest, Hannukah, Holidays 2011, ireport, Kwanzaa

4 Ways to Convert Facebook Fans Into Super Fans

Posted: 12 Dec 2011 09:06 AM PST


Amy Porterfield is the co-author of Facebook Marketing All-In-One for Dummies and creator of the Facebook marketing training program, FBinfluence. You can join her on Facebook at facebook.com/AmyPorterfield or read her blog at AmyPorterfield.com.

For most of us, football season means it's time to grab our jerseys and clear our Sunday afternoons. We're the weekend warriors.

But super fans are another breed entirely. They’re the ones who purchase season tickets, paint their face with team colors and endure below-zero weather to catch every game. Their loyalty is absolute.

SEE ALSO: How to Increase Facebook Engagement Using Custom Page Tabs

Your brand might already have plenty of weekend warriors on Facebook, but it's the super fan you want to attract. In terms of purchasing power and word-of-mouth promotion, one super fan trumps a dozen weekend warriors.

Moontoast's “Anatomy of a Fan” infographic identifies different Facebook fans by their level of engagement:

  • Potential fans
  • Engaged fans
  • Advocate fans
  • Purchasing fans
  • Super Fans ― the best of the best. They are the fans that have given you data permissions, purchased from you, and sparked other fan's purchases.

If we look at these levels as stages, we can take a more sophisticated approach to Facebook marketing. Engaged fans are great, but advocates are better. And even 1,000 engaged fans are no match for 100 super fans.

Here are four ways to start moving your fans through the ranks.

1. Attract Your Ideal Fan With Engagement Ads

Anyone who doesn't care deeply about your product or service will not become a purchaser, much less a super fan. Your advertising should target high-value fans, not more weekend warriors.

Engagement ads promote links within Facebook, like events or apps — or in this case, your page — to users selected based on interest, demographics and other targeting data. All a user has to do is hover over your ad and click “like” (the link's included in the ad) to start seeing your updates in their News Feed.

To create an effective engagement ad:

  • Target the right audience. Leverage Facebook's massive trove of user data to laser focus your targeting. For example, if I sold running shoes and I wanted to grow my fan base, I'd probably target people who have already liked my competition's page, because their leads are leads for me, too. I would also target Facebook users who have any mention of running in their profile.
  • Incite action. Your 25-character headline should prompt action or ask a question to grab your potential fans’ attention. Check out this example from a NYC personal trainer who targets women between the ages of 23 and 35.

  • Grab attention with a real image. Logos get you nowhere on Facebook. And a smiling, happy face works better than an abstract photo. Remember, Facebook users are exposed to lots of ads. Your headline and image are your one shot to get them to specifically click on yours.
  • Measure performance. Facebook's self-serve advertising system provides you with plenty of feedback. Run multiple ads at one time to find out which one is performing the best. You can change your ads as often as you want, so monitor their performance closely — and adjust as you go.

2. Create Word-of-Mouth Advocates With Contests

Word-of-mouth advertising is a cost-effective and powerful way to move engaged fans up the ranks. Unfortunately, you can't buy it — you have to earn it.

Contests are a great way to generate authentic word-of-mouth activity. Assuming you've already used Facebook ads to attract more high-value fans, then you can bet that many of your fans' friends share similar interests.

Every time one of your fans interacts with or promotes your contest, they're reaching pre-qualified leads for you by exposing your contest to their friends ― and this word-of-mouth advertising is completely free to you. It sounds easy, but most Facebook contests fail because they offer the wrong incentive.

Back to the running shoe store example, let’s say you hold a contest to give away an iPad. You whip your fans, and their friends, into a frenzy — everybody loves a high-tech giveaway. But when it comes time to promote that hot new running shoe, your conversion rates are disappointingly low. Why?

When you give away prizes that are extremely popular, like an iPad, but are completely unrelated to your niche, you attract a bunch of people who want to win something — not fans you can move up the ranks to super fan status. Instead, when designing giveaways and contests, choose specific prizes your ideal customer would want.

3. Grow Your Lead List While You Grow Your Fan Base

You might already have a welcome tab — a landing page for users who haven't yet liked your company. At a minimum, welcome tabs need a call-to-action. Ask users to like the page, and then include a brief video or copy introducing your company and page.

Users go to your page because they want a solution to a problem, or an answer to a question — so give them one, in exchange for their name and email. Offer valuable content on your welcome tab that shows you’re an expert, such as a free tutorial or video series giveaway.

4. Convert With Calls-to-Action

Selling on Facebook is an art and a science. Most users are on the site for both personal and social reasons, so it's a space where loud salesmanship rarely succeeds.

But providing targeted value will work — and the best way to do that is with content.

If you're new to this, start small. Guide your fans to your best content with short CTAs, like:

  • "Click Here" — Link to your latest blog post.
  • "Watch This" — Link to an entertaining video.
  • "Check This Out" — Post an interesting stat.

Every time a fan likes what’s on the other side of those links, you foster affinity and trust. You can then progress to more robust CTAs that focus on your brand’s specific services or products.

Good CTAs are content-rich, engaging, and promise something better outside of Facebook. This moves the relationship to your website, where you can convert fans to buyers using your existing sales funnel.

The Bottom Line

To turn potential fans into super fans, you need to start with the right kind of fans — those who are truly interested in what you have to offer. Then you can focus on generating buzz, nurturing your list and moving that relationship off of Facebook to the point of purchase.

If you consistently provide stellar content and real engagement, you'll develop a core group of super fans to show up, bring their friends, and be your cheerleaders, come rain or shine. The only question is, can your brand afford not to have at least a few super fans among its ranks?

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, emyerson

More About: Business, contributor, Facebook, features, Small Business, Social Media, social media marketing

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80+ New Digital Media Resources You May Have Missed

Posted: 12 Dec 2011 08:54 AM PST


Last week was a busy one for social media. In fact, Christmas might have come early for you with the reveal of Twitter’s new design and the long-awaiting roll-out of Facebook’s Timeline. If you were left indecisive about which shiny new toy to play with first, we have all the guides you need here, in addition to all of the other resources you might have missed this week.

What else? We got a sneak peek behind the scenes of major online retailers and some insights into the making of one of the web’s funniest websites, Damn You Auto Correct. We also took a look back at the year’s best ads, trends and memes.

If you’re catching up on your weekly social media resources, we have them all for you here.

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For more social media news and resources, you can follow Mashable’s social media channel on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

Tech & Mobile

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