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The Year in Tweets: 10 Most Memorable Twitter Moments of 2008 Posted: 19 Dec 2008 01:43 PM PST 2008 has been a big year for Twitter. The service once known for being unreliable has since stabilized and grown increasingly popular, branching beyond the tech community and into the mainstream. Twitter has also evolved into a medium for breaking national and international news, oftentimes before major media outlets. From natural disasters like Hurricane Gustav to the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai, Twitter has proven to be a vital source of information. Here are the 10 most memorable Twitter moments of 2008. Share your most memorable Twitter moments in the comments. (more...) --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: Quick Fix For Twitter Troubles Twitter Mobile Interface Twitter Raises $15 Million in Funding? Twitter Groups! Twittgroups! (Twitter, Just Add Groups Already) Twitter in Japanese, If You Please Twitter Down For the Debates; Twitter Forces My Hand How Messed Up Is Twitter For You Right Now? [Poll]

End Endless Email Threads With Backboard’s Document Approval App Posted: 19 Dec 2008 01:40 PM PST This post is part of Mashable’s Startup Review series, which highlights great unsung startups. The series is made possible by Sun Startup Essentials. Company Name Backboard 20-Word Description Backboard makes it quick and easy to get feedback and approval on your documents, right in your browser. CEO’s Pitch Think of all the times you have created a document in the course of your work life–a PowerPoint, Word Document, PDF, website or image. Once you’ve completed a first draft, you send it to your colleagues for review and feedback. Soon, you find yourself merging several copies of the document with different suggestions, trying not to forget edits suggested over lunch or by phone. Backboard simplifies and automates the process of getting feedback on your work. Upload your file and invite your colleagues–requesting and leaving feedback is easy and intuitive! Mashable’s Take Backboard solves a fairly common problem, or least, a fairly common inconvenience. The process of getting something approved – like a press release or a design spec – can be time consuming and hard to follow, as the process degenerates to endless email threads and attachments. Backboard's solution is to consolidate this whole mess into one web page, where the people involved can upload revisions, make comments, and ultimately approve the document. To get started, you first upload the document needing approval. You can then set different access permissions: either a public URL anyone can access, password-protected, or limited to people that you invite. From there, Backboard offers a gorgeous document viewer with options for zooming in and out, sharing it with more viewers (via email notifications), checking out all of the revisions and comments in chronological order, and ultimately approving the document. It's a smooth process with a great interface. Backboard isn't free for everyone, however. While a basic account gets you permission for 1 person to create Backboards, if you want multiple people with these capabilities, the ability to upload documents larger than 5MB, and enhanced security, you'll need to subscribe to one of the service's monthly plans, ranging from $9-$49/mo. Which, leads me to my main question about Backboard: is it something you'd pay for? While I love the service and could see it being a great organizational and time saving tool, I'm just not sure there aren't already enough free ways to essentially do the same thing. Editor’s Note: This post is part of an ongoing series at Mashable - The Startup Review, Sponsored by Sun Microsystems Startup Essentials. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. Sponsored By: Sun Startup Essentials --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: 270+ Tools for Running a Business Online

The Ultimate Buddy List: Access Facebook and MySpace IM on Meebo Posted: 19 Dec 2008 11:00 AM PST Meebo just got a lot more interesting, adding support for both Facebook and MySpace's instant messaging programs. That means you can now use the service to sign into all of the major IM networks (AIM, Yahoo, MSN, etc.) simultaneously, plus the social network of your choice, essentially giving you a universal buddy list that you can access from anywhere. This is exciting news for both users of Meebo and the social networks. The issue with chat on Facebook and MySpace is that you need to be logged into the site (unless you use a client like Digsby), as opposed to something like AIM, which you typically have running all day. Additionally, each of these services has its own buddy list with different people on it. By adding MySpace and Facebook, Meebo solves both of these problems. Strategically, by integrating Facebook and MySpace, Meebo is also adding a lot of value for its partners, such as Flixster, who use the service to power instant messaging for their users. Since the issues above are now solved, these partners, which also include Tagged, Piczo, and MyYearBook, can expect to see users spend more time on their sites too. For me, this move marks my official termination of desktop IM software, and hopefully the beginning of keeping in better touch with some of my Facebook and MySpace friends. --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: Meebo Plugin Now Available for Facebook Meebo Rooms Launches API and an Ad Network to Monetize It Meebo’s Chinese Clone Causing Too Much Trouble Meebo’s Custom Chat Rooms for New Advertising Options The Daily Poll: Is Meebo Worth $250 Million? Meebo Firefox Extension Now Live Meebo’s Firefox Extension Gets 12K Users in 6 Days

HOW TO: Win Friends and Twinfluence People Posted: 19 Dec 2008 08:30 AM PST Mark Drapeau is a regular contributor to Mashable. In the last year or so, microsharing service Twitter has grown by leaps and bounds, in terms of both popularity and usefulness. Regardless of the precise companies or services that become the most popular in the future, forming and utilizing decentralized social networks through microsharing is most likely here to stay, because it is fun and useful. But the lack of structure, bounty of third party applications, and global sources of expert advice can also be daunting to newbies. So, for those who are new to Twitter, here are 10 things I’ve learned about winning friends and twinfluencing people: Win Friends 1. Be unique, but be yourself Just like in everyday life, if you want people to notice you, somehow you’ve got to stand out in the crowd. Twitter is a complicated and growing mess of feeds and it’s difficult for people to find each other. However, always stay true to who you really are - don’t “peacock” just for the sake of attracting people to bizarre behavior. Marina Orlova uses her brains, beauty, and natural charm to teach people about history and linguistics in a really fun way. Broaden your horizons, but don’t fake it. 2. Participate in conversation Twitter is inherently a conversation. By using search tools, reading blogs, etc., find people who are talking about things you’re interested in, and join the conversation in a respectful and hopefully unique way. Tireless blogger and new media business consultant Chris Brogan is a great example of this. Find something good to add to the conversation - or stay quiet; don’t just be a nag, a yes-man, or a me-too person. 3. Provide value to a community People get on my radar when they selflessly and repeatedly add value to a community of readers. Some people are funny, some provide free services, some give out advice. Music enthusiast and online guitar instructor Walt Ribeiro provides awesome value to his online community, and has turned his talents into a tiny empire of popularity. People like this slowly turn into rock stars. 4. Attract loyal followers There are all kinds of ways to ‘game the system’ and attract followers, like you-follow-me-I-follow-you and following bots that auto-follow and then unfollowing them. But what does having 8,000 followers mean when they don’t know you or care about you? By making solid connections over the years, Peter Shankman has built a loyal following of “hacks and flacks" who can be mobilized at anytime through his “Help a Reporter Out” (HARO) network. By participating in conversations and adding value you will accumulate followers that will help you when you need it. 5. Mix microsharing with other outlets You can’t just Twitter; it’s too one-dimensional. Mix it up with whatever you like doing, whether that’s blogging about tech, short videos of you pimping your hot rod, taking nature photography, or attending black-tie galas and appearing in magazines. Through running a family business, producing online video shows, and headlining social media conferences, wine expert Gary Vaynerchuk “brings thunder” to everything he does. Doing and cross-referencing different activities online creates feedback loops that increase viewers and can get people talking about you and your activities when you’re not there to participate yourself. Twinfluence People 6. Find the influencers: Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. It’s easy to find out who the popular and influential people are on Twitter - they’re giving keynotes at events, they’re at the top of the TwitterGrader and Twitterholic and other lists, and mainly, people talk about them. Self-styled geek blogger Robert Scoble is an influencer – the "Scoble Effect" can literally crash new startup websites with a rush of traffic. Learn who influencers are, what they do, and why people revere them. Imitate some of their behaviors when relevant, while still being yourself. 7. Become an authority It’s nice to be good at something. It’s better to make yourself invaluable. If your tweets disappeared, would anyone notice? If you make yourself an authority on some topic being discussed in the Twitterverse, people will seek you out to be in the conversation - and that is evidence of influence. I can't name many information technology or social software analysts, but I know Jeremiah Owyang – through his listening, writing, and conversation – he has made himself an invaluable part of the Twitter community. Find your niche and own it. 8. Be creative Invent a contest. Conduct a poll. Document an exciting trip. Wear funny scarves on a YouTube channel. The innovative Sarah Evans founded both the popular Top 50 Tweeples contest and the frequent #journchat discussions that have bridged the gap between traditional media, bloggers, and public relations professionals. Surprise people with new ideas - anything novel that builds community, increases participation, and allows people to have fun is a winner. Don’t be boring. 9. Reward with shout-outs When you see someone doing something awesome, give them a high-quality shoutout. But be stingy and make it count. Here's a shout-out that I gave to Army public affairs guru Lindy Kyzer for the great tweets she was sending from a conference she was attending. Everyone loves hearing that they’re doing something awesome - and they also remember who thought that in the first place. Put a virtual smile on someone’s face. 10. Always have fun People use social media for many reasons, some more serious than others. But no one is immune from enjoying themselves. If all you do is post links to your latest influential blog, or link to current news stories you’re reading, you may be adding value, but you may also be boring everyone who follows you. Toss in an unexpected joke, complain about your dog, announce your engagement. Colleen Graffy, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy, has a serious job – but that doesn't stop her from showing her funny side. If you are enjoying yourself it will rub off on others. The Bottom Line There aren’t any secrets. You get out what you put in. Work hard, add value, and don’t rest on your laurels. Note what’s happening in the news, and in life. Always evolve; adapt to your environment. Embrace trial-and-error and a spirit of lethal generosity. Take risks. Be surprising. Be awesome. --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: Don’t Send Bac’n: Use TwitterSearch Menuism’s “GutCheck” Imports Twitter Feeds TwitterMail Lets You Tweet from your Email Account Twitter Adds GMail Contacts Import Twitter Launches People Search TwitterMSN Lets You Tweet from Your Chat Tool Twitter Live Birth Blogging

RIAA Will Stop Suing People, Which Doesn’t Make Them Less Evil Posted: 19 Dec 2008 04:15 AM PST First the good news: the Recording Industry Association of America claims it’ll stop the ridiculous John Doe lawsuits which have caused them an enormous amount of bad publicity and turned them into one of the most hated organizations, well, anywhere. I can now finally erase this topic from my list of stuff we should stop talking about, but does this make RIAA any less evil? Unfortunately, no. They’re simply refocusing on pressuring ISPs to punish their users whenever RIAA decides they deserve it. You’re sharing music over the internet? They’ll monitor you, they’ll hunt you down, and they’ll (at least that’s one of the suggestions I’m seeing) take away your access to the Internet. I wrote, at length, what I think about private corporations pressuring ISPs to remove (under any conditions) people’s right to access the Internet. In a word: it’s bad. Secondly, I maintain the (possibly controversial) position that not all file sharing and not all music sharing can inherently be called illegal or immoral, and that many corporations that own rights over intellectual property have gone way too far in defining certain activities as illegal; a good example is Sony’s publicly stated position that copying your own CD to your computer is illegal. Finally, I definitely maintain the position that monitoring people’s activities on the Internet by private, for-profit corporations under any circumstances is a horrible idea. This is just a PR move from RIAA. They’ve realized (it took them a while, though) that suing your own customers is not getting them anywhere, especially if they turn out to be dead people or 13-year old girls. So, they’ve decided on a more systemic approach, which has worked quite well in certain countries: pressure on the ISPs to do the dirty work for them. Again, the RIAA and its members simply refuse to adapt their business model to the new situation brought forth by the Internet; instead, they try to change the way we use the Internet, which, hopefully, will never work. People will adapt, and start using various techniques which will make it hard for anyone to monitor their activities online, I’m sure of it. I wonder what the industry will think of then, if they don’t go bankrupt in the meantime? --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: EMI to Cut RIAA Funding; Death of RIAA Near? RIAA Trial Over: Thomas Found Guilty of Infringement Audio Wars: Return of the Listeners RIAA’s Sacrificial Lamb Appeals Damning Court Ruling RIAA’s Lawsuits Possibly Cruel and Unusual EMI and RIAA To Call It Quits? Me Thinks No. RIAA Unfairly Maligned? Give Me a Break.

Thanks to Mashable’s Valued Sponsors Posted: 19 Dec 2008 01:10 AM PST Thanks to this week’s advertisers and partners for helping us grow to be the #1 website on social news and technology. Advertise with us and get noticed. Help us to help you. Mashable is seeking out site sponsors for our large, diverse audience — social media users, venture capitalists, early adopters, developers, bloggers, and many more. You’ll receive hundreds of thousands of views a day in addition to weekly recognition to thank you as our premium sponsors. Are you interested? (Contact us) advertising (at) mashable (dot) com for more information and to receive our media kit and rate card. Just in time for the holidays, Mashable is currently running an exclusive promotion with ad discounts. Hurry - offer ends soon! This week, our valued sponsors are SolutionSet and EdgeCast. SolutionSet combines efficient development with powerful creative design and a user-centered approach to marketing. We can deliver social media solutions that meet your business goals. SolutionSet is currently the only social application platform endorsed by Mashable. EdgeCast Networks offers a superior, cost-effective, global content delivery service that gives our customers competitive advantage in the delivery of digital media. Our world-class content delivery platform provides customers the cost benefits and flexibility of controlling their own content delivery network while liberating them from ISP contracts, capital investments and operational hassles. Additionally, thanks to the following partners for making Mashable happen: Thanks to ConVerdge for implementing our My Mashable social network and W3 MARKUP for the development and maintenance of Mashable.com Mashable would also like to thank AttentionPR for their PR support. AttentionPR proves that PR today is measurable, transparent, and yes, social. Learn more about AttentionPR. Mashable values Search Engine Optimization and endorses Stone Temple Consulting as the industry’s leading Search Engine Optimization and Pay Per Click experts. Find out more about Stone Temple Consulting. We can get your name out there. (Contact us) advertising (at) mashable (dot) com for more information on supporting Mashable’s growth and development. Alternatively, visit our advertise section for more details about: -Competitive direct ad sales -Sponsorship Opportunities for Events and other channels -Sponsored giveaways and contests -Custom ad deals and partnerships CPM-based advertising is available through our partner, Federated Media, but contact us for information and unpublished discounts. --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: Open Web Awards Voting Has Ended - Final Winners Announced Tomorrow Meebo’s Custom Chat Rooms for New Advertising Options Happy New Year! Meebo Hyping Kanye West Listening Party Tonight Rocketboom’s New Sponsorship Program Launches with YouTube Another Googler Moves On The 2nd Annual Open Web Awards Live Gala:

YouTube Videos Are Becoming an Unwatchable Mess Posted: 19 Dec 2008 01:04 AM PST There’s this widespread notion that YouTube is the future of television. The quality of the videos is getting better, the video player has been converted to widescreen format, premium content is trickling in, and YouTube has just opened an HD channel. However, what I’m actually seeing is something completely opposite. Eager to find a way to monetize the service, YouTube has added annoying ads at the bottom of the actual video, the search bar sometimes shows its ugly head on top of the video, video annotations pop up here and there, and folks who are trying to leverage YouTube’s huge userbase and make a buck are reencoding popular videos with their ugly logos. The result is this: (Before you ask, I know it’s 2008, there’s nothing wrong with a little classic rock.) I’m not saying that all YouTube videos look like this. But this seems to be the direction we’re heading to, and I don’t like it one bit. There’s no way you can actually enjoy these videos; they’re informative at best. And while one type of advertising can be tolerated, once you put two or three together (and I haven’t even mentioned ads around the video) you start wondering: why the hell am I even watching this crap? I know that YouTube needs money to operate, but if the overall quality of the user experience keeps deteriorating, at one point people are just going to stop watching. --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: YouTube on Verizon? Mobile YouTube Now Includes Most YouTube Videos Nazi Videos On YouTube Cause Concern In Germany iPhone to Offer YouTube Videos YouTube = Funny Videos. Literally. YouTube Launches New Zealand Site YouTube Multi-File Upload is Here

Get the Most Out of Your Netflix Account With FeedFlix Posted: 18 Dec 2008 05:07 PM PST This post is part of Mashable’s Startup Review series, which highlights great unsung startups. The series is made possible by Sun Startup Essentials. Company Name Feedflix 20-Word Description FeedFlix helps you get your money’s worth from Netflix. CEO’s Pitch FeedFlix helps users get their money’s worth from their Netflix subscription. Immediately after signing up, users can get detailed information like their Rental History, their Queues, their Reviews etc (we use the Netflix API). FeedFlix looks at your history to calculate your cost/movie and show you how you compare with other FeedFlixers. Cool graphs are provided for easy visualization. Users can get email Alerts if they’ve kept their titles too long. You can link to your FeedFlix page on your blog or email it to friends. We’ll always keep your page up to date. Zero effort required. Keyboard optional. Mashable’s Take FeedFlix is a neat little application that utilizes the new Netflix API to help you get the most out of your account - or at least make you aware of the fact that you might be wasting some money. After syncing your FeedFlix account with Netflix, you'll be able to see a bunch of stats about your account, as well as a comparison as to how to stack up versus other Netflix users (who have registered for FeedFlix). For example, in the account pictured below, you can see that your average cost of a movie is $2.99, which means that 76% of users pay less than you. You can also see what your average time is to return DVDs, and sign up for email alerts to let you know if you're keeping your movies for too long. Other cool stats include your average movies viewed each month, how long you typically keep a movie before sending it back, and a graphical view of your returns over time. There's also aggregate data on most popular plans, most rented DVDs, and queue sizes for all FeedFlix users. FeedFlix also pulls in data like your current DVD queue and all of the reviews you've published on Netflix. The site has pulled in actual reviews from Netflix users, so if you click on a movie title, you'll be able to see it without leaving. That actually turns FeedFlix into a bit of a social discovery site, since you can see who is renting different movies and then click on their name to see their full queue. Overall, Feedflix has the feel of a personal finance site like Mint, but for managing your movie rentals. Obviously, managing your Netflix account isn't nearly as complex as managing your checkbook, but at the very least, it's some cool stats that will most likely tell you the obvious: you keep movies for too long. Perhaps some specific recommendations - like which plan you should switch to - would be a nice addition. Feedflix claims to have attracted 10,000 users so far. Editor’s Note: This post is part of an ongoing series at Mashable - The Startup Review, Sponsored by Sun Microsystems Startup Essentials. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. Sponsored By: Sun Startup Essentials

HOW TO: Turn Your 3D Designs Into Reality (and Cash) with Shapeways Posted: 18 Dec 2008 04:10 PM PST Shapeways is a simple yet innovative design studio and marketplace for beginning to advanced 3D designers who want to see their computer creations transformed into tangible art. Mashable readers can grab a private beta invite here (the invite code is ShapeShopsMash100). How Shapeways Works Basically, Shapeways is an easy way (see our previous review) for anyone who enjoys designing with 3D software to get their designs into theirs (and others!) hands, literally. You'll have to be familiar with 3D design software to make Shapeways work for you; once you've drawn your masterpiece, you can use Shapeways' uploader to get it into your Shapeways profile and share it with the 3D design community at large. From Design to Reality: How Shapeways Can Save You Some Dough Anyone who's attempted to manufacture their 3D designs knows that it can get expensive. Shapeways is a nice way to sidestep a possible cash drain, since Shapeways can bulk process these orders and you as the customer get the benefit of a volume discount – this applies to the consumer looking for a nice 3D bargain as well (for more information on costs, check out the Shapeways pricing page. Create a 3D Design Marketplace with Shapeways Shops Coming soon is the next phase of Shapeways, where 3D designers will be able to embed their Shapeways profiles on any site, blog, or social networking platform. Shoppers can buy direct from the designer using PayPal, and Shapeways manages the production, payment, customer service and shipping – a pretty good deal. Shapeways: A Good Deal for 3D Designers Shapeways isn't for everyone. However, for those 3D designers who've been scratching their heads on how to make some extra cash with their creations, Shapeways is definitely a good way to go. --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: Shapeways Aims to Make 3D Fabrication Cheap and Easy (Invites) Spreadshirt Takes Funding Wigix Storefronts Lets You Create Customized Shops RepairPal Tracks the “Health” of your Car, From Buy to Sell Twitter for Coffee on the iPhone Zlio Cut Off by Amazon Adegga to Launch Social Network For Wine Lovers

Announcing Mashable’s New Year NYC Networking Event Posted: 18 Dec 2008 02:45 PM PST Mashable is ringing in the New Year with a networking event to warm the soul. With great networking, complimentary Peroni Italian Beer (while supplies last) and the company of Mashable readers, it’ll be a cosy gathering to welcome in 2009. Come join, mingle and possibly find a job. We are offering 2 free tickets and a free Mashable Job Board posting to any company hiring in January. For more information on this offer, please send a short description of the job being offered and the company name to newyearnetworking |at| mashable . com Thanks to Peroni for supplying beverages. Two sponsorship opportunities are available. Contact newyearnetworking |at| mashable . com for more information. Tickets are now on sale and there are only 300 public tickets available. Mashable's New Year NYC Networking Where: 212 Restaurant & Bar, 133 East 65th Street, NYC When: Thursday, January 15th from 7 pm – 10 pm Cost: Early Bird ($10), Regular ($15) and Door Pricing ($20) Tickets: Through Eventbrite, 21+ Only Socialize: Tell your friends and mingle on the Facebook event page Mashable: Join Tamar Weinberg, Adam Hirsch, Sharon Feder, Brett Petersel and more… --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: LinkedIn Events Bring Conference Networking Online The 2nd Annual Open Web Awards Live Gala: Pringo Powering Virtual Social Networking Conference Announcing TECH Cocktail Event Series Hear Steve Wozniak Speak at the Social Networking Conference NoSo: the Anti-MySpace Breaking: MySpace and MTV Partner for Presidential Debate Series

One Juicer: Google Alerts for New iPhone Apps Posted: 18 Dec 2008 02:28 PM PST The App Store for iPhone is getting pretty big and growing quickly – there are now more than 10,000 applications available for download. As such, keeping track of new apps exclusively through iTunes is getting increasingly difficult. Enter One Juicer, a simple solution for keeping up with new apps that you might be interested in. One Juicer works essentially like Google Alerts, allowing you to track new applications by keyword and receive e-mail notifications as soon as new apps matching your keywords hit the App Store. So, for example, enter in "social networking" or "poker" and you'll be e-mailed whenever new apps containing those terms are listed. One Juicer also gives you a login so you can manage the keywords you track. The service’s developer sees One Juicer being used primarily as a competitive intelligence tool, writing, "As developers, we are faced with competing apps entering the App Store daily. You can imagine it gets quite tedious to search certain keywords related to your apps daily. And if you slack off it’s even more frustrating when you find out days later that a new competitor has moved into your space." Smart idea, and something that iPhone developers (or a blogger that tracks new apps!) will probably want to utilize to stay abreast of everything going on in the rapidly evolving space.

Beyond Facebook Gifts: Virtual Currencies 101 Posted: 18 Dec 2008 12:48 PM PST Anu Shukla is the Founder and CEO of Offerpal Media, the leading monetization solution for social applications and online communities. The word on the street is that social networks, as popular as they are, can't make any real money. After all, who's going to click on an ad while they're in the midst of socializing with their friends? While there's a grain of truth to this rumor, it's fast becoming an out-of-date perception. What's changed? A new economy based on social web properties that use virtual currency to capture users' imaginations. By creating a demand for premium content such as virtual gifts or upgraded features, savvy social publishers are finding that at least a portion of their users will gladly fork over real cash in order to pay for, say, a pretend peony on (Lil) Green Patch or to buy the latest toys for their virtual babies on Make A Baby. Even better, plenty are willing to wade into the world of online surveys and advertising offers in exchange for these "must have" items in their games. Though no one knows yet the exact size or potential of the market for virtual goods and services, conservative estimates put it at over $2 billion for this year alone. Not bad for a marketplace that barely existed a couple years ago. Even better, all signs indicate that the growth is just beginning. As more and more social web publishers catch on to virtual currency as an incredibly effective way to not only monetize their traffic but also engage and motivate their users, the trend will only pick up steam. And as advertisers understand the channel better and realize that it is ideal for both performance-based campaigns as well as branding efforts, don't be surprised if virtual currency becomes the most sought-after ad channel on the web. What is virtual currency? Virtual currency, as you might imagine, is what you use to buy virtual goods or virtual services. It is essentially as good as real currency. The only difference is that it only applies within the realm in which it was issued. This currency has all kinds of names in the online world: it may be called "bucks," "coins," "points," "dollars," "tokens," "jewels," "rewards," "chips," "treats," "vouchers," "boosts," or "credits" (all of which we've seen), but whatever their name, virtual currencies have a definite value and can be redeemed in a number of ways. What are virtual goods and services? Ever noticed the little gift icons on Facebook lately that urge you to send a present to a friend? Virtual gifting is a reportedly $50 - $60 million a year business for the company, and that doesn't include any of the gifting that takes place on third party applications. But beyond Facebook's own virtual gifting, it's also built into a number of applications, offering revenue opportunities for the developers of these games. Virtual worlds and avatar-based communities have been charging people for decorative types of goods like fancy upgrades for their avatars or special backgrounds for their profile pages for some time now. At WeeWorld, for example, where you can create your own personalized WeeMee and take it with you around the web, you can spend WeePoints to pimp out your avatar with just the right hair, right clothes and right accessories. Virtual goods can also be more functional than decorative, such as the case when virtual currency is redeemed to unlock hidden features or advance within a gaming scenario. This type of virtual good is especially prevalent in MMOGs or other types of social games. For example, at Mobsters, the number one app on MySpace, users can redeem virtual currency to help them grow their mob and level up faster towards the top of this underground world. How is virtual currency earned? We've already mentioned that virtual currency can be earned by either buying it with real currency or by taking part in ads, but there are several other ways that publishers can allow their users to earn virtual currency. One is by inviting other people to the property, a tactic that also encourages viral success and growth. Another way is by simply coming back and logging in every day, which helps increase stickiness and loyalty. And yet another way is by rewarding them for completing certain tasks or quests, thereby helping build engagement and activity. But the most monetizable way to let users earn virtual currency, by far, is for completing ad offers. How can advertisers tap into virtual economies? As advertisers know only too well, so-called "banner blindness" has become an increasing fact of life, but especially so on social networks. Wise application developers know to integrate advertising offers into their app in a way that contributes to, rather than distracts from, the overall user experience. For example, participants in the (Lil) Green Patch application need what are called "GreenBucks" in order to choose the types of plants they want to send to friends. By signing up for Blockbuster, for example, or by participating in any number of advertising offers such as completing surveys, requesting insurance quotes, downloading ringtones, etc., they can get a hold of that foxglove they planned to give to their aunt Agatha, or a lily they hoped would brighten the day of a friend. By tapping into the user's social activities and motivations—in this case, sending a virtual gift—advertisers' offers essentially provide the fuel that enables consumers to interact with each other within an application. The key to success, from the advertiser's point of view, is using all of the juicy demographic and behavioral data on hand in order to target their audience strategically. Do that, and they will generate new customers far more effectively than through any other channel. Anu Shukla is the Founder and CEO of Offerpal Media, the leading monetization solution for social applications and online communities. A serial entrepreneur, Anu is also the founder of Mybuys Inc., a venture-backed company in the eCommerce personalization market. Prior to Mybuys, Anu pioneered the category of Internet Marketing Automation as founder and CEO of Rubric, Inc. Rubric was acquired in 2000 for $366 million. Prior to Rubric, Anu held a variety of executive roles including Vice President of Worldwide Marketing and Product Management at Compuware/Uniface Corporation (CPWR). Image courtesy of iStockphoto, JerryPDX --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: The Daily Poll: Should Virtual Worlds be Regulated? GameXa: Currency Trading Platform for Virtual Worlds hi5 Introduces Virtual Gifts and Currency With International Flair Facebook Virtual Currency AceBucks Raises $1.5 Million Bet on Fortune 500 Companies’ Upcoming Technologies StarDoll Offers Real Brand Clothing for Virtual Dolls Runescape Rules

Mozilla Officially Ends Support for Firefox 2 Posted: 18 Dec 2008 10:58 AM PST As expected, Mozilla has officially discontinued support for Firefox 2, notifying users via the most recent (and final) automatic upgrade of the Web browser. According to the message, which shows up upon opening the program, "Mozilla is not planning any further security & stability updates" and "the Phishing Protection service will no longer be available for Firefox 2 users." This is of course a necessary tactic to get stragglers like myself to upgrade to Firefox 3 on all of our machines. That's not such a bad thing: the much anticipated Firefox 3 was downloaded more than 28 million times in its first two weeks, and most popular Firefox extensions have been updated for the new version. You can download Firefox 3 here. --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: Mozilla Adds Live Chat Support: Eroding Microsoft’s Stronghold? Mozilla: Would You Like a Virus With That Add-on? Firefox 2.0.0.7 is Live; Eliminates QuickTime Security Flaw Help Find Memory Leaks in Firefox Firefox 2 Security Fixes Released Firefox Extension Contest is On & Poppin’ Private Browsing Comes to Firefox

Bank On It: Facebook Will Pass MySpace in US Popularity Posted: 18 Dec 2008 10:42 AM PST The latest numbers are in from Nielsen Online, and they conclude the obvious: Facebook is downright surging in popularity. The site registered a record 47.5M US-based unique visitors in November, up from 39.9M just one month prior. Top social network MySpace continued to hover around 60M, with an official count of 59.1M. If you're looking for a shoe-in bet for your 2009 tech predictions, it's this: Facebook will surpass MySpace in US traffic at some point next year. In all, Facebook has increased its traffic 116% so far this year, up from 21.9MM uniques at this time in 2007. Elsewhere, Twitter grew nearly 50 percent month-over-month according to Nielsen, from 2.2 million unique visitors in October to 3.2M in November. That surge is likely due in-part to the US Presidential election, where Twitter played a big part in some mainstream media coverage. Who are the other hot social networking sites as 2008 draws to a close? Tagged.com is up 465% since last year, Ning is +270%, LinkedIn is +114%, and Imeem is +68%. The full report from Nielsen Online is embedded below: Image courtesy of iStockphoto, alexsl --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: Facebook Beats MySpace and YouTube Among Young Adults MySpace Still Dominating Social Networks with 80% of Visits comScore: Facebook Traffic Flattening; MySpace Hits Record Facebook Overtakes MySpace for Search Inquiries in the UK Facebook Hits Record 39MM Visitors in US Facebook and Bebo Takeover MySpace in the UK Facebook Now 2/3rds the Size of MySpace in US

New York City Now Officially Looks Awesome in Google Earth Posted: 18 Dec 2008 09:20 AM PST Have you checked out New York City in Google Earth lately? You should, because Google added a layer of photorealistic building textures which make the city look like something from a decent flight simulator. Or, in one word: awesome! Google has been adding new photorealistic textures for many months now, and the users themselves have contributed. As a result, there’s almost no important landmark in NYC without a 3D model. See for yourself in the screenshots below: (more...) --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: Terrorists Using Google Earth to Target Israel Google's Earth Day Mashup: Maps + YouTube Google Earth and NASA Complete Project Google Earth Enterprise Version Update Released Google Earth Shows Real-Time Traffic Google Earth Updates Images Google Earth Comes To Your Browser

Baby Blogging: 8 Trendy Tools Compared Posted: 18 Dec 2008 08:15 AM PST When baby needs to blog, and in this day and age it seem almost a life necessity with babies twittering from the cradle, where does mommy turn for a child and parent-friendly site for micro and macro baby publishing? We’ve put together a short list of some of the trendiest budding baby sites, but only a mother really knows best. Which sites meet your mommy and me criteria? Keep reading and let us know where your baby blogs in the comments. (more...) --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: Snocap & CD Baby Call it Quits Scrapblog and March of Dimes Go on Tour 30 Boxes, UStream Facebook Applications SongCast Now Serving Indie Music To Five Top Web Outlets MySpace, Snocap Strike Deal with The Orchard, CD Baby and More Drumtable Is Great For Baby Boomers Moms: Blogging, Networking, And Twittering More Than Ever

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Tweetminster and Tweet Congress - Where Twitter and Politics Meet Posted: 18 Dec 2008 03:22 AM PST Tweetminster is one of those services which clearly shows why Twitter’s simplicity and versatility makes it the swiss knife of communication platforms. While the service itself might not be interesting to you if you’re not closely following British politics, the idea and the implementation are great. Tweetminster, simply put, follows the UK political scene through Twitter. It helps you find all the UK politicians that are active on Twitter, but it also organizes these tweets in a wonderfuly useful way. You can check out which political party is the most active on Twitter, you can sort tweeters by constituency, and - if a politician is not active on Twitter - you can contact them directly from the site and try to convince them they should join the fun. All this makes for a very interesting lens of the UK political scene, but the same principle could be used on almost anything; I can imagine a similar service showing and organizing tweets by football players, US folk musicians, astronauts - anything goes. The service is inspired by a similar US-based service called Tweet Congress, which has flown under my radar until now, and it’s perhaps even better, with a map of United States, fancy graphs and statistics for Twitter using US politicians. Hopefully, we’ll see more and more similar services based on Twitter as it permeates the mainstream. --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: Politics Online Conference 2008: Mashable Readers Save $50 Twitter Mobile Interface Are Politics Damaging Your Brand? Quick Fix For Twitter Troubles Win a Free Ticket to Time Warner Summit: Politics 2008 Politics and Baseball on Twitter: Who’s on First? New Wikia Communities Launch

Who Will Win Twiistup 5? Posted: 17 Dec 2008 08:35 PM PST Twiistup 5, an event for startups to be held in LA in February, today announced its 10 “Showoffs” - these are the top 10 startups, picked from over 100 submissions, that get to present at the event. They are: Causecast, Cogi, eHow, FixYa, GoGreenSolar.com, Meebo, RoboDynamics, TheScene, Viewdle and Yammer. Each startup is eligible to win the Fan Favorite vote and/or Judge's Choice awards at the event. But we’re not waiting until February to find out who leads the pack: we want to know now! Vote for your favorite below, and let us know why you selected it in the comments. Disclosure: Mashable is a “media partner” with Twiistup. This means we support its aims of promoting great startups, and no monetary compensation was exchanged. --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: Save the Date: Twiistup 4! Twiistup 3: Enter Your Startup and Save 20% on Registration Meet Perez Hilton at Twiistup 3 with a Discount! Get Ready for Twiistup 5: Now Seeking ‘Showoffs’ Get Ready for Twiistup 4: Pete Cashmore is on the Showoff Selection Panel Perez Hilton: The Mouse That Roared Ticket Giveaway to the April 24th SpringMix GLAM Event

Why Facebook Connect is a Big Deal: Workstir’s Winning Implementation Posted: 17 Dec 2008 04:15 PM PST Workstir is a relatively new site you might not be immediately familiar with; it's a service for submitting work requests for everything from home repairs to web design, where people looking for work can then browse those listings and submit bids. The site just implemented Facebook Connect, and it's a great example of what makes the portable identity service so intriguing. First is the obvious – you can sign up for Workstir without creating an account, but instead using your Facebook login info. That's a big deal in its own right – I probably wouldn't sign up for Workstir if it required a lengthy sign up process - but we already know about that. The bigger deal is how Workstir takes other data from your Facebook profile to make the user experience on the site much more user-friendly. Since Workstir knows your location (that you’ve provided to Facebook), it can immediately show you listings in your area, rather than requiring you to do a search. Moreover, when you post a listing, your location is pre-selected, saving you time in the process of getting that listing online. This might not seem like a huge deal, but as a first-time user of the site, the experience is certainly better than other classified sites where you have to navigate to your city. Also, when you post a listing, you'll get the added benefit of it being broadcast to your social network back on Facebook, significantly widening the audience of people that might be able to fill your request. Another aspect of Workstir's implementation to consider: the trustworthiness that using someone's Facebook profile builds. As opposed to Craigslist, where everything is relatively anonymous, when users post via Facebook Connect, they are adding at least some credibility behind their listing, since you can click-thru to their profile, see who their friends are, see pictures, etc. Workstir also plans to use Connect to let users leave reviews of workers who list their services on the site. On a sidenote, we're still in the very early days of Facebook Connect and on the lookout for interesting implementations to share, so drop us a line if you're doing something cool with it (or Google Friend Connect or MySpace ID for that matter). Some other great ideas - especially pertaining to Connect and its implications for ecommerce - can be found in the presentation from Razorfish embedded below – Portable Social Graphs: Imagining their Potential (via Stay N' Alive): Portable Social Graphs - Imagining their Potential --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: Facebook Connect Gets a Plugin Directory Facebook Connect: The News is the News Disqus to Integrate Facebook Connect Don’t Miss Facebook Developer Garage New York Facebook Blocks Google’s Friend Connect. There Goes the Open Web. HOW TO: Add Facebook Connect to Your Blog in 8 Minutes Twitter Now Live on Google Friend Connect

DIGITAL CHARITY TOOLBOX: 50+ Ways to Get Your “Give” On Posted: 17 Dec 2008 04:12 PM PST Qui Diaz is director of strategy at Livingston Communications and specializes in social media for social causes. She proclaims 'the good' on her blog, Evange.List. As the economy goes, so goes giving to causes that need donor dollars to keep doors open. While we bemoan sacrifices of luxury goods, our global social sector is faced with shortening the line or thinning the soup – neither of which are acceptable options. Because charities are rising to the challenge to engage us online, it's a breeze for us – the cash-strapped consumers – to meet them halfway. Why not buy gifts that give back when shopping online, or take a minute to sign and forward a Facebook petition? Those of us who have a penchant for technology and digital matters can go one further by integrating the “social” good into our "social" media discussions. If you have a few dollars – or minutes – to spare in the next couple days, kick it to one of the digitally-adept causes listed below. Micro-giving trends prove that a little goes a long way, so you can rest assured that whatever you invest – time, talent or treasure – will yield a return. And of course, you get what you give: By changing the Web, you actually are helping to change the world. Know of other "giving" opportunities with a social or digital play? Please add them to the comments! Free! Give Without Spending a Dime YouTube Project 4 Awesome - Today Only! - YouTube is dedicating its powerful platform to charity for a full day, and winning nonprofit videos can win $1,000. All you need is a video about your favorite cause. Feed A Need with Reddit – Add your qualifications to Reddit’s "Database of Awesome" and be ready to give 2 hours of your time to one of the project’s partnering charities. Crowdsource Ideas for Change in America - Submit, discuss and vote on ideas at Change.org. The top ten ideas will be presented to the Obama administration and developed into full-court press national campaigns. Click for the Cure - Click daily at The Breast Cancer Site and sponsors pay for mammograms. After 300 mammograms are secured, the site will donate $20,000 to help fund the cure. Be A Voice For Darfur - The Save Darfur Coalition’s Facebook petition application ushers in a new era of accessible advocacy. Most importantly, adding your name can help draw attention to - and end - the tragic six-year-old genocide in Darfur. (Disclosure - my agency is currently helping with this campaign.) SocialVibe - Select your charity (e.g., One Laptop Per Child), your sponsor (e.g., Apple), grab and display your badge on your social profiles, and earn points for donations to your charity. Search for Good - Pick your charity, use GoodSearch as your search engine, and Yahoo! gives for you. Dress Up Your Reader - iGoogle themes for poverty, environmental and education groups (etc.) abound. Almost 1,800 readers are currently sporting the theme for Action Against Hunger. Instant Message for Good - The more messages you send, the more ad revenue Microsoft Live Messenger kicks to the charity of your choice (American Red Cross, National Multiple Sclerosis Society, and more). Map Your Play - More than 15,330 playspaces are already mapped on KaBOOM!’s Playspace Finder mash up, and you can help by adding the good, bad and ugly play spots near you. Teach Your Granny to Text - And one day she might be donating to her favorite charity through SMS (WeAreWhatWeDo.org). Fundraising Templates - More nonprofits are offering DIY fundraising pages, making it easier for evangelists and supporters to become rainmakers (charity: water). Free Giving Campaign Site - Use Givvy.com’s free campaign page for your workplace giving program. FirstGiving.com offers a free template that is useful for fundraising with friends and family. Friend and Follow - More than merely setting up camp in social networks, nonprofits and individuals are running campaigns through Facebook Causes and Twitter (@nonprofitorgs). The Nature Conservancy, the Humane Society of the United States, and last month’s TweetsGiving are great examples of community engagement to raise dollars and awareness. Spread Your WOM - Word of Mouth still prevails as the best form of communication, so use your causes’ “sharing tools” to get the word out (e.g., Girl Effect, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Power Shift ‘09). Try a Niche Network - Join a “do good” socnet for a more tight-knit community of people and nonprofits collaborating on similar issues  - Change.org, Idealist.org, Care2.c0m, Razoo.com, Nabuur.com and The Big Give to name a few. Tell Your Story - Good stories help nonprofits raise money, so lend your tales. (American Cancer Society, Road to Freedom, and the1010project.org. And Every Baby Has a Story at March of Dimes) Change the Web 2009 - Join a new initiative to “transform the web through social change,” complete with a contest which kicks off in January. Meet the Changebloggers - You just might be one, too. Just Be a Geek Who Gives - This Slideshare presentation from Beth Kanter - a leading voice for nonprofit tech/social media - will illuminate and steer your online influence in new ways. Find more “free” ways to give at #GiveList, Social Actions, and We Are What We Do. $35 or Less One Dollar Nation - An online community focusing on education and poverty, built on your pocket change. Cost of entry: $1 per month. #Tweetmasfuture - This Twitter-based fundraising campaign starts today. The goal: get North Americans to re-allocate a portion of our massive Christmas spend to help eradicate poverty. The One Dollar Give - Each day in December this group blog is featuring a post from - and asking you to donate $1 dollar to - a different charity. Help Feed 100 People for only $3.29 - Glenda Watson Hyatt (a.k.a. The Left Thumb Blogger) is leading a drive for the Union Gospel Mission’s Christmas dinner fundraiser. You can chip in by “buying Glenda a cup of coffee” via PayPal. Text to Give - Causes are mobilizing through mobile, and mgive makes it easy to give $5 through SMS. Partners include Toys for Tots, Special Olympics, United Way, AmberWatch Foundation, ASPCA, Starlight Foundation and more. StopPovertyNow.org –  Buy a pixel for $10 to help the Grameen Foundation end global poverty. It's the Million Dollar Homepage with a heart. Social Actions - This site helps you wade through thousands of volunteer and giving opportunities on the Web (aggregated from more then 40 different sites). Donate $20.09 and to help them reach $20,009 by 2/9/09. And connect with their 33+ Twitter action channels. Add a Place at Your Table - For the cost of another guest at your table ($35) you can help end childhood hunger in America. Donate and download your free place cards. Triple Your $10 - Through December 31, all donations to PATH will be triple matched by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, McKinstry Company Charitable Foundation and an anonymous donor. Look for other matching gift “specials” - up to $1 million in online donations will be matched by a donor for the International Rescue Committee. Get Something for Your Money Ammado Video Contest - Win up to $2,500 for your video production of ammado.com’s Giving Circle (cash prizes for top three submissions). Indebted Digital Challenge -  Win $10,000 for best video game idea that addresses the fiscal crisis, and work with mtvU to produce your vision. Wireless Innovation Challenge - Do you have brilliant ideas about how wireless technologies can address social issues? Vodafone Americas Foundation is awarding $600,000 to top ideas for U.S. nonprofits and universities. Call for Human Rights - Join Amnesty Wireless, get a free Samsung M300 Camera phone ($199 value),  and Amnesty International will buy out your current contract (up to $175). Plus, 10% of your monthly charges will go back to Amnesty. Nothing But Nets –The UN Foundation's bed nets are helping to prevent malaria – a leading killer of children in Africa. Buy your "Buzzkill" T-shirts and other swag from their Nets Store using the promo code "Holidays" and get 20% off your purchase. Or just buy a net. Take the KnowH20 Water Quiz - And when you’re finished, you get a Think MTV/PlayPumps International badge. . . . or Play an Online Game in Exhange for Water Donations - Warning: Not for the geographically challenged (World Wildlife Fund). See more Games for Change here. Have a Green Holiday - The Pollutions Solutions enviro-tote comes filled with $25 in coupons for green living, 6 glass containers, a Klean Kanteen and other goodies . . . and cookies . . . all for $135 (Environmental Working Group). Buy the Soundtrack - Call + Response is a nonprofit “rockumentary” exposing today’s slave trade - an industry that annually rakes in more than Google, Nike and Starbucks combined. The 17-track soundtrack is newly available on iTunes. Subscribe to Good Magazine - 100% of your payment goes to the nonprofit of your choice. Give Gifts That Count Shop Like You Mean It - New online marketplaces make it possible to buy fair trade and eco-friendly gifts while supporting the people who make them (Nest, WorldofGood.com, iGive, Global Goods Partners), or give supplies, toys and loans directly to the people who need them (Oxfam America Unwrapped, Heifer International). Bidding for Good - cMarket’s online auction site enables you to bid on or sell everything, from toys and tickets to electronics and jewelry.  Proceeds go to schools and nonprofits nationwide. eBayGivingWorks.com is similar. Coupons - We-Care.com is an online store of 700 merchants (e.g., retail). Click their coupons and a percent of your payment goes to your preferred cause. Gift Cards for Good - Buy and send these e-gift certificates online. Recipients cash them in as online donations to any project featured by GlobalGiving. Network for Good and CharityNavigator provide similar gift cards, redeemable for donations to any nonprofit. Kiva Gift Cards - For microfinance fans, give these gift cards to friends who will redeem them for microloans. Lend4Health offers gift certificates towards microloans for biomedical treatment of children and adults with autism spectrum disorders. Changing the Present - Create a wishlist or gift registry out of charitable donations. Two Books for the Price of One - Give one to a friend, one to a child in need (First Book). Four Shoes for the Price of Two - Help TOMS Shoes give 30,000 pairs of shoes to kids in need (buy one pair and a second is donated). Ornaments from A.R.T. - Make a donation in the name of a loved one to Art for Refugees in Transition and they’ll send your friend a holiday ornament, too. Check out additional gifts targeting nonprofits and social change via the Case Foundation’s Guide to Good Giving and the Social Edge Holiday Gift Guide for Social Entrepreneurs. In Person a.k.a. Off-Line Do it Pro Bono - Join a network of professionals making a difference in your community through the Taproot Foundation or Idealist.org. Or volunteer directly through a nonprofit like HELP USA or AARP’s Create the Good community. Host a Star Party - An off-line gathering to plug into the night sky, and get in the know about light pollution (International Dark-Sky Association). Hit the Streets - To Write Love on Her Arms is seeking street team members (via Fancorps.com), and you can rock out to TWLOHA’s music player while you’re browsing. When you contribute to one of the above causes - or any other cause - multiply the effect by telling others. Your blog, Twitter and social network real estate is the best gateway for advocacy, influence and word of mouth - the greatest gifts you can give. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, PockyPocky --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: Rolling Stone Goes Digital Amazon Acquires Digital Photography Review Site Pure Digital Launching Flip Video for the YouTube Crowd Your Digital Memory: Gmail Drive Extension Amazon To Finally Launch Digital Music Store Reality Digital Gets Another $6.3M for White-Label Video Zipidee Says “Screw eBay! Sell Digital Goods Here.”

Playing Catch-Up: Google Chrome to Get RSS Auto-Discovery Posted: 17 Dec 2008 02:31 PM PST Last week, when Google Chrome came out of beta, many of you wondered what the rush was, given the lack of support for extensions, not to mention the absence of a Mac version of the Web browser. Today, it looks like at least one other common request – auto-discovery of RSS feeds – is on the list of priorities for the Google Chrome team to address. Documentation posted to the Chrome development site explains how it will work. In Chrome's address/search bar, an RSS icon will appear. Clicking on it "will redirect the user to feed, nicely formatted for the browser." Like Firefox, you'll then be given a pull-down menu listing feed readers you can use to the subscribe to – a list that Google notes is still to-be-determined. Internet Explorer offers similar functionality, though as Webware notes, it takes the very Microsoft-like approach of using itself as the feed reading software. It looks like Google is doing RSS auto-discovery the right way, though, it's hard to believe that Chrome is considered "out of beta" when it's lacking such a standard feature. But as Chrome enthusiasts (including myself) noted on our previous post, it's all about speed, and most Chrome users simply use a second browser for functions not yet supported by the Google browser. Hopefully, it's not too long until that need is eliminated. Currently, it’s not known when Mac support, extensions, or RSS auto-discovery will be pushed live. --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: Wizag Creates Auto-Discovery Blog Search Widget Most Wanted Browser Extensions and Add-ons to Install in Google Chrome? Google Actually Advertising Something? Chrome Ads Appear on LinkedIn Chrome is Getting More Attractive All the Time Google Chrome: The “GBrowser” Comes to Life Google Chrome Has 10 Million Users; Are You One of Them? HOW TO: Install Google Chrome Greasemonkey Scripts (Windows Only)

Notify.me Custom Alerts Get Even Faster With Desktop AIR App Posted: 17 Dec 2008 11:19 AM PST Notify.me, the web alerts site that provides users near real-time notifications via SMS, IM, and email, has just added a forth destination to the list: a desktop application. Notify.me lets you add any RSS feed to your source list, add filters to your feeds, select from the now four destination options (SMS, IM, email, app), and notifies you as soon as the feed is updated. The new desktop application, quietly released to users last night, is an Adobe AIR based app that is sparse on the feature set—notifications only—but a convenient, less cluttered alternative to the other destination options available. Jason Wieland, Notify.me’s CEO, says, “We are soft launching it for about a week because it is pre-release with an almost certainty of some bugs…we concentrated this release on stability. We are following the mantra, “release early, release often” and the plan is to make an iteration on the app every week or two.” Wieland also claims that Notify.me is the fastest online notification service available, delivering alerts within 30 seconds of newly published content. Notify.me currently has 4,500 active members, with the average user receiving about 14 notifications a day. Wieland estimates that the site sends out a total of more than 50,000 notifications per day. To download the app, you can go here, or navigate to the “Account” tab, select “destinations,” and locate the app box on the page. Remember to return to your sources list and select “app” for each source that you want to receive on the new app. Also, Wieland let us know that users using Mac OSX Spaces can receive ninja mode notifications on all spaces; information on how to set it up is available on their wiki. I’ve been using Notify.me since I initially covered the site and I’ve enjoyed the speed of notifications (which I can confirm are very fast), and the ability to use it as a Twitter track hack. There have been some reports of unreliability and bugs, but the Notify.me team seems to be actively using Get Satisfaction to identify and address the issues. Are you using Notify.me? Let us know what you think about the service in the comments.

Mashable’s Job Board Listings Posted: 17 Dec 2008 11:18 AM PST The economy may be in the slumps, but not all companies are reporting layoffs. Some, on the contrary, are hiring for the best and brightest talent. We at Mashable firmly believe that one of the lucky recipients of a new job can be you. This week and every week, Mashable will be featuring its coveted job board listings for a variety of positions in the web 2.0 space and beyond. Have a look: Director of Administration at the Center for Civic Education in Calabasas, CA. Working closely with the Center’s senior management, department staff, partners, and site coordinators, the Digital Content Manager will conceptualize, produce, and manage content for the Center’s website, www.civiced.org, and affiliated sites on a daily basis. The Digital Content Manager will also contribute to the evolution of the Center’s digital strategy, proposing and working with key staff to implement upgrades to the Center’s online presence on an ongoing basis, including improvements in overall architecture, navigation, and content as well as the development and addition of new features and applications that support and advance the Center’s mission and goals. The Digital Content Manager also has a role in building the Center’s social networking capabilities, user-generated content capabilities, and content development processes and tools. More information can be found here. Social Media Blogger at our very own Mashable headquarters. This position is telecommute friendly! Mashable is looking for a qualified day time blogger, do you have what it takes to join the Mashable team? Your requirements: a previous writing portfolio, previous editorial or copy editing duties, an intense understanding of the Social Media, Startup and Web Space, a terrific attitude, and an individual who is a social media power user. Check out the position here. Other notable job opportunities in the web 2.0 space include the following: Web 2.0 Writer and Strategist in Irvine, CA. Computer-savvy writers who understand “social media speak” are encouraged to apply. LAMP Developer with Web 2.0 in NYC.  The developer will predominantly focus on integrating server side technology with end-user facing templates and 3rd party systems such as Content Management Systems (CMS), Databases, and Social Networking systems. Social Networking Consultant for a Boston, MA startup. Position seeks out an individual with experience in launching and growing a social user base, knowledge of social network marketing tactics, a hands-on approach, and the ability to work within corporate strategy. Online Marketing Manager in Social Networking in Los Angeles, CA. Position seeks out someone looking to oversee some of their top tier clients. Social Networking Pro in Dallas, TX. This contract position seeks out an individual with good writing skills and social media savvy. Business Development and Sales Manager in Indianapolis, IN who will identify, manage, and close new business opportunities for growing Web 2.0 company. Marketing Manager in San Francisco, CA. This contract-to-hire position will drive and execute effective, multi-faceted sales campaigns. Senior Product Manager at Jobvite in San Francisco, CA. The position is for an individual looking to create great software products, create and deliver product specifications, and then work with internal teams to manage the product line. U/I User Experience Designer in San Jose, CA. The ideal candidate will design new features and initiatives for community-oriented applications on social networks (Facebook, MySpace, Hi5). Vice President of Business Development in Berkeley, CA. The job will begin as a part time position with potential to grow into a full time job. Mashable has a variety of web 2.0, application development, business development, and social networking job opportunities available. Check them out at Mashable’s Job Board. Got a job posting to share with our readers? Post a job to Mashable today and get it highlighted every week on Mashable.com (in addition to exposure all day every day in the Mashable marketplace). --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: Steve Jobs Subpoenaed For Backdated Options Case The Daily Poll: How Did You Follow the Steve Jobs Keynote? Web Jobs: The Mashable Back Catalog Ouch: Bloomberg Mistakenly Publishes Steve Jobs’ Obituary CareerBuilder’s Facebook App Searches Personal Data MySpace Jobs UK Launches Apple Giving iPhone Customers $100

Veedow Offers an Even Stickier Visual Shopping Mousetrap Posted: 17 Dec 2008 10:46 AM PST This post is part of Mashable’s Startup Review series, which highlights great unsung startups. The series is made possible by Sun Startup Essentials. Company Name Veedow 20-Word Description A shopping discovery site that recommends products based on every user’s interests and helps them discover products they’ll love. CEO’s Pitch Veedow is a personalised shopfront that recommends products in line with every user's interests and taste. It inspires people by allowing them to discover great products that they didn't know exist or that would have been hard to find otherwise. Say, StumbleUpon for consumer products. Veedow is a 'social shopping' website, where the individual shopping experience is enhanced by a social environment. Veedow uses the data coming from their users to generate algorithmic recommendations and it allows every user to share their experience, taste, wish list, or fab finds with friends and like-minded people. Mashable’s Take They say three makes a trend, and Veedow is the third interesting new visual shopping site (see PicClick, Modista) we've covered in the past few weeks in our Startup Review series. And, since we're talking about visual shopping, it's important to note that it might be the most visually attractive offering yet. To get much out of Veedow, you need to create an account. The idea is to first let the site know your interests so that Veedow can recommend items through its visual interface. Veedow makes this easy to do, organizing items first into high-level categories like "technology" and "men's fashion" and then letting you drill down into more specific areas like "portable media players" and "polos." From there, your "My Veedow" page shows thumbnails of your latest recommendations, which you can drag and drop into your wishlist. There is also drag and drop functionality to move an item to the trash if you change your mind. Each item also features its own page, where you can leave ratings and comments. You can then click-thru to purchase the item from an online retailer, where Veedow makes money from referral revenue. Veedow gets smarter the more you use it, improving recommendations based on your ratings and items you add to your wishlist. There are also some social features, so you can see what's on other users’ wishlists and items they've uploaded to the site – anyone can add an item by entering in the product URL from an e-tailer. Visual shopping is all about appealing to people that really like to shop by offering a compelling interface that makes useful recommendations. As opposed to knowing what you want and going to the appropriate store or online retailer to find it as quickly as possible, online visual shopping is essentially the online equivalent of casual window shopping. Veedow offers one of the better experiences we've seen so far in this arena, and should be a fun site to try out if you're a shopaholic. Editor’s Note: This post is part of an ongoing series at Mashable - The Startup Review, Sponsored by Sun Microsystems Startup Essentials. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. Sponsored By: Sun Startup Essentials --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: Never Shop Alone: The Social Shopping Showdown Round 1 Voting - Nominees

Facebook Posted Items Get Their Own Navigation Bar Posted: 17 Dec 2008 09:28 AM PST Facebook has added a small but useful feature that makes Posted Items a bit more interesting. Now, when you click on a friend's Posted Item, you'll get a Facebook navigation bar "layered on top of the page you arrive on," (in a new tab) as you can see in the example below. The value here is that opposed to navigating back and forth between the new tab and Facebook, you can view comments, add new ones, and share the item yourself, all from one convenient navbar that hovers over the posted item. This should increase engagement around posted items, as well as give them a bit of a viral boost as users "re-share" items that their friends have posted. Posted Items already became a bit more prominent on Facebook when they got their own tab on the homepage with the social network's major redesign earlier this year. Some pure speculation: now that Facebook is further encouraging users to engage with Posted Items, could an aggregate view of the site's most shared items (ala Digg) be in the works? It could be tricky given the privacy settings around user comments, but would certainly be feasible as the company expands its media strategy. Like most Facebook rollouts, the navbar is being released to everyone over time, so you might not see it in your account just yet. --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: Walled Garden Be Damned: Import Facebook Activities into Friendfeed Wetpaint’s Whiteboard App for Facebook Facebook's New Design Gets Way Better with News Feed Filters SocialSuggester to Launch Facebook App for Recommendations Will FriendFeed Forever Be a Niche Service? Verticlans Launches Private Classifieds System eBay Launches Official Facebook App

20+ Great Greasemonkey Scripts for Improving Your Twitter Experience Posted: 17 Dec 2008 08:21 AM PST It’s easy to love Twitter, but sometimes you just wish you could get more out of its limited Web interface. That’s where Greasemonkey scripts come in. Using Greasemonkey scripts you can nest replies, silence noisy twits, retweet to other services, and more. Here are over 20 that are sure to vastly improve your Twitter experience. What are some of your favorite Greasemonkey based Twitter enhancements? Nested Twitter Replies - Provides you with nested replies so that you can better follow conversations as they happen. The only flaw is that all replies are attached to the last post by the original poster, so if they tweet quickly, you could end up with some odd conversations. Endless Tweets - While this script will do a few things for you like show members on Google Maps if they have entered coordinates, the most exciting aspect is the pre-loading of extra pages. As you reach the bottom of a page of a person’s tweets, instead of clicking to go to the next page, this script will add them to the bottom of the page for continuous scrolling. Intercepter 1.2 - This replaces all TinyURLs with the actual URLs of the site they direct to so you will no longer need to guess what sort of site you are heading for. Keyboard Shortcuts Enhancement - Gives you keyboard shortcuts in several different services, and with Twitter it will let you focus on the text area, advance pages and more. Now Shoosh! - Ever follow someone because you felt you had to, but don’t want to be stuck reading their updates?  “Now Shoosh!” will hide their tweets from your view, and if you wish to restore them someday, you can. Reverse Tweet Order - Reverse the order of tweets on a page so you see the oldest first.  A great way to catch up if you’re behind on reading your timelines. Summize Replies - For those times when you can’t see your replies on Twitter, this will take you to replies directed at you on Twitter Search. Twitter Friend Name Helper - Working like most contact lists, name suggestions appear as you type, eventually allowing you to click on the name of the person to complete your “@” or “D” communication with them. TwitPic Previewer - Get a preview of a pic stored on TwitPic before you click on the link and head over to the site. Twitter @Reply To A Specific Message - Places a link in your reply to the post you’re replying to so people can see what your message is about. Twitter Emoticons from Yahoo! - Replaces the plain old text emoticons with images from Yahoo. Twitter Enhancements: Retweet This - Adds a retweet option to the end of all posts for easier sharing of messages. Twitter Enhancements: Retweet This to Plurk - Another retweet option that this time will copy a tweet over to the Plurk site. Twitter Follower Sorter - Allows you to sort your followers to see which of them you are already following and which you may have missed. Twitter Profile Popup - Hover your mouse over a person’s avatar and see a popup of their user profile. Twitter Live Updater - Auto updates for home, replies and the public timeline without a need to refresh the entire browser. Twitter Mod - Twitter Mod does several things all from one handy script such as TinyURL preview, contacts list, profile popup and several more features. Twitter Sidebar Replies - Ever curious about what people say to a user that you are considering following or are just looking up?  This script adds “@” replies to them in the sidebar so you can get an idea of how they communicate with others. Twitter User Classify - Shows you with just a glance how a Twitter user rates on Evan Prodromou’s scale of TwitterCaster to TwitterSpammer. Twitter_Lite - A Twitter client you can open up anytime, anywhere on the Web by hitting shift-T.  Gives you some abilities such as searching Twitter, looking up related items on Flickr, switching timelines and more. Twitter Upgrade - Combines numerous scripts that do things like convert latitude and longitude to everyday locations, offline conversations, hashtags support and more. Interested in more Twitter resources? Check these out: - “HOW TO: Quiet the Twitter Noise” - “HOW TO: Build Community on Twitter” - “How Not To Build Your Twitter Community” - “Twitterspeak: 66 Twitter Terms You Don’t Need to Know” - “Twittermania: 140+ More Twitter Tools“ --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: HOW TO: Install Google Chrome Greasemonkey Scripts (Windows Only) GMail Adding Greasemonkey Support? Chrome is Getting More Attractive All the Time New Google Chrome Builds Show Greasemonkey Support Get 10 New Digg Features With Greasemonkey Like The Old Facebook Design? Tough Luck, You’re Screwed 7 Essential Greasemonkey Scripts For FriendFeed

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Signal Patterns Goes All Scientific on Your Music Taste, Personality Posted: 17 Dec 2008 05:00 AM PST Signal Patterns is one of those services that tells you more about yourself. Today, they launched two new applications: Personality Patterns and Music Patterns. The latter is basically a music discovery service akin to Pandora, while the former enables you to gain “deep insight into your unique personality traits.” Both applications are connected to Facebook; you can set up a Facebook widget and connect with other users, discovering those with similar personality traits and characteristics or music taste as yours. The developers at Signal Patterns put great emphasis on the scientific, psychological foundations of their applications. From Personality Patterns: “The algorithm uses 45 different personality traits, each scored on a separate scale, resulting in extremely unique depictions of one’s personality. The algorithm is based on the “Big Five” model developed by Dr. Lew Goldberg, the chairman of Signal Patterns’ Scientific Advisory Board.” While this may be so, I’m always more interested in the practical side of things. I started with Music Patterns. To start things off, you must take the music survey. It presents to you several music clips, which you rate, and then Signal Patterns decides what type of music you like. Unfortunately, the test is long. Too long. The music clips you get to hear are slightly too generic for my taste, but even if they weren’t, if I hadn’t tested it out for the purpose of writing this article, I’d have given up after five clips. I didn’t count, but you need to go through at least 20 clips to finish the test, and you can’t make this experience shorter. After all that, I expected Signal Patterns to get a very accurate idea of what type of music I like. After all, they took the easy way out and basically asked me what I like, so it shouldn’t be too hard to put together a pretty accurate picture of my music taste. After finishing the test, I was presented with this: Unfortunately, the bands listed are completely off base; I listen to a lot of very different music, but Music Patterns somehow managed to avoid it all. As far as the equalizer thingy, it may be fun as a gimmick, but I don’t really find having some random adjectives describing my taste in music useful (or accurate; I do like inspiring music, for example). If you’ve got better results, now you can connect with your Facebook buddies or see what people on imeem (the “personalized music patterns playlist feature” is powered by imeem) with a similar music taste are listening to. Frankly, after all this trouble, I’d just rather go back to either Pandora or Meemix, as they’re a) simple and b) work better. The Personality Patterns application, despite big talk about science and psychology, boils down to a personality test; again, way too long unless you really like these types of tests. It’s not bad; and I reckon many users will be glad to put it up on Facebook. But underneath it all, there’s just not that much to it. All in all, Music Patterns (and, to a lesser extent, Personality Patterns) can be viewed as a solid Facebook application and can provide some fun if you like quizzes and shiny graphs; just don’t expect it to be replacing your favorite music discovery service. --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: Signal Patterns Shows How You Compare with Facebook Friends [Invites] Original Signal Launches New Frontpage, Filtered by Users Web 2.0 Invites for July 1st, 2008 Web 2.0 Invites for July 4th, 2008 O’Reilly Graphing Social Patterns West: 30% Discount for Mashable Readers Contest: Graphing Social Patterns West AppNite Web 2.0 Marketplace Listings for September 6, 2007

Facebook Brings Back Recently Used Applications Menu Posted: 17 Dec 2008 02:36 AM PST Here’s a tasty little news nugget for all you Facebook addicts who’ve sorely missed the recently used apps menu: it’s back. Just click on Applications and recently used ones (which you haven’t yet bookmarked) will show up on top. Personally, I find it odd that this feature is useful to me; usually I don’t care much for similar menus (I’ve never used that menu in Windows, for example), but on Facebook you’re usually bent on a couple of applications on any given time (usually some immensely time consuming games, damn them) and the recently used applications menu is the easiest way to find them. It’s a little thing, but it warms my heart; also, it’s nice to know that Facebook developers are working on “other new features that may either enhance or replace this one if we find they more effectively help users discover and interact with your applications.” --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: Facebook Apps Contribute 37% of Recent Growth New Project Aims to Bring Drupal to Facebook TravelPod Launches Its Facebook Application Facebook JavaScript Now Live Pyro.tv Now Available as Netvibes Application Facebook Adds Profile Icons for your Apps Menuism Launches Eating App on Facebook Platform

Facebook Connect Gets a Plugin Directory Posted: 16 Dec 2008 04:17 PM PST We've seen a number of Facebook Connect-related announcements over the past couple days, including Movable Type and Disqus, that make it easier for websites to implement the portable identity service. Thus, it's not too surprising that Facebook has just launched a plugin directory, featuring various tools that have already been built to help bloggers and webmasters integrate Facebook Connect in various ways. In addition to Disqus and Movable Type (and its new Motion product), the new Facebook Plugin Directory includes a couple add-ons for WordPress; one that makes it easy to enable Facebook Connect in your comments, and another that adds community features like a "recent visitors" list ala MyBlogLog. So far, Facebook says that some blogs are seeing a 2x increase in comments upon enabling connect. To submit your own plugins to Facebook's directory, you can simply edit the wiki page that the company has setup. What plugins would you like to see for Facebook Connect? --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: Disqus to Integrate Facebook Connect Wordpress Plugins Directory - Thanks, Wordpress! Facebook Connect: The News is the News Google Wants To Be Your Universal Profile Too; Announces Friend Connect Don’t Miss Facebook Developer Garage New York Facebook Blocks Google’s Friend Connect. There Goes the Open Web. HOW TO: Add Facebook Connect to Your Blog in 8 Minutes

CAREER TOOLBOX: 100+ Places to Find Jobs Posted: 16 Dec 2008 02:49 PM PST Despite the current recession, there are plenty of companies in a variety of fields looking for qualified employees. Here are over 100 sites for job listings, resume reviews, networking and more. Whether you’re in the tech world, a teacher, translator; in the United States or abroad, these sites will help you launch a modern day job hunt.  What sites and tools have you found most valuable in your last or current job hunt?  Let us know in the comments! Blogging & Writing Jobs AboutFreelanceWriting.com - Offers helpful tips about being a freelance writer as well as posts summaries of the latest writing jobs. BloggerJobs.biz - Has both open jobs from established sites and the ability for people to post “For Hire” listings. FreelanceWritingGigs.com - Mixes listings for freelance jobs for both the Web and print with tips on improving your writing. Jobs.ProBlogger.net - Darren Rowse’s Problogger has a jobs board filled with quality, paid blogging positions available from around the Web. JournalismJobs.com - Offers listings for all sorts of journalism jobs from blogging to television. WritersWeekly.com - A weekly online e-zine that has numerous job listings for regular jobs as one-off projects. College Undergrads and Graduates Alumwire.com - Alumwire is free to alumni and will help with job searching, recruiting, career enhancement, and more features such as a resume database. CoolWorks.com - Perfect for college students, this site offers job listings for summer and seasonal jobs at national parks and resorts. VentureLoop.com - Provides internship listings for students at certain schools and has job listings you can search by country or occupation for the tech community. Domestic Assistance BabySitters.com - BabySitters.com is just what it sounds like, a place for parents to find babysitters.  You can list your services, be reviewed by them, and then start booking jobs.  Has been featured on Good Morning America and in Oprah Magazine as a good way to earn extra money. Care.com - Care.com does background checks and assists people with finding babysitters, nannies, elderly care givers, tutors, house sitters and more. HireAHelper.com - The site helps you sign up as a mover, cleaner, lawn & garden helper or day laborer, then lets you post your availability and get hired by people in your area. NannyAvailable.com - Site built specifically for matching nannies, au pairs, babysitters and more with families looking for help. Educational AtoZTutoring.com - A site exclusively for in-home tutoring as opposed to online. BookALesson.com - Site for instructors of specialties like music and many varied sports.  Helps you automatically book appointments and let people see when you have open slots in your calendar. Find-Guru.com - Allows you to list your tutoring abilities for any sort of subject from basic math to computer networking. Jobs4Tutors.com - Site looks for more than just tutoring, but also assessments, evaluation, and mentoring. TakeLessons.com - Company providing lessons for all kinds of musical instruments and singing, looking for instructors in over 400 cities. TeachStreet.com - Site for teachers of all kinds of lessons from schoolwork to sports, music and more. TutorLinker.com -Allows parents to easily search for tutors around their area and compare them against one another, which makes it essential for the tutors to be competitive. TutorNation.com - Site will help you with training and certification and then you can start taking on students. Tutorz.com -A nationwide search enabling students and tutors to connect. WiziQ.com - Site for helping tutors to find students from anywhere in the world while providing online classrooms for you to use. Technical and Design Jobs 37signals.com - A job board from the well known 37signals that features listings for programmers, designers, executives and even iPhone app developers. AuthenticJobs.com - Companies looking for all kinds of designers, from full-time to freelance. CompanyMeetCreative.com - Site offering part-time, freelance, and contract job offerings for creative types in Web fields. CoNotes.com - CoNotes specializes in jobs at Internet startups. Coroflot.com - Designers can sign up to host portfolios of their work as well as browse job listings. Dice.com - Allows you to search based on job title, skills or location for tech industry related jobs. ejob.com - Specific to jobs in and around Silicon Valley for the tech set. Elance.com -Elance features jobs from all different divisions of Web operations from design up to administration. FreshWebJobs - Full-time and freelance web developer jobs. GetAFreelancer.com - Locate freelance jobs in just about every web technical field. HotStartupJobs.com - An Aggregator of startup listings from various sites around the Web. You can read a lengthier review of HotStartupJobs here on Mashable. ITLance.com - A job site for designers, administrators, and more. Jobs are clearly marked as full-time or freelance for easy browsing. JobFloat.com - The jobs here focus primarily on design, but there are also some technical ones as well. Jobpile - Aggregates jobs from numerous tech focused boards to let you search them all at once. JobsAndGigs.com - Color coded results show you which are jobs and which are gigs for design and development, features customized RSS feeds. Krop.com - Helps the creative and technology communities with job listings throughout the US. LimeExchange.com - Allows you to build a profile to help you promote yourself and then you can bid on the tech jobs that get posted. Mashable Jobs - Yes, our very own jobs board featuring social media, technical, and web-related jobs. MostHired.com - Aggregates web jobs from various sources to ease your browsing. NeoHire.com - You can add multiple jobs to your “bucket” and apply to all of your saved ones. Focused primarily on California tech related jobs. nPost.com - Offers numerous job listings as well as interviews with hundreds of people at startups telling you what their company is about, and what they look for in an employee. oDesk.com - Thousands of freelance jobs that are either hourly rate or fixed price in all sorts of technical fields from simple data entry to VoIP development. OdinJobs.com - Tries to match you with the “right” IT job by language processing instead of keywords. Also turns your resume into a live document so it can be indexed by search engines. RealWebJobs.com - Focuses on coding jobs with a heavy concentration it seems on jobs in Canada. SearchWebJobs.com - Tech jobs browsable by full-time, part-time, freelance, or just do a search for the ones that interest you. StartupAgents.com - A free service where you can set up a profile about yourself and try to find the company that best matches you. StartupJobs.biz - Allows you to search for startup jobs by occupation or job type. Startuply.com - Browse by job type at Web 2.0 and startup companies. StartupZone.com - Not only does it allow you to search jobs by occupation and location, you can also see what stage of funding they are in. WebProJobs.com - Focuses on full-time and freelance positions for design, copywriting, marketing and more. General Job Sites ActiveHire.com - Provides you with the ability to add your resume, use their resume builder, receive emails about new jobs, or just do a regular search through their current listings. Careerbuilder.com - Besides offering job search tools, they also offer services such as a career test, ways to distribute your resume, career advice and more. Craigslist.org - Quickly becoming the world’s classified section, the well-known Craigslist allows you to select your city and search for jobs in your area. FevQ.com - A no nonsense job site that allows you to first pick your industry and then go down to the state you are looking to work in. Job.com - Offers tools such as resume building and a career test in addition to job searches. Jobbi.com - Search for jobs, post video resumes and fill out one application that can be submitted to multiple companies. JobDig.com - Focuses on employment, training and opportunities in a handful of states in the USA, but is adding more. Jobfox.com - Allows you to tell them about yourself in a mini-interview and then they offer up the jobs they think you are best suited for. Jobing.com - Enter your zip code and you will be directed to local job sites in your general vicinity. JobSearchEasy.com - Besides providing job searches by state and category, Job Search Easy also provides tools such as resume critiques, salary calculator, career test and more. Jobster.com - A general job site with listings in all of the major categories.  Allows you to post your resume and promote yourself. Locanto.com - Classified ads for all the major cities in the United States with sections dedicated to employment. Monster.com - Probably the best known of the career sites, Monster allows you to search for jobs, post your resume, sign up for job fairs and more. RealMatch.com - Fill in a profile and within minutes you will start seeing jobs that you are best suited for. Yahoo HotJobs - Yahoo’s job site allows you to browse by category, location, the top 100 companies and more. YorZ.com - All jobs are reviewed for quality and then placed into groups for easier browsing. Job Listing Aggregators FlipDog.com - Aggregates job listings from several sites and then allows you to browse and search by category, location, industry and more. GetTheJob.com - Aggregates job listings from company job boards. Many of the listings never make it to standard job sites. Indeed - Searches numerous job sites, newspapers, associations and company career pages to provide nearly a million job listings in one location. Jobster.com - Allows you to post your resume, search numerous listings and set up job alerts to be delivered to your email. LinkUp.com - As opposed to other job aggregating sites, LinkUp monitors the job pages of company websites and gets their listings directly from the sources. SimplyHired.com - Search millions of jobs by keywords or location, or for the brave you can just browse by industry. WorkTree.com - Job search engine that aggregates job listings from numerous sources all in one search. International Agency-Seeker.co.uk - A UK based site that aids you in locating the best employment agency for your chosen work sector. AllTheTopBananas.com - A UK-based job aggregator that gathers jobs from recruitment agencies, job boards and employers. Allows you to search based on location, upload your resume and more. AsiaWired.com - A site focusing on technical jobs all throughout Asia. Bokrin.com - A worldwide classifieds site that allows you to look for part-time and full-time work in various industries. Eluta.ca - A Canadian job site that attempts to index all of the job listings in the country. FuseJobs.co.uk - Fuse Jobs focuses on entry level jobs in and around London, England. iHipo.com - A social network with the goal of connecting students and young professionals with employers around the globe for jobs and internships. JobIsJob.com - A site for job listings in Austria, Germany, Ireland, Italy and the United Kingdom. JobNeters.com -A UK based job site aggregates ads from around the web. Nushio.com - Provides job searching for Canada, India, the United Kingdom and the United States. Probook.ca - Professional networking site for Canada. Recruit.net - Allows you to search for millions of jobs in places like Australia, Hong Kong, India and more. Workcircle.com - Aggregates job listings from job boards, employers and agencies all across the UK. Workopolis.com - Billed as Canada’s biggest job site, Workopolis has job listings for everything from entry level to full-time positions. Zubka.com - A job site based in the UK that lets you look for jobs, and if you find one a friend may be a good fit for, you can earn money for referring them. General Tools Climber.com - Allows you to research companies, jobs, salaries, connect to recruiters anonymously and more. Inovahire.com - A job site that is unique in that it also allows employers and potential hires to conduct interviews via web conference. InteractiveApplicant.com - Allows you to not only upload your resume, but also answer questions with audio, video or text. InterviewBest.com - Helps you practice for interviews as well as aids you in preparing a physical presentation about yourself. JibberJobber.com - JibberJobber assists you in managing your job search or in your already existing career. JobBoardReviews.com - With the number of job boards out there, it can be a bit overwhelming. JobBoardReviews helps you figure out which boards are best suited to your needs. LinkedIn.com - LinkedIn brings the “networking” back to social networking in the truest sense.  Find your current and past co-workers, get them to recommend you, put up your resume and a whole lot more. LiveSalary.com.au - A site for Australians to compare their salaries amongst Australian employers. Salary.com - Software for individuals and companies alike to figure out fair salaries. SalaryBase.com - A tool for figuring out how much your salary is worth by plugging in data about yourself. SalaryScout.com - Allows you to easily see if the salary you are being offered is as good as you think it is. VirtualJobCoach.com - Has all the tools you need for a successful job hunt. Get a calendar, to-do list, resume & cover letter wizard and more. Resume Tools Emurse.com - Allows you to build an online version of your resume and host it on a Web page to share with potential employers. HowToWriteAResume.net - Create your resume online from their system and also store it online with them for free. hResume Creator - A simple form to help you create an online resume in the hResume Microformat. JukeDuke.com - Allows you to create an online portfolio and resume that you can share with potential employers. Razume.com - Allows you to upload your resume, black out your contact info, and get feedback from other members on how to improve your document. VisualCV.com - A free service for building a secure online resume that lets you share different versions with employees, coworkers, friends and so on.  You can include video, samples of your best work and so on. Miscellaneous BeyondMotherhood.com - A job listing site directed squarely at women who want to be known for more than just being mothers. FindLaw.com - Allows lawyers to sign up and then potential clients can locate attorneys in their area to fit their needs. FlexJobs.com - A site that screens work-at-home and telecommuting jobs so you are only looking at legitimate offers. LatPro.com - Job site focused on bilingual and Hispanic hires. Layoffspace.com - A social network for unemployed persons to share resources, register for job fairs and more. MoneyBackJobs.com - You can create a profile about yourself as well as upload your resume. If you accept a job through their site, you will receive a cash back bonus. OneHourTranslation.com - Are you fluent in more than one language? Feel the urge to translate random text on a quick turn-around? This may be the job for you. ProZ.com - Find freelance work as a language translator if you speak multiple languages. SkillWho.com - A mixture of social networking and jobs board that allows you to list what skills you have, or what skills you are looking for, and connect for jobs and professional networking. TalentDatabase.com - Job site specifically for creative types such as artists, actors, comedians, dancers, musicians and many more. TalentSpring.com - Allows you to upload your resume or import your LinkedIn profile, get a rating, and then they unlock potential employers you are suited for. TwitHire.com - A tool for people to post jobs they know of in a simplified format to be posted on Twitter. All of them are collected on this site for easy browsing by people who are job hunting. WhoToTalkTo.com - Site for posting job leads so that people can apply for the job you just left or even post that you can give people advice for getting hired at your company. WorkNT.com - Professional networking mixed with the ability to also search for jobs and possible employees. YourOnRamp.com - A site focused on women who are in career transition. Allows you to search for jobs and also provides forums for you to discuss being a woman in the business world. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, YinYang --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: Steve Jobs Subpoenaed For Backdated Options Case Web Jobs: The Mashable Back Catalog CareerBuilder’s Facebook App Searches Personal Data The Daily Poll: How Did You Follow the Steve Jobs Keynote? Ouch: Bloomberg Mistakenly Publishes Steve Jobs’ Obituary 18 Sites for Finding Startup Jobs MySpace Jobs UK Launches

Yonkly Makes Microblogging Pretty and Personal, But Will Anyone Use It? Posted: 16 Dec 2008 02:45 PM PST Yonkly, which launches in public beta today, aims to makeover your micro-blog and ultimately become a one stop shop for micro-posting. The site bills itself as a high-end platform that enables users to customize their network’s appearance, add in advertisements, and experience video and images within the 140 character updates. Micro-Blogging Gets a Make Over Yonkly goes beyond micro-blogging - think of it as a cross between Tumblr, HelloTxt, and Swurl - creating a full fledged personal website that allows users to cross-post to Twitter (and eventually other social sites), get the added value of rich data that Twitter just doesn’t support, and the features of a more full-scale blog or website. Yonkly members can currently integrate their Flickr, Plaxo, and Twitter accounts. The integration allows other users to view content from each third party site without leaving Yonkly. It’s smart and it’s pretty. Of course, Yonkly supports micro-blogging standby features including private messages, replies, and following. In addition, users can post multiple photos per update, view videos and image thumbnails inline with messages, and have one-click access to view each type of content on site. In your Yonkly admin section, you’ll find a few hidden nuggets and discover something akin to a scaled-down CPanel, giving members the option to add a custom domain, view traffic stats via Google Analytics (coming soon), and add in various types of banner ads and inline content advertisements. You can use a limited version of Yonkly at no cost, but they do have a paid subscription model that ranges from $10 - $100 a month depending on the features you want. The Basic, and most affordable plan, costs $10 per month and includes 1GB of space, 100 users, and some additional customization features. You’ll need to pay the steeper fees if you want full control of the ads, a custom domain, or to remove the Yonkly logo. Just a friendly warning: should you choose to take advantage of the free two month trial, you will be automatically billed each month once that grace period expires. It’s Beautiful, But … Yonkly is easy on the eyes, full of fantastic features, and offers micro-bloggers a way to truly make their micro-blog their own. It’s hard to find a single thing wrong with the site, but that doesn’t mean I’ll use it. Even though I can post to Twitter, view Tweets on Yonkly, and invite my Twitter friends to join me, the reality is that I have already pledged my hand to Twitter in a micro-blogging commitment, and I’m just not up for another long term relationship. Now that my Twitter identity has more value and my Twitter friends can opt-in to my pre-existing blog community, what motivation do I have to use Yonkly? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Illustrate Your Status with MoodBox; A Visual Twitter (Invites) Posted: 16 Dec 2008 12:22 PM PST Just out in alpha, Moodbox allows you to broadcast your status to the world via cutesy illustrations, stock images, and your own uploaded photos. After all, a picture is worth more than 140 characters, right? How to Get MoodBox Here's how MoodBox works. First, download their free app (Windows only at this time) to get started. You'll go through a quick setup wizard, and in less than thirty seconds you'll see your MoodBox dashboard. Note: You’ll also need an invite - we have 500 of them, which you can access here. Illustrate Your MoodBox Your options here are fairly basic. You can draw your own image, select from a variety of clipart, or upload your own image (and proceed to draw all over it, if you want). MoodBox MoodStrips If you feel like publishing longer than one panel, you can with MoodBox's MoodStrips. These are simply individual MoodBox illustrations linked to one another when you decide to publish. I've Drawn a MoodBox, Now What? MoodBoxes and MoodStrips can be published pretty much anywhere: your personal site, blog, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, FriendFeed, etc. Once you finish your MoodBox (don't let my masterpieces above intimidate you), just hit Publish and you'll get a direct URL and an embed code for quick and easy sharing. The MoodBox Community Once you get the hang of drawing and publishing your MoodBox images, explore the MoodBox user community and start adding friends – or use your email Rolodex to populate your own friend list. MoodBox: The Bottom Line MoodBox isn't going to change the world, but it's a fun way to illustrate your status and share your thoughts with other people. It's easy to get going, fun to use, and provides a quick creative outlet for when you're waiting for that TPS report.

Disqus to Integrate Facebook Connect Posted: 16 Dec 2008 11:39 AM PST Facebook Connect created a bit of a problem for third-party commenting plugins like Disqus. One of the original premises of their business – that having one login that worked across blogs would increase comments – is severely threatened by Facebook, who has 130+ million users already. Not to mention, when blogs utilize Facebook Connect for their comments, they are fed back into the Facebook News Feed, creating extra traffic. Today, Disqus is wisely responding, letting its customers know that they will soon be integrating Facebook Connect. According to a blog post from CEO Daniel Ha, the service will add support for Connect by the end of the year, allowing readers on blogs with Disqus installed - which now numbers more than 45,000 - to login using their Facebook credentials, and have the comments they post sent to Facebook. Problem solved for Disqus? Maybe. The service still has lots of advantages over simply integrating Facebook Connect into your blog, like giving users their own profile to keep track of their comments, easy installation including a WordPress plugin, video integration with Seesmic, and support for trackbacks. And, turning on Facebook Connect will apparently be as easy as checking a box and entering your Facebook API key in your Disqus account settings. That said, it's hard to argue that Facebook Connect on its own isn't a competitor to Disqus and services like it (IntenseDebate, SezWho, JS-Kit, etc.). Connect has the significant advantage of having the brand recognition of Facebook, so it will now be the comment plugin services job to actively market the added benefits of their products, now that they are hugely outnumbered in terms of potential users. For more on why adding Facebook Connect is so key to Disqus, check out Svetlana Gladkova post on the subject from last week. Update: Chris Saad notes in the comments that JS-Kit has already added support for Facebook Connect, with plans to support MySpaceID and Google Friend Connect as well. More details are available on their company blog. --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: Facebook Connect Gets a Plugin Directory Disqus Now Includes Trackbacks with Commenting System Disqus Raises $500K; Adds New Community Pages for Blog Comments Disqus Challenges CoComment Disqus Video Comments Go Live, Powered by Seesmic Facebook Connect: The News is the News Disqus Wants to Own the Commentsphere; It Just Might

OPEN WEB AWARDS: People’s Choice Winners Posted: 16 Dec 2008 11:38 AM PST Today we’re pleased to announce the winners of The 2nd Annual Open Web Awards, a multilingual, international online voting competition that covers major innovations in web technology. Through an online nominating and voting process, the Open Web Awards recognizes and honors the top achievements of websites and services in 26 categories. Over 100 Blog Partners have helped make this the biggest Open Web Awards to date with 50,000 total nominations, 80,000 total votes in the first round, and 90,000 votes in the final round. Our blog partners come from 25 countries and are written in 10 different languages. There were two sections in the Open Web Awards: the People's Choice and the Blogger's Choice. The Blogger’s Choice winners, announced last week, surfaced upcoming new sites in every category; the People’s Choice winners are equally diverse. We present them below. This year’s winners will be receiving the Open Web Award, thanks to Zazzle, just in time to celebrate the holiday season. People’s Choice Winners Mainstream & Large Scale Social Networks Winner: Netlog Runner-up: Platinum Lounge Embeddable Widgets Winner: Qoof Runner-up: Sprout Blog Plugins Winner: ShareThis Runner-up: AddThis Social News Winner: Help a Reporter Out Runner-up: Hubdub Social Networking Applications Winner: Artition Runner-up: Digsby Social Bookmarking Winner: Diigo Runner-up: ShareThis Search & Social Search Winner: Scour Runner-up: Artiklz Sports & Fitness Winner: Gyminee Runner-up: FitFiend Photo Sharing Winner: ipernity Runner-up: TinyPic Video Sharing Winner: ffwd Runner-up: YouTube Start Pages Winner: Google Runner-up: iGoogle Places & Events Winner: Doodle Runner-up: Muchmor Travel Winner: SpottedByLocals Runner-up: GeckoGo Music Winner: Noisetrade Runner-up: Last.fm Social Shopping Winner: Pikaba Runner-up: A Full Cup Fashion Winner: Coolspotters Runner-up: Polyvore Celebrity & Gossip Winner: Oh No They Didn’t Runner-up: BollyScoops Mobile Applications Winner: Evernote Runner-up: MocoSpace Dating & Romance Winner: Zoosk Runner-up: DateHookup Wiki Winner: Encyclopedia Dramatica Runner-up: WikiHow Politics Winner: Politics4All Runner-up: CreateDebate How-to Winner: A Full Cup Runner-up: College Cram Environmental Winner: Ecomii Runner-up: Gazelle Non-Profit Causes Winner: Stop Political Calls Runner-up: SocialVibe Online Games Winner: Playfish Runner-up: Power Pets Niche Social Networks Winner: The Star Tracker Runner-up: Wadja Congratulations! Congratulations! Now it’s time to boast your win! When you receive your award, feel free to proudly display it. In the meantime, feel free to grab one of these graphics and place it on your site: OWA Sponsors Love The Web The Open Web Awards is made possible by our sponsors. By supporting the Open Web Awards, these companies reward and encourage innovative web technologies. We can’t thank them enough for sharing our passion: building great web companies. Platinum Partner “PartnerUp brings small business and social networking together to create a community where entrepreneurs find the people, resources and information to grow their businesses.” Gold Sponsors “iStockphoto is the world’s leading image market and a revenue-sharing social network. Browse 3.5 million images and videos starting at $1 or become a contributor.” “With Quintura's advanced visual-based search and analytics solution, content publishers can increase site usage while creating new ad revenues” Prize Sponsor “Infinite and Instant, Zazzle is the only on-demand retail platform for consumers and major brands, offering billions of retail quality, one-of-a-kind products, most of which are produced within 24 hours.” --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: Mashable.com Awarded Most Improved Blog Home and Introduction Mashable Presents The 2nd Annual Open Web Awards Open Web Awards: Get Tickets to the Live Event The 2nd Annual Open Web Awards Live Gala: The 2nd Annual Open Web Awards Call for Blog Partners Webby Awards Winners Announced

Pandora Comes to Windows Mobile Posted: 16 Dec 2008 10:32 AM PST With more than 2 million downloads, Pandora already has one of the most popular free applications for the iPhone. Today, the Internet radio service is extending its mobile presence to Windows Mobile devices, offering up the same experience to users of the HTC XV6900 and Motorola Q9C. Like the company's iPhone app, if you're already a Pandora user, you can login with your existing account information to start streaming your radio stations. If you're not, similar to the Pandora Web experience, you can enter in the name of an artist or song to have Pandora start streaming music that you may like. Pandora will then adjust what's played on your station based on the music you show a preference towards. The Windows Mobile app is also free, and can be accessed by going to Pandora.com on your mobile browser. --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: Google Search Now on Windows Mobiles, Too Pandora Now Free! Reciva Adds Pandora To Their Devices Pandora Now Available Anywhere With GlobalPandora Snocap Launches Pandora Mashup Last.FM Available on Windows Mobile Rumor: Pandora Adding Videos?

Twitter, Facebook, Digg: Can You Join Too Many Networks? Posted: 16 Dec 2008 08:22 AM PST Dan Schawbel is the author of Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success and publisher of Personal Branding Magazine and the Personal Branding Blog. There are literally thousands of social networks on the web right now, but which ones should you join? Many people have spread out their personal brands on too many networks and are now unable to manage their existence on all of them. As the number of social networks grows (more startups) and shrinks (economic downsizing), we must be smarter about which ones we join and which ones we ignore. Today, we’ll go over a simple method you can use to figure out which social networks to participate in so your brand is visible and easily manageable across the web. A social network is only as strong as the amount of people that are a part of it Think about it, if a message board has no messages or a blog has no comments, the likelihood that you will be the first to contribute is slim. If there is no one to interact with on a social network, then why join? If people in your location aren't using it, then it makes no sense to join as well. Facebook has over 110 million users, MySpace has close to 200 million users, LinkedIn has over 30 million users, and Twitter has over 5 million users. It’s safe to bet that joining a social network with millions of users is the way to go because there will be many people you already know on them. Also, a large volume gives you the ability to share your brand with many people, instead of just a few. Credibility matters So the social network has a million users; that's great. What if the million users are people with no status and are not more successful than you are? There is no point in being part of something that can't serve as both a support system and resource for your personal brand. If the people on the network aren't credible, then you won't get anything out of it. To me, LinkedIn is the most credible social network on the planet right now because it contains profiles of Fortune 500 executives and leading entrepreneurs. The average individual salary on LinkedIn is $109,000 and legends like Bill Gates have already setup their profiles there. Then there’s Twitter, which is home to celebrity users such as Britney Spears, Shaquille O’Neal and MC Hammer. Facebook has industry titans such as Michael Dell and MySpace is home to Paris Hilton. Ponder relevance The largest social networks, with millions of users, are always going to be relevant for you because they target the masses and not a single niche. Any smaller network that you join must be supported by an interest that is relevant to your brand. Aside from the main topic of the social network being of importance to you, the users on that network (credibility) are just as important. Totspot.com is a social network for mothers and their babies. If you are a single male who attends college, this network certainly isn't for you. The same goes with MyDogSpace.com, which is targeted at people who have a pet dog. If you don’t have or want a dog, then you best join a different network. Signing up for every social network is a waste of your time and gives you no means to start or hold a conversation with that audience. What about PageRank? PageRank is extremely important for your personal brand because it allows you to command your Google results. This is great for promotion and protection in the digital world. If you sign-up for social networks that have a high PageRank (see volume), you can block any bad press you may receive over your lifetime. For instance, if you Google my name, you’ll see my LinkedIn and Twitter accounts in the top 10 results. These are two spaces where there isn’t bad press or content that I don’t want people to view. My friend, Jeremiah Owyang, states that your Google results are your new business card. Your results are a depiction of who you are, so it’s smart to join the networks that best represent your brand, and carry a high PageRank, so people can easily view them and be impressed. Any social network with a PageRank of 6 or higher is satisfactory. Some social networks aren't built to last, especially in this economy If you don't believe a social network will withstand this economy because it's not funded or because it doesn't have a business model, then don't bother. If you join a social network, take the liberty of filling out a profile page and then spend hours building a community, then find out it's shutting down, you've lost all of your hard work. You wouldn't have enough time to direct others to your other networks before the sites closes. Create a social network worksheet To further show you how to classify social networks and select the best ones to house your brand on, I used Microsoft Excel to create a spreadsheet. Notice how the “usual suspects” pass all the tests, while some of the niche players do not. This spreadsheet is “personal specific,” meaning that it’s built through my eyes and not yours. Some of these networks are relevant to you, so you should join them to meet people who are similar to you. Does a network have to pass all these tests? I would say as long as it passes at least 3 of them, you may want to join it. If you want to get more value out of this kind of worksheet, then add a column for “user name” and one for “password,” so you can keep track of where you are and how to access each one. First impressions on the web As the number of social networks increases, people are tempted to join more and more of them. When this occurs, your personal brand becomes spread too thin. Your ability to constantly update each profile, to ensure it includes the most updated and accurate information, will be unmanageable and unenjoyable. Also, by joining a social network, you are setting “conversational” expectations, meaning that people should expect you to have a decent level of participation on each one. If you fail to update your profiles and, either build content or network with other users, then it’s a waste for you. The only exception is if the social network has a high PageRank, which you can use as a defense mechanism. What all of this comes down to is how first impressions on the web have been completely redefined. Each entry point into your personal brand may be different (how people access information about you), so consistency and accuracy becomes extremely important. In this way, limiting your social network participation to only the one’s you’re most suited to communicate on, is highly encouraged. Next step: how to manage your social networks After selecting and committing to using social networks in your daily routine, it’s time to learn how to properly manage them. When it comes to your profile information, you will have to manually update it over time. A LinkedIn profile, for example, won’t fill itself out on its own. A systematic approach you can use for updating your profiles, could be writing down the ones you’re on and the date when you last updated it. Every time there is a milestone in your life, you should make sure they all reflect that update. Here are a few tools you can use to update your content on social networking sites. By using these tools, your personal brand will have a consistent message throughout the web. - Tubemogul: If you like web video and want to see your videos appear on many social networking sites at the touch of your mouse, then Tubemogul will be a very helpful tool. After submitting a video using this service, your video will load on MySpace, YouTube, AOL Video, Blip.tv, and more. - Twitter Feed: Ever wonder why many blogs are broadcasted on Twitter automatically? By using Twitter Feed, you are able to syndicate your blog entries through Twitter, without having to manually tweet each post. - Gravatar/OpenID: Your picture and name are the two most important brand assets you have on the web. Instead of uploading different pictures of yourself to various websites, Gravatar/OpenID will take your web presence and make it consistent wherever you go. - Ping.fm: How would you like to update your status once and have all your social networking sites respond? Ping.fm allows you to submit a status update and have it appear on around 30 social networking sites, such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr and Del.icio.us, within seconds! - FriendFeed: This service has gotten extremely popular, especially when Twitter had a lot of downtime months ago. All you need to do is submit your social networking accounts and it will stream them into one feed that people can subscribe to or that you can push out to Facebook and other networks. Another tactic you may try is to use create your own FriendFeed widget, which you can embed on social networks, your blog or website. People will get a better sense of everything you’re doing using FriendFeed and it will save you time from re-creating the same content. Managing your social network profiles will become increasingly tedious, unless you take the proper steps to only join ones that will further your personal brand and use social tools to alleviate the process. Updating your profiles is extremely important, especially at a time of economic recession, when hiring managers are looking for the best talent. You wouldn’t want to look less experienced than you actually are, would you? Imagery courtesy of iStockphoto, Qwasyx, JoanVicent --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: Sober On New Year’s? Vote a President on MySpace. Facebook Open Sources its Server Software The Categories: Netlog Skipping OpenSocial. For Now. DigFoot: A Directory Just For Social Networks Open Friend Format Moves Forward Wikia Gets New Look and New Features

Sharenik Offers Custom Holiday Greetings for the Hyper-Sharer Posted: 16 Dec 2008 08:20 AM PST This post is part of Mashable’s Startup Review series, which highlights great unsung startups. The series is made possible by Sun Startup Essentials. Company Name Sharenik 20-Word Description Creatively share the photo and video bits of you life with Sharenik video cards. CEO’s Pitch Digital photos and video are the documents of our lives. Sharenik seeks to provide an interesting collection of “Nik-Naks” to help you easily share those documents in fun and creative ways. Our first Nik-Nak is our free Video Card service. Upload your videos and photos, select a card and page design, customize a message to your friends, and send. Share up to 15 photos and videos with up to 500 friends, see who views your card and gather user comments. Are you a Sharenik? Mashable’s Take With less than two weeks left until Christmas, time is running out to buy actual greeting cards to send to friends, family, and colleagues. Fortunately, this year offers more options than ever for sending virtual cards, the latest of which is Sharenik. Think of it as YouTube's holiday greeting card feature on steroids. Like YouTube, the service offers a number of different designs for your card, covering the diversity of holidays being celebrated over the next few weeks. From there, Sharenik takes it a step further, allowing you to upload not just one video, but up to 12 different videos and photos, along with a personal note to include with your card. From there, you can send your card to up to 500 people, which is made easy by an address book import that supports Outlook, Gmail, Yahoo Mail, and most other popular services. You can also keep track of who has viewed the card and any comments that visitors have left on it. Additionally, you can make edits to your card even after it has been sent – a nice feature in case you make any typos or say something that perhaps you shouldn't have in your holiday greeting. In all, Sharenik is a pretty nice and easy to use greeting card creation tool, especially if you want to go nuts with adding lots of photos and videos to it. I'm not quite sure how the service will sustain after the holiday season given the vast number of other options for sending e-greetings, but it should be a good option for last minute shoppers that forget to get a real gift for certain relatives. Editor’s Note: This post is part of an ongoing series at Mashable - The Startup Review, Sponsored by Sun Microsystems Startup Essentials. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. Sponsored By: Sun Startup Essentials --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: YouTube Holiday Video Cards. Seasonal Viral Boost? YouTube Does eCards for the Holidays JibJab’s Hilarious Video Greeting Cards HD Greetings: Forget McCain. Vote for Cashmore in ‘08! Get Your Personal Social Network Card At Zazzle MotionBox Launches Video Greetings Yodio Launches Audio Greeting Postcards

Twitter May Have Made Dell a Million, it Doesn’t Mean it Can Be (Easily) Monetized Posted: 16 Dec 2008 05:49 AM PST MG Siegler over at VentureBeat has an interesting proposition about Twitter’s monetization capacity. Quoting InternetNews, he digs up the claim that Twitter made 1 million dollars in revenue for Dell. Here’s the quote: “Less altruistically, some businesses have discovered that Twitter is an effective way of communicating with consumers. Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) says Twitter has produced $1 million in revenue over the past year and a half through sale alerts. People who sign up to follow Dell on Twitter receive messages when discounted products are available the company's Home Outlet Store. They can click over to purchase the product or forward the information to others.” Siegler goes on to propose that “If Twitter has made Dell $1 million in revenue, imagine how much it's making for all of the companies it helps promote.” I’m not convinced. Twitter is a communication platform. And so is, for example, forum platform phpBB. And while I’m sure that many companies have made millions due to recommendations of their products that are daily given on numerous phpBB forums all over the net, I don’t see why it necessarily needs to directly translate into revenue for the platform itself. I mean, what can Twitter do? Charge Dell for the corporate account they’ve set up? Sure, they can do that, but they can’t charge them one million dollars. Twitter has a problem: it’s a centralized communications platform, fully hosted on the company’s servers, and due to the nature of the service, it’s a pain to keep it online under pressure of millions of tweets. Can the revenue from premium accounts and ads (and that’s what it all boils down to, I’m afraid) be enough to cover the expenses for keeping the service up? We’ll see, but I’m afraid that some sort of decentralization is still the way to go. --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: Dell to Dell: Hey Bro, Here’s $155 Million Dell Rips Off Digg - Another Diggstorm in the Making Twitter Raises $15 Million in Funding? Look Out Dell - Sutori is Coming Twitter Closes $15 Million Funding Round CBS Signs Dell as Wallstrip Sponsor Apple Tops $200 Per Share

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Social Storage Solution Wuala Launches Web Interface, API Posted: 16 Dec 2008 05:15 AM PST Wuala (pronounced Voila, meaning “Here it is”) is a social online storage application, giving users the ability to share their stored files with friends and family. We’ve covered Wuala on launch, noticing the application’s complexity when compared to other online storage solutions and some minor problems with the Java engine powering the application. Its main features are encryption, the ability to divide files to private and public, 1GB of free storage, and P2P sharing capabilities. Now, the company has announced the release of a Web API, which lets third party developers create applications for Wuala. Furthermore, and perhaps more importantly for end users, Wuala now also has a web interface, which means that users can make selected files available on the web via simple web links, such as this one: http://www.wuala.com/Dominik/Photos/Switzerland/Mountains As you can see, there’s no need to sign up or log in to receive the file in the link. Wuala is in a highly competitive space, but they claim to be having over 30 million files stored and shared on the service. The choice to start out of the browser, and then bring the experience back in with the introduction of a web API and web links is an unorthodox one, but perhaps it will pay out in the end. --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: Wuala Launches Online Social Storage Plugg Conference: 20 Startups Announced + 25% Discount 15+ Ways to Make Your Linux Box Hip to Web 2.0

Kenshoo Comes to the iPhone; Yes, You Can Carry Your iPhone Around Posted: 16 Dec 2008 04:36 AM PST Users of Kenshoo’s SEM solutions will be glad to know that the company just released an iPhone version of their application. It enables you to check out reports for your search campaigns on the go. What i particularly like about this announcement is the hilarious video that tells you absolutely nothing, except that you can carry our iPhone…well, anywhere you go. And people will think you’re cool for checking out your SEM campaign while waiting in lines. Check it out below. --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: Search Engine Marketing Firm Kenshoo Raises Funds from Sequoia World’s Simplest iPhone App iPhone to Launch in Germany on T-Mobile 3G iPhone Confirmed for 2008 Mundu Optimizes Multi-Client Chat Tool for the iPhone Apple Making a Directory for iPhone Apps? European iPhone to be Offered on Multiple Carriers

Palm Software Store: Why It Took So Long For Everyone to Figure This Out? Posted: 16 Dec 2008 03:33 AM PST Following in the footsteps of Apple’s App Store and Android’s Market, Palm - a company that has been seriously hurt by BlackBerry and it’s getting finished off by Apple’s iPhone - now has a mobile application store of its own, called the Software Store. It’s very similar to Apple’s App Store; an easy to navigate catalog of applications divided into categories, which you can purchase and install directly from your Palm device. Currently, the Software Store holds around 5,000 apps & games, 1,000 of which are free. This is a welcome move from Palm, which teamed up with mobile software distributor PocketGear to power the store, but it’s unlikely that it’ll help Palm’s dwindling market share, especially because developers get only 50% of revenue from the sale of the applications, whereas Apple gives them 70%. What’s amazing about mobile application stores is that smartphones have been around for quite a long time now, and no one before Apple has tried to make the application deployment this easy - and anyone who has had a smartphone pre-iPhone knows that finding an application and getting it installed on your device was often a tiresome process. It’s as though smartphone creators always thought of third party applications as an afterthought; something that only the hardcore users will care about, which was obviously a mistake. Well, at least now everyone has caught up to speed, so users can easily install new apps regardless of the device they’re using. --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: Palm Closing Java Support: Another Epic Fail? Palm Announces Increased GMail Compatibility Imeem Partners with Palm Pictures for Interactive Indie Film Access Palm Users Get Their Own Optimized Facebook App Palm Foleo Dies After 3 Months Palm Launches the Foleo Companion for Smartphones Imeem Gets Full Length Horror Film: Debuts Next Week

Hashtag Happy Hours: How Moms Party Down on Twitter Posted: 15 Dec 2008 05:31 PM PST Jessica Smith is Chief Mom Advisor of MomForce.com and Chief Mom Officer for Wishpot.com. She chronicles her experiences as a mom and virtual executive at JessicaKnows.com. As Motrin learned earlier this year, the moms on Twitter are a passionate and vocal contingent on the ever popular micro-blogging platform. But the Twitter moms are not just all about criticizing ad campaigns gone awry. Oh no, after the kids are in bed these moms convene on Twitter and party the night away. How it All Works What do I mean by party?  Well, it usually starts with a designated hashtag. A hashtag makes it easy for Twitter folk to follow conversations, events, and causes on Twitter and is indicated with a #.  The party is promoted in advance with some moms even creating badges for other moms to pimp out on their sites.  Once the Twitter party starts, the host begins interacting with the party attendees (open to everyone on Twitter) and conversation, exchanges, and debauchery ensues. We Even Have Party Promoters Some moms are even capitalizing on the concept. Amy Bair, a mommy blogger, from Maryland calls the parties she organizes, executes, and hosts “sitewarming parties.”  Most of her clients are small businesses and other mommy bloggers. She creates the buzz, puts together a panel of experts based on the client’s niche, and coordinates giveaways. These giveaways and the chance to win are what keeps moms engaged and as a result, the hashtag for the party is usually a number one trending topic on Twitter Search within minutes.  The sitewarming parties business is booming and for Amy, a stay at home mom, it’s a great way to work virtually. Girls Night Out Mommy Gossip-GNO (GNO stands for Girls Night Out) is another weekly party that moms attend regularly.  Each week’s GNO has a different theme that those in attendance “gossip” about.  Every Tuesday night, many know the party is starting because the hashtag #gno starts dominating the Twittersphere.  Moms exchange ideas, offer advice, and find new followers during the party. While these parties are hosted for moms by moms, lots of other Twitter users often join in the fun.  Hashtags on Twitter are great for facilitating community and it’s clear the moms on Twitter have embraced it with enthusiasm! Other Hashtags Want to connect with moms that are attending Blogher this year and party in real life?  Use Twitter Search and check out the hashtag #Blogher.  Same is true for Blissdom, Blissfully Domestic’s conference in Nashville early next year.  Hashtag?  You guessed it…#Blissdom.  And in case you missed the Motrin debacle?  Check out hashtag #motrinmoms and you’ll feel like you were practically there when it happened. --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: TwitterMSN Lets You Tweet from Your Chat Tool Comedian Lewis Black Drops into Drop.io Twitter Increasing Server Capacity In Runup To SXSW What Would Twitter Do With $15 Million? Buy a Business Model (I Hope) MyPunchbowl Adds Halloween-Inspired Features, Launches Facebook App T-Mobile Blocking Twitter? Election Results According to Twitter

Movable Type Motion: Installable Multimedia Microblogging Posted: 15 Dec 2008 04:14 PM PST Six Apart has launched a preview of a new product called "Motion" that brings together a number of the year's hottest trends – microblogging, aggregation, and portable identities – into one software package that is installed server side for users of Movable Type. As you can see in the sample below, Motion features a simple blog editor for quickly posting text, images, or video. The blog itself contains not just updates you post, but also updates from third-party services like Flickr, YouTube, and Twitter. Beyond that, Motion comes off-the-shelf with support for Facebook Connect, Google Friend Connect, and OpenID, meaning that in Movable Type's words, "there are half a billion web users who can comment or vote on your content without hitting a registration barrier." On the surface, Motion is an intriguing product – something I'd love to have running on my personal site as opposed to being limited to standard blog posts – which tend to be few and far between. It's an all-in-one package that appears to make your site easier to update, while also making it easier to build community. We’ll wait to see some actual implementations though before rendering final judgment as to whether or not this is the next big thing in blogging. You can download the first release of the beta software here. It will be available free to Movable Type Pro users early next year. --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: Movable Type Now Open Source; Too Little, Too Late? Six Apart Launches Activity Streams for Movable Type Blogs Movable Type’s New Publishing Platform: Does It Need Ad Options as Well? Movable Type Gets Yahoo Fire Eagle Location-Sharing Plugin Movable Life “Shrinks” Second Life for Browser Use Six Apart Provides Social Networking Capabilities with Movable Type Pro Movable Type Plugin Connects FriendFeed Comments With Your Blog

How Can Facebook Crack its Advertising Problem? Posted: 15 Dec 2008 03:07 PM PST Why can’t Facebook monetize those users? New York Times writer Randall Stross recently wrote a piece about Proctor & Gamble’s foray into social networking advertising. The thrust of the story can be found in a quote from Seth Goldstein of SocialMedia Networks: “Advertisers distract users; users ignore advertisers; advertisers distract better; users ignore better.” Few people take the number of fans a company has on Facebook to be a serious indicator of social media advertising success. And as 24/7 Wall Street notes, advertising on social networks is simply not as relevant as search engine advertisements. Couple this with user blindness and you understand why click through rates are, well, abysmal. So what are Facebook and the other social networks to do? How do you monetize those 130 million pairs of eyeballs in a consistent and long-term way? Why consumers click First, we have to understand that there are two major reasons consumers click on online ads: Either consumers knows it is an ad and see it’s what they want, so they click - OR - consumers don’t know it’s an ad and see it’s relevant, so they click. The first scenario is targeted and relevant advertising. The second scenario is what I call “Internet Ignorant.” Essentially people don’t realize that when they search for Ford Ranger, the top link in the cake yellow box is an ad. Those of us who are technologically adept deal with this every day and are blind to the ads, but millions of people who use the Internet less frequently click on these types of ads, especially on well designed websites where content surrounds the ads. Of course, this isn’t exactly why we want people to click on online ads. You’ll get conversions, but not as many as from the first scenario. And the “Internet Ignorant” scenario doesn’t work for Facebook anyway - its user base is Internet savvy, blind to ads, and Facebook isn’t about to throw some floating ads in the middle of our profiles. What can we learn from Harry Potter? So how does Facebook get people interested in its advertising? We have to look towards two of the most successful types of advertising around: Search Advertising Movie Trailers As discussed earlier, search advertising is lucrative because it’s targeted and relevant to exactly what a person is looking for at the exact right time. So precision targeting is part of the equation. But what about movie trailers? Why are they part of this puzzle? It’s simple: no other type of advertising is consistently sought after and watched over and over again like a movie trailer. Half the fun of a movie is the trailers themselves. Come on - how many times did you watch the trailer for The Dark Knight? And are you seriously not going to watch the next trailer for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince? Movie trailers are extraordinarily interesting, visually appealing, and are often advertising a product that has already sold us, especially as it approaches the launch date. Translating this into something that works So am I suggesting that Facebook throw up video ads for The Day the Earth Stood Still? No, though they might actually get a lot of views with some sort of relevant video ad. No, here’s what I’m saying: 1) Relevancy is not enough in advertising. It’s about relevancy and timing. You must catch a person at the moment he or she most desires a product. Lucky for Facebook, they have status updates, which is a close approximation to what people are thinking about at a given moment. Advertising on social networks should focus on time-based actions and then factor in relevant interests (i.e. favorite music), based on when the consumer last added it to his or her profile. This is part of why I believe Twitter could be lucrative - it is nothing but time-based updates. Plus SMS advertising does pretty well, if Twitter so chooses to include it. 2) Facebook must find ways to convince users to seek advertising. Damn, I must be nuts, especially with the advertising blindness of the Facebook generation, but the best advertisements are simple in message, easy to remember, and desired by consumers. Almost all movie trailers and some select TV ads continue to rack up YouTube views. This only helps to enforce branding and slowly change the mindset of the consumer. These lessons are not just for Facebook or social networks, but for all websites struggling to monetize their users (i.e. YouTube). It’s time to dramatically rethink how we serve and interact with our online advertising. Facebook and other social media websites need to be proactive in shaping the campaigns of their advertisers. Banner ads aren’t engaging or relevant. Text ads are only sometimes relevant and rarely engaging, so how do you target them better? Video ads can be both, but how do you serve them unobtrusively but still get enough views to be profitable? And how do you get enough inventory? Relevancy, timing, and desire must all be present if social media advertising is to ever succeed. As I’m sure Goldstein already knows, you can’t distract users online and expect to make revenue. You have to make them want it. Now while I rack my brain some more on this puzzle, I hope you’ll post some of your theories in the comments. --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: Facebook Ad Network Coming November 6th? Facebook Flyer Ads Adopt CPC Model Britain Halts Ads on Facebook for Fear of Seeming Racist Brightroll Ads, Now in HD Confirmed: Microsoft Wins Facebook Stake with $240 Million Investment Facebook to Use Personal Profile Data for Targeted Ads: Evil or Clever? Facebook Ads Performing Poorly for Some

Pop Music 2008: MySpace Weighs in With Its Own Very Different List Posted: 15 Dec 2008 03:06 PM PST Earlier this month, both iTunes and Last.fm revealed their most popular artists, songs, and albums from 2008. Today, MySpace has followed suit with a list of its own – The Top 8's of '08 - revealing yet more differences in the type of music that users of different services listen to. For example, Coldplay, who had the most listened to album and top tracks on both iTunes and Last.fm, is nowhere to be found on MySpace's charts. Further, hip-hop and country, largely absent from the two services, have a huge presence atop MySpace's list. Here's a look at the lists of MySpace's top music, as well as winners from a few other categories analyzed by the social network: Most Searched Artist: 1. Taylor Swift 2. Chris Brown 3. Kanye West 4. Paramore 5. Pink 6. Nickleback 7. Plies 8. T-Pain Most Streamed Song: 1. “Whatever You Like” by T.I. 2. “Miss Independent” by Ne-Yo 3. “So What” by Pink 4. “My Life Ft Lil Wayne” by The Game 5. “If I Were A Boy” by Beyoncé Knowles 6. “Can't Believe It” by T Pain 7. “Hot N Cold” by Katy Perry 8. “Womanizer” by Britney Spears Top Filmmaker: Kevin Smith Most Popular Film Trailer: Twilight Top Comedian: Dane Cook Most Popular Blogger: PostSecret While perhaps not surprising results given what we already presumed to know about the site's users, the big differences between MySpace's list and that of its music rivals highlight what we increasingly see as a battle of demographics, both on the websites themselves and in the upcoming identity management battle between Facebook Connect, MySpaceID, and Google Friend Connect. Ultimately, such a split might be good news for everyone involved, because as opposed to their audiences eroding and migrating to a competitor, their core users will become even more strongly tied to the respective social networks as those identities become universal logins across the Web. Of course, feel free to simply comment about your own personal love or disdain for the music featured, a popular activity on our post about the iTunes and Last.fm lists --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: Kanye West Picks Featured Artists on the MySpace Music Channel Facebook Giving Away Free iTunes Music MySpace India: Original TV Content and Open Platform 5 Songs on Your MySpace Profile Facebook Music? RockYou Partners with Several Music Companies Splice Adds MySpace MP3 Player

Yahoo Mail Application Platform is Live Posted: 15 Dec 2008 01:33 PM PST As rumored last week, Yahoo Mail has launched an application platform, allowing developers to build apps that add functionality to users’ inboxes. The platform isn't wide open just yet – as Yahoo notes in a blog entry, it's in testing with a few partners right now – Wordpress, Flixster, and Xoopit - and will become more widely available next year. Similar to the opportunity we described in our previous coverage, Yahoo explains why this might be a big deal: "With a highly engaged and active audience of hundreds of millions of users around the world, the opportunity to create innovative applications that drive traffic back to your site and increase user engagement with your services is huge." Beyond Mail, Yahoo also made several developer-related announcements for other products, including My Yahoo, which now also enables users to add applications to their start pages. Despite competition from iGoogle, Netvibes, and others, My Yahoo remains the leading start page in terms of traffic, making it an equally big opportunity. Yahoo's platform play certainly works to the company's strength, which is its hundreds of millions of eyeballs around the world. With only a handful of sample applications, it's a bit too early to speculate how it will fair against the likes of Google with its gadgets for iGoogle and Gmail, but it will certainly be one of the major stories to watch in 2009 as Yahoo attempts to re-invent itself. Below, a screenshot of Xoopit’s application, which organizes photos from your inbox so you can quickly access and email them to friends: --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: Yahoo Mail Goes Global, Adds Text Messaging and IM Yahoo Mail Unlimited Storage: Time to Test the Limits! Daily Poll: Will Yahoo Life! Revolutionize the Way We Use E-Mail? Yahoo Mail Might Be the Next Great App Platform AOL Mail Updates Include Increased Storage, Maps and Video Integration Gmail Users are Younger, Richer, Good in Bed Ymail And Rocketmail? Sorry, Yahoo, But That’s Not Enough to Thwart Gmail

HOW TO: Install Google Chrome Greasemonkey Scripts (Windows Only) Posted: 15 Dec 2008 12:46 PM PST I had heard about various methods of running Greasemonkey scripts in Google Chrome, but now it’s easier than ever. Here’s how to install Google Chrome Greasemonkey scripts in 4 quick steps. Of course, we are still all eagerly awaiting extensions. Leave your desired list in my previous post, “Most Wanted Browser Extensions and Add-ons to Install in Google Chrome.” 4 Step Process 1. Install a recent trunk build of Chromium - There are several new builds every day. Just grab the latest version, download to your preferred folder and extract. 2. Launch chrome.exe with the --enable-greasemonkey flag - Create a shortcut to the new file and just copy/paste “--enable-greasemonkey ” after the shortcut. 3. Copy *.user.js files to the c:\scripts directory on your computer - Userscripts.org has all the Greasemonkey extensions out there. Click Install, right click and “Save as…”, edit the file name so it’s not just “26062.user.js” and save in the C:\scripts\ folder on your computer (you most likely have to create this folder). 4. Script edits are picked up automatically; just refresh the page to see the changes - and you are done! Now that you are using Greasemonkey in Chrome, head over to our list of “7 Essential Greasemonkey Scripts for FriendFeed” or “Top 12 Greasemonkey scripts for Stumbleupon.” What scripts are you going to install? --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: Chrome is Getting More Attractive All the Time New Google Chrome Builds Show Greasemonkey Support GMail Adding Greasemonkey Support? Get 10 New Digg Features With Greasemonkey Most Wanted Browser Extensions and Add-ons to Install in Google Chrome? 12 Essential Greasemonkey Hacks for YouTube Google Actually Advertising Something? Chrome Ads Appear on LinkedIn

Put Your Photobucket Photos Up on a Real Wall Posted: 15 Dec 2008 11:18 AM PST Users of popular photo storage and sharing service Photobucket who are still in touch with the real world (people keep telling me this imaginary place really exists, but I will not believe such nonsense) will be glad to know that they can now create a collage from their photos on Photobucket and have it delivered, as a real wallpaper, to their homes. Yes, this means your blurry, poorly lit and generally shoddy photos can really decorate your bedroom wall, as you can see in the picture on the left. This is made possible by a new application called myfotowall which is now available in the grey menu bar in Photobucket. Options include creating a collage of up to 18 photos, with each photo being an 8 inch square, and having it delivered in the form of a 27″ x 51″ wallpaper for the price of $49.99. You can also add special effects such as sepia or black and white. Delivery takes around 21 days which means you probably won’t be able to get these for Christmas, which is a shame, but if you hurry up, it might make it before the New Year. --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: Get an Exclusive Invitation to the Photobucket Developer Party on April 23rd Photobucket Launches API, Picnik Taps In Photobucket Gains on comScore’s Top 25 List Photobucket Postcards Facebook App Now Live Photobucket Launches Bulk Uploader, Privacy Features Snap.com Announces Photobucket Support Photobucket Albums Get New Look

John Cleese: “Who the Hell is Mashable?” Posted: 15 Dec 2008 09:17 AM PST Tech news and the world’s best comedy collide today with the publication of the Top 3 Twitterers by country. Mashable’s Twitter account, based in bonnie Scotland, beats out comedian John Cleese in the UK rankings, prompting the Upper Class Twit to ask “Who the hell is Mashable“? Mashable readers: what is the appropriate Pythonesque response? --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: Mozilla Names John Lilly as New CEO John Oates Plays at DEMO John Howard’s YouTube Plea for Votes…Without a Video. Twitter Funding Partners Revealed; Prepare to be Amaz(on)ed Will McCain Bore the Teens on MySpace and MTV? PodTech’s Demise Imminent? PodTech Loses Founder John Furrier (Almost)

Twitter Now Live on Google Friend Connect Posted: 15 Dec 2008 08:36 AM PST Google Friend Connect has just pushed live an implementation with Twitter, allowing you to see which of the people you follow on the service are members of sites that have Friend Connect enabled. Additionally, you can notify your Twitter followers that you've joined a new site through the "Invite" link, which lets you send a Tweet about it. This is a big win for Friend Connect. One of the problems with the service so far - especially for people who use their Gmail IDs to sign-in - is that the friends list is far different than that you'd have on a social site like Twitter, because it's based largely on who you communicate with via email. With Twitter integration, Friend Connect now functions more like Facebook Connect, where the friend's list is representative of your actual friends – or, at least people you've explicitly opted-into an online relationship with. Of course, Twitter is many magnitudes smaller than Facebook in terms of total membership, but it should be a nice addition to the tech community, where the Friend Connect widget has been popping up on blogs far and wide, and most people have a Twitter account. To sync Twitter with your Friend Connect account, you simply go to your "Settings" page upon logging in, which, conveniently enough can be done from the widget on Mashable's sidebar. --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: Facebook Blocks Google’s Friend Connect. There Goes the Open Web. Plaxo Moves to Support Google Friend Connect Facebook Connect vs Google Friend Connect: Fight! Google Friend Connect: Try it Now on Mashable Google Sings Its ABCs About Friend Connect Google Wants To Be Your Universal Profile Too; Announces Friend Connect MySpace ID vs Facebook Connect: A Battle for Demographics

Tech Events Guide: Mashable Reader Discounts Posted: 15 Dec 2008 08:17 AM PST Here's Mashable's latest round-up of upcoming Web 2.0 events, parties, and conferences. For more upcoming event listings, check out Mashable’s Events section. Not on this list? Contact us and let's establish a media partnership. December 16, 2008, Los Angeles, CA: Meet up with E.Factor for Entrepreneurship: The Rise & Fall of An American Entrepreneurial Icon with an exclusive book signing with Jordan Belfort, author of The Wolf Of Wall Street. Everyone who attends gets the book! Belfort will share his thoughts with the audience on the question of “Entrepreneurial Greed vs a Sustainable Company.” December 13-14, 2008, New York City, NY: A group of top New York iPhone developers formed the iPhone Boot Camp NYC by creating a meetup for iPhone developers and wannabe developers. In December, iPhone Boot Camp NYC is offering two more workshops on basic and advanced iPhone Development. The goal is to train dozens of developers, then spin off a company so each developer has a chance to work full time on the apps in a community of fellow developers with a shared knowledge and training. A 10% discount off the already discounted early-bird rate to Mashable readers is available using discount code mashable. December 16, 2008, Mountain View, CA: The Web 2.0 Mapping and Social Networks December Meetup will feature Deeda, KSI Global Gaming, and plaYce. Come for the information, stay for the community. You are gently advised to put down the controller, head out to Google on the evening of December 16th, and hang with your peeps. January 13, 2009, London: E.Factor hosts Commercial Opportunities in Mobile Phone Entertainment. Attend and learn more about this emerging face of advertising. January 14, 2009, Las Vegas: Online reputation management expert and author Andy Beal will host a second one-day online reputation management "master class." Whether you're responsible for your company's online brand or wish to add online reputation management services to your agency, this event is your opportunity to learn from the best in the industry. The entire workshop is limited to 24 attendees, and a $100 discount is offered to Mashable readers when you register with code mashable. January 21, 2009, Amsterdam: E.Factor is hosting an event entitled Following the Trend which will cover how to understand trends. Keynote speakers of the evening are Rob Wageman and Marjan Ippel. January 28-30, 2009, Barcelona, Spain: The first ever Barcelona Search Marketing event features 3 days of meeting, networking, and workshops, with the best Spanish and worldwide Internet experts. The conference will discuss search engine optimization, marketing online, search marketing, social media and more. Get a 50% discount with code SCBandME. January 31, 2009, San Francisco, CA: The Teens in Tech Conference is bringing youth and technology together in San Francisco. Learn from teenagers what they think about the current trends of teenage technology. Feel inspired to create technology, at a younger age at the Teens in Tech Conference. From developers, to entrepreneurs, to video-blogging, find it at the 2009 Teens in Tech Conference. Only 25 tickets are available at this discounted rate of 250 for the entire event! February 4-5, 2008, Denver, CO: Web Directions focuses on professional development for web designers and developers, interaction designers, user experience professionals and other practitioners in the web arena, whether they work as a contractor, in a design agency, in small or large businesses, in government, education or the not-for-profit sector. The conference features two in depth days of leading web design and development experts, an optional two days of half day intensive hands on workshops, as well as numerous networking opportunities. Whatever your or your company's role in building or managing web sites, applications or communities, Web Directions is full of practical, valuable insights, education and inspiration. Book before December 5th for just $795 — but Mashable readers can get another $50 off, simply by using the promotional code WDN09MB. February 6-7, 2009, Orlando, FL: In today’s economy, maintaining a competitive advantage is crucial, whether you are a freelancer, or run a development shop. Using the productivity benefits of Rails helps us to stand out in the crowded space of developers and development firms. And the Rails core team hasn’t kept us wanting, adding features such as internationalization, compatibility with Ruby 1.9 and JRuby, thread safety, and much more. And if the Rails Rumble proved anything, it’s that a small team of Rails developers can accomplish a great amount with little time. So how do we as developers continue to improve how we work and what we produce? Get more information by attending the acts_as_conference. February 9-10, 2009, San Jose, CA: User-generated content is a rapidly developing revolution in media. Average Joe internet users now wield power over online content, and businesses are adapting to respond to this trend. UGCX is the first conference and trade show organized to bring together content-trendsetters and business leaders to examine how these worlds collide and what the future holds. Sessions within this two-day conference in San Jose, California, will focus on successful case studies and business models that are driving traffic and revenue to content sites worldwide. Mashable readers can save 15% with priority code UGCXMASH. February 11, 2009, New York City, NY: The Online Community Unconference East is a gathering of online community professionals - managers, developers, business people, tool providers, investors - to discuss experience and strategies in the development and growth of online communities. Those involved in online community development (and social software in general) share many common challenges: community management, tools, marketing, business models, legal issues. As we have found with our past events, the best source of information on all of these challenges is other knowledgeable practitioners. See the event FAQ for more information, and when you’re ready, register with code mashable for a $20 discount. February 12, 2009, Santa Monica, CA: The highly-anticipated Twiistup will hold their 5th and largest event to date on Thursday, February 12th at a massive hangar in Santa Monica, CA. The search is on for startups to “show-off” at the event. Fifteen showoffs will be selected to showcase their products and services to an audience of investors, entrepreneurs, press and other influencers in tech, media and entertainment. You can find out how to apply and register for the event by clicking here. February 12-13, 2009, Washington DC: The Center for Social Media invites established as well as aspiring filmmakers, non-profit communications leaders, funders, and students to our fifth annual Making Your Media Matter conference where we will explore the theme: Ethics, Money and Mission. How can media makers connect their ethical and aesthetic values with their financial needs? This is a perfect opportunity to learn and share cutting-edge practices for creating media that matters. Please visit the website for more information and to register. The $50 student rate has been extended to Mashable readers. March 9-10, 2009, London: The Social Networking World Forum is the perfect event for professionals to learn and discuss the future development of social media. The two day conference and exhibition will provide a focused platform for the global social media industry. The conference aims to address core issues such as monetization, future technologies/services, engaging social groups with brands and how businesses can get the most out of social and business networks. March 9-12, 2009, San Jose, CA: Registration is now open for the eighth annual O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference, O'Reilly's flagship event for disruptive, innovative and groundbreaking thought. ETech 2009 will feature exciting program content in new areas of urban sustainability, personalized healthcare, mobile telephony and materials & mechanics. Register by January 12 and Save $300 - https://en.oreilly.com/et2009/public/register. Mashable readers get a 15% off discount on top of that using code et09mash. View the growing lineup of speakers at http://en.oreilly.com/et2009/public/schedule/speakers. March 16-18, 2008, Orlando, FL: The Gartner Portals, Content & Collaboration Summit is the productivity-minded event focused on finding better ways to deliver resources, streamline content delivery and storage, and bring people together for greater efficiency. Mashable.com readers will receive an exclusive $200 discount off the standard rate. Register at gartner.com/us/pccspring or call 1 866 405 2511 and reference priority code PCCMASH. March 24-26, 2009, San Fransisco, CA: The Business of Community Networking is a best practice conference to create social networks and measure ROI of online marketing. Help your business interact, network and exchange knowledge using social media, reach new customers and make your performance soar. For $200 off the current price, use promo code DZR892 when registering. --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: Windows Live Hints at an Upcoming Events Feature WhatsThePlan Launches Event Planning with a Community Wevent is Flickr Plus Evite Socializer is not Affiliated with Socializr. But it Does the Same Thing. LinkedIn Events Bring Conference Networking Online Windows Live Spaces Takes on Evite EventsPad is a Lackluster User-Generated Event Blog

Make Your Company Just Like Zappos for $39.95 Per Month Posted: 15 Dec 2008 08:16 AM PST Online shoe retailer Zappos.com has won lots of praise for its commitment to customer service. The company was one of the first to adopt Twitter, offers free shipping, and posts its 10 core values prominently on its website. Now, the company is offering up its expertise in customer service and creating a positive corporate culture through a new subscription service – Zappos Insights. For $39.95/month, customers – "the Fortune 1 million" according to AdWeek – can access exclusive content that Zappos posts to the site, which includes articles, training videos, and video responses to user-submitted questions. For starters, the site has articles direct from CEO Tony Hsieh, including "The importance of open and honest communication" and "Zappos.com's culture." It might seem a bit pretentious for a company to think so highly of itself that it offers up advice on how to run your business, but Zappos is as close to it gets as being universally accepted as a prime example of good corporate behavior. Hsieh is a regular on the conference circuit (including a widely lauded panel at BlogWorldExpo), and is one of Twitter's most popular users. And at $39.95/mo, Zappos Insights might just be a good value compared to hiring a pricey consultant to answer your questions. --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: Spock Serving 400 Pageviews Per Second at Launch What Google Should Learn From Startups MySpace Bugs Month Stagr - Killer Custom T-Shirt Service Web Rings Get a Business Model: Yardbarker to Power Widgetbox’s Sports Channel comScore: Facebook Traffic Flattening; MySpace Hits Record Microsoft Live Search Gains Market Share

HOW TO: Kill Endless CC Mails in Your Office Posted: 15 Dec 2008 05:00 AM PST Zapproved, a web-based service that lets you make instant “Approve” or “Deny” decisions within your company, launches officially today. It’s not a project management tool like those from 37Signals: instead, it serves one purpose: get an instant “Approve” or “Deny” on decisions within your organization. We’ve been testing it internally at Mashable for a number of months, it was proposed in the comments during our hunt for the Best Web Apps for Ideas, and we highlighted it as one of our 270+ Online Business Tools. How To Get Decisions Made 1. Visit Zapproved, sign up up and click “Create Proposal” 2. Enter the email address of the person you want to approve the proposal 3. Enter the proposal in the text box and send it in 4. That person receives an email with a choice of “Approve”, “Deny” or “Comment”, and the decision is made. Zapproved: Pros vs Cons Having used Zapproved for an extended period, we’ve seen the advantages, and the disadvantages. These include: Pros: avoids the ambiguity of decisions made on phone calls; puts a stop to endless carbon copy emails between an entire staff; provides an archive of all decisions for reference and accountability; the Zapproved team is extremely responsive to feedback Cons: Zapproved quickly becomes another inbox; the “comment” option is the one you usually end up choosing, which just replicates the issue with cc emails Zapproved might at first sound too simple to be at all useful, and yet you quickly learn that the simplicity is its strength: a very clear cut, black and white decision that prevents the endless back and forth of email. Approved. --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: The Best Web App for Ideas 270+ Tools for Running a Business Online

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HOW TO: Add Live Video to Your Applications (Stickam’s API) Posted: 15 Dec 2008 05:08 AM PST Running a streaming video site isn't cheap. Yahoo realized this and shutdown its Yahoo Live service, while YouTube's lack of profitability is the constant ire of many. Stickam has apparently taken note, and is launching an API that enables other websites to utilize its service to add live streaming video. Sites that implement the API can let their users record, watch, or collaborate on videos, all without leaving. Stickam envisions the API being ideal for social networking sites, online learning, and customer support. The company explains the basics and offers a few other example uses in the video below: While it's debuting as a free public beta, Stickam's API will eventually be a pay-for-usage service. Still, as opposed to the server and bandwidth costs associated with doing it yourself, Stickam's API makes live streaming video far more accessible to other websites. Additionally, it should help the company offset some of its own ongoing infrastructure costs. --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: Stickam’s Webcam Facebook App Stickam Launches Stickam Listings Stickam Adds Mobile Video Streaming to Compete With Qik, Flixwagon CuStickam - Stickam Profile Editor MashMeet LA Caught on Tape! fix8 Signs Deal with Stickam Stickam, YouTube, SecondLife do the Sundance

Twit Or Fit? Yes, it’s Hot Or Not for Twitter Posted: 15 Dec 2008 03:24 AM PST For some reason which I cannot understand, Hot Or Not is one of the most popular concepts for an application ever to appear on the Internet. And, like many popular ideas, it’s very simple: look at pictures at people; rate their appearance. Now, there’s a Twitter version out there, called Twit Or Fit, brought to us by the folks behind Huddle and fav.or.it. As far as options go, they’re fairly sparse, as is the case with most Hot Or Not clones: you can choose to see girls or guys only, check out the top 10 “competitors”, and opt-out of announcements of your activities here on Twitter. What makes this one worth your while over the “regular” Hot Or Not is the fact that you can actually see users’ last tweets as you vote for them, which makes it a sort of a cool random Twitter reader. Unlike Twitter itself, Twit Or Fit doesn’t shy from attempts at monetization; there’s a banner ad at the right side; it makes me wonder when and how will Twitter start making money, but that’s another story. I wouldn’t mind a nicer graphical presentation, but the concept is tried and true; based on some early comments in the Twitter community, Twit Or Fit is going to be a hit. Now excuse me while i put up a nicer picture of myself on my Twitter account. --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: Twit.io: And the Twitter Economy Lives On John C. Dvorak Confirms PodShow Layoffs Twit Pic. It’s For Twitter Pictures, Of Course. Podcasting Giant Leo Laporte Chooses Stickam Twitxr: Another Twitter For Pictures New Memedigger: BlogMemes The Death of Podcasting and the Rise of Videocasting? No, It’s About Options

Mahalo Picks Up Where Google Answers Left Off Posted: 15 Dec 2008 01:00 AM PST Human-powered search engine Mahalo is adding a big new piece to its business: a Q&A feature that competes with the likes of Yahoo Answers. The twist is that there is a payment system, allowing users to offer up "tips" for the best answers. On the surface, this sounds a lot like the now defunct Google Answers. But, Mahalo Founder and CEO Jason Calacanis described some of the differences to me in a conversation last week, and there are certainly a few reasons to believe that Mahalo Answers could be what turns the site into a big winner. Differences from Google Answers For one, Calacanis points out that Google Answers wasn't a part of search engine result pages. On Mahalo, each page – of which there now more than 100,000 – now includes a question box where a user can ask about the topic. Additionally, unlike Google Answers where questions were "claimed" and then worked on by one person, on Mahalo, multiple users offer answers, and the person who asked it then designates who gets the money. To prevent users from abusing this system – the clear potential flaw – Mahalo Answers comes with an eBay-like reputation system, so users get knocked if they end up not paying out tips. Mahalo also highlights top users of the system, which Calacanis believes will help drive adoption amongst the work from home crowd looking for an additional income stream. Appealing to Subject-Matter Experts The service gives users further opportunity to make money by allowing anyone to directly ask them questions. So, if a user establishes themselves as an expert in a given topic, other people can go to their profile and submit a question to them. In the future, this functionality will be extended so experts can embed widgets or apps on blogs and social network profiles, from which people can ask them questions. The Business Model In rolling out Answers, Mahalo is also introducing a significant potential business model. The site – which has been ad-free so far – will take a 25% cut on the money being exchanged between users. With 4.8 million monthly unique visitors, Calacanis estimates that if just a relatively small percentage of those adopt Answers, the company will soon see significant revenue from the venture. Will it Succeed? So will Mahalo Answers catapult the site into a profitable business? There certainly won't be a shortage of people looking to answer questions – between the existing work-from-home crowd and the recently unemployed (as well as existing Mahalo Guides), the service is launching at an opportune time. The question then is whether or not people will pay for answers. Considering Mahalo is a search engine that also gets much of its traffic from Google, it's not hard to imagine at least a small percentage of those visitors paying a few dollars for the convenience of getting the answer they're looking for. --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: Mahalo Launches Multi-Profiles; Why Didn’t I Think of That? Mahalo Follow Offers Poor Comparative Search Tools Veronica Belmont to Leave Mahalo Daily Facebook Now Supported on Mahalo Follow Google Answers to Bring Back Human Powered Search Mahalo Social: Search Engine Becomes a Social Network Mahalo Launches New Toolbar And User Stubs

Why Brands ABSOLUTELY DO Belong on Twitter Posted: 14 Dec 2008 05:54 PM PST Lon S. Cohen is a writer and social media strategist. He is @obilon on Twitter. A Mashable article by Dr. Mark Drapeau was passed around on Twitter this Friday, calling for a ban on brands on Twitter. I respectfully disagree. 1. Twitter is Opt-In Drapeau said that Twitter was for people to talk to people and not brands to project their message. Particularly distasteful to Drapeau was a humanless brand dumping useless information or worse, some SEO company marketing in a company's Twitter account. Fundamentally, I agree with what Drapeau says about the spammy Twitter accounts that are used just to get one more silly site link out there by an SEO company or brands that totally misunderstand and therefore misuse Twitter. It undermines Twitter's usefulness in a small part. But since, as the author himself points out, Twitter is an opt-in service (meaning I can follow who I want and not follow advertisers) the impact is minimal. 2. Twitter is the New Phone Company The debate did not rage on Twitter so much a simmer, mostly with brands themselves coming to their own defense. This is by no means the only debate out there on the usefulness of Twitter either as a form of communication or as a marketing tool. Many purists will probably cringe to hear me mention Twitter as a "marketing tool" and I sympathize with them. Look, I am a centrist. Sorry to sound so wishy-washy about it but I believe that there is room for both brands and for person-to-person communication on Twitter. In fact, that is what I would argue the thing that makes Twitter so great. I believe it was Chris Brogan who recently Tweeted that he follows so many people because he thinks of Twitter as the new phone company. It is certainly a useful utility that might even grow up to be even too useful and powerful to ever be meaningfully monetized. Not that it can't happen but Twitter has become such an extremely dynamic form of communication that it may transcend that simplistic, "where is your business model" mentality. 3. Brands Can Have Personalities Too Like snowflakes, no two Tweeple (as some call Twitter users) are alike. It's like a geek version of the Breakfast Club: there's the shy lurker follower that follows everyone but rarely Tweets. The social butterfly who just @ replies to everyone all day. The loudmouthed soapboxer who just likes to talk about what is best for other people. The intellectual sharer who provides useful links and retweets. The big mouth that just goes around starting trouble with random Tweeple. Or the egoist Twitterer who can only talk about themselves or their newest, greatest vidcast. In the end, we follow who we follow for our own reasons. On the TWIT podcast someone said that we shape our own stream on Twitter. Nothing could be truer. My personal strategy is to keep the people I follow to around 100 people or under. For that, I must be selective. I have people I just like. People who are big time influencers. Others are loudmouths that entertain me with their Tweets. And others whom I respect their intellectualism. In there are some brands. I actually have a lot of respect for people who Tweet under a brand. Brands can have personalities too. Twitter Tips for Brands in 140 Characters So what’s a brand to do? My tips, in 140 characters or less: Brands have to be more than just faceless organizations online. They need to offer value added content about their brand/industry/sector. I hope that we contribute to the Twitter conversation by bringing news and info not only about our cause but related topics as well. Each brand can represent more than its product or service. It represents a whole industry and related content attached to that industry. You don’t have to talk about your competitors but you should talk about what your customers come to you for. Creative Ideas for Brands on Twitter I would also add that a brand has to use every marketing tool according to the players already in the game. Don't come to Twitter as a new brand and expect people to follow you just because you are well known. You need to offer more. I believe every brand can offer more, especially on Twitter because of the nature of the conversations that go on, not in spite of it. I would love to hear from some of my beloved brands like Coca Cola, Proctor & Gamble, Sam Adams, and on and on. P&G P&G can tell about the old days of sponsoring Soap Operas and how that went. Or they could talk about some of the staple food items in a historical context. I was fascinated by a show on TV once that traced the history of ketchup of all things. Can't P&G or Heinz give me that for free on twitter? Intersperse Tweets with links and Twitpics and blog posts that craft a whole story. Speaking of craft, Kraft could talk about cheese all day long and you CAN make it interesting. Coca Cola Coca Cola has millions of ways to go with this, from showing old ads, to trivia to history and answering questions about the product. I see many ways that staple brands—ones that people would think would be boring online—can be exciting. Not all brands need to reinvent the wheel with their own Social Networking sites. Some of the best tools like Twitter are out there for free to let people know all this great stuff about you. Sam Adams Getting back to it, Sam Adams or any other wine or beer company can hire a great writer to craft a campaign where they tell the story of their brand across multiple platforms over time. Twitter is a great place to start. I love beer. I can think of many ways of using Twitter alone to really engage an audience online just with Twitter, a blog, an RSS feed and a few well-placed Social Networking groups. The brand brings the recognition and the power to Twitter, not the other way around. Brands need to learn to use it wisely by supplying people (Tweeple are people too, you know) with content that engages and informs. Brands on Twitter? Absolutely Yes! It's funny but every time a new technology comes around like Twitter, people scrabble to figure out how their brand can market to it. But, in reality the people who are using it every day already know how. In a new media space, new media rules still apply. What I mean is don't revert back to the tried and true methods to market whenever a new media technology comes along. Brands should watch the space and learn how others are effectively using it on a personal level and then just play along. It is quote simply, watch and learn. The group will take care of the spammers and insincere brands on Twitter. Nobody will follow them back. They will get reported. They will be ridiculed into submission, eventually. There is no reason to call for a wholesale ban of brands on Twitter. I for one, want to hear what they have to say. My last Tweet on the subject: Of course we belong on twitter. End of story… Lon S. Cohen’s articles have appeared in Paste Magazine, Banking New York Magazine, Long Island Pulse magazine, Hamptons.com, BSFA: The Matrix, and The Hauppauge Reporter. --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: Internet Brands Looking for $45M with IPO vBulletin Acquired By Internet Brands, Inc. Twitter Mobile Interface Do Brands Belong on Twitter? Quick Fix For Twitter Troubles Internet Brands Adds to their Automotive Community Don’t Send Bac’n: Use TwitterSearch

Simplest Weight Loss Site Ever? Posted: 14 Dec 2008 04:31 PM PST We love simple sites. So much that we created a list of 5 incredibly simple, yet useful ones. Can we make that 6? Newly launched Flaab is perhaps the simplest weight loss site we’ve seen: enter how much you want to lose and place a monetary bet. If you fail to lose (the weight), you promise to send the money to your worst enemy, a rich friend, or your ex. No, we won’t be adding this to the list: it doesn’t pass the “useful” test in our eyes. But it is a fun distraction, if a tiny bit gimmicky. What do you think: is a promise made on a website something you’ll stick to, or immediately forget? Or perhaps you prefer one of these 25+ Web Apps for Dieting and Getting in Shape? --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: Traineo Launches Social Network for Weight Loss DietTelevision Launches Helpful Health Community The Daily Plate Helps You Lose Weight Lose the Blogger 15: 25+ Web Apps for Dieting & Getting in Shape The Daily Plate Leaves Beta with 100,000 Users Skinnyr Starves the MySpace Beast The Web’s Simplest Weather Forecast

Precocious Baby Starts Twittering from the Womb Posted: 14 Dec 2008 03:39 PM PST Think you’re an early adopter, huh? @kickbee has you beat. Expectant father Corey Menscher wanted to “create a device that would give me a chance to be aware of our baby’s movements”. He created a waistband for his wife which sends a Tweet everytime the baby kicks, naming the project “Kickbee”. Corey writes: The Kickbee is a wearable device made of a stretchable band and embedded electronics and sensors. Piezo sensors are attached directly to the band, and transmit small but detectable voltages when triggered by movement underneath. An Arduino Mini microcontroller transmits the signals to an accompanying Java application wirelessly via Bluetooth. (a SparkFun BlueSMIRF v2 module that communicates serially with a Macbook Pro) The Java application receives the sensor values and analyzes them. When a kick event is detected, a Twitter message is posted via the Twitter API. I chose to use Twitter because it is easy to initiate an SMS message to any mobile phone when a kick is detected. It also acts as a data log that can be accessed programmatically for visualization or archiving. What do you think: a sweet gesture of solidarity with his wife, or a bit too much time on his hands? See also: TwitterThings: 6 Unusual Entities That Tweet --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: 30 Boxes, UStream Facebook Applications Snocap & CD Baby Call it Quits Twitter Live Birth Blogging Meetup Founders Launch Wee Web: Multimedia Microblogging for Babies Lessons to Be Learned From Pownce’s Demise Scrapblog and March of Dimes Go on Tour SongCast Now Serving Indie Music To Five Top Web Outlets

Download YouTube Videos With Ease Posted: 14 Dec 2008 10:13 AM PST Downloading YouTube videos isn’t a feature supported natively by the site: copyright issues are the likely reason. And yet, often we find ourselves wanting to download a great video to our desktops for remixing or offline viewing. KickYouTube serves up an elegantly simple solution: simply go to the YouTube video you’d liek to download and insert the word “kick” at the start of the URL. The final url would look something like http://kickyoutube.com/watch?v=39pZ1r3MG2Q, and options to download the clip are provided at the top of the page. You don’t need me to tell you that having YouTube in your URL is blatant trademark infringement, however, so don’t expect this method to work for long. For more solutions, try our list of 20 ways to download YouTube videos…most of which have avoided the wrath Google’s lawyers. [via Lifehacker] --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: Download YouTube Video YouTube Downloads: vConvert.net Tube Toolbox Automates YouTube Features CovertTube: Download YouTube Clips or Buy the Whole Site Mobile YouTube Now Includes Most YouTube Videos Google Video Adds Free Music Videos from Warner and Sony Nazi Videos On YouTube Cause Concern In Germany

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Microsoft iPhone Apps: Just the Beginning? Posted: 13 Dec 2008 09:51 PM PST Microsoft has arrived in the iPhone App Store. The company’s first official app, released today, has been a fun distraction for us this evening: SeaDragon Mobile lets you “View thousands of images over the air, quickly view massive gigapixel images, explore Photosynth collections in 2D, including your own, add your own PhotoZoom / Deep Zoom Composer content [and] subscribe to Deep Zoom RSS feeds.” The aim is to highlight Microsoft’s photo-display tech on mobile devices, explains TechFlash, and we place it firmly in the “cool but not so useful” category. And yet, Microsoft has many, many useful applications: will we see those in the App Store soon? You might assume Microsoft will fail to embrace the iPhone. After all, there are scores of great Windows Mobile Apps already, and why promote a rival platform? And yet…there’s Microsoft Office for the Mac, and we’ve received confirmation that Microsoft’s Office Web, a web-based version of Office, will work in Safari and on the iPhone. And as early as March this year, Microsoft had a team investigating the possibilities of Microsoft on the iPhone. Microsoft Office coming to the App Store someday? The prognosis is better than you might imagine. --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: Free iPhone Apps! World’s Simplest iPhone App Apple’s iPhone Directory is Really Real! Apple Making a Directory for iPhone Apps? Nokia Bringing Silverlight to Symbian Phones iPhone. Europe. September. Google Reader + iPhone = Awesome

Twitter, We Are Poking You To Fix Your Facebook App Posted: 13 Dec 2008 07:39 PM PST Twitter and Facebook are no longer in a relationship, it seems. We’re getting multiple reports from Mashable readers that Twitter’s Facebook app stopped functioning for them two days ago: their Tweets simply aren’t getting posted. Numerous threads have broken out on the app page complaining about the issue, although they’ve fallen on deaf ears. Twitter: consider this a friendly poke to get things working again. If you’re affected, feel free to use the Mashable comments below to elicit pokes, nudges, prods, jabs or whatever attention-getting gesture you prefer. (And may we suggest Twitter considers implementing Facebook Connect on Twitter itself?) Update: there’s a note on the Twitter status blog stating that this is a known issue. --- Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web: Twitter Updates Now Connected to Facebook Status Facebook Tells Twitter to SHUT UP Bebo Clones Twitter, Blatantly Facebook Platform Down Walled Garden Be Damned: Import Facebook Activities into Friendfeed Twitter: One Billion Tweets. Wow. Twitter Mobile Interface

WRITER’S TOOLBOX: 35 Best Tools for Writing Online Posted: 13 Dec 2008 06:38 PM PST Whether you're new to the world of authorship or a veteran trying to make the most of Web services and applications, there are a number of online tools for writers of all types. From blogging platforms to networking hotbeds, and job boards to real-world gatherings, and more, the supply of utilities is comprehensive, to say t