XYDO.COM: Social Media

The Oatmeal Shows Off the $211,223 it Raised for Charity

This might be the final chapter in the Oatmeal lawsuit saga, but what a satisfying ending it is! Comic artist Matthew Inman, creator of the popular web comic The Oatmeal, has taken a photo of the $211,223.04 in cash his supporters had raised for charity. But to understand why that money was raised, we have to go back to the beginning of the story. About a year ago, Inman wrote a blog post bashing humor aggregator site FunnyJunk for allowing uncredited images of his work. Strangely enough, it took almost a year for FunnyJunk to react, but the reaction was very unexpected, as the site's owner claimed defamation and asked for $20,000 in damages. Very soon, the lawyer repre… Continue reading... More About: charity, charles carreon, Oatmeal

Why Online Success is Crucial to Paralympics 2012

Social and digital media's role in making the 2012 Olympics unlike any previous incarnation of the event has been well documented -- but they will play an even more critical role in making this summer's Paralympic Games a success. While the Olympics receive relentless hype from media for months in advance, and athletes from typically obscure sports become global celebrities, the Paralympics happen on a different plane -- low-profile in the media and largely ignored by sports fans. That, says Craig Spence, the International Paralympics Committee's media communications director, provides a unique set of challenges and opportunities for the organization. "There's no one website in t… Continue reading... More About: Facebook, olympics, Paralympic Games, sports, streaming video, Twitter

All-You-Can-Read Magazine Subscription App Launches on iPad

Next Issue Media, a joint venture backed by five major U.S. publishers -- Conde Nast, Hearst, Meredith, News Corp. and Time Inc. -- is launching an all-you-can-read magazine subscription app for the iPad Tuesday. For a flat monthly fee of $10 or $15, users can get access to the digital versions of 39 magazines from those publishers, including back issues. The lower-priced plan nets you access to monthlies and bi-weeklies, including Esquire, InStyle, Vanity Fair, Vogue and Wired. The $15 plan includes those magazines plus a small roster of weeklies, including People, Sports Illustrated, The New Yorker and Time. Users can also purchase individual subscriptions as well as single cop… Continue reading... More About: ipad, ipad app, magazines, Media, next issue, next issue media

Social Media Is the Top News Source for Brits Under 25

Social media is the news source of choice for Britain's under 25-year-olds residents. According to the first Reuters Institute Digital Report, 43% of people between 16 and 24 get their news from social networks, such as Twitter and Facebook, rather than search engines, such as Google, the Telegraph reports. Over 45-year-olds' use of social media for getting news pales in comparison to the younger demographic -- just 11% say they get news from the social web. For 33% of British people over 45, search engines are the online method of choice. Between different social networks, Facebook is the most popular place to share news. More than half (55%) of people share news on Facebook… Continue reading... More About: connected generation, Media, News, Social Media

Pinterest Leaves Palo Alto, Joins San Francisco’s Tech Revival

Pinterest has joined Twitter, Zynga, Airbnb and a host of other social-based tech companies in San Francisco after announcing Monday that it would leave Palo Alto -- where earlier this year the image-sharing network exploded into one of the fastest growing social networks of all time. San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee -- who has made drawing tech startups to the city a top priority of his administration -- touted Pinterest's move north from Silicon Valley as a victory for the local economy. “I am thrilled to welcome Pinterest to the ‘Innovation Capital of the World,’ and am pleased that our efforts to attract and retain the industry’s best and most innovative companies are working,�… Continue reading... More About: pinterest, Social Media

Apple Removes Green Certification From All Products

Apple's products are no longer considered environmentally friendly after the tech giant asked the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) -- the group that sets environmental standards for electronics -- to remove all 39 of its products from its green registry. According to the Wall Street Journal's corporate-technology blog, CIO Journal, this request took place toward the end of last month. EPEAT made the announcement last week. The standards, which were set by manufacturers, advocacy groups and government agencies, state that recyclers need to be able to disassemble products considered green. This means the average person should be able to take apart the green p… Continue reading... More About: apple, green, macbook, Social Good, Tech

Apple Releases Final Mac OS X Mountain Lion to Developers

Mac users, are you looking forward to getting your hands on the latest Mac OS X -- version 10.8, also known as Mountain Lion? You won't have to wait long. Apple released the final developer version of the operating system, known as a Gold Master, on Monday. Barring small technical issues and tweaks, this is the same version that will be released to the public -- and it's right on schedule. When can you download it, exactly? If you're a developer, right now. Otherwise, Apple has said the $19.99 Mountain Lion upgrade will be available online by the end of July. SEE ALSO: Apple Unveils Mac OSX Mountain Lion: So Long iChat, Hello Twitter The company hasn't specified an actual… Continue reading... More About: apple, mac osx mountain lion

12 Essential Social Media Cheat Sheets

Getting around a social media site is not always easy. For some users, it's a matter of getting used to social media. For others, the issue is keeping up with constant updates and changes to features, privacy settings, and account specifications. This, of course, is why social media cheat sheets exist. Cheat sheets are basically infographics that can give a user a simple rundown of various features and how to use them. Here's a roundup of great cheat sheets for the most popular social networking sites. Google+1. Google+ Cheat Sheet by Simon Laustsen This is a nice little cheat sheet that covers what most users are probably going to need. For example, you'll know how to crea… Continue reading... More About: contributor, features, Marketing, online marketing, Social Media

How to Search: Google Offers Free Online Classes

Everyone knows how to do a simple Google search, but do you know how to read pages in languages you've never studied or track down the location of a friend's picture they took on vacation ages ago? Google wants to show you more tips on how to get the most out of its search results. The search engine giant will be offering a free online, community-based course starting on Tuesday that teaches people different search strategies to find what they need faster and more efficiently. Google -- which first opened registration for the class in June -- will offer six different 50-minute courses called "Power Searching with Google" over the next two weeks. Classes can be taken at your own… Continue reading... More About: Google, Google Hangouts, google search, SEO

Gymkhana FIVE: Watch Ken Block Perform Mind-Blowing Car Stunts Around San Francisco [VIDEO]

Ken Block on Monday released the latest edition of his automotive video shenanigans with Gymkhana Five: The Ultimate Urban Playground, San Francisco.

Kayak Prices IPO at $22 to $25 a Share

Kayak's long-awaited $87.5 million initial public offering is finally ready to cast off at $22 to $25 a share. The online travel company dropped its amended S-1 form Monday morning, in which it disclosed it will offer 4 million shares. The company also reported that for the first fiscal quarter of 2012, it earned $4.1 million on revenues of $73.3 million compared to a $6.9 million loss for the first quarter of 2011. That's a 39% jump in revenues over Q1 2011. Though a date hasn't been set for Kayak's IPO, the company has disclosed that it will trade on Nasdaq under the symbol "KYAK." Meanwhile, the $87.5 million figure is below earlier reports that had pegged it at $150 million. Th… Continue reading... More About: ipo, Kayak

Kayak Prices IPO at $22 to $25 a Share

Next Twitter for iPhone Version to Bring Interactive Tweet View

Twitter is preparing a major new version of its iPhone app, which will include an interactive tweet view, enhanced notifications and more, 9to5Mac reports. The info comes through leaked release notes which bring a detailed list of all the new features in the next Twitter for iPhone version, 4.3. These include a more interactive tweet view experience, letting you see content previews, videos and images within tweets containing links to "partner websites," as well as the ability to choose whether you want to receive push notifications when certain people tweet. Other improvements include highlighted tweets about selected events, autocomplete in the Connect tab, and the ability to t… Continue reading... More About: iphone, Twitter

Never Mind The Hype, Conversocial’s Latest Hire Points To Real Signs Of Growth In ‘Silicon Roundabout’

Naysayers of ‘Silicon Roundabout’ (or Tech City, to use its UK Government-sanctioned name) can certainly point to some of the giddy PR surrounding the area as evidence of hype. But when you join up the dots, there’s a definite sense that we’re beginning to see signs of real growth for this tech cluster in the east end of London. And so it is that news comes today of what looks like another impressive hire for a Silicon Roundabout-based startup: Matthew Brazil, who was previously VP of Business Development for Radian6 (which exited to Salesforce for $326m) has joined social customer service outfit Conversocial as VP of Sales. This follows the recent hiring by neighbouring Songkick of former Googler Dan Crow as its CTO. Newly hired Brazil will lead Conversocial’s sales and marketing efforts as it gears up for a more aggressive push into the U.S. — which is particularly noteworthy given his links to Radian6, whose offering has plenty of overlap with Conversocial’s own Twitter and Facebook-based customer service tool. In fact, Brazil can be considered responsible for growing Radian6′s UK operation via 6consulting, which he co-founded and that was acquired by the company in 2011 (not long before itself being gobbled up by Salesforce). But back to Conversocial and the topic of growth. Around a year ago the DFJ Esprit-backed startup claimed just 5 employees, while head-count now stands at over 20. Its clients include B&Q, Barclaycard, Cafe Nero, Groupon, Net A Porter, Odeon, River Island, Sephora, Tesco, and Waitrose. States-side, the company has around twenty customers and is currently hiring out of its New York office. Conversocial co-founder and CEO Joshua March tells me that “we’re starting to see Silicon Roundabout growing up”, not just in terms of how many companies in the area have VC-backing, but also how many are now “commercially successful, and growing and recruiting fast”. On the specific issue of hiring, March says that events like Silicon Milkroundabout combined with the press coverage that the area has been getting, and the financial slow down, has made startups a more viable option in the eyes of developers. “We’ve found it’s actually got easier to hire top developer talent over the last few years; but we’re also in the lucky position that there isn’t a start-up bubble (like there is in Silicon Valley and even New York to an extent) that has driven up start-up salaries to astronomical rates”, he says. However, “senior talent” with startup experience is still hard to find in London, although March thinks that will change rapidly “over the next couple of years”. As for the naysayers, he has this to say: “Huddle, Moo, Mind Candy are just a few that have really broken out and are becoming major companies, but there’s also an increasing number at the stage just before, like us. It’s not just about a load of hackers renting a few desks with big dreams, but significant companies winning major customers around the world and expanding quickly, including to the US.”

Why Social Media Will Reshape the 2012 Olympics

The 2012 Olympics in London are being touted by some as the world's "first social Games." While some question just how social they'll actually be, there's no doubt that networks such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube will play an unprecedented role in how information is disseminated from London, and how the global sports conversation is driven during July and August. Why the big shift? It's simple: Four years is an eternity in Internet time and since the last Summer Olympics in 2008, social media has exploded. Web use in general has grown rapidly, too. In 2008, there were about 1.5 billion Internet users globally, according to the International Telecommunications Union, making… Continue reading... More About: Facebook, olympics, Social Media, sports, Twitter, YouTube

Social Media Fuels Low Self-Esteem, Anxiety [STUDY]

Social media may do more harm than good when it comes to personal well-being, a small study from the University of Salford in the UK indicates. About half of the survey's 298 participants, all of whom identified themselves as social media users, say that their use of social networks like Facebook and Twitter makes their lives worse. In particular, participants noted that their self-esteem suffers when they compare their own accomplishments to those of their online friends. In addition to confidence issues, two-thirds claim they find it difficult to fully relax or sleep after spending time on social networks. A quarter cited work or relationship d… Continue reading... More About: anxiety, Facebook, Social Media, stress, uk

The Evolution of the Job Application [INFOGRAPHIC]

Just as it’s revolutionized everything from grocery shopping to travel, social and digital media have had an enormous effect on the job hunt. With technology moving forward every day, the job discovery and application process is constantly evolving and in flux. To embrace the future, however, we must look to the past. The infographic below, compiled by Spark Hire, examines the evolution of applying for a job, chronicling innovations as seemingly mundane as the invention of the post office (remember snail mail?) to the development of a little thing called the Internet. How have you applied for the jobs you’ve held? Let us know in the comments below. Every week we post a list of social media and web job opportunities. While we publish a huge range of job listings, we’ve selected some of the top social media job opportunities from the past two weeks to get you started. Happy hunting!

10 Stellar Space-Themed Accessories For Your Office

When you were a little kid, did you want to be an astronaut when you grew up? Well here at Mashable, some of us still do. To keep the dream alive while we’re doing more humdrum jobs, we’ve found 10 awesome space-themed accessories to intergalactic up our workspaces. SEE ALSO: Defend Your Home From These 10 ‘Space Invaders’ Accessories Take a look through our stellar selection in the slideshow above. Let us know in the comments below which ones give you that “Neil Armstrong” feeling.

Here’s the Most Stunning Photo of Mars the World Has Ever Seen

NASA has released a new panorama from its Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, showing the terrain where the robot spent the four-month Martian winter. The full-circle scene combines 817 images shot by the panoramic camera (Pancam). You can download the complete image and learn more about the expedition on NASA's website. More About: Mars, NASA, photography, space

Facebook Deletes Post About Syria’s Human Rights Violations, Apologizes [VIDEO]

Facebook has apologized after mistakenly deleting a post by human rights group Article 19. The status in question linked to a report by Human Rights Watch, which details alleged torture centers in Syria.

Google Launches Gay Rights Campaign ‘Legalize Love’

Google wants to further gay rights across the world, launching a new campaign called "Legalize Love" on Saturday. The tech giant hopes to advance marriage rights for gay, lesbian and bisexual people in countries where it has offices, beginning in Poland and Singapore. Google exec Mark Palmer-Edgecumbe introduced the campaign at the Global LGBT Workplace Summit in London, reports dot429. "We want our employees who are gay or lesbian or transgender to have the same experience outside the office as they do in the office," Palmer-Edgecumbe said. "It is obviously a very ambitious piece of work." Google plans to develop relationships between companies and support grass-roots camp… Continue reading... More About: activism, gay rights, Google

Warner Bros. Releases 13-Minute ‘Dark Knight Rises’ Featurette

If you've been looking for a relatively spoiler-free description of The Dark Knight Rises characters and their roles in the movie, this 13-minute featurette will whet your appetite for Christopher Nolan's final Bat-film. Beyond the triumvirate of Bruce Wayne, Selina Kyle, and Bane, this video revisits familiar characters and introduces us to some new faces rolling through Gotham City. Be warned, though, it does contain some behind-the-scenes and finished footage from the film. More »

How To Hire for Positions That Didnâ€™t Exist 10 Years Ago

Sajjad Masud is co-founder & CEO of , a cloud-based social recruiting platform transforming talent acquisition. Connect with Sajjad and the Simplicant team on and . What do app developers, social media managers, cloud computing administrators, virtualization engineers and Chief Listening Officers all have in common? These positions . Thanks in part to continuous technological innovation, there is a new set of roles that did not exist until recently, and existing jobs now have new requirements and skill sets. These dynamic digital positions are now some of the most popular and highly sought-after jobs in the market, but they can be difficult to recruit for. New jobs and skills require new ways of recruiting for these positions. How people and organizations communicate with each other has completely evolved the way employers seek candidates, both in terms of where they find them and how they engage with them. Most of the candidates that fit these job descriptions are best reached via referrals and social networks. And though roles and positions will continue to change and evolve, the underlying recruiting principles remain the same -- you still need to find the right fit for your open positions. Let’s take a look at a few specific changes that technology-driven practices have introduced into the world of recruitment. The disruption caused by technological changes has resulted in a new set of requirements for existing positions, while also rendering some older job titles obsolete or at least less significant. Today, people in business development and sales must have strong networks on social media and be needed to support their work. Hiring managers and recruiters cannot reach quality candidates if they do not know how to leverage social networks for recruiting. Product and engineering staff cannot work in an agile mode without the collaborative platforms and communication methods they now take for granted. Action Step: Hiring managers need to identify where their target candidates are and establish a company presence within those platforms. , and are among the top platforms to connect and network on, from sharing relevant positions to responding to candidates’ questions. Most of the jobs today reflect some technological influence in their titles. A Social Media Manager, for example, has to be savvy with marketing and public relations fundamentals and have experience with the various social media platforms to effectively perform the job. Requirements for this position could include experience with the newest products and platforms for reaching target audiences, creating engagement with stakeholders and collecting analytical data to make further improvements to the campaigns. Clearly, these are specific skills for which even a few years of experience could be hard to find. The challenge, therefore, is to identify the right candidates who may not have years of experience but can still hit the ground running and perform. Many of the other newer roles would fall into the same category as "Social Media Manager" -- jobs for which the people who have the requisite skills and experience are fewer than the open positions available. Action Step: Prior to inviting a candidate for an interview, pre-screen their technical skills by engaging with them via social media or through your talent community. Interact with the candidates to gain a better understanding of what skills they possess, as well as how dedicated they are to earning a position within your organization. Share as much detail about your as possible, and on the application to gain insights into the candidate’s understanding of the technical requirements of the position. With the war for talent forcing many employers to regularly poach employees from each other, efficiency and speed in the recruitment process are critical. As an employer or recruiter, you want to make sure you are not making solid candidates wait too long for next steps, because they will surely talk to your competitors if they are more responsive and nimble. Streamline your recruiting processes so you are able to get referrals, source, engage, attract and screen at a fast pace. Once you have the candidates shortlisted, schedule interviews and get them in quickly. Collect evaluations, references and make your decisions as soon as possible. Action Step: With a recruiting platform that helps you manage and engage with your talent community, you can quickly identify top candidates to bring in for an interview. However, do not exclude passive candidates who may not be present in the community. Encourage employees to refer candidates through a company-wide referral program and leverage social media for its ability to virtually distribute your jobs to thousands of qualified candidates. Also, you will want to utilize a candidate management system to efficiently and effectively keep candidates informed during each step of the hiring process. Did you know that 89% of companies search for candidates online? Moreover, one in six job seekers found their last job through social networks. With Facebook reporting 901 million users and LinkedIn being the most popular network for job seekers and recruiters, candidates are using these platforms -- and so should you, as an employer. Candidates are more accessible than ever. In addition to social networks, next-gen recruiting platforms make it easier to leverage the power of social networks for recruiting, enabling employers and recruiters to reach candidates in a fast, cost-effective and organized way, while all candidate information is tracked and easily accessible for future campaigns. Action Step: Social recruiting is becoming the norm, as employers need to be skilled in the best methods and practices to reach top talent. However, that does not mean you need to take on more than you can handle. Outline a social recruiting plan and determine the best platforms and outlets on which to focus your efforts. Using a social recruiting platform allows you to organize your hiring process across your entire team. What do you think? What are your thoughts on recruiting for non-traditional positions? Every week we post a list of . While we publish a huge range of job listings, we've selected some of the top social media job opportunities from the past two weeks to get you started. Happy hunting!

Tmura: The Non-Profit that Uses Israeli Startup Exits to Do Good

Tmura, an Israeli non-profit, is closing on its 10-year anniversary. In a decade’s worth of work it has contributed a whopping $6.3M+ to educational programs. The extraordinary amount isn’t the result of efficient fundraising, rather, of having been allotted small amounts of options by early-stage startups. Tmura then exercises these options when the startups see a liquidation event. Out of a portfolio of 240 companies, 40 saw exits, the most recent of which XtremIO’s acquisition by EMC netted Tmura $450,000. Baruch Lipner, Executive Director at Tmura, attributes the good fortune these companies have seen to a combination of karma and an improved corporate culture in participating startups. Why argue with success, right? Over 100 educational organizations have received contributions from Tmura in its 10 years of activity. These include: College4All: An enrichment program focusing on students with potential to excel. Krembo Wings: A national youth movement for children with special needs. Machshava Tova: Computer centers in peripheral areas aimed at ‘narrowing the digital gap’. Shiur Acher: Volunteers from the hitech industry delivering lectures in schools. Participating companies can decide themselves to which project(s) funds from their exits are allocated, or allow Tmura to do the choosing itself. Are there similar organizations in your area that make use of startup exits for good in the community? Share with us in the comments below. Disclosure: I’m on the Advisory Board of Tmura.

Art fears business fears art

The artist says, "that sounds like business, and I want nothing to do with it. It will corrupt me and make me think small." The businessperson says, "art is frightening, unpredictable and won't pay." Because the artist fears business, she hesitates to think as big as she could, to imagine the impact she might be able to make, to envision the leverage that's available to her. And because the businessperson fears art, she holds back, looks for a map, follows the existing path and works hard to fit in, never understanding just how vivid her new ideas might be and how powerful her art could make her. There's often a route, a way to combine the original, human and connected work you want to do with a market-based solution that will enable it to scale. Once you see it, it's easier to call your bluff and make what you're capable of.

How technology has transformed communication for expatriates

It was with great anticipation that I’d look forward to my grandma’s packages in the post. They came once a month, without fail, and always contained a piece of home that no money, luxury shopping mall or, in fact, anything on the island could ever give to me. It was then that, at the tender age of six, I began to appreciate what it means to communicate and how precious getting a message to a person is. My grandma’s cassettes were very much the first phase in that learning experience. We’d spend just two years in Hong Kong, but the time left a lasting impression on me, and not only because I relied on my cassette player (and the books that would accompany them in the post) for a bedtime story from a very special person. Living in the then-British colony was not hugely different from a more cosmopolitan (and obviously much hotter) version of England; most people spoke English, for example, but when we headed down to the markets, we met a language barrier that fascinated me from that young age. Back in 2008 Fast forward 20 years and I returned to Asia, this time to Thailand, in an entirely new era of communication. I arrived in 2008 — cheating as I brought my English-speaking spouse with me — but the local language divide and long distance divide are two trends that play out across the country, and my own experiences, on a daily basis. Gone are the long waits for Grandma’s cassettes, the culmination in weeks of waiting replaced by a constant, always-on communication that brings with it a different kind of relationship with those at home. Like other expats across the world, I’m able to keep in touch with friends and family using a vast range of services, apps and other technology goodness. Even in the last four years, since I first arrived in these foreign shores, things have evolved rapidly. The Facebookization of the Internet and early tech In today’s world, Facebook has become The Internet for so many. That’s to say that everything, and everyone, is routed through it. For birthday reminders, weddings photos, party planning, pictures of the kids, even the mundane items like arranging a night at the pub – Mark Zuckerberg’s social network has a stake in the ground like no other. Back in 2008, however, that revolution hadn’t quite arrived and, for us overseas, email was probably the main communicator. That’s not to say that a lot of folks weren’t using Facebook, but the older generation was not yet ‘social networking’ like many are today. Getting the message across is very much about meeting the other party half way and, if your parents are anything like mine, getting them to try something different, from thousands of miles away, is more often than not an exercise in failure. For the curious-types four years ago, going the PC-to-PC limit of Skype, VoIP calling services like Jajah were an interesting option that allowed free user-to-user calls, with the sole requirement that credit was topped up regularly. Enter the smartphone revolution Nowadays, I laugh in the face of such a business model. Great though it was at the time, the growth of smartphones and free calling apps have evolved the model even further – who doesn’t like the cost of free? Most members of my family and friends have moved to the iPhone, meaning that they can be reached via Skype almost anytime, and any place. Then there are the messaging apps, SO many messaging apps! At the last count I had 10 installed on my phone, some of which offer free, unlimited user-to-user calling with no requirement of credit, top-up or spending whatsoever, but each offers an always-on messaging system for contacting people in an instant. Let it not be forgotten that there is also the glorious simplicity of Apple’s free SMS service iMessage and FaceTime calling – both of which make staying in touch as simple as, well, a phone call or text message. Then there are the other social networks. While admittedly my parents are still barely using Facebook, they are regularly emailed all kinds of things using a variety of social networks that I happened to be using at any given time. For example, photos will arrive via Instagram, videos via YouTube, voice clips via Bubbly, images via Dropbox. Those of us with kids have even more reason to keep in touch with family, near and far, and the real beauty is that these very services are used by expats and those residing at home too. When it comes to being in a foreign country, apps and technology do wonders in helping people to communicate. The Internet is full of information and these services help foreigners learn new tongues and alphabets to help us improve the way we communicate with locals. The future Today’s communication has truly evolved from the past, giving us so many ways to keep in regular touch with family and friends overseas. That allows us to find a service that suits us (and our loved ones), in many cases that means using different sites, services and social networks to connect with various different types. While my parents are strictly Skype and email — and have been for years — younger relatives and friends pop up across a range of different places including IM service BlackBerry Messenger, WhatsApp, Line, social networks like Facebook, Twitter, apps like Bubbly, Instagram, SocialCam, Viddy… the list can (and does) go on. Being connected is quite incredible. It helps families stay in touch, kids develop relationships with grandparents and friends stay updated, but it is not without some loss. But… I can’t help but crave the pure excitement of fumbling with a cassette back in the glorious 1980s. Maybe I’ve been hit with a dose of nostalgia and rose-tinted glasses, but it is easy to get complacent when something is a given…and ‘keep in touch regularly’ is fast becoming that given. No Skype call, Instagram photo, email, or anything, can compare to the rush of a long-awaited arrival of a package back in the offline days. That equivalent in the modern day is the face-to-face meet up. Yes, technology is bringing us closer together, but there’s no chance that it will ever replacement person-to-person, physical relationships. While my cassette player has long been put out to pasture, my passport and airport travel tolerance is my new mechanism for getting my long-awaited gift – connecting with the folks from home in the flesh. Technology is quite incredible and I often feel that as an expat, I’m in a real position to take advantage of finding friends via Twitter and interesting places to visit via blogs, for example. Certainly my life would be different without it and, as someone with kids, I would honesty reconsider my plans to keep my young family overseas were we cut off like the old days of Hong Kong. Image credit: Raincity | Flickr

Bringing Technologies To Mobile Applications

Editor’s note: GD (Ram) Ramkumar is a serial entrepreneur and computer scientist. He was founder and CTO of SnapTell (acquired by Amazon in 2009) and is now the Founder and CEO of Concept.io, a new mobile startup. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Stanford. I started as a mobile entrepreneur in the pre-iPhone era in 2006 as the founder of SnapTell, the first successful mobile app in the image recognition space. SnapTell was acquired by Amazon’s subsidiary A9 in 2009. In 2011, I left Amazon to join Charles River Ventures to start a new company, Concept.io, which launches later this year. I reflected on lessons learned before embarking on the new venture and wanted to share them with the community. This article shares lessons I learned and discusses mobile trends that have emerged since. The Key Lesson: Choose a problem and frame it well Our first product at SnapTell was a service that allowed consumers to send in a photo of a shelf tag in a store for comparison shopping. The service read text from the label using OCR, determined product and price, and returned product and price information to the user. The solution was slow and cumbersome. It only worked with high resolution images on high-end auto-focus camera phones. Only a few such camera phones existed in the market in those days, sold by Nokia, Sony Ericsson, and HTC. We learned quickly that this was not the right problem framing. We found that it is better and more intuitive to recognize a product cover instead of a shelf tag. Technology called ‘image matching’ was shown to work in research labs to compare a camera phone image to a set of thousands of images. We set out to create a scaled version that works for millions of images. This time the problem was well framed. Over the next year, our team worked hard to create a solution that emerged soon after the iPhone App Store launched in 2008. The resulting product was the first iPhone app that allowed users to search for media items visually using pictures. After SnapTell’s acquisition, the technology was deployed in Amazon’s mobile applications. We set out to create a scaled version that works for millions of images. This time the problem was well framed. Over the next year, our team worked hard to create a solution that emerged soon after the iPhone App Store launched in 2008. The resulting product was the first iPhone app that allowed users to search for media items visually using pictures. After SnapTell’s acquisition, the technology was deployed in Amazon’s mobile applications. I learned some lessons out of the experience. For a mobile app or product to turn into a sustainable business, it must support a daily use case that turns into a habit. Comparison shopping didn’t provide a frequent use-case for most consumers. Successful apps must create a “wow” experience and bond users emotionally. Having a great UX designer on board early is essential to a successful startup product. It is important to identify a problem and focus on creating a solution for the consumer, rather than build technology and look for applications. Emerging Mobile App Opportunities The mobile ecosystem today is dominated by the app marketplaces of iOS and Android. Many new opportunities exist on these platforms, particularly to build “always-on services.” Such services leverage strong API support in iOS and Android for sensors and wake-up mechanisms to serve the user contextually. Background location streams offer powerful semantic data. Background voice-over-IP and audio APIs support new use cases. Consumers that use such a service do not need to remember to launch the app. The service knows when it is useful and chimes in automatically. The user goes about their daily life as they normally do. Mobile service apps of the future wake up and serve the user in context. For example, such services may (1) Let you know the dry cleaner is open and clothes are ready and available as you drive home; or (2) Tell you about traffic where you are headed for your commute; or (3) At a convenient time, let you know that a friend you wanted to speak to is available right now for a call. Early examples of always on services are the newly announced Google Now product, the iOS Reminders app and Highlight.. It’s still early days with many services to come in the future! Advances in Mobile OS New features and APIs on the mobile platforms often make room for innovative services. iOS 6 announced the ability for Siri to launch apps (with the promise of more to come), tighter integration of Facebook, more efficient access to Bluetooth, and support for Passbook, a ticket and payments organizer. As an example, apps will emerge that integrate with Passbook to facilitate smoother travel. Conclusion Despite our collective focus on technology and design, social science and human behavior remain critically important. Understanding consumer behavior and applying technology to serve users in context will be a theme for many mobile services to come. Creating a “wow experience” and a positive emotional response in the user is very important. Siri has been popular in part because it goes to great lengths to answer fun questions such as “what is the meaning of life?” Technology exists to serve humans, not vice versa, and this will play out in interesting ways as the mobile ecosystem continues to evolve.

6 Ways to Stay on Top of Social Media

To be successful in social media and community management you need to keep track of the constant changes to that ecosystem. That's because everything you know about Facebook, Twitter, and other social spaces today will somehow be different in six months. Layouts will be altered, features will be added or removed, and new social networks may pop up. So how should you keep track of all these moving parts? Here are six tips for staying on top of social media. 1. Blogs There are hundreds of blogs focused on social media. Keep it simple by signing up to RSS feeds and spend twenty minutes every morning catching up on your social media news. Stick to blogs that are updated daily and focus… Continue reading... More About: contributor, features, Marketing, Social Media

Apple May Not Include NFC in the iPhone 5 [VIDEO]

In the battle for your mobile wallet one company has been noticeably silent: Apple. Google has its own mobile payment service: Google Wallet, and Microsoft even announced in June that it would be adding a digital wallet service with NFC capabilities to Windows Phone 8 that would store credit card and mobile payment information. So, where is the world’s favorite fruit company? In its announcement of iOS6 mobile payments were left off the agenda. The company unveiled Passbook, a service for keeping track of tickets and coupons, but not credit cards. According to the Wall Street Journal, some Apple engineers fought for mobile payment func… Continue reading... More About: apple, iphone, iPhone 5, nfc

6 Ways to Stay on Top of Social Media

The Bay Parties It Up For Social Media Day 2012

There was a full house at The Box SF for Mashable's third-annual Social Media Day celebration in San Francisco on Saturday, June 30, 2012. The sold-out event featured networking, dancing, gadgets and, most importantly, commemorating the importance of social media in the world today. Mashable staff and fans danced the night away to San Francisco-based DJ Duo A Plus D - a.k.a. Adrian and Mysterious D. A Plus D, creators of Bootie, the biggest mashup bootleg party in the world - kept the party going all night with their amazing mashups including an unforgettable mix of Beethoven with House of Pain. See Mashable's complete coverage of Social Media Day Global sponsor Motorola Mob… Continue reading... More About: San Francisco-San Jose, social media day

7 Apps You Don’t Want To Miss

It can be tough to keep up with all the new apps released each week. But you’re in luck: We take care of a lot of that for you, creating a roundup each weekend of some of our own new and updated app highlights from the week. This week we found a few water-based games that require you to come up with a little strategy in order to win, and we found an old favorite game that has finally made its way over to Android. iPhone owners saw an update this week to a popular music app, and got a new photography app that will let you take some pretty unique shots. Another app will help you keep up-to-date on everything going on at the Tour de France, and another will keep you in-the-know w… Continue reading... More About: android, App, iphone

Top 10 Pinterest Pins This Week

Our top 10 Pinterest pins will brighten up your day with beautiful photos and refreshing ideas. Each week Pinterest brings us an array of wonderful images and tips, and we choose 10 to share with you. One of the things Pinterest is known for is its helpful tips and craft ideas. From a pin that will change the way you set up your home electronics, to a pin that shares a handy eye-brightening Photoshop tip, we hope these pins add to your Pinterest experience. In addition to tips and recipes, there is no shortage of gorgeous imagery in this week’s top 10 pins. There is a gorgeous shot of Nordic fog from Pinterest power-user Jennifer Chong and a photo of a gamer/movie-lover’s comfy paradise. All of our top 10 pins are repinned in this Pinterest board for you to easily repin and follow the users we found them from. We collect our weekly top 10 to share with you the pins we enjoyed from the visual network this past week. Everyone’s Pinterest experience is different and revoles around their own personal interests, but we hope our pins provide a diving-in point to the vast sea of Pinterest. What were your favorite pins this past week?

Top 10 Pinterest Pins This Week

20+ Beautiful Camera-Themed iPhone Cases

Vintage Camera Case This classic-looking, colorful option is available in pink, red, beige and mint. Cost: $16Click here to view this gallery. Has your iPhone become your primary camera? Then why not get a case that celebrates it? There are a wide variety of camera-themed iPhone cases, covers, skins and decals available. Spanning eras from twin lens reflex cameras to retro-styled compacts, right through to cases that are designed for fans of current iPhone photography apps, we have a wide selection for you to peruse. SEE ALSO: 10 Cassette Cases for Your iPhone Take a look through our hand-picked choices in the gallery above. Let us know in the comments below which case best suits your iPhotography style. More About: cameras, features, Gadgets, gallery, iphone, iphone accessories, iphone cases, iphotography, Mobile, photography, Tech

Heads Up! This Was Google’s Apple Moment

It looked like the X Games, but it was the most significant product launch of the decade so far. For the first time, Google did what Apple has done thrice, with the iPod, iPhone, and iPad. Granted, Apple announces products that ship immediately, while Google merely allowed a few thousand I/O attendees to pre-order a beta version that wouldn’t ship until next year–but don’t let the mechanics distract you from the heart of the matter. Google Glass isn’t just a new product, it’s a whole new product category, and it has every chance of being every bit as revolutionary as Apple’s Big Three. Of course, like every revolution, it brought the nattering nabobs of negativity out in force. “We struggle to imagine Google Glasses reconciled with normal life,” carps Gizmodo. That line’s going to sound as embarrassingly tone-deaf in five years as these hilarious quotes from iPhone naysayers do today. Wearable computing, in one form or another, is the future. How extraordinary is it going to be? Some people suggest it could actually save Research In Motion. Now that’s amazing. But a company that took most of a year to build an email app for the PlayBook isn’t going to lead the way. This category is so new that Google’s fail-fast, permanent-beta, make-it-up-as-you-go ethos is really the only viable direction. And we’re only in its infancy; has anyone else noticed that those big thick glasses look a lot like Neurosky’s brainwave sensors? Thought-controlled heads-up displays, anyone? Do I sound excited? Well, sure, yeah, I am–but I’m also kind of terrified. You see, at first the skeptics almost seem to have a point. Google Glass is in no way a replacement for a phone. At least not yet. Of course, neither was the iPad, and that did pretty well, but who’s going to be the big initial market for Google Glass, beyond the die-hard early-adopter? Well, there are a lot of possible applications. Travel, for instance; a heads-up display is a lot more convenient than a phone when you’re wandering a strange city, and being able to tether to your phone and actually share what you’re seeing with friends and family in real time would be terrific. Industrial uses. The elderly. Augmented-reality games. But you know who I think the first big market for Google Glass will be? Law enforcement. Imagine a heads-up display that automatically parses every license plate and recognizes every face in sight, and tells the wearer about any outstanding warrants. Charles Stross has been predicting this for years: “Police in the UK are already experimenting with real time video recording of interactions with the public – I suspect that before long we’re going to see cops required to run lifelogging apps constantly when on duty, with the output locked down as evidence.” In places where the integrity of the police is questionable–which is to say, most of the world–this could help stamp out corruption, too. Of course, this will lead to an enormous spike in the amount of video data in the world that needs to be tagged, categorized, sifted, and mined. If only there was a company out there that was really, really good at search… Well, hey! Win-win-win, right? More efficient law enforcement, less corruption, lots of business for Google. So why am I scared? Because Google Glass is–probably both inadvertently and inescapably–a giant step towards the panopticon society I’ve been worrying about for some time. The future is here, and it’s awesome…and soon it will be watching you. Be concerned. Be very concerned.

Poster Design Contest: Redesign The Web, Redesign The World!

Web design has evolved dramatically in recent years. Better browser support and innovative design techniques are changing the way we design websites. In fact, we’ve become quite versed in producing beautiful and performant user experiences. However, this doesn’t hold true for most websites out there, now does it? How often do you stumble on slow, clunky websites? Websites where text is embedded in images and interfaces are unusable and messy — not to mention that the code is hacky and unmaintainable? Websites that are completely unusable on mobile devices and that are cumbersome to navigate? We all deserve better than that. With this poster contest, we’d like to raise awareness of the beautiful and accessible Web: Yes, it’s been around time to redesign the Web and, hence, to redesign the world. We can make the Web a better place. But to do that, we need your help. Where Do We Begin? As professionals, we do our best to employ the best coding and design practices. We encourage our friends, colleagues and clients to advocate the user’s interests, and we follow recent developments in the industry. However, we probably have to do a bit more if we really want to make the Web a bit more usable. We have to remind ourselves, our colleagues and our clients of the problems that their websites have, and potential solutions to these problems. We have to make it clear that websites require a minor adjustment or a major redesign. All of the little tasks listed below would take just a couple of minutes each day, but if we use them consistently and stay persistent, our voices eventually will be heard. Here is what each one of us can do: Create a critique email template that you can use to notify website owners about issues with their website. Then, whenever you come across a poorly designed website, just paste the template into an email and send it to the website owner. Also, if you have a minute to spare, tweet the owner directly using the hashtag #redesigntheweb to raise awareness among your friends and colleagues. Subject: Your website is very difficult to use! Dear [--Website Owner--], I just stumbled on your website [--URL--] and found it very difficult to use. I wasn’t able to [-- perform a certain task / find what I was looking for --], although I am confident that your website does have this information. I would love to use your website, and I am sure you’ve put a lot of time and thought into it, but unfortunately it was more frustrating than helpful. For me, a website’s information and features must be, above all, accessible and useful. It they aren’t, then the website doesn’t serve any real purpose. Please consider redesigning the website and improving its user experience so that I can visit it again. Otherwise, I’ll have to keep seeking alternatives. Thank you for your time, and I hope to stumble on your (redesigned) website in the future! Sincerely yours, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Whenever you see a bug or dark UX pattern on a website, report the issues via the website’s contact form. Explain the issue and suggest solutions for solving the problem if you can. Whenever you stumble upon a truly poor customer service, drop an email to the website owners explaining that you’ll seek an alternative service provider because your experience has been unacceptable. Be concrete in your criticism. Upgrade the browser of your friend, colleague, coworker or relative to the latest version. Propose solutions. Most owners don’t know that their website is inaccessible or slow, so help them help their users. Point them to useful templates and resources that will help them solve their problem. Whenever you see a useful or clever design solution, send a short email to the owners applauding them for their effort and attention to detail. If you are a designer or developer, join the Move the Web Forward campaign and help browser makers and open-source projects do just that. And, of course, recommend only best practices to students and newcomers to the industry. Or you could also join this contest and create a poster to spread the message! Join The Poster Design Contest! We challenge you to design a beautiful, thought-provoking and inspiring A4/A3-sized poster and send it over to us. The poster should encourage everyone to create fast, user-friendly and accessible websites; websites that deliver value and are a pleasure to use. We will then select the most interesting designs, release them for free on Smashing Magazine, and invite everyone to republish them, print them out, post them on walls and send us photos of the posters from across the globe. Prizes To Win As always, we have valuable prizes for the best entries. The winners of the contest will be determined by Smashing Magazine’s editorial team. Here are the prizes: Letterpress Prints If you love letterpress posters like we do, you can select two of them from Jessica Hische’s collection or Wilkintie collection and we’ll deliver them for you. Alternatively, you can pick the ILoveTypography’s limited edition “A World Without Type” type poster. 52 Aces Card DeckA limited edition poker deck consisting of 52 extremely different cards, each of them individually designed by an international designer or illustrator in their distinct style. Wacom Inkling Drawing Pen This pen records your sketches as you draw. Simply transfer the files to your computer and continue working on the sketches digitally. It’s a tool that every modern designer should have. Bose QuietComfort 15 Acoustic Noise Cancelling Headphones According to various tests, the Bose QuietComfort 15s currently offer the best quality sound and silencing capabilities in a pair of noise-canceling headphones. If you want to focus on your work and do not get distracted by subway or cars driving nearby, that’s the headphones you probably need. How Do I Join the Contest? To participate in the poster contest, please follow the rules listed below. Please note that we will not consider designs that don’t meet these guidelines. Come up with an original, beautiful and unique design. It could be an illustration, collage, photographic piece, typographic design — anything! Please make sure the design looks great when printed out, both in color and black and white. The design should be well formatted for printing: in A4 and A3 sizes, and with a 5-mm print margin. The design should include a small Smashing Magazine’s logo. You may also include your own logo. Please make sure both logos are readable yet unobtrusive. Pack up your source files, preferably in a layered PSD, AI, EPS or INDD file, in a ZIP-archive, e.g. [your-name]-[submission's-title].zip would be great. Submit your poster design by the 23rd of July 2012 to the email address submissions[.at.]smashingmagazine.com, with the subject line Redesign the Web Contest. Please also give credit where credit is due. Make sure to respect the copyright of designers whose images and words you use in your design. And feel free to submit multiple entries; however, each entry should be unique and distinguishable. In the future, we’d love to print the best designs in a series of t-shirts (only with your permission, of course), so bear this mind when designing your work. We will feature the selected posters a week after the submission deadline. Feel free to include a link to your portfolio in your submission email; we’d love to link to it in the release post! Redesign the Web: Inspiration But what might such a poster look like? Well, we asked five well-respected designers to interpret the “Redesign the Web, Redesign the World” theme with their own ideas, creativity and style. The results are striking and inspiring, and they prove once again that cultural diversity turns every task and problem into a unique experience. These are only few interpretations of the theme — there are many more out there! Nick La interprets the Web as an earth-like eco-system. The Web is situated in an abstract, futuristic environment, with colors and elements that convey an almost mystical atmosphere. The interpretation has a visionary quality to it and shows a touch of Jules Verne. Have you noticed how Nick managed to have both dinosaurs and tweets in one artwork? by Nick La Larissa Meek’s first poster concept is strongly geometric and bursts with color. “I wanted to capture the essence of what a more beautiful world would feel like based on the statement ‘Redesign the Web, Redesign the World,’” Larissa says. The result sure catches the eye. by Larissa Meek Larissa Meek’s second concept shows another interesting approach, visualizing the various elements that the Web currently consists of. The poster captures techniques such as CSS and HTML, workflow elements such as storytelling and also the daily realities of the professional designer such as deadlines, coffee breaks and ideation. All elements are interconnected in a clever composition using just two main colors: red and orange. by Larissa Meek Simon C. Page is known for his abstract geometric styles. His poster design is made up of a variety of shapes and structures that are fundamental to the Web — the world being one of them. by Simon C. Page Brazilian designer Ricardo Gimenes’ first concept relies on Smashing Magazine’s familiar cartoon style and introduces what might be considered a tag. by Ricardo Gimenes Veerle Pieters’ cover design for the Smashing Book 3 reflects the various elements that a redesign has to balance and the various building blocks of Web. Read more about Veerle’s ideas behind the design and the process. If you would like to buy a print of the poster, please visit our Smashing Shop. Smashing Book #3 and #3⅓ cover designs by Veerle Pieters It’s Your Turn To “Redesign the World”! We are excited to see what you are capable of, and we sincerely believe we can all shape the future of the Web together. The poster contest is just a humble attempt to change the way things are, and it will hopefully trigger your creativity and encourage you and others to reinterpret the Web and the world through a new lens. Good luck, everyone! We are looking forward to receiving many beautiful entries! Yours truly,The Smashing Team “Now is the accepted time, not tomorrow, not some more convenient season. It is today that our best work can be done and not some future day or future year. It is today that we fit ourselves for the greater usefulness of tomorrow. Today is the seed time, now are the hours of work, and tomorrow comes the harvest and the playtime.” — W. E. B. DuBois © Smashing Editorial for Smashing Magazine, 2012.

Google TV Needs To Decide: Platform Or Closed Ecosystem

Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Andy Liu, CEO of BuddyTV Guide, a channel guide app available on iOS, Android and Google TV. There is no debating that consumer adoption of Google TV is extremely disappointing. Logitech has dropped out of the business, several online publications including this one have declared the platform dead. While some new OEMs like Vizio, Sony, and LG have launched new devices with Google TV, it’s not clear that any meaningful customer adoption will come as a result of these deals. I believe there is one big reason it hasn’t taken off. It’s that Google TV is straddling a dual-strategic approach when it needs to pick one strategy and double down on it. Google TV needs to be building a platform that embraces a strong developer ecosystem or it needs to close it down and focus on a closed ecosystem like Apple TV and iterate until it has the right consumer product not both. The problem with Google TV is that it claims that it is a developer friendly platform and embraces the developer community. It does not. Time and time again, Google TV has chosen the route of straddling between building their own apps and trying to engage the developer community to build a killer app for its platform. For example, there are over 90 second screen startups building apps that could be an extremely compelling use case for Google TV users. Instead of pushing 3rd parties to succeed, Google TV has taken the approach of building its own second screen app without being very transparent with its partners about its intention of building its own. There is an inherent disadvantage for a 3rd party to build a second screen app, when there will be one that exists native and developed by Google. This is an extremely dangerous position to take with the development community as it takes real investment by companies to build for this nascent platform. Companies will quickly realize that anything successful will be copied by Google TV and relegated to second class status as Google TV promotes its own apps ahead of those by 3rd parties. Instead of having potentially 90 companies innovating and building compelling second screen apps on the Google TV platform to find a killer use case, Google TV has taken a poor short-term approach of competing against its own developer community. Google TV in their v2 OTA update last year launched an app called TV & Movies, it’s native to the platform and pre-installed with every install of the update. This update was in direct competition with first screen apps like BuddyTV Guide which Google TV had early versions of internally. While disappointing, it would have been nice to know that Google TV was developing TV & Movies in advance, so we could have built another app focusing on areas that would be complementary to TV & Movies. Instead, we invested a ton of resources to build on a nascent platform only to see a very similar app on Google TV. Most recently, TV & Movies have updated the app to include favorite channels, one of the most popular features on BuddyTV Guide. As a third party developer on the platform, we have significantly reduced our investment in the first screen app primarily due to the lack of support from Google TV to promote third party apps and the lack of transparency regarding its roadmap that may be competitive to third parties. Strategically, Google TV needs to pick a strategy and focus on it exclusively. If it is to build a developer ecosystem which allows thousands of developers the ability to innovate and to find that killer app or two, then Google TV needs to re-think its product roadmap to enable developers to be successful. Focus on building great developer tools and listen to the developer community. If Google TV must compete against a 3rd party developer since it is a “core” feature, then be transparent and work with the 3rd party to cover other white space that might be compelling. Google TV’s platform could focus on in-app purchases, subscription services, developer tools, developer outreach, OEM relationship building, and design resources for 3rd parties would be a great start. Work with developers to develop marketing strategies to get app adoption. Build momentum with the developer community such that more developers come on board. Be transparent about what’s working and what’s not. Help developers avoid pitfalls and use cases that work and don’t work. Identify customer holes for 3rd parties to tackle before they become impediments to adoption. Focus on becoming a real partner for developers. Or, conversely, shut down the developer ecosystem to get the product right. It’s ok to focus on getting the product right and iterate until there is critical mass before going back to the developer community. Build great apps and find the killer app internally. This, in itself, is a great strategy as well since the developer ecosystem won’t be wasting time potentially competing against Google TV and can wait until there is real market traction to go after. We want Google TV to succeed. I’ve been a long-term user of Google TV and it’s a good product with a good vision. However, I bought a Google TV for my parents a while ago and it’s still gathering dust –- the product is just not ready for mass consumer adoption. Google TV needs a killer use case and either they need to enable developers to find it or they should focus all their energy on finding it themselves. The success of Google TV is good for consumers and developers; it’s disruptive and will force the TV ecosystem to evolve quicker. I know we’ll be watching closely with anxious anticipation that Google TV will eventually get it right.

The Furby Is Back

Furby is back! The must-have toy of 1998 will return this holiday season, but this isn't your father's Furby. Hasbro is re-launching the furry character for the digital age, with apps, new sensors and more. You may remember Furby from his first incarnation, the chatty five-inch-tall robot that found its way under countless Christmas trees in the late '90s. Furby was equipped with robotic eyes and ears, simple sensors and the ability to speak. A lot. The new Furby takes the idea of a talking electronic sidekick to a new level: Covered in blue-green fur, its body is more active, with the ability to wiggle its ears and dance. In an interesting design choice, Hasbro opted to replace Fu… Continue reading... More About: apps, Furby, toys

Spider-Like iPhone 5 Design Is Creepy Yet Cool [PICS]

The iPhone 5 as a Spider? Designer Federico Ciccarese re-imagined the iPhone as a futuristic (and creepy) gadget that lives on the back of your hand. What do you think of the design concept?Click here to view this gallery. What will mobile communication of the future look like? Google thinks it could be a pair of glasses; IBM favors More About: desgin concept, design, iphone

In-Store App Smartly Syncs Shoppers And Sales Staff

The Spark of Genius Series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. Each post highlights a unique feature of a startup. If you'd like your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. Name: Signature Quick Pitch: iPhone app connects customers with sales associates 24/7. Genius Idea: Leveraging mobile to provide an unprecedented level of customer service. Though online shopping has undergone multiple transformations over the past two decades, the same can not be said for brick-and-mortar retail. Shoppers are still brought in using approximately the same marketing tactics (think direct mail catalogs, window displays, seasonal sales). Product is still refreshed at… Continue reading... More About: bizspark, fashion, neiman marcus, retail, signature

Tiny Wings 2.0 Trailer Is Awesomely Retro [VIDEO]

Tiny Wings is a fun iOS game that eschews the anger of another avian franchise for the underdog appeal of a bird that can't fly. We especially like that it's easy to play with just one hand (great for subway commutes). If that wasn't enough to get us looking forward to the next version of the game, this excellent trailer has done the trick. From the punch-card game track to the fairly game-accurate movements to the fun ending, it's got us putting alerts in our calendar for July 12 -- the date of the release. What do you think of the Tiny Wings 2.0 trailer? Share your thoughts in the comments. BONUS: 10 Games for iPhone You Can Play With One Hand More About: games, iOS, iphone, Tiny Wings, videos, YouTube

Twitter Search Gets Smarter, Adds Autocomplete

In the age of Google Instant, where we expect search results to complete themselves before we’re done typing, Twitter’s search feature has long seemed a little slow and dumb. Can’t it guess at what search term or person you’re looking for? Can’t it autocorrect your spelling? Can’t it just search among the tweets of people you follow? Well, now you can do all of that, in theory. The microblogging service took the wraps off a new smarter search product Friday, after teasing us late Thursday with a brief announcement that search and discovery on Twitter was about to change “forever.” The changes, which are rolling out to all users on mobile Twitter and Twitter.com, fall into three categories. First, there’s the Google Instant-like guessing. “Search autocomplete shows you the most likely terms for your query as you enter it — especially useful if you’re trying to follow the hashtag for an event or you’re looking for a certain Twitter account,” writes engineer Frost Li on the Twitter blog. “You can select your query from the drop-down menu even before you finish typing it.” Search autocomplete will also correct your spelling if there’s a common search term with slightly different letters — a feature Google has boasted for years. Secondly, Twitter says, search is about to get a lot smarter when it comes to related terms, hashtags and accounts. “If you search for a topic for which people use multiple terms,” says Li, “we will provide relevant suggestions for terms where the majority of that conversation is happening on Twitter.” And finally, once your search is complete, you have a new option to narrow it down: click on tweets from people you follow. This will appear next to the regular search filter options, “top” and “all.” In other words, if you want to forget the rest of Twitter exists outside your circle of follows, the company just made it a lot easier. Is smarter Twitter search working for you yet? Let us know in the comments.

Twitter Search Gets Smarter, Adds Autocomplete

How We Look at Online Ads

Advertisers, do you want your banner ads to be noticed? Then go above the fold, to the left — and include some pictures of faces. That’s the advice of a recent eye-tracking study of banner ads. Using a technology called Real CPM, EyeTrackShop aims to increase the efficacy of such display ads, which are known for abysmal click-through rates. “With Real CPM, agencies will finally have the opportunity to take all of the guesswork out of ad placements,” says EyeTrackShop CEO Mathias Plank. Real CPM provides you with data about where on a page your ads receive the most eyeballs. In general, banner ads receive the most, followed by left then right placements above the fold. The idea is to give you a sense of where consumers’ eyes go when they see your ad and then adjust variables like page placement, time of day, gender and media outlet focus for maximum benefit. Real CPM works by recruiting test subjects from websites and global online panels, whose gaze is tracked by their webcams. The product creates reports, showing the percent of people who see the ad, the average time spent looking at it and the amount of time it took to notice the ad. Your report will also show the number of people who remember the brand and the ad after leaving the page. Of course, there’s no guarantee that just because people are looking at your ads that they’re going to buy what you’re selling. There’s also a phenomenon known as “visual vampires,” an industry term for distracting visual elements that undermine the purpose of your ad. Nevertheless, eye-tracking can at least tell you if people are tuning out of your ads. Is this technology useful? Let us know your take in the comments.

Facebook's App Store Arrives in the UK

Facebook has begun rolling out its apps marketplace internationally, launching a version for UK users Friday morning. Facebook’s App Center (or Centre, in British spelling) launched in the U.S. early last month. It’s similar to Apple’s, Google’s and Amazon’s app stores, allowing users to browse apps by category, such as Games or Sports, and filter to show apps that are available via the web, mobile or both. Apps are recommended based on collective ratings, personal recommendations, what’s trending and popularity among your friends. The App Center isn’t exclusively made for Facebook’s apps: It also indexes apps available only on third-party sites, or through other mobile app stores. When users click to sign up for apps like Netflix and Hulu, for instance, they are sent to their respective websites; other times, they’re sent to Apple’s App Store or Google Play. In the somewhat rare instance where a paid app is sold directly through Facebook’s store, the company takes a 30% cut; it takes the same cut of purchases made within apps based on its platform. SEE ALSO: Facebook App Center: What Does It Actually Do? The Center can be accessed at facebook.com/appcenter, and through Facebook’s apps for iOS and Android devices. (Note: We have not been able to verify whether the App Center is yet available on Facebook mobile in the UK.) Conveniently, if users select an app while browsing in the App Center, they can opt to be reminded to install the app the next time they turn on one of their mobile devices.

Twitter to Announce a Big Search and Discovery Change Today

Popular social network Twitter will unveil significant changes to search and discovery as soon as today, according to a tweet by engineering manager Pankaj Gupta. “Search & discovery in @twitter set to change forever after tmrw,” Gupta wrote on Twitter on Thursday evening. “Team – congrats and enjoy the enormity of ur impact few understand today!” Search and discovery are incredibly important features for the network, and many times a search on Twitter is more valuable than a Google search because you can see real-time responses to things that are happening now. Discovery is important too, and with a well-implemented design, discovery can make you want to spend more time browsing a network. Gupta’s tweet suggests that the changes will take place either today or tomorrow, but we’d be more likely to bet on today because more people will be around to write about the changes. We’ve contacted Twitter for more information about the changes, and will update this post if the company gets back. Twitter bird photo: Beau Giles/Flickr Filed under: social

Apple Fixes Server Bug and Two Other Stories You Need to Know

Welcome to this morning’s edition of “First To Know,” a series in which we keep you in the know on what’s happening in the digital world. Today, we’re looking at three particularly interesting stories. Apple Fixes Server Bug Which Resulted in Corrupted Apps Apple has fixed the server issue which caused some iOS apps to crash immediately after launch, the company has announced. "We had a temporary issue that began yesterday with a server that generated DRM code for some apps being downloaded. The issue has been rectified and we don’t expect it to occur again,” Apple said in a statement to AllThingsD. Amazon Is Working on a Smartphone That Would Compete With iOS and… Continue reading... More About: apple, features, first to know series, mashable

Just How Interested Is the World in SEO? [INFOGRAPHIC]

How big is the SEO industry on the Internet? Really big, according to a new infographic by Spanish-based SEO service provider BlueCaribu. In fact, the infographic reveals that 3.5 people look up the term "SEO" on Google each second and 9.1 million web users are digging up information on the topic each month. People are getting their information about search engine optimization (SEO) from a variety of ways. There are 863 million websites worldwide that mention the term "SEO" and 164,000 YouTube videos are indexed with the topic. Google Shows Startups How to Master SEO in 10 Minutes [VIDEO] Los Angeles may be the number one city in the U.S. to search for SEO, but India is the top c… Continue reading... More About: Business, Google, google search, SEO

What If You Could Combine the iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy S III Into One?

Regardless of what your expectations of Apple's upcoming next-generation iPhone are, there's probably a feature or two you've seen on Android devices which you'd like to see on the iPhone as well. Some, like a memory card slot, have been desired by users for what seems like an eternity, but Apple wouldn't budge. However, one can always dream, and now that dream has been turned into a 3D rendering that looks quite desirable. The iSung Galaxy V, as the folks from Techradar have imagined it, is -- simply put -- the best of both worlds; an iPhone and the Galaxy S III melded into one device. It has features such as NFC, ultra-shutter, a memory card slot and iPhone's singular butto… Continue reading... More About: iphone, iSung, Samsung Galaxy S III