Go your Gmail account.  Look in the bottom right hand corner.  See that blue button that is asking you to learn more about their new look?  Click it and upgrade!

Google officially rolled out their new look and, personally, I like it.  The addition of the bold, red buttons is visually stimulating against the white background.  The new spacious layout seems to be easier to read due to the space between rows and buttons.

Check out the video and decide for yourself whether you're willing to jump on the Gmail new look bandwagon.

A new study reveals that kids under 8-years-old are more media savvy than ever before. According to a report, 52% of kids know how to use a mobile media device before their 10th birthday.

The report also notes that during a "typical" day, 11% of those kids use a cellphone or other mobile device for "media consumption" spending an average of 43 minutes using these electronics.

The information was collected from a survey that used a pool of 1,384 parents of children up to 8 years old and was conducted from May 27-June 15 of 2011.

The survey also learned that most children under 8 spend double the time watching television than they do reading.

Do you think this is excessive, or is it just a natural progression in an age when things are more digital than ever before?

Angry Birds is seemingly taking over the world.  Well, at least the digital world.  If you're not already familiar with the phone app, Angry Birds is a puzzle game developed by Rovio.  Since its release, over 12 million copies of the game have been purchased from the Apple App Store.

Check out this Google Chrome commercial featuring the angry birds from Angry Birds...

If you have created a new Page on Facebook for your brand or to promote a cause, you will likely have noticed that the social network bestows your new page with a unique URL that can be difficult to remember and even more difficult to share.

However, the social network does offer the option to select a shorter, more memorable "vanity URL" via its service, but would require the Page to register at least 25 ‘Likes’ before its owner would be able to register it.

The good news for new or existing Page owners with a small number Likes is that Facebook has quietly removed the limitation for its username service, facilitating the registration of Pages regardless of how many Likes they do or do not have.

SOURCE: The Next Web

Well, the big announcement has been made and Apple has left a lot of people disappointed. Many people were under the impression that today's press event was going to be in honor of the iPhone 5 announcement, but instead were told that Apple will be releasing the iPhone 4S.

The device will feature a retina display and dual-core processor that will make the phone twice as fast as its predecessor.  The new camera inside the 4S will have an 8-megapixel sensor which is 60% more pixels than the iPhone 4 sensor.

The video recording system will use video image stabilization in real time.  The phone will also offer 8 hours of talk time on 3G and 14 hours of 2G talk time.

For more on the iPhone 4s click here.

Did you ever think that how much you weigh could have an effect on how much you make? What about income vs job satisfaction?  Did you know that 1 in 4 workers have intentions of quitting their job within a year?  Alright, enough questions...check out the image below.

It's not like living on the edge of raging wildfires in southeastern Arizona or taking off from the base at Bagram dodging enemy fire.  It's dangerous like all the folks who know just enough about the Internet business to think they know it all.  Too often, instant success starts to feel like bullet-proof brilliance. 

There's so much opportunity and so little time.  But let's take a little time to learn from experience -- our own or the competition, from experts with success records and professors from the real world of the Web.  Let's make time to seek out education and training from proven sources.  let's make time to optimize those landing pages, analyze that new campaign and test with real users.  Yes, it can take time or cost money, or both, but whenever it's possible, it pays.  It also pays to ask for opinions, listen to fans and followers, and take those reviews to heart, however painful or clueless.

We can also learn from the experience of all the Web designers, developers and marketers whose sites we visit and end up staying longer than we intended.   Besides those favorite and bookmarked sites, it's helpful to learn a little from unexpected places, for example, sites like Drumstick.com, Cavs.com and CreativeKidsEducationFoundation.org.  Other sources include those pop-up surveys asking, "Help us make our website better!"  You may not win the $500 thank-you lottery, but in a few quick minutes, you'll learn from the survey questions asked by your peers at companies like Direct Energy or Home Depot.  And it's good karma.  

It's recommend that every Web professional take a little time to investigate and choose training and education that can fill in the gaps, fit the schedule and not break the budget. Many of our esteemed contributors travel year round to different events to reach Web professionals and their management, sharing their expertise.  Good vendors are another source, and many are packaging training with their technology and services.

Kudos to all those Internet entrepreneurs working 24/7, to the corporate corps doing e-strategy and e-tactics for the big brands and to all the Web whiz kids who can hardly wait to capture the Internet flag.  Definitely the competition is fierce and the heat is on, so today many feel more like a day fighting wildfires or dodging enemy fire.  On those days especially, it's best to remember nobody goes into firefighting without extensive training and back-up, and our Marines are trained before, during and after their deployments in Afghanistan.

When we're flying at Internet speed, sights are trained on future results, not so much on analyzing what we don't know.  But there's no reason to go aloft alone.  It takes just a little more time to get informed, check for trusted sources and ask your fans and friends.  Be fast, don't be dangerous.

SOURCE; Website Magazine

The saying goes, "The future is now."  A list was recently compiled of nine things that are projected to become obsolete in our lifetime.  This list includes everything from technology to forms of banking to the abstract.

Take a look at the list, and before you think that it will never happen take some time and recall things like the cassette tape, the floppy disk, and beepers.

1. The Post Office: Email, FedEx and UPS have wiped out the minimum revenue needed to keep most post offices alive and running.
2. The Check:  Britain is already planning to do away with the check by 2018.
3. The Physical Newspaper: Our younger generation doesn't read the paper and certainly aren't subscribing either.
4. The Physical Book:  Kindle or Nook anyone?
5. The Land Line:  Ring, Ring!  Hey everyone...pick up your CELL PHONES.
6. Music:  The industry is dying a slow death with profit margins steadily decreasing.
7. Television: Revenues to the networks are down and cable rates are steadily skyrocketing forcing people to stream from their computers.
8. The "Things You Own": Many of our possessions will eventually become stored in our virtual cloud or on a hardrive.
9. Privacy: This has been gone for quite some time now, but how long do you think it will take the public to finally take notice?

As the dust settles in the aftermath of Steve Jobs’ resignation announcement, Tim Cook has already started his era at Apple by appointing iTunes leader Eddy Cue to oversee iAds, iCloud and all Apple online stores.

Cue's been at Apple for 22 years, and is known as an innovative and influential member of the apple team.  In what appears to be an Apple memo leaked to 9 to 5 Mac, Cook credits Cue with taking a "major role" in creating the Apple online store, the iTunes store and the App Store --- moves that have helped Apple lock customers into its ecosystem.

Leaked internal memos are not the only Cook e-mails to surface on the Web, however. It appears that several people are claiming the new CEO is taking a leaf from Jobs' book and answering the occasional fan e-mail sent to his Apple e-mail address.

MacRumors reported that Cook apparently responded in kind to the battle cry of a fellow fan of Auburn University (the CEO's alma mater), while a Tumblr user posted screenshots of a short but sweet exchange on his blog.

In response to an e-mail that read "Don't be Steve Jobs, be Time Cook," the CEO apparently wrote, "Don't worry.  It's only person I know how to be."

Source: The Washington Post with Bloomberg

Apple's Board of Directors today announced that Steve Jobs has resigned as Chief Executive Officer, and the Board has named Tim Cook, previously Apple's Chief Operating Officer, as the company's new CEO.  Jobs has been elected Chairman of the Board and Cook will join the Board, effective immediately.

“Steve’s extraordinary vision and leadership saved Apple and guided it to its position as the world’s most innovative and valuable technology company,” said Art Levinson, Chairman of Genentech, on behalf of Apple's Board. “Steve has made countless contributions to Apple’s success, and he has attracted and inspired Apple’s immensely creative employees and world class executive team. In his new role as Chairman of the Board, Steve will continue to serve Apple with his unique insights, creativity and inspiration.”

“The Board has complete confidence that Tim is the right person to be our next CEO,” added Levinson. “Tim’s 13 years of service to Apple have been marked by outstanding performance, and he has demonstrated remarkable talent and sound judgment in everything he does.”

Jobs submitted his resignation to the Board today and strongly recommended that the Board implement its succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO.

As COO, Cook was previously responsible for all of the company’s worldwide sales and operations, including end-to-end management of Apple’s supply chain, sales activities, and service and support in all markets and countries. He also headed Apple’s Macintosh division and played a key role in the continued development of strategic reseller and supplier relationships, ensuring flexibility in response to an increasingly demanding marketplace.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

SOURCE: Huffington Post