Mashable: Latest 19 News Updates - including “Lenovo to Spend $800M to Develop Mobile Products” |
- Lenovo to Spend $800M to Develop Mobile Products
- Augmented Reality Sandbox Simulates Water in Real Time [VIDEO]
- Mashable Weekend Recap: 39 Stories You Might Have Missed
- OS X Lion Flaw Exposes Login Passwords in Plain Text
- Huntsy: A Smart Dashboard for Your Job Search
- 3D Printing Gives Amputees Custom-Designed Legs [VIDEO]
- Klout CEO Hints at Redesign, Local Feature, Brand Page Update
- Iran Lashes Out at Google Maps Over Gulf Nomenclature
- Twitter Users Employ WWII Hashtag to Skirt French Election Law [VIDEO]
- Social Media Is No Joke at This Year’s Comedy Awards
- FBI Wants Wiretap-Ready Social Networks Soon [VIDEO]
- Google Translate Beat Boxes When You Type This Gibberish
- Twitter Post by Sex Offender Scares Away Star Football Prospect
- Why Apple Won by Betting Against the Web
- Kickstarter Project Connects Your Mobile Device to the Real World [VIDEO]
- How Tech Is Changing College Life [INFOGRAPHIC]
- Top 4 Mashable Comments This Week
- 5 Socially Conscious Startups You Need to Know Right Now
- How Instagram Took America by Storm [INFOGRAPHIC]
- What’s America’s Most Engaging Social Network? You’ll Be Surprised
| Lenovo to Spend $800M to Develop Mobile Products Posted: 07 May 2012 04:51 AM PDT      Lenovo, best known for its PCs, plans to get into mobile in a big way with an $800 million base in Wuhan, China, dedicated to developing mobile Internet products. The facility, set to open in October 2013 and house thousands of employees, is charged with developing and delivering “new mobile internet products and bring(ing) them to its customers even faster,” according to a company statement. Such products include smartphones, tablet computers and other mobile devices. The move comes as Lenovo continues to build market share in PCs, a tough segment. Last year, Lenovo surpassed Dell in sales to become the world’s number two player in the category next to Hewlett-Packard. Lenovo currently offered some mobile devices, including its LePhone smartphones and its ThinkPad tablets (pictured). In the last fiscal quarter, the company shipped 6.5 million handsets and 400,000 tablets globally. Lenovo blamed its relatively slow growth in PC sales in 2011 to the growth of tablets, led by Apple’s iPad. Lenovo was the number two seller of tablets in China last year next to Apple. Could Lenovo shake up the mobile market? Let us know in the comments. More About: lenovo, Mobile, tablets For more Business coverage:
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| Augmented Reality Sandbox Simulates Water in Real Time [VIDEO] Posted: 07 May 2012 04:44 AM PDT In one of the coolest examples of augmented reality use we’ve seen, researchers at UC Davis have created an AR sandbox which overlays a real-time, virtual, colored topographic map on sand surface. As you change the actual topography of the sandbox, creating mountains, basins and riverbeds, a Kinect 3D camera combined with a projector overlay it with a virtual layer of visual information, including flowing water which adheres to the terrain configuration you’ve created. It works in real time, meaning you can — for example — connect a body of water and a dry basin with a channel and see it fill with water. The project is powered by a PC with an Intel Core i7 CPU and a Geforce 580, with the GPU doing most of the heavy work. The final goal for the project is to create a self-contained AR system which could be used for educational purposes, for example as an exhibit in science museums. How do you like this idea? Can you imagine any other uses for this technology? Sound off in the comments. More About: Augmented Reality, sandbox, simulation For more Tech coverage:
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| Mashable Weekend Recap: 39 Stories You Might Have Missed Posted: 07 May 2012 03:32 AM PDT   It’s been quite the exciting weekend at Mashable, as our annual conference Mashable Connect was underway at Disney World. Just because we were down in Florida, doesn’t mean the social web was on hiatus. We encountered our usual tech, social media, business, entertainment and world news. Here we’ve got your go-to Monday morning resource, the Mashable Weekend Recap, to catch you up on all the trending news, viral videos and helpful resources we saw over the past two days. If you were outside enjoying springtime instead of glued to your computer, don’t worry. You can find every story we published this weekend right here. Take a look through the weekend’s news before you start your busy work week. Without further ado, here are our 39 weekend reads. News & Opinion Essentials
Helpful Resources
SEE ALSO: All the Weekend Recaps Ever Published Weekend Leisure
Here’s last week’s Weekend Recap. More About: Weekend recap For more Social Media coverage:
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| OS X Lion Flaw Exposes Login Passwords in Plain Text Posted: 07 May 2012 02:31 AM PDT   An Apple programmer has accidentally left a debug flag in the most recent version of OS X Lion, which under certain conditions can cause login passwords to appear in a plain text debug log file, reports ZDNet. The flaw affects users who have used Apple’s encryption software FileVault prior to upgrading to 10.7.3, while FileVault 2 is unaffected. To make matters worse, Apple has not issued a fix for the matter, so changing your user credentials right now does not help, as those credentials might end up in a debug log file as well. The flaw, which was originally spotted by a security researcher David Emery, potentially enables anyone with an admin password to retrieve other user’s credentials. “This is worse than it seems, since the log in question can also be read by booting the machine into firewire disk mode and reading it by opening the drive as a disk or by booting the new-with-LION recovery partition and using the available superuser shell to mount the main file system partition and read the file. This would allow someone to break into encrypted partitions on machines they did not have any idea of any login passwords for,” claims Emery. We’ll let you know as soon as Apple issues a fix for this problem. More About: apple, lion, os x, security flaw
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| Huntsy: A Smart Dashboard for Your Job Search Posted: 06 May 2012 07:49 PM PDT   Ask any job seeker, and he’ll tell you that looking for a job is, in and of itself, a job. It’s time-consuming to prep your cover letter, tweak your resume, follow up and plan your interview, especially when you’re applying for multiple positions. Sure, you could make an intense, color-coded spreadsheet — but most of us aren’t that Type A. That’s where Huntsy comes in — it’s like HootSuite for your job search. Huntsy’s dashboard offer’s a bird’s eye view (hence the owl logo) of your job hunt, offering a bird’s-eye view of your professional prospects. “People are applying to many different places — Huntsy is our way to make it easy for them,” says Cezary Pietrzak, Huntsy’s director of marketing. “The category is just so dusty.” Huntsy’s cleaning it off with a slick UI and an organized and social approach to the intimidating job search. You can create an account via your Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn profiles (or create a new login if you eschew connecting via social sites), and then install the bookmarklet or Chrome extension into your browser. As you sift through job listings — on a company’s website, the Mashable job board, LinkedIn, Krop, CareerBuilder, Github, Monster and more — you can click the Huntsy bookmarklet to save exciting prospects. A Huntsy widget will push down in the browser and fill out the necessary details — company, title and job description — by extracting it from the job listing.  The bookmarklet in action Once you click “Add to Huntsy,” the job will be added to your dashboard, which looks like this:  The dashboard Within the dashboard, you can schedule interviews and follow-ups, receive reminders to send thank-you notes, uncover professional connections at various companies (if you linked your social networks) and, most importantly, apply to jobs directly. If you’re applying to some jobs in marketing and others in PR, Huntsy can save several versions of your resume and a few different cover letters, letting you emphasize certain strengths and experiences for various positions. When you submit your application, your resume is included in the email as a unique, downloadable link. No longer must you feel as though your application has been thrust into a black hole, never to be seen by human eyes, because you’ll receive a notification the moment someone downloads your resume. This feature enables you to have great timing with a follow-up email, since you’ll know that your resume is fresh in the recruiter’s mind. (The application email also BCC’s Huntsy, so the dashboard can track your actions throughout the application process and help you stay on top of each step.) If you’re diligent about using Huntsy, then the email notifications and “today’s tasks” could keep you top of your application process, especially if you’re applying to more than a handful of positions. Pietrzak says Huntsy’s streamlining can save job seekers two to four hours per week, in addition to helping the hunt stay organized and productive. “You start to have a sense of what’s going on in your job search,” says Pietrzak of Huntsy’s guidance tools. Plus, the way Huntsy breaks the application process into small steps makes the user feel like he is “getting somewhere” something every step of the way — a valuable feature, since the job search often can be daunting and overwhelming. The site launched less than a month ago and has signed up more than 5,000 users, who are spending 10 minutes on the site per session, says Pietrzak. And many of them are coming back — 40% of the visitors are returning, suggesting that they are in fact using Huntsy with some regularity to manage and streamline their job search. The team is working to perfect the functionality and add new features, including calendar integration (for all of those reminders and interview dates) and linking with Google+. Since it’s still new, the bookmarklet can be a little buggy and tends to not fully extract all of the details for some jobs, but a simple copy-and-paste can load everything into your dashboard. Huntsy is based in New York and was born out of the QLabs hacker community, where the team shares office space with Turntable.fm and Nestio, a Huntsy-esque dashboard for the apartment search. Does Huntsy sound like it’d be a useful tool for your job search? Let us know in the comments. Social Media Job ListingsEvery 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!
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, JulNichols More About: features, Huntsy, job search series, jobs
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| 3D Printing Gives Amputees Custom-Designed Legs [VIDEO] Posted: 06 May 2012 05:48 PM PDT A San Francisco company called Bespoke Innovations is using 3D printing and modeling technology to give prosthetic limbs new life as custom-designed, wearable pieces of art. Here’s how it works: First, the company 3D scans both customers’ natural and prosthetic legs. A 3D computer model is created, maintaining as body symmetry as possible between the two limbs. Then, the client begins directing the customization process of his or her new fairing. (A fairing is the prosthetic covering for an artificial limb.) Customers can choose from a range of patterns, templates and materials, and Bespoke is preparing to introduce an online tool for more experimentation. Finally, the specially-designed end result is produced using 3D printing technology. It all adds up, Bespoke says, to prosthetic limbs that actually reflect their users’ personalities and tastes. The custom fairings cost between $4,000 and $5,000, according to the company’s website. "We are working on this guy from Israel right now," co-founder Scott Summit tells Bloomberg Businessweek. "We are designing a Porsche 911 aesthetic for him. It's a really classic design with clean lines and timeless detailing. We just did three other legs for three guys in Germany, all to reflect their very distinct personalities." Do you think this is a cool use of 3D printing technology? Where else do you want to see 3D printing tech applied for innovation? Let us know in the comments. Thumbnail image courtesy Bespoke Innovations More About: 3d printing For more Tech coverage:
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| Klout CEO Hints at Redesign, Local Feature, Brand Page Update Posted: 06 May 2012 05:02 PM PDT   Klout has had a busy few weeks, unleashing an iPhone app, brand pages and a new API. But more changes are on deck. Klout CEO Joe Fernandez hinted at those developments on stage and backstage at Mashable Connect in Orlando. The San Francisco-based startup will announce this month four more partners for its version of brand pages — Brand Squads. The feature launched in April with Red Bull. Fernandez also says users should anticipate a redesigned website this year, possibly rolling out this summer. Klout’s February acquisition of BlockBoard, an app that gives people a way to communicate with neighbors, will eventually spawn a new local feature on Klout. Fernandez was sparse on details but says ideas are still in “white board” phase. “We’re going to be an incredible tool to help people; right now we’re just a benchmark,” Fernandez said in an onstage interview with Mashable‘s Lance Ulanoff. "There’s no way to get around the fact that we put a number next to your face and it’s tied to your ego.” Fernandez, aware of some of the negative feedback people dish about Klout, asserts that the good and bad buzz is a “huge victory.” “There’s no way to get around the fact that we put a number next to your face and it’s tied to your ego,” he says. “I think the controversy and conversation around what we’re doing is ultimately good. The world is changing and we’re doing something completely new.” The still-in-beta Klout measures influence on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn and Foursquare to assign Klout users scores from 0 to 100, but its algorithm is hush-hush so people don’t game the system. Prodded by Ulanoff to disclose more details about the algorithm, Fernandez discussed Klout’s evolution of tracking influence, saying calculations began on an Excel spreadsheet before becoming too “dynamic” for that as more social networks were integrated onto Klout. “We generally look at Twitter, Facebook and Google+,” he says. But “there’s definitely a weighting system.” He also reminded the audience that the algorithm measures each user’s top social network first — primarily Twitter or Facebook — and the others are additive, meaning adding more networks would never lower a person’s Klout score. “I don’t think we’ve really built the real Klout product yet — what you see now on Klout is just a thin layer of what the data is,” Fernandez says. “It’s something we’re excited to move beyond.” BONUS: What Else Does Klout Have in Store for 2012?Looking ahead, Klout is still building scoring models for seven more services (YouTube, Instagram, Tumblr, Blogger, WordPress.com, Last.fm and Flickr) that have already been integrated onto Klout users' dashboards. Klout also plans to add Quora, Yelp, Posterous, Livefyre, Disqus, bit.ly and BranchOut. Klout likely will continue improving its Topics feature (see screenshots below) and Klout Perks platform. The Topics feature, which rolled out in September and lets you gain insights on top influencers and +K recipients for specific content areas, got a visual update in December with a “sashes” and an “Add a Topic” button. Another feature on the horizon is an “oAuth2-based authentication system” that will soon let users give +Ks to people from outside of Klout.com. For example, a person might give someone else a +K while browsing Tumblr. Clickable Topics on Your Dashboard On your Klout dashboard, you can click on a topic to open its Topic Page. In December 2011, Klout rolled out sashes and an "Add a Topic" button. A blue sash goes to users with the most +Ks for any topic, while a gold sash is given to influencers based on Klout's algorithm. People who fall into both categories receive a blue-and-gold sash. Click here to view this gallery. MashableConnect-Friday-616px006
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| Iran Lashes Out at Google Maps Over Gulf Nomenclature Posted: 06 May 2012 04:20 PM PDT   Iran is harshly criticizing Google for what it feels is a disrespectful omission in Google Maps. The country’s government is angry because Google Maps does not label the body of water known in Iran as the Persian Gulf. Others refer to it as the Arabian Gulf. A senior Iranian official blasted Google in a statement on Saturday, threatening that the company risks losing credibility in the Middle East. “Google fabricating lies… will not have any outcome but for its users to lose trust in the data the company provides,” Deputy Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Bahman Dorri said according to Iranian news reports. Before Dorri made that official statement on behalf of the Iranian government, resentment about the omission had been brewing among many of the country’s citizens, the BBC reported last week. Upset Iranians say that, up until a few days ago, Google Maps labeled the area as the Persian Gulf. A Google spokesperson told the BBC that Google Maps does not label every place in the world, but could not provide another example of a major location going nameless. The large body of water in question is connected to the Gulf of Oman and Arabian Sea. It separates Iran, to the north, from Saudia Arabia, the U.A.E. and other Arab countries to the south. It has long been known as the Persian Gulf, but in recent years some Arab states have sought to rebrand the waterway as the Arabian Gulf. Google’s response here so far appears to be one of studied uninvolvement. Do you think Google should leave the gulf nameless, stick with Persian Gulf, or perhaps use both names? Let us know in the comments. More About: Google, Google Maps
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| Twitter Users Employ WWII Hashtag to Skirt French Election Law [VIDEO] Posted: 06 May 2012 03:34 PM PDT Socialist challenger François Hollande unseated Nicolas Sarkozy in the French presidential election Sunday, making Sarkozy the first French president in 30 years to lose reelection. Twitter users circumvented an election results embargo — as they did April 22 during the first round of voting — by using code names for the two candidates. A 1977 French law prohibits the release of results before 8 p.m. on election night and fines violators up to $99,000. Discussions used the same hashtag, #radiolondres, as they did during the first round of voting. Radio Londres was a World War II BBC broadcast, which would use code words to communicate with the French resistance fighters during the Nazi occupation of France. Among different code names, Sarkozy was referred to as Hungarian Tokaji wine, because of his Hungarian father, and Rolex, because of his extravagant lifestyle. Hollande was referred to as Gouda cheese and Flanby, a limp pudding, which his opponents say reflect his ability to be president. During the first round of voting, Left Party candidate Jean-Luc Melechon’s pseudonym was tomato, a reference to the former Soviet Union. Front National Party candidate Marine Le Pen was called by the names of various dictators. Swiss, Belgian and French Canadian Twitter users — including Jean-J. Stréliski, below, a professor in Montreal — participated in the talks of results. They contended their discussions could not be restricted by the French law.
Though we don’t yet have data on the volume of Sunday’s #radiolondres tweets, the hashtag received some 64,575 mentions on April 22, according to Vanksen. Should France punish Twitter users who broke the election result discussion embargo using code? Sound off in the comments. Image courtesy of the Government of France More About: election, france, Twitter
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| Social Media Is No Joke at This Year’s Comedy Awards Posted: 06 May 2012 03:08 PM PDT   The Comedy Awards is the baby of the awards show ceremonies — only two years old. But the show’s huge digital and social presence keeps pace with the big boys. The event airs Sunday night at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Comedy Central, but it was taped last Saturday. Mashable had the opportunity to attend. Among traditional categories like “Best Comedy Film,” “Best Performance” and “Club Comic,” there are a number of digital categories: “Funniest Person on Twitter,” “Best Remix, Mash-Up or Supercut,” “Best Comedy App” and “Best Comedy Podcast.” The digital categories are viewers’ choice, and voters can select their favorite nominee online. (The “Best Viral Original” was part of last year’s categories, and also viewers’ choice.) There are also tinges of the web scattered throughout the show — most of presenter Andy Richter’s jokes are about social media montioring, and there’s a pretty hilarious moment when the “honey badger guy” documents Richter eating a sandwich. Zach Galifianakis’ comedy web series Between Two Ferns will make an appearance on television for the first time, serving as a precursor to the awards show. Social media was a big topic of the evening. Nearly every comedian who entered the press room was asked about their presence (or lack thereof) on Twitter. The response was mostly supportive of the tool, or that they were so high profile they didn’t need social media. “Twitter seems like a nightmare to me,” Amy Poehler told the press backstage. “That just seems like a mistake waiting to happen.” Robin Williams, who was honored with the Stand-Up Icon Award, admitted to giving up on Twitter after sending one tweet. He compared seeing comedy live in a small venue to “seeing jazz,” claiming that those moments are not documentable, and that we need to live it when it happens. On the other hand, comedians like Key and Peele rely heavily on social media. Their show has an engaged audience online, and they admitted to using that feedback for future episodes. “In this day and age, it’s OK to have that dialogue,” says Peele. “It’s all evolving — we all know this is the way it’s going to be, and it’s moving so fast.” The awards show, which is hosted by Comedy Central, is one of the most socially engaged pushes from the network. By partnering with GetGlue and Viggle, viewers tuning in with their mobile device in hand will get exclusive stickers and extra points for checking in to the show.
Social and digital technology have become an integral part of programming, and it’s no wonder the big winner at the Comedy Awards this year was FX. Louie won for "Best Sketch/Alternative Comedy Series" and "Best Comedy Directing — TV," and Archer took home “Best Animated Comedy Series,” beating out The Simpsons, Family Guy and South Park. FX has made a significant push for social TV with its programming — including Archer, in which they partnered with GetGlue on an app that gives fans stickers for playing a spy-themed game and checking in. There's also a second-screen app for the show, built in HTML5. Louis CK won "Best Stand-Up Tour" and "Best Comedy Special." After the success of his digitally distributed special, he’ll bring it to television for the first time on FX. The 42-minute televised version will also run commercials for the website. "I love FX, I’m very grateful to them — so I thought they’ve never had a comedy special on, and it might be kind of cool to let them get a crack at it,” says CK. Were you surprised by the winners this year? Do you think social and digital media play a role in their success? Let us know in the comments. More About: Between Two Ferns, comedy, comedy awards, Comedy Central, Entertainment, features, louis ck, zach galifianakis For more Entertainment coverage:
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| FBI Wants Wiretap-Ready Social Networks Soon [VIDEO] Posted: 06 May 2012 01:52 PM PDT The Federal Bureau of Investigation wants to make Facebook and other social networks easier to use for spying on suspected criminals — and it wants access ASAP. High-ranking FBI officials and other government representatives have been meeting with Internet industry leaders to ask them not to oppose a proposed law that would give federal agencies backdoor access to social networking sites, CNET reports. The FBI’s argument? As communication has shifted more and more online, previous laws allowing wiretaps on phone lines are becoming less and less useful. FBI lawyers have reportedly drafted a proposal that if passed into law would require social networking sites to rework their code for easier surveillance. It would also apply to instant messaging, VoIP and email providers that exceed a certain number of users. The proposal would update the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) of 1994. That legislation originally applied to telecommunications providers, requiring them to provide back-end loopholes enabling easier access for law enforcement to spy on suspected criminals. In 2004, CALEA was expanded to include broadband networks as well. Expanding CALEA again to apply to services such as Gmail, Skype and Facebook would help the FBI address a worry that senior bureau officials dubbed as far back as 2008 as “Going Dark.” The name encapsulates a theory that as communication technologies continue to advance FBI surveillance capability will struggle to keep pace. Do you think social networks and other digital communication services should be required to code with FBI surveillance concerns in mind? Let us know in the comments. Thumbnail image courtesy of Flickr, jaxxon More About: Facebook, FBI, privacy, security, Social Media, Twitter
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| Google Translate Beat Boxes When You Type This Gibberish Posted: 06 May 2012 01:13 PM PDT   From “do a barrel roll” to “let it snow,” Google’s been known to have some whimsical tricks up its sleeves. Now, you can enjoy some a cappella, sung by Google Translate. If you insert the below nonsensical string of characters into Google Translate, set the “to” language to German and press listen, you’ll hear a beat boxer. Just copy and paste to try for yourself.
  Have you heard anything unusual by listening to Google Translate results? Share your findings in the comments. BONUS: 10 Hidden Google Tricks |
| Twitter Post by Sex Offender Scares Away Star Football Prospect Posted: 06 May 2012 12:18 PM PDT   Players tweeting irresponsibly. Embarrassing photos. Unwanted news leaks. Now you can add a new item to the list of ways social media can be a headache for sports teams — unsavory characters scaring away potential stars. That’s what happened at Ohio State University, where a lauded high school football recruit de-committed from the school after a convicted sex offender posted photos he took with him on Twitter. Alex Anzalone of Wyomissing, Pa., is one of the mostly highly rated high school linebackers in the country and had pledged to play in college at Ohio State. During a campus visit last month, according to the Associated Press, Anzalone posed for a photograph with an apparent fan named Charles Eric Waugh. Waugh later posted the photo to Twitter and used the network to contact other Ohio State players, recruits and coaches. Hardcore college sports fans frequently use Twitter and Facebook to tell hotshot recruits how great they’d look in their school’s colors. The problem here? Waugh, who is 31 years old and reportedly lives in Ashland, Kentucky, pleaded guilty in 2008 to five counts of possession of underage sexual content. “You don’t want your son to go to a place where there’s a potential issue,” Anzalone’s father told the Reading Eagle on Saturday. “You expect the staff to have some sort of control on how things are handled with recruits when they visit. This is ridiculous.” Ohio State released a statement in which it said the episode was symptomatic of social media’s power to enable wide-ranging and unexpected connections, and sent a cautionary email message out to more than 1,000 student athletes. “The email message also reminded them of the negative implications that can be realized through simple associations on social networking sites,” the school’s statement read. “This individual is not associated with Ohio State. He is not a booster. He has not engaged in any activities on behalf of the University. The Department of Athletics will continue to monitor this issue and it will remain proactive in its efforts with regard to precautions for its student-athletes.” Is it fair to blame a school if creepy fans contact athletes via social media? Let us know in the comments. Image courtesy Scallop Holden, Flickr. More About: Social Media, sports, Twitter For more Entertainment coverage:
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| Why Apple Won by Betting Against the Web Posted: 06 May 2012 11:59 AM PDT   Roger McNamee, the managing director and co-founder of venture capital firm Elevation Partners, has a theory about how Apple became the biggest U.S. technology growth story of all time: “The thing that made Apple successful was betting against the web,” he said on stage at Mashable Connect Friday. While Google adopted the cultural norms of the wired (HTML4) web by making its mobile operating system free and commoditizing content, Apple changed the game by keeping a closed system, focusing on brands and enabling paid apps. Apple differentiated web content for a price. By doing so, McNamee believes, it created a fundamentally different model than succeeded on the wired web. “Most of all what Apple did was they charged $400 to $1,000 for the hardware that was necessary to get a differentiated user experience on data that 100% of their customers could get for free off a desktop device,” he said. “Every Apple customer has consciously voted with $400 to $1,000 against the world wide web.”  The result of that vote is a move away from the desktop experience of free, undifferentiated content. Mobile users don't navigate the Internet with Google searches. They use apps, which deliver a better experience. And they spend much more time within those apps than on any web story. Instead of needing tens of millions of lightly engaged users in order to be considered successful, McNamee hypothesizes that future success will come from smaller numbers of even more engaged — and thus more valuable — users. It will, he believes, will be built not on the Google-controlled HTML4 web nor within Apple-controlled apps, but using HTML5, which allows for differentiated, engaged experiences without the downsides of the app store. “The basic success factors going forward are going to be exactly opposite of those we've had in recent years,” he said.  Download McNamee's full presenation here. MashableConnect-Friday-616px006
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| Kickstarter Project Connects Your Mobile Device to the Real World [VIDEO] Posted: 06 May 2012 11:20 AM PDT A new Kickstarter project wants to build an even closer connection between our real lives and mobile devices. The Rowdy Robot team has created a device called Tōd, which it hopes the Kickstarter community will be eager to fund. Tōd is a programmable Bluetooth dongle you can connect with Bluetooth 4.0-enabled devices, such as the iPhone 4s, Droid RAZR, and HTC One S and One X. You connect Tōgs to real world things in your life — like your dog or car. The device uses proximity triggers, which work at up to a 500 foot range, and connect to a Tōd app on your smartphone to keep track of your belongings. You could use Tōd to find where you parked your car or attach one to your pet’s collar so it doesn’t get lost. You can learn more about the proposed product from the team’s video pitch, embedded above. Tōd’s almost halfway to its $50,000 goal. Does it sound like a gadget you’d purchase? BONUS: The 10 Craziest Kickstarter Projects of 2011 |
| How Tech Is Changing College Life [INFOGRAPHIC] Posted: 06 May 2012 10:28 AM PDT College students today are more tech savvy than ever before. Just how important is technology to their academic lives? More than 90% use email to communicate with professors and 73% say they cannot study without technology. Seven in 10 take notes on keyboards instead of paper, virtually all students who own an ereader and most use digital tools when preparing a presentation. All that tech has caused something of a dependency too — 38% of students can’t go more than 10 minutes without checking their smartphone or other device. All told, students spent $13 billion on electronics in 2009. Community college students are less digitally connected than students at four-year schools, but more and more people are making the Internet their education gateway. Twelve million students take at least one class online today — in five years, that number is projected to exceed 22 million. By 2014, analysts say, more than 3.5 million students will take all of their classes online. This is all according to research compiled by Presta Electronics. Presta used material from the Pew Research Center, Chronicle of Higher Education, Mashable and other sources to put together the infographic below. Check it out for the full picture of how technology is changing college students’ lives. Do you think technology is changing college for the better — or are there downsides?   More About: education, infographics, Social Media, Tech For more Tech coverage:
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| Top 4 Mashable Comments This Week Posted: 06 May 2012 09:42 AM PDT   This week Mashable readers posted insightful comments on many articles. The post which caught the most attention was the announcement of the Samsung Galaxy S III, Samsung’s newest addition to its line of Galaxy line of smartphones. Mashable reader Matt Savard discussed how he thought the screen size of the new device, 4.8 inches, was a bit too large for his taste. He also mentioned the issue of battery life with the larger screen. Other commenters discussed the popular debate between Android 4.0 ICS and iOS. The debate went back and forth between the features of the Android and iOS platforms, which made for a great read. At Mashable, we're always on the lookout for thoughtful, insightful comments that add to our stories or further the discussion. Take a look at this week's top comments and let us know what you think of the readers' opinions. Galaxy S III vs. iPhone Vance McCalister's comment received positive feedback from the Google+ community. He talked highly of the new Samsung Galaxy S III device announced earlier this week. Comment posted on: Samsung Reveals Galaxy S III Click here to view this gallery. If you haven't commented on a Mashable article before, check out Mashable Follow, our content curation and social tool, as well as our comment guidelines to learn more. We'd love for you to join the conversation. More About: comments, community, mashable follow, top comments For more Social Media coverage:
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| 5 Socially Conscious Startups You Need to Know Right Now Posted: 06 May 2012 08:58 AM PDT   In our social entrepreneurship series, The World at Work, Mashable interviews the faces behind the startups and projects that are working to make a global impact. By harnessing the power of the web and digital technology, these companies have offered resources to women-founded startups, funded socially conscious ideas and used competition to inspire innovation. And one has applied agricultural science to help tech companies lessen their carbon footprint. While the companies are diverse, they share a common thread: a passionate leader who’s devoted to improving lives and the world at large. Here’s a roundup of featured projects from the last week, including exclusive video interviews with the founders of these innovative startups. To read more and watch the videos, click through to the full story, and follow the series to learn about more breakthrough companies. 1. NewME
Why It’s Working: Today’s tech industry is comprised of only 25% women, and a paltry 1.5% African-Americans make up Silicon Valley’s tech workforce. NewME’s 12-week immersion programs nurture startup founders’ ideas, foster discussion, encourage co-working and offer mentorship from some of the industry’s most prominent leaders. Each program concludes with a “demo day,” during which NewME participants present their ideas and products to influential tech attendees. 2. Movember
Why It’s Working: “We as men don’t feel comfortable talking about our health,” says Garone, explaining why he and a few friends launched Movember in 2004. For the 30 days in November, men are asked to grow a “Mo” — the oft-awkward facial hair “generates so much conversation” that it raises awareness and millions of dollars for men’s health. At launch in 2004, social networks were minimal, but the rise of the social web has led to a snowball effect online. Movember dominates social media chatter during November, and mentions of “prostate cancer” and “getting checked” increase, suggesting that Movember does in fact mobilize men to see a doctor. Aside from encouraging men to be proactive about their health, the 2011 Movember campaign raised more than $120 million for men’s health research. Read the full story and see the video here. 3. ChallengePost
Why It’s Working: ChallengePost was an idea hatched by its CEO, Brandon Kessler, after discovering a blog post that promised $100 to anyone who made a program that would run Windows on a Mac (at the time, Apple didn't make this easy). Other frustrated Mac users added to the prize money until the pool was up to $14,000. After the New York Times had run a story about it, a programmer submitted a successful solution after just three days. So Kessler decided to make “an eBay around collaborative problem solving.” 4. Collaborative Fund
Big Idea: Collaborative Fund provides angel or seed funding to companies that are not only creative, but also are aiming to move the world forward in meaningful ways. Why It’s Working: Skillshare. TaskRabbit. Kickstarter. Codeacademy. What do all of these startups have in common? Aside from their popularity, all of these companies have received an investment by the Collaborative Fund, which makes a huge impact by funding companies working towards change. 5. Ecovative EcoCradle Mushroom Packaging
Why It’s Working: Ecovative’s disruptive technology could make a huge impact on the amount of polystyrene packaging that ends up in landfill. Plus, it won’t cost businesses any more money to adopt it at scale. Dell is currently running a high-volume pilot scheme with Ecovative to supply the Dell PowerEdge R710 server multipacks safely encased in packaging that has been grown, rather than manufactured, and other big brands, like Puma, are also getting in on the action. What do you think of the efforts of these startups and foundations? Let us know in the comments below. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, selimaksan, Hiob More About: features, mashable, roundup, trending, World at Work For more Social Good coverage:
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| How Instagram Took America by Storm [INFOGRAPHIC] Posted: 06 May 2012 08:22 AM PDT Have you caught Instagram fever? The flaming hot mobile app and recent $1 billion Facebook acquisition now has more than 40 million users. This Online Colleges infographic shares some impressive stats behind the viral mobile photography app. Instagram gains one new user every second. One billion photos have been taken with the app — that’s roughly 58 photos uploaded each second. Instagram’s on track to hit 100 million users — joining the ranks of LinkedIn, Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook — two years after its initial iOS launch in October 2010. The infographic, created by an online university database, focuses on college students’ adoption of the app. It suggests professors and campus professionals use Instagram to foster community through photo contests. It also recommends that students follow professors to learn about their interests outside of the classroom. How have you seen colleges use Instagram? Do you think students and professors should interact on social networks?   BONUS: 15 LOL-Worthy Instagram Pics |
| What’s America’s Most Engaging Social Network? You’ll Be Surprised Posted: 06 May 2012 07:25 AM PDT   Try to guess America’s most engaging social network. Facebook? Wrong. Twitter? Wrong. Pinterest? Wrong again. According to comScore‘s most recent social networking data, from the month of March, the San Francisco based site Tagged engages users like no other service. It was the only site to finish in the top two in both of comScore’s engagement metrics. Tagged users visited an average of 18 times each during March according to ComScore, second only to Facebook’s average of 36 visits per vistor. And each time a Tagged user visited the site, he or she stuck around for 12.1 minutes — which trailed only Tumblr (14.7 minutes) and beat out Facebook (10.9 minutes). Tagged co-founder and CEO Greg Tseng says he’s happy about ComScore’s March data, but that his company has been among America’s most engaging social networks for about a year now. The secret to Tagged’s success? A pivot Tseng and co-founder Johann Schleier-Smith made around the beginning of 2008. The longtime friends started Tagged in 2004, at the time angling it to be a Facebook-like social network for high schoolers. Eventually, however, Facebook expanded beyond a closed college network and allowed anyone over the age of 12 to join. “We took a hard look and decided we weren’t going to win,” Tseng says. “But we had found out a lot of our users were actually using Tagged to meet new people, so that led us to pivot into a new space called ‘social discovery,’ where people use sites to make new social relationships.” As opposed to sites like Facebook, where people primarily organize and maintain relationships established offline, Tagged functions mostly as a portal to meet new people online for romance or simply friendship. The site’s algorithms encourage users to connect based on shared interests, tastes and hobbies. Tseng says Tagged’s 10 million core monthly active users form an average of 100 million new connections per month. The site has been profitable since 2008, and over the past year tripled its staff to a current count of more than 170. With social discovery as a whole seen by many to be a rising tide, Tseng believes Tagged’s success will continue to grow. “If I look out at the next five or 10 years, I really see social discovery as big as social networking — in some sense I think you can think of social discovery as the engine for social networking,” he says, referencing Dunbar’s number, which theorizes that humans can maintain an average of 150 connections at a time. “Facebook is the place where you maintain your current 150,” he says. “And Tagged will be the place where you refresh that 150.” Do you think social discovery is the next big thing? Let us know in the comments. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, akinbostanci More About: social discovery, Social Media, social networking, tagged, trending
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