Mashable: Latest 10 News Updates - including “Mashable Weekend Recap: 36 Stories You May Have Missed” |
- Mashable Weekend Recap: 36 Stories You May Have Missed
- LG Announces World’s Largest OLED TV Panel
- 10 Best Sports Games for iPhone
- How Do Co-Founders Meet? 17 Startups Tell All
- Anonymous Hacks Company That Specializes in Security
- Got an iPhone 4S for Christmas? Have Some Fun With Siri [PICS]
- Best Holiday Tech Gift: We Have a Winner! [CONTEST]
- Open Thread: Show Us Your Favorite Tech Gifts!
- The Pros & Cons of Google+ for Small Business
- Website Tips: 12 Gifts to Give Your Site This Christmas [INFOGRAPHIC]
- So You Got an iPad 2? Try These 10 Hip Accessories
| Mashable Weekend Recap: 36 Stories You May Have Missed Posted: 26 Dec 2011 04:14 AM PST      With the sound of sleighbells still jangling in our half-frozen ears, we plowed through our Christmas rituals and at the same time kept on working the wires, looking for the best news the world had to offer our steadfast weekend readership. Yes, we are multitaskers. And you know what? We had a blast, because there were plenty of stories to keep us busy while the rest of you were dashing through the snow and all that. What did you miss? Well, we’re not going to just tell you — you need to take a close look at the plethora of posts we’ve pasted below. It’ll be like opening a huge Christmas present, and rest assured, there will be a treasure trove of goodies inside with something for almost everyone. So here they all are, all gathered together like stockings over a big, wide fireplace, and all full of candy and stocking stuffers and awaiting your squeals of delight. Or something. So take a look at the latest Weekend Recap, and then finish up the year with your usual alacrity and aplomb, because after all, you’re a special breed: Mashable readers! News & Opinion Essentials
Helpful Resources
Weekend Leisure
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| LG Announces World’s Largest OLED TV Panel Posted: 26 Dec 2011 02:11 AM PST   LG‘s upcoming OLED TV panel measures 55 inches and comes with a contrast ratio of over 100,000:1, the company has announced. The panel is also just 5 mm thin and has a color gamut that is “wider” than that produced by LCD panels. All of these characteristics make it a candidate for bringing OLED TV technology to the masses in a market that’s still dominated by LCDs. “Although OLED technology is seen as the future of TV display, the technology has been limited to smaller display sizes and by high costs, until now. LG Display’s 55-inch OLED TV panel has overcome these barriers,” said Sang Beom Han, CEO and Executive Vice President of LG Display. Of course, we’ll hear more of this panel at the next CES, along with those WiDi-supporting CINEMA 3D Smart TVs LG has announced earlier this month. [via Engadget] More About: LG, OLED, OLED TV, panel, screen, TV
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| 10 Best Sports Games for iPhone Posted: 25 Dec 2011 03:00 PM PST 1. NBA Jam This classic plays just like it did in the arcade and on the consoles. The game has two-on-two, fast-paced basketball action with gravity-defying dunks and players who literally catch on fire when they excel. In addition to classic players, you can also unlock unorthodox ballers, like current politicians. Multiplayer between two iOS devices is also available. [iPad Download Link]Click here to view this gallery. It may be mid-winter, but sports are still in full-swing. The NBA is coming back, the NFL playoff races are in high gear, and even soccer and hockey fans are in the middle of their seasons. For those who want to get in on the action virtually, look to iOS for plenty of sporting entertainment. No matter your sport, check out the top 10 iOS games for sports fans. More About: features, games, iOS, iphone, iPhone games, sports, Tech
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| How Do Co-Founders Meet? 17 Startups Tell All Posted: 25 Dec 2011 02:11 PM PST 1. Airbnb -- Nathan Blecharczyk, Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia I moved to San Francisco in early 2007 and found an apartment and a roommate through Craigslist -- that's how I met Joe. He was an engineer at another startup at the time. I later moved out, and Brian -- who knew Joe from the Rhode Island School of Design -- moved in. That was the initial connection for the three of us. While I lived with Joe, I came to appreciate two things about him -- he worked just as hard as I did, and his skills complemented my own. I have the technical abilities, and he had the creative design skills. In the summer of 2008, there was a design conference in San Francisco, and there was a hotel shortage. We needed to make rent and thought a good way to make a little additional cash would be to rent out our air mattresses in the apartment. We made a website and got an incredible amount of responses, and we realized we could be on to something. - Nathan Blecharczyk Click here to view this gallery. Jobs and Woz. Larry and Sergey. Jack, Biz and Evan. Mark and Eduardo. Many of today’s most notable and successful tech companies were born not out of one, but two (and sometimes three) noggins. Entrepreneurship can be a long, lonely and hard road, so it help to have a co-founder — he serves as a sounding board, a different point of view, a yin to your yang. He’s a beer buddy when the going gets tough, and another flute to clink when the long-awaited funding comes through. The co-founding trend is going strong, with many of today’s up-and-coming startups led by two (or more) complementary individuals. After all, if you’re going to go through the startup rollercoaster, why not share the ride with someone? But how are you supposed to find the person with whom you’ll hunker down to build the company you’re so passionate about? Well, there’s TechCoFounder, FounderDating and Founder2Be, for the Match.com types. Then there are hackathons and startup weekends, a great source for CTOs. And there’s business school, where you have access to a large pool of bright minds. But you might not even have to go that far or spend that much money — you could find the person on Craigslist. Or maybe you’re already dating him. Or best friends with her. Or maybe you just need to meet your future co-founder in a random twist of fate. Mashable spoke with 17 sets of co-founders from some of today’s growing startups — ZocDoc, Spotify, Airbnb, Foursquare and more — to discover how they met, where their idea came from and why they decided to take the plunge together. And the rest, as they say, is history (literally, a lot of them said that). More About: AirBNB, bump, co-founder, foursquare, networking, rent the runway, spotify, startup, trending, zocdoc For more Business coverage:
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| Anonymous Hacks Company That Specializes in Security Posted: 25 Dec 2011 12:57 PM PST   Hacker group Anonymous began its promised week of Christmas hacks, assaulting a long list of targets. The first Anonymous hack resulted in stolen emails and credit card data from Stratfor, an Austin-based think tank that concentrates on security issues. One alleged conspirator said the goal was to use that credit card data to steal a million dollars, and give the money away as Christmas donations, the AP reports. Online images, posted to Twitter, show receipts from the donations. Twitter account @YourAnonNews, which is supposedly linked to the group, tweeted Sunday that the reason it was able to steal the credit card data was because it had not been encrypted by Stratfor — an embarrassing mistake for a company specializing in security.
Among the private clients on Stratfor’s tightly-guarded list — whose information Anonymous accessed — are the U.S. Army, the U.S. Air Force and the Miami Police Department. The list also includes banks, law enforcement agencies, defense contractors, and technology firms such as Apple and Microsoft, the AP reports.
Anonymous also posted images showing receipts of charitable donations made to non-profits. One theft victim, Alan Barr of Austin, did not know his credit card data had been stolen until an AP reporter called him for comment. “It was all charities, the Red Cross, CARE, Save the Children. So when the credit card company called my wife she wasn’t sure whether I was just donating,” Barr said. @YourAnonNews tweeted that Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Kim Kardashian and Taylor Swift were among the next targets. What do you think of Anonymous’s ironic first target of the week? Who’s next? UPDATE: A press release is circulating, saying that the Stratfor hack is not the work of Anonymous. However, it is difficult to tell who is correct. BONUS: What Is Anonymous? |
| Got an iPhone 4S for Christmas? Have Some Fun With Siri [PICS] Posted: 25 Dec 2011 11:32 AM PST   Ever since we got our iPhone 4S, we’ve been having a lot of fun with its built-in digital assistant, Siri. An excellent repository to all kinds of Siri tricks has been LifeWithSiri.com. Now, there’s Life with Siri, an ebook that compiles the funniest Siri responses from the site, giving you plenty of fodder to show off your new iPhone 4S to your envious Christmas guests. Jodi Dery, the author of the book, gave us permission to show you 10 of the funniest Siri dialogues, giving you a sneak preview of the Life with Siri ebook. We took a look at a copy of the book, and it’s not only a humorous source of Siri sarcasm and saucy rejoinders, but it’s full of useful info about what Siri can do and how you can use it. “Life with Siri” is an appropriate title for this book, because now that we’ve lived with it for a couple of months, we’re started to realize what this software can do. Although we use it mostly to set our alarms, it’s especially good in a pinch, when we’re in a hurry and don’t even have time to type anything. For instance, in addition to having a lot of fun with Siri, texting is completely hands-free, and we even taught it how to post on Twitter for us. Heck, we hear even Santa uses Siri. But if you just received an iPhone 4S for Christmas, it’s hard to tell precisely what Siri can and cannot do. The gallery below will show you some of the clever things you can do with Siri, but the book will show you even more. The software has tremendous potential, which is well-demonstrated in this book. This book gives you a lot of info for your $1.99, the price of the electronic version of Life with Siri, now available on Amazon and elsewhere. You can also get it as a print edition for $4.99, to be published on Jan. 2. What is the meaning of life?
Click here to view this gallery. BONUS: 10 More Absurd Siri Responses |
| Best Holiday Tech Gift: We Have a Winner! [CONTEST] Posted: 25 Dec 2011 11:09 AM PST   Last week, we asked our readers to share the story behind their favorite tech-related holiday gift. The best story wins an Xbox Kinect Bundle (pictured below) courtesy of Target, and a pack of games from Activision, featuring DJ Hero, DJ Hero 2 Party Bundle (2 turntables + microphone), Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock (with 2 Xbox 360 wireless Guitars), Cabela's Big Game Hunter (with Top Shot Elite), and Rapala for Kinect.  Thank you to all our readers who submitted stories. We loved all of them. Happy Holidays! Read Also: Open Thread: Show Us Your Favorite Tech Gifts! Image courtesy of Flickr, www.metaphoricalplatypus.com More About: contest, Gaming, Winter Holiday Season, xbox, Xbox Kinect For more Tech coverage:
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| Open Thread: Show Us Your Favorite Tech Gifts! Posted: 25 Dec 2011 10:37 AM PST   Christmas is finally here, and many of you are knee-deep in techno-goodness, enjoying the wonderful gifts Santa brought to you. We’re dying to hear about them — and see pictures of your favorite tech gifts — so that’s why we’ve created this open thread. Now it’s your turn: Take a picture of your favorite tech gift you received (or gave) this Christmas, and upload or drag-and-drop that pic into our special Olapic widget below, so we all can bask in the splendor of your newly-acquired tech. And to all, Merry Christmas! Loading … More About: Christmas, open thread, Tech Gifts, Winter Holiday Season
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| The Pros & Cons of Google+ for Small Business Posted: 25 Dec 2011 09:59 AM PST   This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business. For big brands, Google+ is probably a good investment — but is Google+ an efficient use of time for small businesses? Google unveiled Google+ brand pages in November, enabling businesses and brands to join its social network. Since then, big brands — including Pepsi, Macy’s and Toyota — have jumped on the Google+ bandwagon, creating yet another hub page for their content-hungry fans. We reached out to our community to better understand how (and if) small businesses are using Google+. We received more than 50 responses detailing the merits and downfalls of using Google’s social network as a small business. Below are some of the top thoughts on the pros and cons of using Google+ as a small business. Read on and add your thoughts in the comments below. 7 Reasons to Use Google+A bulk of the small businesses we spoke with said they feel Google+ is an important social platform because it was developed by Google, one of the Internet’s favorite brands and one of the most influential websites when it comes to site referrals. But small business owners gave a plethora of reasons for being early adopters of the platform. Here are some of the top reasons we heard for using Google+. 1. Get an SEO Boost: Bob Shirilla, director of marketing at Simply Bags, says that his business joined Google+ because he relies on Google search referrals for sales conversions. “Google+ influences search for all the people who have included my business in their circle,” he says. “We have also put a +1 button on each product page. This is a great way to get free promotion from people who like the product to people with similar interests.” 2. Host a Hangout: “Hangouts offer an amazing opportunity for businesses to engage in a highly personal way with clients, customers and industry thought leaders,” says Roger Friedensen, president and CEO of Forge Communications. “Plus, employees in remote locations can hold team meetings to brainstorm with one another from an interface that affords them immediate and easy access to share and collaborate on most of the information materials they might need, such as documents and spreadsheets.” 3. Expand Content Distribution: Phyllis Khare, the social media editorial director of iPhone Life magazine, says that Google+ is a great platform for expanding the publication’s content distribution. “It took us almost a year to get 1,000 Likes on our Facebook Page, and three days on G+ to get that number to Circle us,” she says. “We are gearing up for Hangouts with some of our writers in 2012 to answer iOS questions and a few other fun things with contests and giveaways.” 4. Connect with Early Adopters: If your business falls in the Internet or technology industries, Google+ could be a great place to connect a tech-savvy audience. “The people that are on Google+ already are most likely going to be early adopters of other technologies and marketing channels,” says Jason Pinto, CMO at interlinkONE. “When we look at what defines an ‘ideal customer’ for our products, that criteria is certainly high on our list.” 5. Segment Your Audience: “The obvious benefit of Google+ is that it allows us to share select content with specific audiences,” says Chad Udell, managing director of Float Mobile Learning. Google+ makes it easy for businesses to segment their audiences and share content directly with those certain groups of followers. 6. Use Google+ to Network: David Greenberg, president of Parliament Tutors, says that his business does not have a Google+ page, but that he uses his personal Google+ page to network and gather contact data and research the “personal side” of relevant contacts, such as journalists and potential clients, so that he can better create a connection with them. He adds that the “About” section of a contact’s Google+ profile is usually a great start. 7. Just Explore: Netronic Managing Director Martin Karlowitsch says, “We currently use Google+ for exploratory purposes. It is still a niche platform, but quickly growing and with a platform giant behind it. Knowing the impact that Google has on the way people find relevant information on the web, Google+ soon can become significant by combining social and search. I want to start early using this platform to be prepared when this inflection point arises.” 5 Downfalls of Using Google+ While most of the small business owners we spoke with had a very positive outlook for Google+, we also spoke to a number of skeptics who identified numerous flaws in the social platform. Here are the top five reasons that small business owners gave for limiting their engagement on Google+. 1. Administration is Difficult: “The pages need to be created from an individual’s Google+ account, and you cannot add admins or any other users to manage the account,” says Jason Donaldson, an account executive at Formic Media. “Depending on the size of the business, this may not be an issue. For example, if you only have one or two employees, there probably isn’t an issue accessing the page from a personal Google account. The problem becomes more exaggerated with businesses that don’t have a dedicated social media manager (unlikely with small businesses), because of the need to give out personal account information for users to post on the business page.” 2. Facebook and Twitter Reign: Many of the small businesses we spoke with pointed out that they maintain engaged audiences on Twitter and Facebook, but most of their customers and clients don’t use Google+. So, the platform isn’t much of a priority for their business. In the words of TwiloPR President Chris Heuwetter, “The true value is in Facebook, where we see a nice return on our efforts. Google+ seems like a ghost town [for many small businesses].” 3. Social Dashboards Don’t Integrate Google+ Yet: While more progressive social media dashboards, like Hootsuite, have integrated Google+ into their products, many social dashboard services on the market do not enable users to post to Google+. For businesses that manage their social presences from one central location, the lack of Google+ integration is a huge barrier to Google+ usage. 4. Google Side Projects are Unreliable: James Beswick manages online marketing for a bar in San Antonio called Drink. He looked into creating a Google+ page for the bar, but decided against it, since he’s not certain that the social network will pan out. “Google keeps starting and shutting down products — Buzz, Wave and Hotpot, to name a few — and I’m not entirely convinced the same thing won’t happen with Plus,” he says. “Given the time and cost of engaging followers, I think the effort is better spent on Facebook.” 5. Growth Is Small: Tara Parks, senior marketing administrator at Convergence Networks says that she sees potential in Google+, but that growth has been small for her company. “The biggest drawback to Google+ so far is that it’s hard to grow a fan base, since businesses can only add other businesses to their Circles, and not individuals, the way you can on Twitter (until they add you, that is),” she says. “It will definitely be a lot more fun once more people start using Google+.” Your ThoughtsIs your small business using Google+? Why or why not? Share your thoughts in the comments below. More About: Brand pages, features, Google, google plus hangouts, mashable, open forum, outreach, Small Business, trending
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| Website Tips: 12 Gifts to Give Your Site This Christmas [INFOGRAPHIC] Posted: 25 Dec 2011 08:30 AM PST The holiday season shouldn’t just be about giving to your friends and family — here are some hot website tips to give some much-needed touch-ups to your home on the web as well! This handy Mint Leaf Studio infographic breaks down website improvement into 12 simple steps. You can try adding one each day to stick with the 12 days of Christmas theme. The 12 improvements include search functionality, navigation, typography, security and SEO. Let’s look at SEO, an example of what one improvement can do for your site. Some 62% of people click on a search result from the first page of results. If you do a better job thinking about optimizing search results, you can significantly boost your traffic numbers. With the new year fast approaching, why not give your website some simple improvements? Are you prioritizing any of these 12? Let us know what you think will make a big change for your site in the new year.   More About: SEO, website search, website traffic
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| So You Got an iPad 2? Try These 10 Hip Accessories Posted: 25 Dec 2011 07:18 AM PST 1. miFrame The miFrame turns your iPad into an 8-inch by 10-inch photo frame. Available in black or silver, it's a slimline storage solution for your iPad, even lending it useful, aesthetic functionality while you're not using it. Cost: $79 Click here to view this gallery. So, Santa dropped an iPad 2 down your chimney? Lucky you. One of the great things about buying into the Apple craze is the rich and diverse range of accessories available for all iProducts. The iPad is no exception. You can choose from a bewildering array of cases, stands, speakers, dock, and other peripherals available for the Apple tablet. If you’re looking to accessorize your shiny new iPad 2, we’re here to help. We’ve hand-picked a selection of 10 companion products we think stand out from the crowd. Take a look through our image gallery of worthy great accessories. Let us know in the comments if any of these tempt you, and link us to anything else you’ve seen that has caught your eye. More About: accessories, apple, features, gallery, ipad, ipad accessories, trending
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