Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Mashable: Latest 29 News Updates - including “Alien Worlds Explained: From Rogue Planets to Super-Earths [INFOGRAPHIC]”

Mashable: Latest 29 News Updates - including “Alien Worlds Explained: From Rogue Planets to Super-Earths [INFOGRAPHIC]”

Alien Worlds Explained: From Rogue Planets to Super-Earths [INFOGRAPHIC]

Posted: 06 Dec 2011 05:02 AM PST


NASA scientists announced Monday they’ve found the most Earth-like world ever discovered. Kepler 22-b, as it’s called, is located in the Goldilocks zone – not too far from its sun, and not too close, which means it might have the perfect conditions for life to be formed.

But what other planets have scientists encountered in the depths of our galaxy, the Milky Way? Besides the huge gaseous giants, similar to our Jupiter and Neptune, and Super Earths, such as the newly discovered Kepler 22-b, there are the mysterious Cthonian Planets, former gas giants that have lost their atmosphere, and Water Worlds, Super-Earths submerged in vast oceans of water.

Of course, scientists have only searched through a tiny fraction of our galaxy, and with the fast advances in technology, we can expect many more interesting discoveries in the future. For now, check out the handy infographic below, courtesy of Space.com, displaying all known types of alien worlds.

Learn about the weird kinds of alien planets that orbit other stars in this SPACE.com infographic.
Source: SPACE.com: All about our solar system, outer space and exploration

More About: infographic, NASA, space planets, space.com

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Facebook for Android Update Coming With Dedicated Places App?

Posted: 06 Dec 2011 05:01 AM PST



What you see in the image above is what the new Facebook application for Android might look like. The 1.8 version of the software bit is reportedly codenamed “Katana” and while the final version might be somewhat different, the screenshots are rather telling.

You can see revamped navigation and menus as well as what appears to be a stand-alone Places app called Nearby. It might be a companion a la Facebook Messenger or it might just be a shortcut for the section inside the app but with rumors of Facebook’s recent acquisition of Gowalla, it might as well have something to do with the service offering.

Follow the source link to check out more screenshots.

via Engadget

More About: android, Facebook

TopBrewer Brews Coffee With the Touch of an iPhone or iPad

Posted: 06 Dec 2011 04:34 AM PST


Brewing your morning coffee is about to get easier with the help of an iPhone or iPad.

Scanomat’s TopBrewer is a cutting-edge coffee machine compatible with an iPhone or iPad that is unlike others on the market. The TopBrewer features an elegant tap made of stainless steel that is designed to be built into any tabletop – all you need is two small holes in the module for the tap and drain. This cuts down on counter space and creates a unique coffee-brewing experience.

In addition, the device comes with the smallest-ever milk foamer featured on a coffee machine. As cold water heats up on demand, chilled milk is pumped to the foamer and steamed to create a textured foam suitable for a cappucino or lattee.

The app — now available for download via the Apple iTunes Store — allows you to customize your order, from selecting the size of the coffee you want (small or large) to the type such as as espresso and cappuccino. The app also displays the machine’s temperature and provides status messages throughout the brewing process.

Although the app isn’t required, it gives mobile users an easier way to get their coffee started.

Without an iPhone or iPad? You can still make a cup of joe by using the touchscreen keyboard built into TopBrewer tabletop.

TopBrewer

Scanomat’s TopBrewer

Other features include:

  • Brew Coffee in Seconds: It takes 15 second to brew coffee and 25 seconds to brew an espresso.
  • Two Grinders: These grinders allow coffee to brew lightning fast and gives users the option to brew two different roasts at once.
  • Hot and Cold: The system combines both hot and cold drinks.
  • Environmentally Friendly: Each machine is made of about 80% recycled stainless steel.
  • Easy cleanup: The machine’s automatic cleaner tidies up throughout the day to keep the taste of each cup extra pure.
  • Zero Watt: The 0-watt standby system saves energy by ensuring the machine goes from standby to ready mode in 45 seconds.

Will you try the TopBrewer? Do you think high-tech coffee machines are becoming increasingly popular in the marketplace?

Image courtesy of Scanomat, Scanomat

More About: ipad, iphone, scanomat, topbrewer

Top 10 Twitter Trends of 2011

Posted: 06 Dec 2011 04:06 AM PST

The People’s Republic of Twitterstan had quite a year indeed, what with record-breaking tweet surges, a growing active userbase and some serious celebrity brouhaha.

But despite those peaks and valleys, the things people talk about on Twitter over the long haul remain fairly consistent (read: Justin Bieber). As we have seen in our previous coverage of top Twitter trends, celebrities, sports and holidays almost always take the cake.

SEE ALSO: A Visual History of Twitter [INFOGRAPHIC]

Our friends at What the Trend (now a HootSuite company) analyzed over 207,518 hashtags to identify the top trending topics of 2011. Along with the big list comes a handful of more focused categories including movies, TV shows and news events. They’ve whipped up the handy infographic below for your year-end reflection on the vox populi.


More About: Social Media, Top Twitter Topics, Twitter, twitter trends

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Apple iTV to Come in Three Sizes [RUMOR]

Posted: 06 Dec 2011 01:39 AM PST


Apple’s upcoming TV product might come in three sizes, including a 32” and a 55” screen size, Smarthouse reports citing sources from a major Japanese company involved in the manufacturing of the product.

iTV will sport a new processor – one that will also appear in the upcoming iPad 3, and a new software interface which will include support for Siri, the charming voice-based personal assistant that came with the iPhone 4S.

The largest, 55” version is set to compete with the new generation of Smart TVs from companies such as Samsung and LG.

Nothing has been officially confirmed at this point, and the entire hoopla surrounding iTV – if that’s the product’s name – might turn out to be fake. Still, rumors around Apple TV are heating up, with some sources claiming Apple is working with Japanese-based Sharp on iTV, which might be ready for commercial production by February 2012. Other reports say the device might be introduced by the end of next year or in 2013.

[via Smarthouse]

More About: apple, Apple TV, TV

StumbleUpon Launches Major Redesign, Welcomes Brands

Posted: 05 Dec 2011 08:50 PM PST


StumbleUpon completely revamped its website Monday — adding a new logo, design and a channel feature that gives brands a non-intrusive role in the service.

“Really this is the biggest refresh in terms of look and feel that we’ve ever had on the web,” StumbleUpon CEO Garrett Camp told Mashable.

While the social web discovery site sported a green and blue logo with its initials, SU, winding through it Sunday, it switched to an orange logo that includes more abstract initials Monday. The website’s once Facebook-like design has been reworked to be visually driven, and a new StumbleUpon Bar integrates the Explore box that the company launched in August (the Social Bar, which launched on the iPad app in July, is still nowhere to be found).

Beyond cosmetics, the biggest debut in the re-design is the integration of “Channels.” The feature is a way for brands, publications and celebrities to participate on the platform without intruding into the StumbleUpon experience. Such entities who had been looking to promote themselves on the platform, even though it bans business accounts in its terms of service, were not welcomed with open arms by users when they set up regular StumbleUpon accounts.

“Users had the expectation that they would see an individual acting on good will to share a piece of content rather than a for-profit company promoting a piece of content for selfish reasons,” Camp says. “Now we have a place where it’s ok for users to publish their own things.”

If a user doesn’t follow a channel, its content won’t pop up in their “Discover” feeds. And even if they do, they don’t get every update from the channels they follow, but only those that StumbleUpon’s magic algorithms determine they will be interested in.

In addition to giving brands and publications a home on StumbleUpon, Channels fit in nicely with the platform’s recent trend toward specificity. The Explore Box, which allows users to Stumble a specific topic rather than a broad category, took the number of StumbleUpon interest verticals from about 500 to more than 500,000. With Channels, users can drill down further — to specific publications, celebrities and brands.

Users who more specifically delineate their interests could allow advertisers to better target ads. Meanwhile, the one-time Firefox plugin has enjoyed a growth spurt as it expands its mobile offerings. It recently doubled its user base in 16 months and surpassed 20 million users.

More About: stumbleupon

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Add Friends’ Facebook Photos To Your Ringtones With Facetones

Posted: 05 Dec 2011 07:11 PM PST


The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.

Name: Vringo

Quick Pitch: Vringo’s app Facetones plays video slideshows of friends’ Facebook photos when you call or receive calls from them.

Genius Idea: Adding a social media twist to phone calls.

Staying in touch once revolved around the phone call. Now many use social networks more than phone calls, and they increasingly see their devices as portals to social media sites.

As Vringo CEO Jon Medved puts it: “[Phone calls] almost feel out of date because there is no social context.”

Vringo got its start selling video ringtones. Now it’s using a similar technology to give phone calls a social twist. Its new Android app, Facetones, plays slideshows of friends’ most recent facebook photos every time they call you or you call them.

The ad-supported free app automatically matches names of your Facebook friends with the names of your contacts, so set-up is a matter of matching up the names that are inputted differently on your phone than they are on Facebook.

So far the free app has been downloaded 500,000 times — and thanks to deals with top mobile carriers in Japan, the United States and Latin America, including Verizon, many more downloads are likely on the way. The carriers will offer an ad-free version of the service for about $1 per month. An ad-free version can also be downloaded from the Android Market for $4.99.

As mobile carriers’ bottom lines suffer from messaging and voice apps such as Skype that bypass their major revenue streams of phone calls and SMS, it makes sense that they are eager to encourage any features that make traditional phone communication more appealing.

Vringo has had some success with this approach before. Its video ringtone service is sold by partner carriers in ten different territories also as a $1-per-month subscription service. That service, which has about 400,000 subscribers, will continue as the startup works on an iOS app, the ability to connect networks other than Facebook and the inclusion of status updates in slideshows for Facetones.

“We’re finding out that the same technology we’re using for video ringtones can also be used for social connectivity,” Medved says.

Series Supported by Microsoft BizSpark

Microsoft BizSpark

The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark, a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.

More About: bizspark, Facebook, Facetones, Vringo

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20 TV Shows With the Most Social Media Buzz This Week [CHART]

Posted: 05 Dec 2011 07:03 PM PST

At what other time in history have undersea cartoon creatures been compared to leggy, toned underwear models? Before you think too hard, take a look at Trendrr’s social TV chart below, where SpongeBob SquarePants and the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show both logged the number-two spots.

Apart from the intuitive connection between the underwater city of Bikini Bottom and, well, bikini bottoms, everything else looks pretty standard. WWE Raw and The X Factor have both topped charts past. And Lady Gaga’s “Marry the Night” video premiere on E! News made the cable cut, even though the video leaked hours beforehand.

The data below is compliments of our friends at Trendrr, who measure specific TV show activity (mentions, likes, checkins) across Twitter, Facebook, GetGlue and Miso. To see daily rankings, check out Trendrr.TV


Image courtesy of iStockphoto, narvikk

More About: features, Social Media, social tv, social tv charts, Trendrr, TV

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Microsoft to Give Sneak Peek at Windows 8 App Store

Posted: 05 Dec 2011 06:56 PM PST


Microsoft will reveal more details about its Windows 8 app store at an event in San Francisco on Tuesday. Members of the media and invited developers will learn about the company’s new store during a special two-hour presentation.

The new Windows Store is expected to launch after Windows 8 goes on sale next year, which is believed to be happening in the fall. Immediately accessible from Windows 8, the new app store is expected to be cast as a competitor to Apple’s Mac App Store, offering free trials of Metro-themed programs in addition to the full paid versions, according to multiple reports.

There will also likely be a revenue-sharing arrangement in the new Windows store, according to a Fox News report. Apple offers app developers 70% of sales revenue, with the company keeping the rest, and the 70/30 split has since been adopted as a de facto industry standard.

Microsoft’s new app store comes with the computing world in the midst of a shift from traditional menu tabs and pop-up windows to touch screens and apps, where Amazon and Apple have a distinct head start with the Kindle Fire and iPad, respectively. In a similar instance of the Seattle tech giant possibly playing catch-up, Microsoft was recently rumored to be developing a social network as well.

But industry insider, Myths of Innovation author and former Microsoft manager Scott Berkun told Mashable on Monday that, while Microsoft may be seen to be lagging in the app world, their sheer size makes the reality more promising.

“Microsoft is behind in terms of perception, but they often are,” Berkun said in an email. “Their market is huge regardless of what the perception is — they don’t need to make that large a splash. Provided they get the basics right, meaning buying apps through their store is one or two steps simpler than other means, there is enormous potential.”

Berkun also said he believes Microsoft’s new store is a serious bid bid for market share, not just a keeping-up-with-the-Jobses attempt — and a bid that could even hurt itself in other sectors.

“I think Microsoft is fully committed,” Berkun wrote. “Their retail partners are likely miffed by Microsoft doing all this, so if they’re launching, Microsoft is serious.”

PCMag columnist John Dvorak greeted the new Windows Store with skepticism, writing that, while Microsoft clearly fears software piracy, “legitimate users like the freedom to choose software without Big Daddy Microsoft pre-selecting it.” An app store, Dvorak writes, “is a convenient method of distribution but puts too much power in the hands of Microsoft, as it does for Apple with its most onerous Mac App Store.”

For now, though, just how similar the Windows Store is to its competitors remains to be seen. On Tuesday, Mashable and its readers will find out more at Microsoft’s special San Francisco event.

What do you think Microsoft has up its sleeve? Let us know in the comments.

More About: app store, ipad, microsoft, Windows, Windows 8

Most Ridiculous Facebook App of the Week: Heineken BeerFriender [VIDEO]

Posted: 05 Dec 2011 06:40 PM PST

This ad campaign for Heineken is either genius or the most ridiculous thing we’ve seen on Facebook (this week, at least). The ad presumes you regard Heineken beer as the ultimate beverage, and must obviously want a Heineken BeerTender for the holidays — but it would be against the spirit of the season to get yourself one.

What to do? Get a friend to buy you one, of course. But the BeerTender goes for about $100 — friends who like you that much are hard to come by. In any case, you’ll be expected to reciprocate in kind. That can be a difficult situation.

Not so with the Heineken BeerFriender app, going live on the company’s Facebook page Wednesday. The app will automatically pair you with a like-minded individual, allowing you and your new “friend” to buy each other a Beer Tender, complete with wrapping paper and gift note. It’s just like buying the thing for yourself — except it’s festive, it’s social, and you’ll have nothing to feel guilty about.

That is, of course, if you buy Heineken’s spin. It’s actually a pretty clever idea, and we suspect there is a Beercules or three out there that will get on board with it.

Is that you? Let us know what you think of the BeerFriender in the comments.

More About: apps, Beer, Facebook, Heineken, Social Media

Level Up: 4 Ways to Gamify Workplace Teams

Posted: 05 Dec 2011 06:27 PM PST


Morgan Norman is the Founder and CEO of WorkSimple, putting an end to performance reviews by providing a better way for coworkers and teams to share goals, work together, get and give feedback, and make each other shine. Connect with him and WorkSimple on Facebook and Twitter .

Think gamification is amateur and doesn’t belong in the workplace? You might be surprised to find some recent reports and analysts will disagree.

Gamificiation is about understanding that “if you can make something more fun, and include notions of play, you can get people to do things they otherwise might not want to do," says Gabe Zichermann, co-author of Gamification by Design.

SEE ALSO: How Competition Is Reinventing Business, Marketing & Everyday Life

Others agree with the value it provides. "Gamification works because it makes software engagement and learning easier by capitalizing on basic human behavior needs to be recognized and/or rewarded," writes Stuart W. Smith in The Entrepreneur's Advisor.

However, there are still several important questions surrounding gamification.

  • Does it devalue work or focus?
  • Should it be individual-based or team-based?
  • Does it work for different roles or levels in the company?

Some are finding that gamification works better when applied at the team level of the enterprise. But the problem is, you can not compare employees’ efforts and work in the same way.

For instance, you can't compare a quarterback to a wide receiver, but you can make a comparison of the Bears to the Packers. But does this work for comparing marketing to sales, or marketing to development?

Many researchers today see gamification as phenomenal as social media, and they expect it to revolutionize businesses. With the opportunity to become active participants, compete with colleagues, as well as monitor their goals and recognize those eligible for awards, gamification can give employees control of their personal and professional reputations.

The Biggest Workplace Gamification Trends

1. Points

Whether they are awarded for goal achievement, filling out a profile, interacting with co-workers or voting for an activity, points are a great way to virtually move up in the organization and show that you are staying on task. Points could be a good way for some employees to track their goals and projects — and watching others accumulate these points motivates many workers to do better.  

For example, in a call center, creating a leaderboard with prizes could be a healthy way to motivate the team. The challenge with gamification is that there are winners and losers when it becomes social, and not everyone wants to work in an environment where they feel they are part of a competition.

2. Badges/Awards

Accumulating a certain amount of points may warrant virtual badges, or even actual awards. It’s a way to recognize employees for going above and beyond.

Keep in mind, these badges probably won’t translate outside of the organization. While they're great for internal recognition, they won't mean as much as recommendations or professional awards would to a potential employer.

Don’t overdo it on the badges. Keep them lucrative and exclusive so they retain their value. If everyone can attain them, no one will want to.

3. Recognition Through Social Goals

To some, this may be more important than tangible prizes. Those looking to climb the corporate ladder might be more pleased with gaining recognition through gamification.

Social goals offer a strong feedback loop for employees and let them adjust their habits in full view of co-workers and managers. Colleagues can also track and recognize each other for a job well done. It’s a great way for managers to look at a team’s work and offer praise or useful feedback when necessary.

4. Leaderboards

Some social performance metrics rank workers by criteria like team contributions, support of co-workers and feedback received and given. This can create some healthy competition at work and makes it easier for managers to run contests among teams. By accumulating points or recognition, workers can advance through the ranks and be recognized by their teammates.

Should gamification be limited to individuals or should it become more integrated among teams? Does the workplace need the extra competition? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

More About: Business, contributor, features, gamification

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One in Four Starbucks Card Transactions Now Done Via Mobile

Posted: 05 Dec 2011 06:02 PM PST


Starbucks customers apparently are finding buying via mobile as addictive as the company’s coffee.

Less than a year after Starbucks launched an app that allows mobile payments, it has hosted 26 million such transactions on iOS, BlackBerry and Android, according to the chain. One in four Starbucks card transactions is now executed via mobile.

The mobile-payments initiative has built momentum recently: In the nine weeks after it was released, there were 3 million transactions. But in the past nine weeks, there have been 6 million, says Adam Brotman, SVP and general manager of Starbucks. He adds that New York, Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago and San Jose, Calif., are the top cities by volume for mobile purchases.

Brotman declined to say exactly how many people had downloaded the app, except that it’s in the “millions.”

Starbucks presented the stats to emphasize its contention that 2011 was the “year of mobile” for the company. Among other recent highlights was the company’s Cup Magic augmented reality app, which has spurred 450,000 “engagement points” since its November release. An engagement point refers to a use of the app. According to Brotman, 91% of people who downloaded the app used it.

Finally, $110 million has been reloaded to customers’ Starbucks cards via mobile, Brotman says. For comparison’s sake, $2.4 billion was loaded onto Starbucks cards overall in 2011.

When asked why mobile payments seem to have caught on at Starbucks, Brotman said he thought convenience was a major factor. “It’s a faster, easier way to pay,” he said. “We not only developed the feature, but we also rolled out scanners in our locations.”

Image courtesy of Flickr, INeedCoffee

More About: apps, mobile payments, starbucks

42 Big-Name Twitter Accounts Launched in 2011

Posted: 05 Dec 2011 06:01 PM PST


@simoncowell




TV personality and music executive Simon Cowell is Twitter's newest celebrity. Cowell, who became a household name in 2002 as the brutally honest judge on American Idol, used his first tweet on Nov. 16 to pimp the U.S. version of The X Factor for which he's a judge. Since then, he has argued with @PiersMorgan, live-tweeted about his X Factor finalists (while dissing other contestants as well as fellow judges) and shared random thoughts just like most Twitter users do.

Click here to view this gallery.

In its almost six-year journey to gaining 100 million active users, Twitter has attracted a slew of celebrity users and well-known agencies. This year was no exception as big names from all walks of life — TV, music, politics, religion and sports — saw the social network’s potential to boost their careers or help their social initiatives.

Twitter is highlighting its growth and significance with a Year in Review series in which one part shows off the celebrites that have joined Twitter in 2011. We whipped together the gallery above to help you decide whether you want to follow any of Twitter‘s fresh faces.

SEE ALSO: Twitter’s Top Topics and Hashtags of 2011 | 30 Famous First Tweets

Which ones do you follow and why? Did Twitter forget to mention any of your favorite new Twitter users?

More About: celebrities, Entertainment, Social Media, Twitter

Teen Sexting Not as Common as Once Thought [REPORT]

Posted: 05 Dec 2011 05:53 PM PST

people-texting

As earlier reports indicated last month, teen sexting may not be as prevalent as once believed. Data from two new studies suggests that the behavior may be on the decline.

Research from the University of New Hampshire's Crimes Against Children Research Center suggests that although teen sexting does occur, it's not as common as one would think. In fact, only about 1% of today's youth have shared or taken images with explicit nudity.

In the first study called “Prevalence and Characteristics of Youth Sexting: A National Study” – conducted among 1,560 Internet users aged 10 through 17 about their experiences with sexting, from appearing in and creating to receiving sexual images or videos – found that 2.5% of the demographic have participated in sexting in the past year. However, only about 1% of the images violate child pornography laws, such as those that include “naked breasts, genitals or bottoms.”

Although previous reports indicated that one in five of today’s youth have at one time participated in sexting, the findings included those in their late teens and early 20s. According to the latest research, about 61% of a younger demographic involved with creating and sending nude or semi-nude were girls in the 10 to 17 age range, and 72% of them were aged 16 or 17.

“Lots of people may be hearing about these cases discovered by schools and parents because they create a furor, but it still involves a very small minority of youth,” said lead author Kimberly Mitchell, research assistant professor of psychology at the UNH Crimes Against Children Research Center.

In the University of New Hampshire's second study called "How Often Are Teens Arrested for Sexting? Data From a National Sample of Police Cases," the researchers discovered that in most sexting cases investigated by the police, no juvenile arrest occurred — only 18% included an arrest. However, the report cited that arrests occur in 36% of the cases that include aggravating activities by youth, such as using the images to blackmail or harass others.

The second study was based on a national sample of 675 sexting cases collected from a survey of law enforcement agencies.

"In both studies, researchers found that sexual images of youth were not as widely distributed online as many parents, youth and law enforcement fear," the researchers noted. "In the teen survey, 90% of youth said the images they created did not go beyond the intended recipient. Even in the cases where the images came to the attention of the police, two-thirds of the images stayed on cell phones and never circulated online."

The findings were published on Monday in the medical journal Pediatrics.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Neustockimages

More About: data, reports, sexting

Earth, Meet Your Long-Lost Sibling: The Christmas Planet

Posted: 05 Dec 2011 05:41 PM PST


It may sound like something from a very special episode of Doctor Who, but the Christmas planet is real. What’s more, it’s the most Earth-like world yet discovered.

The planet, more properly known as Kepler 22-b, was revealed to the world Monday via a press conference at NASA Ames Research Center. It is one of thousands of planets discovered outside our solar system via the Kepler space telescope — and the first one that is slap-bang in the middle of what astronomers (really) call the Goldilocks zone: not too hot, not too cold, just right for life.

So why call it the Christmas Planet? Because it took three snapshots for the telescope to determine Kepler 22-b was really there, and the snapshots had to happen 290 days apart (the length of 22-b’s year). The last of those three encounters happened during the 2010 holiday season — just hours before the NASA telescope came down with a blinding technical glitch.

“It’s a great gift,” said William Borucki, the telescope’s principal investigator, who came up with the seasonal name. “We were very fortunate to find it.”

Actually making our way to the Christmas Planet might take a little longer, however. It is some 600 light years away — that is, more than 600 years distant even if we could travel at the fastest speed the universe allows. And we wouldn’t know what to pack, since astronomers have yet to determine whether the planet is rocky, liquid or gaseous.

But we do know it’s about twice the size of Earth, and that the average surface temperature is a balmy 72 degrees Farenheit. More importantly, we now know for sure that planets other than ours exist in the habitable zones around their stars. For exoplanet astronomers gathered Monday at NASA’s Ames campus for a four-day conference, Christmas has indeed come early.

More About: NASA, planets, space

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Carrier IQ Speaks: 5 Key Takeaways

Posted: 05 Dec 2011 05:25 PM PST

Carrier IQ spyware

As the Carrier IQ scandal continues to heat up — now with even more lawsuits — the company has chosen to break its silence by speaking with the press.

Dieter Bohn and Sean Hollister from The Verge managed to score a big interview with Carrier IQ VP Andrew Coward. Coward reaffirms Carrier IQ’s earlier statements, maintaining that the company isn’t violating any wiretapping laws or doing anything untoward but he also manages to open up a bit more about exactly what Carrier IQ does do and why.

The entire interview is well worth the read — and our kudos to Bohn and Hollister for securing such a win — but we were struck by a few aspects of the conversation.

1. The Carrier Is the Customer, Not End Users

The fact that “Carrier” is in the company title might make this point obvious, but it’s worth reiterating that Carrier IQ’s customers are not end users. Instead, the customers that Carrier IQ is paid to serve are the wireless carriers themselves.

This is one reason Carrier IQ is so quick to try to defer blame and finger waving in their direction. As Coward said to The Verge,

…”If we were a normal application company, we’d have to build up trust and say ‘do you mind if we do A, do you mind if we do B, do you mind if we do C.’ But in the service provider world, that question just hasn’t really come up… until recently.”

2. That Log File Belongs to Android, Not Carrier IQ

Perhaps the most concerning portion of Trevor Eckhart’s Carrier IQ video was the fact that the software appears to log every keystroke and message on a device.

According to Carrier IQ, however, the log file with so much information doesn’t belong to Carrier IQ. It’s just a standard Android system log file.


SEE ALSO: Carrier IQ and Your Phone: Everything You Need to Know

Coward says that Carrier IQ has a set list of things that it will log when its software isn’t working correctly. He notes that, “it’s up to the manufacturer to decide whether to place that in the log file of a shipping device.”

Coward also says that logging is the wrong word to describe what Carrier IQ does. Instead, it should be described as “filtering keys that get pressed to pattern match.”

3. Data Is Stored for Roughly 30 Days and Its Use Is Strictly Dictated by the Carrier

Coward says that Carrier IQ’s data retention policies are based on operator agreements and that “on average, it’s about 30 days.” Moreover, Coward asserts that data degrades quickly. The implication is that historical data is not only uncommon but un-useful.

Coward also makes it clear that Carrier IQ cannot do anything with the data outside of the auspices of the operators.

“We are not allowed to resell it, we cannot process it in different ways, we can only do what’s been asked for. There’s no sort of third use, if you like, for the data.”

4. Opt-in/Opt-out Decisions Are Up to the Carrier, Not Carrier IQ

Carrier IQ really doesn’t want to be involved in any decisions about whether or not the user should be able to decide to hand their data over.

Coward says, “we provide the framework where opt-in or opt-out could be delivered, and how our clients choose to implement that is a function of the confidence and trust that they have with their customers.”

He refuses to make a value judgment one way or another about whether Carrier IQ wants data to be opt-in or opt-out. Still, a reasonable person can come to the conclusion that making it more difficult (or impossible) for users to opt-out of data collection is in Carrier IQ’s best interest. After all, what good is data collections software and diagnostics if no one is offering up their data?

5. Carrier IQ Dodges the “How Securely Is My Data Transmitted” Question

For us, the most troubling aspect of Carrier IQ isn’t necessarily the amount of data that is being collected. In fact, our own Lance Ulanoff opines that the company isn’t evil, its just misunderstood.

As an end user, my biggest question is about how securely the information that Carrier IQ collects is transmitted. On this issue, Carrier IQ really dodges the issue.

Coward demurs questions about data protection and encryption in transmission, saying he expects that “the guys that reverse engineered that code over the last few days will probably talk all about it.” That might be true, but it doesn’t do a whole lot to inspire confidence about how securely that data is transmitted and then stored.

Moreover, if phone makers are installing and logging their own data — and that data is separate (or even a copy) of the data Carrier IQ is sending, there is no real guarantee that the information is properly protected.

It reminds me of the big brouhaha over Locationgate. As an end-user, my only real concern in that scenario wasn’t that the data was being stored — or even that it was backed up locally. My concern was that the data backups were not encrypted by default.

Even if I trust Carrier IQ to do everything correctly, what’s to say that the standard Android log file that is capturing key strokes and other information for Carrier IQ isn’t accessible through holes in the phone manufacturers code. It’s easy for Carrier IQ to say that isn’t its problem. However, if Carrier IQ is going to collect device information from a phone, it should work with operators and phone makers to ensure that their data collection and storage policies for unrelated (but possible overlapping) data collection is properly protected.

More About: Carrier IQ, privacy, security, The Verge

Intel and IBM Reveal the Future of Computer Chips

Posted: 05 Dec 2011 04:56 PM PST

microchip

The past 24 hours have seen two of the biggest names in technology reveal the future of computer chips — intentionally or otherwise.

A leaked document from Intel shows the company setting the bar for the next generation of processors, which should start to roll out early next year. Meanwhile, IBM has laid out its long view of processing technology, beginning to chart the undiscovered country of what comes after silicon becomes obsolete. The company has demonstrated some of these emerging techs, which often outperform their silicon equivalents and can be built using similar production techniques.

The Coming of Ivy

In a leaked document reported by X-Bit Labs, Intel reveals its product road map for Ivy Bridge, the next wave of computer chips that will soon be in PCs and Macs. Ivy Bridge is the company’s push into the 22-nanometer range of microprocessors. The smaller chips get, the greater their processing frequencies.

Ivy Bridge means machines with nearly 4GHz of processing power, according to the document. Intel’s top-of-the-line Core i7 processor will boast 3.9GHz in a quad-core design, meaning that separate parts of the chip can work independently up to that speed. This is useful in software, such as games, that can have multiple operations at once. The lowest-end chip, a Core i5 design, will still be a quad-core running at 2.7GHz, still fairly speedy by today’s standards.

Although the Ivy Bridge chips use a novel technology known as Tri-Gate, they’re still based on silicon. Intel co-founder Gordon Moore famously wrote about how the number of transistors on silicon chips would double roughly every two years, and technology has generally stayed at that pace. It’s so consistent that the observation has become known as Moore’s Law.

While chipmakers are still probing the depths to which they go in terms of keeping the number of those transistors ever-increasing, they will hit that limit soon, experts say. Once circuitry is shrunk to around seven nanometers, quantum effects start to take over, and it will be impossible to go any smaller — not with silicon, anyway.

Beyond Silicon

Meanwhile, IBM just showcased its long-term plan, as reported in the Wall Street Journal, for going beyond silicon and taking processing power to new heights. The company is betting on three technologies: carbon nanotubes, graphene, and something called “racetrack memory.”

The first approach would involve swapping out silicon in favor of carbon. IBM described how the company built a transistor made out of carbon nanotubes in the 10-nanometer range. Besides the attractively small size, it outperformed silicon in several key metrics.

Graphene, discovered in 2004, has been hailed as a new kind of wonder substance — though it’s essentially a form of carbon as well, similar to pencil lead. Graphene is the king of small — it’s just one atom thick — and it’s highly conductive. IBM built the first graphene circuit earlier this year, and now it says it can build graphene chips using production lines usually used for silicon, which bodes well for mass production.

Racetrack memory involves replacing flash memory, used in everything from iPhones to SD cards, with microscopic magnets shifted along tiny wire loops called nanowires. IBM has demonstrated this tech, too, also built with normal product lines.

The Need for (Processing) Speed

Think your computer’s fast enough? That’s great, but there are tons of applications for the emerging technologies that are dying for more progress in processing power. Games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 push today’s machines to their limits, and the vision of developers is only limited by the processing power of the machines.

In addition, the entire fields of quantum computing and hypercomputing depend on taking processing power to heretofore uncharted levels. IBM itself has big plans for new platforms that emerge from its much-publicized Watson project, and those would need advanced processing power as well.

While the future of computers is still uncertain, in short, chipmakers are working furiously to ensure it doesn’t come to a dead stop.

More About: IBM, intel, Ivy Bridge, nanotechnology, Processors, watson

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Google+ for iOS Gets Search and Big Pics

Posted: 05 Dec 2011 04:11 PM PST

Google Plus with Search

Google+ for iOS just got a little more useful with the addition of Search and the ability to upload full-resolution photos directly from your iOS device. These features, which Google added on Monday, work on all iOS 4.0 and later devices, including the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad tablet. No, this update — officially known as “1.0.7.2940″ — does nothing to enhance the visual experience on the iPad.

For now, though, anyone using the app on a handheld iOS device should find it faster and somewhat less buggy. In our brief tests, the full-photo-resolution upload worked smoothly. When we clicked on the details for an 8-megapixel image, it reported the resolution as 2,448 x 3,264 pixels. However, we couldn’t find any way within Google+ to view the image at its full pixel size. Even on the phone, we couldn’t pinch and zoom on our own uploaded photos. To do so, we had to download the image to our desktop. Then we could zoom in.

Google+ search on the iPhone worked well; there’s even an option to facet the search between People and Posts. The other new enhancement is the ability to +1 photos in your stream. There’s now a nice, big “+1″ in the upper right-hand corner whenever you view a photo. Tap and you’ve +1ed a photo. Commenting on the same photo appears unchanged.

So what do you think of Google’s latest Google+ update? Will it encourage you to check in more often via your iPhone or other iOS device? How do you currently use Google+ and are you as excited about it as you were three months ago? Share in the comments below.

More About: Google, iOS, iphone

2011 Portfolio Mashes Year in Film into 7:44 Epic Minutes [VIDEO]

Posted: 05 Dec 2011 03:39 PM PST


Each day, Mashable highlights one noteworthy YouTube video. Check out all our viral video picks.

This video finally answers the question: What would the entire year in film look like as one massive, epic trailer? Mashup artist “hatinhand” stitched together pretty much every major film released in 2011 into this epic video, “The 2011 Portfolio” which is as much a retrospective as it is a glimpse into how similar films have become.

Hatinhand has put together a massive collection of supercuts and portfolios including a Pixar tribute, director portfolios (Chris Nolan, Darren Aronofsky) and thematic collections (power, end of the world).

The 2011 Portfolio combines an improbably large selection of films (Drive, Zookeeper, The Adjustment Bureau, Hugo, The Rise of the Planet of the Apes, The Adventures of Tintin, Tyrannosaur, The Smurfs and more).

The video is both a high-octane trip and a heartfelt emotional journey, depending on when you tune into the video. The clips are pulled from all manner of films, so if you’re spoiler-adverse, watch with caution or wait until you see the film proper. Those that are unafraid, have a look and let us know what you think of the video. Can you spot and name every film it shows?

More About: Film, Movies, Video, viral-video-of-the-day, YouTube

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Ralph Lauren Transforms Online Catalog Into Holiday Greeting Cards

Posted: 05 Dec 2011 03:01 PM PST


By now, we know that online greeting cards can be a way to spread brand awareness among networks of friends, but can they be used to drive sales as well?

Ralph Lauren is about to find out. For the holidays, the clothing company’s Rugby line has developed customizable — and shoppable — holiday ecards in the style of its online catalog. The virtual cards show models walking in and out of animated thumbnail images while holding block letters that spell out a greeting of your choice. The names and prices of the goods they are wearing are listed underneath. Two clicks later and you’ve added one of those items to your shopping bag.

“We wanted a creative way to engage our customers and drive traffic for the holidays through ecommerce, so we created the Rugby MYO Holiday Card,” David Lauren, SVP of advertising, marketing and corporate communications, wrote in an email to Mashable. “This is a fun and innovative way to simultaneously introduce friends to Rugby and share custom messages for the holiday season.”

The cards hit just the right note: They’re visually interesting enough for friends to share, and show enough product to get recipients to continue exploring the rest of the catalog.

More About: fashion, Marketing, Ralph Lauren, rugby, rugby ralph lauren

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RIM Executive Faces Charges Over BlackBerry ‘Stampede’ [VIDEO]

Posted: 05 Dec 2011 02:18 PM PST


RIM may have fallen on hard times in the U.S. smartphone market, but in other parts of the world, its device still commands incredible interest.

In Indonesia, demand for a 50% discount on one of the company’s smartphones was so strong that a stampede ensued, causing injuries to some of the more than 5,000 people that showed up for the sale. Now, a RIM executive is facing charges over the incident, as the video above explains.

More About: blackberry, RIM

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Special Seats for Tweeting At Theaters: Annoyance or Enhancement? [POLL]

Posted: 05 Dec 2011 01:58 PM PST


Pulling out a brightly lit smartphone to compose a tweet during a symphony or ballet is generally considered a faux paus of the highest order. But in some theaters, it’s a welcome activity — in designated seats, at least.

Connecticut’s Norma Terris Theater, Raleigh’s Carolina Ballet, the Indianapolis Symphony, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the Dayton Opera have al set aside seats for to those who wish to live-tweet performances, according to USA Today.

Theaters cite audience interaction, the opportunity to share insights and an appeal to younger patrons as reasons for welcoming Twitter into their shows.

From a conductor who prepared tweets to accompany a performance of Beethoven’s “Pastoral” Symphony to a “tweet-cert” that delivered real-time program notes, venues have long found creative ways to incorporate the real-time social network into special events. But as Twitter becomes a more common part of everyday performances, some are concerned about side effects it could have on the experience.

“Their texting thumbs were moving faster than the violinist’s fingers,” Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra patron Irene Friedman told USA Today after sitting near tweet seats. “They would occasionally nudge each other and read what the other person had up on his or her screen. They didn’t even look up to applaud at the end of each selection. The fact that they were watching their handheld devices, they missed out on what was happening on the stage.”

Cell phones are notoriously distracting to performers as well. New York City went so far in 2003 as to ban them during public performances.

Yet many theaters are betting that cellphone allowances could be a digital draw that will outweigh the distraction factor. A new Seattle theater that plans to open in 2014, for instance, is installing a 12-to-14-foot antenna to boost cellphone service.

Do you think that tweet seats are a good idea? Let us know in the comments and by taking the poll below.


More About: theater, Twitter

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Foursquare Tops 15 Million Users

Posted: 05 Dec 2011 01:22 PM PST


Foursquare now has 15 million users, tripling its base since this time last year. Half of the users are in the U.S., while the other 50 percent are international.

The New York-based tech company revealed the stats to ClickZ News in a pair of emails on Monday. Foursquare’s new high-water mark underscores how the geo-social startup scene has moved forward even while enduring growing pains in 2011.

That said, all signs point to a thinning herd. Gowalla will go the way of Whrrl and shut down in January, as a result of Facebook’s talent-based acquisition of the company announced today. The development suggests that Foursquare and Facebook Places are increasingly smartphone users’ check-in services of choice. Going into 2012, what’s particularly striking is that those brands – along with current geo-social survivors Loopt, Scvngr, and MyTown – appear to have excellent growth opportunities in the U.S.

Facebook claims to reach 350 million users globally, but doesn’t break out installs of its mobile app, which prominently includes location-based check-ins. Meanwhile Foursquare has roughly 7.5 million domestic users. Scvngr claims 2 million worldwide, Loopt has 5 million, and MyTown has 4.5 million. Soon-to-be-defunct Gowalla has garnered nearly 2 million worldwide users. Foursquare’s smaller competitors haven’t broken down their U.S. vs. international numbers.

These figures suggest that, not counting Facebook, up to 20 million known smartphone users have downloaded geo-social apps. Of course, there’s going to be some overlap due to consumers downloading more than one app. So the number could be lower.

Whatever the case, the lion’s share of smartphone users have yet to download Foursquare, Loopt, Scvngr, MyTown, Gowalla, etc. According to comScore data from October, there are 90 million smartphone users aged 13 or older in the U.S. Therefore as many as 78 percent of smartphone users are ripe for geo-social apps to claim.

Facebook changes the equation somewhat. The degree to which Facebook Places is used by smartphone users to check in to locations will negatively impact the opportunity for rival geo-social apps.

Whether or not Foursquare can continue to build scale and whether Loopt, Scvngr, and MyTown can gobble up enough adopters to survive will be among 2012′s more intriguing storylines. If they don’t convert more of the masses to a check-in mindset, they may go the way of Gowalla and Whrrl.

Facebook’s Gowalla Purchase Is A Talent Grab

A few days after announcing it is hiring engineers for its New York office, Facebook has acquired more technical talent for its California headquarters by buying Gowalla. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Gowalla, which has been based in Austin, TX, will move most of its engineering staff to Palo Alto, CA, while some employees will remain nearby to work in Facebook’s office in the Texas state capital.

Facebook PR sent out the following statement on Monday morning, “We’re excited to confirm that Gowalla co-founders Josh Williams and Scott Raymond, along with other members of the Gowalla team, are moving to Facebook in January to join our design and engineering teams. In talking with the Gowalla team, we realized that we share many of the same goals: building great products that reach millions of people, making a big impact quickly, and creating new ways for people to connect and share what’s going on in their lives.”

Meanwhile, Gowalla’s monetization efforts have seemed flailing for some time. One year ago, it launched an ill-fated local ads platform called Stamp Calendar. And in October, Gowalla said it was pivoting away from Foursquare’s niche and focusing on becoming a travel-oriented app.

More About: foursquare

Could Postal Service Budget Cuts Affect Netflix?

Posted: 05 Dec 2011 01:16 PM PST


The U.S. Postal Service announced Monday that it will begin cutting first-class mail services in March 2012. By shutting down processing facilities throughout the country and potentially eliminating Saturday deliveries altogether, the USPS hopes to save billions of dollars by 2015.

Where does that leave USPS-dependent services like Netflix and GameFly? When asked whether the company plans to address customer concerns or to amp up licensing for its streaming service, Netflix declined to comment. The company has already faced challenges when attempting to restructure its DVD service. Customers are likely wondering how Netflix will tackle the upcoming issue.

For instance, if the USPS eliminates next-day delivery of first class mail (a likely outcome of the budget cuts), customers could face longer wait times between DVDs. Not to mention, if the USPS eliminates Saturday delivery, customers would need to plan ahead for weekend entertainment.

Although the USPS changes likely won’t impact other snail mail-reliant markets as heavily, companies like Amazon, eBay and Etsy may still have to adjust shipping options. After all, this is the first major change to the country’s postal service since the 1970s. Online shipping options have never had to face such changes before.

Your Thoughts

If a cutback in USPS services affected your Netflix subscription, would you be on the hunt for other entertainment options? Have your say in our poll:


Image courtesy of Flickr, HackingNetflix

More About: Business, gamefly, netflix, usps

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The Experiment: A Working, Digital Rube Goldberg Machine in HTML5

Posted: 05 Dec 2011 01:11 PM PST

With their endless series of implausible chain reactions, Rube Goldberg devices are fascinating not because they look crazy, but because they’re almost always crazy enough to work. Now Honda’s bringing that crazy fun to anyone with a mouse thanks to “The Experiment,” a digital chain reaction playhouse without any of the messy clean up.

The site has six pre-made challenges which ask the users to set off a specific reaction — such as cooking eggs, launching fireworks or shooting a bow and arrow at a target. Users are given a start point, and end point and a series of Internet windows which need to be placed in the correct order. Once all the windows are in the right order, the browsers come to life, setting up and interacting with each other as if they objects existed in real life. Fireworks explode in a shower of separate windows, cogs roll down ramps and hit buttons and arrows fly across several screens.

The Experiment is a blast to play and a great showcase of the power of HTML5. Honda created the website to highlight the ingenuity and creativity that went into its new Civic. Some of the windows include Honda products (such as a Honda-made power generator that powers one of the reactions). Outside of the first splash page, however, most Honda branding is thankfully absent, letting the site speak for itself.

The site’s tag line — “If we never venture into the unknown, how do we get anywhere new? Experiment.” — is taken to heart. After users are done playing with the pre-made levels, they can then create their own chain reactions to save, share and challenge their friends.

Come up with your craziest contraptions and let us know what you think of The Experiment in the comments below.

experiment image

More About: HTML5, Video

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Alicia Keys: Why I Turned to Tumblr

Posted: 05 Dec 2011 12:59 PM PST


Grammy winning recording artist, songwriter and activist Alicia Keys has expanded her digital footprint to include “her latest obsession”: Tumblr.

Over the past year, Tumblr has become more prominent amongst brands, musicians and the fashion industry. Even President Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign has its own Tumblr. The community-driven nature of Tumblr — with its ability to seamlessly share, reblog and syndicate content — makes it an ideal fit for the socially savvy celebrity.

Keys already has a well-established presence on social media. Her Facebook page boasts more than 15 million likes and she has over 5 million followers on Twitter. In 2010, Keys led a celebrity social media blackout in order to raise money for World AIDS Day and her charity, Keep a Child Alive.

Keys will use her Tumblr, which is located at thekeysofalicia.tumblr.com/, to share herself with fans and followers in a new way.

Keys calls her Tumblr “an artistic representation of me, my art and my world.”

“It allows me to give a fuller picture of my life,” says the singer, “whether it’s a song, working with a cast of a Broadway play or encouraging people to join the movement to end AIDS.”

She has already used the site to promote her Showtime documentary, Keep a Child Alive with Alicia Keys, as well as photos from World AIDS Day 2011.

Keys compares social media to music — calling it “very personal and intimate.” She credits the “opportunities social media provides” with helping her gain “deeper inspiration from [her] fans.”

The Evolution of the Socially Savvy Celebrity

For an increasing number of celebrities, artists and entertainers, being active across social and digital channels is no longer just an option. It’s a requirement.

Twitter and Facebook have become defacto promotional tools for the entertainment industry; meanwhile, connected celebrities are graduating into more nuanced and mature interactions.

This is why services like Tumblr — as well as apps like Instagram — have such potential. The tools allow celebrities to share aspects of their lives and interact on a more personal, intimate basis, without having to give up too much of their personal privacy. Likewise, the lack of an official comment system (unless a user chooses to implement third-party commenting tool Disqus) can help cut down on the negative messages and conversations happening around a particular post or topic. Of couse, Tumblr users can still respond on their own blogs but unlike Facebook or YouTube, a barrage of hate-filled comments are unlikely to make their way onto a celebrity’s page.

Moreover, the more intimate nature of what is being shared is more appealing for fans and followers.

Let us know your thoughts of the social evolution of celebrity in the comments.

More About: alicia keys, celebrities, musician, musicians, tumblr

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Graphing Comes to Google

Posted: 05 Dec 2011 12:51 PM PST


Google has added graphing functionality to its seemingly ever-growing list of search bar capabilities, the company announced Monday in a blog post.

Now, when users type in a function — for example: sin(x) — the first search result will be an interactive graph allowing users to explore different related values for x and y.

Users can also plot multiple functions by separating them with commas. The new feature is available in most browsers and “covers an extensive range of single variable functions including trigonometric, exponential, logarithmic and their compositions,” writes Google engineer Adi Avidor.

“I hope students and math lovers around the world find this experience as magical as I found the graphing calculator so long ago,” Avidor says.

Google’ search bar has actually long been friendly to the mathematically inclined — or challenged. The calculator feature, which has existed for several years, allows users to type in mathematical equations — ranging from the simple to the complex — for real-time answers.

Users can also find answers to worded problems with numerical answers, for example the number of seconds in a year. Other number-based reference tools include unit conversion, for example 75 centimeters in inches, and public data, for example the population of San Francisco.

What do you think of Google’s new graphing feature? What should Google add next? What’s your favorite little-known search feature? Let us know in the comments.

More About: Google

Bacardi Campaign Lets Fans Compete With Virtual Rafael Nadal

Posted: 05 Dec 2011 12:43 PM PST


Tennis legend Rafael Nadal has conquered an impressive list of opponents — Roger Federer, Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt just to name a few. But could Rafa beat you if you had a 12-foot tennis-serving robot on your side?

That’s the premise of “Ace Rafa,” a new Bacardi campaign that allows fans to virtually compete with the 10-time Grand Slam winner using the RoboServ 3000, which uses artificial intelligence technology to calculate Nadal’s position and optimize the speed, spin and distance of contestants’ serves. The campaign is part of Bacardi and Nadal’s “Champions Drink Responsibly” social responsibility initiative.

Fans of legal drinking age can enter the contest via the “Champions Drink Responsibly” Facebook page through next March. Contestants who successfully “ace” the virtual Nadal — whose actual on-court movements and reactions were captured to create a more realistic digital portrayal — will enter a drawing to visit Nadal in Mallorca, Spain. There, the winner will scrimmage with Nadal in person (sans robot assistance), and see the actual RoboServ 3000 machine up close.

“I hope my fans enjoy this unique chance to play against me,” Nadal said in a statement. “Drinking responsibly is a serious message and I believe we will reach and influence more people with this important message by expressing it in a more lighthearted and interactive way.”

What do you think? Does this campaign effectively help spread the message of responsible drinking? Would it be scary to face Rafael Nadal in real life?

More About: bacardi, Marketing, rafael nadal, Social Good, tennis

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Valentino Opens 3D Virtual Fashion Museum to the Web

Posted: 05 Dec 2011 12:30 PM PST



A woman explores the Virtual Museum application at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti have unveiled a project that has absorbed them for much of the past two years: a 3D virtual showcase for the archives of the Italian fashion house they built, Valentino.

The Valentino Garavani Virtual Museum, introduced Monday at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, is the first digital exhibition developed by a fashion designer. “And it’s not likely to be the last,” Valerie Steele, director of the Museum at FIT, said following the unveiling. “I think everyone will do this,” she added.

The virtual museum comes as a downloadable desktop application for Macs and PCs. (Notably, much of the content is stored in the cloud.) Users navigate through various galleries and wings that would take up some 10,000 square feet in a physical museum. Three hundred dresses are on display in total. Users can click on the dresses to pull up original sketches, advertising campaigns and other archival footage. In some cases, dresses can be rotated in 3D.


The Valentino Virtual Museum contains 300 dresses, 5,000 archival images and nearly 100 videos.

The wealth of information is staggering, and as an archive, the Virtual Museum feels comprehensive. But the Virtual Museum’s weakness is on the tech side.

The design looks outdated: the vectors are rough and, in many instances, the dresses are missing cast shadows, making them look pasted to the museum steps. The images and 3D models should be available in a higher resolution and with better zooming capabilities. Moreover, we’d prefer if the entire experience existed for the browser and, ideally, for mobile.

On stage, Giammetti teased Garavani for his lack of technical know-how. “He has to have someone turn on the television for him,” he said, evoking a laugh from the audience.

“It’s true,” Garavani admitted, before discussing the overall state of the fashion industry. “In fashion today there is not enough dream,” he said, alluding to the pressure of the bottom line. “But you can capture dream in a museum.”


Hugh Jackman, Valentino Garavani, Anne Hathaway and Giancarlo Giammetti on stage at the unveiling.

More About: valentino, valentino virtual museum

10 Top Tools for Digital Photography Lovers

Posted: 05 Dec 2011 12:17 PM PST


The Trendsetter Tech Series is supported by smart. Test drive the space saving, eco-friendly, totally unique, smart. Visit smartusa.com to find a new smart center near you. smart — unbig. uncar.

The human need for fabulous eye-candy is one of the reasons photography has seen such a boom in the tech sphere. These days, nearly every device comes with a camera, and what sort of consumers would we be to not take advantage?

But sometimes those built-in cameras need a little extra boost to get that photo looking just right. Whether you’re wielding a DLSR, smartphone or a point-and-shoot, here are some of the more fun and innovative tools for photographers we’ve come across lately.

This list is by no means comprehensive, so if you’ve come across a cool something we didn’t include, please share it with us in the comments section below.


1. Olloclip




Have a little fun with your iPhone photography with this Kickstarter-funded set of three lenses for the iPhone 4 and 4S. The lenses -- macro, fisheye and wide-angle -- are all mounted onto a single clip that slides over the camera of your iPhone. We had great success with the fisheye and wide-angle lenses, but had difficulty using the macro lens because the iPhone couldn't focus at such short range.

If you'd rather have your lenses built into a case rather than attached to the top of your iPhone, you might want to take a look at this set of four lenses for $49.00.

Price: $69.99

Click here to view this gallery.

BONUS: 10 Photo Apps That Enhance Instagram


1. Postagram




Travelers and adventurers alike will appreciate this app. With Instagram integration, you're able to send postcards from anywhere, anytime. Add the addresses of your favorite recipients. When something photo-worthy happens, snap a pic and send it. Your loved one will receive a postcard with your photo, which they can print for their fridge. Prefer magnets? Stickygram has you covered.

Price: FREE

Click here to view this gallery.

Series supported by smart

The Trendsetter Tech Series is supported by smart. Test drive the space saving, eco-friendly, totally unique, smart. Visit smartusa.com to find a new smart center near you. smart — unbig. uncar.

More About: add-ons, camera, features, iphone, mashable, photography, tools, Trendsetter Tech Series
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