Mashable: Latest 12 News Updates - including “Mashable Weekend Recap: 36 Stories You May Have Missed” |
- Mashable Weekend Recap: 36 Stories You May Have Missed
- 29 Percent of U.S. Adults Own a Tablet or Ereader [STUDY]
- RIM Co-CEOs Are Out, Heins Is In
- 9 Digital Ways to Become a Social Good Hero in 2012
- One Hello World: The Soundtrack to Your Voicemails
- iPhotography Calendar: 12 Months Captured in 12 Stunning Snapshots [PICS]
- Iranian Court Upholds Death Sentence For Programmer
- Facebook Apps: Highlights of the 60 New Integrated Applications
- Nokia Ringtone Interrupts, Violist Plays Along [VIRAL VIDEO]
- Top 10 Action Games for Android
- Is It Time to Finally Ditch Your Paper Business Cards?
- Twitter Reacts to Death of Joe Paterno
- StumbleUpon: 10 Tips and Tricks for Power Users
| Mashable Weekend Recap: 36 Stories You May Have Missed Posted: 23 Jan 2012 04:28 AM PST      It was a blustery and snowy midwinter weekend in much of the northern hemisphere, and while many of you were hunkered down watching football this weekend, we were watching the social media and digital world for you. Welcome back! We’ve gathered all the goodness we posted over the weekend, placing it in a handy list for you here. There’s something for everyone, with plenty of tips and techniques, gadgets galore, thought-provoking posts and just plain fun. So catch up with us at Mashable here with our trusty Weekend Recap, and then go out there and make it one of your best weeks yet! News & Opinion Essentials
Helpful Resources
Weekend Leisure
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| 29 Percent of U.S. Adults Own a Tablet or Ereader [STUDY] Posted: 23 Jan 2012 01:11 AM PST   19 percent of adults in the United States own a tablet, and 29 percent own either a tablet or an ereader, according to the latest study from Pew Internet. What’s amazing about these findings is that the share of U.S. adults who own tablets nearly doubled from 10% to 19% between mid-December 2011 and early January 2012, and almost the exact same thing happened to ereaders, which grew from 10% to 19% over that same time period. Pew’s numbers suggest that most users own either a tablet or an e-reader. It took only one holiday shopping spree for the number of U.S. adults who own either a tablet or an ereader to jump to almost one third of the adult population – from 18 to 29 percent. Since there was no new iPad in that period, it’s safe to assume that a big chunk of this growth can be attributed to Amazon’s Kindle devices and Barnes & Noble’s Nook line. Both companies reported exceptionally good holiday sales: Amazon said last Black Friday was the best day ever for Kindle, and Barnes & Noble reported record Nook sales during the nine-week holiday period at the end of 2011. [via Pew Internet] More About: americans, ereader, Tablet, U.S.
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| RIM Co-CEOs Are Out, Heins Is In Posted: 22 Jan 2012 06:47 PM PST
Heins, who also joins the company’s board, is already listed as President and CEO on RIM’s executive bios page. The change in leadership may have come at the behest of Lazaridis who explained in a statement, "There comes a time in the growth of every successful company when the founders recognize the need to pass the baton to new leadership. Jim [Balsillie] and I went to the Board and told them that we thought that time was now.” The move comes after a solid year of miscues and blunders by Balsillie and Lazaridis. 2011 got off to a promising start with the introduction of the Playbook tablets, but RIM bungled the launch, leaving out key features like a native e-mail client. Later in the year the company announced the name for a new combined OS only to learn they didn’t have rights to the name. The company also suffered through an extended service outage and took what some believe was too long to respond directly to customers about the situation. The company has also steadily slipped down the ladder in smartphone market share as Android competitors and Apple released more and more innovative and well-received handsets. The calls for RIM to replace its co-CEOs have been growing steadily, even as RIM gets its house in order. Just this month, the company finally unveiled Playbook OS 2.0 which does feature its own email client. Now the question is what Heins can do to return the Canadian technology company to the front of the mobile technology pack. What do you think? Did RIM make the right move? If so, did it make it soon enough? Share your take in the comments. More About: Mobile, RIM, tablets
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| 9 Digital Ways to Become a Social Good Hero in 2012 Posted: 22 Jan 2012 03:15 PM PST   Scott Henderson is managing director of CauseShift and writes about social impact for the Chronicle of Philanthropy, RallytheCause.com and occasionally for the ableBanking blog. January is already half-over, so how's that New Year’s resolution to do more good coming along? If you haven't made much progress, don't fret — changing the world might be easier than you think. The web and social media continue to create new opportunities to do good in simple ways. Whether by putting aside some savings or checking-in with an app, you might be surprised how much good you can do with just a few clicks. Do What You Already Do
Baby StepsFor those feeling adventurous but strapped for time, give these new, simple actions a go.
Take a Flying LeapFeeling ready for something big? Take on one of these challenges.
Now that you know about these sites and services, what are you waiting for? Choose a strategy and mark off another New Year’s resolution! What are your favorite new everyday ways of doing good? Did we miss one you think others would like? Image courtesy of iStockphoto, mangostock More About: charity, contributor, features, philanthropy, Social Good, web For more Social Good coverage:
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| One Hello World: The Soundtrack to Your Voicemails Posted: 22 Jan 2012 02:20 PM PST If you think your voicemail inbox is intimidating when it’s full, try filtering through hundreds of voicemails on a regular basis. One Hello World is a collection of voicemails from strangers, revealing personal aspirations, deep secrets and confessions — all set to original score. Consider it the audio version of PostSecret. The project began initially as the side project of a musician — who, for the project’s sake, asks to remain nameless. He was recording music with friends in Aug. 2010 and felt a track needed something different than just vocals. Using a Google Voice account, he asked Facebook friends to call the number and leave a voicemail defining happiness. “I expected personal friends to respond, but actually got tons of voicemails from people I didn’t know,” explains the creator of One Hello World. As voicemails poured into the account, he began composing music around them instead, resulting in multiple tracks. The project then entered the Tumblr world, immediately spreading like wildfire. “Ultimately, the project strives to foster compassion by not only offering an open ear to those who phone in, but by encouraging all to take a moment and listen to what people from different perspectives have to say,” the website states. Since the project started, the number of voicemails — ranging emotionally from broken hearts to nervous new dads — has increased from about 150 to as many as 400 in a week. Calls have been received from the U.S., France, Italy, London and Malaysia. The project was succesully funded on Kickstarter — the composer is currently working on a remastered album of 30 tracks from the project, entitled “The Listener.” By day, the 25-year-old works full time in New York as a digital marketing strategist. “I’m very particular about taking the time to listen to voicemails,” explains the composer. “What I listen for is if the person is being genuine, if it really sounds like a sincere voicemail. Something unique to what I’ve gotten before, or the way the person delivers it, their tone.” It’s that same tone in the human voice that One Hello World’s creator believes is still vital to communication. “It’s hard to pick up tone in texts and tweets, even with emoticons and exclamation points. It still lacks that human touch,” says the creator. “When you talk to a person, their tone speaks as much as (if not more than) the words themselves. I’ve experienced a range of emotions through these 1:30 voicemails — it’s not something you can capture in the caps lock.” More About: features, Music, One Hello World, postsecret, voicemail
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| iPhotography Calendar: 12 Months Captured in 12 Stunning Snapshots [PICS] Posted: 22 Jan 2012 01:44 PM PST JANUARY: City Winter by Elinor Zach Perfect timing sees just yellow cabs on the icy roads. This splash of color is incredibly effective against the monotone city background. The instant snapshot look comes from CameraBag's "Instant" filter. Click here to view this gallery. A new year doesn’t just bring a new start, it comes heavy with the potential of the next 12 months ahead. With the different seasons and all the associated holidays and events to look forward to, January’s outlook is an exciting one. To celebrate the calendar year, we’ve collated 12 images — one for each month — that we think encapsulates the spirit of that time frame. Join us in looking forward to the year ahead by taking a wander through our iPhone photography gallery. Link us in the comments to any of your favorite seasonal photos — and tell us which month or season they sum up for you. Thumbnail image courtesy of Dan Moyle More About: apple, features, gallery, iphone, iphotography, photography, trending
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| Iranian Court Upholds Death Sentence For Programmer Posted: 22 Jan 2012 01:04 PM PST   An Iranian court has upheld its decision to sentence 35-year-old Saeed Malekpour to death for developing photo-uploading software used by porn websites. Iran’s Supreme Court maintains Malekpour promoted such sites because his name was on the software. Amnesty International says Malekpour was unaware that his software was being used for pornography. He was sentenced to death in June 2011. The court accused Malekpour of “insulting and desecrating Islam.” On Tuesday, the court ruled to move forward with the death sentence, which could be immanent, Amnesty says. Radio Free Europe reported Malekpour’s sister said the trial was unfair and her brother is innocent. “All of Saeed's activities were within the law," Maryam Malekpour said to Radio Free Europe. “He didn't commit anything illegal. Saeed just wrote a computer program that could have been used by these immoral websites or any other website. Unfortunately, without his knowledge, the program was sold and used to upload photos on these immoral websites.” Malekpour, a Canadian citizen, was arrested when he visited his father in Iran in 2008. He was allegedly tortured for one year while he was held in solitary confinement in Tehran’s Evin Prison. Malekpour says he was forced into making a confession and gives details of his arrest and imprisonment on the site Persian2English. He recounted being lured into making a false confession under the threat of torture or the torture of his family members. He wrote: “To prevent me from informing the magistrate that my confession was received under pressure, the interrogators threatened that the torture would worsen. Sometimes they threatened that they would arrest my wife and torture her in front of me.” Iran’s draconian stance toward Internet freedom is well known. Earlier this month, the government announceda “Halal” Intranet, free of Western influence. The government aims to curb social-media-fueled protests, like those during Iran’s 2009 election. The Iranian government also said the CIA uses American-made video games as propaganda to promote U.S. actions abroad. In the past, the “Iranian Cyber Army” has made it difficult for citizens to access certain sites outside of Iran. Iranians have had to use VPNs, or Virtual Private Networks – a technical solution to access restricted sites. As technology becomes increasingly ubiquitous in our daily lives and places from which we can access information grows, is it only a matter of time before citizens demand Internet freedom? Tell us in the comments. More About: iran, legal, photo uploading, programmer
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| Facebook Apps: Highlights of the 60 New Integrated Applications Posted: 22 Jan 2012 11:38 AM PST   If you enjoy using Spotify or Foursquare on Facebook, imagine having the same integration with a bevy of other apps. Now you can share more than just your location, music tastes and which story you enjoyed reading on the Washington Post that day using Social Reader. Facebook’s announcement on Wednesday of 60 new apps has some people scratching their heads and asking, “How will this look on my timeline?” Until now only a selection of apps were integrated with Facebook’s Open Graph — Spotify, Foursquare, Washington Post’s Social Reader. This new set of apps lets users share many more actions with their Facebook friends — like running, cooking, shopping and more — creating a dynamic timeline profile. Say for instance you review a winery on TripAdvisor (one of the new integrated apps). TripAdvisor will ask if you want to share the review on Facebook (which is not novel), but when you allow the review to be shared, it becomes part of your Timeline profile, as well as posts to the news feed. What you share will linger on your timeline profile rather than being pushed down in the feed the next time your post something. Facebook unveiled their Open Graph platform at the f8 conference in September 2011. The new apps give users a way to share more than just “likes.” Here’s the full list of 60 integrated Facebook apps. Some highlights: Gogobot is fun if for only one reason: to create a passportlist of cities you’ve visited. Sift through photos of cities and add them to your passport where you can write reviews and upload personal vacation photos. Artfinder is a really neat app that’s like having an art museum curator in your pocket. Identify works of art simply by snapping a photo and letting the app analyzing the snapshot. Help grow the database if you know the artist’s name and title of the piece by entering it in the app. Artfinder can also direct you to nearby galleries. This would be a handy app to have for a self-guided museum tour or while shopping vintage stores or flea markets for artwork. Causes lets you get involved with issues you care about. Sort through a variety of topics and select the ones you wish to learn more about: International Development, for instance or Women’s Empowerment. Then read about how you can take action or donate. Encourage awareness by sharing what you care about to your Facebook friends. Big test looming? Grockit is a social study tool that’s customizable and connects you with friends on Facebook. Study guides are available for middle school, high school, college and graduate students — from the SAT to GRE. The program has some hefty research behind it, too. Experts in curriculum design who’ve worked for Apple and Houghton Mifflin helped create some of the lesson plans on the app. Study solo or connect with study partners on Grockit. Let your Facebook friends know you’re studying on Grockit and boast about the latest badges you’ve earned on the site. With Runkeeper you can track and save your routes, even distinguish which ones are cycling and jogging routes. Runkeeper also tracks downhill skiing routes, hiking, swimming, skating, rowing and other activities. Inform your network when you complete a run and how far you went. If you want, you can include your current fitness status and the goal you’re trying to reach (run a marathon, etc.). Snooth let you “taste” wines on Facebook. Click the “taste” button to post reviews of wine and rate them on a five merlot-glass-scale. Read others’ reviews, sift through wine guides and browse bottles by region. Which of the new apps have you integrated into your timeline? Tell us in the comments. More About: apps, Facebook, Social Media, timeline
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| Nokia Ringtone Interrupts, Violist Plays Along [VIRAL VIDEO] Posted: 22 Jan 2012 10:44 AM PST If you’ve ever been watching a movie or attending a concert and someone’s ringtone interrupts the proceedings, you’ll appreciate this video that’s recently gone viral on YouTube. As Slovakian musician Lukáš Kmit played a beautiful piece on his viola, suddenly the obnoxious Nokia ringtone blasted through the reverie. What a wonderful reaction he had! Instead of stopping the music altogether (like what happened at a New York Philharmonic concert earlier this month when an iPhone’s “marimba” ringtone so blatantly interrupted the music that the conductor stopped the entire orchestra), Lukáš picked up on the Nokia noise, playing it more beautifully than we’ve ever heard. While some commenters are calling this a fake and a setup, it looks real to us. It’s not that difficult for any musician with a reasonably good ear to quickly improvise that simple tune. Or, it could be that Lukáš is familiar with the original version of the Nokia ring tone, a lovely guitar piece composed in 1902 by Spanish guitarist Francisco Tárrega called “Gran Vals.” It’s a grand waltz indeed: [via Daily Picks and Flicks] More About: cellphones, Music, Nokia, ringtones, trending, YouTube For more Mobile coverage:
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| Top 10 Action Games for Android Posted: 22 Jan 2012 09:38 AM PST 1. Grand Theft Auto 3   One of the most influential games of all time is now on high-end Android phones and tablets. While the touchscreen controls are often convoluted, the game holds up remarkably well. The open-world experience hasn't been compromised, with the exception of some edited music. Otherwise, the gratuitous violence, fast driving and risque storyline are here as they were back when the game originally released on consoles. Click here to view this gallery. While iOS is often home to many new releases, that doesn’t mean Android owners are without a fantastic selection of action-packed games to call their own. From bold, 3D, console-style games to 2D pixel art games, here are the best action titles for Android. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, duncan1890 More About: android, apps, features, Gaming, mashable, minecraft, mobile gaming, trending For more Entertainment coverage:
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| Is It Time to Finally Ditch Your Paper Business Cards? Posted: 22 Jan 2012 09:00 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. If you’ve ever returned from a business trip with a stack of business cards, you’ve no doubt wondered — as you’re manually typing in all those names, phone numbers and email addresses — if there’s a better way. It turns out there are lots of better ways. Too many, in fact, and that’s the problem. The lack of a standard means that a great solution like the Bump app will only work if the person you’re trying to link up with has the app, not to mention an iPhone or Android-based smartphone. You could, of course, use your phone’s camera to take a picture of the other person’s business card, but that would still require that he or she has a business card in the first place. And after you do that, you’ll still have to manually enter the information anyway. In November, LinkedIn announced an alternative that avoids the lack-of-a-standard conundrum by essentially digitizing an analog card. As the video below outlines, the CardMunch iPhone app works by capturing the image of a business card, recognizing it and then saving it on your phone as a contact. In another nice perk, LinkedIn also integrates that person’s information from his or her profile on the network. Sid Viswanathan, product manager at LinkedIn, says that CardMunch began with the pragmatic realization that the paper business card is not going away any time soon. “We understand that business cards still exist,” he says. “They’re still used out in the field when you’re attending conferences.” Viswanathan says that 10 billion business cards are printed annually — that’s more than one for every person on Earth. As great as LinkedIn’s solution is to the business card dilemma, you’ll note that CardMunch still requires one of the parties to have a standard business card. It’s also quite possible that you will run into someone who doesn’t have the CardMunch app and will still need a paper card. On the other hand, if you’re in the tech industry, the type of business card you use says something about you. Perhaps this isn’t the case now, but some time down the road, handing out a paper card will have all the cachet of an @aol.com email address. Viswanathan says that, with 130 million members, that’s not a big issue for LinkedIn. “We maintain that the social protocol of exchanging business cards is still intact,” he notes. But Viswanathan concedes that in Silicon Valley circles, that may be more of a concern. Until that comes to pass, though, there are a few good options for businesspeople who want to set aside their business cards, once and for all. The following two-step solution will allow you to do just that: First, use CardMunch to capture business card information that’s presented to you. This way, you don’t have to ever take a business card home again. (Of course, you might have to take one if you’re not getting good reception on your phone, but once you’re in range, you can process the card and pitch it.) If you want to present your business card, meanwhile, there’s another free app called Cardcloud. As outlined in the video below, Cardcloud lets you create a digital card that you can email to your prospective contact. Cardcloud also boasts LinkedIn integration — new users can sign in via their LinkedIn profile. (You can also use your Facebook account.) That’s the dream, at least. In my own experience, I could not, despite multiple attempts using my LinkediIn and Facebook data, create an account on Cardcloud. Nor could I create one manually. Renato Valdés Olmos, co-founder and CEO of Cardcloud, says that the iPhone app had “a little bug” in mid-January, when I tried to register. He said the bug should be fixed “within the next few weeks.” On the other hand, I found CardMunch worked exactly as advertised, connecting me to my LinkedIn account on the first try. And if you don’t have an account, the app directs you to start one, which is is a great recruiting tool for the brand. The app also recognized my paper cards and quickly integrated that information as well. If CardMunch could emulate Cardcloud’s functionality (on a good day), then LinkedIn will offer a great end-to-end solution. But when Cardcloud gets up and running again, the two will do just fine. Despite that, it would be unrealistic to expect everyone to go completely digital. We’ll just have to accept that paper business cards will be with us for a little while longer. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Thomas_Eye_Design More About: business card, cardmunch, features, linkedin, mashable, networking, open forum
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| Twitter Reacts to Death of Joe Paterno Posted: 22 Jan 2012 08:24 AM PST   Penn State football coach Joe Paterno died at age 85 Sunday after a bout with lung cancer, according to an announcement released by his family on Sunday morning. The longtime football coach, who won more games than any other coach in major college football, had resigned his position amid a child abuse scandal. When news broke of Paterno’s death Sunday morning, Twitter reacted … again. In an unusual situation, news of Paterno’s death first surfaced on Saturday night, and spread on Twitter with its usual speed. However, the reports of Paterno’s death turned out to be premature, and his family responded to the reports that Paterno was seriously ill but hadn’t died. The false reports of Paterno’s death began at 8:45 p.m. ET on Saturday night, when the Penn State student website Onward State reported the death of the football coach. According to that site, news of Paterno’s death came from football players who said they received an email “informing them of Paterno’s passing.” The Onward State site tweeted the following:
Soon after that, CBS published an obituary with the headline “Former Penn State coach Joe Paterno dies at 85.” Meanwhile, Dan McGinn, a spokesman for the Paterno family, told The New York Times that the reports of Paterno’s death were false, and at about the same time Paterno’s son Jay confirmed that report with his tweet:
CBS later corrected its report, issuing an apology “for publishing an unsubstantiated report that former Penn State coach Joe Paterno had died.” Early Sunday morning, the Onward State site’s managing editor Devon Edwards resigned over the false tweets of Paterno’s death, according to AllVoices. "In this day and age, getting it first often conflicts with getting it right, but our intention was never to fall into that chasm," Edwards said in a statement. He apologized, "I am so very, very, sorry, and we at Onward State continue to pray for Coach Paterno." On Sunday morning, the family released another statement, saying that Paterno had indeed died “earlier today.” According to the family’s statement, “”His loss leaves a void in our lives that will never be filled.” The statement continued:
Image courtesy The Daily Caller
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| StumbleUpon: 10 Tips and Tricks for Power Users Posted: 22 Jan 2012 07:11 AM PST   Thousands of websites are created every day, yet sometimes the Internet feels a bit stale. How do you filter through all of the junk when you want to discover something new? StumbleUpon is a site that randomly shuffles through websites, curating content and information specifically for you. Since its start, the site has surpassed 20 million users, and continues to be a dominant source of traffic for the world's top social media sites. According to StumbleUpon, the site delivers more than 1.2 billion recommendations per month, and users spend seven hours per month stumbling. Most surprisingly, according to this infographic, the average stumbling session lasts 69 minutes. Those numbers might seem a bit overwhelming, especially if you don’t have that kind of time to devote to the site. However, there are a few things you can do ahead of time, and while stumbling, that’ll provide you with the best sites specific to you. Here are 10 ways to get the best stumbles. 1. Plan Ahead If you take the extra steps in the beginning to completely fill your profile, you'll have a better experience. The more customized you make it, the better results you will see when stumbling. Click here to view this gallery. Check out Mashable’s StumbleUpon channel here! More About: features, stumbleupon, trending For more Social Media coverage:
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