Mashable: Latest 29 News Updates - including “Audiobooks.com Launches a Spotify for Books” |
- Audiobooks.com Launches a Spotify for Books
- Apple, Zynga and Facebook Among Top ‘Trademark Bullies’
- Analysts Estimate Nokia Sold Around 1.3 Million Lumia Phones
- Solar Eruption Triggers Strongest Radiation Storm in 7 Years
- Twitter Acquires Malware Protection Company
- The Pirate Bay Wants You to Download Physical Objects Now
- Web App Makes Paying with Nine Credit Cards Okay
- Dog and Brony Show and 3 Other Hilarious Memes
- Google Launches Feature to Find Hotels by Travel Time, Landmarks
- 20 TV Shows With the Most Social Media Buzz This Week [CHART]
- Super Bowl XLVI: Who You Need to Follow on Twitter
- 4 Things RIM’s New CEO Can Do to Fix the Company
- Academy Awards Launches Digital ‘Celebrate the Movies’ Campaign
- Justin Bieber’s 5th YouTube Anniversary: The Road to Bieber Fever [INFOGRAPHIC]
- 21 Essential Community Management Resources
- Anonymous Threatens Facebook Shutdown Jan. 28 [UPDATED]
- Portlandia Stars Talk Twitter and the New Face of Comedy
- Facebook Spent More than $1 Million on Lobbying in 2011 [REPORT]
- 6 Top Community Managers to Appreciate
- Is This the Ultimate iPhone Car Stereo? [VIDEO]
- How to Register Your New Business Name
- The Most-Shared 2012 Super Bowl Ad Teasers So Far [VIDEOS]
- Tumblr Hits 15 Billion Monthly Pageviews
- Handle This: Google+ Finally Allows Pseudonyms
- Consumers Want Online Video Ads No More Than 15 Seconds Long
- FileSonic Blocks File Sharing After Megaupload Bust
- Take That, Twitter: Chinese Site Beats Tweets per Second Record
- Most Video Conferencing Systems Are Vulnerable to Hackers [VIDEO]
- Which Politicians Are Getting the Tech Industry’s Money?
- Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman Team up to Fight Famine
| Audiobooks.com Launches a Spotify for Books Posted: 24 Jan 2012 05:00 AM PST      Movie and music sellers have proved that selling their content on an unlimited, monthly basis can be appealing to consumers. Now Audiobooks.com hopes to prove the same for books. For $24.95 a month, the service will give users unlimited access to its library of 11,000 audio books through its website and an HTML5 mobile app. Though Amazon-owned competitor Audible has a monthly membership, it relies on a credit system that give users access to a certain number of books per month depending on the fee. Audiobooks is the first service we can find that is streaming books using a monthly model. There are some tradeoffs in opting for the monthly subscription. Audiobooks has about 11,000 titles available while Audible has 100,000. Three of the top five New York Times bestselling non-fiction books and two of the five bestselling fiction books are available on the former platform, while all ten books are available on the latter. In the unlimited streaming model, you pay for access to the books. If you lose your account, you’ll lose the access. Audible sells books that you download and keep. On the other hand, you can sample as many Audiobooks books for as long as you want at no additional cost. That’s pretty handy for anyone who misses browsing shelves.  Audiobooks might be launching a new price model for streaming audio books, but it’s not new to the space. It’s actually a product of Simply Audio Books, which has used a similar unlimited rental model for audio books on physical discs since it launched in 2003. When launching its unlimited streaming process, it heeded the lessons of Netflix’s cautionary tale — in which the company split its product into separate streaming and disc packages and lost two-thirds of its value in three months — and launched an entirely separate product off the bat. “We didn’t want to find ourselves in that position down the road,” Simply Audio Books CEO Sanjay Singhal says. Do you use enough audio books to make an unlimited monthly product like Audiobooks worth your time? Or would you rather buy books one-by-one? Let us know in the comments. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, kertlis More About: Audible, audio books, Audiobooks.com, books For more Business coverage:
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| Apple, Zynga and Facebook Among Top ‘Trademark Bullies’ Posted: 24 Jan 2012 05:00 AM PST   You’ve heard about the iPod. But what about the BrainPod, the MixPod and the GoPod? Probably not, because Apple opposed their names when they applied to be trademarked. Apple often files oppositions against trademarks it believes would infringe on its brand names or logos if granted — so often, in fact, that in 2011 it did so more than all but two organizations: Kellogg and the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Zynga was the fourth most frequent trademark contestor, opposing names like Cupidville, Loveville and Quakville. Facebook was the eighth, opposing Facemeeting, Faithbook and Facadebook.
 Trademark search engine Trademarkia compiled the “trademark bullies” rankings, using opposition filings as its criteria. Public oppositions to a trademark application can be made within a set 30-day period after it’s filed and are often made in conjunction with a private cease-and-desist letter. “Sometimes the [opposition filings] legitimate,” says Trademarkia CEO Raj Abhyanker, a lawyer turned entrepreneur who once worked with trademark issues. “Maybe ‘facemeetings’ is so similar to Facebook that people would assume it's owned by Facebook. It's a legitimate [opposition filing]. But really would anyone be confused that ‘etoro openbook’ is affiliated with Facebook? I don't think so.” Abhyanker wasn’t the first to call aggressive trademark opposers “bullies.” He borrowed the term from the United States Patent and Trademark Office, which used the term when asking for comments on the extent to which small businesses could be harmed by aggressive trademark litigation tactics. There are cases when he agrees that the term is appropriate. “Do people know when they donate money [to Livestrong] that a lot of it goes to fighting anything that has to do with the word 'strong'?” he says. The line between “victims” and “bullies” of trademark legislation tactics isn’t always clear — despite a ranking of those victims in a separate tab on the Trademarkia site. Apple, for instance, appears in both the list of top bullies and top victims in technology. While its victims tend to be small companies, its recent bullies include Samsung, Dell, RIM and Nokia. From a business perspective, it’s a distinction that isn’t very important to Trademarkia. It’s not ranking the most aggressive or bullied trademark holders in order to draw attention to them. Rather, it’s hoping companies who are filing new trademarks will use its free “fights” search tool to determine the likeliness of opposition from specific companies — and then that they’ll upgrade to a service that alerts them when someone files a trademark that might infringe on theirs. That might help small businesses without trademark lawyers better-protect their trademarks from other small businesses, but it likely won’t do much for the fate of those with trademarks being opposed — either fairly or unfairly — by large companies. Trademarkia provides a list of trademark oppositions for its “biggest bullies” companies. Each case has an emoticon attached to it — a smilely face for a trademark applicant that prevailed despite being opposed, a frustrated face for applications still in progress and a sad face for those applications that were effectively stopped. “The biggest companies always win because the small companies don't have enough money to fight it,” Abhyanker says. “Most of the time there are no happy faces.” Image courtesy of iStockphoto, OtmarW More About: apple, Facebook, trademarks For more Business coverage:
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| Analysts Estimate Nokia Sold Around 1.3 Million Lumia Phones Posted: 24 Jan 2012 04:28 AM PST   Until we hear official wording from Nokia (or Microsoft) we’re left with what the analysts are predicting or estimating with regards to how many Lumia Windows Phones the Finnish company managed to sell. Instead of being forced to believe the perspective of a single analyst we can have a better idea; there were several estimates ranging from 800,000 units to 2 million but Bloomberg made an average of 22 analyst predictions to come up with 1,3 million units sold worldwide to operators and retailers by the end of 2011. Many have written off the Espoo-based company (or considered that Nokia going Windows Phone was a fatal decision) but the market responded pretty well to the Lumia 710 and the Lumia 800. We still don’t have official numbers from Nokia but, according to analysts, anything beyond 1 million for the two phones in merely two months (the Lumia phones were launched on October 26) is a strong figure. It would not only place Nokia back on track but would also make investors a bit less skeptical. More About: Lumia, Nokia, smartphone, windows phone For more Mobile coverage:
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| Solar Eruption Triggers Strongest Radiation Storm in 7 Years Posted: 24 Jan 2012 01:45 AM PST   A huge eruption on the Sun has caused the strongest radiation storm since 2005, which is due to hit Earth on Tuesday, Jan 24, possibly causing widespread communications interference. The eruption occurred late on January 22, 2012 sending a burst of energized solar particles towards Earth at about 5 million miles an hour (2,000 km per second). SpaceWeather.com ranks this geomagnetic storm “strong” or S3, meaning it may expose passengers in high-flying aircraft to radiation risk, disrupt satellite operations and degrade HF radio communications. There is no risk to people on Earth, but polar flights are expected to be re-routed as a precaution measure. Furthermore, NASA expects “no adverse effects” for the six astronauts aboard the International Space Station. The radiation storm has one other interesting side effect – stronger than normal displays of Earth’s auroras. Expect some beautiful aurora pics to pop up on the Internet in the days to come. Image credit: NASA More About: eruption, radiation storm, trending For more Tech coverage:
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| Twitter Acquires Malware Protection Company Posted: 23 Jan 2012 09:59 PM PST   Gearing up for Twitter’s self-serve advertising launch — currently in beta stage with only a small selection of advertisers — the company announced its acquisition of spam and malware protection service Dasient on Monday. Dasient will be integrated into Twitter’s “revenue engineering team because they have a deep understanding of advertising-platform security issues,” says Rachael Horwitz, a spokesperson for Twitter. The team will be very valuable as Twitter continues to expand its ad products. Twitter introduced its new ad service in November 2011 to a “handful” of advertisers. The self-serve platform lets advertisers purchase ads without going through a sales representative. Anyone with a credit card and the desire to utilize “Promoted Products” to boost their brand recognition can get on-board with this service. However, the service is not yet available to the public. Twitter has moved slowly into paid advertising, starting with “Promoted Tweets” in 2010. Self-serve ads could be a huge generator of profits. The revenue Google and Facebook captured from self-service advertising rocketed those companies’ profits into the stratosphere. Twitter has proven that the site can generate advertising dollars, and despite warnings of a backlash from Twitter users, the micro-blogging site has yet to incite an uproar with users as a result of the ads — which is a good thing considering how much revenue Twitter is estimated to generate from advertising. Twitter doesn’t reveal their profits, but market research and statistics firm eMarketer predicted Twitter’s ad-generated revenue will earn the company $399.5 million by 2013 — 12 percent of the company’s total worldwide ad revenue. Quite a massive jump from 2010, when eMarketer said Twitter made $45 million in ad revenue. No stranger to malware threats, Twitter has faced serious security issues in the past. In 2010, the FTC ruled that Twitter would be subject to a bi-annual security audit after 55 celebrity accounts were hacked, including the accounts of Barack Obama, Britney Spears and Facebook. Spammers have also taken advantage of Twitter’s trending topics in order to target a large amount of people. As Twitter grows, so do the opportunities for hackers to exploit the site. Protecting users from potential spam and malware attacks is important for the company’s image and reputation. Sites overrun with malware get blacklisted by search engines. Founded by former Google employees and funded by Google Ventures, Dasient is located in Sunnyvale, Calif. The company launched an “anti-malvertising” service in 2010 and has been active in securing ad networks. “Neil Daswani, Shariq Rizvi and Ameet Ranadive have created technology that provides network security and malware prevention service for some of the largest ad networks in the world,” Horwitz says. “Their team has an excellent understanding of advertising platform-related security issues and will be a valuable addition to the revenue engineering team.” What do you think about Twitter’s self-serve ads? Tell us in the comments. More About: Advertising, malware, security, trending, Twitter, web security
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| The Pirate Bay Wants You to Download Physical Objects Now Posted: 23 Jan 2012 09:07 PM PST   File-sharing site The Pirate Bay is apparently expanding its reach into letting users pass one another physical objects to download. Well, that’s actually not the case just yet. But the site is introducing a new category called “Physibles” in anticipation of a day in which “you will print the spare parts for your vehicles.” Physibles are “data objects that are able (and feasible) to become physical,” the site says in its announcement blog post. In other words, files meant for 3D printers. Such printers and scanners are not widespread but do already exist. The Pirate Bay, however, believes that 3D technology will become commonplace before long. “You will download your sneakers within 20 years,” the blog post says. At the time of this writing, the Physibles category contained just three files available for download. Included were apparent data files for a whistle, a model robot and a 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle muscle car. The Pirate Bay says that what it believes to be the imminent advent of 3D printing and file-sharing will be tremendously beneficial to society. “No more shipping huge amount of products around the world,” according to the blog post. “No more shipping broken products back. No more child labor. We’ll be able to print food for hungry people. We’ll be able to share not only a recipe, but the full meal.” The Pirate Bay has long connected users with massive collections of music and movie files, without regard for copyright infringement concerns. If it’s able to do they same for 3D files, the site could indeed help revolutionize the ways in which people not only consume media, but acquire goods as well. But that’s assuming, of course, that people actually have the hardware to print out their new cars and sneakers. What do you think? Is The Pirate Bay on to something here? Or is this just a bunch of science fiction, at least for the fathomable future? Let us know in the comments. More About: 3d printing, file sharing, the pirate bay For more Dev & Design coverage:
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| Web App Makes Paying with Nine Credit Cards Okay Posted: 23 Jan 2012 08:17 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.
Quick Pitch: Splitable lets you divide the cost of anything with anyone online. Genius Idea: Think of Splitable as a group chat that takes credit cards — letting you plan events, communicate details and collect money in one place. Mary Foden is a natural-born planner. Amongst her group of friends, she is always the one organizing concerts and party prepping. She thinks the hassle of collecting payments from people is what turns others off embracing the role of social organizer. In order to make this aspect easier, she founded Splitable in mid-2011. Splitable is a web tool that let’s you divide and conquer bills. It enables a large party to split the dinner bill, roommates to share the cost of a TV or a bride’s best friends to split her bachelorette party bill. “We wanted to totally level the paying field and get rid of the burden,” she says. Splitable allows you to invite friends to a “team” where you can share the payment of one thing or several expenses and combines the process of making invitations, going over details and collecting payments into one platform (see above). Each individual credit card will not be charged until the team is committed. You can cancel personal transactions from the account any time before the team is committed. “This allows the team to come together without risk to any individual member’s money, and encourages the team members to rally others to get on board quickly,” Foden said. Now a buddy’s birthday dinner or trip planned for six people won’t be ruined when friends don’t pay up after you’ve fronted the bill. A network of close to 1,000 users are signed up for the Splitable web application. Foden says she uses the application all the time for fundraisers and for splitting baby shower gifts. “My hope is that more people will take initiative [to plan events] and think in more collaborative ways about things they are buying and using. Saying, ‘Maybe I’ll share that New York Times subscription with my neighbor.’ It’s about community,” she said. Splitable isn’t just a stand-alone website. It also has an API that third-party sites can use to offer their customers a choice to split a bill. The next step will ideally allow those sites to also give individuals an option to use several credit cards when paying for large purchases. The company is currently starting partnerships with wedding and baby registries. It has been self-funded up to date and makes commission from sites that use the Splitable API. The use of Splitable is completely free to users who create teams, but there is a small credit card processing fee for transactions. Image courtesy of Flickr, Mourner Series Supported by 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: applications, bizsparks, Business, Marketing, startup, Tech
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| Dog and Brony Show and 3 Other Hilarious Memes Posted: 23 Jan 2012 07:43 PM PST   The Mashable Meme Machine is a daily look at five hilarious viral topics spreading across the web right now. I hope you all had a relaxing weekend, because we’re back with a bunch of Internet weirdness! This, folks, is the Meme Machine, and it definitely never gets the day off. This weekend was full of ups and downs: Bronies celebrated, and football jocks mourned. Some paid homage to Steve Jobs in dog form, while others insisted on rehashing Lana Del Rey. You see, folks, the Internet moves in cycles, both light and dark — awful and awesome. Luckily, we try to keep it as awesome as possible, so enjoy your Monday munchies and get to snacking on some sweet comedy goodness. Discover any funny memes lately? Let us know. Feel free to contact Brian Anthony Hernandez (@BAHjournalist), Christine Erickson (@christerickson) or Lauren Hockenson (@lhockenson). 1. Steve Dogs This variation of the popular 2011 meme "Yes, This is Dog" features a Husky looking an awful lot like the late, great Steve Jobs. Its origins are dubious at best, but the image of the canine staring icily into the camera while wearing the innovator's signature turtleneck has blown up all over the Internet. Yes, that is Steve Dogs. Click here to view this gallery. More About: features, GIFs, Meme, Meme Machine, sports, tumblr For more Entertainment coverage:
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| Google Launches Feature to Find Hotels by Travel Time, Landmarks Posted: 23 Jan 2012 07:13 PM PST   Looking for a hotel near the Eiffel Tower, but not too familiar with your Parisian neighborhoods? Google has unveiled a new feature for its “Hotel Finder” tool, allowing travelers to look for lodging near popular landmarks. The addition is perfect for those looking to narrow their hotel search by how long it takes to get to certain spots within a city. So whether you’re planning a vacation or a business trip, the feature makes it easy to find the best spot to spend the night. Finding hotels by travel time is an extension of Google’s Hotel Finder tool, which debuted in July. Now, instead of just looking for hotels in a certain city, typing “Eiffel Tower” or “Empire State Building” will show you available hotels and prices in that area. You can also search by address. Not into a 20-minute commute or want to walk to the landmark by foot? Select your travel-time and mode of transportation preferences, and Google’s Hotel Finder map will automatically update with suggested hotels. Google noted in a blog post that the feature is currently “experimental” and that filtering by transit time is only available in certain cities, including New York, Niagara Falls (Canada), Las Vegas, Honolulu, Paris, London and Bangkok. These locations have “partnered with local transit agencies to integrate their data into Google Maps,” the site said. Have you used Google’s Hotel Finder? Would you use this tool — and the new feature — to help you plan trips? Let us know in the comments. More About: Google, travel, trending
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| 20 TV Shows With the Most Social Media Buzz This Week [CHART] Posted: 23 Jan 2012 06:19 PM PST With 1.9 million instances of social media chatter, the CNN Southern Republican Presidential Debate generated more activity than any other debate to have topped our past social TV charts. During the event, CNN posted five Facebook topics, which produced over 6,000 Likes and comments. In response to CNN’s 28 Twitter updates regarding the debate, users retweeted 4,500 times, up 258% from the average of the three debates last year. And those are just CNN’s stats… American Idol came in second, squeezing into the charts Sunday night, right after the NFL Championship game ended on FOX. Not too shabby. 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 For more Entertainment coverage:
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| Super Bowl XLVI: Who You Need to Follow on Twitter Posted: 23 Jan 2012 05:48 PM PST 1. @SuperBowl2012 The official account of the 2012 Indianapolis Super Bowl Host Committee is a must-follow for fans going to the game. It will function as one of several channels directing fans to entertainment venues and addressing logistical concerns from the committee's social meda command center. Click here to view this gallery. The New York Giants. The New England Patriots. Super Bowl XLVI. The matchup is set, and the world’s biggest annual sporting event is upon us. After 17 weeks of regular season games, three weeks of playoff dogfights and more dramatic moments than we can count, Eli Manning and his G-Men from New York will collide with Tom Brady and his perennially contending Pats. But the ad-heavy Big Game doesn’t actually kick off until 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time on Feb. 5. That leaves two weeks of hype, hoopla and histrionics to endure. How to pass all that time? Well, you could slog through every rumor, blog post and bloviation that gets lobbed out into the Twittersphere. Or, you could narrow the noise down to what’s essential with Mashable‘s list of must-follow feeds. This compilation of 15 players, writers, reporters and organizations is guaranteed to get your trivia and analysis chops where they need to be to hold your own in the most heated of in-game debates. This year’s Super Bowl could be the most-social edition yet, and Twitter is the sports media gateway to logistical information, statistical analysis, commentary and pre-game updates. Need to know where to eat in Indianapolis? We’ve got the source. Want to know what’s going on with the stars who will butt heads on Sunday? Check out our player suggestions. Curious about what news the hometown fans are getting in New York and New England? Beat writers are covering each squad like ugly on the gorilla. Scroll through the slideshow above to see who football fans should follow for the next two weeks — but don’t stop there, because we’re sure we’ve missed a few. Who would you add to this list? Let us know in the comments. Thumbnail image courtesy of indanapolissuperbowl.com More About: nfl, sports, Super Bowl XLVI, Twitter For more Social Media coverage:
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| 4 Things RIM’s New CEO Can Do to Fix the Company Posted: 23 Jan 2012 05:34 PM PST   Research in Motion, better known as RIM, used to be one of the most dominating smartphone makers in the world. But it’s seen its market share — and reputation — flounder of late. So it wasn’t that surprising that the company finally did what many investors were asking for: get rid of its co-CEOs and replace them with a new leader, former COO Thorsten Heins. Some are already saying that it’s too late for RIM, that mobile competitors Apple and Google are too far ahead, and that the company should essentially quit trying to market its own BlackBerry ecosystem and make some kind of soul-selling deal along the lines of Nokia‘s partnership with Microsoft. While that might be the best course of action, Heins has already said that getting the BlackBerry 10 (BB10) software and the next generation of phones out of the gate is his top priority. Short of some kind of surprise merger (Samsung? Microsoft?), it’s BB10 or bust for RIM. Heins’ strategy is very risky considering the head-start RIM’s competitors have had, but it has the biggest long-term potential payoff. Make no mistake, though: RIM will have its work more than cut out for it when the first BB10 phones arrive later this year. Not only will it have to show that it has a platform as good as iOS or Android — it’ll also have to show that it has actual advantages over those other choices. But RIM can’t do that if it continues to stumble like it has in recent years. Here are four things the company should do right the ship and and start sailing toward success. 1. Narrow Your FocusRIM has had the mixed blessing of being both a go-to platform for enterprise customers, thanks to its devices’ utility and security, and a popular choice for many younger people because of the text- and tweet-friendly keyboard — not to mention that easy-on-the-cellphone-bill href=”http://mashable.com/follow/topics/blackberry-messenger/”>BlackBerry Messenger service. While having your products appeal to more than one demographic isn’t directly a problem per se, it appears to have dulled RIM’s focus somewhat. This was seen most clearly in the PlayBook tablet, whose design and marketing was all over the map. It debuted without a native email client, requiring the user to pair it with his BlackBerry smartphone to use email. This, of course, presupposed that the person was a BlackBerry owner, and therefore likely a business user. Yet the marketing, advertising and even the name itself implied a tablet for “play,” putting things like gaming and video playback top priority. What? I think that at some point RIM, tempted by the lure of being cool to “the kids,” started to push heavily in marketing to younger demographics, but the company has dulled its focus on its greatest strength: services and devices for enterprise and business. RIM should get back to emphasizing its roots by targeting business. If others recognize that those same products work for them personally as well, great. But first things first. 2. Build a Better PlayBookI think it’s safe to say at this point that the BlackBerry PlayBook is a bona fide turkey in the history of tablet launches, and RIM needs to shift its attention to PlayBook 2 (not to be confused with PlayBook 2.0, the software update that will supposedly “fix” the original PlayBook). The second version of the company’s tablet must be in the works somewhere, even if it’s probably going to wait until BB10 is out before it has its debut. PlayBook 2 needs to capitalize on RIM’s key strengths and be a true enterprise tablet. Ever since the Amazon Kindle Fire launch there’s been a lot of pressure in the tablet market to take prices down to heretofore unseen lows. But RIM shouldn’t just go cheap — it needs to offer a tablet that will actually be useful for business. RIM already has its back-end enterprise services to offer, but that’s a crutch. Heins needs to put himself in the mind of a business that isn’t all about BlackBerry already. What do RIM’s devices offer that business? A new PlayBook could differentiate itself with something like near-field communication (NFC) to accept mobile payments. NFC actually has multiple uses, and so far no tablet has it. But that’s just one idea. More broadly, RIM needs to put aside the J Lo videos and Angry Birds and pack the hardware with features that businesses will actually use. 3. Invest in AppsIt will be a Herculean feat to attract significant developer interest in BlackBerry 10, and RIM’s going to need help. The recent move toward platform-agnostic HTML5 apps is helpful, but that helps everyone to some extent, so RIM can’t rely on it. And the stopgap measure of having the PlayBook run Android apps is a bad idea — it serves more to undermine RIM’s platform than help it. More direct action is called for. App revenue sharing has largely settled on a 70/30 split between developers and OS makers, respectively. I’m not an economist, but it seems fairly arbitrary to me — what’s stopping RIM from giving an 80/20 cut? Or maybe a 100/0 cut for a limited time (say, the first 10,000 downloads)? RIM also needs to hammer on the developer community that, while its market share may be dropping, it’s still significant. Add in some incentives like better revenue sharing, subsidies and better support than its competitors (and certainly less of a fragmented platform than Android) — developers will have a potentially great ROI on BB10. 4. Resist Temptation to Fast-TrackProbably the most egregious thing RIM’s done in recent years to shoot itself in the foot in recent years is push out products before they’re ready. This was most clear with the PlayBook, but the touchscreen BlackBerry Storm was a buggy mess when it was first released. Rumors abound of many more BlackBerry devices coming to carriers before they’re ready. Ever since RIM announced that the first BB10 phones would be delayed until late 2012, the criticism has been unending, and there will be tremendous pressure on Heins to fast-track the devices for an earlier launch. But he shouldn’t. BlackBerry 10 and its accompanying devices need to be a hit right out of the gate if RIM is to have any hope of growing market share again. Heins has said he’ll abolish the practice of putting out half-baked products, and he should stick to it. If he accomplishes that at least, he’ll be well on his way to putting RIM’s shaky past behind it. BONUS: Sleekly Designed Porsche BlackBerry Has Gravity-Defying PricetagPorsche Design P'9981
Click here to view this gallery. More About: blackberry, blackberry messenger, playbook, research in motion, RIM
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| Academy Awards Launches Digital ‘Celebrate the Movies’ Campaign Posted: 23 Jan 2012 05:03 PM PST   Just in time for the 84th Academy Award nominations, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences is rolling out a digital campaign, entitled “Celebrate the Movies.” Starting Monday, iconic moments from 84 films in Oscar history will be showcased online and on digital billboards in New York and Los Angeles. Fans can view digital images at Oscar.com and at YouTube.com/Oscars. Film fanatics can also share their favorite movie-going experiences using social media. The images for the promotion will debut in groups of 20. The first group of images include scenes from The Godfather, Forrest Gump and 2001: A Space Odyssey.  The Academy Award nominations will be announced on Tuesday at 8:30a.m EST/5:30a.m. PST online at Oscar.com. After the nominations are announced, Shira Lazar of What’s Trending will host a live show discussing the nominations and the social buzz following Oscar. I’ll be joining Shira for the show, which will stream live at Oscar.com at 3:00p.m. EST/12:00p.m. PST. Like the Grammy Awards and the Emmy’s, Oscar is slowly but surely becoming more digital and more social. We’ll be taking a closer look at Oscar’s digital campaign and social media outreach as we get closer to the awards. The 84th Academy Awards will air on ABC on Feb. 26, 2012. More About: academy awards, Oscars, oscars 2012 For more Entertainment coverage:
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| Justin Bieber’s 5th YouTube Anniversary: The Road to Bieber Fever [INFOGRAPHIC] Posted: 23 Jan 2012 04:25 PM PST   Whether you love or despise 17-year-old international pop star Justin Bieber, you have his mom to thank (or blame) for thrusting him into the spotlight five years ago this month. On Jan. 19, 2007, Pattie Mallett uploaded a video of her son performing Ne-Yo’s “So Sick” in Stratford, Ontario, to Bieber’s YouTube channel — kidrauhl. Rap star Usher signed Bieber to a record label the following year in 2008. Since then, Bieber has taken the social media world by storm, attracting millions of followers across many networks. Bieber has 16.7 million Twitter followers and 39.4 million Facebook “Likes” and he’s just warming up. Google Chrome recently chronicled Bieber’s impressive reach and presence on Google and YouTube in an ad below. The YouTube-star-turned-mega-celebrity most recently made a splash at the Consumer Electronics Show where he endorsed a gadget for robotic toys company TOSY. For a quick glimpse at Bieber’s high-profile YouTube ride, check out the fun tidbits below thanks to Danish social media agency Crisp Social, that created the infographic for Mashable. Bieber Fever, anyone?  More About: celebrities, Entertainment, justin bieber, Music, videos, viral videos, YouTube
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| 21 Essential Community Management Resources Posted: 23 Jan 2012 04:00 PM PST   Today is Community Manager Appreciation Day, and we have plenty of resources for those who are managing their own communities. With a bevy of social spaces to choose from, creating a potent and tight-knit community around a product or brand can seem daunting, even for those experienced in the social space. Every brand has to have its own tailored and unique message, and cater to its specific demographic of fans. With all of these options, it’s hard to keep a focused lens on what’s best for a brand, but Mashable is here to help. Make sure you read up on the most recent resources we’ve published on how to effectively handle and grow your own community — our appreciation gift to you. Below is our in-depth roundup, and be sure to stay focused on Mashable for future community management advice. Is there a community management tip or tool you can’t live without? Let us know in the comments.
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, romakoshel More About: community, community management, community manager, features, mashable, roundup
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| Anonymous Threatens Facebook Shutdown Jan. 28 [UPDATED] Posted: 23 Jan 2012 03:49 PM PST   Update: Anonymous claims on Twitter that the video is fake, and they do not plan to take down Facebook. Anonymous is planning to target Facebook in an attack Jan. 28 — at least that’s what a video uploaded to YouTube Monday is claiming in the name of the hacker network.And you thought a day without Wikipedia was bad. “An online war has begun between Anonymous, the people and the government of the United States,” the video begins. “While SOPA and PIPA may be postponed from Congress, this doesn’t guarantee that our Internet rights will be upheld.” Following the U.S. government shutdown of file-sharing site Megaupload Friday, Anonymous attacked the U.S. Department of Justice’s website, among others. Monday’s YouTube video calls on the American people to participate in the hack by downloading Low Orbit Ion Cannon (LOIC), the tool that was successfully used to target the Department of Justice. LOIC crashes websites by sending thousands of information packets to their servers. The video gives instructions for downloading and running the program, as well as a time — 12 a.m. on Jan. 28 — to launch the attack. No time zone, however, is distinguished. “Would you like to become part of the greatest Internet protests and first official cyber war?,” the video asks. “Operation Global Blackout is ongoing and everyone can be a part of it.” Facebook, of course, is one of the world’s largest websites, operating through thousands of servers located across the world. In the video, Anonymous acknowledges the difficulties of attacking such a large site. "While it is true that Facebook has at least 60,000 servers, it is still possible to bring it down," says the Anonymous voice. "Anonymous needs the help of the people." YouTube commenters have raised an important question, Why would Anonymous want to crash Facebook, after the site came out against SOPA and PIPA? The video essentially equates the privately-owned company with the U.S. government, with no explanation for the linkage. CNET postulates that Zuckerberg took too long to voice his opposition, landing his social network a spot on the potential targets list. We’ve heard this threat before from the global network of hactivists, who promised to shut down the site Nov. 5, 2011, over user privacy concerns. Ultimately, no attack was executed and the loosely-connected hacker network called the threat the work of peripheral members. Do you think the threat is serious this time around? Let us know in the comments if you think Facebook is a worthy target. BONUS: A Brief History of Anonymous |
| Portlandia Stars Talk Twitter and the New Face of Comedy Posted: 23 Jan 2012 03:27 PM PST No Grocery Bag -- PortlandiaIt helps to bring a grocery bag. Click here to view this gallery. Portlandia, IFC’s little sketch show that could, has moved from quirky sleeper hit to beloved comedy darling and one of IFC’s most-watched shows. Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein’s loving, punchy, demolition of all things hipster and faux has struck a chord not just in Portland, Ore., where the show is based, but with a nation of people reared on organic foods, fiercely independent bookshops and smarter-than-thou know-it-alls. The show’s success isn’t just about writing funny jokes and booking excellent cameos (including Aubrey Plaza, Jason Sudeikis, St. Vincent, Steve Buscemi, Kyle MacLachan and more). Portlandia strikes a fine balance of killing its targets with kindness. Every lampoon is biting but delivered with just enough love that hipsters and their opponents can both watch the show hand-in-hand. Portlandia is also a hit on the Internet and the social web thanks to a flood of official clips posted on YouTube and the show’s website. It’s a show that understands the importance of the web even if its, you know, too cool to tweet about everything in its life. Mashable spoke with Brownstein (by phone) and Armisen (by email) about the show’s recently launched second season and how the Internet is changing comedy. Interview with Portlandia’s Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen |
| Facebook Spent More than $1 Million on Lobbying in 2011 [REPORT] Posted: 23 Jan 2012 02:45 PM PST   Facebook Inc. contributed $1.35 million to lobby various tech-related efforts last year, breaking the $1 million mark for the first time. During the last quarter of 2011, Facebook donated $440,000, targeting issues including international regulation of software companies and restrictions on Internet access by foreign governments. Facebook continually lobbies for online security measures for private industry, data storage, online safety for Internet users, the Do Not Track Kids Act, proposed amendment to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 to protect personal information of children, the Video Privacy Protection Act and various patent legislation. This is the largest amount Facebook has ever contributed in a quarter — nearly double the $230,000 set aside for Congress in the first quarter (along with the $320,000 in the second quarter and $360,000 in third quarter), according to AllFacebook.com, whose report added up the public lobbying amounts filed by the social media giant. This immense lobbying effort follows Facebook’s expansion of the Public Policy Facebook team based in Washington, D.C. last year. The company hired former George W. Bush Deputy Chief of Staff Joel Kaplan as its vice president of U.S. public policy in June, and former White House employee Myriah Jordan as Facebook’s congressional relations policy manager soon after. Facebook’s competitor Google remains on the top of the list of tech companies that have contributed the most to lobbyists. Google spent $9.98 million in federal lobbying in 2011, according to reports. Microsoft spent $7.34 million. Hewlett-Packard, Oracle Corp and IBM close out the top five tech companies with the highest lobbying expenditures, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Tell us what you think of this trend — the world’s biggest tech companies contributing huge amounts of money to interests that would affect Internet and social media use. Image Courtesy of Flickr, Ken Lund More About: Business, Facebook, Politics, Social Media, SOPA
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| 6 Top Community Managers to Appreciate Posted: 23 Jan 2012 02:37 PM PST Chrysanthe Tenentes, Community Manager at Foursquare Part user-generated content, part gamification, Foursquare relies heavily on its community to keep it going. While the service has grown far too large for one person to manage its userbase, Chrysanthe Tenentes has led the charge in establishing Foursquare's consistent voice. She even created a style guide to ensure this voice is upheld by her team. Image courtesy of winnie au Click here to view this gallery. Happy Community Managers Appreciation Day! On this third annual CMAD, we celebrate community management, an industry that has become increasingly important in the rise of social media. Brands and organizations are now finding creative ways to connect with their audiences — and their community managers are leading the charge. The role is far from being standardized from organization to organization, and may never be. Yet most community managers share the ability to multitask, make quick judgement calls and think critically. The gallery above features six community managers paving the way, and tells you a little bit about their contributions to the industry. What community managers do you appreciate? Why are they so awesome? Share your thoughts in the comments below. More About: community, community management, Social Media, social media management For more Business coverage:
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| Is This the Ultimate iPhone Car Stereo? [VIDEO] Posted: 23 Jan 2012 02:10 PM PST A new Kickstarter campaign can bring your iPhone‘s capabilities to the dashboard of your car — including turning it into a car stereo. Rather than plugging in via a cable, Dash lets you turn your iPhone or iPhone 4S into a car audio system of its own while simultaneously charging your device. It could also be used with GPS and navigation apps. As its creator points out, the device has the added advantage of familiarity. “Dash doesn't require that you learn a new interface to use your stereo,” says the Kickstarter page. “You already know how to use your phone to access your music, your navigation app, your phone calls, and the incredible number of other apps in your phone's marketplace.” We could certainly see this product being useful and successful. So far the crowdsourced campaign has raised $1,030 of its $45,000 goal. The campaign ends March 21. Would you buy a device like this, or contribute to the Kickstarter campaign? Watch the video above to learn more about the device and how it works. Check out the top 10 most eccentric Kickstarter projects of 2011 in the slideshow below. 1. Portals   Funded: $1,934 This project uses a box and an old monitor to simulate virtual reality. It is an incredibly cool project, but its Kickstarter backers shouldn't expect anything in return other than a "big happy thank you." Click here to view this gallery. [via The Next Web] More About: connected car, kickstarter, mashable video For more Dev & Design coverage:
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| How to Register Your New Business Name Posted: 23 Jan 2012 01:38 PM PST   You've brainstormed, polled your family and friends and conducted some kind of focus group testing. You've come up with a cool domain name. Finally, you've crossed one of the trickiest hurdles for any new business — finding the right name for your new brand. But not so fast. Before you unleash your name on the world, you've got to dot a few administrative “i's” and cross a few legal “t's.” There are three key legal steps in the naming process.
Keep in mind that trademark law is complex. While this is a brief introduction to the steps involved, there are specific situations that may vary. 1. Make Sure the Name Is Available to UseBefore you start ordering letterhead and marketing material, you need to make sure your name is available in the state where you are planning to conduct business, and also nationwide. No one wants to find themselves on the wrong end of a trademark dispute. First, there could be punitive damages and legal fees to pay. And even more costly, you could be ordered to rename your company immediately — putting you back at square one in terms of brand recognition.
2. Register the Name With Your StateWhen you incorporate or form an LLC for your new business, the name is registered with your state's secretary of state. Before approving your application, the secretary of state's office checks that your name is distinguishable from all other business names registered in the state (just in case you didn't search yourself in step one). Once approved, the business name is yours, and yours alone, to use within the state. This act protects anyone else from using your name within your state, but it doesn't offer any kind of protection in the other 49 states. If you're not planning on incorporating or forming an LLC, you can still register a business name using a DBA (Doing Business As), which is also known as a Fictitious Business Name. It's the easiest type of registration, and can be completed through your county government offices. If you've started a business that's physically tied to your state — such as a hair salon or a restaurant — and have no plans to expand into other states, registering your name with the state or county might be enough brand protection for you. However, if you're planning to conduct business outside your own state (i.e. you sell a product or provide services to clients who live elsewhere), you should look into trademark protection. 3. Register a Trademark with the Federal GovernmentYou're not actually required by law to register a trademark. Use of a name instantly gives you common law rights as an owner, even without formal registration. However, as mentioned above, trademark law is complex. Simply registering a DBA in your state doesn't automatically grant you common law rights; in order to claim first use, the name has to be “trademarkable” and in use in commerce. Registering a trademark offers a few advantages:
To register your business name, you'll need to file an application with the USPTO. Expect to pay approximately $325 per class in application fees that your mark would fall under. Once you submit your application, the process can take anywhere from 6-12 months, so it's smart to perform a comprehensive trademark search before starting the application process. If your selected name is not available, your application will be rejected. You'll lose your application fee, not to mention any time invested in the application. While the process of registering a trademark is more involved than registering a DBA, rights to your name will be enforced by both the federal and state governments. Take the Right StepsAs you're getting your company off the ground, make sure to take brand protection seriously. You've spent untold hours deliberating the ideal name, and you'll be spending even more time cultivating brand recognition. Your name represents your brand and business, so take the right steps up front to protect your identity. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, shironosov, Flickr, thinkpanama More About: features, How-To, LLC, registration, Small Business For more Business coverage:
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| The Most-Shared 2012 Super Bowl Ad Teasers So Far [VIDEOS] Posted: 23 Jan 2012 01:26 PM PST   With the Super Bowl less than two weeks away, advertisers are following one of two plays: Remain completely mum about what they’re going to do, or attempt to maximize that $3.5 million ad spend with teaser videos on YouTube. Actually, there’s a third option as well: Run a contest with consumer-generated ads and them put those on YouTube. Usually, Doritos (or a PepsiCo sibling) is the only brand to go the crowdsourced route, but this year Chevrolet is running a similar contest. While we haven’t heard from a few Super Bowl advertisers — including Honda, Best Buy and Coca-Cola — there are at least 20 teasers out there, only a fraction of which are getting serious traffic at this point. That will no doubt change now that the two teams have been chosen and the general media will start focusing on the game. As the list below illustrates, there will be lots of familiar creative motifs this time around: Doritos ads will feature grown men acting like animals to the strains of (licensing fee-free) Italian opera, while Go Daddy will continue to tease the T&A. Perhaps the most ambitious advertiser this time around is Bridgestone, which is trying to weave a narrative about a mysterious announcement during the game. Which teaser is your favorite so far? Let us know in the comments — and tell us about any ads that we or our partner, Unruly, have missed. 1. "The Bark Side" (Volkswagen)Not surprisingly, the sequel to the most-shared ad of last year's Super Bowl and of all of 2011 for that matter, is leading the pack this year. Volkswagen released this video last week showing dogs barking to the tune of Star Wars's "The Imperial March." So does that mean there will be dogs in this year's ad? More Star Wars? We'll know soon enough. Click here to view this gallery. More About: Advertising, commercials, Marketing, Super Bowl ads, super bowl commercials, YouTube
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| Tumblr Hits 15 Billion Monthly Pageviews Posted: 23 Jan 2012 01:14 PM PST   After an explosive 2011, Tumblr is rolling full steam into the new year with impressive numbers that highlight the microblogging platform’s continue growth: 15 billion monthly pageviews and 120 million monthly unique visitors. Tumblr CEO David Karp revealed the statistics in Munich this week at the Digital Life Design conference, where he also discussed goals for 2012 regarding product development, revenue and staff size (see audio clip below). Last time Tumblr unleashed figures was in September when monthly pageviews hovered around 13 billion, up from 2 billion at the beginning of 2011, reflecting a 218% year-over-year increase. To put the stats into perspective, WordPress.com blogs attract roughly 316 million people internationally who view 2.5 billion pages each month, while Reddit’s almost 35 million monthly unique visitors check out 2 billion pages. Facebook reportedly surpassed 1 trillion monthly pageviews in in mid-2011. When looking at U.S. stats alone, however, WordPress.com sites trumped Tumblr blogs on average each month in 2011: 20.4 million vs. 10.9 million pageviews. Tumblr, which launched in 2007, wants to give a “much more deliberate international effort” in reaching the audience outside of the U.S. in 2012, Karp says in the SoundCloud clip below from The Next Web. To accomplish this, Karp says Tumblr will spend more time with the foreign press and pay more attention to local markets. Right now, about 40% to 45% of Tumblr’s users reside in the U.S. Karp also says 2012 will be a “big year for revenue development products,” meaning several experimental initiatives from last year will soon become “full-blown products.” We’ve reached out to Tumblr’s press folks to elaborate on these products and will update this post accordingly once they respond. Expanding Tumblr’s staff — which grew from 15 members to 70 last year — is another major goal for Karp. Are you surprised by Tumblr’s continued growth? How do you effectively use Tumblr? Chime in below. BONUS: 20 Tumblr Blogs About Food or Parents1. Funny Food Face Anjulie and Paul offer up some food-themed whimsy as they make a habit of playing with their food on a regular basis. Click here to view this gallery. 1. My Parents Were Awesome We're starting off with a nice one. The now-famous My Parents Were Awesome blog has become a Tumblr success story. Take a look back at pictures of people's folks looking impossibly young, chic and downright cool, and ask yourself, where did it all go wrong? Click here to view this gallery. More About: blogging, david-karp, social network, tumblr, WordPress For more Social Media coverage:
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| Handle This: Google+ Finally Allows Pseudonyms Posted: 23 Jan 2012 01:02 PM PST   The Google+ Common Name policy will never be the same. Google promised it would take a close look at the requirement that only real names and identities reside on its seven-month-old social network, and now the search giant has reversed course, allowing both nicknames and full-fledged pseudonyms on Google+. Google VP of Product Bradley Horowitz acknowledged that "the stakes around this have always been very high" and called these changed an "important step in a long journey … We're talking with our users around the expression of identity." The change, which begins rolling out to users Monday, is "a big step for the system," said Horowitz, and one that will likely be welcomed by fierce common name critics like the Electronics Frontiers Foundation and popular blogger and Google+ early adopter and champion Robert Scoble. The ever-voluble Scoble, who often goes by the handle “Scobleizer” online, pressed Google’s Senior Vice President, Engineering Vic Gundotra on the topic last summer after Google began deleting Google+ accounts that violated the Common Names rules. More than 99% of those who sign up for Google+ "sail through" the account naming process, but these changes address the, according to Google, less than 0.1% that now end up in appeal. Among that small number are companies (roughly 20%) that Google+ now steers to Google+ Pages, which allows brands to set up destinations on the social network. Another 20%, Google told Mashable “would either prefer to use a pseudonym or another seemingly unconventional name.” The majority of the 0.1% just want to add a nickname. Adding a nickname to your account is quite simple. There's a new field under your Profile/About page. Enter the nickname and it appears either in the middle of your actual name (Lance "Lancealot" Ulanoff) or at the end in parenthesis. Though there is no option to show only your nickname, Horowitz did not rule out the possibility in a future iteration of the service. "We don't consider ourselves finished here," he said. The use of actual pseudonyms is a little more complex. All pseudonym requests will require some kind of evidence, which could range from a URL to your scanned driver's license. Google+ is not, however, accepting new pseudonyms. This is designed for "established ones." Horowitz explained that the new account naming option is intended for "people who have earned credit in other social systems and want to redeem that credit in Google+ … We will swing the doors open and welcome them to our system." Google will destroy all documentation you send them once the account verification process is complete. Google+ profile updates also support “alternate names,” “maiden names,” and “names in other scripts.” While Google+'s late embrace of nicknames and pseudonyms is an indication that Google heard its critics, that doesn't mean it necessarily agreed with those criticisms. "It's not an awakening," said Horowitz. "This has always been part of the plan." Google execs also know that this is not a perfect or final profile naming solution. "We care about identify and people being authentic on our service. We realize that what we have now is not the final destination either. This is a journey," added Horowitz who is also outlining the Google+ changes in a Google+ post. Ultimately this change means that those who know you by nicknames can find that appellation as part of your Google Profile and, more importantly, if you've branded yourself as "Master of Social Media" and are recognized as such on other services, you can proudly wear that label on Google+, too. What do you think? Do these changes make Google+ a more palatable online destination? Were you kicked out and now, maybe, ready to try again? Sound off in the comments. Bonus: Inside Google+Google+ Logo This is the Google+ logo. Click here to view this gallery. More About: Google, Google Plus profiles, trending
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| Consumers Want Online Video Ads No More Than 15 Seconds Long Posted: 23 Jan 2012 12:40 PM PST   Want to capture customer attention with online video ads? They’d better not be more than 15 seconds long, a new poll suggests. According to a survey by Poll Position, about 54% of Americans think 15 seconds is the acceptable time to view an online video ad before seeing free content, from YouTube clips to streaming TV episodes. The poll — conducted among 1,179 registered voters via a telephone survey — found that patience is low when it comes to sitting through a lengthy commercial before gaining access to the content they want to watch. Only 12% of consumers believe 30 seconds is an appropriate length. Meanwhile, 4% of respondents said a 45-second ad is acceptable and 3% said the same thing about a minute-long ad. About 27% expressed no opinion on the matter. The news comes on the heels of a study released last week by eMarkerter that revealed marketers are expected to spend more on online advertising than ads for print magazines and newspapers for the first time in U.S. history. In fact, online advertising is projected to generate $39.5 billion in sales this year — a 23.3% increase from 2011 — compared to $33.8 billion on print. As online ad revenues continue to grow — and more marketers invest in ads that air before online videos — advertisers looking to hold the attention of viewers should keep the message short and simple. Do you mind sitting through ads before watching videos online? How long do you think the online ads should be? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below. Image courtesy of NBC.com. More About: Advertising, digital advertising, Video, YouTube
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| FileSonic Blocks File Sharing After Megaupload Bust Posted: 23 Jan 2012 12:26 PM PST   FileSonic, an online “digital locker” that provides users with 10GB of free storage for 30 days, has shut down the service’s file-sharing functions. The move is evidently a reaction to the bust on rival service Megaupload, which was shut down after police arrested its founder on charges of flagrant copyright violation. A statement on FileSonic’s home page reads, “All sharing functionality on FileSonic is now disabled. Our service can only be used to upload and retrieve files that you have uploaded personally.” FileSonic shut down the services after an FBI investigation led to the shutdown of Megaupload — which is said to be the largest file-sharing site in the world — and the arrest of its founder, Kim Dotcom. New Zealand police raided Dotcom’s estate on Friday and took him into custody, along with three other people. A ruling on bail is expected by Wednesday. The news clearly made an impression. In addition to the shutting down of its file-sharing abilities, FileSonic only shows articles on its “In the News” page that have to do with its support of copyright, and the steps its taking with third parties to protect copyrighted digital content. Another file-sharing service, RapidShare, told Mashable in an emailed statement that it was unconcerned about the Megaupload arrests. In the statement, RapidShare says it operates in a more transparent way than Megaupload, and says the the site is “absolutely legal.” CEO Alexandra Zwingli says RapidShare, which is said to be the second-largest online digital locker after Megaupload, acts “rigidly” against copyright infringement and that the company has established a “constructive dialogue with politics and society in the United States” and elsewhere. It’s not known whether FileSonic ever plans to restore file sharing once more safeguards are in place, or if the change is permanent. Queries to the service weren’t immediately returned. Are you a FileSonic user? Are you angry about the change, or does it make no difference to you? Let us know in the comments. More About: file sharing, FileSonic, megaupload, rapidshare
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| Take That, Twitter: Chinese Site Beats Tweets per Second Record Posted: 23 Jan 2012 12:16 PM PST   Sina Weibo, one of China’s premiere microblogs and alternatives to Twitter, saw a record number of messages sent per second Monday, in honor of the Chinese New Year. Kicking off the Year of the Dragon, the new record — 32,312 messages per second — trounces Twitter’s record 25,088 messages sent per second, which was set last December in Japan during a TV screening of anime movie Castle in the Sky. Chinese news site DoNews reports the first minute of the new year saw 481,207 messages sent, roughly three times the number of messages sent during the first minute of the last new year. That figure is on par with the site’s 296% increase in users during 2011. Sina Weibo now has 250 million registered users, making the site slightly smaller than its largest domestic rival, Tencent Weibo, which has 300 million registered users. However, according to DoNews, Sina Weibo is the more-used of the two, seeing some 100 million users visit the site each day. Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow’s overtime touchdown pass earlier this month set the U.S. record for the most tweets per second at 9,420. Perhaps, given the Twitter-based enthusiasm of football fans, the upcoming Superbowl Feb. 5 will give the U.S. a chance to catch up with the Chinese and Japanese microblogging records. As China’s online population continues to grow, do you expect microblogs like Sina Weibo to continue to appeal to the mainstream? Let us know in the comments. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, kizilkayaphotos More About: china, microblog, sina weibo, Twitter For more Social Media coverage:
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| Most Video Conferencing Systems Are Vulnerable to Hackers [VIDEO] Posted: 23 Jan 2012 12:04 PM PST An IT security professional showed in an independent investigation that the average person with coding knowledge could access the world’s most important boardrooms unnoticed. Cameras, ideally perched on televisions or desks, can let hackers survey sensitive documents, passwords and financial data while listening in on confidential conversations. Advanced video conferencing cameras make it all too easy with panning, tilting and zooming capabilities. The New York Times reports HD Moore, chief security officer at Boston-based Rapid7, remotely entered 5,000 wide-open conference calls in two hours with a program he had written. The scan only reviewed 3% of the Internet and exposed a huge security threat. Moore gained entry into law firms, prisons, pharmaceutical companies, oil refineries, universities and medical centers, hearing countless bits of sensitive information. Many companies install Internet-enabled video conferencing equipment without a firewall to bypass complex configuration processes. More time is saved by allowing callers to be automatically connected without a pass-code. These two shortcuts make video conferencing systems one of the easiest ways for hackers to expose your company’s data. According to reports, hundreds of thousands of businesses spend up to $25,000 on video conferencing equipment (see the video above) and think they are safe against hackers because of the high price or they are unaware of the dangers. The expensive technology only provides a hacker’s paradise with high-definition video capture and advanced audio. Learn how to safeguard your video-conferencing systems in the video above. Tell us if your company uses video conferencing and which safeguards you use. Image Courtesy of Flickr, Gibffe More About: Business, coding, mashable video, security, video conferencing For more Business coverage:
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| Which Politicians Are Getting the Tech Industry’s Money? Posted: 23 Jan 2012 11:53 AM PST   Thanks to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), lots of tech junkies have become politics junkies, too. For that reason, we decided to figure out which candidates got the most money from the technology industry in 2011. It’s part of the Federal Elections Commission’s job to let us know which companies are donating to which political candidates. The FEC’s 2011 report, released in December, is chock-full of useful data. We found the info we needed by using the tools on OpenSecrets.org, a research group dedicated to “tracking money in U.S. politics and its effect on elections and public policy.” Note that companies don’t give money directly to campaigns. Rather, these numbers reflect contributions given by employees and political action committees (PACs) affiliated with tech companies. As it turns out, only three of the presidential hopefuls in 2012 have received a substantial proportion of their total largesses from the tech industry, labeled “Computers/Internet” on OpenSecrets: Ron Paul (with $166,764), Mitt Romney ($392,400) and Barack Obama ($1,338,109). Of the six Republicans and one Democrat running for president in 2012, only these three can count the tech industry amongst the top 20 sectors that contributed to their campaigns. During the 2008 election, the tech industry gave $9 million to Barack Obama’s eventually victorious campaign. With 11 campaign (and fundraising) months to go before Election Day, it’s yet to be determined if Silicon Valley will match or exceed that amount for Obama’s 2012 presidential bid. Which tech giant is the biggest contributor to political campaigns? Microsoft, by leaps and bounds. Microsoft-affiliated PACs and employees of the company gave President Obama a total of $171,073 last year. Ron Paul and Mitt Romney also benefited from some Microsoft cash, accepting $13,398 and $12,500 respectively. Microsoft PACs and employees also topped the Democratic National Committee’s list of donors at $196,400. Next up, there’s Google. The Mountain View, CA-based company has given Barack Obama $95,066 through employees and PACs for the 2012 election cycle. Ron Paul took $10,390 of Google’s money as well. Cisco Systems and Intel take the number-three and -four spots on the list. They gave $276,726 and $261,125, respectively, to federal candidates, parties and “outside groups” last year. Over 80% of the tech industry’s political contributions are made through individuals. Most of the rest are given through PACs, which are private organizations that advance political candidates or issues.  The technology industry leans Democratic. Tech companies gave the Democratic National Committee $2,720,774, but did not award enough to the Republican National Committee to appear as a “Top Industry” contributor. Sixty-six-percent of tech contributions are for Democrats, while 34% are for Republican candidates. It’s important to note, as TV funnymen Steven Colbert and Jon Stewart have been shrewdly parodying, that some PACs can choose not to report the names of contributors, making their contributions impossible to trace. Do these results surprise you? Which candidate do you think is the most “tech-friendly?” Let us know in the comments below. Image courtesy of Flickr, Beverly & Pack More About: 2012 presidential campaign, barack obama, features, Mitt Romney, Politics, ron paul
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| Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman Team up to Fight Famine Posted: 23 Jan 2012 11:43 AM PST   Batman, Superman and the rest of the Justice League of America are about to start fighting the famine in the Horn of Africa as part of We Can Be Heroes, a massive effort by DC Entertainment, Time Warner and three key NGOs to provide food and nourishment to those in need. The campaign, announced on Monday, will donate up to $2 million over two years to three organizations working to stop the famine: MercyCorps, Save the Children and the the International Rescue Committee. We Can Be Heroes uses the DC Comics line of superheroes — including Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, the Flash and the Green Lantern — to help raise awareness (and money) for a good cause. DC has promised to match any and all donations made through WeCanBeHeroes.org up to $1 million. DC and other Time Warner divisions, such as Warner Bros., will all participate in corporate matching plans wherein any money donated by employees will be matched by their parent organization. There is also an eshop where you can purchase clothing or accessories with 50% of the profits going to the three charities. The whole campaign centers around the idea of “heroes” and how anyone (not just a superbeing born on Krypton) can change the world. The campaign’s tagline — “One small act can make you a hero” — extends not just to the everyday people but to the African’s suffering on the ground, said George Rupp, International Rescue Committee’s president and CEO. Such people often have to fight for survival or overcome great odds to provide for their families and are also heroes, Rupp says. The odds are not in Africa’s favor. The famine is the worst to hit the region in 60 years with more than 13 million people currently at risk. More than 750,000 children under the age of five are malnourished and in Somalia alone, one child dies every six seconds. Yet despite those stats, the famine in the Horn of Africa has received comparatively little media attention. The public mind and wallet is often drawn to acute and sudden disasters — the natural disasters in Haiti and Japan, for example — but it is harder to engage the public with slow burning or more complicated crises such as the famine in Africa. That’s the real value of We Can Be Heroes. The hope is that by using recognizable superheroes, Times Warner and its NGO partners can leverage the DC brand to raise awareness and create mainstream interest in fighting the famine. “America is a wonderful country about generosity when we know about the problem and that’s what this particular partnership is about,” said Cokie Roberts, political commentator and Board Trustee for Save the Children. “This campaign will have superheroic help which will make a tremendous difference.” DC has been fighting famine for some time when, 20 years ago, it released “Heroes Against Hunger,” a comic book meant to shine a light on the hunger crisis in Ethiopia. DC is now throwing money and media behind their corporate responsibility. For Jeff Robinov, president of Warner Bros., it’s a way to show that corporations can also be heroes: “There’s a huge wealth gap in this country and I think corporations have an obligation to a bottom line, but they can also be enormously generous,” Robinov said. After two years, DC will take a survey of whether We Can Be Heroes has made a difference — but that won’t be the end of the line. The partnership will continue to look for ways to help and to involve its own employees in causes around the world. As with like DC’s Justice League, Time Warner is hoping its individual divisions can form one unbeatable team. We’ve heard of celebrities helping a cause, but should superheroes get involved? What about We Can Be Heroes do you like and what could be done better? Let us know in the comments below. The Justice League Each super hero in the Justice League has a skill to help fight the famine. Click here to view this gallery. More About: africa, charity, dc comics, non-profit, Social Good, Social Media, time warner For more Social Good coverage:
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