Mashable: Latest 17 News Updates - including “Mashable Weekend Recap: 28 Stories You May Have Missed” |
- Mashable Weekend Recap: 28 Stories You May Have Missed
- OK Go ‘Play’ 1,000 Instruments With a Car in Stunning New Video
- Super Bowl 2012 Commercials: Watch Them All Here
- 10 Best iPhone Armbands
- How to Follow New York Fashion Week Online
- Samsung’s “Thing Called Love” Ad: The Anti-Apple?
- How to Recruit with Facebook [INFOGRAPHIC]
- Super Bowl XLVI: The Ads [LIVE BLOG]
- Top 7 Comments on Mashable This Week
- Where Are the Women on Facebook’s Board of Directors? [VIDEO]
- Player Cut on Super Bowl 2012 Eve Will Tweet During Game
- Turn Patriots Coach Bill Belichick into a Super Bowl Meme [CONTEST]
- 5 Ways Social Media Could Be Hurting Your Job Search
- Super Bowl 2012: Tech Marches On [COMIC]
- Top 6 Super Bowl 2012 Apps
- Digital Divide: If You’re Reading This, You’re One of the Lucky Ones [INFOGRAPHIC]
- How to Follow Super Bowl 2012 With Social Media
- 4 Tools for Better Agency-Client Collaboration
| Mashable Weekend Recap: 28 Stories You May Have Missed Posted: 06 Feb 2012 04:37 AM PST      It was almost like a holiday weekend here at Mashable, but with the big Super Bowl game looming on Sunday, we weren’t just hanging around taking it easy. no sir/ma’am, we got even busier during the festivities. During Super Bowl 2012, during which our HQ favorite New York Giants barely beat the New England Patriots, a few of us got together to do a live blog with Madison Avenue advertising experts, at the same time inviting our astute commenters to join us in a chatfest about those crazy Super Bowl advertisements that made the game even more enjoyable. Meanwhile, we found a boatload of great stories from all over the world, including excellent pics from Pinterest, an unusual batch of Top 10 Tech, and we even celebrated Facebook’s eighth birthday. So join us for the Mashable Weekend Recap, where we’ll catch you up on all those exciting stories and much more. News & Opinion Essentials
Helpful Resources
Weekend Leisure
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| OK Go ‘Play’ 1,000 Instruments With a Car in Stunning New Video Posted: 06 Feb 2012 01:12 AM PST The band OK Go is known for their imaginative and original videos, and their latest, for Needing/Getting, is no exception. This time the folks from OK Go decided to play the instruments used in the song – with a car. They outfitted a Chevy Sonic with retractable pneumatic arms, and then drove it around with the arms hitting more than 1,000 actual instruments posted on the side of the road in a desert near Los Angeles. What makes the entire project really amazing (and a bit crazy) is the fact that the entire stunt was not only about the visual side of things: the instruments were actually producing sounds. For example, “each piano had the lowest octaves tuned to the same note so that they’d play the right note no matter where they were struck,” says the band in the video description on YouTube. The video took 4 months of preparation and 4 days of shooting and recording, and parts of the video were used in Chevrolet’s Chevy Sonic ad, which premiered on Superbowl 2012. Previous OK Go projects include an interactive HTML5 video, done in cooperation with Google, and a new version of the Muppet Show theme, filmed with characters from the show. More About: Chevy Sonic, Music, OK Go, trending, Video For more Entertainment coverage:
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| Super Bowl 2012 Commercials: Watch Them All Here Posted: 05 Feb 2012 10:18 PM PST Phone Innovators: Official 2012 Best Buy Game Day CommercialWatch as phone innovation meets phone-buying innovation, at Best Buy. Choose Phone Freedom and get any phone, any carrier, and all of their plans, with lots of unbiased advice. Reserve a $50 gift card at http://www.bestbuy.com/phonefreedom now for your next upgrade. Click here to view this gallery. There are two kinds of Super Bowl fans: those who watch for the football and those who watch for the advertisements. For those who prefer the sport, there were a bunch of great plays in Sunday’s game you may want to watch again online — Ahmad Bradshaw’s accidental touchdown comes to mind. For those who prefer the ads, we have just what you were looking for: All the ads from the 2012 game, together in one place. Super Bowl commercials once were half-minute clips that only lived on after the game in conversation. Thanks to YouTube and the magic of video sharing, you can watch all the ads online as many times as you would like. While many of this year’s ads were released before the event, the night still included many memorable spots. This year, 30-second spots sold for $3.5 million. That price point sounds expensive, but this is just about the only opportunity of year when viewers actually anticipate commercials. There are, of course, many of us who only watch the Super Bowl for the ads 2012 saw some ads that will certainly be remembered for months to come: Volkswagon’s “The Dog Strikes Back,” M&M’s “Just My Shell,” H&M’s “David Beckham Bodywear,” Best Buy’s “Phone Invaders.” Lucky for you, you can have a second shot at watching the buzzed ads right here. But more importantly, we want to hear from you. Which ads did you think were most successful this year? Which brands wasted their money on the year’s most expensive commercial slots? Share your analysis with us in the comments. More About: Super Bowl, Super Bowl 2012, Super Bowl ads, trending, YouTube
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| Posted: 05 Feb 2012 08:48 PM PST 1. Sporteer Armband "Designed by athletes for athletes," the Sporteer gets an integrated pocket for cash, cards and keys. Cost: $24.99 Click here to view this gallery. If you use your phone as an MP3 player during workouts, or don’t want to go running without it, an armband case is the ideal solution to give you a practical, handsfree way of keeping your handset close. We have found 10 armband cases for the iPhone that offer great solutions for joggers and gymers. Whether you’re looking for an armband case with a hidden pocket, glow in the dark safety features or built-in cable management, you’ll find a case to suit you in our selection. Take a look through the gallery. Let us know in the comments below about any other sporty iPhone case options you use and can recommend to the Mashable readership. More About: apple, cases, features, iphone, iphone accessories, iphone cases, running, sports
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| How to Follow New York Fashion Week Online Posted: 05 Feb 2012 08:11 PM PST   Snapshot from Nanette Lepore’s Spring/Summer 2012 collection. Fashion Week returns to New York Feb. 9, and once again designers and the press are heading to the web to engage consumer audiences. Building off success from past seasons, many brands — roughly one-third showing at Lincoln Center — will live-stream the unveiling of their Fall 2012 collections on their websites and Facebook Pages, as well as video platforms such as YouTube and Livestream. Still more will be uploading backstage footage via their Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram accounts. Meanwhile, members of the fashion press will be churning out 140-character reviews and mobile snapshots live from the shows, while posting longer, slideshow-accompanied reviews on their respective news sites. With so much to choose from, following Fashion Week online can feel nearly as overwhelming as attending in person — which is why we’ve gathered together the best resources for enjoying the festivities online and on your mobile phone. If there's any we've missed, please let us know in the comments section below. Live Video YouTube has once again partnered with Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week and Maybelline to live-stream more than 25 shows at youtube.com/liverunway. A mobile-optimized version is available at m.youtube.com/liverunway. Nicholas K BCBGMAXAZRIA Richard Chai Rebecca Taylor Rebecca Minkoff Charlotte Ronson Lacoste Jill Stuart Herve Léger by Max Azria Tibi Monique Lhuillier Tracy Reese Custo Barcelona Diane von Furstenberg Carolina Herrera Carlos Miele Bibhu Mohapatra Betsey Johnson Badgley Mischka Vera Wang Dennis Basso Narciso Rodriguez Michael Kors J. Mendel Milly by Michelle Smith Anna Sui Vivienne Tam  If you prefer live tweets to live video, we have a few favorites we recommend you follow. You can follow them individually by clicking on their profiles below. @womensweardaily @EHolmesWSJ @evachen212 @CathyHorynNYT @nyfw @jimshi809 @CNFashion @elvainadine @cutblog Fashion News Sites For those of you who prefer more editorially heavy coverage, here our top five picks for fashion news and imagery throughout the week. Some of the most intelligent collection reviews during Fashion Week, accompanied by comprehensive slideshows and videos from the runway. If you’re more interested in behind-the-scenes stories, see Style.com’s People + Parties section. Blog-style coverage and slideshows from The Wall Street Journal. The New York Times‘ style blog contains short updates from on and around the runway, often accompanied by slideshows. A more edited approach to the designs, trends and parties emerging during Fashion Week. Reviews and highlights from the collections, portions of which are available outside the paywall. Tumblr For the third season running, Tumblr is sending a group of bloggers — just six this time — to chronicle the shows. An internal staff of editors will also be curating posts to display at tumblr.com/nyfw. Alongside Tumblr’s chosen six, we’d also like to put these Tumblrs on your radar during Fashion Week: WWD From Me To You Teen Vogue Eva Chen dknyprgirl  Given the enthusiasm with which Fashion Week reporters and attendees have embraced photo-sharing app Instagram, we decided to include a list of some of our favorites for a visual report of the week. To locate them, open up Instagram and search for their usernames under Profile > Search Instagram > Users and usernames. evachen212 oscarprgirl simonesoliver katespadeny For more Entertainment coverage:
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| Samsung’s “Thing Called Love” Ad: The Anti-Apple? Posted: 05 Feb 2012 07:35 PM PST Samsung has made one thing clear in its “Next Big Thing” Super Bowl spot — it wants to be the anti-Apple. The South Korean electronics maker is marketing it’s 5.3-inch smartphone with stylus as the latest player in the world of connected devices. The ad — as we already new from its teaser released last week — pokes fun at Apple fanboys and fangirls who notoriously camp out in anticipation for iDevice launches. The towns of San Francisco, Calif, Boston, Ma. and Denver, Co., erupt in non-choreographed flash mobs, when they meet “The Thing Called Love,” the Samsung Galaxy Note. The phone, which some Mashable editors got their hands on at CES, feels too big to be a phone, measuring over half the length of the iPad. The Galaxy Note did not have a lot of tech company during the 2012 Super Bowl, as the majority of the ads were, as usual, for beer and cars. Perhaps Samsung will gain something as one of the limited technology advertisers during the game. Would you want a stylus for your smartphone? Do you think a 5.3-inch screen is too big? Let us know what you think of Samsung’s Super Bowl spot. The Most-Shared Super Bowl Ads Before the Game |
| How to Recruit with Facebook [INFOGRAPHIC] Posted: 05 Feb 2012 03:16 PM PST So you’ve got a great job that’s waiting to be filled at your company, and you decide you want to tap into the already measured power of social media recruiting. You start to wrestle with the big kahuna, LinkedIn, and you’re also covering niche social media sites for your industry. But you may be ignoring an intensely powerful tool hiding right under your nose — Facebook. The social media mega-site has proven successful for snapping up young professionals, but it can be a great resource for finding talent at any level. According to this infographic by HireRabbit, 48% of all job seekers (and 63% of those with a profile) did social media job hunting on Facebook in the past year. That’s a lot of eyes searching for opportunities, and if your brand is already active on the network, it could be worth engaging power users to recommend applicable candidates. Take a look at the infographic below to learn more about recruiting on Facebook. Do you have a social media recruiting success story? Is it as effective as traditional recruiting? Let us know in the comments.  Social Media Job ListingsEvery week we post a list of social media and web job opportunities. While we publish a huge range of job listings, we’ve selected some of the top social media job opportunities from the past two weeks to get you started. Happy hunting!
More About: Facebook Jobs, hiring, job recruiting, job search series, jobs, online recruiting
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| Super Bowl XLVI: The Ads [LIVE BLOG] Posted: 05 Feb 2012 02:24 PM PST   Some will go home heroes, some will fail miserably. Reputations will be built and destroyed tonight. No, we’re not talking about the guys on the New York Giants and New England Patriots, we’re talking about the people behind the ads that are running during the big game. For the second year in a row, Mashable is live blogging the Super Bowl. Once again, we’re only mildly interested in what’s going on on the field. But we’re very focused on the ads. I am Todd Wasserman, Mashable‘s business editor. Joining me this year will be some Madison Avenue bigshots, including Euro RSCG Chairman Lee Garfinkel, Kaplan Thaler Managing Director of Digital Strategy and CRM Danny Flamberg, 360i Vice President, Emerging Media David Berkowitz, Gyro Executive Creative Director Mike Tittel and Landor Associates chief marketing officer Hayes Roth. In addition, Vice President of Marketing at Bluefin Labs Tom Thai and his colleague, Associate Marketing Manager Eleanor Dowling will be providing some real-time social media stats and Mashable‘s own Charlie White and Sam Laird will be on hand to offer some color commentary. Join us at 6:30 p.m. EST. We’ll cover all the ads, from kickoff to the final second. The Most-Shared Super Bowl Ads Before the Game |
| Top 7 Comments on Mashable This Week Posted: 05 Feb 2012 02:14 PM PST   We’re back with our weekly top comments from the Mashable community. Each week we highlight a few of the outstanding comments from our readers. The Mashable community team is always on the lookout for insightful, dynamic, and engaging comments that spark conversation. This week’s big news was the Facebook IPO. We saw great conversation on everything from our continual IPO coverage to our Facebook posts about Pinterest. Have a look at the best comments of the week on Mashable below. Robert Scoble Robert Scoble has some fantastic suggestions for people with cluttered news feeds on Facebook. Comment originally seen on Facebook Subscribe is Ruining the News Feed Click here to view this gallery. If you haven’t commented on a Mashable article before, check out Mashable Follow, our content curation and social tool, as well as our comment guidelines to learn more. We’d love for you to join the conversation. Remember to comment on next week’s articles for a chance to be in the top comments roundup. More About: comments, community, top comments For more Social Media coverage:
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| Where Are the Women on Facebook’s Board of Directors? [VIDEO] Posted: 05 Feb 2012 01:58 PM PST Facebook, despite having more female users, has zero women on its board of directors. A recent Bloomberg report compared the Facebook board’s gender imbalance with that of LinkedIn and Google, both of which have at least one female board member. Facebook’s CFO Sheryl Sandberg, however, is of course a woman. Yet Sandberg admitted in a 2010 TED Talk that women are highly underrepresented at the top of corporations. What do you think Facebook could gain by adding a female director — or two? Let us know in the comments. More About: Facebook, facebook ipo, women
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| Player Cut on Super Bowl 2012 Eve Will Tweet During Game Posted: 05 Feb 2012 01:21 PM PST   A New England Patriots wide receiver who was shockingly released from the team less than a day before Super Bowl XLVI will instead tweet updates and reactions as he watches the game on television. The bizarre turn of events will provide a wholly unique experience for fans who follow Tiquan Underwood on Twitter. “It won’t get in-depth as far as what happened in practice and stuff like that,” Underwood said. “But it will basically be comments on the game, only from someone who will obviously have a bit more knowledge about it than a regular fan.” In an interview with Mashable hours before the Super Bowl XLVI kickoff, Underwood was positive, upbeat and gracious about a strange past day. The team hopes to bring Underwood back next season, according to the Boston Herald, but released him because of a late decision to add another defensive lineman to their Super Bowl rotation. Underwood went from two weeks of preparation for the game, to receiving the bad news, to gaining some 5,000 new followers overnight after he posted this series of classy tweets on Saturday afternoon:
In a subsequent message, Underwood thanked his supporters and well-wishers. “Ever since I’ve been here, the New England organization has treated me with a lot of class, so I just wanted to do the same,” he told Mashable. Underwood said that following his series of messages he received an “unreal” amount of support from around the Twittersphere. The number of followers on his @TiUnderwood account jumped from just over 7,000 on Saturday morning to more than 12,000 by Sunday afternoon. “It’s been pretty cool,” he said of the positive reaction. But he added that he has also received a number of mean-spirited messages from people “who don’t understand the business side of football, being on the outside looking in.” Underwood had recently expressed his excitement about about the game and devotion to his team by shaving the Patriots logo into the back of his head. “It’s going to be different watching the game on TV, knowing that you put in the time, put in the reps to be a part of the game,” Underwood told Mashable. “But I get to sit back and watch as a fan now, and I’ll be rooting for the Patriots.” Was it classless of the Patriots to cut Tiquan Underwood a day before the Super Bowl? Will you follow him during the game? Let us know in the comments. Photo courtesy of Patriots.com More About: Super Bowl XLVI, Twitter For more Social Media coverage:
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| Turn Patriots Coach Bill Belichick into a Super Bowl Meme [CONTEST] Posted: 05 Feb 2012 12:28 PM PST Before, during or after the Super Bowl game, take a stab at turning Patriots coach Bill Belichick into a meme. We know football fans are full of wit and humor. So tackle this challenge with all the knowledge you have about the Patriots, Giants, NFL and hoopla surrounding the Super Bowl. A prize package of Mashable swag will go to the best meme. Check out the hilarious early submissions at the bottom of this post. We’ll be using Reuters photographer Jim Young’s image of Belichick at a Feb. 1 practice for this contest. You can play along in two ways:
    Once you’re done creating your masterpiece, drag it into our Olapic widget at the bottom of this post. Or, you can tweet us @mashsocialmedia with the hashtag #SuperBowlMeme. Will your creation reign supreme? Give it a shot and win Mashable swag (and, of course, bragging rights!). Loading … More About: football, humor, memes, nfl, sports, Super Bowl, trending For more Entertainment coverage:
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| 5 Ways Social Media Could Be Hurting Your Job Search Posted: 05 Feb 2012 12:09 PM PST   Tony Morrison is the Vice President of Business Development at Cachinko, a unique professional community where social networking and job opportunities come together. Find him on Talent Connection and connect with Cachinko on Facebook or Twitter. Social media is awesome, isn't it? It does so much and asks so little. And using social media the right way can hook you up with the right people, in the right place, at the right time. When used to its fullest potential, actively engaging a network online can transcend your social media game from person to personality — someone who engages his circle and provides interesting and relevant content to the masses. However, like most good things, social media can be a real killer for job seekers who use it inappropriately. Any big no-no on a profile can be an ultimate deal-breaker in a matter of seconds, with no recourse and no notification. Are you sure your social media game is helping — not hurting — your cause? Check out these five ways that your social media efforts could be killing your job search. 1. You've Got Friends in Low Places (Thanks, Garth Brooks)As much as you might love your fraternity brother who never really grew out of the Animal House phase, your prospective boss might not. Employers will not judge you solely based on your connections, but having a wild child as an online friend posting inappropriate status updates and photos still can kill your chances for landing a plum job. Pay attention to how you interact with your friend and how they work with you. If you sign on to find the occasional profane comment or dirty picture tag, it's time to set some limits. Talk to your friend about who is reading your profile and/or change your settings to restrict who can post/tag what. 2. Is Anybody Out There?It's one thing to join a social network; it's another thing to participate. If you don't have the time for social media, don't make an account. An empty or barren social media profile says that you start things you can't finish and aren't taking advantage of the tools you have. More and more employers are searching candidates on Google, so that MySpace profile you started and thereafter neglected will pop up. Hit the basics by including a current (and appropriate) picture, basic info, and updating at least once a week. If you can't do that much, delete any accounts that are not adding value. 3. T.M.I (No More Need Be Said)On the flip side, a common problem many job seekers run into is putting too much out there on social media. While it might be awesome to share all those wickedly funny party photos and NSFW videos with your friends, your current or potential employer might not appreciate the humor. Additionally, the job search is a lot like dating. When you're gainfully employed, your current employer isn't going to want to see you actively job-searching on Facebook. If you're shopping around, many recruiters and hiring managers will lose interest if they see you getting cozy with another company. Know what to share, when to share it and with whom. Be discreet. Your privacy and how you value and protect it is also a critically important attribute of your online brand. Maintain a certain level of professional aloofness by limiting the content you upload and checking your privacy settings frequently. 4. Man of Many TalentsWe've all seen statistics describing social media as a great tactic for all job seekers. However, remember that the job search should only be about 20% online, and social media is just one part of that. You have many talents. You cannot demonstrate the various facets of your personal and professional brand exclusively via online tools, no matter how sophisticated the social networking platform or your digital marketing skills. So make it a point to practice all of your networking skills, and get away from the keyboard once in a while to talk with someone face-to-face. If you rely on social media too heavily, you're going to become a one-hit wonder real quick. Employers want to see candidates who are well-rounded with their branding and job search methods. 5. It's a Time-SuckAdmit it, you've spent a little too much time friending on Facebook, tweeting on Twitter, pinning on Pinterest, or grouping into circles on Google+. That's fine. Social media wasn't meant to simply be a job search tool — it's a place to have fun, connect with friends and, maybe, see how that girl you knew in high school is doing now. However, be aware that five minutes can turn into an hour on social media, which can seriously hurt your job search efforts. Stay focused on your job search, and set time aside in your day for "fun" social media so that it doesn't run away with you. What do you think? What other ways can social media kill your job search? Share your thoughts in the comments below. Social Media Job ListingsEvery week we post a list of social media and web job opportunities. While we publish a huge range of job listings, we’ve selected some of the top social media job opportunities from the past two weeks to get you started. Happy hunting!
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Talaj More About: job search series, jobs, SMO, social media jobs
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| Super Bowl 2012: Tech Marches On [COMIC] Posted: 05 Feb 2012 11:28 AM PST   As you watch Super Bowl 2012 (on NBC tonight at 6:30 p.m. EST), notice how high technology continues to ease its way into your favorite weekend NFL smackdowns. There’s instant replay, sophisticated communications equipment, spectacular camera rigs and super slow motion technology, and there’s even talk of the NFL adopting high-tech football helmets with a Head Impact Telemetry System (HITS), letting doctors monitor the condition of the human brain as the game is played. However, too many human beings are being injured in the process of slamming into each other at high speed, so perhaps someday there will be a solution to all of the grisly casualties that occur on the gridiron. That’s where our editor-in-chief and chief cartoonist Lance Ulanoff steps in with his own unique solution. How about you? Do you think football is so violent that something drastic must to be done to curtail the injuries? More About: comics, Super Bowl, Super Bowl 2012, Super Bowl XLVI
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| Posted: 05 Feb 2012 10:27 AM PST   On Sunday night, millions of people will be watching Super Bowl 2012 on their televisions, while others might be watching it on their smartphones. This year marks the first time the Super Bowl will be streamed live online, and with the trend of sports becoming more social, you will be able to participate along with the game while you watch. Many companies have developed mobile apps, so when you tune in on Super Bowl Sunday, you’ll have the opportunity interact with both the game and advertisements. Here is a roundup up of the top apps to keep you up to date while the New England Patriots and New York Giants battle it out for the title of Super Bowl XLVI champions. NFL Mobile App If you are a Verizon Wireless customer you are in luck. The NFL Mobile app, powered by Verizon Wireless and NFL, allows you to watch a live stream of Super Bowl XVLI this Sunday. All you need is a smartphone on the Verizon Wireless network. Click here to view this gallery. Whether you're watching the big game at home, online, on your phone, or you’re lucky enough to attend the game at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana, these apps can help enhance your Super Bowl XLVI experience. Tell us how we did. What’s your favorite Super Bowl app this year? Are there any other apps that should be added to the list? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below. More About: apps, nfl, Super Bowl, Super Bowl XLVI, trending
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| Digital Divide: If You’re Reading This, You’re One of the Lucky Ones [INFOGRAPHIC] Posted: 05 Feb 2012 09:41 AM PST Even in the richest countries on the planet such as the U.S., not everyone has easy access to this cornucopia of connectivity, the Internet. The Internet is a tremendous growth engine, responsible for 21% of economic growth in the more advanced countries in the world, according to a McKinsey study. While those of us in the United States complain about how we have to pay more for Internet service that’s slower than those of other first-world countries, within the United States there’s a gaping chasm between the haves and the have-nots. In this infographic by OnlineITdegree.net, an ad-free website describing itself as “an online informational resource for individuals looking to pursue IT degree of related education and careers,” you’ll find surprising information about the differences in Internet access in the United States. There are vast gaps between Internet accessibility in cities and rural areas, racial disparities in Internet access (which isn’t as pronounced as it was a decade ago), and the growing gap between rich and poor and its influence on who goes without computers or Internet access. Beyond that, you’ll see more information about how the U.S. lags behind other countries in Internet technology, broadband speed and access. This is the part that has us scratching our heads. Why do you think the United States lags behind less-wealthy countries when it comes to Internet access? Do find that as frustrating as we do? What do you think should be done about this persistent digital divide? Let us know in the comments.   Infographic courtesy OnlineITDegree.net More About: digital divide, infographic, internet, trending
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| How to Follow Super Bowl 2012 With Social Media Posted: 05 Feb 2012 08:23 AM PST   It's never been easier to get your pigskin fix on the internet than Super Bowl XLVI. The NFL's biggest sporting event, airing Sunday at 6:30 p.m. ET on NBC, is shaping up to be the most socially connected in football history. It’s also the first to feature official live video streaming over the internet. Social media is staying in lockstep with the festivities as well, leading to a vareity of options that will adequately satiate or supplement your Super Bowl 2012 coverage. From the pregame hype to post-victory analysis, nearly every facet of Super Bowl XLVI will be available to the public — complete with some great opportunities to interact with fellow fans and perhaps win some coveted loot in the process. When it comes to the big game itself, there are also plenty of ways to stay up to date with the game on an astounding number of different platforms and devices. This Super Bowl is all about the second screen, and social media is helping to fuel the fire with plenty of ways to keep up with the action on the field. Ready to order your pizza, sit down with a beer, and make your Super Bowl socially supercharged? Dreading the moments when you will have to pull your eyes away from the screen and run errands? Here is a roundup of easy (and free) ways to follow the Super Bowl through social media — both on computer and via mobile. What's your favorite way to interact with sporting events socially? Let us know in the comments. Follow the Super Bowl on Twitter Twitter is a perfect option to keep up with the action if you're without a visual device -- or to get up-to-the-minute commentary from your favorite sports luminaries. Aside from the @SuperBowl official Twitter account, there are ten different official hashtags, including #SuperBowl, #superbowl46 and any mashup of the team names. Any of these outlets are sure-fire way to recieve fast updates and information during the game. For those looking for a little more in-depth sports knowledge, check out this roundup of must-follow accounts to keep your Super Bowl connected. Click here to view this gallery. More About: features, getglue, mashable, nfl, sports, Super Bowl, Super Bowl XLVI, trending, TV For more Mobile coverage:
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| 4 Tools for Better Agency-Client Collaboration Posted: 05 Feb 2012 07:11 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. The most effective consultant/client relationships tend to morph into partnerships, in which the consultant is truly an extension of the internal team. However, elevating a relationship from "vendor" status to a meaningful collaboration isn't always as easy as it sounds. Thankfully, there are some handy tools available that can help you establish an effective team. 1. IM-ing for BusinessIf you’re using GChat, AOL or another instant-messaging service, it might be time to consider one of the "IM-ing for business" tools, such as Hipchat, Yammer or Chatter (part of Salesforce). These services are particularly helpful for teams in distributed locations and/or working on multiple projects. Companies can create "rooms" in Hipchat, or "Groups" in Yammer, for various projects, departments or areas of focus, with privacy settings determining who can access the room. Only want to give certain people in the company access to product development details? Make that a private room. Want a room where anyone can offer suggestions? That's doable, too. By "@mentioning" someone in a discussion, it's easy to pull the right people into a conversation. Supporting real-time collaboration and faster response times, users can be notified when they're mentioned in a comment. Conversation histories are available and searchable, making it easy for people to get up to speed. The services are also available via desktop, mobile web and phone apps. According to brand strategist Nick Westergaard, the opportunity to be "brought inside" a company is extremely valuable: "Chatter and Chatter groups provide a great way to feel in-sync despite unshared geography," he explains. "Whether it’s sharing simple casual updates (“Jane’s leaving early,” “Cold out there today!”), or having the online equivalent of a quick 15-minute stand-up meeting, it offers a simple way to build a closer connection on a day-to-day basis. That’s invaluable in our business." 2. Thinkfuse: Removing Status Quo from Status ReportsThinkfuse adds a collaborative group element to status reports. You may ask why you need another service if you're already emailing status reports. The answer is that it's not just about reporting specific tasks and to-do items to a small group of people. With Thinkfuse, status updates become another point for collaboration. Reports are sent to a larger group of people, giving everyone (or a specific cross-section) of people in the company an update. It helps to understand what everyone else is working on, identify opportunities to improve efficiencies or work together, and see how each person is part of the bigger picture. Thinkfuse lets managers create report templates, send due-date reminders and collect feedback and comments in one location, without having to worry about whether the right people are CCd on an email. 3. Basecamp: Collaboration and Teamwork As a project management software service, Basecamp puts the emphasis on collaboration and communication in addition to getting tasks done. The dashboard provides an overview; project files are housed in one central location and deadlines are trackable on the master project calendar. Within the service, users can create benchmarks and milestones to ladder up to a larger project deadline. Big Red Rooster, an interactive and creative agency, uses the Basecamp to share files and status updates with clients. Additionally, "Hosting the files in one location avoids confusion and ensures version control among all partners," says Rebecca O'Dell, Big Red Rooster’s communication coordinator. 4. Facebook Groups: Collaboration at No CostIf you're looking for a free collaboration tool — on a familiar platform — Facebook Groups can fill the need. Jason Falls has used Facebook Groups on multiple projects, including coordinating a team of writers for his blog, SocialMediaExplorer.com. “I use Facebook Groups to communicate and have group discussions with my team of 12 blog authors. The group helps us stay connected and aware of what each other might be working on, thinking and the like," Falls says. "I hate email threads and back-and-forth in the inbox. Threaded discussions in a group takes that annoyance away." Facebook Groups can be open, closed or secret. The latter two are preferred for internal communication, as it makes it easier for team members to be added and request to join the group. Collaboration Improves EfficienciesAs PR consultant Shonali Burke discovered, Facebook Groups created an additional layer of accountability with clients. For example, Burke established a Facebook Group to facilitate communication between "champions" for a non-profit project she was leading. "Having our client as part of our group showed her in real-time how we were working and communicating with the champions. It added to the effectiveness of our 'offline' communications, such as weekly calls, since we wouldn’t have to go over items we’d already discussed in the group to any great extent," she says. "And it added transparency to our work, which is always a good thing." Put another way, increased collaboration improves efficiencies, meaning agencies can spend less time revising drafts and more time implementing. As Westergaard notes, "We share drafts and concepts and are able to dramatically cut down on notes and iterations, as it’s easier to get on the same page faster." What collaboration tools are you using to improve communication between your company and its consultants? More Small Business Resources From OPEN Forum:
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