Mashable: Latest 14 News Updates - including “Apple to Announce Plans for Its Hoard of Cash Monday” |
- Apple to Announce Plans for Its Hoard of Cash Monday
- How To Work With A Recruiter To Find Social Media Talent
- Don’t Tag Me, Bro: How to Control Facebook Photo Tags
- 5 Questions For Rep. Darrell Issa, SOPA Opponent and ‘Internet Defender’
- New iPad Screen Under the Microscope Makes the iPad 2 Screen Cry [PICS]
- 4 Tools for Finding the Perfect Job
- Kim Dotcom Could Get Seized Property Back After Paperwork Mistake
- Top 10 Tech This Week [PICS]
- Trailer for Ridley Scott’s ‘Prometheus’ Released [VIDEO]
- How Pinterest Can Turn Your Brand Red-Hot [INFOGRAPHIC]
- 15 Weirdest ‘Awkward Stock Photos’
- ‘Game On’ Tribute to Rick Santorum Hits Million Views [VIDEO]
- Wife of Army Sergeant Accused of Killing 16 Afghan Civilians Ran a Blog
- How to Make Your Tweets More Trustworthy [STUDY]
- Typography 101: What Small Business Owners Need To Know
| Apple to Announce Plans for Its Hoard of Cash Monday Posted: 19 Mar 2012 02:16 AM PDT      Apple will today host a conference call to announce what it will do with its $97 billion cash balance, the company has announced. The call is scheduled for Monday, March 19, 2012 at 6:00 a.m. PDT / 9:00 a.m. EDT. The details in the call announcement were scarce: All Apple was willing to say is that it will announce “the outcome of the Company's discussions concerning its cash balance.” Apple’s hoard of cash has been a subject of discussions for quite some time. Some call for the world’s biggest company to pay out a dividend to its shareholders (Apple has last done this in 1995), and others would like to see Apple eat up other companies. While any company dreams of having such an enormous pile of cash on its hands (coupled with very little or no debt), the truth is that Apple’s cash balance is becoming somewhat of a burden for the company, and large shareholders are getting restless. We’ll follow Apple’s conference call here at Mashable. In the meantime, let us know what you think: will Apple pay out a dividend, will it announce a major acquisition, or something else entirely? Share your opinions in the comments. More About: apple, cash, trending For more Business coverage:
            |
| How To Work With A Recruiter To Find Social Media Talent Posted: 18 Mar 2012 03:51 PM PDT   Heather R. Huhman is the founder and president of Come Recommended, a content marketing and digital PR consultancy for organizations with products that target job seekers and/or employers. You can connect with Heather and Come Recommended on Twitter and Facebook. Social media has become a hot new job opportunity in the past few years and companies are snatching up the social media pros left and right. Brand managers, community managers, social media strategists, content creators — the social media job titles go on and on. So how does any employer find the right social media talent? The answer: Hire a recruiter. In an industry such as social media, people are claiming "guru" status if they know how to use Twitter and Facebook. A recruiter can help you find truly talented social media professionals who have the skills you’re looking for and the right cultural fit for your organization. Plus, having the help of a recruiter to hire the right person the first time around can reduce employee turnover, ultimately saving you money; the average entry-level hire costs $5,700 to $8,900, not to mention the added expense of training. Think about it: You have a doctor to treat your illness and a mechanic to fix your car. Why not hire a recruiter to find your talent? Select a recruiter who has experience in identifying social media talent. Many recruiters specialize in different industries, so find one who knows the social media market like the back of his hand. Some key questions to ask a potential recruiter: 1. What is your recruiting background? This will give you an idea of this recruiter's experience. Has he worked with social media talent before? Has she been successful? 2. What are some key skills that you look for in a social media professional? The recruiter should be able to answer this question clearly and directly; he or she should know off the bat what skills are essential for social media talent and be able to give you examples of what he or she will be looking for when searching for a candidate. 3. Where do you begin looking for a social media professional? Again, a recruiter with relevant experience will be able to answer this question without hesitation. This will show you that the recruiter has a plan in mind of how to find social media talent; he or she knows where to look to deliver you results. 4. How do you determine cultural fit? This is important when hiring for any position; even if a potential candidate has every skill you need down pat, if they don't fit into your organization's corporate culture, you'll likely lose them down the line. A good recruiter will know this, and take cultural fit into account when identifying potential talent for your organization. Once you’ve hired a recruiter, three things are important when working with them to find social media talent: 1. ClarityBe clear when conveying your needs to a recruiter. Maybe you don't know exactly what the title of the social media professional you need is, but you should be able to convey what goals and tasks you’re expecting an employee to accomplish. Your recruiter, with his or her experience in the social media industry, should be able to work with you to help clarify exactly what you're looking for. 2. Expectations Be realistic with your expectations; no "perfect" employee exists. You should be seeking realistic skill-sets and backgrounds and offering a reasonable salary for a potential candidate before you can expect your recruiter to find talent. Your recruiter should be able to tell you if your expectations are realistic and if not, what you should expect from the social media talent market. 3. CommunicationKeep the lines of communication open between you and your recruiter. Continuous discussion of your expectations and your recruiter's progress will help keep you both on the same page when seeking social media talent. Social media is an industry with many specific talents, roles and niches. To find the best talent to play the right roles in your organization's social media efforts, hire a recruiter with relevant experience, and focus on continuous communication to set clear, realistic goals. Have you ever worked with a recruiter before? Tell us about your experience 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, webphotographeer, andrearoad. More About: features, job recruiting, job search series, mashable, recruiter For more Business coverage:
      |
| Don’t Tag Me, Bro: How to Control Facebook Photo Tags Posted: 18 Mar 2012 03:22 PM PDT 1. Unwanted Photo Tags It's happened to all of us -- we've all been tagged in an unflattering or inappropriate image at some point. Don't panic though, we will take you through first how to get rid of that unwanted tag, and then how to manage your privacy settings so it doesn't happen again. Click here to view this gallery. Facebook’s photography features and photo-tagging functionality are an awesome way to share your images with friends and family. Sometimes, however, a few photos might show up that you’d rather not draw attention to. We can show you how to remove undesirable photo tags, and more importantly, how to tweak your Facebook privacy settings to make sure an unapproved photo tag never appears on your Timeline ever again. Take a look through our simple, step-by-step walk-through. Let us know in the comments about any Facebook photo tag horror stories you’ve experienced! More About: Facebook, features, How-To, privacy, Social Media, tips and tricks
      |
| 5 Questions For Rep. Darrell Issa, SOPA Opponent and ‘Internet Defender’ Posted: 18 Mar 2012 03:06 PM PDT   Rep. Darrell Issa, a California Republican who chairs the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, describes himself as an “Internet defender.” When the technology community rallied together in opposition of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), Rep. Issa was at the front lines of Congress fighting to kill the bill. And as a former electronics company CEO, he’s one of the few Congressman who seem to “get it” when it comes to technology (Fun fact: Rep. Issa lent his voice to the alarm system for the ultra-sleek Dodge Viper). Mashable spoke with Rep. Issa about his crusade against SOPA, his alternative plan for protecting intellectual property (the OPEN Act, hosted by the Madison Project) and what he sees on the horizon for technology and politics. Good morning Chairman Issa, thank you for taking the time to speak with us. First question: What do you credit most with the defeat of SOPA? “Time. More than anything else, the time it took for Wikipedia to gets its board to agree to the blackout and the momentum built that led to 7,000 websites responding (to SOPA). The reason I gave you that answer is because we don’t always have time. Time was the enemy of the people who tried to rush SOPA through the House. “We started with four people who were adamantly against (SOPA). We lost every early vote, but we won time for the Internet (community) to react. In our business, sometimes we have to brag about our defeat. We lost every single vote in the markup, but we took days of their time — and that became one of our tactics to help let people know just how radical this bill was.” Do you think the tech community can rally once again if it feels threatened by a new piece of legislation? “It can, but you don’t always get the time to figure out the impact of a bill. There are steps being taken by a number of technology companies to hire lobbyists and have more eyes and ears in D.C. to find out what’s being earmarked into bills at the last minute when there really may only be a few hours’ warning (before a technology bill is passed).” Tell us about the OPEN Act, your alternative intellectual property bill. “I think every country has a right to protect its internal intellectual property. If you go to Russia and you try to stop piracy of American movies, that’s beyond the ability of U.S. law. If I hold a copyright in the U.S., I should have protections against internal piracy and external piracy. Our courts can already protect us against internal piracy. “The only thing that needed to be addressed by SOPA is this: What if [people in another] country were pirating from the U.S.? The OPEN Act applies only to [people in other countries] that have been found to be violating U.S. copyright after a trial. Under [the OPEN Act], after that trial it would enable other means to be used but not the draconian means, like DNS blocking, that SOPA called for. “Our view is that if you follow the money and prevent companies like Mastercard, Visa and PayPal from allowing the sales of pirated content, it doesn’t close off the Internet but it does stop these foreign traffickers.” The debate around SOPA and other technology bills doesn’t divide neatly along party lines. Do you think technology issues are, in a way, bipartisan? “Intellectual property and how we deal with that is always bipartisan … Sen. Wyden (D-Ore.) was particularly helpful in this entire debate, he brought his own version [of an intellectual property bill] to the Senate floor. [Rep. Jared] Polis [D-Colo.] was great to have as somebody else who knew the Internet and what it could do.” You put the draft version of the OPEN Act online for the public to read and comment upon. Do you think that kind of transparency is the future of politics and technology? “I do believe it is the future. Congress has to be willing to fund it. The Madison project had to be done at an external site because that kind of interactive exchange isn’t allowed under the House’s firewall rule, so we went to an outside storage facility. “We don’t like to call the people who make the rules in the House and the Senate “Luddites,” but they’re pretty close. They’re very ultra-conservative on what (new technologies) they’re willing to adopt. Congress only went to Outlook Web a year ago — and it was still only a belt-and-suspenders type of access … our whole infrastructure is built around not getting hacked rather than getting access. “The technology systems in the House are quite archaic, and if you’re dealing with members that have been around for a long time, it’s harder to adopt new platforms than if you’re in the private sector and more comfortable with new platforms. A big part of the House’s bandwidth is actually used for an off-site redundancy, which duplicates every one of our sites for Outlook and all of our servers. We use so much bandwidth for that, I’m still fighting to get (Voice over IP) telephones installed in the House.” Chairman Issa, thank you again for taking the time out of your schedule to speak with Mashable today. “Thank you. My message to the 7,000 websites that blacked out last January and other members of the tech community: How would you react if you only had 24 hours to react to a bill? There’s no system that would guarantee they would know and react in that short a period.” BONUS: Rep. Issa Calls the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) ‘More Dangerous Than SOPA’ Images courtesy of Flickr, Congressman Darrell Issa More About: darrell issa, Politics, SOPA, technology
      |
| New iPad Screen Under the Microscope Makes the iPad 2 Screen Cry [PICS] Posted: 18 Mar 2012 02:30 PM PDT   We know that the new iPad screen has a 2048 x 1536 pixel resolution, making it the most pixel-dense tablet screen available, but seeing the screen under a microscope really shows how tiny the pixels are compared to those used in the iPad 2′s screen. UI designer Lukas Mathis has a digital microscope (a cheap one, he says) and the new iPad, so he decided to put up some screenshots of its screen, magnified 80x. He also has images of many other smartphone and tablet screens under the same magnification for comparison. As you can see in the picture above, the difference between the pixels of the iPad 2 and the new iPad is quite staggering. In fact, the only other two devices from Mathis’s gallery which have smaller pixels than the new iPad are the iPhone 4S and Xperia Play, which has a 4-inch 854 × 480 pixel screen. Other devices included in the roundup are Kindle Fire, Google Nexus One (its OLED screen is quite different from the others on this list) and Nintendo 3DS. Seeing how the pixels rapidly shrink on new smartphones and tablets, one has to wonder when this trend will end. What do you think? How high a resolution do tablets and smartphones really need? Did Apple reach the limits, or will we see even tinier pixels on these devices in the future? Share your opinions in the comments. iPad 2
Click here to view this gallery. [via The Next Web] More About: ipad, iPad 2, iPad screen, trending
      |
| 4 Tools for Finding the Perfect Job Posted: 18 Mar 2012 02:23 PM PDT   When you’re on the job hunt, it’s easy to take an “anything will work” approach to the scope of your search. Everyone remembers the grade-school saying “beggars can’t be choosers,” but it’s not enjoyable to be saddled with a job that’s not a good fit. Here’s some good news: There are simple tools that will not only ensure the jobs you’re applying to are great fits for your personality but also customize your current job portfolio to give you an edge. There are so many ways to find out whether the job you’re applying for suits your skills and work style, and plenty that require no cost to use. When you make your job search work for you, you’ll find companies looking for what you do best, not molds you should wedge yourself into. Here’s a roundup of four tools that can give you the edge in finding the perfect job. Some of them are tried-and-true avenues that could use a second look, and others are on the cutting edge of job search. Have you used these services to get your dream job? Or do you have a foolproof tool for a custom job search experience? Let us know in the comments. 1. ResunateIt’s easy to think of a potential employer as the venerable “man behind the curtain.” I mean, what do recruiters actually do when they’re looking over resumes? Resunate attempts to get rid of the curtain altogether by showing users just how their resumes look to a recruiter or potential employer. This tool parses your entire uploaded resume and compares it to the description of the job you’re after, acting the way an employer’s applicant tracking system (ATS) would work. Then, you get a score from 1 to 10 that determines how well your application would stack up in the ATS. Armed with that feedback, you can tweak your CV to boost your score or allow Resunate to “Auto Focus” your resume for the job, truncating any unnecessary skills and boosting ATS visibility. You can keep as many resumes as you want on the site, letting you can tailor all of your resumes to each position for which you’re applying. It isn’t totally free, though — Resunate’s freemium model means that you’ll have to pay up (starting at $14.95 per month) if you want to take advantage of everything the website has to offer. 2. LunchMeet Oftentimes, securing the job that’s perfect for you isn’t about what you know, but who you know. LunchMeet is a spanking-new mobile app that gives you the opportunity to put yourself in front of business recruiters, upper-level execs, and others in your industry without pressure. Simply sign up with your LinkedIn account and search to see what professionals are available for networking over lunch or coffee. Meeting with these professionals is also a great way to get an inside look at a company if you’re looking to break in or change industries. The app is still new, so the level of reliable peer networks is difficult to tell. It has serious promise for those who are networkers at heart, and it can help you put a personal face onto your job search. 3. GlassDoor If you’re interested in learning about the HR culture and work environment at a company, GlassDoor is a must-use. With everything from interview recaps to blind salary reports, GlassDoor gives the skinny on all aspects of a company from anonymous voices on the inside. It’s best to use GlassDoor to get the full idea of a company before you fill out the application — you could even see what your offer could look like if you get that far. Another useful feature of the website is the “CEO Approval Rating,” letting you know how employees feel about their leader and upper management. GlassDoor is one of the easiest ways to find out whether you’re going to be happy at a company and what your future there could look like. The one downside is, to have a fleshed-out profile a company must have plenty of employees to give the inside scoop. If you’re looking at lean and hungry startups, you’re not going to find much information — if any at all. But if you’re looking at bigger companies with higher profiles, it’s worth a peek. 4. Indeed One of the most difficult things about a job search is, well, searching. Sifting through dozens of job sites, both aggregate and company-specific, can be a total energy and morale drain. It’s a necessary evil: If your dream job wasn’t posted today, it could be there tomorrow or the day after. There’s no magic formula that dictates the perfect time to snag a dream job, so escaping the search is impossible. However, Indeed‘s search engine makes the pain of search a little simpler. Thanks to its minimalist and straightforward design, it just takes a couple of seconds to set up a recurring search protocol and a profile that displays your resume to potential recruiters. With no upfront cost and little hassle, it’s also easy to set up an alert system that will email you whenever a potentially relevant job — based on strictly specified keywords — comes up. It’s not a full replacement for daily search, but indeed is a good base of operations for the smart job hunter. 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, narvikk More About: Glassdoor.com, job search, job search series, jobs
      |
| Kim Dotcom Could Get Seized Property Back After Paperwork Mistake Posted: 18 Mar 2012 01:39 PM PDT   New Zealand authorities announced they made a procedural mistake before taking the property of Kim Dotcom, the founder of MegaUpload. He may now be able to reclaim $17.8 million of his seized assets and $6.8 million in frozen cash. Those assets were seized with the wrong kind of court order, according to the New Zealand Herald. A judge presiding over the case declared the order used in the seizure “null and void,” having “no legal effect.” Police attempted to switch to the correct form of court order after they seized Dotcom’s assets. The new order was granted on a temporary basis, but a judge will decide shortly whether the mix-up means Dotcom can reclaim his property. Dotcom was arrested at his Auckland, New Zealand mansion in January on a request from the U.S. Government. He was wanted by the Department of Justice under suspicion of running the “Mega Conspiracy, a worldwide criminal organization whose members engaged in criminal copyright infringement and money laundering on a massive scale.” The U.S. has asked New Zealand to extradite Dotcom so he may stand trial for digital piracy in American courts. He’s been charged with participating in a racketeering conspiracy, conspiring to commit copyright infringement, conspiring to commit money laundering and two substantive counts of criminal copyright infringement by the U.S. Department of Justice. Dotcom has brushed off those claims as “nonsense,” instead claiming that Megaupload offered “online storage and bandwidth” to users, not a means to transfer pirated goods and content. Much to the chagrin of users who use MegaUpload to store legitimately owned data, the fate of the website’s servers remains unclear. Dotcom was released on bail last month, despite arguments from the U.S. that he might flee New Zealand for a country less likely to hand him over to American authorities. His extradition hearing is scheduled for August. BONUS: The Strange and Epic Lifestyle of Megaupload's Kim Dotcom1. MegaRacer Domination Ends Until recently, Kim Dotcom was the top Modern Warfare 3 player in the world. He even apparently posted a video to prove it. We imagine it's tough to maintain such a coveted position while being held in jail for multiple copyright violations. Click here to view this gallery. More About: Kim Dotcom, megaupload, piracy, trending, World
      |
| Posted: 18 Mar 2012 01:10 PM PDT 1. Sonic Boom-Free Biplane   Supersonic aircraft have been flying for more than a half-century, but they can't fly over populated areas because their huge sonic booms are so loud they can actually break windows. Now scientists at MIT and Stanford have figured out a way to cancel out those thunderous shockwaves with a new wing design that harkens back to the early days of aviation: It's a biplane. The new wings eliminate sonic booms with the added benefit of enhanced energy efficiency. That means supersonic aircraft might someday zip along using half the fuel of today's designs. Using a complicated system of trial and error, the scientists picked the most successful of 700 configurations, and plan to soon build a 3D model of this breakthrough design. [via Livescience] Click here to view this gallery. It was a riveting week of “what if” here at Top 10 Tech, with one all-pervasive fact: Technology that once seemed like science fiction has now become reality. For instance, what if you put a Retina display on an iPad? What if solar panels cost half as much as they do now? What if you could build a race car that’s so small you can only see it with a microscope? What if airplanes could fly at supersonic speeds without that sonic boom that makes them too annoying to fly over land? That’s just the beginning of the wonders we uncovered this week, where we found the most astonishing iPhone dock ever built, took a brand-new laptop swathed in Gorilla Glass for a spin, found a way to indulge our kookyest desires with an MP3 doorbell and even discovered a way to use a Microsoft Kinect that we never dreamed of. So don’t miss the answers to all those crucial “what if” questions and a lot more right here on this edition of Top 10 Tech This Week. Here’s last week’s Top 10 Tech. More About: ipad, iphone, laptops, solar power, Top 10 Tech, trending
      |
| Trailer for Ridley Scott’s ‘Prometheus’ Released [VIDEO] Posted: 18 Mar 2012 12:36 PM PDT Are you a fan of mind-blowing science fiction movies directed by the legendary Ridley Scott? Then you’re in for a treat: The latest trailer has been released for Prometheus, billed as a prequel to his 1979 classic Alien. Prometheus is being shot entirely in 3D. It’s set in the Alien universe, but it has its own separate storyline. In the film, researchers discover that all humans may owe their creation to a single entity. A team of explorers is dispatched to learn more about the origins of humanity, only to discover a malevolent being with the power to destroy life everywhere. The trailer features an almost Firefly-looking spaceship, explorers going mad and an Alien-esque tentacle and other not-quite-human lifeforms alongside other scenes meant to whet the appetites of science fiction geeks across the world. Oh, and it’s all set to a modern take on the same anxiety-inducing music used in the trailer for the original Alien. Does the new trailer tickle your cinema bone? Director Ridley Scott is certainly excited about the film — he’s already hinting at a sequel, according to Wired. "If we're lucky, maybe we'll have a second part because at the end of Prometheus, it does leave some questions unanswered,” said Scott at WonderCon 2012. As part of a viral marketing campaign, the film’s creators have opened ProjectPromethus.com, an alternate reality game. Prometheus premieres on June 8. Do you think it’ll be the summer blockbuster of the year? Sound off in the comments below. More About: alien, aliens, Entertainment, Film, Ridley Scott, trailers For more Entertainment coverage:
      |
| How Pinterest Can Turn Your Brand Red-Hot [INFOGRAPHIC] Posted: 18 Mar 2012 11:01 AM PDT
While shaping your brand’s image on Pinterest, remember to take into account the specifics of the site’s userbase. A recent study showed that home, arts and crafts, style/fashion and food are the most popular categories on Pinterest. The food category is the fastest growing segment of Pinterest. Take a look at this infographic from web optimization company Maxymiser, and then let us know in the comments if you’re altering your plans to take advantage of the explosive growth of Pinterest. Infographic courtesy Maxymiser More About: branding, infographic, Marketing, pinterest For more Business coverage:
      |
| 15 Weirdest ‘Awkward Stock Photos’ Posted: 18 Mar 2012 10:23 AM PDT  
Click here to view this gallery. The popular Tumblr blog Awkward Stock Photos hilariously highlights the dismal detritus that litters the little-opened bottom drawers of online stock photo libraries. On the blog you’ll find amusingly inappropriate imagery, brilliantly bizarre still-life shots, classic clichés brought to life and much, much more. There’s no doubt that crappy stock photos are hilarious. We asked the creator and curator of Awkward Stock Photos, Mark Hauge, why he thought this was. “I think it’s because they essentially exist for themselves. Image sourcing can be a very tedious process. You are looking for a specific look/feel/fit for your project, and you may have to go through tens or hundreds of pages to find exactly what you need,” Hauge told Mashable. “Then there are the completely odd photos that stand out as something that isn’t just unusable for the project, but unusable for any project.” For your viewing pleasure, we asked Hauge to pick his favorite submissions. In the gallery above you’ll find his highlights — share yours in the comments below. More About: features, gallery, humor, photography, stock photography, trending, tumblr For more Social Media coverage:
      |
| ‘Game On’ Tribute to Rick Santorum Hits Million Views [VIDEO] Posted: 18 Mar 2012 09:44 AM PDT President Obama may be trying to strike a name for himself as the “singing president,” but Republican White House hopeful Rick Santorum has at least two vocalists in his corner: Camille and Haley Harris of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Together, the girls are “First Love Band,” a country-folk Christian band. They recorded the above song and video for Santorum after meeting him at a campaign event just before Super Tuesday (March 6, 2012). As of Sunday afternoon, it’s gained more than one million YouTube views. “We wrote it Sunday night, March 4 until three in the morning and woke up on March 5 to finish it,” wrote the girls on their YouTube page. “We believe in Santorum’s character and his ability to boldly lead this country in the right direction. It was 100% our idea to write this for them — he deserves it.” The same day the two sisters uploaded the video, it appeared on the Santorum campaign’s Facebook page. There, it generated more than 1,400 “likes” and 400 “shares.” Santorum’s campaign also tweeted a link and a #GameOn hashtag to more than 170,000 followers:
It was soon picked up by Yahoo, where it got more than 250,000 views, and Fox News, which gave it another 69,000. Almost 16,500 views came from SpreadingSantorum.com, an anti-Santorum website critical of his views on gay marriage. Since the video was released in early March, the Harris sisters have become celebrities among Santorum supporters. They have appeared, sung and spoken at several of the former Senator’s campaign events.   Mashable has attempted to contact to the Harrises and Santorum’s campaign for any comment on their sudden viral success and their inclusion in Santorum events. We’ll update this post when we get a response. Is the girls’ video a catchy tune, or does it fall flat? Sound off in the comments below. More About: 2012 presidential campaign, Politics, trending, US, YouTube
      |
| Wife of Army Sergeant Accused of Killing 16 Afghan Civilians Ran a Blog Posted: 18 Mar 2012 08:39 AM PDT   The wife of a solider accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians kept a blog, wherein she shared the sadness of living thousands of miles from her husband while raising two children as well as excitement about adventure the future might bring. Details about Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, who was recently jailed, transferred from Afghanistan to a holding cell in Kuwait and then to the brig at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., were kept under a tight lid for nearly a week after the incident. His wife’s blog, however, remained open to the public until early Sunday morning, reports The New York Times. The blog reveals intimate details about Sgt. Bales and his family. When he was passed up for a promotion in March of last year, his wife wrote about being upset with the decision made “after all of the work Bob has done and all the sacrifices he has made for his love of his country, family and friends." But Bales’ wife mostly wrote about the basic day-to-day struggles of life as an Army mom. She wished the Army would let her husband pick his next assignment, hoping for locations such as Germany (“best adventure!”) or Hawaii (“nuff said.”) She talked about surprise phone calls from her husband — one to discuss baby names when she was pregnant and Bales was abroad. In other entries, she talked about wanting her husband back home in Washington state. "I only want the days to go by fast when it comes to Bob coming back home,” wrote Bales’s wife. Bales’s wife gave birth to their daughter Quincy while her husband was in Kuwait. She received a call from Bales soon after delivery — and that story became a blog post. "It was Bob calling from the airport in Kuwait!!" she wrote. "It was so good to hear his voice. I told him how the birth went and he got to hear Quincy squeaking in the background." In the last post on the blog, Bales’s wife wrote that she wanted the site to be a kind of “time capsule” for her family. "I am hoping to blog about it and look back in a year," she wrote, "to see how far we have come from right now." Recently revealed details of Sgt. Bales’s life suggest that he may have struggled with financial payments and repeated run-ins with the law. U.S. officials are expected to charge Bales “within a week.” The killings sparked violent protests of U.S. and NATO’s presence across Afghanistan and came immediately after a separate controversy involving the improper burning of copies of the Quran by NATO troops. Do you think Sgt. Bales’s wife’s blog reveals unique details about their lives, or is it much the same as other military blogs? Let us know in the comments. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, JamesBrey More About: afghanistan, trending, US, World
      |
| How to Make Your Tweets More Trustworthy [STUDY] Posted: 18 Mar 2012 07:51 AM PDT   Ever feel like you tweet something important, but no one believes you? A recent study shows you how to boost the credibility of your tweets, making people take them more seriously. And it’s not just marketing fluff; the study was conducted by researchers from Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon University. Among the lessons for how to get trustworthy tweets: Gain followers and retweets, include URLs in your posts, have a profile picture, and fill out your bio with information related to topics you tweet about. The researchers surveyed more than 250 Twitter users to determine what factors do and don’t lend tweets credibility. Then they scored that group of factors on a scale of one to five, five being the highest. Here are the top 10 things that make tweets more trustworthy, along with their respective scores:
And here are the five least gravitas-lending factors for tweets:
Do these findings match how you deem a tweet trustworthy or not? What ranks first for you? Let us know in the comments. And click here to check out the Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon researchers’ full report. More About: Social Media, trending, tweets, Twitter, verified
      |
| Typography 101: What Small Business Owners Need To Know Posted: 18 Mar 2012 07:21 AM PDT   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 old saying “don’t judge a book by its cover” is sometimes hard to overcome in the business world. How you present yourself aesthetically is important, no matter how solid your business plan is. It’s become crucial for companies to have a presence on the web, whether it’s a simple landing page, a blog or some social media profiles. And while content and products you’re offering should be valuable to your audience, the design of your site or blog can play a big factor in keeping your fans engaged. No one will stay on a poorly designed website. However, not every small business owner can hire a graphic designer at a moment’s notice. It can be expensive, and depending on the size of your business, it may be unnecessary. But never fear — there are small things you can do to improve the overall look of your web presence. “One step that a small business owner can take is to look at other sites that they think are well done,” says graphic designer Emily Caufield. “Take notice of the style, font choices and overall aesthetic of the site, and try to make similar choices when it comes to choosing what is best for their own.” If you’re on a tight budget and don’t already have a designer, there are several great themes on WordPress that are free, and plenty of premium themes that require a small, one-time fee. The blogging platform’s customizability makes it user-friendly, while allowing room for creativity. One thing that’s often overlooked, even if designs are in the works, is the font used to represent your company. Remember, the easier it is to read, the longer people will stay focused on what you’re trying to tell them. This applies to not just the content, but from a design perspective as well. Learn how to pick the right font — and how to avoid one that will turn off your possible customers. What font do you use for your website? Let us know in the comments below. Choosing the Right FontWhen crafting the proper typographical look for your company, Caufield suggests sticking with two fonts: a display or decorative font for headers and a font for body copy. “The display font can be more fun or bold, something that adds personality to your site,” says Caufield. “Usually this type of font works well larger — for headers or call-outs — but is probably not very legible on screen at smaller sizes.” For the rest of the copy on your site (or any stationery and promotional copy, really) it’s best to go with a simple, clean and legible font. Caufield recommends something like Arial, Helvetica, Verdana or Trebuchet. “It is also nice to choose a font that has a family — this gives you the option of using the bold, medium, thin and italic versions of your typeface,” she says. Setting the Tone With Your Font Believe it or not, the type of font you go with can be very expressive — it sets a mood for the story you’re trying to tell. When choosing a font, think about what your business does and who your audience is. “A bank website is going to use a typeface that is clean and simple, because their customers would not feel confident handing their money over to an establishment whose entire website was in Comic Sans,” says Caufield, adding that a company in the business of throwing kids birthday parties or something of that nature has more room for fun fonts. “In [that] case, choosing to not use a youthful and playful font might actually hurt their business,” she explains. What to Avoid When Selecting a FontAfter polling numerous designers, one thing is certain: Comic Sans and Papyrus are two fonts that are advised against for business websites. Normally, it’s better to go with something classic and timeless rather than something flashy. Think of a font like you would an outfit for an important event, such as the dress you wore to high school prom. It’s always best when you can look back on it and it still feels fresh and authentic. “It’s sometimes smarter to choose a font that is going to stand the test of time versus something that is going to fall out of favor in a year,” says Caufield. More Small Business Resources From OPEN Forum:
Images courtesy of Flickr, Gabriel Figueiredo and iStockphoto, JoKMedia More About: features, fonts, open forum, trending, typography, web design For more Business coverage:
      |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Mashable! To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
No comments:
Post a Comment