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Founded in July 2005, Mashable is the world's largest blog focused exclusively on Web 2.0 and Social Media news. Mashable is the most prolific blog reviewing new Web sites and services, publishing breaking news on what's new on the web and offering social media resources and guides.
URL: http://mashable.com
Updated: 1 year 21 weeks ago

Cellphones Don’t Cause Cancer [STUDY]

Fri, 10/21/2011 - 08:33


A new extensive study finds no evidence to link cellphone use with cancer.

Over the past couple of years, reports have suggested that cellphones may cause cancer or claimed the opposite. However, the interesting thing about this latest study is that it’s sample size is the entire adult population of Denmark.

Researchers from Copenhagen’s Department of Epidemiology and Public Health divided Danish adults (30 years of age and over) born after 1925 into subscribers and non-subscribers of mobile phones before 1995. The study found that occurrences of cancer among the two groups were nearly equal.

Furthermore, among mobile phone subscribers, the study didn’t find an increased number of occurrences of glioma in the temporal lobes of the brain, the part of the body most directly exposed to cellphone radiation.

The study, of course isn’t without flaws — one doesn’t need to have a subscription plan to use a cellphone. The authors of the study recognized this. “Subscription holders who are not using their phone will erroneously be classified as exposed and people without a subscription but still using a mobile phone will erroneously be classified as unexposed,” the study says.

This prompted the authors to do an additional analysis of the study’s results which reduced the number of cases but also minimized the possibility for misclassification, but the results were very similar.

“In this update of a nationwide study of mobile phone subscribers in Denmark we found no indication of an increased risk of tumours of the central nervous system,” the authors conclude. However, the authors warn that “a small to moderate increase in risk for subgroups of heavy (cellphone) users” cannot be ruled out, which calls for further studies on large populations.

While every study has its flaws and limitations, this appears to be the most convincing and exhaustive report indicating that cellphones do not cause cancer.

Check out the entire study here.

Graphic courtesy iStockphoto/gerenme

More About: cancer, cell phones, cellphones, health, mobile phones

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4 iPhone Tricks for the Hearing and Vision Impaired

Fri, 10/21/2011 - 07:50

1. Create Custom Vibration Alerts


Personalize custom vibration alerts for particular contacts with "unique vibrate patterns." This tool identifies an important caller (child, boss, etc) when it's not possible to see your screen.

To activate this option, go to the "Settings" menu, then "General," then "Accessibility."

Click here to view this gallery.

Apple’s accessibility options for iOS devices make using the iPhone and iPad easier for people with hearing and vision disabilities, and impaired physical and motor skills.

With the launch of iOS 5, we’ve taken a fresh look at the accessibility options for the iPhone. We’ve found some features that we think offer iPhone users more choice and improved functionality beyond the default settings.

Take a look through the gallery for four neat iPhone functions that will vastly improve your call alerts, provide different options when answering your phone, and will even read Mashable articles aloud to you.

More About: apple, features, How-To, iOS 5, iphone, tips and tricks


Siri Gets Its First TV Ad [VIDEO]

Fri, 10/21/2011 - 04:10

Siri, the sweet talking assistant of iPhone 4S owners, is now starring in its first TV ad.

It’s one of the most important features of the new iPhone, so it’s no wonder Apple has devoted an entire 30-second TV ad to Siri.

SEE ALSO: Siri Politely Answers 10 Absurd Questions [PICS] | A Duet with Siri [VIDEO]

Despite certain shortcomings – such as the fact that it sometimes doesn’t respond to your inquiries — Siri has generated a great amount of buzz and Apple is trying to capitalize on that.

Check out our in-depth review of Siri here and tell us how you like the new iPhone ad in the comments.

Bonus: iPhone 4S Key Features
iPhone 4S



The iPhone 4S looks and feels exactly like the iPhone 4.

Click here to view this gallery.

More About: ad, apple, iPhone 4S, siri, TV

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First Lady Michelle Obama Sends Her First Tweet [VIDEO]

Fri, 10/21/2011 - 00:15

First lady Michelle Obama has officially joined the Twittersphere with her very first tweet sent Oct. 19 from the MLB World Series. Her tweet went out over the @joiningforces account to answer questions about Joining Forces and to spread awareness about supporting America’s troops.

The first lady joined with Jill Biden, the second lady of the United States, to talk about Joining Forces at — of all places — the first game of the World Series. The choice was appropriate because Game One was dedicated to veterans, service members and their families.

While Obama’s husband might be better known for his social media efforts, the first lady has turned to social media to help promote some of her national campaigns. Let’s Move, which supports healthy living and eating, created a series of YouTube spots and social pages, while Joining Forces has an active social presence and digital tools for volunteering and showing support.

The first tweet, shown below, was actually one of many. Obama and Biden took turns answering a raft of questions up until about 8 p.m. ET.

SEE ALSO: First Ladies of Kenya and South Africa Send Their First Tweets

Most of the questions look as if they were dictated rather than typed, but a first tweet is still a first tweet. Mrs. Obama’s use of social media shows that more and more politicians and political figures are seeing Twitter as a necessary part of day-to-day politics. The question is: How long until the first lady starts up an official Twitter account?


More About: obama, Politics, Social Media, Twitter, White House


Lytro Focus-Free Camera: A Hands-On Experience [VIDEOS]

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 23:52

Lytro Camera Hands On, Part 1

Mashable's Chris Taylor shows you the Lytro Camera, taking a pic and then selecting the area of that shot that's in focus afterward.

Click here to view this gallery.

We had so much fun at the launch of the Lytro, the groundbreaking light-field camera that takes pictures instantly and lets you focus anywhere within the frame, we wanted more hands-on time with the device. Even the media won’t be getting review units until 2012, so we did the next best thing: inviting Lytro founder Ren Ng to Mashable’s San Francisco offices for a personal demonstration.

Check out the videos above for the result. Some key takeaways:

The zoom button is almost impossible to find, but very natural to use once you know where it is.

The touch-sensitive LCD is tiny! It’s very responsive, but hardly the world’s best screen for viewing your photos.

SEE ALSO: Lytro Interactive Gallery Lets You Try the Magic Yourself

Pointing and shooting feels amazing when there’s absolutely no delay.

There is a slot on the side that lets you add a carrying strap, which allays one of our concerns.

Lytro pictures get much more dramatic when you’re lining up something very close and very far away. You’ll have fun playing around with that.

Take a look at our photo galleries below for more, and let us know in the comments if this makes you want to put down $399 for the camera more or less.


Point and shoot



Lytro founder and Stanford Ph.D Ren Ng demonstrates the correct picture-taking posture.

Click here to view this gallery.


A Lytro in the hand ...


Here's the $399 electric blue model, showing the touchscreen where you see your pictures.

Click here to view this gallery.

More About: digital photography, Lytro


Startup Pulls Social Media Chatter Onto Publisher Comments

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 23:29


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

Name: LiveFyre

Quick Pitch: LiveFyre makes comments real-time and more interactive.

Genius Idea: Putting social media conversations surrounding a web page back on the publisher’s site.

Comments, Jordan Kretchmer believes, missed the transition to the social web.

“I looked at the space of how conversations were happening online,” Kretchmer says, “and I saw that the social web had taken interactions between people to a new level, where interactions on publishers hadn’t changed.”

LiveFyre, the company he founded, hopes to help comments catch up. It launched in 2009 with a freemium product that makes comments real-time and integrated with social media. More than 15,000 sites now use it for comments. Some are small blogs that use the product free. Others are large publications like The Sun that pay based on their size.

Most, according to LiveFyre, have seen the number of comments on their sites increase. Publishing network BlogHer, for instance, has had its number of average monthly comments shoot from 3,500 to 10,000 in the two months since it started using the product.

With a new update that the site launched Tuesday, that number should increase even more. The update, “SocialSync,” pulls social media conversations surrounding posts and articles back to the comments section. If someone shares a link to an article through a Twitter stream, for instance, the comment that person adds to that tweet will show up in the article’s comments section. When someone replies to that tweet, the reply will also be posted.

“There’s a huge shift from publishers feeling like they should outsource the community to Facebook and Twitter to realizing that there’s a ton of value in building a community yourself,” Kretchmer says. “[People who post comments to social networks that aren't included in a site's own comments] use your site as a jumping-off point, but don’t have a lot of reason to come back to it.”

LiveFyre uses semantic analysis to make sure it’s not reposting the same message over and over again as it’s retweeted, and its algorithms follow links that come directly from the web page to pull in the most relevant comments. SocialSync also allows users to tag friends from Twitter and Facebook in their comments.

From a business perspective, SocialSync’s most important contribution to the product might be to further distinguish it from its largest competitor Disqus, which also allows user to share directly to Facebook and Twitter and offers notifications to commenters when they receive responses.

Ultimately, however, LiveFyre realizes that increasing the quantity of comments isn’t enough. Publishers don’t just want comments, they want comments worth reading. Kretchmer says his startup’s next new feature will create some sort of “moderation automation.” The response to a commenter’s comments, for instance, could be tracked over time to sort out who is likely to provide value to the community.

“It’s more about automatically showing comments of higher quality than minimizing comments that are lower quality,” he says.


LiveFyre


Click here to view this gallery.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, hiob

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: bizspark, LiveFyre, startup

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21+ Essential Resources for Your Apple iPhone 4S

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 22:59


Millions of Apple enthusiasts are tapping away at the screens of their new iPhone 4S devices. If you’re one of the 4 million, you’ve likely explored the phone’s new features: upgraded camera, higher storage capacity, 1080p video and Siri, your own personal assistant.

Whether you sat outside an Apple store for 18 days, or have yet to unbox your new device, check out Mashable’s list of resources below to ensure you have the ultimate iPhone 4S experience.

Apps and Accessories

1. Rabbit Smile Mail Icon


A cute concept makes for a unique case. There's a phone icon version available too.

Cost: $18

Click here to view this gallery.

5 Takeaways From Microsoft’s Earnings Call

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 22:13

Windows 7 is a Hit


Windows 7 has sold more than 450 million licenses since its launch in the fall of 2009.

Moreover, Microsoft says that it considers that it is in the mid-season of the business upgrade cycle, meaning even more licenses could continue to sell.

Click here to view this gallery.

During the conference call following Microsoft’s first-quarter revenues for fiscal 2012, the company laid out some key takeaways for investors and industry followers.

The company might trail Apple in revenue and market cap, but it still maintains mindshare for much of the computing industry. With Windows 7, Microsoft has managed to move more than 450 million licenses in just two years.

The flatness of the personal computer market as a whole (Apple being the exception) means that Microsoft has to look at its other business units to help bring in revenue. Windows 8, which will run on ARM (as well as Intel) processors and support multiple device types, is crucial to filling future device category niches.

Microsoft Business Division was up 8% in revenues year over year, even without a major Office release to push sales. Part of this increase was helped by Microsoft’s Office 365 product, already gaining more momentum in ten weeks than Microsoft built over the last two years with its earlier online office offerings.

On the gaming and entertainment front, Gears of War 3 is a big hit and Microsoft says more than 70 Kinect titles will be available for the holidays.

Windows Phone and Bing continue to struggle. While Bing has gained traction in the last year, growing 3.5% since 2010, it is still not making money. Windows Phone 7.5 “Mango” has received positive reviews and Microsoft hopes new handsets — including those from its new partnership with Nokia — will help the platform find its footing.


25 Twitter Reactions to Gaddafi’s Capture and Death [PICS]

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 21:23

Washington Post Video


The Washington Post tweeted this clip Thursday of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's candid reaction to hearing about Muammar Gaddafi's then-unconfirmed capture.

Soon after, the world learned of Gaddafi's death.

Click here to view this gallery.

The world learned Thursday that rebel fighters captured and killed former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who ruled the country for 42 years until NATO-backed rebels overthrew him earlier this year.

Naturally, people turned to Twitter to learn what had happened and to share their opinions — including tweets that were informative, serious or humorous — about the incident.

How Twitter Users Reacted

Nielsen McKinsey company NM Incite analyzed the online reactions for Mashable and discovered that only 4% of Gaddafi tweets expressed negative sentiment. By comparison, when Osama bin Laden died, negative tweets accounted for 11% of the chatter after his death.

  • 19% of tweets express a sense of justice for what was considered Gaddafi’s dictatorship over Libya.
  • Negativity emerges in 4% of tweets as some Twitter users note that it’s wrong to celebrate death.
  • Information sharing, especially around pictures of Gaddafi’s body and confirmation from news sources, comprises 76% of tweets.

What was your reaction to Gaddafi’s capture and death?


SEE ALSO: Gruesome Photos of Dead Gaddafi Circulate On Twitter: Beware of Malware

More About: Gaddafi, libya, Twitter, World


Make an iPhone Case With Your Instagram Photos

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 20:49


From photo books to iPad screensavers, we’ve seen some great uses of Instagram’s API.

The latest of these is Casetagram, which lets you create an iPhone case using photos you’ve uploaded to Instagram.

Cases are priced at $34.99, including the cost of international shipping, and come in four different formats: an even, square grid; an even grid of circles; squares of varying sizes; and circles of varying sizes. The final product has a matte finish and fits both the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S perfectly.

More About: casetagram, instagram, iphone case

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Following Brands on Twitter Increases Purchase Intent [STUDY]

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 20:16


People who follow brands on Twitter are more likely to both buy and recommend those brands’ products, according to a recent study of online consumer behavior.

The study, conducted by Constant Contact and research firm Chadwick Martin Bailey, analyzed the behavior of 1,491 consumers ages 18 and older throughout the U.S., and revealed a number of details about how people interact with brands on the world’s beloved 140-character social network.

So, just how powerful is the Twitter connection between consumers and businesses? The study found that 60% of brand followers are more likely to recommend a brand to a friend after following the brand on Twitter, and 50% of brand followers are more likely to buy from that brand.

These findings mirror those from a previous report, detailing how consumers interact with brands on Facebook. The study found that 56% of consumers said they are more likely to recommend a brand to a friend after “Liking” a brand on Facebook, and 51% of consumers said they are more likely to buy a product after doing so. The findings from both studies seem to show that customer loyalty is about the same across both social networks.

Any increase in customer loyalty is great news for brands, especially those lucky enough to make the coveted list of followed companies. According to the study, though, the chances of making that list are slim, as only 21% of Twitter users follow brands on Twitter, and of those, 79% follow fewer than 10 brands.

If your brand makes it to that highly sought-after status, you’re in for the long haul — a whopping 75% of respondents claimed that they had never unfollowed a brand on Twitter. This finding, though, contradicts a previous study, which claimed that 41% of consumers have unfollowed a company on Twitter. The trend seems to favor longevity in both studies, however. If a user opts to follow your brand on Twitter, it’s more likely they’ll continue following, rather than decide to unfollow.

When it comes to a consumer’s decision to follow brands on Twitter, exclusivity and access to promotions reign. Here are the top five reasons given by respondents:

  • 64%: I am a customer of the company
  • 61%: To be the first to know information about the brand
  • 48%: To receive discounts and promotions
  • 36%: To gain access to exclusive content
  • 28%: To receive content/information to retweet and share with others

For the most part, brand interaction on Twitter is still largely a one-way process. While 84% of followers read tweets posted by the brands they follow, only 23% claim to tweet about the brands they follow.

The study also found that Twitter users are frequent Internet users overall — 50% of Twitter users in the study reported going online more than once per hour. Of Facebook users, only 34% of respondents reported going online multiple times per hour. Facebook and Twitter users both outpace the average Internet user, though, as only 29% of overall users that do not have Twitter and Facebook accounts reported logging on many times within an hour.

Twitter users even use Facebook more than users who stick solely to Facebook — 60% of Twitter users use Facebook more than three hours per week, compared with 49% of Facebook users overall.

The study offered one final nugget of wisdom that should inform how brands on Twitter approach their content strategies — 67% of brand followers expect unique content from the brands they follow. So get to it, social media strategists!

See the complete study here:

More About: contributor, features, Marketing, Social Media, Twitter

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SeatGeek Launches Columbus Event Discovery Engine [EXCLUSIVE]

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 19:43


SeatGeek, makers of an online service that aggregates event tickets in a fashion similar to Kayak, is expanding beyond its humble origins with the beta launch of Columbus, an event discovery engine that uses social data to predict events SeatGeek users might like.

“SeatGeek is best-in-class when you know what event you want to attend, but prior to Columbus, wasn’t great at surfacing new events for the user who wants to find entertainment,” SeatGeek co-founder Russell D’Souza said in an exclusive interview with Mashable.

“So we created Columbus to serve as a dashboard for entertainment options … and you can come back on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.”

Columbus is a predictive calendar of upcoming sporting events and concerts tailored around the user’s expressed and implicit interests. Columbus considers the SeatGeek user’s favorite bands and teams, factors in the user’s onsite event browsing activities and extracts interests from the user’s Facebook profile. The startup also uses Last.fm APIs to marry the user’s musical interests against an open database of listening tastes to determine what other events the user might like.

Altogether, the Columbus experience is designed to stimulate repeat business and broaden the scope of SeatGeek’s appeal. “We launched with a focus on search,” D’Souza says. “Now we want to be a gateway to America’s entertainment.”

Columbus also represents an important step on SeatGeek’s road to profitability. The 14-person New York-based startup has already been quite successful at building a ticket search engine. “We’re hovering around profitability,” D’Souza shares. “We’re the largest event ticket search engine on the web,” he claims.

SeatGeek has raised $2.3 million in funding since launching in Sept. 2009. It features more than 70,000 events, aggregated from over 50 ticketing sites, in its system on any given day. The startup earns a commission from each sale it sends to a partner’s ticketing site.

If Columbus can entice SeatGeek users to return more regularly, it could easily cross that pivotal line into profitability.

And, in D’Souza’s eyes, what’s good for the goose is also good for the gander. The product could very well help users happen on lesser known acts and expand their musical horizons, he says. “[Columbus] has changed the way I listen to music,” he adds.

Columbus is currently in beta. Interested parties can request access at http://seatgeek.com/columbus_beta.


Calendar of Events


Click here to view this gallery.

More About: Columbus, seatgeek, Tickets

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San Francisco Earthquake Shakes Twitter

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 18:49


A magnitude 3.9 earthquake struck the Bay Area Thursday afternoon, causing no known damage but leaving a spray of tweets in its wake.

The quake struck the Hayward fault line near Berkeley at 2:41pm local time, but was felt across San Francisco — interrupting VC meetings, podcasts and general productivity as the city rushed to share its experience on Twitter. One user noted the gently swaying artwork at the San Francisco MOMA.

As many tweets pointed out, the timing was appropriate: California had just conducted a statewide earthquake drill earlier in the day.

Twitter is fast becoming the earthquake service of record, as was seen during this summer’s Virginia earthquake and the horrific magnitude 9.0 that caused so much devastation in Japan in March.

As a now-famous xkcd cartoon noted, the speed of the Internet means it’s becoming increasingly common for Twitter users in outlying areas to read about quakes before they experience them.

More About: Earthquake, Twitter


Joey Quits and Becomes a Viral Sensation [VIDEO]

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 17:26


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



Who says quitters never win? Joey DeFrancesco of Providence, R.I., is becoming famous for quitting his job in grand style.

DeFrancesco, who worked at the Providence Renaissance, decided to bring a camera crew and — here’s the brilliant part — a brass band with him on his last day. The video has clearly resonated in these economically bleak times, netting 1.4 million views since it hit on Oct. 12. In a blog post, Visible Measures compared Joey to last year’s classic in YouTube rage, United Breaks Guitars (see below) and found it doesn’t quite measure up yet, but “has the potential to be much bigger.”

Looks like Joey might have a whole new career.


More About: united breaks guitars, YouTube

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More Data Was Transmitted Over the Internet in 2010 Than All Previous Years Combined [VIDEO]

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 16:48

There was more data transmitted over the Internet in 2010 than the entire history of the Internet through 2009.

Now the transfer of data over the Internet is growing faster than ever, said Vice President of Intel’s Architecture Group Kirk Skaugen during the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco. He also explained how infrastructure is scaling with the increasing transfer of data.

Skaugen said although there are currently 4 billion connected devices around the world, Intel expects that number to increase to 15 billion by 2015 and 50 billion by 2020.

Many servers and computers will face challenges from these increases, including those that support the 48 hours of YouTube videos uploaded each minute, 200 million tweets sent per day and 7.5 billion photos uploaded to Facebook each month.

To support this amount of data sharing around the world, Intel and other computer companies have to find ways to make the Internet hardware cheaper and easier to use. It is an extension of Moore’s Law, and is necessary for the expected increases in data sharing.

“When Intel entered the server market, the average server price was $58,000, and today we’re under $3,800 and dropping,” said Skaugen.

Check out the video above to learn about the challenges of powering the new social web, and let us know what you think of Skaugen’s talk in the comments.

More About: intel, Kirk Skaugen, Web 2.0 Summit

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Microsoft Meets Estimates, But Stock Falls

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 16:30


Microsoft reported fiscal first-quarter revenues of $17.37 billion, a 7% jump over the year-ago period and a figure that met analysts forecasts.

However, Microsoft’s stock fell slightly in after-hours trading, indicating that analysts may have been expecting more.

Among the results was a 2% increase in revenues for the Windows and Windows Live division, which was “in line with the PC market,” according to a release from the company. Microsoft also reported that it has sold 450 million units of Windows 7 since launch. That slight gain was offset by an 8% jump in revenues for Microsoft’s Business Division.

Microsoft’s Bing search engine, meanwhile, now has 14.7% market share, up 3.5% over the previous year.

The tepid sales for Windows contrast with a 48% jump in revenues for Apple’s Macs over the same period.

Image courtesy of Flickr, BFI Shadow

More About: apple, bing, microsoft, Windows 7

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New Version of Gmail Coming Soon [VIDEO]

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 16:04

A new version of Gmail featuring a revamped look, redesigned conversation threads and improved search is slated for pending released, according to an official video that was mistakenly posted to Google’s YouTube channel.

Jason Cornwell, user experience designer for Gmail, unveils the new version in the video. The Google Operating System blog spotted the video and it has since been made private — but not before YouTube user crlsndrsjmnz had time to repost it.

“Oops, you weren’t supposed to see that,” Gmail representative Andrea Freund tells Mashable. “Stay tuned, we’ll be sharing more info on Gmail’s new look soon.”

But, back to what’s new. “We’ve been hard at work to update Gmail with a new look,” Cornwell shares in the video. “We’ve completely redesigned the look and feel of Gmail to make it as clean, simple and intuitive as possible.”

Here’s some of what you can expect: Gmail will expand dynamically to accommodate any window size; users can adjust the size of label and chat areas; themes will include high-definition imagery; conversations — a.k.a. email threads — have been redesigned for readability and will include profile pictures (conversations look like more status updates); and search has been made more user-friendly, which means regular users can stop worrying about using Gmail search operators and simply input text into fields to find email messages.

This strikes us as the most dramatic change to Gmail since its debut, and likely marks a concerted attempt by Google to modernize and simplify the Gmail interface for the mainstream email user.

Gmail’s makeover has been several months in the making. In late June, Google released the “Preview” Gmail theme as a sneak peek of things to come.

More About: email, gmail, Google


Google Reader to Get Google+ Integration

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 15:46


Google Reader, the company’s RSS reader, will get a new look and integration with Google+ next week that will let you create reader-specific Circles.

The changes, which are “highly requested,” according to Google software engineer Alan Green, include a new design and the retiring of features like friending, following and shared link blogs inside of Reader, which will be supplanted by Google+.

You may “feel like the product is no longer for you,” Green writes, in which case you can export your subscriptions, friends, likes and shared items to another RSS reader. Google gave Reader a social makeover with follows and friending in 2009, when Digg, among other social news services, was much more influential.

Like Google Buzz, which was retired last week, those social features are being excised as the company focuses on growing Google+.

More About: Google, google buzz, google reader, rss reader


Mashable Media Summit Agenda: 16 Awesome Sessions to Learn From

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 15:26

We’ve enticed you with a series of exciting speaker announcements, and teased you with a sampling of topics. Now we’re pleased to announce the full Mashable Media Summit agenda. From the future of social TV, to new forms of journalism, to the value of real-time data, this year’s conference on Nov. 4 offers a dynamic range of original subject matter that you won’t find anywhere else.


Mashable Media Summit Agenda

The Future of Social Media: The Current Landscape and 2012 Trends
Pete Cashmore, Founder and CEO, Mashable

TV Makes You Smarter: How Technology is Changing Entertainment (For Better and Worse)
Christy Tanner, EVP and GM, TVGuide.com and TV Guide Mobile

Who Owns Your Identity?
A Discussion With Mashable, Facebook, Google and The Huffington Post
Robyn Peterson, Senior Vice President of Product, Mashable
Andy Mitchell, Strategic Partner Development, Facebook
Andrew Nash, Director of Internet Identity, Google
Tim Dierks, Senior Vice President of Engineering, Huffington Post

Like a Virgin: The Ultimate User Experience
Tor Myhren, President and Chief Creative Officer, Grey New York

The Problem of Prediction: How Real Time Data Changes What You Should Be Doing
Tony Haile, General Manager, Chartbeat

What Facebook’s New Features Mean for Journalism
Adam Ostrow, Executive Editor and Senior Vice President of Content, Mashable
Vadim Lavrusik, Journalist Program Manager, Facebook

Tech One-on-One
One-on-One with Emily Chang, Bloomberg TV Anchor and Host of Bloomberg West

Social Media Grows Up: The Evolving Role of Social Media in News Organizations
Meghan Peters, Community Manager, Mashable
Anthony De Rosa, Social Media Editor, Reuters
Drake Martinet, Social Media Editor, AllThingsD
Katie Rogers, Social Media Manager, the Washington Post

The New Model of Content and Commerce
Lauren Indvik, Marketing and Media Associate Editor, Mashable
Alexis Maybank, Founder and Chief Marketing Officer, Gilt Groupe
Maureen Mullen, Research and Advisory Lead, L2

Break Down the Content Barriers of Social Networks
Michael Lazerow, Founder and CEO, Buddy Media

The Importance of Being Awesome: From Words and Pictures to Code and Cyborgs
Faris Yakob, Chief Innovation Officer, MDC Partners’ kbs+p and founding partner of Spies&Assassins

The Future of Social TV
Christina Warren, Entertainment Editor, Mashable
Alex Iskold, Founder and CEO, GetGlue
Jesse Redniss, Vice President, Digital, USA Networks
Tom Thai, Marketing and Sales Strategy Lead, Bluefin Labs

The Evolution of Sports Illustrated: From Print to Digital
Terry McDonell, Editor, Time Inc., Sports Illustrated Group
Lance Ulanoff, Editor in Chief, Mashable

From Tactile to Mobile: The Reinvention of Content Experience and Engagement
Josh Koppel, Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer, ScrollMotion

Teaching – and Learning From – The Old Grey Lady
Brian Stelter, Media Reporter and Blogger, the New York Times

The Filter Bubble: How to Fix Content Curation
Eli Pariser, Author of The Filter Bubble and President/Founding Board MemberMoveon.org and Accessnow.org

Mashable Media Summit Ticket Information

Tickets include a full day of discussion with thought leaders on stage, intimate networking sessions as well as breakfast, lunch and a networking reception. Get your tickets now before they sell out.

Event management for Mashable Media Summit 2011 powered by Eventbrite Platinum Sponsor: AT&T

We’re also pleased to announce that our platinum sponsor for the Mashable Media Summit is AT&T.

More About: Announcement, mashable, mashable media summit, Media

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Heinz Lets Friends Send “Get Well” Cans of Soup via Facebook

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 15:20


The next time one of your friends complains about an illness on Facebook, go a step further and send them a can of soup instead of a simple “Get well!” message on his or her Wall (or Timeline).

That’s the idea behind a UK-only Facebook promotion from Heinz. The food company is letting friends send each other real (rather than virtual) cans of Cream of Chicken or Cream of Tomato soup emblazoned with a “Get Well Soon” message and their name for £1.99 (approximately $3.00) per can.

Fans can customize and pay for the cans using a web application on Heinz’s Facebook Page. Expected delivery time is 3 to 4 days — at which point said sick friends may already have recovered. But it’s the thought that counts, right?

[via JWT]

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