Apple has recently released Mac OS X 10.7 or Lion, but – as is usual with new releases – we’ve heard many stories about bugs from people who’ve upgraded to the new version of the OS. Apple seems to have noticed some problems as well, which prompted it to release an update to Mac OS X 10.6.8 which fixes migration issues.

Interestingly, Apple chose to call this update a “supplemental” one, which will probably confuse users as now you can effectively have two different versions of Mac OS X 10.6.8 (the latest one is called Mac OS X 10.6.8. v1.1.). If you’re still running 10.6.7, you need the entire new 10.6.8 update; if you’ve upgraded to 10.6.8 before, you just need the supplemental update.

The easiest way to figure out which update to install is, as always, to simply run Software Update from the Apple Menu.

Apple’s description of the update says it resolves issues with:

- Transferring personal data, settings, and compatible applications from a Mac running Mac OS X Snow Leopard to a new Mac running Mac OS X Lion
- Certain network printers that pause print jobs immediately and fail to complete
- System audio that stops working when using HDMI or optical audio out

That first bullet point seems like a rather important one, so we recommend Snow Leopard users to install this latest patch before migrating their data to a Lion machine.

[via MacRumors]

More About: apple, lion, mac os x, patch, Snow Leopard, Update, upgrade

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Putting the likes of the super-funded aside (Color, anyone?), most early-stage startups operate on tight budgets and spend their dollars sparingly. A bevy of web services have made start-up costs all the more affordable, but now there’s the conundrum of nearly too much choice.

The folks at BestVendor surveyed 550 startup staffers — most in marketing and executive administration positions — on their favorite tools for email, accounting, web analytics, CRM, productivity, design, storage, payment processing, operations and so forth.

Their answers, in aggregate, speak to the growing trend in startups moving toward predominately cloud-based operations. The most popular selections also highlight the rising stars (Dropbox) and impressive veterans (Paypal and Salesforce) in the business-to-business services sector.

So what’s hot among startups these days? Google Apps, Google Analytics and Quickbooks each garnered a majority of the votes in the email, accounting and web analytics categories respectively. Salesforce bested its CRM competition with 59% of respondents selecting it as the application of choice, and consumer-friendly Evernote proved hot with startup types too in the note-taking category.

Check out the infographic below for even more insight on the web and business services that today’s startups are selecting en masse.

More About: BestVendor, cloud computing, cloud storage, startups

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Already using Google+? Follow Mashable’s Pete Cashmore for the latest about the platform’s new features, tips and tricks as well as social media and technology updates.

Google has finally made a public statement about the recent wave of controversial Google+ account suspensions designed to enforce the company’s “common name” policy.

The policy is outlined in section 13 of the company’s User Content and Conduct Policy. It’s designed to stop users from creating fake profiles and to set a positive tone. Section 13 reads as follows:

“To help fight spam and prevent fake profiles, use the name your friends, family or co-workers usually call you. For example, if your full legal name is Charles Jones Jr. but you normally use Chuck Jones or Junior Jones, either of those would be acceptable.”

This weekend, Google started enforcing the policy, deleting a large number of Google+ accounts. While some of the suspended accounts were indeed fake profiles, others like Limor “Ladyada” Fried and lifestyle blogger A.V. Flox were accidentally deleted and quickly restored.

SEE ALSO: GOOGLE+: THE COMPLETE GUIDE | VIDEOS | REVIEW

Google SVP of Social Vic Gundotra admitted to Robert Scoble on Sunday that the company has made some mistakes with its first attempt at cracking down on fake profiles. And Monday, Google VP of Product Bradley Horowitz wrote a more detailed post in an attempt to clear the air and set the record straight.

“We’ve noticed that many violations of the Google+ common name policy were in fact well-intentioned and inadvertent and for these users our process can be frustrating and disappointing,” Horowitz said in his Google+ post. “So we’re currently making a number of improvements to this process, specifically regarding how we notify these users that they’re not in compliance with Google+ policies and how we communicate the remedies available to them.”

Among the changes Google intends to implement:

- Google will give users more warning and the chance to comply with the common name policy.
- The company is improving the signup process.
- Finally, the search giant is exploring better ways to support nicknames, maiden names and pseudonyms.

Horowitz also took time to dispel the rumor that a suspension of a Google+ account means that a user loses his or her access to Gmail, Google Docs or other Google services. “When an account is suspended for violating the Google+ common name standards, access to Gmail or other products that don’t require a Google+ profile are not removed,” he said.

Google+, which will hit its one-month anniversary on Thursday, has clearly been suffering from growing pains. It has received strong criticism for its handling of Google+ brand pages.

More About: Bradley Horowitz, Common Names, Google, Google Plus, robert scoble, social networking, Vic Gundotra

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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: Photorank.me

Quick Pitch: Photorank.me aims to help people determine their influence as social photographers.

Genius Idea: Klout for photo-sharing.

Modern web and mobile users have become perpetual photo-sharers. Perhaps, then, it should follow that this social media side dish behavior (that we all seem to enjoy) demands its own ranking and influence system.

New site Photorank, a product of crowdsourcing photo startup Olapic, puts this theory to the test. It measures photo-sharers’ activities across Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Instragram and Picplz to spit out an influence score — à la Klout, but specifically focused on photo-sharing.

Simply grant Photorank access to your photo accounts to see how your digital shots stack up against your friends or the greater photo-sharing community at large.

Photorank scores range from 0 to 100 and place a strong emphasis on your activity in the past 21 days. Reactions to your photos, such as “likes”, favorites and comments, will affect your overall score. The final score is a summation of your reach, the frequency of your photo-sharing activities and the quality of the photos you share.

Photorank, explains Olapic co-founder Luis Sanz, is a consumer spin on an algorithm the New York-based startup first built to rank the user-generated photos being submitted to client sites.

“At Olapic.com, we have to deal with large amount of user generated photos, and we found that being able to identify the best pictures was really important to create a good user experience,” Sanz says. “We also found that the ‘reputation’ of the people uploading the pictures was the best proxy to identify them, and that’s how we started developing an algorithm to measure it.”

“We were talking about it with a couple of friends that are into photography and they asked us to ‘photorank’ them, and they loved the idea,” he explains. “After that, we developed a site where everyone can link their photo-sharing accounts and get their own photorank.”

The problem, as the startup sees it, is that with so many photos being uploaded to the web everyday, it’s hard for folks to find the best pictures and the most influential photographers.

Photorank, in theory, will help those fascinated with photography (businesses and consumers alike) track down the top photographers with online influence. Plus, with the growing popularity of Instagram and its top iPhoneographers, businesses might have an interest in using marketing campaigns or special promotions to target popular photogs — just as many companies are starting to do with Klout scores.

Still, as a user, Photorank is limited in scope and purpose. You can connect your photo accounts and see how you rank, but that’s about it. Only when a Photorank user can take his score and do something with it elsewhere on the web (or in the offline world) will the measurement take on additional meaning.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, ODV

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, instagram, mobile photo sharing, Olapic, photo sharing, Photorank.me, spark-of-genius

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Netflix’s stock is down more than 10% in after hours trading, following its second quarter 2011 earnings results.

Despite reporting record revenues and earnings, the leading subscription streaming service is still facing blowback from its price hike earlier this month. Beginning in September, Netflix will be breaking its DVD rental and subscription services into two distinct offerings. This means that customers who subscribe to the DVD and streaming plan that currently goes for $9.99 will face a price increase of 60%.

During its earnings call this afternoon, the company answered some questions about its new pricing strategy and the impact the new pricing will have on its customer growth and churn rates in the United States. The company and CEO Reed Hastings expect growth to pick up in Q4 2011.

While Netflix was forthcoming regarding its plans for international expansion, the company was much more vague when it comes to its current digital licensing deals.

While touting some of its latest deals to get more content on its streaming service, Netflix admitted that it still hasn’t reached a resolution to return Sony content to its service. Much of Netflix’s more recent content comes from Disney and Sony, as a result of its partnership with premium cable channel Starz. Netflix apparently went over its streaming threshold as dictated by its contract with Starz, which caused Sony to pull much of its content from the service.

This underscores, to us, the business realities that Netflix now faces as the company shifts from a traditional rental model to one of licensing and streaming. With disc rentals, Netflix just has to buy physical discs and then manage mail distribution to customers. Sure, the movie studios can request that rental services like Netflix and Redbox respect various windows before offering a title for rent, but if content is available on disc, Netflix can theoretically carry that content.

With streaming, the situation is significantly different. The streaming licensing divisions for major movie studios are typically separate from the home video units, which means that Netflix has to forge or create different and separate relationships for its two offerings. With television, Netflix must also work with different divisions for securing content for streaming and for disc-by-mail rentals.

The problem for Netflix is that as its subscriber base is growing, studios and content producers are charging higher rates for content licensing. Moreover, Netflix is facing increased competition from other subscription streaming services like Hulu Plus and HBO Go. Amazon is also increasingly getting into the streaming space with its Instant Video offering for its Prime members. Amazon just signed a content deal with CBS that will bring many of the TV shows currently available on Netflix to Amazon’s streaming service.

Then, of course, there is HBO. HBO Go has been downloaded more than 3 million times and is seen as way to keep customers subscribed to the service throughout the year. HBO doesn’t license its content to other services, which means that Netflix will not have access to content like True Blood or Boardwalk Empire. While calling HBO Go a “beautiful interface,” Reed Hastings insisted that comparing the two services is like comparing the MLB to the NFL.

We’re not so sure. HBO might be the only premium cable channel that can afford to go with its own TV Everywhere offering, rather than licensing its content to other players (in part because it is the number one premium cable channel and has the broadest range of original content), but the lesson, as we’re already seeing with content producers like CBS, is that getting exclusive deals for content is going to be increasingly difficult.

A key reason Netflix owners are upset over the price hike isn’t that the service is costing more money. As we’ve seen from commenters at Mashable, the real rub is that not only is the price of service going up (for dual-subscribers), but there is not real proof that the streaming options are getting any more robust. Netflix has a serious problem with getting first-run or near first-run content.

With the exception of a few deals with smaller studios, Netflix is usually third or fourth in line for access to content, following traditional home video releases, pay per-view windows, premium subscription cable networks and sometimes even normal cable networks.

Netflix has already spent more than $800 million so far this year on licensing content.

The industry — both content producers and online distributors like Netflix — will eventually figure this all out. I have no doubt that Netflix, if it can double-down on getting access to broader content or at least newer content, can win back most of the customers it may lose due to the price increase, plus gain a new base of users.

More About: netflix, netflix streaming, quarterly earnings, quarterly results, subscription streaming

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President Barack Obama has scheduled a last-minute speech to address the nation on the drama surrounding the debt ceiling and the potential of a U.S. default.

The speech comes after Republicans and Democrats failed to strike a “grand bargain” that would have raised the debt ceiling and avoided the U.S. defaulting and losing its AAA credit rating, Obama will address the nation beginning at 9:00 PM ET. His speech will be followed by a response from U.S. Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH).

As with many of Obama’s high-profile speeches, the prime time address will be live streamed via whitehouse.gov. We’ve embedded the live stream below for your convenience.

JOIN THE LIVE CHAT VISIT WHITEHOUSE.GOV

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The Saudi Arabian government has reportedly blocked access to Amnesty International’s website, days after the human rights organization locked horns with the government over a draft anti-terrorism law.

The law, posted online last Friday by Amnesty, would allow Saudi authorities to prosecute non-violent dissent as an act of terrorism. Amnesty claims that the law “allows for a minimum 10-year prison sentence for ‘questioning the integrity’ of the royal family” and claims the law is designed to suppress dissent rather than fight terrorism.

The Saudi government responded on Saturday by saying the claims were “completely without foundation,” according to the AP. The government also criticized Amnesty for not contacting the government for comment or clarification.

On Monday, Amnesty and several news publications reported that Amnesty International’s website was not accessible on Saudi-based Internet networks.

“Instead of attacking those raising concerns and attempting to block debate, the Saudi Arabian government should amend the draft law to ensure that it does not muzzle dissent and deny basic rights,” Malcolm Smart, Amnesty’s director for Middle East operations, said in a statement.

While Amnesty’s site remains blocked in Saudi Arabia, some of its affiliate sites remain accessible. Amnesty has posted the full text of the Saudi law on its Protect the Human blog. Saudi Arabia has mostly avoided the unrest that swept Tunsinia and Egypt, but has recently been in the news for arresting five Saudi women for driving.

Image courtesy of Flickr, Khaled AlQubeli

More About: Amnesty International, human rights, internet, Saudi Arabia

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Already using Google+? Follow Mashable’s Pete Cashmore for the latest about the platform’s new features, tips and tricks as well as social media and technology updates.

When we brought you our initial list of five useful Chrome extensions for Google+, we asked which tools you, the Mashable reader, were finding valuable on the new social networking service.

Thanks to all your comments and suggestions, both on the post itself and on Google+, we’ve narrowed down five more Chrome extensions that we think are worth a look.

Take a look through the gallery at these tried-and-tested new tools, and please keeping sharing your extension recommendations with us and the wider Mashable community in the comments below.

"Replies and More" offers a mixed bag of functionality, but it comes recommended with a five-star rating.

As well as adding a notification number to the G+ favicon and keeping the header bar at the top of the page, it brings extra functionality to posts.

Instead of the the "Reply" option, you get "Reply to Author" which automatically adds the +name to your response. This also works if you reply to comments on posts. It also creates a drop down box for the share option, giving you the ability to email, tweet or post to your Facebook wall.

Finally, hitting "m" when you've got a post selected mutes it. Try it -- it's quite satisfying simply "M-ing" those noisy Plussers in your stream!

This wizzy extension gives you a quick way to enlarge images in your Google+ stream. With a standard install, it will show a larger version of photos when you hover your cursor over them.

You can also change the settings so that a photo will only enlarge if you hover over it for a certain amount of time, or if you press a function key. We'd definitely recommend taking advantage of the customizable settings. The instant no-holds-barred hover can get tiresome when browsing, but is a useful tool when used with discretion.

This is a good option if you're finding your stream hard on the eye. It changes the appearance of the site by adding a grey background boxes to the posts to make them look more separated. It comes down to personal preference, but you may prefer this developer's version to Google's original design.

Other tricks include a "mute" option at the top of every post (which saves you from selecting mute from the drop down menu) and a fixed menu bar at the top of your display.

This handy little tool adds an icon to your Chrome toolbar that offers a quick and easy way to search public Google+ content.

Google+'s current search tool is geared to finding users, rather than content, although we do expect that to change in the future.

Once installed you simply click on the icon to search the social networking service for keywords. Search options include "all", "posts" and "profile" as well as other related Google products like Buzz and Reader.

This extension fixes the left and/or right menus in place, so if you get lost scrolling down your stream you don't have to head all the way back up to the top of the page to navigate to a different area.

In addition, it can hide the automatically generated "Suggestions" that show up on the left of your screen and get rid of the "Go mobile" promo link.

More About: Chrome Extensions, gallery, Google, google chrome, google chrome extensions, Google Plus, Google Plus Lists, List, Lists

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

Since we know you’re all twitching and itching from Comic-Con withdrawal, here’s a little nugget from the nerd fest to keep you going until the next one: the cast of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia singing “Day Man.”

Seriously, this is the best fictional TV show band song since The Monkees’ “Daydream Believer.”

More About: comic-con 2011, its-always-sunny-in-philadelphia, music, television, video, viral-video-of-day, youtube

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Netflix hit 25 million subscribers and broke records for both its revenues and its earnings in the second quarter, but cut its earnings outlook for the next few months since it expects some fallout from its recent price hike.

The company added 1.8 million subscribers in the quarter and posted a net income of $68 million on revenues of $789 million — both records. But the quarter, which ended June 30 and was unaffected by the price increase, was a transitional one for the company. As the company noted in a letter to shareholders: “The streaming-only plan continued to gain in popularity, with nearly 75% of our new subscribers signing up for it. As a result, our average subscription price reverted to a slight quarter-over-quarter decline.”

The company also noted that “With the rapid adoption of streaming, DVD shipments for Netflix have likely peaked.”

Those events no doubt led Netflix to provide more incentive for users to take the streaming-only option. Since more customers are streaming rather than getting DVDs through the mail, the company was able to report a domestic operating margin of 16.3%, above the 14% target. However, because it will negotiate with studios for more streaming titles in the second half of the year, it is continuing to project a 14% margin through 2011.

Though the company defended its price increase — “We hate making our subscribers upset with us, but we feel like we provide a fantastic service and we’re working hard to further improve the quality and
range of our streaming content in Q4 and beyond” — Netflix is planning to lose some subscribers in Q3, which sent its stock skidding 8% in after-hours trading. Netflix expects that effect to be short-lived, though. By Q4, the company plans to return to the growth it had previously enjoyed and possibly have its first billion-dollar quarter.

In addition, Netflix is planning to launch its Facebook integration in the coming quarter. However, because of limitations imposed by the Video Privacy Protection Act, that integration won’t happen in the U.S. Facebook users in Canada and Latin America will see Facebook integration first

More About: amazon, DVDs, hulu, netflix, streaming video

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Some of Hollywood’s top players are about to launch a Facebook game that puts you in the movie business.

The Deadline Hollywood Game allows players to climb the Tinseltown ladder as an actor, screenwriter, producer, agent or director. The goal, as in real life: get your projects made, and become an industry mogul. The twist with Deadline Hollywood, however, is that real news events that take place in the industry can have an impact on gameplay.

The game comes courtesy of Paramount Digital Entertainment, Liquid Entertainment and Deadline.com, one of the leading sites for breaking news about the inner workings of the entertainment industry. The site, founded by Nikki Finke in 2006, is known for being brash, funny and brutally honest.

The game is full of that brashness and humor. The dashboard for the game is the view from the driver’s seat — because, as Finke told us, “That’s how many people start out in Hollywood, living out of their car.”

Finke explained to us that it was important that the game reflect the way Hollywood actually is: the good and the bad. Still, she felt it was important that the game remain “above board.” That means no stealing scripts, no acts of subterfuge — and no sleeping your way to the top.

Still, the game is far more witty than most of the Facebook games currently on the market. Finke took a look at some of the existing tiles on the social network and wanted to create something that focused more on strategy, was more cutting edge and had more humor. “Is FarmVille even funny?” Finke says (The merchandise certainly is).

As well as using typical social game elements, such as an in-app currency, the game also aims to enable players who might not be well-versed in the workings of Hollywood. It offers definitions for popular terms such as “greenlighting”, and information about how the industry works. As Finke said, “This is a Facebook game for smart people.”

The most innovative aspect of the game is the way it uses actual headlines and news from Deadline.com. For instance, if superhero films like Captain America, do well at the box office, players who are making superhero projects will get a boost in their box office receipts.

For now, however, the real-time news element will only work to give players extra incentives. Not having a superhero film in production, for instance, won’t act as a penalty. “I don’t want people to lose money,” says Finke.

In the future, the news elements might take a greater role within the game, especially after industry events such as award shows or major film festivals.

For Paramount Digital Entertainment, the publisher behind the game, the news aspect might also provide future sponsorship or promotional opportunities. “This is just the first step,” said Tom Lesinski, president of Paramount Digital Entertainment. “We look forward to expanding the concept as time progresses.”

Deadline Hollywood Game is currently invite only in its beta phase. Paramount Digital Entertainment and Deadline have provided Mashable with 100 VIP invites for movie fans that want to get in on the action.

To score an invite

• In the comments below, tell us your favorite Movie or your favorite Facebook game and why.
• Be sure your email is included in your Mashable Follow account by visiting the settings tab on your profile and adding your email address to the email field if it’s blank. Please do not post your email in the comment thread below.
• The first 100 commenters will get an invite to the game.

More About: deadline, deadline hollywood game, facebook, facebook games, Film, Movies, social games

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This post reflects the opinions of the author and not necessarily those of Mashable as a publication.

Tom Anderson is the founder and former president of MySpace. MySpace sold in 2005, and Anderson left the company in early 2009. You can find him on Google+, Twitter or Facebook.

Sometimes when you follow a trend, you fall flat on your face.

Early adopters of Google+ have declared that Twitter is now “obsolete” and that they are “bored” using Twitter. Most suggestions for improvement are a list of Google+ features that Twitter doesn’t have.

Yet, even while Twitter’s own CEO, Dick Costolo, has maintained that Twitter will remain simple, the company’s founder and executive chairman Jack Dorsey recently let go four key product people from Twitter, indicating some kind of change is in the works. So what’s @Jack to do? What does the future of Twitter look like?

Facebook is actually instructive on this front. One of the things that founder Mark Zuckerberg and crew have done exceptionally well is to know what and what not to incorporate from competitors. They’ve evolved their vision, but instead of jumping on every trend, they’ve found ways to expand by incorporating the best innovations of their competitors into a holistic vision that’s kept Facebook growing.

When Facebook had 12 million uniques thanks to nearly every college user in America using the service and MySpace had 80 million uniques (what seemed like “everyone else” at the time), it was a bold move to open up the site to the outside world. In hindsight, it may have seemed risk-free, but it could have killed the entire feel of Facebook. They moved slowly, adding companies, high school students and eventually went fully public. It wasn’t a given that this wouldn’t destroy the closed, private and wonderful service Zuckerberg had created for college students.

When Twitter became a significant force, Facebook tried to acquire the youngish company. A deal was never reached and Facebook ended up up incorporating the status update into the newsfeed — which really made the newsfeed more interesting than it ever would have been otherwise. Again, a great move that fit in with the evolving vision of Facebook as a “sharing platform” (before that, Zuckerberg used to talk more about “efficient communication“).

But it’s also instructive to look at the things Facebook did not do. To compete with MySpace, lots of people thought Facebook should offer some level of profile customization (definitely controversial), but even more thought they should launch a music service. Facebook toyed with the idea by briefly allowing users to put some apps on their profile pages, and they gave priority status to iLike, a music service that let you create playlists. I’d heard rumors at the time that Facebook had actually built a full customization platform for profiles that they never launched. Just this month, Facebook decided to allow users to put images and videos into comments (something that probably would have been too MySpace-y back in the day). Facebook knew when to add feature at the right time. And that music service? Well, it may still be coming.

So what does this teach us? It’s difficult to extract a lesson or set of rules from these examples. It’s hard to know how to evolve your service, and it’s hard to say what Twitter should do to continue its growth trajectory. I think the answer lies in trying to step back and understand what’s the real value you provide to your users. How can your service evolve to realize that mission without following every trend that rules the day?

In Twitter’s case, is the 140 character constraint really a benefit or is it a leftover relic of the text-message infrastructure that smart phones have replaced? As pundits and users, we can all make our demands about what we want from Twitter, but that probably only tells us about our own personal biases. Twitter will undoubtedly do better to analyze its own data to understand its own user behavior.

Then they can look at those numbers in the context of competitors’ numbers that are public. Who’s driving more engagement, where and how?

You might say, you and I don’t know jack about Twitter. Only @Jack knows jack about Twitter.

Depending on what he learns, he’ll make the tough decision of what to change and what to keep the same. Maybe he’ll test, iterate, analyze and revise. He’s already decided he needs a new product staff, so change seems to be coming.

No answers here, but hopefully they’re the right questions.

Editor’s note: This post was adapted from a post originally published on Google+.

More About: facebook, Google, myspace, Opinion, twitter

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