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2012-02-11T10:34:08Z

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Rebecca Black’s ‘Friday’ Turns 1 on a Friday: What’s Your Favorite Memory?

2012-02-11T09:45:33Z

A year ago, Rebecca Black’s unforgettable viral tune “Friday” first appeared on YouTube. Since then, the massively autotuned “Friday” music video has reached millions upon millions of eyes, spawned countless parodies and caught the attention of many celebrities.

To honor the jam, which eventually became Know Your Meme‘s top meme of 2011, we’re looking back at the high-profile musicians and famous tech personalities who have supported Black, covered the song or parodied it for its comedic glory (see list below).

Although released on Feb. 10, 2011, “Friday” exploded onto our radars in March as the song started attracting Justin Bieber-esque YouTube fame and much ridicule for its simple lyrics, low-budget music video and apparent autotuned vocals. Dust began to settle on the song as 2011 came to a close. However, in November, it returned for a reprieve in Kohl’s Black Friday ad.

Black acknowledged the 1-year anniversary Friday night in this tweet:

i just can’t believe how different life can be in just a year. #thankyou #humbled

— Rebecca Black (@MsRebeccaBlack) February 11, 2012

SEE ALSO: Rebecca Black’s Second YouTube Single Gets 10 Million Views in 3 Days [VIDEO]

What has been your favorite “Friday” memory — whether that be an experience hearing it offline or a moment discovering a funny online spoof? I remember jamming out to it on a Saturday during a vacation in Phoenix and then again poolside the following day. Whomp.

5 Memorable Celebrity-Infused ‘Friday’ Moments

1. Lady Gaga Calls YouTube Star Rebecca Black a Genius: “I say Rebecca Black is a genius and that anybody telling her she’s cheesy is full of sh*t,” said Lady Gaga during the Q&A portion of “Google Goes Gaga” in March. Even after Gaga called then-13-year-old Black a “genius,” the ridicule toward the song still hit a fever pitch, causing Black to leave middle school.
2. Conan Takes on Rebecca Black With “Thursday”:
3. Startups and VCs Parody Rebecca Black’s “Friday”: Startup founders and employees have just put their spin on the Internet’s biggest hit of 2011. We spotted these startups (let us know if you spy any others): 33Across, AppNexus, Birchbox, Bitcasa, Cabana, FanBridge, Get Satisfaction, GroupMe, Hotel Tonight, Jelli, Kiwi Crate, Mashery, MemSQL, ModCloth, Monetate, Path, RockMelt, SinglePlatform, TaskRabbit, Turntable.fm, Warby Parker and Xobni.
4a. Katy Perry Video Features Rebecca Black Cameo:
4b. Katy Perry Covers “Friday” in Concert:
5. Glee Covers “Friday” on TV:

More About: celebrities, conan o'brien, Entertainment, Friday, katy-perry, Lady Gaga, memes, Music, parody, Rebecca Black, spoofs, Startups, viral videos

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Cool Websites and Tools [February 10th 2012]

2012-02-11T09:38:41Z

Check out some of the latest MakeUseOf discoveries. Most of the listed websites are FREE or come with a decent free account option. If you want to have similar cool website round-ups delivered to your daily email, subscribe here.

Add Your Website Here!

PogoPlug – When you lose your phone or when it gets stolen, one of the most frustrating things is to lose the pictures that you had on it. Thus you should always keep a backup copy of the media stored on your phone. However manually synchronizing your phone to a computer or an online account is not very convenient. Which is why PogoPlug was created. Read more: PogoPlug: Automatically Sync Photos From Your Phone To The Cloud [iOS]

		Logo Maker – There are numerous web services that let you create logos easily online. But normally to use such an online logo creator you first have to execute a web search. But why do that when you can equip your browser with an excellent logo creator? Logo Maker is the browser tool that helps you quickly create logos within Chrome. Read more: Logo Maker: Easily Create Logos [Chrome]

		Happy Folding – Origami can be a very healthy creative outlet but a lot of people struggle to get started with it. HappyFolding is a web resource that includes information on everything you need to know about Origami. Starting from reviews of different kinds of Origami papers including their size, weight, resistance, etc. Read more: HappyFolding: Origami Galleries, Diagrams, Videos & More

		Ming.ly – is a personal relationship manager that brings social networking websites right into your inbox, allowing you to stay connected without having to go through the hassle of visiting every social networking website to check them out. The service allows you to connect with your favorite social networking websites. Read more: Ming.ly: Manage Social Networks From Your Gmail Inbox [Firefox & Chrome]

		Flapcast – If you are an avid listener of podcasts, then you’d probably ask what the best way is to access your favorite shows on the desktop without going through the clunkiness of iTunes. While there are several possible options online, Flapcast is one of the few web apps that makes podcast listening easy and seamless. Read more: Flapcast: Stream & Play Podcasts Online

Add Your Website Here!

These are just half of the websites that we discovered in the last couple of days. If you want us to send you daily round-ups of all cool websites we come across, leave your email here. Or follow us via RSS feed.

7 Marketing Lessons From RIM’s Failures

2012-02-11T09:45:33Z

Alex Goldfayn is CEO of the Evangelist Marketing Institute. His new book is called Evangelist Marketing: What Apple, Amazon and Netflix Understand About Their Customers (That Your Company Probably Doesn’t).

You remember, don’t you? The emails magically appeared while you weren’t looking. That blinking light turned us into addicts. And that keyboard — copied often, but never matched.

It was the BlackBerry, the glorious, beloved, and life-changing BlackBerry. It made us feel good, and it never let us down.

Long before the iPhone the took the world by storm, and before Google even dreamed about getting into the phone business, Research in Motion was on top of the consumer electronics mountain.

Today, sadly, it is buried under it, and industry insiders everywhere wonder whether RIM will survive.

What happened? Harmful strategy. Unforced errors. And, mostly, really bad marketing. On this, RIM is in good company in the consumer electronics industry, where so many manufacturers market poorly. But few have made so many marketing mistakes so quickly.

Here are seven marketing lessons from RIM’s dark and difficult journey.

1. Make Great Products

Consumer electronics success begins with excellent products. The BlackBerry was once perceived as the very best smartphone — or, at least, “emailing phone” — available. It was exciting, emotional and it made people feel good. RIM sold BlackBerries on the strength of word-of-mouth recommendations. BlackBerries were aspirational, and people wanted to own one because friends and colleagues were so passionate about them.

Now, fast-forward to today.

Consider the excitement and energy around the iPhone and all those Android handsets. RIM enjoys none of that today. Not one percent of it. In part, it’s because it stopped making good smartphones in favor of a poorly received tablet called the PlayBook.

Successful marketing begins with having a tremendous product or service to market. Nothing happens without this.

2. Build on Strengths Instead of Improving on Weaknesses

I’m constantly telling clients that they should build on strengths instead of trying to improve their weak areas. For RIM, the BlackBerry was a great strength, and they all but abandoned its development and marketing for a year or longer to create the tablet. RIM did this to try to prevent the world from passing it by in the tablet space — which it did anyway. Tragically, as a result of diverting talent, attention, resources, investment and innovation from the BlackBerry to the Playbook, the consumer smartphone world has also passed RIM by.

It doesn’t matter what business you’re in. If you focus on developing weaknesses, your strengths will atrophy due to neglect. If you want to market well, identify your strengths — products, services, techniques, approaches, relationships — and exploit them relentlessly. This technique overcomes nearly all weaknesses.

3. Gravity Pushes Backwards

If you’ve attained a measure of success, you must continue innovating your products, services and your marketing just to maintain your position. Because you can bet the competition is innovating aggressively, and they’ll pass you by in three seconds if you stop doing the things that brought you success. RIM not only stopped releasing new BlackBerries while focusing on its PlayBook, it basically stopped talking to its customers about them for an extended period. We’ve seen this story before with Palm and many others. Gravity pushes backwards in business. Consistent and aggressive innovation is required not only to attain success, but to maintain it.

4. Know Precisely Who Your Customer Is

RIM’s management famously disagreed on who their customer was. Then co-CEO Mike Lazaridis felt the customer was the corporation. Others, probably including his counterpart Jim Balsillie, wanted to aim BlackBerry products at consumers. If you don’t know exactly who your customer is, it is impossible to market. Language, messaging, platforms, branding and public relations change completely depending on the customers you target. So identify your customers as precisely as possible, and aim all of your marketing efforts at them.

5. Executives Set the Marketing Tone

Consider the most successful companies in consumer electronics (and two of the most successful companies in all of business): Apple and Amazon. Their chief executives set their marketing tone, and everyone follows. If you haven’t seen it yet, watch this YouTube video of Steve Jobs introducing the iPad, and listen to how everybody who followed him on stage used exactly the same words.

This is no accident. The next day, thousands of articles used the same words to describe the amazing, remarkable and awesome iPad. Amazon’s Bezos is the same way. The best marketers have high-level executives setting the tone. They not only teach the rest of the company how to talk about their products and services, but the customers, the media, and the market itself. Obviously, RIM’s co-CEOs did not set this tone. They couldn’t even agree on who the customer was.

6. Avoid Unforced Errors

Most marketing problems are self-made and entirely avoidable. Consider the major developments from RIM’s recent past:

It voluntarily stopped focusing on the BlackBerry to make a product it had no experience with.
It could not identify its customer.
It stopped marketing to consumers, allowing competition to roar past.

Not convinced? Consider Netflix’s recently concluded horrible-terrible-no-good-very-bad year:

A dramatic price increase.
An extended period with no action to placate angry consumers.
Spinning off something called Qwikster and then spinning it back in.
A remarkably poor response to it all by the CEO, Reed Hastings.

None of these things happened to these companies. They did it to themselves. Don’t try to outsmart yourself. Avoid unforced errors.

7. Keep Talking to Your Customers

My work with clients often involves conducting qualitative conversations with their customers to deeply understand how they feel about what the company is doing and what the company is thinking about doing. If RIM had talked to its customers like this, it would have quickly learned that they probably weren’t particularly interested in a BlackBerry tablet without built-in email, messaging or contacts!

If you’re not talking to your customers, you’re just guessing from a conference room.

I believe RIM has enough of a corporate and government customer base to sustain it through this most difficult period. To recover, the company must precisely identify its customer, make terrific products for it, and orient all of its marketing and messaging toward it. In the meantime, we can all learn from the mistakes that brought the BlackBerry maker to this point.

You remember the Blackberry, don’t you?

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, franckreporter

More About: blackberry, Business, contributor, features, Marketing, Mobile, RIM, Tech

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Saudi Journalist Arrested After Tweeting About Prophet Muhammad

2012-02-11T09:45:33Z

Twenty-three-year-old Saudi journalist Hamza Kashgari has been arrested in Malaysia after sending out a series of controversial tweets about the Prophet Muhammed Saturday that caused some religious conservatives to call for his execution. He was detained Thursday morning at Kuala Lumpr International Airport, the Wall Street Journal has confirmed.

“On your birthday, I will say that I have loved the rebel in you, that you’ve always been a source of inspiration to me, and that I do not like the halos of divinity around you. I shall not pray for you,” were among the tweets sent by Kashgari during the Muslim prophet’s birthday last week.

“On your birthday, I find you wherever I turn. I will say that I have loved aspects of you, hated others, and could not understand many more,” he wrote in a followup tweet.

“On your birthday, I shall not bow to you. I shall not kiss your hand. Rather, I shall shake it as equals do, and smile at you as you smile at me. I shall speak to you as a friend, no more,” he concluded. His Twitter profile has since been deactivated.

Kashgari’s tweets provoked charges of blasphemy, and some called for his death, disregarding his repeated public apologies. The address of the 23-year-old, who held a job as a columnist in his local newspaper, was posted on YouTube. Fearing for his safety, Kashgari fled Saudi Arabia “sometime Monday or Tuesday,” the Journal reports. A source close to Kashgari told The Daily Beast that Kashgari was on his way to seek asylum in New Zealand when he was arrested in Kuala Lumpr.

Kashgari was detained by request of the Saudi government, but his fate is not yet clear. According to the Journal, Kashgari’s statements could be considered capital offenses under Saudi Arabia’s Shariah law. The government did announce last week that Kashgari was subject to legal penalties and was banned from writing for publication.

In an interview with The Daily Beast before his arrest, Kashgari defended his actions, saying, “I was demanding my right to practice the most basic human rights — freedom of expression and thought — so nothing was done in vain.”

More About: Journalist, Media, Saudi Arabia, Twitter

‘This Message Will Self-Destruct’: One Shar.es Erases Data After Transmission

2012-02-11T09:45:33Z

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: OneShar.es

Quick Pitch: OneShar.es lets you send confidential data that automatically deletes after the recipient views it once.

Genius Idea: Allows your sensitive data from becoming one of the many “read” emails in a recipient’s inbox, which could potentially be accessed if his or her smartphone is lost or stolen.

Ever wonder if the private emails you send to trusted friends and acquaintances are deleted or if that information lingers in their inboxes? OneShar.es has a smart solution to safeguard sensitive information that’s very Mission Impossible.

The web tool allows people to easily share private information, whether its via your mobile device (apps for iOS and Android) or your browser window. The recipient has one chance to view the information and when he or she closes out, it self destructs.

“There’s a lot of trust placed with people with whom we share private information,” says Jerry Thompson, co-founder and CTO. “Over time, this information is collected in people’s inboxes and with the amount of free space offered by Gmail and other services, there’s little reason or incentive to actually delete these emails.”

Thompson give this example of how your email could easily be accessed: “On a desktop web browser, you’ll need to enter your email address and password to access your Gmail,” he says. “With the vast majority of people having smartphones, most email apps do not require authorization once it’s been configured. If you lose your phone, whomever finds it can now check your email without any logins at all. If a bad guy were to find your phone, they have your email and everything in it.”

The lesson here: No one deletes email, so protect your information.

Here’s how it works: “The data you enter is encrypted from your browser to our servers and stored encrypted. Your private URL holds part of the key to unlock the content. This URL is sent to whoever needs access to it. Once its viewed, its permanently deleted. So while you may have the OneShar.es URL in your outbox and the recipient may have it in their inbox, it can never be retrieved again after being viewed.”

Security concerns about the protection of private and personal data have propelled sites like Dropbox and other file encryption tools into popularity. In 2009, computer scientists were working on software called Vanish that would make sensitive files self-destruct, but the project has since gone kaput.

What do you think about OneShar.es? Will you use it? Tell us in the comments.

Image courtesy of Flickr, Darwin Bell

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, data, OneShar.es, privacy

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Google to Get Scary With Anne Rice

2012-02-11T09:45:33Z

Google has been known to celebrate authors and encourage educators to write books. It even made finding authors of articles easier by improving the quality of search results for authors.

Now the search giant is playing host to legendary horror novelist Anne Rice.

Even if you’re not a Google employee you can tune in to author Anne Rice’s presentation at the company’s Mountain View, Calif. headquarters on Feb. 24 via live broadcast. Rice will be discussing her latest novel, The Wolf Gift. You can check it out on the Authors@Google YouTube channel on Feb. 24 at 10 a.m. PST.

The recording will be posted on YouTube in its entirety after it’s over.

Knopf describes Rice’s new book thus: “A whole new world—modern, sleek, high-tech—and at its center, a story as old and compelling as history: the making of a werewolf, reimagined and reinvented as only Anne Rice, teller of mesmerizing tales, conjurer extraordinaire of other realms, could create.”

The Authors@Google series hosts famous and of-the-moment writers of all genres at Google for informal chats about their works and recently published books. The series take place at Google’s Mountain View headquarters or one of its other locations in New York, Cambridge, or Ann Arbor, as well as other offices. The series is under the umbrella of @GoogleTalks, which brings in famous people, politicians, innovators and significant figures from all around the world.

Past writers and journalists who’ve participated include novelist Salman Rushdie, journalist Bob Woodward, Noam Chomsky and Neil Gaiman. Google has also hosted President Barack Obama, David Beckham, Tom Brokaw, Lady Gaga, Ron Paul, Tina Fey and many others.

Will you tune in to watch Anne Rice at Google? Have you watched @GoogleTalks in the past? Tell us in the comments.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, RonBailey

More About: Anne Rice, authors, Google, YouTube

Announcement: Winners of Deals2Have Giveaway

2012-02-11T08:24:29Z

Advertise here with BSA

We recently ran an excellent giveaway of 5 free Deals from Deals2Have (a site providing great discounts on digital products for Mac enthusiasts, creative professionals and startups). This post announces the 5 lucky Six Revisions winners who’ve won.

The Winners

Here are the winners of the Deals2Have giveaway:

Congratulations to all the winners! The winners should’ve already received information from the folks at Deals2Have on how to claim their prize via email.

About Deals2Have

Deals2Have, which started in summer of 2011, is a site where you can find big discounts on useful digital products.

For the latest deals and news, follow Deals2Have on Twitter, join them on Facebook and subscribe to their RSS feed.

About the Author

Jacob Gube is the Founder and Chief Editor of Six Revisions. He’s also a web developer/designer who specializes in front-end development (JavaScript, HTML, CSS) and also a book author. If you’d like to connect with him, head on over to the contact page and follow him on Twitter: @sixrevisions.

Where to Find Mashable at Social Media Week 2012

2012-02-11T09:45:33Z

Social Media Week 2012 begins on Monday, Feb. 13 and extends to 12 cities worldwide. Mashable staff members will once again be taking part in various panels across New York City.

Now in its fourth year, Social Media Week continues to grow, with 60,000 people attending events annually. Just like last year, we here at Mashable are excited to participate. You’ll find Mashable staff discussing a variety of topics throughout the week including nonprofits, startups, photography and marketing.

Below is a list of all the panels that Mashable staff will be a part of. A complete schedule of events worldwide can be found on the Social Media Week calendar.

Mashable at New York Social Media Week 2012

Monday, Feb. 13

9:00 AM – 9:30 AM Fireside Chat: The Creative Social Revolution – What in the world is going on? - Hosted by Saatchi Wellness (Sharon Feder, Mashable Chief Operating Officer)
4:30 PM – 5:30 PM Social Sharing and The Art of Doodling - Hosted by Doodle.ly (Lance Ulanoff Editor-in-Chief of Mashable)

Tuesday, Feb. 14

3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. The New Ghostwriter - Hosted by Hearst Magazines (Todd Wasserman, Mashable Business Editor)
5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.Communicating with Customers Beyond Facebook & Twitter: How Brands are Accessing Start-ups to Collaborate and Communicate – Hosted by Big Fuel Social Labs (Todd Olmstead, Mashable Community Assistant)

Wednesday, Feb. 15

9:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Keynote: Ben Kaufman on Reinventing Product Development, followed by Panel: Marketing is Ruining the Internet - Hosted by JWT (Todd Wasserman, Mashable Business Editor)

Thursday, Feb. 16

4:00 p.m. – 4:45 p.m. Nonprofits and Social Media: A Perfect Solution - Hosted by New York Women in Communications (Zoe Fox, Mashable Reporter)
6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. The New Face of Social Good: How to Create Your Own Social Media Magic - Hosted by Shes the First (Emily Banks, Mashable Associate Managing Editor)

Friday, Feb. 17

9:00 a.m. – 9:45 a.m. Picture This: How Brands Are Using Image-Based Services - Hosted by Birchbox (Lauren Drell, Mashable Associate Editor)
9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. Where Is Social Media Taking the Travel Industry in 2012? – Hosted by Hearst Magazine (Sarah Kessler, Mashable Startups Reporter)

Will you be attending Social Media Week? Which panels interest you the most?

More About: mashable, new york, Social Media, social media week

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The 9 Best Questions From You [MakeUseOf Answers]

2012-02-11T09:38:42Z

Every Friday MakeUseOf Answers honors the Best Answer of the Week to reward those that help us solve the toughest questions. We read every single comment and add the best answers to the shortlist for the contest. For a chance to win, just help us solve questions!

This week we owe our gratitude to:

Best Answer of the Week – truekolor

1st Runner Up – Richard Carpenter

2nd Runner Up – Ed

Congratulations to the winners!

Great questions can provide great insights. These are the best of the past week:

For regular updates subscribe to the Answers RSS Feed.

Need help? Ask A Question at MakeUseOf Answers.

Zynga Marketing Master Padma Rao Joins Foundation Capital As An Entrepreneur In Residence

2012-02-11T08:01:50Z

Padma Rao’s analytical marketing skills have made a big impact at more than one company in the Bay Area, and now she’s bringing a decade of experiences to her new role as an entrepreneur in residence at Foundation Capital.

Her most recent efforts helped turn a gaming startup into a booming public company.

Few people realized it at the time, but in late 2008 and early 2009 social game developer Zynga had figured out how to get a great return on investment from Facebook advertising. The social network had developed its ad system over the previous few years to the point that it was able to deliver ads closely targeted to users’ interests — but most people hadn’t realized that yet, so prices were cheap.

Rao joined Zynga at the beginning of 2009 to help lead the development of its marketing platform. An engineer by training, she took a look at the few third-party ad bidding tools available for Facebook and decided the company needed to build its own. She did the same for its user email system. The market timing turned out to be perfect. Zynga had also just figured out how to monetize casual-style simulation games, and in quick succession over the course of the year, it launched hits like FarmVille, Café World, PetVille and FishVille. As I detailed in this December article, the inexpensive growth it got via ads and social communication features during this period brought it up to traffic levels that it has worked hard to pass even today.

“I like having the technical chops to understand what needs to happen and why — and to understand why something might take a long time,” she tells me. “It makes a big difference, especially in online marketing, which is actually a very technical business. Having that background has saved me more than once… my approach is, if a tool doesn’t exist, we’ll build it.”

Zynga wasn’t the first place she’s done this. During a three year stint at Gap earlier last decade, she discovered that getting results from direct marketing were taking up to two and a half weeks. So she created a tool that would deliver results in 30 minutes. “This didn’t just mean faster results, it meant iterating faster, it changed the business” she explains. “It’s all about getting the right tools for people.”

She’s becoming an EIR for the same reason a lot of other product people do, including her new Foundation EIR colleague and former Twitter product head Anamitra Banerji. “I’ve had my head down working at companies,” she says, “and I’ve never taken the opportunity to see everything that’s out there.”

So what is she working on at Foundation? She’s actually already been doing some consulting work with social browser Rockmelt and other startups already. But she’s far from deciding whether to join or found. “I want to stay on the consumer side of things, and obviously mobile is fascinating — there’s lots of functionality that’s not probably not leveraged like it could be…. My dream is to start something, but I don’t want to do it just for the sake of doing it. If I find something great that someone else has started, I’m not going to ignore that because ‘I want to be a founder.’”

Busta Rhymes Waxes Enthusiastic On Google Music

2012-02-11T08:01:52Z

When Google Music launched a couple months ago, there was some criticism regarding how the service was promoted. What many saw as just another music locker and streaming service (albeit a perfectly good and free one) others saw as a great new vector for music sales and distribution. But the music locker portion seemed to hog the spotlight, and the cool Band Camp-esque new artist hubs lurked in the gloom.

Busta Rhymes seems to be a fan of the latter, and not just because he’s in an official partnership. In an interview on MTV, he was positively effusive about Google’s new platform. Check out the short clip, from MTV’s Sucka Free:

I think he’s being truthful when he says that “with that power that they have, that it was almost blasphemous for them to not have their hands in music as well.” Google, via YouTube, is the world’s foremost player in video distribution on the web (though as far as purchased content goes, Netflix is king). One almost wonders why music didn’t come first.

In case you were wondering that, the reason is that the user-focused structure of YouTube makes it a platform for viral videos and self-expression, not studio-produced content. They’ve been trying to change that, but it hasn’t been very effective (people don’t think of YouTube that way, for good reaosn). Google Music lets them start fresh and try to build something that works both from the top down and the bottom up. So whether they “sign” guys like Busta or a dude recording on an 8-track in his living room, they can provide an end-to-end buying, listening, and sharing solution.

“Google ain’t really trying to just sell music” is about as capsule-sized a summary as you can get, and it’s true. Google hates selling things, in fact. And in the music world, it might be that in a few years, selling things like music tracks just won’t be something you do, and Google will have positioned itself well to be a non-purchase solution.

Why Google Shouldn’t Bother With a Home Entertainment Gadget

2012-02-11T09:45:33Z

There’s a rumor going around that Google is planning some kind of home-entertainment device — possibly and answer to the (also rumored) Apple iTV. Apparently Google’s living-room product will be Google-branded, controlled via Android phone or tablet and may eventually expand to do things like control your room lights or kitchen gear. It really sounds like a wonder gadget.

It’s also not going to work. Google’s already tried playing this game and lost. Google TV, launched to much fanfare in 2010, ended up being a boondoggle for the company. Although it promised to properly bridge the web and the television, it hit the same roadblock that other devices, like Boxee, stumbled over much earlier: content providers.

After the first Google TV device, the Logitech Revue, was launched, sites belonging to NBCUniversal, Viacom and Fox quickly began blocking their content from the Revue’s special version of the Chrome web browser. As they see it, they’re the ones who get to decide which screens customers can watch their content on — not Google.

Reviews of the Revue were mixed, with many pointing out the inherent clunkiness of using a keyboard to “watch TV,” but even if the device were perfect, it wouldn’t have mattered. Without the right content there’s simply no compelling reason to own the device. No one buys the “hockey puck” Apple TV because of its design — the get it because they know iTunes has movies and TV shows they want on demand.

SEE ALSO: 4 Big Moves Google Should Make in 2012

This has often been Google’s problem: too much focus on the product (whether hardware or software) and not enough on the ecosystem of the customer experience. Think back to the first Nexus phone: Google actually believed it could actually re-invent the way people buy phones, offering it up online, contract-free, for $529. It turned out that, as good as the product was, people loved getting cheap phones more than they hated the carriers.

For Google’s foray into the living room to succeed, it needs to offer up some compelling reason (read: content) that a customer simply can’t get from Apple, Netflix, Amazon and Hulu. Sure, there’s YouTube, but it barely counts since it has virtually no studio content and is only just starting original programming. And if Google offers better YouTube through Google devices, what happens to all the YouTube widgets and apps, which are on everything?

Some have pointed out Motorola, which Google owns and is rumored to be building the device, could leverage its clout as a cable-box manufacturer to give this new system a boost. It obviously depends on what this mystery device ends up being, but if it’s something people need to actually buy, this isn’t going to work. Google and Motorola, though powerful brands, don’t have the same credibility Apple has in consumer products. Tons of people will line up for an Apple TV even before it’s even on sale — that would never happen with the other two.

So it really doesn’t matter if this new Google gadget connects to all your devices, lets you seamlessly control it with your phone and transforms into a jet. It really even doesn’t matter if it integrates with Google’s Android ecosystem better than any device. Google needs to get credibility in content before it can make a big splash in your living room.

It may be 2012, but content is still king, and another high-tech device that doesn’t put it front and center will just make Google look like the court jester. Again.

More About: apple, Apple TV, Google, google tv, hulu, Motorola, netflix, trending

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Magic: The Gathering Toolbox Is The One Stop Shop For Magic [iPhone]

2012-02-11T01:38:13Z

Magic: The Gathering is, in my opinion, the single best card game ever created. In many ways, they are the game that popularized collectable card games (or CCGs), and they are still running the show today. Sadly, I have not been able to play much Magic in the past 6 months, and writing this article is reminding me of how much fun that game is. I still have a solid collection of thousands of cards, and I think it might be time to pull them out and get back to playing.

Anyway, the point of this article is not for me to reminisce about the days of playing Magic, it is to tell you about the official Wizards of the Coast application called Magic: The Gathering Toolbox. It is the one stop shop for all things Magic on your iPhone. It takes all the features that some of the Magic apps out there have and combines them. Moreover, because it is the official app, you know all the information contained is valid and accurate.

Life Counter

Any Magic app needs a life counter. When things get intense and you are planning three and four turns ahead, remembering your life can be impossible. Many players use dice to remember their life, but this is 2012, and we have the technology to make life a hell of a lot easier. The life counter in this app is as feature packed as any one I have seen. You can tap settings to set your counter for a standard two player game, a tournament game (just make sure having your phone out is okay with the judges and your opponent) and for commander.

You can also tap on the sword beside each player’s name to add additional features. You can change the background to various colors and even some beautiful card art. You can also roll a d6, flip a coin, roll a d20 and even tap “Who’s First” to have the app tell you who gets to play first.

You can also tap “players” to change the information of the people in the game. Lastly, you can tap “Trackers” to add other counters such as Poison, Deck Size, Times Commander Cast, Commander Damage and storm count. This is the one and only life counter you will need while playing Magic: The Gathering.

Deck Builder

Another awesome feature of this app is the deck builder. You start by choosing the format for the deck. For my example, I choose Legacy. From the deck builder screen you search for the cards you would like to have in your deck, and then click if you want to add them to your main deck, or sideboard.

Once you have completed your deck, you can use the tools in the app to draw a sample hand and analyze the deck. It is a great way to get a feel for how your deck will play. After all the fine tuning and tweaking, you can share your new deck on Facebook or via email.

Card Search

Obviously, Wizards of the Coast has access to the entire database of Magic: The Gathering cards, so it makes sense that they would include a card search in their app. The search is extensive, allowing you to simply type in a cards name, or browse based on all kinds of parameters. You can limit by color, rules, expansion, type, subtype and so many more. It allows you to find the cards you know, and learn about cards that you may not have heard of before.

Other Features

The app also features a quick way to view the latest news from the official Magic: The Gathering blog. It is a cool way to keep up with the latest happenings in the Magic world. You can also use the search function at the top of the blog to find articles about a specific topic. The official blog is great for news, but they also feature some amazing strategy posts that will help new players step up their game.

They also have an events feature that allows hardcore magic players to keep up with the important things happening in the world of Magic. If you are looking to make your way into the high-level magic scene, you can use this feature to find out what is going on.

An added bonus is the store locator. It takes you out of the app and links you to the store locator section of the official Magic: The Gathering website. If you are looking for a place to attend a prerelease or a Friday Night Magic, this is the feature you need to check out.

Conclusion

This app is necessary for Magic: The Gathering players. It has everything a Magic player could want. Best of all, it is free! If you always wanted to have Magic at your fingertips, go download this application. I promise, you will not regret it.

iTunes Link

I would love to hear how you enjoy this application or some great stories from fellow Magic players. Share in the comments!

Whale Hunting: Facebook Hooks 1st-Time Buyers With $5 Of Game Credits For $1

2012-02-11T08:01:53Z

Only about 5% Facebook gamers pay to play freemium games. If Facebook could up this percentage, it and its third-party app developers could make a lot more money. That’s the idea behind a new promotion Facebook announced today where those who’ve never bought Facebook Credits virtual currency before will be offered $4 in free Credits when they buy $1. This gets users to set up their credit card and experience the rush of paying for an enhanced gaming experience.

Years ago when Facebook first launched its Credits virtual currency, it offered free Credits to some users. While this might have got them hooked on spending virtual currency, it didn’t addict them to paying for it.

Facebook needs credit card numbers badly. Apple has amassed an enormous collection after 10 years of iTunes Mp3 sales, which is now helping it easily sell apps and in-app purchases. If Facebook wants to grow its revenue to satisfy outside investors and be a competitive mobile gaming platform, it needs to get users ready to pay.

But like the street corner pusher says, “this ain’t no charity”. Facebook is only surfacing the promotion in sidebar ads, and TrialPay in-game promotions and offer walls to those who haven’t already bought Credits. User than have to set up a credit card or connect a PayPal account and pay $1 to get the extra $4, or 40 Credits. And next time, they’ll have to pay full price. Facebook wisely does not provide any way to reach the promotion directly in order to deter users from trying to cheat their way to free currency.

If you want to claim your own free Credits, your best bet is to play games by clients of Facebook’s official offers partner TrialPay, such as those by Playfish, Playdom, Kabam, Crowdstar, and iWin. These include The Sims Social, Gardens of Time, It Girl, and Kingdoms of Camelot. Then visit the offer wall or click through Deal Spot signs within games.

With any luck, Facebook will be able to up the percentage of users who monetize, and thereby discover new whales — gamers who spend orders of magnitude more than the average payer and drive the bottom lines of both indie developers and giants like Zynga. Call him Ishmael…Zuckerberg.

[Image Credit: Screenrant]

Hack Your Gadgets and Void Your Warranties This Weekend [Weekendhacker]

2012-02-11T06:48:21Z

There's nothing inherently wrong with a product you buy off the shelf, but there's definitely something awesome about hacking it to make it better. This weekend, throw your warranties aside and bring something new to the things you already own. More »

15 Fascinating Twitter Employees You Should Follow

2012-02-11T01:43:24Z

1. Kris

We're intrigued by the tweets of someone that labels themselves as being "unnecessarily coy" and knows that they will someday live in Paris once their days of working with the "Twitter dudes" are through.

Click here to view this gallery.

You may follow lots of interesting people on Twitter, but do you follow any Twitter employees?

We’ve scanned the grid of Twitter’s current staff of 833 and pulled out a few that caught our eye. From the insightful to the ridiculous, these 15 are definitely follow-worthy.

SEE ALSO: 10 Must-Follow Spoof Tech & Social Media Twitter Accounts

Which Twitter minions keep your feed fresh? Share your favorites in the comments.

More About: features, List, Social Media, Twitter

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First Photos of Beyonce’s and Jay-Z’s Baby Emerge on Tumblr [PICS]

2012-02-11T01:43:24Z

Blue Ivy Carter on Tumblr

More than a month after Beyonce and Jay-Z welcomed their first child to the world, pictures of the newborn, Blue Ivy Carter, have emerged. A Tumblr blog titled "HelloBlueIvyCarter" popped up on Friday night, displaying five photos of the baby.

Blue Ivy was born sometime on Jan. 7. The text on the new Tumblr blog reads, "We welcome you to share in our joy. Thank you for respecting our privacy during this this beautiful time in our lives. The Carter Family."

She is reportedly named after two album titles: Jay-Z's The Blueprint and Beyonce's 4, which is IV in Roman numerals.

Click here to view this gallery.

More than a month after Beyonce and Jay-Z welcomed their first child to the world, pictures of the newborn, Blue Ivy Carter, have emerged. A Tumblr blog titled “HelloBlueIvyCarter” popped up on Friday night, displaying five photographs of the baby.

Blue Ivy was born sometime on Jan. 7. The text on the new Tumblr blog reads, “We welcome you to share in our joy. Thank you for respecting our privacy during this this beautiful time in our lives. The Carter Family.”

She is reportedly named after two album titles: Jay-Z’s The Blueprint and Beyonce’s 4, which is IV in Roman numerals. Tumblr could not be reached for comment by press time.

The photos likely will spark significant traffic on Tumblr, which after an explosive 2011 started this year by revealing impressive numbers that highlight the microblogging platform’s continue growth: 15 billion monthly pageviews and 120 million monthly unique visitors.

SEE ALSO: Tumblr Numbers — The Rapid Rise of Social Blogging [INFOGRAPHIC]

Tumblr launched in 2007 and wants to give a “much more deliberate international effort” in reaching the audience outside of the U.S. in 2012.

BONUS: Blue Ivy’s Brief History So Far

Two days after Blue Ivy was born, her parents revealed an audio recording of the infant for the first time. The Jay-Z song “Glory” (listen below) features Blue Ivy at the end of the track after the proud poppa raps, “Words can’t describe what I’m feeling for real. Baby, I paint the sky blue. My greatest creation was you.” Jay-Z announced the song Jan. 9 via a tweet, which includes a link to the track on his web site Life + Times.

Blue Ivy made a name for herself before she even had a name or was born. At the end of a performance at the MTV Video Music Awards, Beyonce confirmed her pregnancy by dropping her mic, unbuttoning her top and rubbing her baby bump. The “bump” moment broke Twitter’s tweets-per-second record at the time with 8,868 tweets per second. (Four unrelated events have since surpassed the “bump” in the record books.)

SEE ALSO: The Top 15 Tweets-Per-Second Records

While the weekend birth didn’t reach the buzz level the bump did at the VMAs, Twitter did experience a significant spike. Social analytics firm Simply Measured told Mashable in January that tweets per minute peaked at 2,379 tweets at 11:15 p.m. PT on Jan. 7, which is a “healthy number for a non-televised, rumor driven event.” The chart below shows the rise in the mentions of “baby,” “Blue” and “birth.”

Hip hop pioneer Russell Simmons was the first celebrity to congratulate Beyonce and Jay-Z via a tweet, according to Simply Measured. Other big-name Twitter users followed suit. Here is a list of some of the most-followed Twitter users who mentioned “Beyonce” during the time period measured above.

More About: beyonce, blogging, celebrities, Entertainment, jay-z, Music, photography, tumblr

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Revealed: Google Wallet Security Flaw on Android Phones [VIDEO]

2012-02-11T01:43:24Z

Don’t give up your wallet and plastic cards just yet — at least, not until Google Wallet gets a security update.

The Android-only service, which lets you pay with your smartphone, turns out to have a major security flaw. If someone gets hold of your phone, they can effectively hit the reset button on Google Wallet — and get themselves sent a new PIN number.

The flaw, uncovered by TheSmartphoneChamp.com, wasn’t the first vulnerability uncovered in Google Wallet this week. Zvelo, a malicious software detection service, found that Google Wallet could be hacked and the owner’s pin number obtained using an app. But that hack required a phone to be rooted.

The video below shows just how easy it is to access credit card information from Google Wallet. One major concern: Google Wallet is connected to your phone, not your Google account, so you can’t change your password online if your phone is lost or stolen.

Google said a fix would be available soon. ”We strongly encourage anyone who loses or wants to sell their phone to call Google Wallet support toll-free at 855-492-5538 to disable the prepaid card,” said a spokesperson.

“We are currently working on an automated fix as well that will be available soon. We also advise all Wallet users to set up a screen lock as an additional layer of protection for their phone.”

The Google Wallet app was introduced in May 2011 and went live in September. It’s marketed as a paper-free way to store credit cards and pay for items with a tap on a PayPass pad using NFC technology. Shortly after its release, security concerns prompted Verizon to block the app from its Galaxy Nexus smartphone.

AT&T didn’t allow Google Wallet until recently. As Zvelo pointed out, that could have been due to the fact that AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon had a network joint venture in ISIS — a direct competitor to Google Wallet.

By 2015, the value of all mobile money transactions is expected to reach $670 billion. Other companies, such as PayPal and Visa, have invested in their own mobile wallet technologies.

The Google Wallet website FAQ’s section says information stored on the app is protected by a chip called the Secure Element that operates separately from the phone’s main operating system.

Do you use Google Wallet? Are you concerned about someone stealing your information? Tell us in the comments.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, oonal

More About: Google, google wallet, hack, mobile security, Secure Element, security

Netflix Pays $9 Million To Settle Video Privacy Lawsuit

2012-02-11T01:24:22Z

Netflix (NSDQ: NFLX) disclosed this afternoon that it will pay to settle nationwide claims that it illegally retained customers’ rental histories.

The settlement, disclosed in a securities filing, grows out of a 2011 lawsuit that accused the company of violating the Video Privacy Protection Act and California consumer laws. The VPPA forbids video rental agencies from disclosing customer information and also requires them to destroy certain data within one year.

In the lawsuit, former customers said they discovered Netflix still had their personal information when they went to resubscribe to the service later on. This information includes viewing histories or “queues” that Netflix uses to predict what subscribers might want to watch next.

In a related legal filing, Netlix said it is working with plaintiffs’ lawyers to finalize the details of the $9 million settlement before seeking court approval. In these type of deals, lawyers typically take 25 percent of the award.

The VPPA has been an ongoing nuisance for Netflix. Congress passed the 1988 after a newspaper published the video rental history of Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork but it also applies to newer technologies like streaming. The law, which forbids disclosing rental histories, is blocking Netflix from jumping onto Facebook’s frictionless sharing platform. The company is in pushing Congress to amend the law.

Last year, streaming radio service Pandora (NYSE: P) tripped over a similar state law in Michigan where it is being sued for disclosing subscribers’ playlists.

Related

Remains of the Day: FCC Trying to Fill in Mobile Data Gaps [For What It's Worth]

2012-02-11T06:48:21Z

The FCC releases a map of mobile data dead zones, Anonymous isn't sure if it brought down CIA.gov, and Google hands back the MPAA's Hotfile subpoena. Photo remixed from Pavel Ignatov (Shutterstock) More »

Where To Find Some Of The Coolest Posters & Artworks Online

2012-02-11T01:38:13Z

Unless you work out of random coffee shops, your work environment is around you every day, all day long. Building your own custom workstation can go a long way towards making things more comfortable and productive, but what about inspiration? Having beautiful, amusing or thought-provoking artwork hanging around your office or home can seriously upgrade the atmosphere.

With this in mind, I set out to find unique and interesting posters and works of art for sale all over the Web. Scroll down for some inspiration, and perhaps you’ll even find one you’ll want to buy.

ThinkGeek

I know, ThinkGeek’s poster section is a bit of an obvious choice, but that’s why I’m starting out with it. This is a large collection of nerdy posters, including posters for fans of Portal 2 (shown above), Battlestar Galactica (these are awesome in real life), and Pac-Man. Some of the items are not exactly posters in the strictest sense of the word: That Pac-Man art is actually a self-adhesive wall decal (cooler than a poster, some would say).

20×200

20×200 sells artwork, not just posters, and these are certainly not aimed only at geeks, despite the nerdy work I selected for you (Old Phone by artist Todd McLellan). While you can find smaller images in 20×200, you can also focus just on larger pieces if you sort by size (this links shows only 30”x40” art).

Each work is produced in a limited number of copies, and they sometimes sell out. For instance, this gorgeous map of Amsterdam was available as a 10”x8” print for $24, but all of that size has been sold out. You can still get it in larger sizes.

One important note about 20×200: Prices are not cheap. A 40”x30” print goes for $2,400 – a bit crazy.

OMG Posters

OMG Posters! is not a store, but a blog for art lovers. It features amazing works like the one shown above, by artist Mr. Muju. At around £15-£20, this particular screenprint is not expensive. The blog also features works by big-name artists such as Shepard Fairey (the guy who made the Obama poster). If you just like looking at beautiful art, this is a lovely blog to subscribe to.

Better yet, if you’re actually looking to buy something, each of the items contains a link to a website selling it.

Despair, Inc.

Despair, Inc.is a website that requires a unique sense of humor (one I suspect our own James Bruce might appreciate). It’s basically motivational posters, inverted. Above you can see one called Potential, but there are many, many more where that came from. Might not be appropriate for every office (or every temper), but if these don’t actually demotivate you, they can make an interesting choice.

If you find they work too well, though, I would suggest swapping them with something more cheerful.

The Poster List

The Poster List strikes a fine balance – it features actual artwork, but at poster prices. All posters on the site (including the work above, entitled Projector on Wood), go for $10.99. I only wish they added an option for “variants” of a specific poster. Right now, if a poster is offered in several different color schemes, it appears several times in the list, making it unnecessarily long.

Still, if you’re looking for posters that look like art and aren’t overly clever, this is a great place for some affordable finds.

Your Turn

As you can see, I did my best to find some unique places where you can get artwork for your home or workspace. Still, it is very possible I missed one or more great websites. I’m mainly curious to hear about niche sites like those featured above. Do you know of an art site that really deserves a bit more love? Tell me about it in the comments!

Image: Modest Owl

KUM Pencut Is a Travel Pair of Scissors (That Won't Destroy Your Bag) [Stuff We Like]

2012-02-11T06:48:21Z

Scissors are one of those things that you only seem to need when you don't have any around—like when you're travelling, or in your car. The KUM Pencut is a pair of scissors in a pen-sized sheath, so you can have them on hand without risking a hole in your backpack (or worse). More »

[STUDY] Your Facebook Friends Influence How You Feel

2012-02-11T06:49:05Z

"A cute baby dolphin for your weekend-viewing pleasure" a Facebook friend of mine writes. Under the text, I see a link to an imgur-hosted image of that amazingly adorable marine mammal. Suddenly, my day is feeling a lot better. Did I just catch a mood... on Facebook?

A new study by Facebook data scientists shows that Facebook users can spread emotions to their friends through messages, posts and status updates. It suggests that emotional contagion happens quite frequently on the world's biggest social network. Facebook's Chief Data Scientist Adam Kramer presented these findings at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology on January 27, 2012.

"It's time to rethink how emotional contagion works, since vocal cues and mimicry aren't needed," said Kramer.

Sponsor

To test this out, Kramer used a program that identified words implying positive and negative emotions in Facebook status updates. Kramer looked at status update from one-million English-speaking users over a three-day period in 2010. Each Facebook user he studied had on average 150 friends, which means that this study included approximately 150 million people. The status updates that Kramer looked at were undirected, meaning they were not directed at a specific person.

He discovered that if a user's status update had more positive than negative words, updates from the user's friends averaged 7 percent more positive words and 1 percent fewer negative words. The inverse results were similar for negative words posted in a status update. The results were the same regardless of when during the week they were posted.

Did friends view a users' updates from three days before? Or did they just randomly see stuff in the news feed? Kramer said that there was no way to know. But one thing is for sure.

"Facebook users' emotions leaks into the emotional worlds of their friends," Kramer said.

Here's that cute baby dolphin for your weekend viewing pleasure.

Image courtesy Shutterstock.

Discuss

On Facebook, Millennials Friend an Average of 16 Co-Workers [INFOGRAPHIC]

2012-02-11T01:43:24Z

Generation Y isn’t afraid to mix work and play.

According to a new study, 18-29 year olds have no problem using their Facebook profiles for professional and personal use. Millennials friend an average of 16 co-workers — although 64% do not list where they work on their Timeline.

“Gen Y needs to be aware that what they publish online can come back to haunt them in the workplace,” said Dan Schawbel, founder of Millennial Branding, the company that conducted the “Gen Y & Facebook Study”. “Gen Y managers and co-workers have insight into their social lives, which could create an awkward workplace setting or even result in a termination.”

Most of Gen Y stays at their first job for about two years. The study looked at the most popular job titles and workplaces among millennials, who are known for their entrepreneurial spirit. About 4.4% of millennials work in the technology industry, which is the fourth highest work industry.

In today’s economy, with startups are booming, only 7% of Gen Y works for a Fortune 500 company. Being an owner of a business was the fifth most popular job title among Gen Y.

“If large corporations want to remain competitive, they need to aggressively recruit Gen Y workers,” Millennial Branding wrote in its report. “Gen Y will form 75% of the workforce by 2025 (according to the Business and Professional Women Foundation) and are actively shaping corporate culture and expectations. Big corporations can’t afford to be left behind.”

The U.S. Military, Walmart, Starbucks and Target employ the most millennials who identified their workplace on Facebook. Among corporate companies, Deloitte is the largest employer of millennials. Many millennials work as bartenders and waitstaff during their college years because paid internships are hard to land.

Millennial Branding collected the data for the infographic below by evaluating 4 million Gen Y Facebook profiles, mostly from the U.S., via Identified.com’s database. Identified.com’s database logs more than 50 million Facebook users’ work history, education and demographic data.

Are you Facebook friends with your co-workers or boss? Tell us in the comments below.

More About: Facebook, facebook privacy, generation y, infographic, millenials, study, trending

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Magic: The Gathering Toolbox Is The One Stop Shop For Magic [iPhone]

Life Counter

Deck Builder

Card Search

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Conclusion

Whale Hunting: Facebook Hooks 1st-Time Buyers With $5 Of Game Credits For $1

Hack Your Gadgets and Void Your Warranties This Weekend [Weekendhacker]

15 Fascinating Twitter Employees You Should Follow

1. Kris

First Photos of Beyonce’s and Jay-Z’s Baby Emerge on Tumblr [PICS]

Blue Ivy Carter on Tumblr

BONUS: Blue Ivy’s Brief History So Far

Revealed: Google Wallet Security Flaw on Android Phones [VIDEO]

Netflix Pays $9 Million To Settle Video Privacy Lawsuit

Remains of the Day: FCC Trying to Fill in Mobile Data Gaps [For What It's Worth]

Where To Find Some Of The Coolest Posters & Artworks Online

ThinkGeek

20×200

OMG Posters

Despair, Inc.

The Poster List

Your Turn

KUM Pencut Is a Travel Pair of Scissors (That Won't Destroy Your Bag) [Stuff We Like]

[STUDY] Your Facebook Friends Influence How You Feel

On Facebook, Millennials Friend an Average of 16 Co-Workers [INFOGRAPHIC]