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If you’re looking for an iPad 2 case, might as well get one that has a keyboard nestled inside. This Logitech Zaggmate Keyboard Case for iPad 2 protects your iPad while offering you a stand and keyboard at the same time.
Shipping on April 19, this aluminum case stands up your iPad 2 in either portrait or landscape modes, and its keyboard, rechargeable via USB, pairs up with your iPad via Bluetooth. The best news is, the case and keyboard are a mere .54 inches thin, and that’s not going to add much thickness to your sleek tablet. By the way, if you have an original iPad, Zagg makes a similar case for that, too, with or without the keyboard.
Logitech is offering this case with the cooperation of Zagg, also known for its “invisible shield” screen protectors for various devices. According to The Wall Street Journal, this mashup of Logitech and Zagg is the result of agreement the two companies made recently, where Logitech will be marketing, manufacturing and distributing the case, while Zagg retains the right to sell it on its website.
At its retail price of $100, there are certainly lots of cheaper stands — and even aluminum cases such as the gorgeous Joby Ori — available for the iPad 2. But this is the only one we’ve seen that gives you all three functions — stand, keyboard and case — in one attractive package.
It also holds the iPad in portrait orientation, but we're wondering how stable this is.
See that keyboard hiding underneath?
Here's the stand propping up the iPad in a landscape orientation.
The case weighs 7 ounces, and with the keyboard it weighs 12.8 ounces.
Its aluminum finish matches the iPad 2.
More About: accessories, Bluetooth Keyboard, iPad 2, ipad case, iPad Stand, tablets, trending
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Rummble was in the location-based review space before anyone had heard of Foursquare. In 2008, the website was already helping people figure out where to go based on where they were and what their former preferences said about them. But while you’ve probably heard of Foursquare and Gowalla (and even that puts you in the extreme minority), you probably haven’t heard of Rummble.
Even though 200,000 users have signed up for the service, few of them have used it on a daily basis even at the company’s peak. Rummble’s prospects were looking dim as large players like Google and Facebook entered the location-based services space.
A bit of an identity crisis ensued. The startup added a Foursquare-like badge system, launched a Twitter app, created a white-label product for a WiFi directory, and at one point even started a video show.
During South by Southwest this year, the UK-based startup announced a completely new focus that departs from all of its previous dabblings. While its main recommendation product will stay in operation, the company plans to focus on a B2B service powered by the same recommendation technology.
Mashable recently chatted with Rummble COO Alex Housley and Commercial Director Louisa East about how their company will make the transition from competing with location-based services to competing for their business.
In many ways, Housley says Rummble started in the place where location-based startups like Foursquare have now ended up. It focused on personalized recommendations from the start, basing them on how users and contacts in their social networks interact with the app.
“We worked at the technical stuff first — the deeply technical stuff first — with the personalization and recommendations rather than focusing more on the mechanics that have been quite successful with some of the other location based services, the user interface,” Housley says.
Foursquare and Gowalla launched in 2009. Facebook and Google both joined the game In 2010.
“It’s become such a crowded space and there are a lot of people doing the same thing, there’s some big names out there that are practically household brands,” East says. “So at the beginning of this year we put together our heads and thought that we know that the technology we had was really really solid and just figure out how we can use that technology in other areas.”
At South by Southwest this year, Housley was greeted at the Austin airport by a large banner ad for Google Places — further evidence, he thought, that the announcement he was to make at the conference was on the right track.
Housley later revealed that Rummble would be focusing on a B2B service that would lend its recommendation technology to other players through an API.
At a time when people are asking how location-based services will make money, Rummble wants to be part of the answer. The company also wants to provide the service for ecommerce and media sites.
“We were doing it already for location — the personalization and recommendation — and we thought it would be more potential to not have that engine locked into Rummble, into our consumer side,” Housley says.
He declined to comment on whether founder and former CEO Andrew Scott shared this vision, but he did acknowledge that Scott has left the company and has yet to be replaced.
In the last several months, Rummble has been working with a handful of partners to create demo applications of Rummble’s API on their websites.
A wine site, for instance, has integrated Rummble’s API to create a personalized recommendation list for each of its customers even before they make a single purchase. To do this, the API gathers information about what each customer is searching for, what they’ve viewed, and what they place in their shopping baskets. It attaches a different level of significance to each action when factoring it into recommendations. Rumble also helps match site users with others who share their interests.
Rummble’s plan is to target location-based services that lack recommendation services, ecommerce sites, travel sites, private sales clubs, and publications with its new B2B service. It will charge these companies a small rate per transaction in exchange for using the technology.
“If you’re looking at building a consumer app from scratch, it makes sense to get some of the mechanics right first,” Housley says.
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, gunnar3000, Flickr, asmythie
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: foursquare, Location-based services, Recommendations, Rummble
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Kickstarter’s crowdsourced funding service has already seen success for entrepreneurs with a penchant for Apple’s mobile with the Glif iPhone tripod. We were interested to see what other iPhone-themed projects are in the works.
We’ve found five fabulous iPhone accessories that are currently live on Kickstarter that we think might be worth investigating, including a couple of excellent accessories for iPhotographers and a fun Wii-themed music game.
Have a look through our exciting selection of (hopefully!) coming-soon iAccessories and let us know which ones you’d consider pledging cash to — and more importantly why — in the comments below.
Got an iPhone? Got a Nintendo Wii? Got a computer? Like music games? Then, boy, do we have the perfect Kickstarter project for you! The “Invisible Instrument” takes an iPhone (or iPod touch) and Wiimote, adds in an app and some computer software and spits out a gesture-based musical device capable of reproducing the sound of multiple instruments.
So far the confirmed instruments include a drum set, violin, cello, bass, keyboard, guitar and theremin, but others are planned and suggestions are welcome.
With the aim to create an “affordable musical tool” that bridges classical instrumentation and computer music, it’s a project with lots of potential applications from just plain fun for kids to an actual composition tool for musicians.
Minimum pledge to receive product (with all instruments): $25
This product is due to cause some real excitement among iPhone videographers as its functionality allows the creation of 360-degree panaromic videos using just your iPhone.
The lens records everything it can “see” all at once, so when you review the video (on the app or the website) you can zoom in and out and pan around to see what’s happening around the camera, something the demo video above explains well.
Best of all, it’s super-simple to use. The lens just snaps onto the case, and thanks to the free companion app, it’s just a matter of hitting record to make futuristic video footage.
Minimum pledge to receive product: $50
Created by a radio-controlled airplane enthusiast, the iPhly is arguably pretty niche. However, it’s a breakthrough product that could potentially bring R/C toys into the iAge.
Rather than the bulky controllers that currently exist for R/C models, the much smaller iPhly attaches to the iPhone, the frequency module of your existing remote slots in the back, and then thanks to the companion app, it can take command of your R/C toy via gesture control.
As well as airplanes, it will work with multiple models of radio-controlled helicopters, boats and cars, and can store profiles along with a pic for quick-glance operation.
Minimum pledge to receive product: $70
Tembo Trunks are a great option for iPhone owners on the go, especially those travelling to more exotic climes.
Using horn acoustics, the power-free “speakers” amplify the sound from your iDevice’s earbuds to as much as three times the unadulterated volume.
Additionally, they’re made of silicone rubber, so they’re waterproof, and fold down for easy packing. They seem pretty much indestructible. Due to be available in some fun colors, we think they’re a great addition to anyone’s iAccessory arsenal.
Minimum pledge to receive product: $39
The Jawcase Tiburon is of particular interest in what can easily be described as an overcrowded iPhone accessory market. It offers a variety of different functions.
As you’ll see in the video above, the Tiburon’s clever construction means it can be used for protection, as an all-round, multi-angle landscape and portrait stand, a desktop tripod for photography or video and even, in a pinch, a car mount.
Made out of aluminum and due to be available in a range of finishes, it’s a striking, yet minimalist, unisex option for iPhone 4 owners that do a lot with their device and want a case-come-stand to keep pace.
Minimum pledge to receive product: $80
More About: business, crowdsourcing, funding, iphone, iphone accessories, kickstarter, List, Lists, startups, videos
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StumbleUpon is hot. The discovery and recommendation engine that makes web browsing a lot like channel surfing just announced it’s now handling 1 billion stumbles per month.
On top of that impressive number, StumbleUpon just closed a second round of funding in March, wrapping up $17 million of series B financing.
That 1 million stumbles-per-month statistic represents explosive growth, especially when you consider that since just a month ago, that number has grown by 200 million, judging from the fact that StumbleUpon publicized 800 million stumbles just last month, according to Business Insider.
Why is StumbleUpon growing so fast? In my opinion, because it’s fun. Moments of serendipity run rampant as you click the Stumble button to go to the next selected site, and every site you see is picked because of the detailed preferences you indicate in your profile. It gets even smarter about your preferences as you vote for sites by clicking either a thumbs-up or thumbs-down icon. And, because I’ve been using the service for the past six years, it’s gotten to know my preferences quite well, and its ability to predict what sites I’ll like has become positively uncanny.
In addition, it’s hard to tell you’re being advertised to, because StumbleUpon uses your same preferences to determine which paid sites to show you. I think any business model that can figure out how to advertise to people without them being aware of it has a great chance of survival.
How about you, readers? Tell us about your experiences with StumbleUpon.
Graphic courtesy TheNextWeb
More About: 1 billion, business model, funding, growth, social networking, stumbleupon
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With just two flights of the space shuttle left, what’s next? You can see Richard Branson‘s SpaceShipOne in the infographic, giving us a look forward at what’s waiting in the wings — vessels that might find a different financial route to space, relying on private funding rather than governmental largess.
All is not lost, though, for the U.S. manned space program. Even though NASA‘s Ares launch vehicles and their associated Constellation program were canceled because of budget constraints, NASA selected SpaceX and its Falcon launch vehicles and Dragon spacecraft for the space agency’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program.
SpaceX successfully test flew its Falcon 9 launch vehicle with an unmanned Dragon spacecraft along for the ride last December, and just last week introduced its newest heavy-lift rocket, the massive 27-engine Falcon Heavy that’s the biggest rocket since the Saturn V. SpaceX says that monster will fly in 2013.
What you think of human space travel? Before we go to the infographic, let’s vote on it:
Your opinion not listed in our poll? Tell us about it in the comments.
Infographic courtesy Space.com
More About: 50 years, infographic, NASA, space, SpaceX
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Golfing is one of those addictive yet highly frustrating sports that can leave you feeling like a PGA pro one day and a novice the next. In golf, practice sometimes makes perfect, but any round can have a mind of its own regardless of how many hours you’ve put into the range. If anything though, true golfers are dedicated to the craft and will doggedly continue on their quest for the perfect swing.
These eight mobile apps might not get you to the Masters, but they may at least make you feel like you’re worthy of playing at Augusta.
FORE!
This app acts like your virtual golf instructor and provides a whole slew of practice drills for your full swing and short game. Designed by PGA Tour pros, it also provides specific solutions and drills to address common swing faults like hooking, pulling, pushing and slicing. You can use the customization features to pick and choose which drills you’d like to focus on and then create your own personalized practice routine. It’s also available for BlackBerry phones.
Cost: $0.99 (on sale for a limited time from $2.99)
U.S. Golf Courses is a basic but useful app that provides a directory of major courses in every state in the country. More than 13,500 courses are listed. In addition to a breakout by state, this app also provides information on each, such as grass/bunker information, contact details, facilities available, food options and more. You can also use the GPS function on the app to search for the nearest course.
Cost: $0.99
Knowing the layout of the course and each hole is essential for every golfer’s game. With a GPS-enabled app like Golfshot, which tracks more than 35,000 courses worldwide, you have immediate access to aerial views, distances to the hole from any spot and exact placement of the pin for better accuracy. The app comes with a handicap calculator, and once stroke information is inputted, it automatically creates statistical graphs that map your performance and makes it easy to track for improvement on future rounds. Yes, it’s a hefty price tag, but it’s cheaper than a single round of golf and will certainly put you on the right track to better play. It’s also available for Android phones.
Cost: $29.99
If you’re looking for golf course recommendations, Golf’s Greatest Destinations is a handy resource. The app lets you search beautiful destinations and also provides categories such as Best for Buddy Trips, Best for Low Handicappers, Best Desert Courses, Best for Golf & Beach and much more. Information on each course is provided, as are accompanying photos.
Cost: $2.99
There’s a reason why golfing instructors always incorporate video into lessons -– it’s the only way to show you those pesky mistakes in your swing. VIdeo is an important learning tool, which is why V1 Golf incorporates it so prominently. This app not only lets you analyze your own swing, but also lets you compare swings from pros and figure out what adjustments you need to make to stop hooking your drives. You can draw planes on the video screen to see how straight your line is, do split-screens to compare swings and watch in slow motion to see every single movement. It’s also available on Android phones.
Cost: $3.99 (on sale for a limited time from $9.99)
There are lots and lots of rules in golf, and there will be a time — if there hasn’t been already — when you’re playing with someone who is ALL about the rules. In those instances, it’s helpful to have a definitive guide to golf. There’s no better authority than the USGA Rules of Golf app. It gets into the nitty gritty of golf so that the next time you’re playing with a stickler who raises a stink about how you re-dropped a dropped ball without penalty because it landed on the putting green, you can whip out Rule 20-2 and prove him wrong. It’s also available for Android phones.
Cost: $3.99
Golf Digest is one of the premier golf magazines. It makes sense that it would have a premier app as well. Tips Plus covers everything from swing mechanics, putting, short game, strategy and golf exercises and also features commentary from the best coaches like Hank Haney, David Leadbetter and Jim Flick. There are accompanying videos for the tips (which unfortunately didn’t work for me), but also text that details helpful advice every golfer should know.
Cost: FREE
To keep up to speed on the latest news and updates from the world of golf, the Golf Channel Mobile app is a good one to have. It provides breaking news, up-to-the-minute tournament scoreboards, player profiles and clips from recent Golf Channel shows. There are also clips of instructional videos from popular shows such as The Golf Fix and The Daily Brew. It’s also available for Android phones.
Cost: FREE
Image courtesy of Flickr, turbotoddi
More About: android, App, Golf, iphone, Mobile 2.0, mobile apps, smartphone, social media, trending
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Never fear, we’re back with all our tools and resources published in the last week or so. Read on for stories about the stats behind Quora‘s buzz, how to optimize your content for social discovery, a guide to YouTube video editor, and how mobile payments are redefining ecommerce.
Looking for even more social media resources? This guide appears every weekend, and you can check out all the lists-gone-by here any time.
For more social media news and resources, you can follow Mashable’s social media channel on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.
For more tech news and resources, you can follow Mashable’s tech channel on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.
For more business news and resources, you can follow Mashable’s business channel on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.
Image courtesy of Flickr, chollingsworth3
More About: business, facebook, Features Week In Review, gadgets, List, Lists, Mobile 2.0, social media, tech, technology, twitter
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Zuckerberg is on a roll. After hobnobbing with President Obama (whose face has also been on the cover of Mad), appearing on Saturday Night Live, interviewing with Leslie Stahl on 60 Minutes, being the subject of an Oscar-nominated movie, having his likeness replicated in comic books and action figures, and even finding his name on a worst-dressed list, you might say that Zuckerberg’s circle of fame is complete. Not bad for the 52nd wealthiest person in the world.
When TechCrunch asked Mad Magazine editor John Ficarra why Mark was on the cover of his humorous periodical, Ficarra replied, “It was a pure business decision. We got a cool $2 mil from the Winklevoss twins to ‘poke’ him a new one.”
In anticipation of Zuckerberg’s debut on the cover of this hilarious mag (which we’ve loved for years), let’s try to figure out what the article will cite as some of the 50 worst things about Facebook. What do you think, commenters?
Image courtesy TechCrunch
More About: facebook, fame, Mad Magazine, mark zuckerberg, trending
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If there’s one thing we know for sure, it’s that tweeters love a good laugh. It’s no surprise then that the annual worldwide Prank-a-Palooza — April Fool’s Day — was top-of-mind in the Twitterverse this past week, and came in at number one on our chart. No doubt the antics of our favorite tech companies fueled the buzz, though Twitter users shared their own prank ideas with friends and colleagues as well.
Interestingly, the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards, which aired on April 2, trumped both March Madness (number three) and the world of pro soccer (number six) to take second place this week. Surprising trends like this always lead us to wonder about the ever-shifting demographics of our beloved microblogging network.
To see the full list, check out the chart below, compiled by our friends at What the Trend. Because this is a topical list, hashtag memes and games have been omitted from the chart. The aggregate is based on Twitter’s own trending algorithm, and does not necessarily reflect raw tweet volume.
You can check past Twitter trends in our Top Twitter Topics section, and read more about this past week’s trends on What The Trend.
Rank | Topic | Intensity | Description |
#1 | April Fool’s Day | 2 | April 1 was April Fool’s Day, and people and websites played practical jokes. Most popular were Google’s Gmail Motion and Google’s search antics around fonts Helvetica and Comic Sans. |
#2 | Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards | 1 | Nickelodeon’s 24th Annual Kids’ Choice Awards were held on April 2 at the University of Southern California. Fans were excited that Miley Cyrus and Selena Gomez won awards. |
#3 | NCAA March Madness | 1 | College basketball fans watched the Final Four games and the NCAA finals between Butler and UConn and Notre Dame and Texas A&M. Generating the most talk were women’s players, Skylar Diggins and Maya Moore. |
#4 | Academy of Country Music Awards | 1 | Country music fans watched the ACMs and were enthusiastic about Taylor Swift winning Entertainer of the Year. |
#5 | U.S. Politics | 1 | U.S. legislators are working to see if any compromise can be reached before a possible government shutdown. There were also many people following the Wisconsin Supreme Court election, which was very close. |
#6 | Soccer/Football | 1 | Soccer fans talked about players Joey Barton (Newcastle), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Xavi Hernández (Barcelona) and Dejan ‘Stanky’ Stankovic (Internazionale). |
#7 | Cricket World Cup | 1 | India and Sri Lanka met for the World Cup cricket finals and the Indian Cricket Team was victorious. |
#8 | Tom & Jerry | 1 | Tom & Jerry started trending when users responded to the Twitter account @PROMOTEfor, which tweeted: “SCOOBY DOO / TOM & JERRY?” But later people talked about the cartoon series they watched as children which seems to have been universally popular. |
#9 | Justin Bieber | 1 | On April Fool’s Day, there was some Justin Bieber follower tomfoolery, as his fans consider Bieber quite the prankster. |
#10 | Jonas Brothers | 1 | Jonas Brother fans got into a lather about a photoshoot where they were all shirtless. |
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, 123render
More About: april fools, List, Lists, social media, Top Twitter Topics, trends, twitter
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In stark contrast to today’s heavily-financed mega-startups such as Facebook, Groupon or Color, consider the unassuming and newly profitable Ninite, maker of a bulk software installation tool for Windows and Linux.
Ninite co-founders Patrick Swieskowski and Sascha Kuzins, the startup’s only employees, run a lean operation out of a San Francisco-based office and have no interest in raising flashy amounts of venture capital. Instead, their focus is on being the easiest way for software geeks, regular folks, grandmas and even system administrators to get software.
“The most frequent feedback we get from users is, ‘I love you,’” says Swieskowski.
The primary reason for the user-love is that Ninite gives them the ability to install dozens of applications with just a few clicks — it strips out all the tedious navigation and unnecessary dialogs usually involved in the software installation process.
“This is way software downloads should be,” Swieskowski says.
Users seem to agree. One and half years post-release, Ninite’s site now sees 2 million pageviews each month.
Ninite’s origins date back to early 2008, when Swieskowski and Kuzins launched BaseShield, a virtualization project for Windows that would run applications in secure containers.
The original idea and product had enough merit to graduate from Y Combinator and help the co-founders raise a small angel round. But the general public wasn’t responding with the same fervor. “It was hard to package that up and sell it to users,” Swieskowski explains.
After nearly two years of work on the original product, the co-founders switched to Ninite. The first iteration of the so-simple-it’s-stupid software installer was released at just the right time in October, 2009 — right before Microsoft released Windows 7.
“We saw a huge uptake from people. Within a week, we were getting posts on random technology blogs; within two weeks, we had 10,000 users in the beta.”
And for good reason. The installer automates installs offscreen, always grabs the latest available version of apps, picks the most appropriate version and language edition for the user’s PC, and auto-updates installed software upon re-run.
As Ninite worked to simply the application installation process and give users a one-stop shop for picking and downloading great apps, its co-founders slowly became curators of the best Windows applications.
The Ninite site features dozens of hand-selected browsers, messaging, media-imaging and file-sharing applications, among other things; and Swieskowski and Kuzins go to great pains to ensure that there are no junk apps or scam installation add-ons.
The pair also solicit tips and requests from users, and Ninite has grown to become a powerful distribution mechanism for software titles.
“We believe in simplicity,” reads Ninite’s About page. The words epitomize both the product and its creators.
Simple has its perks. Ninite became profitable a few months ago, roughly one year after releasing a for-charge Pro product aimed at IT professionals and super users.
Now Swieskowski and Kuzins are looking to shed the perception that Ninite is merely something nice to use when setting up a machine and hope to turn the startup into a destination that users return to frequently for single-app downloads.
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, gbrundin
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, Ninite, software, spark-of-genius, Windows
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In a way, Hotpot is still simmering inside Places, and Google hasn’t gone completely cold on the idea of local recommendations. But a quick glance at a mobile Place Page will show that Hotpot’s ratings and place discovery features are buried so far down that users will need to scroll to find them.
Google is positioning the restructuring as a graduation day for Hotpot.
“The [Hotpot] community has quickly expanded to millions of users who are rating more than one million times per month and enjoying a truly personalized view of the world,” writes Hotpot product manager Lior Ron.
The change in direction, however, signifies internal disarray when it comes to Google’s strategy around place discovery. It might even be related to Thursday’s senior level shakeup, as Jeff Huber has just assumed the role of senior vice president of commerce and local.
The original idea behind Hotpot was to encourage users to rate and review venues and add friends so they could get personalized recommendations tailored to their tastes. To push users into leaving recommendations, Google released both iPhone and Android apps for Hotpot and expanded the product to support more than 47 languages.
“Rolling Hotpot into Google Places helps simplify the connection between the places that are rated and reviewed and the more than 50 million places that already have an online presence through Google Places — places that millions of people search for and find every day on Google,” Ron writes in an effort to explain the decision.
More About: Google, google hotpot, google places, hotpot, recommendation engine
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Name: Room 77
Quick Pitch: Room 77 is a hotel room database and search engine that helps travelers find great rooms.
Genius Idea: Room Request Guarantee, a coming-soon feature that will let users secure their preferred room when booking at a partner hotel.
Years ago, Brad Gerstner, now the founder of hotel-search startup Room 77, would maintain a running list of his favorite hotel rooms on his BlackBerry. Friends got wind of the list and started asking for copies, and Gerstner started thinking about the larger problem, a problem of information asymmetry: Hotel front desks have all the information on rooms, while the consumer has nothing.
It took years — and countless hours with Gerstner and friends walking through hotel hallways and gathering floor information — for the full Room 77 concept to materialize into a functional hotel room database and search engine. Today, travelers can turn to Room 77 to get the run-down on nearly half a million hotel rooms in 18 different cities.
Why might a traveler want access to this data? For starters, any frequent hotel visitor knows that each stay can vary drastically depending on room size, bed quality, balcony or view. Consumers often demand higher floors or rooms with views to circumvent bad experiences; but most often, guests are slotted into rooms as hotel clerks or computer algorithms see fit.
Room 77 is designed to give would-be hotel guests access to a combination of hotel-sourced and people-sourced room information so that they can book better rooms.
The site and companion iPhone app [iTunes link] return “Room Cards” matched to user preferences — things like high or low floors, view importance and elevator distance. When the user selects a hotel, rooms are ranked and the best matching rooms are returned accordingly.
The user can select an individual room to get more details about the room, see where its located in the overall floor plan, take a glipse at the actual view with images sourced from Google and read the Room Card to gain insight into bed type, room square footage and other factoids. At two pilot hotels — the Grand Hyatt Seattle and the Hyatt at Olive 8 in Seattle — Room 77 users can now also click a beta “Look Inside” button to see photos inside each room.
As it stands, Room 77′s greatest shortcoming is it merely solves the information asymmetry piece of the problem; it does little to help the customer book the specific room he wants. Users that find the perfect room can, however, hit the “Request a Room” option for tips on how to book their preferred room number.
The startup recognizes this manual process is far from ideal, it’s working on another pilot product it calls “Room Request Guarantee.” “It’s the equivalent of picking your seat on an airline,” vice president of product Kevin Fliess explains.
Room 77 is in talks with hotel partners and is making Room Request Guarantee a priority initiative for the year, says Fliess. There’s also a revenue-sharing aspect to the feature, as Fliess believes that users will be open to paying an additional room fee to secure the rooms that they want.
Room 77′s greatest asset is its technology platform, Fliess says. The startup uses patent-pending technology to turn raw, unstructured data into digital blueprints for hotels in a matter of hours. The technology piece is crucial to ensuring that the data flooding in from users via the iPhone app, hotel partners and even startup staff members who continue to troll hotel hallways, can be seamlessly transformed into an elegant way for users to consume hotel room data.
San Francisco-based Room 77 raised $3 million in Series A funding in April and now has a 20-person team with four PhDs, several travel industry veterans, a few former Googlers and one ex-Facebook employee on staff.
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, crowdsourcing, room 77, spark-of-genius, startup, travel
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The DOJ had subjected the deal to some eight months of scrutiny to determine whether the search giant’s foray into travel and flight search might pose antitrust issues.
The sale was first made known to the public via media reports about a year ago, and Google confirmed the acquisition in July 2010.
ITA‘s flight search technology powers the company’s public airfare search engine, Matrix. Its QPX airfare shopping system is used by airlines and travel distributors around the world, and the company is also offering a new airline passenger reservation system.
Since ITA’s software powers many other businesses, the DOJ is requiring Google to continue “to develop and license travel software, to establish internal firewall procedures and to continue software research and development.” QPX and ITA’s other travel search products will continue to be licensed to other companies, even companies that might be competing with whatever travel search app or apps Google might introduce.
In this way, the Department hopes to keep competition for travel search fair. Department reps said that the original deal terms “would have substantially lessened competition among providers of comparative flight search websites in the United States, resulting in reduced choice and less innovation for consumers.”
Joseph Wayland, Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, said in a statement, “The Department of Justice’s proposed remedy promotes robust competition for airfare websites by ensuring those websites will continue to have access to ITA’s pricing and shopping software.”
In a statement released Friday, ITA reps stated, “We will begin work immediately to close the acquisition and are committed to making the integration process as seamless as possible for our employees and customers. We are excited about joining forces with Google, and look forward to getting our teams together after close to start working on innovative new ways to make travel search easier.”
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House Joint Resolution 37, “Disapproving the rule submitted by the Federal Communications Commission with respect to regulating the Internet and broadband industry practices,” passed the House with a vote of 240 to 179, mostly along party lines. The resolution specifically condemns the Federal Communications Commission’s new net neutrality rules and “prohibits such rule from having any force or effect.”
The joint resolution still has to pass the Senate and be signed by President Obama before it becomes a law. The resolution is unlikely to pass in the Democrat-controlled Senate, and President Obama has threatened to veto the measure if it ever reaches his desk.
The heart of the matter is whether the government should regulate ISPs, specifically on how they treat content on their networks. Supporters of net neutrality believe ISPs shouldn’t be allowed to block or throttle content for almost any reason. Their argument is that an ISP such as Verizon or Comcast could decide to charge consumers or companies different rates for access to their networks (e.g. paying extra for streaming video). Opponents of net neutrality believe that the government shouldn’t be regulating Internet access or ISPs and that regulation sets a dangerous precedent. There are a lot of potential worst case scenarios out there for both sides.
The finer points of the debate have erupted into court challenges and heated arguments. In December, the FCC approved Chairman Julius Genachowski’s initiative to prevent ISPs from discriminating against legal content. Net neutrality supports complained that the new rules didn’t go far enough to protect an “open Internet,” specifically, the growing wireless web accessed by millions of smartphone users. Wireless providers and Republican opponents argued that government intervention was a slippery slope to less innovation and more job losses.
Today’s vote only complicates the net neutrality debate, which is already an field with many players and a lot of undecided issues. It’s going to be a long time before the fate of net neutrality is decided — if, in fact, it ever is.
More About: fcc, Google, government, House of Representatives, net neutrality, verizon
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Yup, in honor of that old saying, “Nothing is certain but death and taxes,” this week’s YouTube roundup theme is, well, the mingling of those two things.
Hey, at least you have three more days this year during which to bid the world farewell whilst submitting to death by papercuts.
Todd Wasserman: Some brilliant ideas for raising revenues from the Monty Python folks. Best one: A tax on foreigners living abroad. (Note: Clip has about a minute of Victorian era NSFW images preceding the "Tax Thingie" sketch.)
Brian Hernandez: The meme that never dies gets a political twist. This awesome "Rick Roll" video ends with: "No bills were harmed in the making of this video. No public dollars were spent."
Erica Swallow: A clever cut of Obama singing The Beatles' "Taxman."
Ada Ospina: He just wants to be the Governor of New Jersey. (Which he became, and his twin was the Lt. Governor.)
Jay Bischof: Purple shirt FTW.
Lauren Drell: Here's where Brad Pitt shockingly faces one of these two certainties in the movie I think of upon hearing "death and taxes." (Too morbid? Sorry.)
Brenna Ehrlich: Sorry, upon being faced with the task of filling out forms, I blacked out. Look, horse!!!
Emily Banks: The Man is always finding ways to take our hard-earned cash -- for rent too.
Image courtesy of Flickr, Rob Boudon
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Last year, approximately 30% of the U.S. job market was made up of independent workers: consultants, freelancers, temps, and others, according to the Freelancers Union, a non-profit advocacy organization. This figure is expected to reach 40% of the total workforce by 2020.
The surge of independent contractors is a relatively recent phenomenon which has been fueled by the web and an incredible array of cloud-based tools. Below are a few recommendations for ways to work with freelancers that will scale no matter the size and scope of your project.
When you are looking to complete a project that requires a new skill set, and you don’t have a “go-to” freelancer in mind, start by reaching out to contractors you’ve worked with in the past — even if they have a completely different focus.
Freelancers often have a strong network of fellow freelancers from prior projects and associations, and are happy to make introductions as they look to build a stronger client relationship. There is also a strong incentive for any freelancer you select through a referral to do good work. It’s a powerful dynamic to have everyone on a project starting from a place of trust.
It’s easy to lose track of conversations, email chains, document versions and schedules when you’re managing several projects. Start any project by designating a central place for all players — internal and external — to conduct business. By having a one-stop location to find all materials, track conversations, and compare schedules, you’ll help streamline the entire collaboration process and keep things ticking along on time.
At the beginning of any project, start by setting goals for the entire engagement, and set deadlines against them. All parties will be able to track and know exactly what’s expected of whom and when, and ultimately will deliver a higher quality result.
Make sure to continually update the progress of the project as well, so that everyone stays on the same page and bad surprises are minimized.
Invoicing often happens outside of project management, with the person receiving the invoice having no idea whether value has been delivered. Linking invoicing to tasks and deliverables from within one system can help anyone in the hiring company (not just the project manager) understand the work that has been purchased and delivered.
All the process, planning and technology won’t make a bit of difference without buy-in from all parties. Keeping everyone on the same page requires keeping everyone engaged. Start with a straightforward approach and easy-to-use technology that encourages participation. If the approach or the technology are too complicated, the project will suffer as team members struggle with adoption.
Let’s face it, there is more talented expertise outside your company than within it. In a world of increasing specialization, learning to work effectively with external resources opens up access to specialized expertise. As you engage more of this external talent, you benefit from all the know-how they bring to the table gained from multiple clients across multiple industries.
As this new way of working continues to accelerate, it will be critical that the technology your company uses maximizes the effectiveness of both the internal and external workforces. Of course, technology alone isn’t a stand-in for strong management. Combining optimal technology tools along with well-defined processes and workforce strategies will help maximize communication and goal attainment.
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, shironosov
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The courts granted Google a summary judgment in Viacom’s $1 billion lawsuit against YouTube last year. The issue was whether YouTube was protected by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), a law that protects against claims of copyright infringement if the content was uploaded by users to an organization’s network. Although the lawsuit cost Google $100 million, it eventually prevailed.
It didn’t take long for Viacom to file an appeal. The media giant, which owns MTV, Paramount Pictures, and Comedy Central, called the court’s ruling “fundamentally flawed” in its appeal last year. Earlier this week, Google struck back with a 107-page response arguing for its humanitarian and social value, while criticizing what it calls Viacom’s use of selective quotes.
Now the tide is against Viacom once again. Today, no less than 13 different groups filed amicus briefs in support of Google in the YouTube/Viacom case. Here are the most interesting organizations throwing their weight behind Google.
“We regret that Viacom continues to drag out this case,” A YouTube spokesperson told Mashable. “The court here, like every other court to have considered the issue, correctly ruled that the law protects online services like YouTube, which remove content when notified by the copyright holder that it is unauthorized. We will continue to strongly defend the court’s decision throughout this appeal process.”
Viacom first filed this lawsuit in 2007. Four years later, it’s still being battled out in court. And since the suit began, Viacom has embraced YouTube’s competitors, including Hulu.
We have reached out to Viacom for their comment. What’s yours?
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Though such rumors have been circulating since 2007, the information is presently coming from numerous credible industry sources.
But don’t expect to friend anyone in China. Keeping with the country’s closed nature, any new Facebook social network in China wouldn’t be linked with the rest of the site.
According to TechRice, Facebook will be partnering with Baidu, the largest search engine in China, valued at $50 billion. That’s if Hu Yanping, founder of the Beijing-based Data Center of the China Internet (DCCI), tweets the truth. He says Facebook has already signed an official contract with Baidu to create a new social network in China.
Marbridge Consulting has also heard from multiple industry sources, which say Facebook will be working with Baidu on the new China site, bolstered by rumors that Baidu visited Facebook in February.
So we have tweets on top of rumors on top of blog posts. The preponderance of evidence is that Facebook has something going on in China. But given that China wants to prevent the kind of revolutionary fervor reaching a fever pitch in the Middle East and Northern Africa lately, any version of Facebook in China will likely be tightly regulated and censored.
Could this end up being like that pale imitation of Twitter we saw sprouting up in China late last year? And will China’s penchant for censorship mean a Chinese version of Facebook is doomed to die? Let us know what you think in the comments.
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While the parties prepare to meet for negotiations on Monday and Tuesday, the News Media Guild is telling union employees of the Associated Press: “Don’t post Tweets or Facebook any links to any AP stories. This is only for those NOT required to tweet as part of their job,” according to an e-mail obtained by Poynter.
Reporters are not generally required to share their stories via social media, according to CNN; it’s more a matter of graciously supporting one’s company, or self-promotion.
While the tweet-out is only one part of the planned protests — in the past, AP journalists nixed their names from their stories and photos.
Granted, this latest strategy is more of an attention-grabbing stunt than an actual detriment to the AP (it’s a newswire, so AP stories are featured on, and tweeted by, many other sites), but it does demonstrate the growing importance of social when it comes to news media.
We reached out to the AP for comment and it directed us toward a memo, which was sent out on Thursday night, saying: “Since January, we have said at the negotiating table and in our notes to the field that this change must be enacted soon if we are to fund the projects AP needs to maintain our market position and to prevent further erosion of our revenue. External competition to our news business remains fierce, and we must have the cash to be able to maintain our competitive advantage.”
(You can read the rest over at Poynter.)
The “tweet-out” was not mentioned in the memo.
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Most of Generation Z can’t yet legally operate a car. Born between 1992 and 2010, some can’t even use shoulder strap seatbelts yet. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t actively shaping perceptions about products and brands. Nearly half of teens who use the Internet buy things online, more than four in five will use social networks this year, and 96% of U.S. teens ages 12 to 17 will use the Internet at least monthly.
Generation Z is the most disruptive generation in modern history. Instead of waiting for ideas to filter through the generations that came before, Generation Z-ers are tastemakers — often before they’re out of elementary school. Social media has demolished all barriers to communicating about brands and products. If you can write, you can share, and Generation Z is all about sharing.
Take Silly Bandz, the inexpensive, animal-shaped rubber bands worn as bracelets. The trend first took hold among nine and ten-year-olds, but before long, fashion models were wearing them on runways, and Moms wore them to soccer practices.
How can you connect with this generation and, more importantly, capture their limited attention to create loyal brand advocacy? Here are three things companies can do to succeed with Generation Z.
Companies that expect Generation Z to be loyal based on a carefully crafted brand image and marketing message will find that their effort is wasted. Generation Z simply doesn’t buy it. Instead, the product itself is what’s important, regardless of marketing campaigns.
For instance, as recently as four or five years ago, you could walk down a Generation Y high school hallway and find the “popular” girls dressed head-to-toe in Abercrombie & Fitch, the “preppy” girls in American Eagle Outfitters, and the Goth girls in Hot Topic. Not the case in a Generation Z high school hallway — they categorically reject “badge brands.” Here, you will see a girl in the boots she saw Jessica Alba wearing on TMZ, a basic tank from Target, and a hand-made sweater a good friend scored from Etsy.
With their mass adoption of iPods, Generation Y reduced the currency of music from the album down to the song. Generation Z is doing the same with every other purchasing decision. The result — what you see them wearing, watching, and reading — is their own curated version of the world.
There is no hiding from Generation Z. They are extreme curators, sharing and panning everything from movies to books to clothes (and eventually, cars, home furnishings and health care plans). Take the case of two movies that opened in the summer of 2009. Year One starred Jack Black and Michael Cera, and the marketing was basically: “Hey, it’s Jack Black and the guy from Juno. You’re gonna love it.” Then there was Paranormal Activity, which built its reputation at one film festival after another, until it was finally released in 13 college towns. Fans in other cities were then allowed to vote on where the movie should go next. Eventually the film was released nationwide, and after grossing $193 million on an original shooting budget of just $15,000, it’s become one of the most profitable movies of all-time. Year One got terrible reviews upon its debut and made just $62 million, barely recouping production costs.
To Generation Z, platform and production value are irrelevant. They judge each product and piece of content on its own merits.
What does Generation Z care about? Finding and sharing the best stuff in the world. They aren’t just consumers, they are curators. They not only discover brands and products but they evaluate them with brilliant objectivity, sift through them, and share the results.
Please a Generation Z-er with your particular product or service and you’ll earn your biggest supporter. As a result, marketers need to make it easy to share what their Gen Z customers love. From Facebook “Likes” to branded tweets to Polyvore’s brand expression collages, it’s never been easier to share your opinion online.
Don’t stifle conversation, nor attempt to control conversation about your products — encourage it. There will be bad along with the good, but it will be authentic. This transparency will ultimately contribute to the long term success of your brand. Regardless, promoting an “open brand” ethos will lead to better informed and more passionate curators.
Ready or not, Generation Z is here, and they are the future. I, for one, am thrilled to have a front-row seat as we watch them change the world before our very eyes.
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Bennewitz
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Here’s how the shutdown could affect the tech world:
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced on Thursday that it would not process any company filings in the case of a government shutdown, Reuters reports.
That means that IPO filings would be put on hold. A prolonged shutdown (unlikely, but possible) could affect companies late in the IPO process, like Zipcar, as well as companies that have filed but haven’t set terms yet, like LinkedIn.
A memo that Office of Management and Budget Director Jack Lew wrote to the heads of executive departments and agencies asked them to make determinations of whether their websites were essential or not, The Hill reports.
According to this memo, public access to government information doesn’t fall under this category. Websites necessary for operation like the IRS website for filing taxes, however, will remain open.
According to a statement that the Federal Trade Commission posted on Friday, the Do Not Call Registry and Spam Database will not be available to law enforcement organizations in the case of a furlough.
It’s not just government employees who might find themselves without a paycheck should the government shut down. Hundreds of thousands of business who have contracts with the government might also be affected. Those companies include mid-size IT firms and giants like Google, which beat Microsoft out to be the provider of choice for the first federal agency to use either company’s cloud-based services. (Microsoft still holds a vast number of government contracts for its Office suite.)
Some furloughed employees would either turn in their BlackBerrys or be banned from using them. CNNMoney reports that employees deemed “essential” will be permitted to continue checking essential emails on their BlackBerrys. Which begs the question of how these employees will know which emails are essential without reading them first.
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Extragram, a shiny new third-party web app, brings Systrom’s vision to fruition.
Developed by a five-man team, Extragram is a slick web client that lets Instagram users log in to access photos on the web, instead of just via the iPhone app.
“We just loved how beautiful Instragram made the images look,” says co-creator Karthikeyan Mani. “We wanted to come up with a really good user interface that would complement the beautiful photos Instagram churns out and we wanted to make it easy for our users to discover more of these lovely images and users through our web interface.”
Extragram gives Instagram members three different views for feed and popular photos: Grid, Filmstrip or Map. Each view offers an artistic or place-based interpretation of the original feed format in the Instagram app. In any of the views, users can interact with photos. By rolling the mouse curser over a photo, users can see heart and comments icons they can click on to view and add “likes” or comments.
The web app also allows users to search for photos, places, people and hashtags.
Extragram is not the first Instagram web client; Gramfeed was released a few weeks ago with similar features including photo feeds, comments and “likes.”
Hundreds of developers have shown interest in using the Instagram API, and we’re just now starting to see the tangible output of their efforts. Whether there’s a potential for real businesses or startups — not just cool apps — to emerge around the Instagram platform is unclear. For now, we can watch an ecosystem take shape — and share massive amounts of filtered photos.
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Here’s a close-up live video stream of the pair of bald eagles and their babies that have captured the attention of 25,617,946 viewers all over the world for more than a week.
The pair of eagles and their trio of tiny hatchlings live in a 6-foot-wide, 1.5-ton nest, situated 80 feet above the ground in a cottonwood tree in the Decorah Fish Hatchery in northeast Iowa.
Part of the Raptor Resource Project, a non-profit group that specializes in the preservation of falcons, eagles, ospreys, hawks and owls, this live shot is streaming 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There are even infrared lights trained on the eagles, giving you a look at them in darkness as well.
If the eagles aren’t doing much at the moment, go to the Raptor Resource area of the Ustream website and you can see videos from last weekend of each of the chicks hatching.
More About: animals, Baby Eagles, Bald Eagles, Chicks, Hatchlings, Raptor Resource Project, streaming video, trending, ustream
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Verizon claims the policy change is taking place because the “greater majority of customers sign up for a two-year contract.”
The nation’s largest wireless provider (at least until that AT&T/T-Mobile deal is approved) previously offered users the ability to sign one-year contracts or contract extensions in lieu of the standard two-year agreement. Customers who opted for the one-year contract were still able to purchase new equipment at a discount, albeit a lesser discount than the subsidized two-year agreements.
In an email to BGR, Verizon reiterated that its contract-free month-to-month plans would still be available to consumers.
Meanwhile, according to draft circulars obtained by DroidLife, Verizon may be introducing a new month-to-month prepaid plan that offers users unlimited voice and text for $50 a month. Data will cost extra (reportedly $30 a month for unlimited data).
AT&T recently increased the early-upgrade price on some of its smartphones and feature phones.
What do you think about Verizon eliminating one-year contracts? Let us know.
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YouTube explicates the Friday phenomena in a blog post today, demonstrating how searches for “Rebecca Black” have remained strong on the video-sharing site following the video’s viral kick-in-the-you-know-what. For comparison’s sake, other searches for viral videos (such as “Golden-Voiced” homeless man) have waned during the same time period after release.
The most interesting observation, however, is the obvious: Searches for “Rebecca Black” spike every Friday. YouTube also says that searches for “Friday” have also spiked; the site is seeing more searches than ever for this term.
Granted, the video hasn’t been out for too long, and it did get considerable buzz last Friday when Rebecca Black took over Funny Or Die, but the observation is interesting all the same.
It also lends some serious cred to that old saying, “Keep it simple, stupid.” Name your song after a day of the week, and people will listen to it on said day. The Beatles got some serious spin for “Eight Day a Week,” but just imagine the possibilites if they had titled the jam “I Love You on Tuesday.” Endless.
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The Acer Iconia Tab A500 is the company’s first Honeycomb-based tablet and it features a 10.1-inch screen, dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor and front- and rear-facing cameras.
Check out these specs:
Specification-wise, the Iconia Tab A500 is a dead-ringer for the Motorola Xoom. The big difference — and this is an important difference — is price.
The Xoom entered the market at a wallet-breaking $799.99. Although this included a 3G (upgradable to 4G) radio, the fact that the tablet ends up costing $70 more than a similarly equipped iPad 2 3G was a turnoff to a number of users.
Motorola introduced a lower-priced Wi-Fi only Xoom at the end of March, but the damage may already have been done.
Acer is not only matching Apple’s iPad 2 price point, it’s besting it by $50. The Iconia Tab A500 will be available exclusively at Best Buy stores. Users can pre-order the A500 in Best Buy stores beginning April 14.
Although we’ll reserve final judgments for hands-on testing, the Iconia Tab A500 could be the first Android-powered tablet to have what it takes — in terms of specs and price — to take on the iPad 2.
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Mashable Comics are illustrated every week by Kiersten Essenpreis, a New York-based artist who draws and blogs at YouFail.com.
- Top 5 Comics From the Mashable Caption Contest
- HOW TO: Survive Those Awkward Online Moments
- Pitching 101
- Viral Video Stars: Where Are They Now?
- HOW TO: Pick the Right Super Power for a Modern World
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If given a whole row to themselves in a flight from San Francisco to Paris, most people would just sleep. Not this passenger, who set up his Canon 5D Mark II digital SLR camera on a tripod and attached a timelapse controller.
When he pointed his 16mm-to-35mm lens out his airplane window, the result was this remarkable timelapse video of his 11-hour flight.
Taking that Great Circle route above the polar regions, the video flies us through the aurora borealis, giving us a look at those spectacular northern lights.
Also remarkable is the fact that the Air France flight crew allowed the use of that bundle of electronic devices throughout the entire flight. At the end of this video, you’ll see the rig with which he snapped the 2,459 shots — one approximately every two miles. After the flight, they were edited together along with a few judiciously placed iPhone pics shot along the way.
By the way, you don’t even need to be flying that far north to see the northern lights — once on a night flight from Montréal to Detroit, I could see the aurora borealis out of the right side of the plane during the entire trip.
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“Startups have a greater emphasis on cultural fit within their companies because they’re so small and also they’re moving very quickly — they need people who think creatively and are willing to break the mold,” says Nathan Parcells, the co-founder of InternMatch. “That’s not really identified in a traditional cover letter.”
Parcells knows the importance of quality interns. His company guarantees clients that they will find a good intern using its website, and it employs seven interns to help find those internship applicants on prestigious college campuses. InternMatch is organizing the competition, dubbed 500 Interns.
While it might be especially annoying to have an incompetent intern hanging around all summer in a small, startup setting, startups aren’t alone in using social media to help weed out the creatives from the mass of cover letters.
This March, ad agency Campbell Mithun chose its six summer interns after asking applicants to make their cases exclusively on Twitter. The Sierra Club, STA Travel and Charlie Sheen are just a few of many to use YouTube as an application tool.
What Parcells has in mind is less specific. He suggested that Quora, YouTube and Twitter could all be leveraged creatively, but the format is completely open. All that is required is a link to the media within the InternMatch application.
Twilio, Slideshare and Appbistro are a few of the startups participating in the social media intern search. McClure is also accepting applications for a two-week job shadow. Check out the full list here.
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What makes the initiative attractive to ESPN is that after fans create their ads, they post on their Facebook walls. Fans’ friends could then click on the ads, which direct them to ESPN.com. Fans who opt to make their own banner get a choice of four possible quotes to supplement with their own message. The ad promotes Callaway’s new line of RAZR Driver and Iron golf clubs.
This is the first time user-generated content has been featured on ESPN’s homepage. Ad agency Eleven created the effort.
Customizing a banner ad with user-generated content seems to be a new trend; Callaway’s not the first brand to try it. Last month, Saab launched a similar promotion via Facebook in which fans could write their own banners. By providing a level of audience engagement, both brands are trying to improve the historically low response rates for banner ads, which perform even worse on Facebook.
More About: advertising, banner ads, Callaway Golf, ESPN, MARKETING, user-generated content
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