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  • Green entrepreneur plans to make a pile off of panda poop

    Holy Kaw!
    7 Feb 2012 | 1:01 pm
    Green tea may be all the rage, but Chinese entrepreneur Yanshi An is taking a very unique twist on that trend to make a mint by growing tea fertilized with panda dung. “Panda dung is rich in nutrients… and should be much better than chemical fertilizers. People should make a harmonious relationship between Tea heaven, earth and the environment. Everybody has an obligation to protect the environment.” At $77,000 per kilo, “rich” would probably be the right word for it, but we’re not sure if it should apply to An if his idea catches on or the method of…

  • How Facebook and Twitter Help Sound the Official Earthquake Alarm

    Mashable!
    Alex Fitzpatrick
    7 Feb 2012 | 12:38 pm
    When a magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck the Philippines Monday, residents and local media outlooks used Twitter and Facebook to alert residents and quell tsunami-inspired panic. But they’re not the only ones using social media to sound a digital alarm when disaster strikes. Officials in the U.S. do that too. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), a scientific agency of the U.S. government, is tasked in part with researching natural disasters and getting the word out when they hit. They’re doing much of that information sharing online. Scott Horvatt, Web and Social Media Chief at the…

  • Beyond The One-Time Click: 6 Social Media Rules For Creating Brand Evangelists

    Fast Company
    Adam Hanft
    7 Feb 2012 | 12:34 pm
    There’s a vast expanse between the transactional moment when a consumer likes, friends, or follows a site and the instant that same consumer becomes a brand evangelist, entering into a state of emotional commitment.The former isn’t difficult to achieve; observe how many sites have hundreds of thousands of friends, very few of whom feel any real passion for the brand, or would go out of their way to recommend it to somehow (least of all defend it in a the social-media equivalent of a barroom brawl.)The latter is the bell-ringing marketing challenge of today. It’s not surprising that…

  • Raising Money: What Not to Say and What Not to Believe #OfficeandGuyK

    How to Change the World
    GuyKawasaki
    20 Jan 2012 | 12:46 pm
    Over the past two weeks via my partnership with Microsoft and Office Web Apps, I’ve provided templates of models for you to create enchanting PowerPoint pitches, Word business plans, and Excel financial models. They are all available for you to download from my SkyDrive account. I hope these documents and blog posts help you save a boatload of time and increase the quality of your efforts.I leave you with two sets of top ten lies: one of entrepreneurs and one of investors so that you know what not to say and what not to believe. Top Ten Lies of Entrepreneurs “Our projections are…

  • Keen On… Larry Downes: Why Best Buy Is Going Out Of Business (Not So Gradually)

    TechCrunch
    Andrew Keen
    7 Feb 2012 | 12:41 pm
    Sometimes it’s the quiet ones who end up doing the most damage. I always thought of Larry Downes, the co-author of the mega-selling Unleashing the Killer App, as an unusually gentle and wise soul. But this was before Downes unleashed his all-too-critical powers on Best Buy, transforming himself from a cerebral author into a bomb throwing critic of America’s leading consumer electronics retailer. In Why Best Buy is Going out of Business…Gradually, a brilliant article he published at Forbes last month, Downes finally told the truth about the terrible customer service at Best…
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    Holy Kaw!

  • Green entrepreneur plans to make a pile off of panda poop

    7 Feb 2012 | 1:01 pm
    Green tea may be all the rage, but Chinese entrepreneur Yanshi An is taking a very unique twist on that trend to make a mint by growing tea fertilized with panda dung. “Panda dung is rich in nutrients… and should be much better than chemical fertilizers. People should make a harmonious relationship between Tea heaven, earth and the environment. Everybody has an obligation to protect the environment.” At $77,000 per kilo, “rich” would probably be the right word for it, but we’re not sure if it should apply to An if his idea catches on or the method of…

  • How to be a leader in the candy industry

    7 Feb 2012 | 12:40 pm
    National Confectioners Association President Larry Graham discusses his leadership priorities and goals for industry and the association with SmartBrief editor Rebecca Pollack Scherr. "Providing value to all 700 members is always a challenge," he said. "We have big companies and small companies, we have suppliers, brokers and international members, and keeping focused on the big things facing us while not ignoring some specific needs of some of our specific member categories is a full-time job." Full story at SmartBlog on Leadership by SmartBrief. More SmartBrief stories. Photo credit:…

  • Job vs. hobby: how much can you make?

    7 Feb 2012 | 12:28 pm
    We've all had those days when we feel like a cube monkey and think, "there must be a better way to make money!" Well, there might be a hobby that not only makes you money, but makes you more money than your current job. Test your knowledge and see what hobbies might pay your bills in our quiz. Full article at HowStuffWorks.com. Total aggregation of HowStuffWorks.com. Photo credit: Fotolia Permalink | Leave a comment  »

  • Meaty undies: DIY Brief Jerky

    7 Feb 2012 | 12:26 pm
    Rarely does the gas station’s snack selection inspire a fashion revelation, but something about beef jerky dangling near the Funyuns and Combos inspired one man to create meaty briefs. Think of it like the fig leaf for carnivores. The DIY Brief Jerky is 100 percent edible and 100 percent meat, and the step-by-step instructions over at Instructables make assembling the delicious unmentionables a piece of beef cake. Full instructions at Instructables. Less meaty DIYs. Permalink | Leave a comment  »

  • The ultimate estate planning quiz

    7 Feb 2012 | 12:25 pm
    While you might not want to think about what will happen to your assets after you die, proper estate planning is necessary if you want your wishes to be carried out. Wills and trusts are just part of estate planning, a complex but important segment of financial planning. Take this quiz to determine if you have the knowledge to get your assets to your heirs with the least hassle and cost. Show what you know at HowStuffWorks.com. Total aggregation of HowStuffWorks.com. Photo credit: Fotolia Permalink | Leave a comment  »
 
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    Mashable!

  • How Facebook and Twitter Help Sound the Official Earthquake Alarm

    Alex Fitzpatrick
    7 Feb 2012 | 12:38 pm
    When a magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck the Philippines Monday, residents and local media outlooks used Twitter and Facebook to alert residents and quell tsunami-inspired panic. But they’re not the only ones using social media to sound a digital alarm when disaster strikes. Officials in the U.S. do that too. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), a scientific agency of the U.S. government, is tasked in part with researching natural disasters and getting the word out when they hit. They’re doing much of that information sharing online. Scott Horvatt, Web and Social Media Chief at the…

  • Google Chrome for Android has Arrived, But It’s Only for the 1%

    Zoe Fox
    7 Feb 2012 | 12:23 pm
    Google Chrome, the search giant’s signature browser, has arrived for Android mobile devices — or some of them, at least. In an official Google Chrome blog post published Tuesday, the company emphasized that the mobile browser is all about speed and simplicity. The new browser boasts seamless sign-in and sync to ensure a personalized experience across devices. But there’s a catch: the Android Beta is only available for Android 4.0 devices. The vast majority — that is, 99% of Android devices that have accessed the market in the last two weeks — don’t run…

  • How One Pioneering Investor Kick-Starts Early Stage Companies [VIDEO]

    Mashable Video
    7 Feb 2012 | 12:12 pm
    When Jeff Clavier founded SoftTech VC there weren’t too many investors doing small, seed-stage investments in next generation web companies. Many traditional venture capitalists just didn’t find the new breed of capital efficient web startups very intriguing. A small group of investors, including Clavier, thought otherwise, and began to invest their own money as angels. They’ve been wildly successful in doing so, and today Clavier’s SoftTech VC firm has investments and holdings in some of the web’s most successful startups, including Bit.ly, Get Satisfaction,…

  • Klout Mobile App Is One Step Closer With Acquisition of BlockBoard

    Brian Anthony Hernandez
    7 Feb 2012 | 12:04 pm
    Klout‘s mobile initiative is starting to take shape with its first-ever acquisition. The San Francisco-based startup has acquired BlockBoard, an app that gives people a way to communicate with neighbors. Klout told Mashable the acquisition is an investment into local and mobile. The BlockBoard app will continue to exist, but the team behind it will be integrated into Klout’s staff. “To keep driving toward our mission of unlocking every user’s influence, we need to make Klout useful and accessible wherever they are — whether they’re at home or on the go,”…

  • Could a Facebook for Doctors Improve Your Care?

    Sarah Kessler
    7 Feb 2012 | 11:58 am
    Your accountant can email a specialist for advice about a specific issue in your tax return. Your doctor, however, doesn’t necessarily have the same access to easy collaboration. There may, however, be a Facebook-like solution in the wings. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPPA) prevents doctors from sharing patient information without “reasonable safeguards.” For the most part, this shuts down the instantaneous email exchanges through which other professionals collaborate. Physicians can consult with each other about a patient’s…
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    Fast Company

  • Beyond The One-Time Click: 6 Social Media Rules For Creating Brand Evangelists

    Adam Hanft
    7 Feb 2012 | 12:34 pm
    There’s a vast expanse between the transactional moment when a consumer likes, friends, or follows a site and the instant that same consumer becomes a brand evangelist, entering into a state of emotional commitment.The former isn’t difficult to achieve; observe how many sites have hundreds of thousands of friends, very few of whom feel any real passion for the brand, or would go out of their way to recommend it to somehow (least of all defend it in a the social-media equivalent of a barroom brawl.)The latter is the bell-ringing marketing challenge of today. It’s not surprising that…

  • The Ultimate Crisis-Communications Checklist: 6 Steps To Master Your Disaster

    Lydia Dishman
    7 Feb 2012 | 11:15 am
    Whether you’re digging your way out of a negative PR avalanche or simply need to scrub a less-than-squeaky-clean outburst, here are tips from branding experts on how to handle public outrage with grace and style.So you torpedoed your brand. Or maybe you just want to learn how to handle a media sh*tstorm like the one that ensued when Susan G. Komen For The Cure announced it wouldn’t renew its grants to Planned Parenthood for breast cancer exams.  Though Komen For The Cure reversed its decision to pull about half a million in funding for low-income women to receive breast-cancer…

  • Reddit's Alexis Ohanian's Work Flow: Fancy Hands And Making Things Suck Less

    Amber Mac
    7 Feb 2012 | 10:01 am
    Believe it or not, the founder of Reddit also has to avoid spending all day killing time on Reddit. Here's his advice for staying productive. Reddit is arguably the most successful social news site on the Internet. So how does cofounder and New York tech entrepreneur Alexis Ohanian avoid "Redditing" all day at the expense of getting things done? From the virtual personal assistant Fancy Hands to an analytics tool called Rescue Time, Ohanian gave me a peek into his hour-by-hour routine--and offered some video game-inspired advice about leading a balanced life.  [twistage…

  • Fast Talk: How FoundersCard Brings Exclusivity To The Startup Set

    David Zax
    7 Feb 2012 | 9:46 am
    Meet Eric Kuhn, who has one of the few startups in America that isn't rushing to gain millions of users.Eric Kuhn, 41, is the founder and CEO of FoundersCard, which offers networking opportunities, discounts, and perks for entrepreneurs and innovators. Since its founding at the end of 2009, FoundersCard, which is profitable, has been growing steadily--but more slowly than Kuhn might let it, since part of its value comes from its exclusivity.How’d you get the idea for FoundersCard?It was when I was on the roadshow for Varsity Books [his first company], which was going public, back in…

  • New Details On Redbox-Verizon Streaming Service, Netflix Competitor

    Austin Carr
    7 Feb 2012 | 9:44 am
    Yesterday Coinstar, the parent company of Redbox, the 35,400-kiosk-strong movie-rental service, announced a joint venture with Verizon to provide a subscription-based streaming video service, thus positioning the companies in direct competition with Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon. Coinstar also announced that it would acquire NCR's entertainment business, which includes its former rival Blockbuster Express, adding more than 9,000 kiosks to Redbox's roster around the country. Now new details about the combined companies' plans have emerged. First, it's clear the companies are adamant about bringing…
 
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    How to Change the World

  • Raising Money: What Not to Say and What Not to Believe #OfficeandGuyK

    GuyKawasaki
    20 Jan 2012 | 12:46 pm
    Over the past two weeks via my partnership with Microsoft and Office Web Apps, I’ve provided templates of models for you to create enchanting PowerPoint pitches, Word business plans, and Excel financial models. They are all available for you to download from my SkyDrive account. I hope these documents and blog posts help you save a boatload of time and increase the quality of your efforts.I leave you with two sets of top ten lies: one of entrepreneurs and one of investors so that you know what not to say and what not to believe. Top Ten Lies of Entrepreneurs “Our projections are…

  • Design a Sam Adams beer

    GuyKawasaki
    20 Jan 2012 | 10:24 am
    Now this is a fun project. I’m helping Sam Adams “tap” the knowledge of beer drinkers and crowd source its next brew. Join the party by getting the app and designing your beer: The final brew will be released in Austin in the first week of March. #sponsored

  • How to Create an Enchanting Financial Forecast #OfficeandGuyK

    GuyKawasaki
    17 Jan 2012 | 3:52 pm
    This is the third post in my Microsoft partnership, and it’s all about numbers. The topic is crafting your financial forecast to include in your pitch. Bill Reichert, my partner at Garage Technology Ventures, created an Excel model and wrote this blog post. There’s a lesson in this too: Get the best person for the job. His grasp of financial models and how to present them exceeds mine by two orders of magnitude. The Purpose of Financial Projections When it comes to financial projections, there are two types of entrepreneurs: first, the “visionary entrepreneur” who…

  • How to Create an Enchanting Business Plan #OfficeandGuyK

    GuyKawasaki
    12 Jan 2012 | 10:16 am
    Here is the second post in my series about planning, pitching, and launching a new business venture. In partnership with Microsoft and Office Web Apps, I’ve created a Word document that outlines a good business plan. It’s saved to my SkyDrive folder here. Feel free to download it and use it as inspiration. And if you’re working with a partner, you can use the free Word Web App to stay in sync. I provided the PowerPoint document before the Word document because a good business plan is an elaboration of a good pitch as opposed to a good pitch being a distillation of good business plan.

  • How to Create an Enchanting Pitch #OfficeandGuyK

    GuyKawasaki
    9 Jan 2012 | 10:01 am
    Welcome to the first in a series of blog posts I’ll be doing as part of a partnership with Microsoft and Office Web Apps. Over the next two weeks, I’ll cover everything a budding entrepreneur needs to turn an idea into an enchanting investment opportunity—from the perfect pitch to a killer business plan to financial forecasts. I’m going to start with a little dissertation on creating effective PowerPoint pitches for your company. I embedded the sample deck for you to click through by using the PowerPoint Web App. When you’re ready to get started, you can download the…
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    TechCrunch

  • Keen On… Larry Downes: Why Best Buy Is Going Out Of Business (Not So Gradually)

    Andrew Keen
    7 Feb 2012 | 12:41 pm
    Sometimes it’s the quiet ones who end up doing the most damage. I always thought of Larry Downes, the co-author of the mega-selling Unleashing the Killer App, as an unusually gentle and wise soul. But this was before Downes unleashed his all-too-critical powers on Best Buy, transforming himself from a cerebral author into a bomb throwing critic of America’s leading consumer electronics retailer. In Why Best Buy is Going out of Business…Gradually, a brilliant article he published at Forbes last month, Downes finally told the truth about the terrible customer service at Best…

  • Cloudera Founder’s Big Data Management Startup WibiData Raises $5M From NEA And Eric Schmidt

    Leena Rao
    7 Feb 2012 | 12:37 pm
    Exclusive: WibiData, the big data management startup co-founded by Cloudera founder Christophe Bisciglia and Aaron Kimball, is announcing $5 million in new funding from NEA and Google Chairman Eric Schmidt. Past investors in the company include Cloudera CEO Mike Olson, and SV Angel. As we’ve written in the past, WibiData wants to help companies manage and analyze complex business data about users so you can predict how they are going to interact with the product in the future. Data such as email records, web histories and other interactions cannot be easily analyzed together, but…

  • Klout Acquires Local And Mobile Neighborhood App Blockboard

    Leena Rao
    7 Feb 2012 | 12:00 pm
    Flush with new capital, Klout, the startup that measures influence on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Foursquare, Google+ and other social apps, is making its first acquisition. Klout is purchasing mobile and local neighborhood app Blockboard. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Blockboard develops a neighborhood app through which neighbors can interact with one another. They can report potholes and graffiti directly to the city, alert each other about crime and vandalism through a Blockwatch, post general observations about the neighborhood, ask their neighbors questions,…

  • YippieMove Wants To Become The Twilio Of Email Migration

    Anthony Ha
    7 Feb 2012 | 11:44 am
    One of the more annoying aspects of starting a new jobs recently was switching email accounts — I tried figure out an easy way to transfer messages and contacts, but after a few minutes of fumbling around with my email client, I gave up, forwarded a few key messages, and then set to work rebuilding my contact list (mostly) from scratch. In other words, I could really have used something like YippieMove, a product from startup WireLoad that promises to make the email migration process as easy as possible. You just enter your account details (the company supports more than 100 email providers…

  • Google Chrome Is Now Available For Android (And It’s Fantastic)

    Jason Kincaid
    7 Feb 2012 | 11:40 am
    If you have one of the few Android devices currently running Ice Cream Sandwich, then you’re going to love this post. The rest of you, including those of you on iOS, will have to gaze longingly for a while. Because Chrome just landed on Android. It’s faster. It syncs everything (provided you want it to). It has nifty transition effects and a more intuitive system for jumping between tabs. And it’s also loaded with potential. Google’s Chrome browser, which has skyrocketed to popularity since its debut in 2008 and consistently gets top marks for being the fastest browser…
 
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    Seth's Blog

  • Horizontal marketing isn't a new idea

    Seth Godin
    7 Feb 2012 | 4:09 am
    But it is the new reality for just about every organization. Vertical marketing means the marketer (the one with money) is in charge. Vertical marketing starts at the top and involves running ads, sending out direct mail and pushing hype through the media. Your money, your plans, your control. It might not work, but generally the worst outcome is that you will be ignored and need to spend more money. Horizonal marketing, on the other hand, means creating a remarkable product and story and setting it up to spread from person to person. It's out of your control, because all the interactions are…

  • Who is your customer?

    Seth Godin
    6 Feb 2012 | 4:26 am
    Rule one: You can build a business on the foundation of great customer service. Rule two: The only way to do great customer service is to treat different customers differently. The question: Who is your customer? It's not obvious. Zappos is a classic customer service company, and their customer is the person who buys the shoes. Nike, on the other hand, doesn't care very much at all about the people who buy the shoes, or even the retailers. They care about the athletes (often famous) that wear the shoes, sometimes for money. They name buildings after these athletes, court them, erect…

  • In search of a timid trapeze artist

    Seth Godin
    5 Feb 2012 | 4:01 am
    Good luck with that, there aren't any. If you hesitate when leaping from rope to another, you're not going to last very long. And this is at the heart of what makes innovation work in organizations, why industries die, and how painful it is to try to maintain the status quo while also participating in a revolution. Gather up as much speed as you can, find a path and let go. You can't get to the next rope if you're still holding on to this one.

  • Will energy consumption stay private?

    Seth Godin
    4 Feb 2012 | 1:45 pm
    It's clear that the consumption of energy has external effects that impact more than just the person who is paying for it. Geopolitical, health and economic issues come to the neighbors and nearby citizens of entities that are using a lot of power. It was always straightforward to see who was burning a lot of wood or drove a huge car. It's easy to see when a company has a huge smokestake belching carbon. What happens when sensors make it easy to see how efficient a machine is, how much of a resource is being consumed and how much exhaust is being spewed? What happens when Google maps shows…

  • Rightsizing your passion

    Seth Godin
    4 Feb 2012 | 4:01 am
    Excitement about goals is often diminished by our fear of failure or the drudgery of work.If you’re short on passion, it might be because your goals are too small or the fear is too big. Do a job for a long time and achieve what you set out to achieve, and suddenly, the dream job becomes a trudge instead. The job hasn't changed--your dreams have. Mostly, though, it's about our fear. Fear is the dream killer, the silent voice that pushes us to lose our passion in a vain attempt to seek safety. While you can work hard to dream smaller dreams, I think it's better to embrace the fear and find…
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    Wired Top Stories

  • Facebook: The Last Great Company of the Desktop Age, Playing Catch-Up In a Mobile World

    Tim Carmody
    7 Feb 2012 | 12:37 pm
    Facebook may be the last great company of the desktop age. It's beaten back Friendster, MySpace and a half-dozen other pretenders, and ? at least so far ? is successfully holding off both Twitter and Google+. Its desktop display advertisements make the company billions of dollars in revenue. But that's not nearly enough. Now, Zuckerberg has to further capitalize on the growth of mobile to extend its reach. And he knows it.

  • Amazon Slashes Prices on S3 Cloud Storage

    Mike Barton
    7 Feb 2012 | 12:13 pm
    Amazon Web Services has lowered the price of its S3 cloud storage service for both standard and government clients.

  • Modular Data Centers: Is Anyone Buying?

    Mike Barton
    7 Feb 2012 | 12:08 pm
    Is a data center built into a standard 20-foot shipping container on your shopping list, cloud service providers? That's the question some are asking as these portable data centers, pioneered by Sun with its Project Blackbox (later dubbed Sun Modular Datacenter, or Sun MD), enter their sixth year of commercial availability.

  • Wait -- Atlantis Doesn't Exist After All (Again)?

    Ethan Gilsdorf
    7 Feb 2012 | 6:46 am
    Updated seafloor imaging on Google Earth cleans up the artifacts that had people worked up about finding the lost continent.

  • Navigating the Legality of Autonomous Vehicles

    Tom Vanderbilt
    7 Feb 2012 | 5:35 am
 
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    @ProBlogger

  • How I Beat my Best Month Ever by Doing Something Good, Better [Case Study]

    Darren Rowse
    7 Feb 2012 | 8:04 am
    Mid-December 2010: on my photography site, we launched a new campaign—our first ever 12 Days of Christmas promotion. The result was my biggest month of earnings ever up to that point. The idea was simple: offer discounts on 12 products over the 12 days leading up to Christmas. I used a mix of my own ebooks and products from other photography sites with affiliate commissions. The result was massive. Not only did we see some great revenue generated, it created some lovely buzz on the site. Due to the success of the 2010 campaign, in mid-December 2011 we launched our second 12 Days of…

  • Six Steps to Make Sure Your Site Is Ready to Go Viral

    Guest Blogger
    6 Feb 2012 | 8:00 am
    This guest post is by Nancy Sathre-Vogel of Family on Bikes. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Surely Google Analytics was confusing my site with another, way more popular site. There was no way my visitor numbers could be so high! And yet they were. One of my posts had taken off and was spreading like wildfire. Those viral post phenomena that happen to others were now happening to me. The first day, 17,000 visitors came to my website. The next day we topped out at 56,000. Readers were coming in droves. It was exciting. It was exhilarating. My site, viral! Wow! And then I took a…

  • How to Handle Criticism: a Practical Guide

    Darren Rowse
    5 Feb 2012 | 2:03 pm
    As bloggers, each of us has to deal with criticism. Blogging is a very public activity—almost all of us has the goal of gaining readers to our blogs—and the more people you reach, the more likely it is that you’ll hear criticisms. “You’re wrong…” “How can you say that? You don’t know what you’re talking about.” “I couldn’t disagree more…” “This is the last time I read this blog!” These are just some of the criticisms bloggers regularly face—I’ve received versions of all of these many times…

  • An Easy Way to Decrease Your Unsubscribe Rate

    Guest Blogger
    5 Feb 2012 | 8:00 am
    This guest post is by Michael Alexis of WriterViews. Frustrated with unsubscribes on your newsletter? You aren’t alone. Most of the metrics associated with our newsletters are fun to watch. Subscribe rate going up? Cool. Open rate rising? Awesome. Clickthrough rate skyrocketing? Yahoo! Image by Bruce Berrien, licensed under Creative Commons So, what is it about unsubscribe rates that is so darn frustrating? Maybe it’s the feeling of rejection that the reader no longer finds enough value in our work. Perhaps it’s the wondering whether they only ever signed up to get our…

  • If I Were the Blogging Police…

    Guest Blogger
    4 Feb 2012 | 8:07 am
    This guest post is by Karol K of ThemeFuse. Is it just me, or do you ever find yourself in a situation when you just want to lock someone up for the things they’re doing either on their own blog or while commenting on other people’s blogs? You know, moments when you wish you were the blogging police … anyone? I do. Quite often actually. And I am by no means perfect myself. But you don’t have to be perfect to have an opinion, just like you don’t have to be a musician to be able to tell that you don’t like a song. So even though I am not perfect, I’ll…
 
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    MacRumors: Mac News and Rumors

  • iPad's Momentum in Restaurants Grows with Buffalo Wild Wings Trial

    Eric Slivka
    7 Feb 2012 | 12:28 pm
    Ever since the iPad was introduced two years ago, its potential to revolutionize the restaurant industry has been widely touted, with some restaurants already moving to replace their traditional point-of-sale devices with iPads and companies such as Square seeking to fill that need. And while iPads in restaurants have been catching on here and there, the concept could be ripe for major expansion if a pilot program from restaurant chain Buffalo Wild Wings proves worthwhile. As detailed by Computerworld, Buffalo Wild Wings is expanding an initial pilot program at one of its Toronto area…

  • Apple Faces Potential $38 Million Fine in China as $1.6 Billion Lawsuit Over 'iPad' Trademark Proceeds

    Eric Slivka
    7 Feb 2012 | 8:57 am
    iSmashPhone summarizes a pair of reports from China claiming that Apple is facing a potential 240 million yuan ($38 million) fine from governmental authorities over alleged trademark infringement involving the "iPad" name. The fine pales, however, in comparison to the $1.6 billion Proview Technology, which claims to own the name, is seeking to win in a series of lawsuits filed against Apple. Proview is also said to be seeking an apology from Apple and an injunction preventing the company from using the iPad name in China. Proview first accused Apple of trademark infringement back in…

  • Rogers and BCE Already Have the Apple iTV in Their Labs, Controlled with Voice and Hand Gestures

    Arnold Kim
    6 Feb 2012 | 7:49 pm
    The Globe and Mail reports that Apple is actively seeking launch partnerships with Canada's Rogers Communications and BCE Inc. to offer their upcoming Apple TV. “They’re not closed to doing it with one [company] or doing it with two,” said one source who is familiar with the talks. “They’re looking for a partner. They’re looking for someone with wireless and broadband capabilities.”According to the newspaper, these companies already have the Apple iTV in their labs. Siri voice control is reportedly integrated into Apple's new television to help viewers make programming choices.

  • Apple Warns Developers Not to Manipulate App Store Rankings

    Arnold Kim
    6 Feb 2012 | 7:35 pm
    Yesterday, a TouchArcade thread was posted that warned about fraudulent App promotion services that guarantee Top 25 rankings for a modest fee. According to the poster, these services utilize automated scripts or bots to artificially boost free app rankings into the Top charts. At least one company denied the claims in the thread. PocketGamer picked up on the story based on the forum thread:For $5,000, said company will allegedly utilise bots that will download a developer's app over and over again until it has broken into the top 25 charts. At this point, the developer's app will have…

  • Apple Adds High-DPI Versions of Pointers in OS X 10.7.3

    Arnold Kim
    6 Feb 2012 | 6:57 pm
    Screenshot from FinerThingsIn.com DaringFireball notes several changes in some of the icons found in OS X 10.7.3. Several of our readers had also noticed the small changes in pointer icons in the latest version. It seems the changes run a bit deeper than on first glance. The new icons apparently come in high DPI versions that allow them to scale at high resolutions. Have you noticed that Safari’s hovering-over-a-link pointing-finger cursor looks a little different in Mac OS X 10.7.3? It’s not just that the finger is at a slightly different angle — it’s a new UI resource that scales…
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    chrisbrogan.com

  • Throw Away the Maps

    ceb
    6 Feb 2012 | 3:30 am
    People judge us by the path they’ve seen us walk before. They can’t anticipate our future steps. We, ourselves, look to how things have been, what seems to be the lay of the land, without realizing that the maps are not the territory. Want to succeed at work? Then don’t try to do your job. Instead, work towards something larger, more meaningful, and something that blends your convictions internally with your best ability to help others externally. Want to create something new? Then throw away the old, or maybe join two disparate old things together into something new. The…

  • The Next Social Networks

    ceb
    5 Feb 2012 | 3:30 am
    The rage in social networks right now is Pinterest, partly because it’s probably the first social network that has a much higher adoption rate by females than males, and partly because it’s an interesting concept: somewhere between visual social bookmarking and scrapbooking. What also might not be immediately obvious is that it’s just “easier” to interact there. In that way, Pinterest has something in common with Instagram, which is community around photos. What I’m interested in, though, is Gentlemint, which I keep calling “Pinterest for…

  • Learn From Adele – Build Your Platform

    ceb
    3 Feb 2012 | 3:30 am
    Jacq and I just watched Adele Live At The Royal Albert Hall (amazon affiliate link), and though every song was just wonderfully done, I found myself fascinated by what Adele was doing in between each song. Because even though most people would be interested in hearing her belt out her amazing repertoire of hits, what I took away from the performance was Adele’s real magical ability: the ability to resonate with her audience. What Adele Could Teach You About Impact I’m writing something about this right now for my upcoming book with Julien Smith, but I had to share some of the…

  • Rob Gokee is a Musical Wizard

    ceb
    2 Feb 2012 | 10:05 am
    I had such a great experience working with award winning musical composer Rob Gokee. We did some musical work together, and the process was so amazing. Rob helped me create my theme song for Shhh! The Secret Show. So anyhow, he and I sat down to do an interview, and it’s a bit long, but it’s totally worth it. We talk about what collaboration feels like at a distance, what it takes to get music like this made for your own show, and a lot more. Rob’s a hero to me, and has been part of the community for a while. I was so fortunate to have worked with him. Can’t see the…

  • Build Your Platform – Start

    ceb
    30 Jan 2012 | 3:30 am
    The following is part ONE of a series called Build Your Platform. If you find it interesting, please consider subscribing for free to get the rest of the series. This post is long. You might want to bookmark it for later. The age of social media oversaturation is upon us. People are declaring Twitter bankruptcy to go along with their email bankruptcy. They cite not wanting to start on yet another social network as their reason for not getting more involved with Google+. And just as soon as you start getting into Pinterest, you hear about Path, but wait: there’s Gentlemint, which is…
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    Copyblogger

  • 8 Quick Tips for Writing Bullet Points People Actually Want to Read

    Robert Bruce
    7 Feb 2012 | 5:00 am
    It’s a Twitterized world, we’re just living in it. Blog posts, Tweets, quick videos, Google+, the Facebook Timeline, and tens of thousands of images pinned to digital boards are flying past us faster than we can read them. Faster than we can even scan them, depending on the time of day. What does this mean for writers trying to cut through it all? At least two things that I can think of: You’d better know how to write a compelling headline You’d better know how to write bullet points that grab (and keep) your reader We’re not telling you to keep your copy short.

  • 7 Crucial Tactics for Writing a Wildly Successful Guest Post

    The Blog Tyrant
    6 Feb 2012 | 5:00 am
    We all know that guest posts grow blogs. But not many people realize that tactical guest posting grows careers. Most bloggers I see pump out these articles while reciting the mantra “quantity over quality”; there’s no real strategy and there are no real long-term benefits. In this post I am going to show you the seven crucial tactics for writing a radically successful guest post. Done right, these strategies will get you more email subscribers, coveted Google ranking positions, and a big head-start on your content marketing goals. Who am I to teach you about guest blogging?

  • 7 Smashing Social Media Marketing Links

    Robert Bruce
    4 Feb 2012 | 5:00 am
    This week on The Lede … What really works on Twitter One thing social media copywriters should never do 9 productive social media hacks A reminder of the power of the original social media If you just can’t wait for The Lede every Saturday, and you want even more practical, useable links than the seven we highlight here every week, follow @copyblogger on Twitter. It’s painless. Really. // 9 Social Media Hacks You Need to Embrace Now Mr. Baer makes a good case that though social media is inexpensive in monetary terms, it can get good and costly when it comes to spending your…

  • Whether You Call it Blogging or Not, Online Content Still Rules

    Robert Bruce
    3 Feb 2012 | 7:00 am
    What if most of the business world stopped blogging tomorrow? Would you stop as well? No, if that happened, you’d find yourself sitting on the opportunity of a lifetime. Social networking sites would explode with likes and retweets and pins and +1s of your original content all day long. This is why the annual “blogging is dead” claim is so dumb. Even if it were true, your continued content production would dominate the web in every way. So, instead of worrying about the latest claimed trend or alarming decline of the moment, stay the course. Original content creation is the…

  • What Zappos Can Teach You About Becoming Irresistible to Customers

    Jeff Goins
    2 Feb 2012 | 5:00 am
    What can a well-run shoe store teach you about your own online business? Well, everything. If you’ve ever bought anything from the mega online shoe store Zappos, or if you’ve so much as heard them mentioned, the word that comes to mind is probably service. But there’s more to the Zappo’s secret sauce than free shipping and some nice people on the phone. They embody three important lessons that any blogger, online marketer, or small business owner can learn … and start finding customers that don’t just like you, they love you. Let’s look at each, and…
 
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    ReadWriteWeb

  • User-Centric Design is Great, Just as Long as You Find the Right User

    7 Feb 2012 | 12:32 pm
    My friend and colleague Esther Schindler has written a wonderful post over on SoftwareQuality Connection about encouraging user-centric design. The only trouble is figuring out the right set of users that your software is designed for. Put another way, this is the classic programming problem: the person who hires you (or who sets up the job) isn't the ultimate end-user audience for the actual program. Sponsor Schindler mentions the Abomination That Is Taleo as Exhibit A. For those of you that haven't been in the job market lately, this is one of the go-to apps that employers use to collect…

  • The Disintegration of PaaS

    7 Feb 2012 | 12:02 pm
    In PaaS Makes Progress in 2011, I argued that the previous 12 months had been pivotal to the advancement of platform-as-a-service. As a result of this fast-paced evolution, the PaaS of 2012 is quite a different beast than that of just a couple of years ago. While this second-generation PaaS differs in many ways from initial forays in the field, one of the most important distinctions is that this new PaaS has been disintegrated, or at least made more modular. Sponsor Before you run off thinking I'm advocating the destruction of PaaS platforms, please realize that I am not. Rather, I'm…

  • Infographic: ShutterStock Reaches 200 Million Image Downloads

    7 Feb 2012 | 11:32 am
    Shutterstock.com claims it is the first such venture to reach a total of 200 million downloads of licensed images of stock photography, vector graphics and other illustrations. "Searching the word 'networking' used to return images of handshakes and business contacts; now it's all about online social networking," says Jon Oringer, Founder and CEO of the company. Sponsor Yes, images about cats lead the way, no surprise with over 400,000 downloads, surpassing "only" 79,000 downloads of last year's Royal Wedding. But what is interesting is that vector graphic downloads are on the increase, and…

  • Microsoft, 24/7 Want To Better Serve Your Customers

    7 Feb 2012 | 10:30 am
    In a world envisioned by a partnership between Microsoft and 24/7 Inc. announced on Tuesday, you'll someday receive a text message that your flight has been canceled, call a customer service number and be able to view flight options on your tablet as you discuss rebooking your travel with the customer service agent on the other end of the line. It seems pretty basic, considering all that we're capable of doing in tech. But as anyone who has been put on hold for tech support, received a robo-call about suspicious activity on their credit card, or tried to deal with sudden travel changes can…

  • How to Become a Cloud Service Provider in About a Day: VMware

    7 Feb 2012 | 10:00 am
    Businesses are finally realizing there's a way to recoup some of their costs for building out their private cloud infrastructures. It's hybridization, but in the opposite direction: taking their residual compute power and storage capacity and making it public, reselling it back upstream. This morning, VMware is introducing a kind of cloud service assembly tool called vCloud Integration Manager (VCIM) that enables businesses to gather their available resources together, from both private pools and participating public cloud resellers, and then present them to their own customers as cloud…
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    Smashing Magazine Feed

  • Collaging: Getting Answers To The Questions You Don’t Know To Ask

    Kyle Soucy
    6 Feb 2012 | 9:02 am
       When conducting user research, we all know that asking the right questions is just as important as how you ask them, but how do you know exactly what questions to ask? What if the discussion topic is very personal? How do you get a complete stranger to open up? There is a better way to conduct an in-depth interview, and it doesn’t involve a clipboard. Just imagine what you could discover if the participant’s answers weren’t limited to a predetermined set of questions. This is where collaging can help. Collaging is a projective technique by which participants select images…

  • How To Use Custom Post Types To Organize Online Marketing Campaigns

    Joshua Dodson
    3 Feb 2012 | 9:04 am
       Custom post types add a level of flexibility to WordPress that makes this open-source Web development platform more useful on many levels. Whenever I have been faced with a Web-based task, especially one that involves organizing information, the first thing I do is examine WordPress to determine if it can handle the job. It usually can. Image Source As an Internet marketer and analyst, I need to be able to organize online marketing campaigns in a way that is trackable in Google Analytics. This is the perfect task for WordPress custom post types. In this article, we’ll explain…

  • Freebie: St. Valentine’s Day Icon Set (10 PNG/PSD Icons)

    Smashing Editorial Team
    2 Feb 2012 | 9:38 am
       Every now and then, we release useful freebies for all of our highly valued readers. Today, it is our pleasure to present to you Cuberto‘s fantastic St. Valentine’s icon set  —  exclusively designed for Smashing Magazine and its loyal readers. The icons presented are available in transparent PNGs as well as Photoshop PSDs (128×128 px) and are perfect for any projects you have coming up for St. Valentine’s Day. Enjoy! Download the Set for free! This icon set is completely free to use for commercial or personal applications without any…

  • Ten Things To Think About When Designing Your iPad App

    Julie Stanford
    31 Jan 2012 | 11:03 am
       Like most well-designed things, the magic of an iPad app comes from a union of usefulness, usability and meaning. Games aside, the app must be useful by solving a problem that people actually have through the right set of functionality at the right time. It must be easy to use and, just as importantly, easy to get started using, without a lot of pesky setup and learning steps. And it must hold meaning for the user through visual beauty, an emotional connection, personal insights, etc. In this article, we won’t outline the entire design process for creating an iPad app, but we…

  • Desktop Wallpaper Calendar: February 2012

    Smashing Editorial Team
    31 Jan 2012 | 7:48 am
       We always try our best to challenge your artistic abilities and produce some interesting, beautiful and creative artwork. And as designers we usually turn to different sources of inspiration. As a matter of fact, we’ve discovered the best one — desktop wallpapers that are a little more distinctive than the usual crowd. This creativity mission has been going on for over two years now, and we are very thankful to all designers who have contributed and are still diligently contributing each month. We continue to nourish you with a monthly spoon of inspiration. This post features…
 
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    CNN.com

  • Komen exec quits over Parenthood flap

    7 Feb 2012 | 12:19 pm
    Karen Handel, a vice president with the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation, resigned her position Tuesday following a controversy over funding for some Planned Parenthood projects, the foundation said.

  • Powell boys hit with hatchet before fire

    7 Feb 2012 | 12:00 pm
    Two boys killed with their father in an apparent murder-suicide suffered hatchet wounds before a fire in their Washington state home, police say.

  • 'For God's sake, this is too much'

    7 Feb 2012 | 11:45 am
    Pictures show children shredded by shrapnel. An injured man is rushed from a clinic after it's attacked. The United Nations estimates at least 6,000 people have died in the uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. FULL STORY

  • Today's primaries about bragging rights

    7 Feb 2012 | 11:28 am
    It's the largest delegate haul yet in the GOP race for the White House. Colorado and Minnesota hold caucuses. Missouri holds a nonbinding primary.

  • Obama to boost Alzheimer's funding

    7 Feb 2012 | 11:17 am
    The Obama administration will push for a $156 million increase in funding for Alzheimer's research over the next two years, the Department of Health and Human Services announced Tuesday.
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    Scott Kelby's Photoshop Insider

  • Jumping the gun on the Nikon D800

    Scott Kelby
    7 Feb 2012 | 9:46 am
    Since my post last night here on Google+ (http://www.scottgplus.com), and here on my blog earlier today, I’ve seen a lot of comments flowing in pro and con about this camera, and I just want to say a quick few things about the comments I’ve been reading thus far:(1) The D800 was apparently created for a very specific type of photographer  There is no law that every camera introduced by a camera company has to be designed to fit your personal needs. If you read that it has 36.3 megapixels and you’re like “36.3 megapixels is overkill!!!” then obviously this…

  • Nikon Announces The D800 And Baby Does It Look Sweet!!!!

    Scott Kelby
    6 Feb 2012 | 11:33 pm
    36.3 megapixels (wow!) with a full frame sensor. Full HD video with stereo sound (yay) built in HDR (sweet) and it looks like its aimed at the commercial, wedding and landscape markets (photographers who shoot medium format digital backs. I mean who used to shoot digital backs). ;-)I haven’t seen one, held one, etc., but it sounds amazing and I want one. Bad!!!! (And yes, sometimes you need 36.3 megapixels). Two words: Whoo Hoo!Read the full scoop at Nikon USA: http://bit.ly/wVaU77

  • Lightroom 4 and Leaving The Past Behind

    Scott Kelby
    5 Feb 2012 | 11:04 pm
    Yesterday I was in Cincinnati, Ohio teaching a mini-version of my “Light it, Shoot it, Retouch it” workshop at the ProPhoto Expo (a really excellent event by the way, put together with the help and vision of none other than David Ziser himself), and during one of the breaks between sessions a very nice woman came up and told me how upset she was that Lightroom 4 wouldn’t run on Windows XP, and that she feared when Photoshop CS6 ships it won’t support XP either.Here’s basically what I told her: It’s 2012. Windows XP came out in October of 2001 (more than 10…

  • I Shot My First NHL Ice Hockey Game Last Night….

    Scott Kelby
    3 Feb 2012 | 12:55 am
    … and it sure looked it! :((Above: That’s the game winning goal in Overtime above. Not a pretty shot, but then, none of them really were).I absolutely love shooting ice hockey!  I’m just no good at it yet. Not only was it my first time shooting ice hockey, it was my first time at an ice hockey game. It was (as expected) a rough night. How rough was it? Well, I actually registered the domain you see below last night after I uploaded my photos to the wire service I was shooting for.But I Still Had to Submit Photos I was able to upload 25 shots to Southcreek Global that were,…

  • It’s Free Stuff Thursday!

    Brad Moore
    2 Feb 2012 | 12:07 am
    The Photographer’s Legal Guide If you’re in business, you will make a mistake. Nobodyknows that better than Jack Reznicki and Edward Greenburg. Join them as they take you through the finer points of terms and conditions in invoices to help you avoid costly mistakes in your photography business.We’re giving away a DVD set that teaches you everything you want to know about the legal side of photography.  The set includes two DVD titles:  The Photographer’s Legal Guide: Model Releases & Copyright Registration and The Photographer’s Guide to Avoiding Common…
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    Digital Photography School

  • Buy our New Post Processing eBook and Go in the Draw to Win an iMac, DSLR or Photoshop!

    Darren Rowse
    7 Feb 2012 | 7:34 am
    Two weeks ago today we launched the third eBook in our popular Photo Nuts eBook series – Photo Nuts and Post: a Guide to Post Processing. It has received some wonderful reviews since launch and we’re excited to see so many of our readers using it to improve their images. Win a DSLR, iMac or Photoshop and iPad Today I’m super excited to announce that anyone who buys our new Guide to Post Processing eBook during it’s launch will go in the draw to win one of three amazing prizes to help them improve their photography. 3 prizes? Why 3 prizes I hear you ask? The reason is…

  • Nikon D800 and D800e announced

    Sime
    6 Feb 2012 | 10:43 pm
    There has been chatter on the interweb for what seems like ever, surrounding the the new offering from Nikon. Here it is, finally, for you to lust after! Nikon D800 & D800E  $2,995.00 and it’ yours! Will you be cashing in and picking one of these cameras up? Comment below! Here’s the feature list. Nikon FX-format CMOS sensor with 36.3 effective Megapixels Native ISO 100 to ISO 6,400 Manipulate light to your advantage Shoot broadcast quality video Comprehensive high-fidelity audio recording control Live view output on external monitors Integrated image sensor cleaning system…

  • 6 Timelapse Photography Tips [You May Not Have Considered]

    Guest Contributor
    6 Feb 2012 | 12:48 pm
    A Guest Post by Clayton McLaughlin There are a lot of tutorials out there that introduce the practice of shooting timelapses with a variety of different cameras. All of which can help you get started. But as with any situation, I’ve found there are a few things that have helped me along the way that I never read in a tutorial online. 1. Use velcro to secure the wireless trigger Using a remote trigger does two things that are important to timelapse photography. First the intervalometer built into a lot of triggers does the tiring work of taking photos at a regular interval. Second, it…

  • How To Get Over Your Fears And Raise Your Prices as a Photographer

    Guest Contributor
    6 Feb 2012 | 8:03 am
    A Guest post by Jenika McDavitt from Psychology for Photographers. “At all levels of income, the typical response is that one needs 20% more to be happy.” – Richard Easterlin The photographer’s equivalent to Dr. Easterlin’s statement is probably “Whatever you charge for your work, the typical response is that you’re 20% too expensive.”  Like clockwork, I’ve been told my photography is too expensive at $75, $100, $300, $500, $1200, and $2000 price points.  But why? Anchors Aweigh First, photography is one of the worst victims of something…

  • 3 Legged Thing – The New Breed

    Sime
    5 Feb 2012 | 12:00 pm
    What can you do with a tripod? Well, you can stand stuff on it, your camera, lights, stuff.. But it’s a tripod, how do you innovate? What more is there to do? UK Tripod conjurers, 3 Legged Thing decided to find out… What’s on the 3LT menu? Carbon Fiber Tripods, Lightweight Travel Tripods Carbon Fiber Monopods Alloy Tripods Alloy Monopods Combination Tripod/Monopods Anodised Precision Ball Heads and Black Rapid R-Strap Compatible Release Plates Stuff (It’s not called that, but there you go) Bootz and Heelz and Budgie Smuglaz So, I have Brian and Kirk here with me right…
 
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    TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

  • Daily Update for February 7, 2012

    Steven Sande
    7 Feb 2012 | 12:30 pm
    It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen.Daily Update for February 7, 2012 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of…

  • Twelve South HoverBar a unique way to marry iPad and iMac

    Steven Sande
    7 Feb 2012 | 12:00 pm
    The design wizards at Twelve South have come up with another unique and useful accessory for Apple gear. This time, they're introducing the HoverBar (US$79.99), a mounting clamp and flexible bar that floats an iPad 2 (or several) next to your iMac or Apple monitor. The HoverBar can be clamped onto the upright of an iMac or Apple display, to a tabletop, or any other surface up to an inch thick. Your iPad 2 sits in a plastic clip that's mounted on a swivel ball so it can be turned to any angle. In the video below, one idle youth taking time out from doing his homework uses the iPad / HoverBar…

  • Apple intern thesis bears on porting Darwin to ARMv5 chips

    Kelly Hodgkins
    7 Feb 2012 | 11:30 am
    Two years ago, Tristan Schaap joined Apple's Platform Technologies Group as an intern. During his 12-week stint with the Core OS division, he worked on a project to get a piece of Mac OS X running on an ARM processor, says a report by iMore. Most people were not aware of this project until recently, when the Netherland's Delft University of Technology made Schaap's thesis available to the public. Schaap's project was very specific - he worked with Darwin and ported it to a Marvell ARMv5te processor. Some of the ARMv5 code was present in Darwin and his job was to get it to work in both…

  • Apple's Grand Central neighbor sees sales increase

    Steven Sande
    7 Feb 2012 | 11:00 am
    Apple and the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) both received criticism last year for a sweetheart deal in which Apple paid less rent per square foot for the Grand Central Terminal retail store space than other tenants in the facility. Well, the deal is starting to pay off for the MTA as expected, since the popularity of the Apple Store at Grand Central Terminal appears to be improving sales for other retailers. While the trend is based on data from only one nearby restaurant, it's expected that the Apple Store is attracting business to other stores and restaurants in…

  • First Enyo app makes the iOS leap

    Kelly Hodgkins
    7 Feb 2012 | 10:00 am
    Enyo is an application development platform created by HP for webOS. It's open source and based on web standards like JavaScript. Best of all, it can be used to create apps for other platforms like Android and iOS. The first Enyo-based app for iOS, FlashCards To Go, was unveiled last month when HP announced its timetable for releasing webOS to the open source community. Created by developer James Harris, the iPad title is a full-featured flashcards app that has a strong webOS look and feel. It's available for US$3.99 and works on any iPad running iOS 5. The flash cards app is also available…
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    Strobist

  • Lighting Inside the Box

    6 Feb 2012 | 8:30 am
    After 15 years of long-term planning (and saving) Susan and I finally took the plunge with a full kitchen remodel. We were really pleased with the results, and at some point I had promised the contractor a nice photo of the final product.In a room like this you are basically illuminating the inside of a box by using hidden lights, which turned out to be an interesting exercise. And it's something I would recommend for just about any photographer. Read more »

  • Core Knowledge: Working With Remotes

    2 Feb 2012 | 8:00 am
    There are two things you should always remember about radio remotes:One, radio can be fickle. This is true whether you are using your time-honored PocketWizards or a brand new Chinese offering.Two, radio waves -- and success with your remotes -- are all about the physics. So a little knowledge can go a long way toward ensuring good range and reliability. Some basics that every lighting photographer should know, inside. Read more »

  • Tyler Stableford: Dispatches From the Underground

    30 Jan 2012 | 8:00 am
    Aspen, Colorado-based photographer Tyler Stableford generally shoots action and adventure, most of it aboveground. But this shoot for Timberland PRO would send him a half-mile deep into the earth. That far down, before adding light it is absolutely pitch black. As in, you cannot see your hand in front of your face. And the lights the miners use while extracting coal there aren't much friendlier -- low-level, and a mix of tungsten and fluorescents. So Stableford shot the entire campaign working on the edge of the quality envelope, and lighting with only a few speedlights. Read more »

  • Q&A: Dealing with Glare from Dark Wood Backgrounds

    26 Jan 2012 | 8:00 am
    Reader Jefferson, from California in the US, asked via Twitter:"How do you deal with glare on dark wood in background for portraits? Is this covered in Lighting 101 or 102?"Actually, it is covered in L102, if a little obliquely. And yes, pretty much any time you light into dark wood as a background you are gonna get some blowback.But rather than look at this as a problem, I prefer to think of it as a feature… Read more »

  • Ono Shouichi: The Spirit of a Century

    23 Jan 2012 | 12:30 am
    Photos © Ono ShouichiBy Irwin Wong -- Multi-light setups, gear reviews and lighting tricks are all worthwhile food for thought. But when people are looking back at your life’s work, will you be remembered for your lighting or for what you tried to tell the world with your camera? In a long-spanning portrait series, Tokyo-based editorial photographer Ono Shouichi has (to date) photographed two hundred Japanese centenarians. The lighting, while there, is subordinate to the message. As it should be. Read more »
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    News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Canon renews full-frame lenses with 24-70mm F2.8 II and stabilized wide-angle primes

    6 Feb 2012 | 11:00 pm
    Canon has released three EF lenses, including an updated 24-70mm F2.8 II USM. The latest version features what is promised to be a more durable body, despite being a little smaller. In addition to this high-end full-frame standard zoom, there are completely redesigned semi-fast 24mm  and 28mm F2.8 primes, both of which feature USM focus motors and image stabilization. Ultimately, the most interesting thing about these launches is the fact that Canon feels the need to update various full-frame lenses, almost as if something likely to test the quality of its existing versions was in the…

  • Canon unveils ELPH 530 HS and ELPH 320 HS Wi-Fi touchscreen models

    6 Feb 2012 | 11:00 pm
    Canon has launched the ELPH 530 HS and ELPH 320 HS, Wi-Fi and touchscreen versions of its recently released style compacts. The cameras, sold as the IXUS 510 HS and IXUS 240 HS respectively outside North America, have several different ways to allow wireless sharing to home networks, smartphones or the internet. The ELPH 320 HS, like its non-Wi-Fi  ELPH 110 HS brother, is a 16MP camera while the smaller ELPH 530 HS uses a 10MP section of the same 16MP sensor. The 530 HS uses Micro SD but this is less problematic, thanks to its wireless capabilities.

  • Canon A series updated to include slim, stylish A2300, A2400, A3400 and A4000

    6 Feb 2012 | 11:00 pm
    Canon has launched six 16MP A-series entry-level PowerShot cameras, completely refreshing the lineup. The models are best understood as three distinct groups within the range: the A810 and A1300 are traditional AA-battery A-series cameras with 5x, 28-140mm equivalent zooms, the A2300, A2400 and A3400 are slim cameras with the same lens and lithium ion batteries, and the A4000 tops the range with an 8x zoom.

  • Canon ventures back in the water with the rugged D20

    6 Feb 2012 | 11:00 pm
    Canon has launched its second waterproof rugged camera, the 12MP D20. It has a 5x, image stabilized 28-140mm equivalent zoom lens, featuring the company's latest 7-mode IS system. It also includes GPS and a 460,000 dot 3.0" LCD. The camera's back-lit CMOS sensor allows the D20 to shoot 1080p24 movies accessible with a dedicated movie record button. Unlike the company's D10, the D20 is a relatively small, periscope-lens card camera. It is waterproof to a depth of 10m and shockproof from a height of 1.5m.

  • Canon announces SX260HS 20x superzoom with GPS and SX240HS without

    6 Feb 2012 | 11:00 pm
    Canon has launched two SX series compact superzooms, the SX 260 IS and SX 240 IS. The difference between the two is that the SX 240 IS doesn't include GPS and isn't being announced by Canon USA, so may not be widely available if it reaches North American shores. Beyond that, both are 20x compact superzooms with 25-500mm equivalent lenses featuring the company's latest 7-mode image stabilization system. They feature 460k dot screens and the ability to shoot burst of images at 10.3 frames per second. Both use 12MP back-lit CMOS sensors.
 
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    Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Killer Tips

  • Why I Don’t Backup My Photos Using Lightroom

    jgilbert@photoshopuser.com (Matt Kloskowski)
    7 Feb 2012 | 7:39 am
    If you’ve used the Import dialog in Lightroom, you’ve probably noticed an area under File Handing called “Make a Second Copy To:”. This is Lightroom’s way of letting you make a backup of your photos as you import them. That way you can get your import and your backup all done at once. A while back, some one pointed out that when you use this feature, you don’t have much control over how the backup drive stores the photos. Basically, it just stores them in a folder named “Imported on….”. For me this is a big problem because it’s not…

  • Lightroom Worth-a-click

    jgilbert@photoshopuser.com (Matt Kloskowski)
    3 Feb 2012 | 8:26 am
    Happy Friday! Here’s a few Lightroom/Photography related things that are worth a quick click if you’re surfing around. • A friend of mine from Paris (who I shot with while I visited last year and was a HUGE help!), Serge Ramelli has a Lightroom app on the iTunes store. Here’s the link if you want to check it out. • It’s not exactly brand new news but I had a new class go up on Kelby Training last month that’s all about Lightroom presets and how I create them. If you’re looking for a peak inside the mind of the preset creator (and some cool ideas for…

  • Lightroom Video – Dynamic Watermarks (well… not really, but kinda)

    jgilbert@photoshopuser.com (Matt Kloskowski)
    1 Feb 2012 | 10:08 am
    I always like to do videos that answer questions I get, rather than just doing a video that I “think” everyone wants to know about. Well, this weeks video comes from a question that I’ve gotten in several forms over the last couple years. Recently, some one asked if they could add a watermark to their photos with the current year on them. So basically, Lightroom would have to figure out the year from the metadata (probably not hard) and dynamically add it to the photos when you export them into JPEGS (not so easy). So, there’s really no way to do this, but there is an…

  • Your Burning Lightroom 4 Questions Answered From Adobe

    jgilbert@photoshopuser.com (Matt Kloskowski)
    30 Jan 2012 | 9:10 am
    I just saw a post over on Adobe’s Photoshop.com blog where product manager Sharad Mangalick, answered a bunch of Lightroom 4 questions. Everything from catalogs, to video, new features, you name it. Below is one question I pulled directly from the page because I’ve been asked quite a bit too, but there’s lots more in the full article. @luxx11 and @jennawoodward Ask: @Lightroom why can’t I use my LR3 catalogs in LR4? Is there a way to easily transfer my Lr3 catalogue into Lr4? Sharad: Since Lightroom 4 is still in beta form, we restricted the ability to bring in catalogs…

  • Lightroom 4 and Windows XP

    jgilbert@photoshopuser.com (Matt Kloskowski)
    23 Jan 2012 | 9:52 am
    I’ve seen quite a few comments about the fact that Lightroom 4 Beta doesn’t work with Windows XP (and you can probably guess that the full version isn’t going to work with it either). Last week Tom Hogarty (Lightroom Product Manager) wrote about the reasons behind that decision on his blog. Here’s a quick snippet but you can go here to read the rest: “As many have noticed, the Lightroom 4 public beta we released last week does not support Windows XP. This decision did not come lightly and was based on a number of factors. With each version of Lightroom, our goal…
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    MacRumors: Mac News and Rumors - iOS Blog

  • Motorola Requested 2.25% Patent Licensing Royalty on iPhone Purchases

    Jordan Golson
    6 Feb 2012 | 7:18 pm
    Late last year, Motorola Mobility requested Apple pay a potential royalty of 2.25% on its iPhone sales in recently unsealed litigation from last year. The royalty would amount to more than $1 billion in 2011 alone, though there is no indication which specific iPhone models would be covered by the license nor if it would be retroactive to the initial launch of the iPhone in 2007. The patents appear to be covered under the FRAND standard, which requires patents to be licensed for "fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms". The 2.25% request that Motorola offered was in response to a…

  • Apple Releases iBooks 2.0.1 to Address Issue with Textbooks Not Opening

    Eric Slivka
    3 Feb 2012 | 11:32 am
    Apple today updated iBooks [App Store] to version 2.0.1, bringing a fix for an issue that resulted in some iBooks Textbooks not opening in the application. Apple is not terribly specific about the issue, but it may be related to a complaint shared by USA Today almost immediately after the iBooks 2.0 launch and for which Apple had promised a fix.We're aware of a small number of iBooks 2 users having issues with the playback of the introduction movies when opening iBooks textbooks. It will be fixed soon in an upcoming software update.iBooks 2.0.1 is of course a free update to the already-free…

  • 'The Daily' Reports 100,000 Paying Subs on One-Year Anniversary

    Jordan Golson
    2 Feb 2012 | 1:25 pm
    One year ago today, News Corp. launched its iPad-only newspaper called The Daily. It was the first app to take advantage of the "In-App Subscription" feature that Apple launched the same day. The Daily is available to subscribers for $0.99/week or $39.99/year and Mashable reports that the newspaper currently has more than 100,000 paid subscribers on the iPad alone. Rupert Murdoch, head of The Daily's parent company News Corp. said when the paper launched that it would take 500,000 paying readers to break even, though publisher Greg Clayman told Mashable that profitability is in sight:…

  • Apple Grabs Another Gaming PR Executive for App Store

    Eric Slivka
    2 Feb 2012 | 10:38 am
    MCV reports (via The Next Web) that Apple has nabbed yet another gaming PR executive, this time hiring Microsoft's European chief of Xbox Live marketing Robin Burrowes to oversee App Store marketing in Europe.Burrowes worked at Xbox for seven years, and was in charge of Xbox Live. He was one of the execs promoting the latest Xbox dashboard update, even attending London Games Conference and Gamescom last year. Prior to Xbox, he has worked for MSN and HMV. He joins Apple this year in charge of marketing the App Store for iTunes Europe.Apple has been drawing PR and marketing talent from the…

  • Dexim Visible Green iPhone Cable Makes Charging More Visible

    Jordan Golson
    31 Jan 2012 | 1:50 pm
    While most USB-charged Apple products like the iPhone and iPad come with a USB charging cable in the box, there is a thriving third-party market for these easily lost accessories. Dexim's $20 Visible Green USB-Dock Connector cables have a distinctive twist: they use electroluminescence to "visibly show the electrical current flowing through the cable". Completing the illusion is the fact that there are multiple speeds that the current can "flow", adjusting with the battery life of the device it's charging. While perhaps not the most practical iPhone charger, particularly for bedside…
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    CNNGo.com

  • Cyber supper: Multi-city virtual dining comes to China

    CNNGo staff
    7 Feb 2012 | 12:16 am
    by CNNGo staffHai Di Lao (海底捞火锅), a Chinese hot pot restaurant chain famous for its kung fu noodles and iPad ordering system, has just launched a virtual dining concept. The new hi-tech cyber supper service allows diners in Shanghai and Beijing to boil hot pot face-to-face even though they are 1,200 kilometers apart. Multi-city groups dining Two dining rooms, both named Zhi Zhen Jian (智真间), are equipped to deliver the service in Hai Di Lao’s Beijing Wangfujing chain and Shanghai Changshou Lu chain. Both rooms accommodate a half-moon table and can seat a maximum of six…

  • Hello Kitty jets: Cutest airplanes ever

    Hiufu Wong
    6 Feb 2012 | 11:37 pm
    by Hiufu WongForget the YouTube videos. If you want a real dose of cute cat, book a flight with Taiwan airline EVA Air. The carrier has recently launched three Hello Kitty-themed aircraft [Chinese language], on which everything from the fuselage to the flight attendants to the food is kitted out in the kawaii cat brand's images.  Passengers have been purring with delight, according to Anna Wong, an EVA Air public relations officer in Hong Kong.  "Many people specify that they want to take EVA's special Hello Kitty jet," said Wong. "The response has been excellent so far."…

  • Fly in the world’s largest wind tunnel, then get tipsy

    6 Feb 2012 | 10:06 pm
    In addition to food and drinks, iFly Singapore's new SkyLoft sports an in-house DJ and live bands. Just don't drink and fly. iFly Singapore, home to world's largest skydiving wind tunnel, has just launched a swanky food and beverage outlet for anyone who wants to follow up their thrills with a few sky-high tipples.   Dubbed SkyLoft, the new Sentosa Island venue was built to give patrons views of the South China Sea and the nightly "Songs of the Sea," Sentosa's pyrotechnics show. On the menu: strong drinks created by a resident mixologist and a well-stocked bar with top beer,…

  • How one 'underdog' is aiming to become the world's convention destination

    Frances Cha, Seoul Editor
    6 Feb 2012 | 9:00 pm
    by Frances Cha, Seoul EditorIf all the world is indeed a stage, Seoul is going all out this year to showcase its production values, touting the Korean capital's expertise in hosting meetings and conventions to a worldwide audience. “People have a tendency to lump tourism and convention together, but they are very different types of industry,” says Maureen O’Crowley, vice president of the Seoul Convention Bureau. The difference between traditional tourism and the convention business? Bigger and more far-reaching consequences, according to the Meetings, Incentives, Conventions,…

  • Staying in the rural home of a Hong Kong eco-cook

    Joyce Man
    6 Feb 2012 | 4:00 pm
    by Joyce ManAmen Tsang opens his home and kitchen to share his low-carbon way of life with urbanites. I am in a rural home in Tai Po and there is an impressive spread before me: soft sticky rice in a crispy tofu skin, a fiery green papaya salad with squid, scrambled eggs with shrimp, deep-fried tofu that's crunchy outside and succulent inside, “three-cup chicken”  prepared with rice wine, vinegar and basil, as well as a banana and avocado dessert with a hint of lemon. But more notable is the origin of each dish. The papaya hails from a tree next to my table and the basil and lemons…
 
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