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  • Romance survey [infographic]

    Holy Kaw!
    9 Feb 2012 | 2:02 pm
    Via Hotels.com. Infographics to put you in the mood. Permalink | Leave a comment  »

  • Mass Effect 3 Gets iPad Version with Action-Packed ‘Infiltrator’ [PREVIEW]

    Mashable!
    Zachary Sniderman
    9 Feb 2012 | 1:35 pm
    Mass Effect 3 is coming to an iPad near you in the form of Mass Effect Infiltrator, an iOS game aimed at expanding the game’s narrative and give players some mobile combat. Infiltrator isn’t a direct port of the latest Mass Effect game. Unlike its big brother, a sci-fi role-playing game known for its first-person shooter gameplay and massive, branching story-lines, Infiltrator is all about fighting. Mashable got a demo of the game played on an iPad and hooked up to a television at an EA showcase. The story follows a soldier called Randall Ezno as he travels the universe tracking…

  • The Google Wallet Hack Is Not The End Of The World (Or Even NFC) As We Know It [Update: Google Reacts]

    Fast Company
    Kit Eaton
    9 Feb 2012 | 1:30 pm
    Stay calm and carry on, people: It's way too soon to say that NFC should stand for Now Fatally Corrupted. Yes, Google's breakthrough NFC payments app Wallet is being mentioned all over the news thanks to a flaw--it's vulnerable to a hack that gives nefarious types access to your secure PIN number. But don't believe any doomsayers or fearmongering that you may encounter on this matter; it's not as evil as it seems and, believe it or not, it's actually a sign that the future of wireless mobile payments is probably more secure than your current credit card. As reported over at the blog of…

  • 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…

  • HTC: Ice Cream Sandwich Will Start Hitting Our Handsets In March

    TechCrunch
    Chris Velazco
    9 Feb 2012 | 12:55 pm
    At long last, HTC fans can finally stop holding their collective breath. After months of relative quiet, the Taiwanese company has taken to their Facebook page to spread the word: the Ice Cream Sandwich is coming, and it’s coming soon. For owners of certain HTC devices, the long-awaited Android 4.0 update will begin hitting handsets next month. HTC originally promised that Ice Cream Sandwich would be hitting most of their top-tier devices in “early 2012,” but that doesn’t seem to the case anymore unless you own one of their numerous Sensation devices. If anything, it…
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    Holy Kaw!

  • Romance survey [infographic]

    9 Feb 2012 | 2:02 pm
    Via Hotels.com. Infographics to put you in the mood. Permalink | Leave a comment  »

  • Do aliens go invisible by 'going green'?

    9 Feb 2012 | 1:24 pm
    As we discover more and more planets around other stars, the Fermi Paradox is becoming, well, more paradoxical. The Fermi Paradox simply asks the question "where are they?" Our Milky Way galaxy is so big and so old -- and we are estimated to be accompanied by at least 100 billion planets -- that aliens should have visited us by now. Instead, when we peruse the heavens, we are faced with the Great Silence, which is one of the biggest challenges to modern astronomy. Full story at Discovery News. More news from Discovery Communications. Permalink | Leave a comment  »

  • Mysterious sounds reported around the world

    9 Feb 2012 | 1:23 pm
    People around the world have reported hearing strange sounds from the skies over the past month. Sometimes they describe it as a hum or low rumble; other times it’s a whine, thump, or even a melody. Often the sounds have been recorded and posted online, fueling rumors and conspiracy theories. One blogger wrote, "either the world is ending, aliens are landing or everyone is getting hoaxed. Or, possibly, there’s an actual scientific explanation for the mass amount of YouTube videos capturing bizarre sounds that are being heard around the globe. Are we witnessing the beginning of a…

  • Costa Concordia: an ecological time bomb

    9 Feb 2012 | 1:21 pm
    As workers begin to extract the half-million gallons of fuel in the shipwrecked cruise liner, locals are worried that their pristine waters are in danger. Reporting by Rossella Lorenzi. Written and produced by Rossella Lorenzi and Martin Berman. Full story at Discovery News. More news from Discovery Communications. Permalink | Leave a comment  »

  • Inside Syria's capitol: nervously normal

    9 Feb 2012 | 1:18 pm
    As the violence in Syria continues to escalate, Syrian citizens are arming themselves to resist their oppressive regime. For days, Homs, the third-largest city in Syria, has endured shelling, tanks and attacks by heavy weaponry. Syrian protestors react with more violence against forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, resulting in all-out war zones in some residential neighborhoods. Full story at Discovery News. More news from Discovery Communications. Permalink | Leave a comment  »
 
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    Mashable!

  • Mass Effect 3 Gets iPad Version with Action-Packed ‘Infiltrator’ [PREVIEW]

    Zachary Sniderman
    9 Feb 2012 | 1:35 pm
    Mass Effect 3 is coming to an iPad near you in the form of Mass Effect Infiltrator, an iOS game aimed at expanding the game’s narrative and give players some mobile combat. Infiltrator isn’t a direct port of the latest Mass Effect game. Unlike its big brother, a sci-fi role-playing game known for its first-person shooter gameplay and massive, branching story-lines, Infiltrator is all about fighting. Mashable got a demo of the game played on an iPad and hooked up to a television at an EA showcase. The story follows a soldier called Randall Ezno as he travels the universe tracking…

  • WikiLeaks Suspect Bradley Manning to Be Arraigned Feb. 23

    Alex Fitzpatrick
    9 Feb 2012 | 1:24 pm
    U.S. Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, accused of leaking hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables and war reports to WikiLeaks, will be arraigned before a military judge at Fort Meade, Maryland on Feb. 23, the Pentagon announced Thursday. Some of the 22 charges against Manning include aiding the enemy, disclosing classified information to a person not authorized to receive it, wrongfully causing intelligence to be published on the internet knowing that it is accessible to the enemy, and violating Army computer use rules. The charge of aiding the enemy potentially carries the death penalty, but…

  • 5 Essential Spreadsheets for Social Media Analytics

    Ann Smarty
    9 Feb 2012 | 1:13 pm
    Ann Smarty is a search marketer and full-time web entrepreneur. Ann blogs on search and social media tools. Her newest project, My Blog Guest, is a free platform for guest bloggers and blog owners. Follow Ann on Twitter @seosmarty. Social media analytics and tracking can be very time-consuming and expensive. You’ll find quite a few smart social media monitoring tools, but what if you can’t afford them? That’s why many social media marketers and power users are in constant search of free, efficient alternatives. Here, we’ll share a few ready-made spreadsheets you can…

  • Google: No, We’re Not Launching Retail Stores Yet

    Samantha Murphy
    9 Feb 2012 | 12:55 pm
    Google planned to open its first-ever public store at its European headquarters in Dublin, if you believed a rumor reported by Bloomberg. But according to a company spokesperson, no plans are definite right now. A Google planning application for an expansion of its Dublin office indicated plans for an employee swimming pool, a restaurant and a store. But Google says the company doesn’t have plans to get into the retail business right now. “We already have an online store selling things like Google T-shirts and pens,” a Google spokesperson told Mashable. “We have the…

  • H&M Has the Most-Followed Brand Page on Google+

    Todd Wasserman
    9 Feb 2012 | 12:44 pm
    Fashion retailer H&M has beat out heavyweights Pepsi, Starbucks and Coca-Cola to become the most-followed brand on Google+. In a testament to the network’s viability as a marketing vehicle, Google, the former number one on Google+, is now number 13. Following H&M is Samsung USA, Pepsi, Starbucks and Burberry. The rest of the top 10, compiled by Simply Measured and based on the number of “circlers” for each brand in early February, is below. The full list, which is based on Interbrand’s Top 100 Brands, is available here. Simply Measured’s report, which…
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    Fast Company

  • The Google Wallet Hack Is Not The End Of The World (Or Even NFC) As We Know It [Update: Google Reacts]

    Kit Eaton
    9 Feb 2012 | 1:30 pm
    Stay calm and carry on, people: It's way too soon to say that NFC should stand for Now Fatally Corrupted. Yes, Google's breakthrough NFC payments app Wallet is being mentioned all over the news thanks to a flaw--it's vulnerable to a hack that gives nefarious types access to your secure PIN number. But don't believe any doomsayers or fearmongering that you may encounter on this matter; it's not as evil as it seems and, believe it or not, it's actually a sign that the future of wireless mobile payments is probably more secure than your current credit card. As reported over at the blog of…

  • Fast Talk: How This Bartender Is Rebooting The Condom

    David Zax
    9 Feb 2012 | 9:41 am
    Meet Richard Pessall, a 20-year-old British entrepreneur who wants to take the condom where no man has gone before (no, not space).Richard Pessall, 20, lives and works as bartender in Shropshire, England. He spent nine years living in the United States, but when he ran out of money to pay for college in North Carolina, he was unable to renew his visa and was forced to return to the U.K. He’s decided to make his fortune before attempting to return stateside. His big idea? Reboot the condom. Forplay, the condom company he's been bootstrapping with his barman’s earnings, has grown to a staff…

  • Inside INTERPOL's New Cybercrime Innovation Center

    Neal Ungerleider
    9 Feb 2012 | 9:09 am
    INTERPOL, the international policing agency, is opening a massive innovation center in Singapore in 2014. At the center, law enforcement will learn all about the latest cybercrimes... and have access to cutting-edge forensics laboratories and research stations.INTERPOL, the international policing organization, is building a law enforcement tech geek heaven in Singapore. The INTERPOL Global Complex for Innovation will function as a R&D lab, training facility, and forensics lab for all things cybercrime. Slated to open in 2014, the Global Complex for Innovation (IGCI) will be part of the…

  • 5 Ways To Put The "Pro" In Profile Pics

    Amber Mac
    9 Feb 2012 | 8:29 am
    Your profile photo is an important part of your online image, so if you still have an egg as your Twitter avatar or a blue-and-white silhouette for your Facebook page, it's time to step things up. (Hint: This photo is a "don't.")If you still have an egg as your Twitter avatar, it's time to step things up. Your profile photo is an important part of your online image. Not only is this pic the first thing people see when they look you up on the web, whether you're using Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+, this image is now regularly transported into people's in-boxes and pulled onto their phones as…

  • Apple May Sell iPads To Air Force, Groupon Reports Surprise Q4 Loss, Foxconn Servers Hacked

    Nidhi Subbaraman
    9 Feb 2012 | 8:17 am
    Breaking news from your editors at Fast Company, with updates all day.Rumor: iPad 3 Announcement In March. The latest buzz on the iPad 3, this time from AllThingsD, is that the new device will be unveiled at an early March event. Sources, per usual, are anonymous, but their tips confirm what's already expected of the device--a faster chip, Retina Display, and better graphics. --NS--Updated 9:15 a.m. ESTApple May Sell iPads To Air Force. The Air Force is on the lookout for about 18,000 new tablets, and chances are the iPad--the only device mentioned on their recently spotted notice--may fit…
 
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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

  • HTC: Ice Cream Sandwich Will Start Hitting Our Handsets In March

    Chris Velazco
    9 Feb 2012 | 12:55 pm
    At long last, HTC fans can finally stop holding their collective breath. After months of relative quiet, the Taiwanese company has taken to their Facebook page to spread the word: the Ice Cream Sandwich is coming, and it’s coming soon. For owners of certain HTC devices, the long-awaited Android 4.0 update will begin hitting handsets next month. HTC originally promised that Ice Cream Sandwich would be hitting most of their top-tier devices in “early 2012,” but that doesn’t seem to the case anymore unless you own one of their numerous Sensation devices. If anything, it…

  • 100 Million Americans Watch Online Video Per Day, Up 43% Since 2010 -comScore

    Josh Constine
    9 Feb 2012 | 12:53 pm
    Television is in trouble. Americans streamed 43.5 billion videos in December 2011, up 44% since December 2010, according to comScore’s 2012 US Digital Future In Focus report released today.  The study also showed that 105.1 million Americans now watch videos online each day, up 43% from 73.7 million in 2010. comScore says YouTube is largely driving this, and that average minutes per video view, average videos watched per user, and total ads streamed are way up as well. TV and film studios should take notice and consider how they can create companion content to engage this growing…

  • Glancee: A Nice-Guy Ambient Social Location App For Normal People

    Eric Eldon
    9 Feb 2012 | 12:44 pm
    Some of us can’t be bothered to check in, but still want to find interesting people nearby. The challenge for developers is how to do this in a way that is both useful and not creepy. Glancee, available for both iOS and Android, gets closer to solving these problems than most I’ve seen. The app lets you sign in with Facebook, then it shows you people within 100 yards, or one, two, or ten miles who have things in common. In some ways this sounds similar another app I recently covered, Highlight — but there are key differences, that will make each app appeal to different sets…

  • Pixloo Helps You Sell Your Home With Free Virtual Tours, Exports To Zillow, Trulia & More

    Sarah Perez
    9 Feb 2012 | 12:28 pm
    In December, Eric covered Open Home Pro, a startup that lets realtors sell homes via their iPads. Today, there comes a similar effort from Pixloo, except this service is designed for use by anyone – realtors and homeowners alike. With Pixloo, you can upload information about your home, including text, photos and even videos and then immediately export that data to major real estate sites including Trulia, Zillow, Realtor.com and others, all for free. OK, technically, Pixloo is freemium. The pricing tiers depend on whether you need one virtual tour, the number of exports per tour and…

  • Avast, Me Hearties: How The Pirate Bay Changed The Way We Steal

    John Biggs
    9 Feb 2012 | 11:41 am
    The Pirate Bay, in many ways, is disappearing. It is one of the most popular torrent sites on the web and its database of millions of torrent files – essentially pointers to pieces of files hosted elsewhere – has long been the go-to spot for budding pirates around the world. While it still exists in spirit, the admins are now moving all of the torrent files off the site and are instead offering magnet links. This is an important distinction that will move the locus of general piracy from a single site to any number of sites, reducing the Pirate Bays importance as a source. First,…
 
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    Seth's Blog

  • Inaccurate labels and why we need them (and need to improve them)

    Seth Godin
    9 Feb 2012 | 4:46 am
    If I tell you, "I'm going to the baseball game," it seems as though you're likely to understand what I mean. Of course, you won't. When George Will goes to a baseball game, it's a religious experience. Me, I don't even like baseball. Or maybe it's my nephew's ball game (the playoffs), or maybe going to the game causes me to miss an important event, and on and on. We label the experience with just two words, and two words can't possibly capture the emotions and circumstance surrounding an event. The same thing is true with brands. If I tell you that a new business was funded by USV, that might…

  • How do they know you're not a flake?

    Seth Godin
    8 Feb 2012 | 4:43 am
    Before your link gets clicked or your proposal gets read, a busy person is going to triage it to find out if it's even worth glancing at. Since everyone is now connected, the new permeability has created a deluge of noise, and just about everyone worth contacting is taking defensive measures. Do I know this person? Did someone I trust send them over? Where does she work? (Ideo? the FDA? The New York Times?) Has she won an award? Is she famous? Are there typos and is the design sloppy? Are they pestering me? Do I already follow this person online? Does music play when I visit the website? Will…

  • 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.
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    NYT > Home Page

  • Islamists Call for New Cabinet in Egypt

    By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
    9 Feb 2012 | 1:13 pm
    The Muslim Brotherhood said the military-appointed government it has failed to manage security in Egypt.

  • Greeks Reach Deal on Austerity to Meet Condition of Bailout

    By RACHEL DONADIO and NIKI KITSANTONIS
    9 Feb 2012 | 1:13 pm
    After days of talks, Greek political leaders reached a deal Thursday to support a package of harsh austerity measures demanded by Greece’s financial backers in return for a bailout.

  • Mortgage Plan Gives Homeowners Bulk of the Benefits

    By NELSON D. SCHWARTZ and SHAILA DEWAN
    9 Feb 2012 | 1:13 pm
    Under the settlement, about $5 billion would go to states and federal authorities, $17 billion would be earmarked for homeowner relief and $3 billion would go for refinancing.

  • 2 New Reactors Approved in Georgia

    By MATTHEW L. WALD
    9 Feb 2012 | 1:09 pm
    The Nuclear Regulatory Commission voted 4-to-1 to grant a license to build two nuclear reactors in Georgia, the first time the commission had done so since 1978.

  • TIMESCAST: TimesCast | February 9, 2012

    9 Feb 2012 | 12:51 pm
    Greece reaches a deal on austerity measures | Rush Limbaugh’s new radio rival | The dangers and benefits of yoga.
 
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    @ProBlogger

  • 6 Powerful Guest Post Tactics that No One’s Talking About

    Guest Blogger
    9 Feb 2012 | 8:05 am
    This guest post is by Tom Ewer of Leaving Work Behind. Guest posting is a hot topic amongst startup bloggers. It is one of the most widely-adopted blog promotion strategies in existence, and has been made perhaps even more popular by the success of “serial” guest posters such as Danny Iny of Firepole Marketing. His “blitzkrieg” strategy may come across to some as a triumph of quantity over strategy, but nothing could be further from the truth. He understands the key concepts that we will be exploring in this post, and executes them in a highly effective manner. Whilst…

  • How to Succinctly Report a Blog Issue to Tech Support

    Guest Blogger
    8 Feb 2012 | 8:07 am
    This guest post is by Matthew Setter of Malt Blue. How often do you find it happening to you? You discover an issue with your site, or one of your community members emails you to tell you about it, and soon you start to see tweets about it too. Maybe it’s as simple as an error message that detracts from the professional appearance of your site. Perhaps the contact form doesn’t send messages to your contact email address. Or is it that the whole site just displays as a blank page, otherwise known as the white page of death? You’re not a programmer, a software engineer or a seasoned…

  • Make Your Blog Load Faster than ProBlogger: Part 2

    Guest Blogger
    7 Feb 2012 | 2:05 pm
    This guest post is by Devesh of WP Kube. A few months ago, I wrote a guest post here called How to Make Your Blog Load Faster than ProBlogger. Today, I’ll go into some more detailed advice to help you speed up your site even more. If you’re a blogger, you already know about the importance of blog loading speed, and the role it plays in search engine rank and marketing your blog. But if this is new territory for you, here are three quick reasons why you need to speed up your blog: Google includes website loading speed as an important metric in their ranking algorithm. If you want…

  • 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…
 
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    MacRumors: Mac News and Rumors

  • Amazon Hits Apple with New 'Three Kindles for the Price of an iPad' Commercial

    Eric Slivka
    9 Feb 2012 | 10:42 am
    With its prominent position in the smartphone and tablet markets, it's no surprise that Apple is a popular target in its competitors advertising as they seek to differentiate themselves from Apple even as they ride on the popularity of the company's brand and products. Samsung has been one of the most prominent users of this tactic lately with its series of ads showing Apple fans waiting in line for the next new product launch only to be wowed by the latest Samsung product being used by a passerby. Back in 2010, Amazon took on the iPad with a Kindle ad touting its E Ink capabilities that…

  • High-Resolution Sharp Display Reportedly for iPad 3 Surfaces

    Eric Slivka
    9 Feb 2012 | 10:08 am
    The flurry of iPad 3 part leaks continues today following yesterday's interior photo of the rear shell and some follow-up photos of the exterior of the shell and the Smart Cover magnets. Among the most prominent additions today are new photos of what may be the iPad 3's display. Japanese blog Macotakara points to a posting by repair firm iLab Factory showing a 9.7-inch LCD panel from Sharp that is said to be a 2048x1536 high-resolution display set for inclusion in the iPad 3. The panel shows three ribbon cables connecting the display to its circuit board, in line with a previously-leaked…

  • Steve Jobs' 1991 FBI File Released, Reveals Consideration for Presidential Appointment

    Eric Slivka
    9 Feb 2012 | 9:33 am
    As noted by Gawker, the FBI has just released a 1991 background check on Steve Jobs. The 191-page document was undertaken as Jobs was being considered for a presidential appointment to the President's Export Council by George H. W. Bush. The file was released following a Freedom of Information Act request filed through the open government site MuckRock. Beyond basic biographical information, the report makes reference to comments from a number of Jobs' acquaintances who were interviewed to help build a picture of his background. Gawker notes that the report contains an unusually high number…

  • Apple to Introduce iPad 3 in First Week of March

    Eric Slivka
    9 Feb 2012 | 8:01 am
    AllThingsD, which has an accurate track record in revealing Apple's new product media events, is reporting that Apple will hold an event to launch the iPad 3 in the first week of March.Sources say the company has chosen the first week in March to debut the successor to the iPad 2, and will do so at one of its trademark special events. The event will be held in San Francisco, presumably at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Apple’s preferred location for big announcements like these. No word yet on a street date for the iPad 3 (assuming that’s what it’s called), though my guess is…

  • Photo of the Back of an iPad 3 Rear Shell, Smart Cover Magnets

    Arnold Kim
    8 Feb 2012 | 11:44 pm
    Apparently, iPad 3 enclosures are easy to come by these days. Earlier today, Repair Labs posted a photo of the interior the iPad 3 rear shell. They concluded that there were some minor changes that suggested a larger battery and redesigned logic board. Tonight, Apple.pro posts an image of the back of the same shell, showing it to look quite simliar to the current iPad 2 backing, though the camera appears closer to the edge. There's no markings on the enclosure, however. No "iPad" or serial number markings. The site also claims to have a photo of the Smart Cover magnets, suggesting the iPad 3…
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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

  • How to Recover From a Social Media Hangover

    Cori Padgett
    9 Feb 2012 | 5:00 am
    “Hello. My name is Cori and I’m a social media addict. “Today is day 1 of my commitment to give myself a regular break from technology and the foggy, uncreative haze it can unwittingly lead to.” I was reading a post the other day by blogger Michael Brenner at B2B Marketing Insider, talking about getting your social media game on. Of course, being the skimmer that I am, the first thing that caught my attention and made me go back and read the whole thing was his mention of having a Social Media Hangover. His hangover was induced by sometimes (as we all do) forgetting to…

  • The “New” SEO Secret Weapon

    Sonia Simone
    8 Feb 2012 | 5:00 am
    If you have a web site, you may have noticed one of two things about the traffic you get from search engines. Your search traffic may have dried up overnight, with once-healthy streams turning into a sad little trickle. Or you may have noticed a nice, steady improvement as you’ve climbed higher in the SERPs (search engine results pages), while other sites that used to outrank you suddenly evaporated. There’s a super-secret new ingredient in SEO. It was always a factor, but it’s become even more important recently, as the Google team relentlessly declares war on what they see…

  • 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…
 
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    ReadWriteWeb

  • Fabled Google Drive Won't Be Another Dropbox

    9 Feb 2012 | 1:00 pm
    The Wall Street Journal has revived rumors about Google launching a cloud storage service called Drive. The comparison everybody wants to make is to Dropbox. The thinking is that Google will challenge everyone's favorite start-up by releasing a native desktop and mobile Drive app with the same syncing features Dropbox users know and love. Google Drive rumors have been around for many years, and they've always conformed to the understanding of "The Cloud" that has prevailed at the time. If it's not like Apple's iCloud, which is integrated into Apple's devices, then it must be like Dropbox,…

  • [STUDY] 61% of Social Media Users Feel So Close To You

    9 Feb 2012 | 12:30 pm
    Sometimes little things like a sweet comment on Facebook or a Twitter friend calling your tweet a "favorite" can really make a social networker bee's day. A new study from Pew finds that for the most part, adults are kind to each other on social media sites. In fact, 85% of adults say that most of the people they come across on social media are rather kind; only 5% say that people are "mostly unkind," which would imply rude or mean. An additional 5% say that it's all situational. On the whole, adults have positive experiences on social networking sites. A total 68% of SNS users had an…

  • [Infographic] Mapping the Tools in the Mobile Development Ecosystem

    9 Feb 2012 | 12:00 pm
    The mobile development ecosystem is a large, complicated space. There are innovative startups making tools for native and mobile Web apps along with large enterprise-grade companies that offer solutions from cloud support to frameworks and developer environments. For a mobile developer, it can be confusing to know where to turn and what to use to make the best app possible. Mobile "backend-as-a-service" startup Kinvey created a map for ReadWriteMobile to help developers understand the ecosystem. Kinvey brackets the mobile ecosystem between two primary pillars: the service providers and the…

  • Harry Reid Wants a Bigger, Badder Version of SOPA/PIPA

    9 Feb 2012 | 11:30 am
    Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., still licking wounds from last week's defeat of the Protect IP Act and its House counterpart the Stop Online Piracy Act, is reportedly working on an even more sinister, Internet-regulating bill. Few details have been publicly disclosed about the latest push by legislative Democrats to expand executive-branch authority over the Internet, but the Daily Caller has pieced together publicly-available clues suggesting that Reid's newest bill is even broader than President Barack Obama's cybersecurity proposal. Sponsor Released last May, Obama's proposal…

  • Keep Track of your AWS Expenses With Cloudyn

    9 Feb 2012 | 11:02 am
    With the number of individual Amazon Web Services now seemingly approaching infinity, it makes sense for third parties to get into the act of trying to keep track of what you are actually spending and whether you have over-provisioned your services. Enter Cloudyn.com, an Israeli based company that announced its services this week. Sponsor The idea is to have a dashboard similar to what you see below (mine isn't very interesting, sorry, I have taken down all of my machines at the moment) where you can track your projected annual costs, which accounts you have on AWS and what your running…
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    Smashing Magazine Feed

  • Smashing Special: WordPress Theme Trends For 2012

    Siobhan McKeown
    9 Feb 2012 | 7:25 am
       This special is the first in our series of Smashing Specials — extended articles and studies dedicated to a specific topic. The special features current WordPress theme trends for 2012, covering past trends, new developments in theme design and trends in the theme development. 2011 was a great year for WordPress, with some excellent new updates that saw the introduction of a drag-and-drop uploader, distraction-free writing, the HTML5 Twenty Eleven theme, and movement towards a fully responsive dashboard. As well as changes to WordPress core, theme development continued to…

  • A Craft Of Consequences: Reader, Writer And Emotional Design

    Robin Rendle
    8 Feb 2012 | 10:06 am
       Before the very first page of a book has been read, you’ve already analyzed it in countless ways without even noticing. The paper stock, the thickness of the binding, the aroma, the color of the type and even the texture of the cover; the very character of the book is being dissected by the hand and eye at every moment. In this brief second there is a dialogue between the reader and the object. This conversation is subtle and complex, but for most people it is entirely subconscious. This is because we rarely think about these things  —  we feel them…

  • 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…
 
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    CNN.com

  • 126 reported killed as attacks escalate

    9 Feb 2012 | 11:58 am
    A Syrian opposition group reported as many as 126 deaths at the hands of government forces Thursday as President Bashar al-Assad escalated a brutal assault against an opposition that wants an end to his regime.

  • Deep freeze overloads Ukraine EMS

    9 Feb 2012 | 11:19 am
    Suffering in the grip of a brutal winter where temperatures have not risen above freezing in nearly a month, Ukraine has seen a wave of deaths related to the cold, and the country's ambulance service is inundated with calls for help.

  • 911 response probed in Powell killings

    9 Feb 2012 | 11:02 am
    Police are investigating how dispatchers handled 911 calls from those seeking help before a Washington state man killed himself and his sons in a fiery explosion.

  • Doctor in Homs: We're all waiting to die

    9 Feb 2012 | 10:40 am
    The bodies begin coming in before the sun rises to the sky. Some arrive with heads decapitated or their torsos split open like animals after slaughter. Or their limbs are mangled under the crush of rubble.

  • Opinion: Google knows too much

    9 Feb 2012 | 9:28 am
    Frida Ghitis says online hoarding of our private information is not something we can afford to "dismiss."
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    Scott Kelby's Photoshop Insider

  • Cliff Mautner on the Nikon D800

    Brad Moore
    8 Feb 2012 | 11:02 pm
    What a few days. It’s amazing how much interest a little piece of metal can produce. As a proud member of the team at Kelby Training, I wanted to share my experience with the D800. This project has been going on for many months. i was approached by my good friends at K&L in Tokyo- Nikon’s agency for decades- and was blown away that they asked me to participate with this project. My job was well defined: Use the D800 in a way that utilizes and highlights the latest features the D800 offers in real world wedding conditions that I’d face week in and week out. Simple, right?

  • It’s Free Stuff Thursday!

    Brad Moore
    8 Feb 2012 | 11:01 pm
    Photoshop World DC – 9 Days Left for Early Bird Registration! Photoshop World Washington DC is quickly approaching, and there are only 9 days left to save $100 on registration! Head on over to PhotoshopWorld.com to sign up, get hotel info, see the full schedule of classes from instructors like Jay Maisel, Joel Grimes, Lindsay Adler, Glyn Dewis, and a ton of other incredible people! And, there are only a few spots left in some of the pre-conference workshops like Lightpainting 101 with Dave Black, On Location DSLR Workshop with Rich Harrington, Real World Concert Photography with Alan…

  • It’s Guest Blog Wednesday featuring Jake Peterson!

    Brad Moore
    7 Feb 2012 | 11:37 pm
    Making History Come to LifeTen months ago I was attending Photoshop World in Orlando, FL. It was the second time I had been to Photoshop World, but after the blast of Vegas the previous September there was no way I was going to miss the one that Spring. One morning in the instructors’ lounge Jay Maisel, someone who I knew of but had never met, was sitting at a table. I introduced myself and we started to talk. Afterward Jay went up to my Dad and said, “You have failed as a parent if you let your kid go into photography as a career.” He smiled and my Dad just laughed;…

  • 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
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    Digital Photography School

  • How to Shoot Through a Wire Fence

    Darren Rowse
    9 Feb 2012 | 7:47 am
    Stuck behind a wire fence when trying to shoot an interesting subject can be a pain. It’s a challenge most often faced at the zoo but you also come across it when shooting at some sporting events (car racing for example) or in other random circumstances (for example I recently was photographing some kids on a trampoline which had a mesh around it). Image by Doug Brown So how do you minimise the impact of the fence in your shots? Here’s a few quick tips: Switch to Manual Focusing – one challenge you may face shooting through any kind of fence is that your camera may not know…

  • How to Use Dome Diffuser to Eliminate Shadows and Harsh Light

    Guest Contributor
    8 Feb 2012 | 12:40 pm
    A Guest Post by PhotographersOnUTube. One question I frequently get asked is how to get rid of shadows in the picture when the subject is close to a wall? Well, it depends on if the shadow is being created due to a specific angle of the speed light or you’re using some sort of a flash diffuser. A lot of photographers assume that the omni dome diffuser you get with your speed light is essential to making the light softer, which is not always true. In most cases that dome diffuser is used to spread the light in a very challenging lighting situation when you can’t bounce anything off the…

  • Beginner’s Tip: Get Closer

    Peter West Carey
    8 Feb 2012 | 7:48 am
    I work with a lot of people just starting out in photography. People who want to move off of Auto mode and on to something more. And they show me their images, asking, “What can I do better?” I’ve started noticing a pattern in many of the images I have seen from new photography enthusiasts. It’s not absolute, but it is common enough that I write here today offering this bit of advice: Get closer. Here’s the pattern I see when I ask new photographers to photograph something of interest. I’ll illustrate the flow with photos most students start out with. First, they find something…

  • Canon Update 3 Lenses including EF 24-70 F/2.8L II USM

    Darren Rowse
    7 Feb 2012 | 6:35 pm
    Yesterday saw some excitement among our Nikon readers with the launch of the new Nikon D800 DSLR – but also announced yesterday were 3 new lenses from Canon. The main one of interest is the EF 24-70 F/2.8L II USM. Version I of this lens has always been a popular choice with photographers for quite a few years so an update is a logical one. The main updates included: More durable body Smaller Size (only slightly) Redesigned Optics New Zoom Lock lever to prevent damage in transit Unfortunately the update didn’t bring any Image Stabilisation to this lens – something that will…

  • View a Short Film Shot on the New Nikon D800 DSLR

    Darren Rowse
    7 Feb 2012 | 6:10 pm
    With the announcement of Nikon’s new D800 DSLR yesterday came a short film shot on the D800 that shows off some of the D800′s video shooting capabilities. The film is called ‘Joy Ride’ and was created by photographer – Sandro. The film showcases the D800′s ability to shoot in some tricky lighting conditions and situations (fast moving motorbikes, low light etc). Here it is: Also released by Sandro today was a behind the scenes video. It doesn’t contain a heap of technical info by will give you a feel for how it was shot. Post originally from: Digital…
 
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    TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

  • Apple Store employees accept petitions from protesters

    Chris Rawson
    9 Feb 2012 | 1:00 pm
    Slightly over a dozen protesters from Change.org and SumofUS delivered a petition signed by more than 250,000 people to the Grand Central Terminal Apple Store today. Both organizations are urging Apple to improve working conditions at factories run by its overseas suppliers, particularly Foxconn's massive facility in China. CNET reports the event was relatively low-key -- there were more people present covering the event for the media than the number of protesters who showed up -- and Apple Store employees seemed well-prepared when they accepted the big box of signatures. The group claims the…

  • NOAA drops BlackBerry, embraces iPhone and iPad

    Steven Sande
    9 Feb 2012 | 12:00 pm
    The Loop is reporting that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is taking RIM BlackBerry devices off of the list of officially supported mobile devices. What's taking the place of the trusty old BlackBerry? iPhones and iPads running iOS 5 and newer versions of the mobile OS. While a February 3rd memo from NOAA Chief Information Officer and Director for High Performance Computing and Communications Joseph Klimavicz noted that support for BlackBerrys will continue until May 12, 2012, it does not say when the government organization will actually start providing workers…

  • Apple stock soars, company worth more than Google, Microsoft combined

    Mel Martin
    9 Feb 2012 | 11:30 am
    Whoa! As of this writing (noon EST) Apple stock has reached a new high of US$493.85, which is a new a record. It also gives the company a market capitalization of $465 billion, which exceeds the combined totals of Google and Microsoft. Apple passed Microsoft in Market Cap back in May of 2010. At the current prices, Apple is comfortably ahead of Exxon Mobil, with has a market cap of about $400 million. Just yesterday we reported that Apple had gained $100 in share price since Steve Jobs died last October, but those numbers are already outdated.Apple stock soars, company worth more than Google,…

  • Satechi's Cup Holder Mount keeps your iPad and iPhone close at hand

    Steven Sande
    9 Feb 2012 | 11:00 am
    So, your Family Truckster is loaded with sixteen cup holders in various places. Since you already have a place to stash your hot coffee while driving, wouldn't it be nice to use one of those cup holders for something really useful, like holding your iPad or iPhone within arm's reach? Satechi yesterday delivered the SCH-121 Cup Holder Mount (US$29.99), which comes with two cradles, one for 7" - 10" tablets and the other for your smartphone. While you don't exactly want to be going down the road watching movies on your iPad, this is perfect for the back seat crowd, front row passengers, or for…

  • Steve Jobs' 1991 FBI file has been released

    Steven Sande
    9 Feb 2012 | 10:26 am
    Have a bit of time? Want to learn more about Steve Jobs' life than you were able to dredge up reading the Walter Isaacson biography? All you have to do is read the 191-page 1991 FBI background investigation of Jobs that was done when he was being considered for an appointment to the President's Export Council. The file also include records of a 1985 bomb threat made against Jobs. John Cook at Gawker noted that "I've read the files from a lot of background FBI investigations; it's pretty rare in my experience that this much derogatory information gets dredged up." What kind of derogatory…
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    Strobist

  • How the Other Half Lives: George Holz' Beyoncé for Spin

    8 Feb 2012 | 11:00 pm
    Photo © George HolzYou know how people on the Strobist Flickr group like to talk about how it is technically possible to shoot blow-away white with just one flash?Yeah, this is not exactly that.Hit the jump for a walk-thru vid for the (ahem, eight-light) shoot, including a key light combo that you're prolly gonna want to rent rather than buy next time you are assigned to shoot Beyoncé. Read more »

  • 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 »
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    News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Kodak to stop making digital cameras

    9 Feb 2012 | 1:17 pm
    Kodak will stop making digital cameras within the next few months. The company, currently in bankruptcy protection, will also stop making pocket video cameras and photo frames as a cost-cutting measure. Instead it is looking to license its name to other manufacturers who wish to sell cameras under the Kodak brand. Closing the business will cost around $30m, mainly in the cost of laying-off workers, but will save around $100m per year in running costs. All product warranties will be honored.

  • Fujifilm firmware attempts to fix X10 white discs

    9 Feb 2012 | 1:00 pm
    Fujifilm has released the promised firmware update for its X10 enthusiast compact that aims to reduce the 'white orb' blooming effect that users have complained about. The firmware claims only to reduce, not eliminate, the problem that we'll look at in our forthcoming review. The latest firmware adds a series of extra functions and improves behavior of some existing ones. This includes adding face tracking AF to both stills and video mode and preventing the ISO and dynamic range settings changing when you switch between exposure modes. The update also enables the RAW button to be reconfigured…

  • Sony full-frame camera coming, 500mm F4 lens finally announced

    8 Feb 2012 | 9:05 pm
    Sony has confirmed it will be making a full-frame replacement for its flagship A900 DSLR. No further details were given during a round-table discussion at the CP+ show in Japan, but we find it hard to believe the result will step away from the SLT technology the company has invested so heavily in. The company has also finally announced the A-mount 500mm F4 lens that it has been showing in various states of preparedness since PMA 2007 will be available from late March.

  • Ricoh reshuffle sees Pentax take control of cameras

    8 Feb 2012 | 7:07 pm
    Ricoh has announced that its Pentax Ricoh Imaging (PRI) business unit will take full control of the design, development and sales of the company's cameras, worldwide. PRI was created when Ricoh bought Pentax and is the business that has been responsible for the design, manufacturing and sales of Pentax cameras. It will now absorb the consumer businesses of Ricoh's Personal Multimedia Product Company, which was responsible for the design, manufacture and sale of Ricoh cameras. The change will take effect from April 1st 2012.

  • Sony promises more NEX lenses in updated E-mount lens roadmap

    8 Feb 2012 | 7:00 pm
    Sony has said it will have 15 lenses ready for the NEX system by the end of 2013. It made the annoucement of an expanded E-mount roadmap at the start of the CP+ trade show in Yokohama, Japan. The roadmap includes a variety of zooms and prime lenses, including a high-end standard zoom with Sony's premium 'G' branding. There will also be a pancake prime and a mid-telephoto prime lens some time during 2013.
 
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    Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Killer Tips

  • Lightroom Before/After Video – Eiffel Tower and Plug-ins

    jgilbert@photoshopuser.com (Matt Kloskowski)
    9 Feb 2012 | 10:05 am
    I haven’t done one of those Before/After videos in a while so I thought it was time for another. The photo I’m using here was a photo I took in Paris last year. It was a rainy day which I actually find can help sometimes. I’d always seen a lot of the same photos of the Eiffel Tower, so I went looking for a different view. I remember seeing the movie, Inception, and noticed this really cool bridge (You know, the one that twisted on top of itself in the movie). It was the Pont de Bir-Hakeim, a bridge that crosses the Seine River in Paris. So I kinda set my sites on that being…

  • 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…
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    MacRumors: Mac News and Rumors - iOS Blog

  • The iPad 3's A6 Processor to be Dual-Core?

    Arnold Kim
    8 Feb 2012 | 7:47 pm
    TheVerge's Joshua Topolsky summarizes the iPad 3 casing findings reported earlier today, but also adds his own sources regarding some details of the iPad 3. Image from RepairLabs As expected, the iPad 3 will reportedly include a 2048x1536 Retina Display, be nearly identical physically, and use the A6 processor. The A6 processor, however, is claimed to have a dual-core chip, not a quad-core one, at least according to his sources: What is surprising, however, is that our sources say that the A6 will not be a quad-core chip, but will remain dual-core. We've previously had heard that the device…

  • Tweetbot for iPad Hits The App Store

    Jordan Golson
    8 Feb 2012 | 2:37 pm
    Popular iPhone Twitter client Tweetbot has finally arrived on the iPad, with a user interface instantly familiar to any current Tweetbot user. Designed for the Twitter power-user, Tweetbot packs a lot of punch into an intuitive, slick interface, with unique functionality like Smart Gestures which give quick access to a variety of features through double or triple-taps. The Next Web and Business Insider have more in-depth reviews. The app is $2.99 and is a separate purchase from the iPhone app, a fact some users may dislike, but Tweetbot co-developer Paul Haddad explained his thoughts…

  • Vonage Rolls Out "High-Definition" VoIP Calling App

    Jordan Golson
    8 Feb 2012 | 12:24 pm
    Vonage has introduced yet another app to its growing mobile arsenal. The latest, called Vonage Mobile (not to be confused with another app called Vonage Mobile, introduced in 2009) adds a Skype-esque component to the old app's VoIP calling component. Users with Vonage Mobile installed can make "high-definition" audio calls or SMS-type text messages over Wi-Fi and 3G to other Vonage Mobile users. Users can also make low-cost international calls with credits added via In-App Purchasing. Calls to landline or wireless numbers in the US, Canada or Puerto Rico, from anywhere in the world, are free…

  • 'iBank Access' Seeking to Remake Personal Finance on the iPad

    Eric Slivka
    8 Feb 2012 | 7:26 am
    As Intuit's Quicken options for Mac users continue to falter in the wake of a stripped-down Quicken Essentials release and the company's ongoing efforts to make the more fully-functional Quicken 2007 compatible with OS X Lion, other personal finance software firms have attempted to step into the void. One of the more successful companies has been IGG Software with its iBank software, which is available as both a Mac application and a companion iPhone app. IGG Software has been teasing a few tidbits about its work on an iPad application over the past few months, and as noted in a new blog post…

  • The Best Superbowl Ad Was for the iPhone

    Jordan Golson
    7 Feb 2012 | 5:53 pm
    More than fifty commercials aired during the Super Bowl this past Sunday, including one from Samsung that again poked fun at Apple's customers. Apple didn't run any ads during the Super Bowl, at least not officially -- a fact that puzzled some commentators. But, as investment guru Jim Cramer points out, Apple did have an advertisement of sorts air during the Super Bowl. After the game was over, Colts hall of famer Raymond Berry carrier the Vince Lombardi Trophy along a long line of New York Giants players. Players took turns touching or kissing the trophy, all the while taking photos and…
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  • Underwater weddings: In Thailand, get hitched with the fishes

    8 Feb 2012 | 9:58 pm
    Some say keeping a marriage afloat is a constant struggle, a battle to keep your heads above water. If that’s indeed true, it seems only fitting that you and your sweetheart start your journey as one under the sea, in full scuba gear. Now in its 16th year, Trang Underwater Weddings welcomes couples from around the world to exchange vows with the fishes from February 10-12. This year, organizers say they have 34 couples signed up to take part in the underwater wedding, a mix of both Thai and international divers. Prices start from 25,000 baht per couple.  Guinness recognition The first…

  • 5 Valentine recipes from 5 top chefs

    Anthea Gerrie
    8 Feb 2012 | 4:05 pm
    by Anthea GerrieNothing proves your love like a well-cooked meal. And nothing sabotages the moment like a badly cooked one. We searched the planet for the most positively passionate chefs, and found five for whom food isn't just for eating, it's for loving. So wherever you are and whatever your culinary skills, you can score some passion points with these simple but sumptous Valentine recipes.  1. Shannon Bennett, Melbourne: Coq au vin in sweet wine Melts first on your eyes, then in your mouth. Shannon Bennett of Vue de Monde in Melbourne treasures the meal he enjoyed with his wife at…

  • Japan's weirdest snowscape: The Monsters of Zao

    Lisa Jardine
    8 Feb 2012 | 3:55 pm
    by Lisa JardineWhen Hilary Wendel, a Tokyo-based photographer and good friend, asked me to tag along as she photographed “Japan’s scariest monsters,” I was apprehensive at first. Fortunately for us both, the Snow Monsters of Zao in Yamagata Prefecture are more impressive than terrifying. They are actually Aomori fir trees that have been coated with extremely wet snow and ice carried by a cold Siberian jet stream that also freezes them almost solid in some of the most peculiar shapes I’ve ever seen. And they're easy to reach from Kanto too -- tickets from Tokyo Station to Yamagata by…

  • Roving robotic scarecrows battle airport birds

    Frances Cha, Seoul Editor
    8 Feb 2012 | 3:52 am
    by Frances Cha, Seoul EditorIt sounds like something out of a Marvel Comic: an atomic research institute and a weapons manufacturer team up to create a new robot.  But instead of fighting crime, this new semi-autonomous robot will be fighting birds.  "They were originally commissioned by the military to prevent bird strikes at military airports," said Yi Jongmin, head of public relations at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI). The robotics lab at KAERI spearheaded the development -- officially dubbed "Airport Birdstrike Prevention System" -- in conjunction with…

  • CNNGo TV: Rome -- beyond the Colosseum

    8 Feb 2012 | 1:37 am
    The Colossuem, the Trevi Fountain, St. Peter's Basilica ... most travelers know the fundaments of this former center of the Roman Empire. Yet, Rome has a lot more to offer.  This episode of CNNGo TV takes in award-winning modern museums, traditional Italian food and that with a modern twist and of course amazing sites of historical significance.  Here are just a few of the outstanding places a team of exuberant locals took us to.  Air times are below.  Don't miss on CNNGo: What to do in Rome -- a big mini guideread more
 
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