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  • Click And Mortar: Zynga Signs Deal With Hasbro For Real-World Toys and Games

    TechCrunch
    Eric Eldon
    9 Feb 2012 | 2:30 pm
    Mobile app developer Rovio has famously turned its Angry Birds game into a popular toy franchise, but most other new-fangled gaming companies haven’t spent much energy going this route. But now social gaming leader Zynga is, per a big licensing deal with Hasbro. The long-time toy and board game maker is paying Zynga to turn games like FarmVille, CityVille, and its other hit titles into real world products. Details on what this will look like are scant in the press release, so I’m left guessing what this is going to mean. Fluffy pink FarmVille tractors? Lego-style CityVille…

  • Can dessert for breakfast help you lose weight?

    Holy Kaw!
    9 Feb 2012 | 3:39 pm
    New research suggests that, in the early morning, you can have your cake and shed pounds too A new study from Tel Aviv University finds that eating a small dessert as part of a balanced breakfast can actually help you shed unwanted pounds. Staying skinny and eating chocolate? Here, a brief guide to what sounds, frankly, impossible: Full story at The Week. Photo: CC by ::paqman:: All the top stories from The Week. Permalink | Leave a comment  »

  • LinkedIn Hits 150 Million Members

    Mashable!
    Todd Wasserman
    9 Feb 2012 | 3:26 pm
    LinkedIn on Thursday announced it has 150 million members in its network, a 20 million increase over November. The figure was disclosed in a press release the company issued Thursday announcing its fourth quarter and full-year 2011 results. The company posted revenues of $167.7 million, beating the analysts’ consensus of $160 million for Q4. Earnings were $0.06 cents per share, which was on target. LinkedIn’s stock was up more than 5% in after-hours trading. The Q4 revenue figure was a 105% jump over the same period in 2010. Revenues for full-year 2011 was $522.2 million, a 115%…

  • "Words With Friends" Board Game Coming From The Makers Of Scrabble?

    Fast Company
    Kevin Ohannessian
    9 Feb 2012 | 3:14 pm
    Hasbro and Zynga announced today that they have entered into a global partnership. With this license, Hasbro will be making a variety of toys and board games using Zynga's brands, with the first products expected to be released in the coming Fall. There will also be co-branded merchandise. "It's exciting to partner with Hasbro as we share a common vision for play and a mission to connect the world through games," said Zynga CEO Mark Pincus in a statement--funny, since much of Zynga's success has come from Words With Friends, a game that incorporated changes to scoring, a heavy social aspect…

  • 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…
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    Holy Kaw!

  • Can dessert for breakfast help you lose weight?

    9 Feb 2012 | 3:39 pm
    New research suggests that, in the early morning, you can have your cake and shed pounds too A new study from Tel Aviv University finds that eating a small dessert as part of a balanced breakfast can actually help you shed unwanted pounds. Staying skinny and eating chocolate? Here, a brief guide to what sounds, frankly, impossible: Full story at The Week. Photo: CC by ::paqman:: All the top stories from The Week. Permalink | Leave a comment  »

  • 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. Photo credit: Fotolia Permalink | Leave a…

  • 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  »
 
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    Mashable!

  • LinkedIn Hits 150 Million Members

    Todd Wasserman
    9 Feb 2012 | 3:26 pm
    LinkedIn on Thursday announced it has 150 million members in its network, a 20 million increase over November. The figure was disclosed in a press release the company issued Thursday announcing its fourth quarter and full-year 2011 results. The company posted revenues of $167.7 million, beating the analysts’ consensus of $160 million for Q4. Earnings were $0.06 cents per share, which was on target. LinkedIn’s stock was up more than 5% in after-hours trading. The Q4 revenue figure was a 105% jump over the same period in 2010. Revenues for full-year 2011 was $522.2 million, a 115%…

  • FarmVille Toys Are Coming: Zynga and Hasbro Sign Licensing Deal

    Christina Warren
    9 Feb 2012 | 3:14 pm
    If Angry Birds and Cut the Rope can have toys, why can’t FarmVille? Social gaming juggernaut Zynga is teaming up with toy maker Hasbro to create a “wide range of toys and gaming experiences” based on Zynga properties and brands, a release read. The first products are expected to hit the market in Fall 2012. The agreement gives Hasbro license to develop and distribute an array of products in various toy and game categories for Zynga’s various properties. The companies will also be able to co-brand merchandise, which could potentially lead to digital product tie-ins. The…

  • Hipstamatic Releases Lens for New York Fashion Week

    Lauren Indvik
    9 Feb 2012 | 3:02 pm
    In conjunction with New York Fashion Week, iPhone photography app Hipstamatic has released a cool-toned lens (i.e., filter) designed to capture the aesthetic of classic American beauty. The lens was developed in partnership with fashion photographer Chiun-Kai Shih, whose work has appeared in GQ, Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, among other well-recognized publications. This is the second lens Hipstamatic has developed with Shih to commemorate NYFW. Last year, the pair released a lens called “Chunky,” which gives images a highly saturated, hazy glow. A spokesperson for Hipstamatic…

  • Apple Hit With 250,000 Signatures Protesting Labor Conditions in China

    Kate Freeman
    9 Feb 2012 | 2:46 pm
    Fair-labor organizers delivered 250,000 signatures to Apple stores in six cities around the world on Thursday in protest of the company’s working conditions in China. Apple’s main factory, Foxconn, has faced numerous accusations of providing an inhumane work environment to Chinese workers. “It’s hard to hear tales of people jumping off buildings and using their hands until they can’t anymore,” said senior organizer of Change.org William Winters, who delivered a stack of petitions to the San Francisco Apple store on Stockton Street. The rest of the 250,000…

  • Live LOLz: Cheezburger Plans Grammy Awards Memes in Real Time

    Brian Anthony Hernandez
    9 Feb 2012 | 2:35 pm
    I Can Has Cheezburger plans to turn the 54th Grammy Awards into a laughing matter by giving viewers an outlet to write funny captions for red carpet and ceremony photos. The “Live LOLing” event starts Sunday at 4 p.m. PT when Cheezburger’s ROFLrazzi site, Twitter profile and Facebook page will begin publishing Grammy images with humorous captions — in lolcat meme format. People can click “Recaption This” to plop their own witty text on the photos. Participants can then share their creations on their social networks. Cheezburger editor in chief Emily Huh…
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    Fast Company

  • "Words With Friends" Board Game Coming From The Makers Of Scrabble?

    Kevin Ohannessian
    9 Feb 2012 | 3:14 pm
    Hasbro and Zynga announced today that they have entered into a global partnership. With this license, Hasbro will be making a variety of toys and board games using Zynga's brands, with the first products expected to be released in the coming Fall. There will also be co-branded merchandise. "It's exciting to partner with Hasbro as we share a common vision for play and a mission to connect the world through games," said Zynga CEO Mark Pincus in a statement--funny, since much of Zynga's success has come from Words With Friends, a game that incorporated changes to scoring, a heavy social aspect…

  • 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…

  • Ford's Nancy Lee Gioia On Leading Where The Rubber Meets The Road

    Lydia Dishman
    9 Feb 2012 | 10:05 am
    In her 30 years with Ford Motor Company, Nancy Lee Gioia’s learned a thing or two about teamwork, sparking innovation, and being a driving force in what was once considered a man's industry. Nancy Lee Gioia’s been with Ford Motor Company since 1982, when she was hired as a graduate trainee in the electronics division. In the 30 years that followed, she’s held a variety of positions in electronics architecture, manufacturing, and engineering in different divisions.Now, as the company’s director of Global Electrification, Gioia drives strategy and planning for the next generation 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…
 
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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

  • New Kickstarter Record Set As Double Fine Game Hits $400K In 8 Hours, $900K In 16

    Devin Coldewey
    9 Feb 2012 | 3:50 pm
    If you played PC games in the 90s, chances are you played some of Tim Schafer’s work. He worked on the Monkey Island Series and Day of the Tentacle, later going on to create such classics as Grim Fandango and Psychonauts. He recently took to Kickstarter to try and score some funding for a new point-and-click adventure game, as most publishers would consider the genre more or less untouchable these days. He figured there were enough people out there who wanted a new adventure game that they could scrape together $400,000. That was last night. They hit their goal in 8 hours, and are…

  • Instagram Founder’s Girlfriend Learns How To Code For V-Day, Builds Lovestagram

    Alexia Tsotsis
    9 Feb 2012 | 3:41 pm
    This might just be the sweetest Valentine’s Day story I’ve ever heard. It’s definitely the sweetest Valentine’s Day story I’ve ever written. Kaitlyn Trigger is a marketing director at Rally.org. She also happens to be Instagram co-founder Mike Krieger’s girlfriend of two and a half years (The 26 year old Krieger and 27 year old Trigger met at a friend’s house in October of 2009 and moved in together in October 2010). And my hero. Last December, Trigger decided she wanted to be able to talk to her boyfriend in depth about the stuff he was working on.

  • LinkedIn Beats The Street, Q4 Revenue Up 105 Percent To $167.7M

    Leena Rao
    9 Feb 2012 | 3:12 pm
    Professional social network LinkedIn just reported stronger than expected fourth quarter 2011 earnings today. Earnings came in at $0.12 per share. Revenue for the fourth quarter was $167.7 million, an increase of 105% compared to $81.7 million for the fourth quarter of 2010. Net income for the fourth quarter was $6.9 million, compared to net income of $5.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2010. Analysts expected the company to earn $0.07 per share on revenues of $159.72 million. Non-GAAP net income for the fourth quarter was $13.3 million, compared to $5.2 million for the fourth quarter of…

  • TCTV: In the Studio, Bain Capital Ventures is California Dreaming

    Semil Shah
    9 Feb 2012 | 2:58 pm
    Editor’s note: TechCrunch contributor Semil Shah currently works at Votizen and lives in Palo Alto; you can follow him on twitter @semil “In the Studio” at TechCrunch TV this week welcomes a former California resident and current investor back to the west coast, where he and his partners have embarked on a new journey to build out a physical presence in Silicon Valley and San Francisco for one of the most dynamic business groups in the world. Ajay Agarwal, a managing director with Bain Capital Ventures (BCV), is leading the charge of building his firm’s west coast offices…

  • Click And Mortar: Zynga Signs Deal With Hasbro For Real-World Toys and Games

    Eric Eldon
    9 Feb 2012 | 2:30 pm
    Mobile app developer Rovio has famously turned its Angry Birds game into a popular toy franchise, but most other new-fangled gaming companies haven’t spent much energy going this route. But now social gaming leader Zynga is, per a big licensing deal with Hasbro. The long-time toy and board game maker is paying Zynga to turn games like FarmVille, CityVille, and its other hit titles into real world products. Details on what this will look like are scant in the press release, so I’m left guessing what this is going to mean. Fluffy pink FarmVille tractors? Lego-style CityVille…
 
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    Seth's Blog

  • The Weird interview

    Seth Godin
    9 Feb 2012 | 2:06 pm
    To celebrate the launch of Squidoo's new UpMarket magazine, we got permission to post an audio interview I recently did with Darren Hardy of Success. You can find it here. Thanks for listening.

  • 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…
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    Wired Top Stories

  • Built to Last

    Mike Isaac
    9 Feb 2012 | 2:56 pm
    Motorola's newest Droid Razr is just like its predecessor in almost every way -- except for the addition of a positively huge battery.

  • R.I.P. 'Laney,' The Dog Who Inspired the Military's Robot Pooches

    Noah Shachtman
    9 Feb 2012 | 2:53 pm
    Before there was the BigDog ? the Pentagon's remarkably lifelike four-legged robot ? there was a German short-haired pointer named Laney. The brown-speckled pooch inspired one of the military's most bizarre and captivating technology projects, its gallops and marches witnessed by millions on YouTube. This week, word spread among the small circle of Defense Department researchers who knew Laney that she had passed away. She was 12 years old.

  • A Texas Jury Now Deliberating Who, if Anyone, Owns the Web

    Joe Mullin
    9 Feb 2012 | 2:25 pm
    The fate of the openness of the interactive web is now in the hands of a jury in Texas, weighing testimony from the Web's early pioneers about the validity of a patent claim on features such as embedded video. A loss means that nearly every major U.S. website could owe thousands to millions of dollars to an obscure patent-licensing company based in a small-town in Texas.

  • FCC Teardown Reveals Lytro Camera Secrets

    Christina Bonnington
    9 Feb 2012 | 2:06 pm
    The amazing Lytro camera was recently torn down by the FCC, which revealed its processor, sensor, and other innards. The teardown also sheds light on what sort of features we could expect from Lytro in the future.

  • Origami Robots Run Only on Air

    Dave Mosher
    9 Feb 2012 | 1:38 pm
    Powered by nothing more than puffs of air, robots molded from paper and silicone rubber can bend, twist, grip and even lift more than 100 times their weight.
 
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    @ProBlogger

  • Is Perfectionism Stalling Your Productivity?

    Darren Rowse
    9 Feb 2012 | 2:04 pm
    We’ve all been there … You sit down to write a post. You get the opening line down, but half-way through the second sentence, you go back to tweak the first. A bit further on, you decide to chop up the paragraphs you’ve done so far and rearrange them … but on second thought, is that really the better option? In two minds, you “finish” the post, then spend a half-hour writing and rewriting the “ideal” headline. Finally, happy(ish!) your cursor hovers over the Publish button … but you just can’t press it. You decide to give it some…

  • 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…
 
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    MacRumors: Mac News and Rumors

  • iPad 3 to Have 'Truly Amazing' Screen

    Eric Slivka
    9 Feb 2012 | 3:35 pm
    Following a report from AllThingD earlier today claiming that Apple will introduce the iPad 3 in the first week of March, The New York Times is now weighing in with its own sources corroborating claims of a faster processor and a "truly amazing" screen in a package nearly identical in appearance to the iPad 2.An Apple employee said that the version of the new iPad that is being tested inside the company is “essentially the same size and shape as the iPad 2,” with an improved and “truly amazing” screen. The tablet will include a faster processor, said the employee, who did not want to…

  • AT&T Says Throttling of Unlimited Data Users Done on Case-by-Case Basis

    Eric Slivka
    9 Feb 2012 | 3:18 pm
    Last week, a firestorm erupted over the publicization of AT&T policies that can result in users on grandfathered unlimited data plans seeing their data speeds throttled after burning through as little as 2 GB in a month. Early reports on the policy, which went into effect last October as intended to affect the top 5% of users on unlimited plans, had pegged the carrier as enforcing throttling on customers using in excess of 10 GB, but the limit appears to have been coming down over time. The lower limits have left some wondering why they are continuing to pay for a $30/month "unlimited"…

  • Microsoft Lays Out Plans for Windows on ARM Processors

    Eric Slivka
    9 Feb 2012 | 2:05 pm
    Back in September, we covered Microsoft's announcement of Windows 8, the next step in the operating system's evolution that seeks to encompass not only traditional PCs but also mobile devices running on ARM processor architecture. Microsoft's Steven Sinofsky showing off prototype Windows 8 hardware at September's BUILD conference Steven Sinofsky, president of Microsoft's Windows division, today issued a massive blog post laying out in more detail how the company plans to tackle Windows on ARM (WOA). Sinofsky notes upfront that WOA will be a new member of the Windows family, based heavily on…

  • 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…
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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

  • New Chrome Beta Improves 2D & 3D Graphics for Older Systems

    9 Feb 2012 | 3:40 pm
    The next version of Chrome will help older computers catch up with rapidly accelerating Web-based graphics.. The upcoming Chrome release will improve the performance of hardware-accelerated 2D animations using Canvas, which include many Web-based games and other graphically-intensive sites. It will also let systems with older GPUs use SwiftShader for 3D graphics instead of WebGL, which older GPUs can't handle. It won't look quite as good, but users with older systems will still get more 3D content than they currently can. These new Chrome beta with these features is available today. Sponsor…

  • GitHub Wants to Teach Kids to Code with the First US CoderDojo

    9 Feb 2012 | 3:30 pm
    If you have kids (or you are one) and you're in or near the San Francisco area, you might want to sign up for the GitHub-sponsored CoderDojo coming on February 25th. CoderDojo is a free, not-for-profit movement with a strong open source emphasis on open source that seeks to teach young people how to code and make learning "a fun, sociable, kick ass experience." The organization was founded by James Whelton and Bill Liao, and has focused mostly on Ireland until now. (There's also a CoderDojo in London.) The program is for kids between seven and 18, and according to GitHub's Cameron McEfee has…

  • Hangout With the Scientists Looking for the God Particle

    9 Feb 2012 | 1:57 pm
    Want to hang out with the people who run the CMS? No, not the content management system. The Compact Muon Solenoid. It's one of the two big detectors at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the largest and highest-energy particle accelerator in the world. CERN physicist Dr. Albert De Roeck is hosting a Google+ Hangout tomorrow from inside the cavern where the experiment takes place, about 100 meters underneath Cessy, France. He'll explain the CMS experiment and take questions about the crazy frontiers of particle physics. Sponsor The CMS is one of the two general-purpose LHC experiments searching…

  • 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…
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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

  • Opinion: Google knows too much

    9 Feb 2012 | 1:58 pm
    Frida Ghitis says online hoarding of our private information is not something we can afford to "dismiss."

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

    9 Feb 2012 | 1:58 pm
    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.

  • 137 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.

  • China

    9 Feb 2012 | 10:41 am
    China will sometimes say "no" and the world should get used to it.
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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

  • Warner Music reporting more stable sales, propped up by iTunes and streaming services

    Mike Schramm
    9 Feb 2012 | 3:30 pm
    There's finally some good news in the music business, but don't get too excited, it's not that good. Warner Music reports (before we hear about the full industry sales from 2011) that its sales were steady last year, at $780 million. In this case, steady is better than a drop, which is what most of the music industry has seen lately. Warner says that digital revenue makes up 28% of the company's sales, a number that's jumped up 17% in the last year. iTunes and other downloadable services accounted for $205 million in Warner's revenue in the last quarter. Streaming services are becoming more…

  • Study shows Android handsets depreciate in value faster than iPhone

    Chris Rawson
    9 Feb 2012 | 3:00 pm
    The iPhone has always had a robust market for used handsets, with even older models still getting rather good returns for their former owners. Priceonomics has done a study of the used smartphone market and compared the depreciation in resale value for the iPhone versus Android and BlackBerry handsets. Unsurprisingly, the iPhone holds onto its value much better than competing handsets over the same stretch of time. Priceonomics found that after 18 months an iPhone still garnered an average of 53 percent of its original (unsubsidized) price; in other words, you can expect an iPhone that's a…

  • Court says reworked Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1N can be sold in Germany

    Mike Schramm
    9 Feb 2012 | 2:30 pm
    Apple's been going back and forth in German courts over the Samsung Galaxy Tab, suggesting it "borrows" a few too many features from the iPad, but the latest ruling has fallen in Samsung's favor. A German court has now decided that the Galaxy Tab has "clear differences" from the iPad, and thus can be sold in that country. Note, also, that this is the Galaxy Tab 10.1N, not the original version, so Samsung has already made some changes to the design. And those changes apparently worked, because the court has ruled that sales are on. That's not great for Apple, though Cupertino may likely follow…

  • 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…
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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

  • LifeProof iPhone Case Offers Protection Against Water and Shock Damage

    Jordan Golson
    9 Feb 2012 | 2:02 pm
    One of the most frequent reasons for an iPhone to go on a trip to the Apple Store's Genius Bar is because of water damage. Typically, a water damaged iPhone can be replaced for a flat $199 fee, though with the recently launched AppleCare+, that price can be reduced to $49. Most ultra-durable iPhone cases, like Otterbox's Defender or Case Mate's TANK, are merely water-resistant -- not actually water proof. They might protect an iPhone during a rainstorm, but they can't handle a dunk in the pool or -- perhaps more likely -- a drop in the toilet. LifeProof's iPhone case, however,…

  • 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…
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    CNNGo.com

  • 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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