Techcrunch
Why Google Wave Sucks, And Why You Will Use It Anyway
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This guest post was written by Martin Seibert, a German Internet media consultant. Google Wave is a hot topic at the moment. The ambitious group collaboration and micro-messaging platform started rolling out in beta via an initial batch of 100,000 invitations two months ago. Many people still want invitations. Among those who've tried it, some criticize it, some praise it. For now it has a lot of usability problems that are described below. Yes, you should look at Google Wave. But there is no need to desperately long for an invitation yet. Nevertheless, this post outlines how you'll probably use Google Wave in the future and also gives you advice on how to implement it in your company or your team of coworkers. It also reveals some big usability problems in the current version. Those issues aside, I would like to show you the advantages of the "wave" once again and describe some cool use cases that might make you love it at some point in the future. 
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Sidebar Delivers Personalized Mobile Apps And Content To Android
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We recently wrote about Sidebar, an app that wants to help smartphone users with the process of finding the perfect apps for their phones. Sidebar is debuting its first app and guess what? It's not an iPhone app-it's an Android app! While Sidebar's Android app is built for all Google-powered Android phones, the app has been configured specially for the newly released Verizon Droid. Android users can download the app here. Sidebar will ask you a series of demographic questions (gender, age, location) and a series of questions to determine your interests and content preferences (i.e. what type of news do you prefer, do you play online games, what types of outdoor activities are you interested in). Once Sidebar figures out a rough sketch of who you are, the app will begin to recommend mobile content to you. Content consists of videos, games, music, apps, ringtones, podcasts, promotions, news articles. The app will load no more than 12 content recommendations per day, which will last for 24 hours until the next batch of recs are sent to you. Recommendations include a short synopsis of the app or content and a screenshot or image. If you like the rec, you can save it and and download or access it later.
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Mystery Buyer Coughs Up $1.5 Million For Russia.com
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The domain name russia.com has been purchased by an undisclosed buyer for $1.5 million through marketplace Sedo, reports Yakov Sadchikov over on the Quintura blog. Currently an online guide for travelers who would like to visit the country, Russia.com is an operation of Paley Media, a Seattle, WA-based consultancy firm that runs the show for many a country domain name, including Algeria.com, Scotland.com, Nepal.com and Ukraine.com.
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Corel Buys Out Corel
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Apologies for the confusing headline, but I couldn't resist. This morning, long-time software maker Corel Corporation turned over full ownership to Corel Holdings, a limited partnership controlled by an affiliate of Vector Capital, majority investor of the company behind many familiar software programs like WordPerfect, CorelDRAW, WinZip, Paint Shop Pro and WinDVD (most of them obtained through acquisition of smaller software firms).
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DFJ-Backed Clixtr Marries Photos With Location, Launches Website
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Clixtr, a startup that first presented itself to a wide audience at this year's TechCrunch50 Conference (our take), kicked off things with a relatively limited offering - a paid iPhone app - but is now upping its game with the launch of an accompanying location-aware photo sharing website. It's also dropping the price of its iPhone application to zero, so if you and the rest of the family will be taking pictures today over Thanksgiving dinner, take notice.
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Crunchnotes
Choosing between Buddy and a buddy.
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Description: A couple of weeks ago Loren Feldmen put on the Audience Conference in New York. We supported the conferece, first announcing it and then writing more posts and tweets to help with ticket sales. I also committed to speaking at the event. About a week before the event I was asked if I could foster [...]
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Foo Camp 2009
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Description: Just back from Foo Camp 2009. You don’t see a ton of stuff on the Internet about Foo because it’s mostly off record. Here are my notes From Foo Camp 2008. This year I decided to do something a little different and created an Animoto show with their new video product. Cool stuff. CrunchBase Information Animoto Information provided [...]
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Paul Carr: An open letter to Sam Sethi, on the occasion of him completely losing his mind
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Description: If you’ve been following the whole Sam Sethi/TechCrunch lawsuit debacle (see here and here and here), you’ll want to read this post by Paul Carr as well, where he prints emails from Sethi sent on record. I’m also reprinting below, these things have a tendency to disappear when lawsuits strike: An open letter to Sam Sethi, on [...]
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Enterprise Hacks Opining On The Law, And Other Blogging Tragedies
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Description: Ok, the reasoned low key approach didn’t work. Now it’s time for some more truth. The ridiculous Sam Sethi dispute has gone on for far too long, and far too many have continued to be sucked into his web of confidence only to be spit back out the other end angry, bitter or worse. The complete [...]
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Update On Sam Sethi Litigation: We Decline To Participate
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Description: Update to our June post on the…absurd…Sam Sethi litigation. Our lawyers sent a letter letting them know that we have no intention of submitting the the jurisdiction of the UK courts, although we’d be happy to litigate his claims here in California. Sethi obtained a default judgment on July 30 and is now messaging people [...]
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Mashable
HOW TO: Use Social Media to Find Deals This Holiday Season
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Sara Dunham is the community manager at online coupon site and community Savings.com. You can read more of Sara’s posts on the Savings.com coupon blog or follow @savings.
Earlier this month, Savings.com hosted the first ever Save Up event in San Francisco, where we brought together the country’s top deal experts (DealPros) to talk about the future of saving money. And it’s important to note that these aren’t experts by trade, they are experts by passion and experience. They are real consumers who are saving tons and, lucky for the rest of us, they’re sharing their secrets so we can all be honorary super savers. One thing is definitely clear: it’s the year of social savings. The savviest shoppers are all tapped into online social circles bubbling up around deals, and with the biggest shopping days of the year upon us, here are some social media tips from us and from our community of experts, to help you save big this holiday season.
Deal Finding Basics
First, the basics. Tons of consumers, retailers and brands are now posting Black Friday deals and holiday sales all over the Web in real-time, so often that’s the first place you’ll hear of a really hot deal. Here’s how to kick off your social shopping strategy with a bang.
- Make friends with your favorite brands. Do you have a handful of favorite brands and retailers? Find them online! Become their Fan on Facebook. Follow them on Twitter. These tools give us immediate access to great deals and special offers, some of which aren’t available anywhere else. Then, in the spirit of giving, share the wealth! Do your friends a favor and post the sweetest deals you find to your own Facebook Page or Twitter feed.
- Don’t forget good old email. Set up a designated email account just for sale and promotional emails from merchants. While many of them are hip to Facebook and Twitter, there are still many others that aren’t up to speed quite yet. You can often get limited-time, special offers through store emails and you don’t want to miss those! And if emails aren’t your thing, then log onto an online coupon site, such as the forums at SlickDeals, which trove through all of these deals so you don’t have to.
- Ask around. Say you know what you’re looking for but can’t seem to find it. There’s a HUGE community of savvy shoppers who love nothing more than sharing their savings mojo. Ask your own network, ask brands or stores directly about the deals their running, or other discount seekers on Twitter.
Advanced Tips
All that said, even the most social media-wise shopper will exhaust themselves trying to sift through the throngs of holiday-related tweets, Facebook updates, email newsletters, and other promos. How can you cut through the clutter? You’ll need to get a bit organized, and it’s really not that hard.
- Create your own Twitter list or follow existing ones. DealPro Erin Gifford of Coupon Cravings recommends creating a mini deal-focused list on Twitter, separate from your main feed, so the hot deals don’t get lost among the tweets coming from your friends, family, co-workers and other folks you follow. Or, you can get a great start just by following Erin’s own Twitter holiday deal list, with her top 15 best feeds to follow, including Amazon, Toys R Us, Best Buy, Ebates and other entities that she expects to have the best deals this shopping season.
- Use Twitter to reach your favorite stores and brands. DealPro Toni-Lynn Barber of Delightful Chaos says that shoppers shouldn’t be afraid to use Twitter to contact their favorite companies and brands directly to ask if they have current promotions or coupons available, or to ask about specific products on your gift list. DealPro Claire Adams Williams adds that many companies with Twitter accounts offer real-time customer service. So if you have other questions about a return, a problem with a product, or anything else, then just ask – and then tweet the response.
- Use coupon and holiday hashtags. Twitter hashtags abound for coupons and deals. Some of our favorites are pretty straightforward: #blackfriday, #coupon, #savings and #deal are some of the most active. But you don’t need to stop there – besides scouting around for top deals as we decide what we’re going to buy, many of us already have specific items on our gift lists that we’re looking for this season. DealPro Angela Maas of Suburban Jungle says that she not only uses general coupon hashtags, but searches for updates on specific products, such as #wiifit or #xbox.
And if you’re looking for a comprehensive resource, many of our DealPros use Cheaptweet as a one-stop shop that aggregates deal and coupon-related Twitter activity into a single feed.
What savvy social media strategies do you plan to use to rock your holiday shopping this year?
More shopping resources from Mashable:
- 5 Cool Ways Brands Are Using Facebook for Black Friday and Beyond
- HOW TO: Use Social Media to Find Black Friday Deals
- HOW TO: Use the Web for Socially Responsible Shopping
- 10 New Sites for Socially Responsible Shopping
- 6 Superb Ways to Shop Using Social Media
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, WendellFranks
Reviews: Facebook, Twitter, iStockphoto
Tags: black friday, cyber monday, deals, Holidays, List, Lists, online shopping, shopping
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Jalen Rose’s Fab 5: Social Media Athletes I’m Thankful For
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This post is part of Mashable’s Fab Five series with Jalen Rose, which highlights trends in the social media space. Jalen Rose is a former 13-year NBA star and current ESPN basketball analyst but may be best known for being a member of the famous University of Michigan Fab Five.
In a world consumed by technology, it’s hard not to get caught up in the hype. I am a huge fan of social media and I am active on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Ustream. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I’ve come up with a short list of athletes that I’m thankful to be following and watching on social media. I don’t think any of these super athletes should plan on quitting their day job, but social media has become a productive hobby for each of them.
No matter the media platform, The Big Aristotle is funny and crazy, while still being himself. Shaq may not be having a career season for the Cleveland Cavaliers but he’s killing the social media game on Twitter. He has been on Twitter since 2008 and has continued to find new ways to interact with fans. He’s given tickets away to followers, he’s asked his followers to decide his new nickname, and he’s not afraid to throw a “yo mama” joke your way. Shaq has the most followers of any athlete on Twitter and he lets his entertaining personality shine through. The people have definitely responded.
NFL tight end Chris Cooley has been active on social media for a while, mainly through blogging. A lot of people consider him to be one of the best athletes active on the Internet, and I would have to agree. It’s great that Chris still has a good sense of humor even though the Redskins are struggling this season, and he broke his ankle a month ago. Yardbarker is home to many athletes’ blogs, and some are more involved than others. Chris blogs consistently to give his fans an insight into his world — I just hope he has his clothes on while be blogs and studies his playbook.
3. Chad Ochocinco on Ustream.tv
Ocho has been talking his mouth off for years on and off the field, and just when we needed more the NFL wide receiver created a Ustream channel that we all love! Not only are the Bengals having a tremendous season so far, but his live videos are tremendous as well. Regardless of his last name, we know there’s only one Chad with great catch phrases and the personality perfect for live video.
There aren’t a lot of MLB players on Twitter yet, but New York Yankees right fielder Nick Swisher is already in the game and doing a great job. He may not be the superstar amongst the World Series champion Yankees, but he is an all-star on social media. Swisher is a guy who isn’t afraid to show his excitement and his character. In fact, he tweeted from the locker room after the final World Series game a couple weeks ago, to let everybody know how he was feeling. What a cool insight into a moment only one team in each league gets to experience each year!
5. Misty May-Treanor on Facebook
Misty is probably best known for her beach volleyball gold medals with teammate Kerri Walsh in the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics. However, she may soon be known for her social media prowess. Treanor has over 500,000 fans on Facebook, but more importantly, she consistently interacts with her fans by uploading photos and quick messages. This summer, Treanor and Walsh took on Shaq in his ABC show, “Shaq Vs,” and she posted photos to her wall. And the king of Twitter is a good guy to have on your side, if you’re trying to make it with social media!
What athletes on social media are you thankful to be able to follow? Let us know in the comments.
Reviews: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, ustream
Tags: fab five, jalen rose, List, Lists, social media, sports
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Thanksgiving Google Logo 2009: Snoopy and Woodstock Go Peanuts for Turkey
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Thanksgiving 2009 is upon us, and Google’s US visitors are being treated to a special logo to mark the occasion: visit Google.com today and you’ll be greeted by a logo inspired by the classic cartoon Peanuts.
The Google lettering has taken on orange, brown and yellow hues, while Snoopy, Woodstock and a Thanksgiving feast adorn the Google homepage today.
What do you think of Google’s Thanksgiving logo? Is it good, bad, or just average? Let us know in the comments.
Reviews: Google
Tags: Google, logo, thanksgiving
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HOW TO: Try Out The New Google Search Right Now
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A couple of days ago we wrote about a redesign of the Google Search interface, with a new, snazzy sidebar on the left side.
Now, the folks at Gizmodo have found out a way to test this new look out for yourself. However, before you try it, you need to be aware of the following:
To get this trick to work, you must use the international version of Google Search, available at google.com. If you’re redirected to a localized version of the search, try this address: google.com/ncr.
Furthermore, you may not be able to reverse the changes to your Google interface without erasing a specific cookie; if you’re not comfortable messing with individual cookies in your web browser, don’t try it out.
If you still want to do it, the procedure is very simple. Go to google.com, erase everything from your address bar (even the http://google.com) and paste the following code into the address bar.
javascript:void(document.cookie="PREF=ID=20b6e4c2f44943bb:U=4bf292d46faad806:TM=1249677602:LM=1257919388:S=odm0Ys-53ZueXfZG;path=/; domain=.google.com");
Hit enter, refresh (if you’re again redirected to a localized version of Google, click “go to Google.com” or go to google.com/ncr once again). Conduct a search, and enjoy your new sidebar on the left!
If you want to revert to the original Google Search, you need to delete a cookie for Google.com, named PREF and starting with “ID=20b6e4c2f44943bb”. In the screenshot below, taken in Chrome, the cookie you need to remove is highlighted.
Tags: google search
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What Are You Thankful For in Social Media?
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As most of you probably know, today is Thanksgiving in the U.S. Traditionally, this is a day when family and friends traditionally come together, pig out on a delicious meal, eat pie, and fall asleep with the satisfaction that they couldn’t eat another bite.
More importantly, Thanksgiving is a day for specifically giving thanks for the good things and the wonderful people in our lives. Since Mashable is The Social Media Guide, we thought it was appropriate to focus on social media’s impact and, more importantly, the people it has helped bring together.
Think about it. Social networks like Facebook help keep us in touch with our friends and families. Other tools, like Twitter, have helped forge new friendships and relationships. Social media has been a phenomenal force that has changed our relationships and helped bring us closer. Today’s a great day to reflect on its impact.
So we ask you: Who or what are you thankful for in social media? We want to hear your thoughts, so please let everybody know what you’re thankful for in the comments below.
A special thank you to our loyal Mashable readers, contributors, and friends that have helped us grow in our wonderful journey.
Reviews: Facebook, Mashable, Twitter
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eHub di Emily Chang
Parse.ly
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Description: An adaptive web-based application that discovers your unique interests to filter, prioritize, and even suggest relevant content from countless news and blog sources across the web. [Beta] URL: Parse.ly
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SendSocial
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Description: A service that lets you surprise your friends and relatives with gifts, even if the only details you have are their Twitter ID or email address. URL: SendSocial
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eHub interviews Nebul.us
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Description: Nebul.us is a vibrant tool for understanding your web usage as well as sharing the stuff that you love online. We’ve been careful to appeal to a wide gamut of users on the internet. From casual surfers who want to save interesting content to their personal clouds to power users who not only quantify their usage but actively curate an image of who they are online. The users who choose to share their personal clouds contribute to the discovery mechanisms we call the social and public clouds. These are the areas that highlight trending content and sites within your social group or Nebul.us as a whole.
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img.ly
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Description: Social photo sharing. Easily post your photos to Twitter. URL: img.ly
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Read The Kanji
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Description: A simple, fun, intuitive quiz designed to help students all over the world learn to read Japanese through real life examples and sentences. URL: Read The Kanji
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Del.icio.us
Shape Collage - Free Automatic Photo Collage Maker
Date Published: 2009-11-26T20:44:22Z
Description: Takes your photos and shapes them!
Tags: photos photography tools web2.0 images design
Teacher Reboot Camp
Date Published: 2009-11-26T20:43:44Z
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Tags: blog education web2.0 teaching collaboration edtech teachers twitter
Read The Words
Date Published: 2009-11-26T20:43:34Z
Description: The avatar will read what you type in the box. Great for preps and younger children! Student projects.
Tags: reading tools web2.0 technology text-to-speech podcast
YouSendIt: Online File Sharing and collaboration with FTP Replacement - Send Large Files and Email Attachments with Managed File Transfer Solution
Date Published: 2009-11-26T20:43:22Z
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Tags: web2.0
Internet und Gesellschaft: Erschöpft, aber nicht geknechtet - SPIEGEL ONLINE - pro und contra #Schirrmacher
Date Published: 2009-11-26T20:42:44Z
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Tags: medien internet web2.0 gesellschaft soziales psychologie medienkompetenz information philosophie
