Social media is surely addictive, but can we be more specific? Patrick Moberg gave it a good shot in his Internet Vices cartoon, comparing various social services to their consciousness modifying equivalents both legal and… less than legal.

Twitter’s similarity to crack cocaine: “Yuppies do it on their iPhone. Cheap. Short. Fruitless.” YouTube, Facebook, digg, MySpace and more are also suitably parodied with clever illustrations. Now we need some clever new startup to invent a social media hangover cure.

Check out all the social media vices and let us know: did Mr. Moberg nail them all? Do you have alternate analogies? See you at the 12-step program!

[via Waxy]

Tags: cartoons, digg, facebook, funny, internet, trending, twitter, youtube

There have been several high profile hackings of Twitter accounts, with the likes of Britney Spears and even Barack Obama having their accounts compromised (with bizarre tweets sent from them) for at least a few minutes.

But what happens when your average NFL football player gets their account hacked? Apparently, not much. And unfortunately for New York Jets Wide Receiver David Clowney, his hacker is going above and beyond what others have done and is cursing and directing insults at fans, as you can see in the screenshot below:

The Jets have used their account to inform fans about what’s going on, but the damage has been ongoing for about three hours now. We’ve also sent a note to Twitter in hopes the issue can be resolved swiftly, but with more public figures continuing to join the service, it’s an indication that “verified accounts” might not yet go quite far enough (though Clowney’s account isn’t officially verified).

Tags: nfl, sports, twitter

If you’re a Firefox user, you may already be familiar with Greasemonkey, an extension that allows users to create scripts that change the display or behavior of web pages. Greasemonkey scripts can come in extremely handy for various purposes, and Leonard Lin has come up with one that adds utility to the default Twitter display for the new retweet function.

The user script, which you can download and install here, modifies the avatar display in your Twitter.com timeline to include both the person you’re following’s avatar along with the avatar of the Twitter user they retweeted. The two avatar display makes it more clear at a glance both that the item is a retweet and which of your followers it came from.

Here’s how the display appears after you install the script. It attempts to solve the issue mentioned by a number of folks who have felt that seeing an unfollowed user’s avatar suddenly appear in their timeline can be somewhat jarring. Although people who primarily use clients to access Twitter won’t be able to get much benefit out of this script, those that have occasion to visit the actual Twitter.com site and who might take delight in customizing the new retweet experience might find this script just the ticket.

What do you think, is the script an improvement over the default retweet display?

[via Waxy]

Tags: avatars, Firefox, greasemonkey, retweet, scripts, twitter, user scripts

For the last month and a half, AT&T and Verizon have been at war. Verizon launched ads tearing down AT&T’s 3G coverage, AT&T countered with a lawsuit and ads starring Luke Wilson. Hell, even Apple is getting involved in this messy affair.

With the two largest mobile networks making headlines, we thought it would be appropriate to make them the subject of this week’s Web Faceoff, a weekly series where we throw two competitors in the social media or technology space into the boxing ring and have them duke it out for your vote.

Last week, we witnessed an epic battle between two other competitors in the mobile space: Google Android and the Apple iPhone. Android shocked us by not only beating the iPhone in our weekly reader vote, but destroyed the app-filled smartphone by over a 2:1 margin.

Will AT&T suffer a similar fate to the iPhone, its exclusive carrier in the U.S.? Or will battered network be able to pull off an upset against the the nationa’s largest mobile and wireless network? We hand that decision over to you. You have until 12:00 PM PT on Friday, November 27th to cast your vote.

Oh, and don’t forget to let us know how you feel about AT&T and Verizon in the comments.

Web Faceoff: Overall Results

Week 2:
- Tumblr vs. Posterous
- WINNER: Tumblr, 1809 votes (Posterous: 1496 votes, Tie: 256 votes)

Week 3:
- Pandora vs. Last.fm
- WINNER: Last.fm, 1187 votes (Pandora: 1156 votes, Tie: 122 votes)

Week 4:
- Twitter vs. Facebook
- WINNER: Facebook, 2484 votes (Twitter: 2061 votes, Tie: 588 votes)

Week 5:
- WordPress vs. Typepad
- WINNER: WordPress, 2714 votes (Typepad: 267 votes, Tie: 357 votes)

Week 6:
- Windows 7 vs. Snow Leopard
- WINNER: Windows 7, 3632 votes (Snow Leopard: 3278 votes, Tie: 121 votes)

Week 7:
- TweetDeck vs. Seesmic Desktop
- WINNER: TweetDeck, 3294 votes (Seesmic Desktop: 1055 votes, Tie: 260 votes)

Week 8:
- Microsoft Office vs. Google Docs
- WINNER: Microsoft Office, 1365 votes (Google Docs: 994 votes, Tie: 315 votes)

Week 9:
- Apple iPhone vs. Google Android
- WINNER: Google Android, 3323 votes (Apple iPhone: 1494 votes, Tie: 228 votes)

Tags: att, Google Android, iphone, verizon, web faceoff

Social media is surely addictive, but can we be more specific? Patrick Moberg gave it a good shot in his Internet Vices cartoon, comparing various social services to their consciousness modifying equivalents both legal and… less than legal.

Twitter’s similarity to crack cocaine: “Yuppies do it on their iPhone. Cheap. Short. Fruitless.” YouTube, Facebook, digg, MySpace and more are also suitably parodied with clever illustrations. Now we need some clever new startup to invent a social media hangover cure.

Check out all the social media vices and let us know: did Mr. Moberg nail them all? Do you have alternate analogies? See you at the 12-step program!

[via Waxy]

Tags: cartoons, digg, facebook, funny, internet, trending, twitter, youtube

There have been several high profile hackings of Twitter accounts, with the likes of Britney Spears and even Barack Obama having their accounts compromised (with bizarre tweets sent from them) for at least a few minutes.

But what happens when your average NFL football player gets their account hacked? Apparently, not much. And unfortunately for New York Jets Wide Receiver David Clowney, his hacker is going above and beyond what others have done and is cursing and directing insults at fans, as you can see in the screenshot below:

The Jets have used their account to inform fans about what’s going on, but the damage has been ongoing for about three hours now. We’ve also sent a note to Twitter in hopes the issue can be resolved swiftly, but with more public figures continuing to join the service, it’s an indication that “verified accounts” might not yet go quite far enough (though Clowney’s account isn’t officially verified).

Tags: nfl, sports, twitter

If you’re a Firefox user, you may already be familiar with Greasemonkey, an extension that allows users to create scripts that change the display or behavior of web pages. Greasemonkey scripts can come in extremely handy for various purposes, and Leonard Lin has come up with one that adds utility to the default Twitter display for the new retweet function.

The user script, which you can download and install here, modifies the avatar display in your Twitter.com timeline to include both the person you’re following’s avatar along with the avatar of the Twitter user they retweeted. The two avatar display makes it more clear at a glance both that the item is a retweet and which of your followers it came from.

Here’s how the display appears after you install the script. It attempts to solve the issue mentioned by a number of folks who have felt that seeing an unfollowed user’s avatar suddenly appear in their timeline can be somewhat jarring. Although people who primarily use clients to access Twitter won’t be able to get much benefit out of this script, those that have occasion to visit the actual Twitter.com site and who might take delight in customizing the new retweet experience might find this script just the ticket.

What do you think, is the script an improvement over the default retweet display?

[via Waxy]

Tags: avatars, Firefox, greasemonkey, retweet, scripts, twitter, user scripts

For the last month and a half, AT&T and Verizon have been at war. Verizon launched ads tearing down AT&T’s 3G coverage, AT&T countered with a lawsuit and ads starring Luke Wilson. Hell, even Apple is getting involved in this messy affair.

With the two largest mobile networks making headlines, we thought it would be appropriate to make them the subject of this week’s Web Faceoff, a weekly series where we throw two competitors in the social media or technology space into the boxing ring and have them duke it out for your vote.

Last week, we witnessed an epic battle between two other competitors in the mobile space: Google Android and the Apple iPhone. Android shocked us by not only beating the iPhone in our weekly reader vote, but destroyed the app-filled smartphone by over a 2:1 margin.

Will AT&T suffer a similar fate to the iPhone, its exclusive carrier in the U.S.? Or will battered network be able to pull off an upset against the the nationa’s largest mobile and wireless network? We hand that decision over to you. You have until 12:00 PM PT on Friday, November 27th to cast your vote.

Oh, and don’t forget to let us know how you feel about AT&T and Verizon in the comments.

Web Faceoff: Overall Results

Week 2:
- Tumblr vs. Posterous
- WINNER: Tumblr, 1809 votes (Posterous: 1496 votes, Tie: 256 votes)

Week 3:
- Pandora vs. Last.fm
- WINNER: Last.fm, 1187 votes (Pandora: 1156 votes, Tie: 122 votes)

Week 4:
- Twitter vs. Facebook
- WINNER: Facebook, 2484 votes (Twitter: 2061 votes, Tie: 588 votes)

Week 5:
- WordPress vs. Typepad
- WINNER: WordPress, 2714 votes (Typepad: 267 votes, Tie: 357 votes)

Week 6:
- Windows 7 vs. Snow Leopard
- WINNER: Windows 7, 3632 votes (Snow Leopard: 3278 votes, Tie: 121 votes)

Week 7:
- TweetDeck vs. Seesmic Desktop
- WINNER: TweetDeck, 3294 votes (Seesmic Desktop: 1055 votes, Tie: 260 votes)

Week 8:
- Microsoft Office vs. Google Docs
- WINNER: Microsoft Office, 1365 votes (Google Docs: 994 votes, Tie: 315 votes)

Week 9:
- Apple iPhone vs. Google Android
- WINNER: Google Android, 3323 votes (Apple iPhone: 1494 votes, Tie: 228 votes)

Tags: att, Google Android, iphone, verizon, web faceoff

Yes, really. Rupert Murdoch’s crusade to blame Google for the failing newspaper business model continues today, as it emerges that News Corp has conducted talks with Microsoft about de-indexing the company’s sites from Google and (presumably) being paid to include them in Bing instead.

The concept makes sense only if you buy Murdoch’s claims that Google is “stealing” content rather than simply helping people find it.

The revelation comes from the Financial Times, which has a strong track record for accurate reportage – this is unlikely to be a fluffy rumor. The piece reads, in part:

Microsoft has had discussions with News Corp over a plan that would involve the media company’s being paid to “de-index” its news websites from Google, setting the scene for a search engine battle that could offer a ray of light to the newspaper industry.

The impetus for the discussions came from News Corp, owner of newspapers ranging from the Wall Street Journal of the US to The Sun of the UK, said a person familiar with the situation, who warned that talks were at an early stage.

However, the Financial Times has learnt that Microsoft has also approached other big online publishers to persuade them to remove their sites from Google’s search engine.

News Corp and Microsoft, which owns the rival Bing search engine, declined to comment.

I say go for it. So, I’m sure, do all the other web publishers who see that removing many of the major news sites from Google will provide even more traffic for the upstarts. News Corp is merrily making itself irrelevant to web consumers, while continuing to use Google as its punch bag rather than addressing the radical transition of media into the online world.

Internet-enabled set-top box makers Roku (who we wrote about in our top 10 gadgets for social media addicts feature recently) have some welcome announcements today about 10 new, free content partners being added to the platform in an also new Roku Channel Store section.

Coming to the new “App Store”-style store are popular video providers blip.tv, independent netcasters Revision3 and This Week in Tech, photo browsing from both Flickr and your Facebook photos, music from recommendation engine Pandora, plus content FrameChannel, Mediafly, MobileTribe, and Motionbox.

As internet-based television and other video content marches into the living room, we’re seeing a number of different approaches to bringing online video to the big screen. Some, like Boxee, began as a software interface that makes hooking up your computer to your TV an easier experience and later began pursuing a dedicated hardware solution. Roku began initially as a hardware solution — an alternative to (or addition to) the set-top box that powers your cable subscription.

Roku has several different players available including a standard definition model and two flavors of high-definition boxes. Existing content partners will of course remain, with Netflix, Amazon Video on Demand and MLB.TV also available for streaming video to the devices. The new Channel Store represents a shift towards building an open platform model to allow new channel partners to more easily make their content available via the Roku box.

How do you watch internet video in the home? Do you have a setup that brings online television to your actual television?

Tags: facebook, flickr, ONLINE VIDEO, pandora, revision 3, roku, Twit, video

This post is part of Mashable’s Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark.

Name: Pearltrees

Quick Pitch: Pearltrees is a new visual way to organize content on the Web and connecting people’s interests.

Genius Idea: How do you organize the web on the browser? Since the time of Netscape, we’ve been using bookmarks and a wide series of folders to manage our favorite websites and web pages. Perhaps in some instances you use something like Google Reader to organize your articles and favorite things on YouTube, but the result is the same: it’s a messy affair.

Pearltrees is nothing less than a reinvention of how we organize the web. The service provides a completely unique and visual experience to saving your favorite websites, organizing what you find interesting, and even seeing what others are saying about specific web destinations.

Signing up for Pearltrees is simple, but getting used to the interface and all of its features is not as easy. Once you add your personal information, you are presented with a display connecting you to a web of circles, which are called pearls. In this system, you add websites you find interesting (either manually, via a browser extension, or through bookmarklets) into your profile. You also have control over where the pearls are placed on the page.

Now for the organization part: you can create complex systems of pearls, known as pearltrees. These complex trees are like your bookmark folders and subfolders, but visually represented. If you create a pearl for YouTube, you could create a tree filled with nothing but your favorite YouTube videos. The same goes for articles or any other type of web content. You can collapse or expand trees at will.

Clicking on a pearl gives you a range of options that go beyond visiting your favorite website. It provides a preview of the page and offers options to share it via social media. The most unique aspects are the connections and discussions, however. You can see how others have organized any website within the pearltrees, along with their notes on that website. In a way, it’s like Delicious, but more in-depth and visually rich.

Pearltrees takes a time investment to make it useful. Once you’ve spent some time with it though, it’s easy to get addicted. It’s more intuitive than bookmarks and provides a social context comparable to Delicious. It’s still in Alpha too, meaning that you can expect it to evolve significantly as its team better understands what users want and need.

Spark of Genius Series Sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark

BizSpark is a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.

Entrepreneurs can take advantage of the Azure Services platform for their website hosting and storage needs. Microsoft recently announced the “new CloudApp()” contest – use the Azure Services Platform for hosting your .NET or PHP app, and you could be the lucky winner of a USD 5000* (please see website for official rules and guidelines).”

Tags: bizspark, Pearltrees

Spotify, the European music service that attracted attention by launching the first streaming music app for the iPhone, now has a version for Symbian smartphones. Spotify is a fantastic app, offering access to over 6 million tracks; unfortunately, it’s available only in certain European countries, with the US version pending.

Some of the smartphone models Spotify now works with are Nokia 6220 Classic, E71 and 5800 XpressMusic models, as well as some non-Nokia phones, like the Samsung GT-I8910 Omnia HD and Sony Ericsson Satio.

Spotify’s Symbian application is available on m.spotify.com; alternatively, Symbian smartphone owners can enter their phone number on this page to receive SMS installation instructions.

Tags: spotify, Symbian

A couple of weeks ago, the first iPhone worm appeared, spreading on jailbroken devices with the SSH application installed (vulnerability being the fact that many users haven’t changed the default root password). As far as worms go, this one was quite benign, merely “rickrolling” users; i.e., changing the background image on the device to an image of Rick Astley.

Now, according to early reports of strange activity by Dutch ISP XS4ALL, and later confirmed by Sophos, there’s a new worm in the wild, and this one is far more malicious.

The new worm is called “Duh” or “Ikee.B”, and it uses the exact same vulnerability as the first one. The fix is thus identical – change the root password in the SSH application to something other than the default, which is “alpine”.

Failing to do so might result in very serious consequences. According to Sophos, Ikee.B is “designed to connect to a server in Lithuania and to follow orders from remote hackers.” It can find vulnerable iPhones on a wide range of IP addresses, including IPs in several different countries, for example the Netherlands, Portugal, Australia, Austria, and Hungary. Furthermore, it changes the root password on the iPhone to “ohshit” (as discovered by Paul Ducklin, head of technology in Sophos Asia Pacific.)

Users who haven’t jailbroken their iPhone or haven’t installed the SSH application are not affected by this vulnerability.

Tags: iphone, security, trending

The day after Thanksgiving, which this year falls on November 27th, is also known as Black Friday, and it marks the beginning of the Christmas shopping craze.

Capitalizing on one of the busiest shopping days of the year, Apple has announced a “special Apple one-day shopping event” on November 27. The company posted a teaser saying the following:

“Come back to the Apple Online Store this Friday for a special one-day-only shopping event. You’ll find lots of great iPod, iPhone and Mac gift ideas — all with free shipping.”

So there you have it; if you don’t know what to do with your extra cash, here’s a chance to blow it all on Apple’s gadgetry (hopefully at a good discount).

Tags: apple, black friday

It wouldn’t be an award show without some sort of bizarre and shocking moment that gets the Internet abuzz, and last night’s American Music Awards were no exception.

The talk of the show this time is Adam Lambert’s (who you may remember from American Idol) performance, in which he kisses another guy towards the end.

The event is still the talk of the Web this morning, bringing back memories of the infamous Britney Spears and Madonna makeout from the 2003 VMAs which pre-dates both YouTube and Twitter (nonetheless, the clip still has 5 million views).

At the moment, video of the Lambert performance does not seem to be available on ABC’s (who aired the AMA’s) website, though the clip is on YouTube (below). Whether or not that’s an editorial or technical decision, we’re not yet sure, but you may recall that MTV reaped a massive traffic boost from keeping the Kanye West/Taylor Swift incident off of YouTube and in its own player earlier this year.

It’ll be interesting to see how long the buzz surrounding Lambert’s pushing-the-envelope performance lasts given the vastly different media landscape that exists just a few years after the infamous Britney/Madonna moment. Feel free to share your thoughts about it in the comments.

Tags: adam lambert, american music awards, youtube

The Time Warner-AOL marriage officially comes to an end on December 10th, when AOL once again becomes its own publicly traded company.

How will AOL convince investors that it’s ready to get back on the track? With new, shiny logos of course. Oh, and by lowercasing the “o” and the “l” in AOL. This follows the company getting rid of the name “America Online” back in 2006 in favor of the shorter AOL.

Check out these samples courtesy of MediaMemo:

Of the rebrand, AOL’s CEO Tim Armstrong says, “Our new identity is uniquely dynamic. Our business is focused on creating world-class experiences for consumers and AOL is centered on creative and talented people – employees, partners, and advertisers. We have a clear strategy that we are passionate about and we plan on standing behind the AOL brand as we take the company into the next decade.”

The company plans to reveal the full details of the new brand identity on the 10th when it makes its New York Stock Exchange debut.

What do you think of the new logos? Let us know in the comments.

Tags: aol

Mobile advertising company AdMob (which was just acquired by Google) has just released its mobile metrics report for October 2009. Although mobile usage as a whole is up, both RIM — maker of the BlackBerry — and the Android platform have seen particularly solid increases in the last six months.

Although the Android-based Droid from Motorola hit the market in November, and thus wasn’t included in this month’s report, AdMob reports that already the Droid represents 24% of all Android requests worldwide. I guess 250,000 new device owners has an impact!

Android Gains

AdMob says that since April, they’ve seen requests from Android devices increase 5.8 times. Additionally, Android now represents 20% of the smartphone market in the US. Two of the new Motorola phones, the Motorola Cliq on T-Mobile and the Motorola Droid on Verizon have shown lots of growth. As mentioned, the Droid accounted for 24% of all Android requests in the AdMob network as of November 18.

iPhone Still King

Android’s gains are impressive, but the iPhone still leads AdMob’s smartphone request figures in the United States and worldwide. AdMob estimates that smartphone traffic share is at 44% of all traffic and that Apple represents 50% of those requests.

The iPhone is without a doubt the single most popular smartphone, but the fact that the OS is limited to two devices (if you count the iPod touch) will always put a limit on its potential growth.

Tags: admob, android, droid, iphone, mobile analytics, smartphones

When developers get their hands on a social media platform, amazing things tend to happen. For example, Facebook transformed web apps when it launched the Facebook platform. The result has been everything from Facebook Connect to FarmVille. Twitter’s an even better example when you start thinking of the countless Twitter apps for mobile phones and the desktop.

That magic is exactly what LinkedIn is hoping will happen with today’s launch of the LinkedIn Platform, which opens up outside applications to use LinkedIn’s data. Oh, and TweetDeck will be launching LinkedIn integration this week.

The company has been experimenting with a developer platform for a while. Most recently, LinkedIn announced integration with Microsoft Outlook 2010. However, until today only select developers could access LinkedIn APIs. Now any developer can work with the data, much like Facebook and Twitter.

You’re about to see a whole new wave of LinkedIn web applications. When I spoke with LinkedIn, I learned that a little less than a dozen apps would be launching LinkedIn integrations this week, including TweetDeck, Twitter’s most popular app (we’ll have another post detailing the new features soon, along with screenshots).

This is an important but long overdue move for LinkedIn. We can understand why it took longer — business users would have likely reacted badly to this a year ago, but with social media permeating the workplace, it’s probably the right time now.

Tags: api, linkedin

Here’s an interesting deal in the Twitter space. MSNBC has signed a deal with BNO News whereby they’ll take over management of the @BreakingNews Twitter feed, which has amassed more than 1.4 million followers.

According to PaidContent, BNO “will now focus on developing its subscription-based wire service to sell to news companies.” Terms of the deal are not being disclosed, but according to the report, MSNBC doesn’t get any equity in BNO but rather becomes a paying client of the news service (with the significant perk of control of the Twitter account).

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a popular Twitter account sell to a big media company. Back in April, CNN acquired @cnnbrk, an account that had seemingly beaten the network to its own punch by building a following for breaking CNN headlines.

The MSNBC-BNO deal is a bit different, since BNO has put in place an editorial team that works to break its own stories, a service it now hopes to sell to other news organizations like a modern day AP or Reuters. Nonetheless, it shows the premium that news organizations are willing to pay to build distribution in the world of social media.

Tags: msnbc, twitter

While some of us might be willing to pay to make Facebook games like FarmVille and Mafia Wars go away, it appears that Wall Street has other ideas.

Specifically, an analyst with Pacific Crest Securities tells Bloomberg that “If the IPO [for Zynga] were timed to price around mid-2010 or later, our expectation would be for a billion dollar or greater valuation.”

That number is based on the recent deal that Electronic Arts made to acquire Playfish for up to $400 million, a multiple of 3-4x its revenue according to another analyst cited in the report.

Insanity? Perhaps, but Zynga has shown no signs of slowing down and seems to be able to replicate the same concept over and over again successfully. The company recently introduced “FishVille,” an underwater version of the FarmVille game, and today, launched FarmVille.com, a destination site for the game that utilizes Facebook Connect.

Overall, the company says it now has a whopping 200 million monthly active users across all games and platforms.

Tags: farmville, social games

It’s a brand new week, which means it’s time for Mashable’s guide to upcoming social media and web events, parties, and conferences. For more upcoming event listings, check out Mashable’s Events section.

Is your event not on this list? Contact us at least one month before your event and let’s establish a media partnership.

Mashable’s Weekly Social Media and Marketing Event Guide is proudly supported by Eventbrite, the Web’s Event Marketplace.

November 23-25, 2009, Berlin, Germany: IIR’s Mobile 2.0 – Content & Services Conference provides a dynamic networking and information-sharing business environment, bringing together key stakeholders within the mobile web 2.0 value chain to discuss current trends and revenue generation possibilities, successful business strategies and the future opportunities that exist within this space. Receive a 10% discount by quoting I08LFMASH when registering. Significant price cuts also available to Operators, online communities, and content providers

November 30-December 1, 2009, Toronto, Ontario: nextMEDIA Toronto is an intensive two day event of networking, learning and strategizing with the top minds in the fields of broadcasting, digital media and advertising. nextMEDIA is an unparalleled opportunity for our community to understand and interpret the evolution of digital media and how cross-platform content is funded and produced. Also, the event boasts the CNMAs, Canada’s only national new media awards. Tap into the digital economy and navigate your way to new revenue sources, network with a multi-disciplinary audience reflective of the emerging new world of media. Use this link for a 20% registration discount.

December 1-3, 2009, Boston, MA: The 6th Annual Gilbane Boston Conference will offer sessions tied to competitive business and productivity issues surrounding a company’s content, collaboration & customers. You will learn about content solutions that are ready to be implemented today! The conference tracks have been organized around the four major areas of how enterprises use web and content technologies and where they are most likely to invest, including: Web Business & Engagement, Managing Collaboration & Social Media: Internal & External, Enterprise Content: Searching, Integrating & Publishing, and Content Infrastructure. Session topics focus on managing enterprise social & mobile content; SharePoint & Office 2010; E-government & transparency. Save an additional $200 by using the discount code Mashable.

December 1-3, 2009, London, UK: Online Information & IMS 2009 Exhibitions will host more than 200 international exhibitors, covering Web 2.0 Technologies, Content Management, Search Solutions, Online Content Resources; ePublishing Solutions and Library Management Systems. There is also a wide range of free seminars looking at, among others, Marketing Through Social Media, Content Management and Enterprise Search. Free to attend if you pre-register, it is the perfect place for marketing professionals to equip themselves with the information, skills and knowledge to succeed in the digital world.

December 2, 2009, Toronto, Ontario: The Canadian Innovation Exchange (CIX) is a must-attend conference for participants in the innovation economy. CIX is a gathering of key players in the innovation economy which will showcase and accelerate the development of the great technology-based innovation emanating from Canada and will be attended by entrepreneurs, inventors, investors, corporations, service providers, government and media. Participants can expect an International who’s who of investors, innovative corporations and entrepreneurs and a nexus of multiple meeting and networking opportunities enabling discovery of Canada’s next great innovations and the people behind them. Use this link for a 20% registration discount.

December 2-7, 2009, New York City: The iPhone Boot Camp offers six and three day workshops on iPhone development, a full 24-48 hours of training in Obj-C and the iPhone SDK 2.0, from basic to pro iPhone application development. The workshops are part seminar, part training, part hack-a-thon, fueled by vast quantities of pizza, the best New York Deli and Red Bull, all in the quest for the next killer iPhone app. The workshops are limited to fifteen developers and taught by bestselling iPhone authors Jeff LaMarche (Beginning iPhone Development) and Steve Kochan (Programming Objective C – 2.0. The training is a great way to jump start your iPhone app development and save weeks of effort trying to figure out the iPhone SDK on you own. A 10% discount to Mashable readers using discount code mashable.

December 4, 2009, London: At Social PR Forum, learn from global PR companies who have successfully embraced social media. Understand what products and services you should be using, and how to use them well. Learn how to seamlessly introduce social media into your way of thinking and into your employees. Mention you are a Mashable reader to receive 15% discount.

December 7, 2009, San Francisco, CA: The SF MusicTech Summit brings together more than 600 of the best and brightest developers in the Music/Technology space, along with the musicians, entrepreneurial business people, press, investors, service providers, and organizations who work with them at this exciting convergence of culture and commerce. We’ll discuss the evolving music/business/technology ecosystem in a proactive environment, conducive to deal making, and connect with friends and business partners old and new. Get your Mashable 15% Discount tickets at sfmts5.eventbrite.com/?discount=15Mashable

December 7-10, 2009, Washington DC: Attend the Advanced Learning Institute’s Forum on Social Media for Government: How To Engage Your Employees And Citizens By Using The Latest Web 2.0 Technologies To Drive Communication Results to learn how to capture the power of social media in your organization, along with helpful tools, tips and techniques to get started. Hear from DoD; Forest Service; U.S. Department of the Interior; City of Chesapeake, VA; IBM Center for the Business of Government; U.S. Department of Energy; Charlotte Fire Department, NC; U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and more, on how to engage your employees and citizens by using social media. Mention “Mashable” when registering to save $200.

December 9, 2009, San Francisco, CA: Tech professionals by day, rockers by night, they’ll pick up their instruments and venture onto the big stage to let their alter egos shine… for a good cause and the love of music. Silicon Valley Rocks 2009 will bring together the Valley’s tech community – from VCs and entrepreneurs to bloggers and software developers – to raise money for Music in Schools Today (MuST), a Bay Area non-profit that seeks to rescue music programs from budget cuts. The second annual showcase will once again feature Silicon Valley bands and original rockers who will entertain and amuse your entire social graph. Mashable readers can get a special discounted ticket rate by clicking here.

December 11, 2009, Mountain View, CA: Add-on-Con is a single day conference focused on the future of the browser and its emergence as a platform. Developer sessions will cover best practices, cross-browser development and mash-ups. Marketing sessions will focus on monetization opportunities, distribution strategies, and stats. Join 200+ individuals involved with add-on development to help define an emerging new market in the web’s ecosystem. Register using addoncon09mashable and save $50.

December 11-17, 2009, Chicago, IL: The iPhone Boot Camp offers six and three day workshops on iPhone Development, a full 24-48 hours of training in Obj-C and the iPhone SDK 2.0, from basic to pro iPhone application development. The workshops are part seminar, part training, part hack-a-thon, fueled by vast quantities of pizza, the best New York Deli and Red Bull, all in the quest for the next killer iPhone app. The workshops are limited to fifteen developers and taught by bestselling iPhone authors Jeff LaMarche (Beginning iPhone Development) and Steve Kochan (Programming Objective C – 2.0. The training is a great way to jump start your iPhone app development and save weeks of effort trying to figure out the iPhone SDK on you own. A 10% discount to Mashable readers using discount code mashable

December 14-15, 2009, Washington, DC: The Government 2.5 conference aims to bring various participants and stakeholders within all aspects of government at the local, state and federal levels together to learn how best to apply social media toward improving government services and allowing the public to participant in policy debate and the spending of tax dollars. If you have an interest in making government more efficient through applied information technology and social media, then this conference is for you. Use the code: mashable to save 25% on registration.

December 15, 2009, Santa Clara, CA: The 5th annual Digital Living Room at Sun Microsystems Auditorium features the definitive voices in the digital home. CBS.com GM Bill Binenstock, Intel Digital Home GM Bill Leszinske, Playstation Network Sr. Director Susan Panico, to name just a few. This year’s theme is the connected living room: the network of TVs, broadband Internet, settop boxes, consoles, portable and mobile devices and now 3D technology that’s transforming the home. Mashable readers enjoy a 15% discount on the ticket price: follow the link here and click Apply Discount button next to the keyword ‘mashable’.

January 11, 2010, Nashville, TN: The Social Media conference that comes to you. Social Fresh is a one day, case study rich conference targeted for marketers. Social Fresh Nashville will have 30+ speakers including Jason Falls of Social Media Explorer, Gavin Baker of Ruby Tuesday, and John Andrews of Collective Bias (formerly of Walmart). Save 15% when using code mashable.

January 13, 2010, New York, NY: Social Integration – Harmonizing Social Channels into the Marketing, Communications, & Service Platform – Case Studies & Roundtables is a conference that will demonstrate case studies of how leading brands are integrating social media and social networking into and across the enterprise. We will approach the topic from the communicator/marketer’s perspective but technology, customer service, and operations professionals are welcome to participate. Use promo code MASH for a discounted rate of $155 at www.bdionline.com/socialintegration.html.

January 14-16, 2010, Sedona, AZ: Join us at #SMML for a Social Media Mastermind Conference. We are going to get personal. As you seek to glean more information about social media, how it works and how you can use it to gain more customers. You’ll see more results in 2 days than you will have in six months working alone! If you are ready to be energized, engage with your audience, work with the best and take home real solutions in developing your own social media strategy, then join us. Speakers include: Robin Harris, Raliegh Pinskey, Frances Flynn Thorsen, Shannon Evans and more. Use event code SMMLBiz to save 15% on your registration fee.

January 20-22, 2010, Washington DC: Social Media for Defense and Government is a unique forum on the embracement, implementation and utilization of new media platforms that meet the Governments goals of transparency that allow for more efficient internal and external communication. As the public develops their use of online tools for their personal, career and business development goals, DoD & Gov’t have made it their mission to reach the public via these new forms of media. The forum will provide insight into technologies including Twitter and Facebook as well as advanced elements such as the Governments general information page, blogs, and closed social media suite. Mashable readers get an exclusive 20% discount off the standard pricing with special code IUS_MASH_SMTM_#1 when registering!

January 23, 2010, Virginia Beach, VA: Social Media @ The Beach is a place for anyone looking to “get their feet wet” and explore social media. It’s an interactive conference with the laid-back atmosphere of a meet-up. The January event will focus on two main goals: boosting personal social networking skills and developing professional social media marketing strategies. The event is open to everyone, drawing community members of all ages, backgrounds and levels of social media experience. Enter mashable for the discount code to receive 15% off ticket price.

January 26, 2010, San Francisco, CA: Vator.tv, a leading platform for entrepreneurs and innovators to broadcast themselves, and provider of news and information through VatorNews, and Girls in Tech, a social network enterprise focused on education and empowerment of influential women in technology, are hosting the Catalyst Competition to find five women-led startups across any stage to present at the Catalyst Conference. Ten finalists will be selected by their peers through an online competition. Join the competition today and get the vote out.

January 27-28, 2010, Amsterdam, Netherlands: Enterprise Social 2.0: RIP or ROI? This senior executive event will bring together decision makers from the top Fortune companies to discuss innovative strategies on how to maximize business performance through social media engagement. The event will include keynote speeches, best-practice presentations as well as interactive discussion sessions. Use promo-code MASH14 for a €100 (Euros) discount for the 2 day conference registration fee.

January 28-29, 2010, Bilbao, Spain: The biggest Search Engines: Search Marketing and Online Marketing Event starts the new year in the north of Spain: Bilbao the TIC city! SC Bilbao will offer 9 professionals workshops, 8 Conferences and the glorious Closed Party! 2 days of learning and networking at “Palacio Euskalduna” . Come and share with Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, SEMPO and the best Internet experts. There’s a special 30% discount on Conferences for all Mashable readers using the promotional code: ILOVESEARCH.

February 4, 2010, San Francisco, CA: Vator, a leading platform for innovators and entrepreneurs to broadcast themselves, is holding its inaugural Vator Splash competition to find 10 promising early-stage startups to present at the Vator Splash event. Enter the competition today and join other onstage presenters, such as Zynga CEO Mark Pincus, Smule CEO Jeff Smith, August Capital VC Howard Hartenbaum and Google Ventures VC Bill Maris. Buy your 25% discount ticket today using the code: VatorMashable

February 8, 2010, Tampa, FL: The Social Media conference that comes to you. Social Fresh is a one day, case study rich conference targeted for marketers. Social Fresh Tampa will have 30+ speakers including Chris Barger of GM, Maggie Fox of Social Media Group, and John Andrews of Collective Bias (formerly of Walmart). Get 15% off if using code mashable.

February 8-10, 2010, Philadelphia, PA: The 9th Annual ePharma Summit is the most innovative digital marketing event for pharma. Year after year, hundreds of marketing professionals from leading pharmaceutical companies attend ePharma for incomparable access to insider information for optimizing their brand strategy and perfecting consumer relationships. Join us next February to collaborate with industry leading industry minds and perfect your digital strategy by pursuing true e-marketing innovation. The 2010 event is packed with fresh case studies, hands-on workshops, hot topic debates, facilitated roundtable discussions, and live audience polling sessions. Register with Priority Code XP1506MASH to save 15% off standard registration!

February 8-11, 2010, Washington, DC: Attend the Advanced Learning Institute’s Forum on Social Media for Government: How To Engage Your Employees And Citizens By Using The Latest Web 2.0 Technologies To Drive Communication Results, to learn how to capture the power of social media in your organization, along with helpful tools, tips and techniques to get started. Hear practical advice, firsthand, from leading government agencies and organizations such as: CIA; IRS; U.S. Army Public Affairs; National Wildlife Federation; U.S. Department of Agriculture; City of Raleigh, NC; U.S. Navy; Morris County, NJ; U.S. Department of State Roanoke Public Libraries, VA; Court Services & Offender Supervision Agency; Department for International Development, Government of the United Kingdom; NOAA; National Institutes of Health; U.S. Department of Health & Human Services; National Defense University; City of Richmond, VA; Porter Novelli; Booz Allen Hamilton, and more. Mention Mashable when registering to save $200.

February 9-13, 2010, San Francisco, CA: Macworld 2010 is a five-day event that educates, entertains and immerses attendees in the Apple products community. A comprehensive expo hall offers access to hundreds of Mac products and services, paired with expert advice, demonstrations and instruction. Macworld conference programs feature industry leading minds, presenting cutting edge product training on the topics attendees most want to see. From Mac Power Users to creative professionals to first-time users to Enterprise computing professionals, Macworld has the conference content, special presentations and exhibit hall attractions that create what has been called “Mecca for Mac Users”. Get 15% off as a Mashable reader.

February 10, 2010, New York City: The Online Community Unconference East is a gathering of online community professionals – managers, developers, business people, tool providers, investors – to discuss experience and strategies in the development and growth of online communities. As we have found with our past events, the best source of information on all of these challenges is other knowledgeable practitioners. Mashable readers are entitled to a discount by registering here with code mashable.

February 15, 2010, Barcelona, Spain: The Mobile Premier Awards recognize the year’s best in Mobile Startup Innovation and are the largest open, global startup competition in the mobile industry. The awards are the point of reference in startup premiers during the Mobile World Congress and are organized in collaboration with some of the main networks in the industry. Participation to the awards is free and open to any startup with a mobile angle. Sign up at www.mobilepremierawards.com and take your chance to walk the red carpet in Barcelona!

February 22-24, 2010, New York City: From authoring, editing, and layout to distribution and consumption, new technologies are changing all aspects of publishing. TOC will help you navigate these changes and understand how to apply them to your business or organization for a more profitable future in publishing. You’ll also have the opportunity to participate in conversations that are shaping that future as often as they are describing it. The fourth annual O’Reilly TOC Conference is your opportunity to join those inventing the future of publishing. Register now and save at: en.oreilly.com/toc2010/public/register. Save an additional 15% when you use the Discount Code: toc10mas.

February 22–25, 2010 San Diego, CA: Online Marketing Summit, the premier educational event for marketing professionals, is coming to San Diego this February. Join your marketing peers as they share ideas, hear from expert practitioners, and learn best practices in the areas of: Social Media, Search, Email, Analytics, and more – in a completely vendor free environment! Register now and receive 25% off using discount code MASHABLE.

March 4-5, 2010, Chicago, IL: At SOHO’s 2-Day, “The Co-Alignment of the Corporate and Personal Brand,” a Strategy Framework, develop your exclusive copy of “The Draft,” SOHO’s 16-page social communications policy workbook for businesses and corporations. The focus in 2010 is co-aligning the corporate brand with internal and external communications. SOHO brings to you presentations, case studies and Town Hall meetings with Chris Brogan and Dave Armano, and other experienced practitioners. For more information and to register, please visit http://www.Sohobiztube.com. Use discount code MashableChi for a 20% discount on a 2-day “The Draft” ticket.

March 15-16, 2010, London, UK: At Social Media World Forum, learn from social networks, brands, advertisers and analysts. Hear from leading social networks on their strategy, revenue models and how they are approaching the future. Worldwide case studies from global brands and corporations on their use of social media. Examine the current market conditions, future forecasts and predictions from leading analysts. Mention you are a Mashable reader to receive 15% discount.

March 24-25, San Francisco, CA: EyeforTravel’s Social Media Strategies for Travel conference goes beyond the ‘what is social media?’ debates (that were so 2008!) and examines the strategic importance of social media to travel brands. The 2 day conference will share leading case studies, hits, tips and advice from top travel companies including JetBlue, Hilton, Virgin America and more. Use the discount MASHABLE to save $100 on the registration fee!

March 30-April 1, 2010, San Jose, CA: We’re looking for people pushing the boundaries of location-enabled technology. If you are working on cutting-edge mobile projects, rich data, analysis tools, or augmented reality we want to hear from you. Geo programmers, researchers, early stage startups, garage hackers, social media mavens, CTOs, entrepreneurs, and product developers are invited to submit proposals to speak at Where 2.0. Registration opens December 2009. Be part of the Where 2.0 2010 program, submit your proposal now: en.oreilly.com/where2010/public/cfp/78

May 14-15, 2010, Milwaukee, WI: At SOHO’s 2-Day, “The Co-Alignment of the Corporate and Personal Brand,” a Strategy Framework, develop your exclusive copy of “The Draft,” SOHO’s 16-page social communications policy workbook for businesses and corporations. The focus in 2010 is co-aligning the corporate brand with internal and external communications. SOHO brings to you presentations, case studies and Town Hall meetings with Chris Brogan and Dave Armano, and other experienced practitioners. For more information and to register, please visit Sohobiztube.com. Use discount code MashableMke for a 20% discount on a 2-day “The Draft” ticket.

The Mashable Weekly Social Media and Marketing Event Guide is proudly supported by Eventbrite, the Web’s Event Marketplace.

Eventbrite is an online events marketplace where tens of thousands of individuals, businesses and organizations of all sizes manage, promote and sell tickets to their events. Make your event a success on Eventbrite.

Tags: conferences, Events, mashable

Hulu houses one of the most extensive legal video content libraries on the web. Backed equally by Disney, NBC Universal, and Fox and with plenty of content partnerships with other studios and providers, US-based users have access to thousands of episodes of TV shows and movies, plus even more clips.

Although Hulu’s search function is generally pretty solid, finding specific content if you don’t know an episode title or discovering new content can sometimes be difficult. Today, Hulu is going to make finding and discovering that much easier by adding support for site-wide tags.

Tagging systems are pretty common across the web (and increasingly computer applications in general) because the system can work as both a way to categorize content and also find related content. Many of us use tags extensively when bookmarking web links, creating music playlists and organizing and identifying photos.

Hulu’s tag system works much the same way. On every show or movie’s page, you now have a tab that says “tags” — underneath you can see what tags have already been applied to the program and you can add your own. You can also check off what tags you want to apply to content if you want to be able to just search or access programming you’ve already identified.

Where tags really become useful is in discovering new content. For instance, clicking on the tag “college” on the page for NBC’s “Community” brings me to this listing:

I’m presented with movies, TV shows, and episode clips that have been given the tag “college” and I can drill down to exclude certain content (like if I only want to view full episodes and I want it of a certain TV show).

Everyone can tag content and over time, tags that are used most frequently to identify a show or clip can be ranked higher in the search results. In your own tagged section, you can create your own custom video collections.

Tagging is one of those utilities that doesn’t show its usefulness until you actually use it. It’s a perfect fit for Hulu and one that will make finding and discovering new content on the site that much better.

Tags: categorizing, hulu, tags

Google has just announced yet another acquisition. This time, the Internet giant is buying Teracent, a company that tweaks display ads on-the-fly based on a wide variety of factors.

According to the official Google blog:

“Teracent’s technology can pick and choose from literally thousands of creative elements of a display ad in real-time — tweaking images, products, messages or colors. These elements can be optimized depending on factors like geographic location, language, the content of the website, the time of day or the past performance of different ads.

This technology can help advertisers get better results from their display ad campaigns. In turn, this enables publishers to make more money from their ad space and delivers web users better ads and more ad-funded web content.”

Expect to see these features integrated into AdWords in the future, as Google adds that they are “looking forward to welcoming the Teracent team to Google and to making this technology available to our display advertising clients — including those who run display ad campaigns on the Google Content Network and our DoubleClick clients.”

The news follows several recent Google acquisitions, including AdMob, Gizmo5, and reCaptcha.

Tags: advertising, Google

Apple’s App Store review process was contentious even before it officially launched. From the moment the SDK was announced in March of 2008, developers and tech pundits have questioned, opined, and tried to figure out the process to what gets in and what gets rejected.

Still, the Google Voice flareup notwithstanding, the issue of app rejections and the lack of a clear policy has been largely relegated to tech sites and developer communities. That’s why, as John Gruber pointed out, it is interesting that Apple’s senior vice-president, Phil Schiller, took the time to discuss the App Store approval process with BusinessWeek.

App Store rejection stories, ranging from the incredulous to the downright ridiculous have existed almost as long as the store has, but the developer’s have largely stayed put, despite the inconsistencies. However, in the last few weeks, there have been some cases of high profile developers (like Joe Hewitt from Facebook and longtime Mac software company Rogue Amoeba) vowing to leave the store all together.

Couple that with the big momentum surrounding Google’s Android platform, and it makes sense that Apple — a company that has pretty much refused to talk about App Store politics in the past — would sit down and try to clarify some things.

Defining “Inappropriate” Apps and Trademark Protection

Apple says that 90% of the time when an app is rejected, it’s rejected because of a technical problem. Having spoken to many, many developers over the life of the App Store, I would say this seems largely true. The other 10% are cases where Apple has to try to figure out whether or not the apps are appropriate or whether they violate any laws.

For instance, Schiller comments on a submitted app that helped users cheat casinos:

“We had to go study state and international laws about what’s legal and what isn’t, and what legal exposure that creates for Apple or the customer.”

Furthermore, there’s the issue of trademark protection. Apple is vigilant about its own trademark being used in other applications and also has to investigate trademark claims from other companies.

Schiller says:

“If you don’t defend your trademarks, in the end you end up not owning them.”

The Role of Gatekeeper

One of the biggest developer arguments against the iPhone is the need for an approval process at all. Rather than drawing parallels to video game consoles, the smartphone is often compared directly to a PC (or a Mac), where the rules governing what can be developed and sold to end users is much more broad and without restrictions.

Schiller isn’t quoted as remarking on iPhone security in defending the role of a review process, but I’ll go ahead and interject that it is a valid claim. The latest worm that targets jailbroken iPhones and takes advantage of users who have not changed their default SSH password makes it clear that the precautions we have become accustomed to taking on our desktops and laptops have not become common parlance for mobile phones.

As consumers, we treat our handheld devices differently than we treat our desktop devices and I don’t think it is unreasonable to have different norms about software development for those different scenarios.

Communicating More

One area I wish Schiller had responded to was the lack of communication that is often perceived between developers and Apple. I’ve spoken with a number of developers who have had apps rejected for arbitrary reasons and the lack of any sort of clarity and the inability to get a straight answer is what has often been most bothersome.

Some developers might be leaving or considering leaving the App Store because of ideological reasons, but for most, I think it’s the lack of communication. Although it’s understandable that with 10,000 apps getting submitted every week that Apple has a hard time keeping an open relationship with developers, there needs to be more communication.

As a consumer, do the App Store review processes affect your decision to buy or not buy an iPhone? What role do you think Apple should have in governing the App Store? Let us know!

Tags: app store, app store review process, apple, iphone, phil schiller

This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

It’s becoming clearer and clearer that social media can be an incredible tool for everything from enterprise research to customer service. And as many companies are finding out, social media can help improve your bottom line too.

However, there is a flip side, especially for employees sitting in front of computers at their desks or cubicles: it can also become a distraction. For some entrepreneurs, it’s tough to see how interrupting coding sessions with tweets or browsing the Facebook News Feed can be productive to business.

The reality of the situation though is that social media is just like any other tool: it can make a major impact in the right situations, and it can do harm as a time sink. Therefore, your goal should not be to discard social media, but to figure out how to make it a powerful tool, rather than a useless distraction.

Making a Plan, Setting Goals, and Executing

The key to making social media a useful tool is to have a specific plan and a goal for how you want to use it. Many small companies don’t enter the social media realm with a plan, but instead expect tweets and YouTube videos to equate to more traffic and more sales. That just isn’t how social media works.

Instead, understand your needs. Do you need more traffic to your website, or are you looking for more brand awareness? Do you want to prevent bad press before it happens, or are you more interested in creating a community that will generate good press? Always pick your goal first.

Once you have a goal, set a plan, just like you would for any other business objective. Make sure you set up metrics to measure success and implement tools that will help you measure ROI. That means tracking clicks with a tool like bit.ly or checking your Facebook Page’s analytics every week.

Finally, just execute. Don’t be afraid to reach out, make mistakes, and be vulnerable. Even if you make a mistake, customers will forgive you if you’re transparent. Just ask Facebook, which has made many blunders, but has overcome them and continues to grow.

Tips for Avoiding Social Media as a Distraction

Social media doesn’t have to be a distraction, but you should adhere to some rules to avoid it becoming a time sink:

- When you need to concentrate on an intensive task like coding or writing, close up the social media tabs and apps (and email if you can).

- Many times employees turn to social media when they’re bored, so constantly give them work that challenges and inspires them.

- Have a clearly defined social media policy so employees aren’t left wondering what’s acceptable and what is not. Here are some tips on building a social media policy.

- Prioritize. Sometimes social media outreach has to take a backseat to more pressing needs. know when that occurs.

More business resources from Mashable:

- 3 Creative Ways SMBs Can Use Social Media for Holiday Discounts
- 5 Important Web Video Lessons for Small Business Owners
- 10 Small Business Social Media Marketing Tips
- A Small Business Guide to Wikis
- 6 Tips for Customizing Your Small Business Blog

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Madmaxer

Tags: distraction, small business, social media

Verizon opened up total war against AT&T in October when it unleashed its “There’s a Map for That” ad campaign, slamming AT&T’s 3G coverage using the iPhone commercial catchphrase “there’s a map for that.”

Since then, both sides have relentlessly attacked each other. First AT&T sued Verizon, Verizon fired back with holiday attack ads and its own statement. Most recently, AT&T returned fire with its own commercials starring Luke Wilson.

Caught in the commercial crossfire however has been Apple and the coveted iPhone. After a month and a half of being the whipping boy of Verizon ads, Apple has apparently had enough. Starting tonight, new Apple ads will flood the airwaves that not only tout the iPhone, but the AT&T network (sort of).

Apple Isn’t Too Happy…

According to WSJ’s AllThingsD, Apple has opted to air two ads during tonight’s prime time programming (think “House”) that focus on the iPhone’s ability to surf the mobile web while still on your call, something that Verizon does not support.

The end of each ad is where Apple makes its dig into Verizon, asking “Can your phone and your network do that?” while displaying the AT&T logo. This is the first time we’ve ever heard an Apple ad specifically talk about the AT&T network.

Apple needed to respond: Verizon was attacking AT&T by targeting its core strength, which is by far the iPhone. Apple couldn’t let the iPhone’s brand be damaged anymore. However, these ads really aren’t Apple specifically endorsing AT&T, but rather them endorsing the non-CDMA 3G network AT&T employs. Verizon’s CDMA cannot support phone calls + Internet browsing, while the non-CDMA can.

Regardless, this entire affair is probably going to get uglier soon, with more commercials and more posturing by all sides. Here are the ads that will air tonight, courtesy of the Wall Street Journal:

Tags: apple, att, iphone, verizon

Several weeks ago, Google made some serious waves when it launched Google Maps Navigation for Android. The app made Google an instant player in the GPS market. To add insult to injury, Google made the app free, which has ravaged share prices for Garmin and TomTom.

Still, the app was only launched for the Android 2.0 platform, so only newer phones like the Droid could use Google Maps Navigation. But now the search giant has rectified that situation with the launch of Google Maps Navigation for Android 1.6 (Donut) phones.

The upgrade to Google Maps includes most of the basic GPS navigation features: voice guidance, automatic route recalculation, business information, and traffic data, among other features. That’s along with Google Maps and Wikipedia information and, of course, Street View.

However, Google Maps Navigation will not run the same on Android 1.6 as it does for Android 2.0. The key thing that’s missing are the “navigate to” voice commands. Still, the app missing a few features is better than not having Google Maps Navigation at all. It’s yet another step towards Google dominating every facet of our lives.

Tags: android, Google, Google Android, Google Maps, Google Maps Navigation, gps

Anti-virus maker AVG is warning of a new worm spreading on Facebook via user’s walls.

According to one of AVG’s bloggers, the worm spreads as users that are already logged into the social network click on the suggestive photo that is being placed on their walls by infected friends.

Here’s how it works:

“For those unfamiliar with Facebook (is there anyone other than me in that set?) the thumbnail of the worm’s infective page is a link to the page. The worm’s objective, of course, is that others viewing the victim’s wall will click the link, and as they are logged into Facebook, the worm will propagate its link to that victim’s wall, and so on…

This worm uses what is technically known as a CSRF (Cross-site Request Forgery, also called XSRF) attack. A sequence of iframes on the exploit page call a sequence of other pages and scripts, eventually resulting in a form submission to Facebook “as if” the victim had submitted a URL for a wall post and clicked on the “Share” button to confirm the post.”

While this attack seems to cause more embarrassment than it does damage to your computer or account, it also seems like one of the easier ones to fall for since all it requires is “clicking da button, baby.” The long and short of it seems to be: avoid the booty.

Tags: facebook, security, trending, viruses

Photoshop Mobile for the iPhone is one of of our favorite apps, and the Android version, which was released earlier this month, brings all the same non-destructive easy-editing tools to your Android powered device.

When it was first released, however, it was only available in the US & Canadian Android Markets. Never fear non-North American Android consumers, you can now download the app from any country that has an Android Market. Just go to Phothosp.com’s Android page and point your phone at the barcode.

In addition to offering the English version of the app to all Android users, the app has also been updated to fix a background application bug, so existing users — go ahead and visit the Android Market or Photoshop.com’s mobile site and update your app.

Not familiar with Photoshop.com Mobile? Check out this Android-specific demo video:

The cool thing about Photoshop.com is that you can let it interface with Flickr, Facebook, and Photobucket, so edits you make and save on Photoshop.com can also be published to your other photo accounts.

What do you think of Photoshop Mobile? Let us know!

Tags: adobe, android, Photoshop Mobile

Welcome, music fans! Today marks another installment of Free Music Monday for your listening pleasure. We’re celebrating the #musicmonday tradition on Twitter with 10 tracks, albums, or playlists from around the web. Last week we ran a special covers, remixes, and mashups edition, and this week we’ll be showcasing alternative rock.

There’s no hard and fast rule about what makes it “alternative,” but we’ll be trying to pick out a bit less mainstream pop rock and a bit more quirky and unusual material. Let us know if you disagree with any of our genre classification in the comments! And remember, we also take submissions from you, so if you’d like us to showcase your music or tracks from artists you represent, head on to the end of this feature for details on how to submit music to us for consideration.

And now, let’s get rolling with the list!

1. Cougar: Rhinelander — Crossing progressive, technical rock with ethereal, Gregorian chant-like vocals qualifies this Madison, Wisconsin-based 5-piece band for the title of “alternative.” Stream the track below or download the MP3 from RCRD LBL.

2. Jeremy Fisher: Scar That Never Heals — Super feel-good harmonious sunshine about a mysterious gun-running lady.

3. Citay: Careful With That Hat — Hailing from San Francisco, Citay recalls the city’s sound of 40 years ago perhaps moreso than of today’s. Great vocal harmonies and psychedelic strains infuse the jam-rock track you can download for free at the Fader.

4. Polvo: Right the Relation — You don’t need a perfect SAT score to enjoy Polvo’s brand of surreal math rock. Check out a new video from the Chapel Hill, North Carolina quartet below.

5. Festizio: Every Now and Again — Right-click to download this track from San Francisco’s Festizio, who you can also check out on Facebook.

6. Elizabeth & the Catapult: Taller Children — Fun video for a track that reminds us of something important about “growing up.”

Elizabeth & The Catapult :: TALLER CHILDREN

elizabeth & the catapult | MySpace Music Videos

7. Field Music: Measure — Combining Beatles-esque harmonies and hooks with strings and acoustic guitar, this duo of brothers from Sunderland, England offers a free download at Spinner.com.

8. Dream Pilots: Comedown — Check out the video from the Norwegian rockers’ track “Comedown” below, or right-click for a free download courtesy of Quality Junk.

9. Brian Jonestown Massacre: Who Killed Sgt. Pepper? — The new album from the psychedelic San Franciscan alt-rockers won’t be officially released until January 1 of next year, but you can stream the entire thing now at the band’s website. [via Rock on the Streets]

10. Grizzly Bear: Ready, Able — This insane claymation video from Brooklyn’s experimental rock outfit Grizzly Bear is like Gumby on acid, with a wistful ethereal soundtrack.

Thanks for tuning in, music fans! If you like this feature, please give us a push by sending it to your music-loving friends. You can always find the latest edition of this feature on the Free Music Monday tag page. We’ve appended the list of past Special Edition themed Free Music Mondays at the end of this post in case you’d like to check out any of the back catalog.

Big thanks to everyone for all the excellent submissions we’re getting. If you sent us tracks and we haven’t featured them yet, stay tuned for a future Free Music Monday. If you’d like to submit tracks for yourself or an artist you represent, give us a shout at barb AT mashable DOT com. Be sure to send us either a link to an embeddable stream and/or let us know which track(s) you’re willing to provide as a free MP3 download (attachments up to 25 MB are welcome). Thanks everyone!

Free Music Monday Back Catalogue

- Covers, Remixes, and Mashups Edition
- Electronica Edition
- Hip-hop Edition
- Labor Day Edition
- Live Edition
- Rock and Pop Edition
- Singer-Songwriter Edition
- Your Submissions Edition

Tags: alternative rock, free music monday, music, rock

Think Twitter’s flattening growth might lead the company to consider selling out to the likes of Google or Microsoft? Think again.

Speaking at an event at Oxford University, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone told reporters that “We are definitely not interested in selling the company.” Instead, he suggested the microblogging service may eventually eye an initial public offering.

Of course, no one ever seems to say publicly that they are trying to sell their company, but much of the talk around Twitter right now seems to be about the impending launch of various revenue models, including advertising and paid accounts. The company also recently saw its first significant revenue via deals with Google and Microsoft to put tweets in search results.

Of the company’s new advertising, Stone said “Everyone’s going to love it. It’s going to be amazing” and added that 2010 would be Twitter’s “revenue year.”

Are you buying it, or do you think Twitter sells out in 2010? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Tags: twitter

YouTube and the web have provided a new and powerful medium for video and TV commercials. The great ones can go viral, resulting in millions upon millions of views.

MSI’s Acrobuttocks commercial, Microsoft’s MEGAWOOSH and Windows 7 ads, and Evian’s Roller Babies immediately come to mind.

Out of the thousands of commercials that have gone viral though, the skating Evian babies video has accomplished something none of the others have: it has broken a world record. Last week, the Guinness Book of World Records officially declared Roller Babies the most viewed online advertisement in history.

Utilizing data from Nielsen and YouTube, Guinness has concluded that, through November 9th, Evian’s break-dancing infants have racked up a total of 45,166,109 online views worldwide. It’s even more amazing when you realize that this ad campaign was exclusive to YouTube. 45 million views for a critically acclaimed commercial that millions remember and actively discussed worldwide? We think any brand will take those numbers.

More companies are realizing the power of social media to spread a message on the cheap. That’s why we think this record’s destined to be broken sooner rather than later. Here’s the commercial if you want to immerse yourself in the sheer awesomeness of dancing babies:

[via the YouTube Biz Blog]

Tags: babies, guinn, Guinness, Rolelr Babies, skating babies, youtube

Update: Facebook has informed us that they’re looking into the problem and will provide more details soon.

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A quick check of Twitter confirms it: Facebook is down. The world’s largest social network is having some type of uptime issue that is affecting at least a large swath of users.

According to our tests (which involved clicking “refresh” many times), Facebook.com will sometimes load after multiple attempts, but there’s clearly a problem. So it’s not just you: Facebook is indeed down.

We’ve put in a request for more information with Facebook to see what’s wrong. We’ll keep you updated as we learn more.

Tags: facebook, trending

Google Chrome is lightning-fast, holds over 3% of the browser market, and will soon become an operating system. Yet while it has several decisive advantages over Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox, and other browsers, there is one thing it does not have: extensions.

We’ve known that extensions were coming to Chrome since February, but so far only the developer version of Chrome has extensions. Here’s a look at some of our favorites.

It now looks like the wait for third party Chrome Extensions is nearing an end. Today, the search behemoth announced that it has opened up the Google Chrome extension gallery for submissions.

The process for submission is simple: log in with your Google account, zip your file code and your extension’s icon, submit supplementary info like a description or a YouTube video, and you’re done! The process is automatic for almost every extension: ones that include an NPAPI component (Netscape Plugin Application Programming Interface) or content scripts that affect “file://” URLs will require additional information and review.

We’re one step closer to extensions within Chrome. This could spark a whole new development ecosystem and spur new competition in the web browser space. At the very least, Chrome wouldn’t lose so badly to Firefox in our weekly reader vote.

Tags: chrome, Chrome Extensions, Google, google chrome

Yes, really. Rupert Murdoch’s crusade to blame Google for the failing newspaper business model continues today, as it emerges that News Corp has conducted talks with Microsoft about de-indexing the company’s sites from Google and (presumably) being paid to include them in Bing instead.

The concept makes sense only if you buy Murdoch’s claims that Google is “stealing” content rather than simply helping people find it.

The revelation comes from the Financial Times, which has a strong track record for accurate reportage – this is unlikely to be a fluffy rumor. The piece reads, in part:

Microsoft has had discussions with News Corp over a plan that would involve the media company’s being paid to “de-index” its news websites from Google, setting the scene for a search engine battle that could offer a ray of light to the newspaper industry.

The impetus for the discussions came from News Corp, owner of newspapers ranging from the Wall Street Journal of the US to The Sun of the UK, said a person familiar with the situation, who warned that talks were at an early stage.

However, the Financial Times has learnt that Microsoft has also approached other big online publishers to persuade them to remove their sites from Google’s search engine.

News Corp and Microsoft, which owns the rival Bing search engine, declined to comment.

I say go for it. So, I’m sure, do all the other web publishers who see that removing many of the major news sites from Google will provide even more traffic for the upstarts. News Corp is merrily making itself irrelevant to web consumers, while continuing to use Google as its punch bag rather than addressing the radical transition of media into the online world.

Internet-enabled set-top box makers Roku (who we wrote about in our top 10 gadgets for social media addicts feature recently) have some welcome announcements today about 10 new, free content partners being added to the platform in an also new Roku Channel Store section.

Coming to the new “App Store”-style store are popular video providers blip.tv, independent netcasters Revision3 and This Week in Tech, photo browsing from both Flickr and your Facebook photos, music from recommendation engine Pandora, plus content FrameChannel, Mediafly, MobileTribe, and Motionbox.

As internet-based television and other video content marches into the living room, we’re seeing a number of different approaches to bringing online video to the big screen. Some, like Boxee, began as a software interface that makes hooking up your computer to your TV an easier experience and later began pursuing a dedicated hardware solution. Roku began initially as a hardware solution — an alternative to (or addition to) the set-top box that powers your cable subscription.

Roku has several different players available including a standard definition model and two flavors of high-definition boxes. Existing content partners will of course remain, with Netflix, Amazon Video on Demand and MLB.TV also available for streaming video to the devices. The new Channel Store represents a shift towards building an open platform model to allow new channel partners to more easily make their content available via the Roku box.

How do you watch internet video in the home? Do you have a setup that brings online television to your actual television?

Tags: facebook, flickr, ONLINE VIDEO, pandora, revision 3, roku, Twit, video

This post is part of Mashable’s Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark.

Name: Pearltrees

Quick Pitch: Pearltrees is a new visual way to organize content on the Web and connecting people’s interests.

Genius Idea: How do you organize the web on the browser? Since the time of Netscape, we’ve been using bookmarks and a wide series of folders to manage our favorite websites and web pages. Perhaps in some instances you use something like Google Reader to organize your articles and favorite things on YouTube, but the result is the same: it’s a messy affair.

Pearltrees is nothing less than a reinvention of how we organize the web. The service provides a completely unique and visual experience to saving your favorite websites, organizing what you find interesting, and even seeing what others are saying about specific web destinations.

Signing up for Pearltrees is simple, but getting used to the interface and all of its features is not as easy. Once you add your personal information, you are presented with a display connecting you to a web of circles, which are called pearls. In this system, you add websites you find interesting (either manually, via a browser extension, or through bookmarklets) into your profile. You also have control over where the pearls are placed on the page.

Now for the organization part: you can create complex systems of pearls, known as pearltrees. These complex trees are like your bookmark folders and subfolders, but visually represented. If you create a pearl for YouTube, you could create a tree filled with nothing but your favorite YouTube videos. The same goes for articles or any other type of web content. You can collapse or expand trees at will.

Clicking on a pearl gives you a range of options that go beyond visiting your favorite website. It provides a preview of the page and offers options to share it via social media. The most unique aspects are the connections and discussions, however. You can see how others have organized any website within the pearltrees, along with their notes on that website. In a way, it’s like Delicious, but more in-depth and visually rich.

Pearltrees takes a time investment to make it useful. Once you’ve spent some time with it though, it’s easy to get addicted. It’s more intuitive than bookmarks and provides a social context comparable to Delicious. It’s still in Alpha too, meaning that you can expect it to evolve significantly as its team better understands what users want and need.

Spark of Genius Series Sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark

BizSpark is a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.

Entrepreneurs can take advantage of the Azure Services platform for their website hosting and storage needs. Microsoft recently announced the “new CloudApp()” contest – use the Azure Services Platform for hosting your .NET or PHP app, and you could be the lucky winner of a USD 5000* (please see website for official rules and guidelines).”

Tags: bizspark, Pearltrees

Spotify, the European music service that attracted attention by launching the first streaming music app for the iPhone, now has a version for Symbian smartphones. Spotify is a fantastic app, offering access to over 6 million tracks; unfortunately, it’s available only in certain European countries, with the US version pending.

Some of the smartphone models Spotify now works with are Nokia 6220 Classic, E71 and 5800 XpressMusic models, as well as some non-Nokia phones, like the Samsung GT-I8910 Omnia HD and Sony Ericsson Satio.

Spotify’s Symbian application is available on m.spotify.com; alternatively, Symbian smartphone owners can enter their phone number on this page to receive SMS installation instructions.

Tags: spotify, Symbian

A couple of weeks ago, the first iPhone worm appeared, spreading on jailbroken devices with the SSH application installed (vulnerability being the fact that many users haven’t changed the default root password). As far as worms go, this one was quite benign, merely “rickrolling” users; i.e., changing the background image on the device to an image of Rick Astley.

Now, according to early reports of strange activity by Dutch ISP XS4ALL, and later confirmed by Sophos, there’s a new worm in the wild, and this one is far more malicious.

The new worm is called “Duh” or “Ikee.B”, and it uses the exact same vulnerability as the first one. The fix is thus identical – change the root password in the SSH application to something other than the default, which is “alpine”.

Failing to do so might result in very serious consequences. According to Sophos, Ikee.B is “designed to connect to a server in Lithuania and to follow orders from remote hackers.” It can find vulnerable iPhones on a wide range of IP addresses, including IPs in several different countries, for example the Netherlands, Portugal, Australia, Austria, and Hungary. Furthermore, it changes the root password on the iPhone to “ohshit” (as discovered by Paul Ducklin, head of technology in Sophos Asia Pacific.)

Users who haven’t jailbroken their iPhone or haven’t installed the SSH application are not affected by this vulnerability.

Tags: iphone, security, trending

The day after Thanksgiving, which this year falls on November 27th, is also known as Black Friday, and it marks the beginning of the Christmas shopping craze.

Capitalizing on one of the busiest shopping days of the year, Apple has announced a “special Apple one-day shopping event” on November 27. The company posted a teaser saying the following:

“Come back to the Apple Online Store this Friday for a special one-day-only shopping event. You’ll find lots of great iPod, iPhone and Mac gift ideas — all with free shipping.”

So there you have it; if you don’t know what to do with your extra cash, here’s a chance to blow it all on Apple’s gadgetry (hopefully at a good discount).

Tags: apple, black friday

It wouldn’t be an award show without some sort of bizarre and shocking moment that gets the Internet abuzz, and last night’s American Music Awards were no exception.

The talk of the show this time is Adam Lambert’s (who you may remember from American Idol) performance, in which he kisses another guy towards the end.

The event is still the talk of the Web this morning, bringing back memories of the infamous Britney Spears and Madonna makeout from the 2003 VMAs which pre-dates both YouTube and Twitter (nonetheless, the clip still has 5 million views).

At the moment, video of the Lambert performance does not seem to be available on ABC’s (who aired the AMA’s) website, though the clip is on YouTube (below). Whether or not that’s an editorial or technical decision, we’re not yet sure, but you may recall that MTV reaped a massive traffic boost from keeping the Kanye West/Taylor Swift incident off of YouTube and in its own player earlier this year.

It’ll be interesting to see how long the buzz surrounding Lambert’s pushing-the-envelope performance lasts given the vastly different media landscape that exists just a few years after the infamous Britney/Madonna moment. Feel free to share your thoughts about it in the comments.

Tags: adam lambert, american music awards, youtube

The Time Warner-AOL marriage officially comes to an end on December 10th, when AOL once again becomes its own publicly traded company.

How will AOL convince investors that it’s ready to get back on the track? With new, shiny logos of course. Oh, and by lowercasing the “o” and the “l” in AOL. This follows the company getting rid of the name “America Online” back in 2006 in favor of the shorter AOL.

Check out these samples courtesy of MediaMemo:

Of the rebrand, AOL’s CEO Tim Armstrong says, “Our new identity is uniquely dynamic. Our business is focused on creating world-class experiences for consumers and AOL is centered on creative and talented people – employees, partners, and advertisers. We have a clear strategy that we are passionate about and we plan on standing behind the AOL brand as we take the company into the next decade.”

The company plans to reveal the full details of the new brand identity on the 10th when it makes its New York Stock Exchange debut.

What do you think of the new logos? Let us know in the comments.

Tags: aol

Mobile advertising company AdMob (which was just acquired by Google) has just released its mobile metrics report for October 2009. Although mobile usage as a whole is up, both RIM — maker of the BlackBerry — and the Android platform have seen particularly solid increases in the last six months.

Although the Android-based Droid from Motorola hit the market in November, and thus wasn’t included in this month’s report, AdMob reports that already the Droid represents 24% of all Android requests worldwide. I guess 250,000 new device owners has an impact!

Android Gains

AdMob says that since April, they’ve seen requests from Android devices increase 5.8 times. Additionally, Android now represents 20% of the smartphone market in the US. Two of the new Motorola phones, the Motorola Cliq on T-Mobile and the Motorola Droid on Verizon have shown lots of growth. As mentioned, the Droid accounted for 24% of all Android requests in the AdMob network as of November 18.

iPhone Still King

Android’s gains are impressive, but the iPhone still leads AdMob’s smartphone request figures in the United States and worldwide. AdMob estimates that smartphone traffic share is at 44% of all traffic and that Apple represents 50% of those requests.

The iPhone is without a doubt the single most popular smartphone, but the fact that the OS is limited to two devices (if you count the iPod touch) will always put a limit on its potential growth.

Tags: admob, android, droid, iphone, mobile analytics, smartphones

When developers get their hands on a social media platform, amazing things tend to happen. For example, Facebook transformed web apps when it launched the Facebook platform. The result has been everything from Facebook Connect to FarmVille. Twitter’s an even better example when you start thinking of the countless Twitter apps for mobile phones and the desktop.

That magic is exactly what LinkedIn is hoping will happen with today’s launch of the LinkedIn Platform, which opens up outside applications to use LinkedIn’s data. Oh, and TweetDeck will be launching LinkedIn integration this week.

The company has been experimenting with a developer platform for a while. Most recently, LinkedIn announced integration with Microsoft Outlook 2010. However, until today only select developers could access LinkedIn APIs. Now any developer can work with the data, much like Facebook and Twitter.

You’re about to see a