Feed aggregator

A new study from security firm Barracuda Labs provides some interesting insights into the state of the Twitterverse. Unfortunately for the microblogging startup, the stats say that most of its users aren’t very active.

The study looked at around 19 million Twitter accounts (PDF) in order to figure out how people are using Twitter. It started with one assumption: an active or “True” Twitter user has at least 10 followers, follows at least 10 people, and had tweeted at least 10 times. By that definition though, only 21% of Twitter users are active users.

There’s a great deal of interesting data in the breakdown. Only 26% of Twitter users had 10 followers or more by December 2009, while only 40% were following 10 people or more (in fact, a majority of Twitter users, 51%, were following less than five people).

In terms of tweets, the report estimates that 34% of Twitter users hadn’t tweeted even once, while a whopping 73% of Twitter’s users tweeted less than 10 times. That means nearly all of the tweets on the social network were coming from about 1/4 of the userbase. Power users dominate.

Barracuda Labs also analyzed Twitter’s growth over time, and the numbers are consistent with previous reports that show while Twitter grew like wildfire in early 2009, it has dramatically slowed down in recent months. Going back further to early 2008, the report estimates that the microblogging tool grew by just 0.31%. However, with the quick rise of media coverage and the influx of celebrities such as Oprah and Shaq, Twitter use grew by 20% in April 2009 before dropping off to 0.34% growth in December 2009.

While the news isn’t stellar, it isn’t all bad for Twitter — these metrics are moving in the right direction. A full 79% of users had less than ten tweets in June 2009, but that number dropped to 73% by December. 80% of users had less than 10 followers in June 2009, but that percentage dropped to 74% by December. If that trend continues, you’ll hopefully see a more diverse and active Twitterverse going forward.

[via MediaMemo]

Tags: Barracuda Labs, followers, stats, twitter

Forbes has released its annual list of the world’s billionaires and when it comes to technology, the list includes many of the same faces we see year after year.

After regaining the throne last year, Bill Gates has once again been displaced as the world’s richest man — this time by Carlos Slim (who held that post back in 2007), but he remains the richest man in tech by a wide margin with an estimated net worth of $53 billion.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who fell off the list last year, has rejoined, tied with 20 others at #212 with an estimated net worth of $4 billion.

Check out how some other tech heavyweights weighed in:

Larry Ellison: $28 Billion

The Oracle founder and CEO is the sixth richest person in the world this year, sitting pretty with $28 billion as his estimated net worth.

Sergey Brin & Larry Page: $17.5 Billion Each

The two Google co-founders both place 24th on the list with $17.5 billion in estimated net worth.

Steve Ballmer: $14.5 Billion

Thanks to a rise in Microsoft’s stock price, Ballmer saw his net worth rise and he sits at #33 on the overall list.

Paul Allen and Michael Dell: $13.5 Billion

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen might appear to spend money like its water, but he’s still ranked at #37 on the list, tied with Dell founder and CEO Michael Dell.

Jeff Bezos: $12.3 Billion

The Amazon founder and CEO is ranked #43 with $12.3 billion in estimated net worth. That’s a lot of eBooks!

Eric Schmidt: $6.3 Billion

Google CEO Eric Schmidt is ranked #117 this year, tied with News Corp. mogul Rupert Murdoch.

Steve Jobs: $5.5 Billion

Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs has watch his company’s stock price soar over the last twelve months. He’s ranked #136 with an estimated $5.5 Billion.

Pierre Omidyar: $5.2 Billion

The eBay founder is ranked #148 on the list.

George Lucas and Steven Spielberg: $3 Billion each

While most filmmakers don’t necessarily fall into the category of technology players, I think we can make an exception for the guy who gave us Jaws, E.T. and Minority Report and the guy that gave us Star Wars and Howard The Duck. Both directors are tied at #316.

Jerry Yang: $1.3 Billion

Hey, being ousted wasn’t the worst thing to happen to Yang — Yahoo’s stock was up 26% in the last year, buoying the co-founders net worth along with it.

Reviews: Facebook, Google

Tags: bill gates, billionaires, mark zuckerberg, steve jobs

Twitter has just flipped the switch on geolocation within Twitter.com. Now at least some users can pull up location-based information from individual tweets on the microblogging website.

While attaching locations to tweets has been possible for several months now through third party apps, Twitter.com itself hasn’t done much geolocation until today. It was first noticed yesterday, but the full rollout seems to be happening today.

It’s a simple integration: with any tweet that has a location attached to it (mostly via apps that support it, such as Foursquare and Tweetie), a small location icon will appear at the end of the byline of that tweet. Clicking on it will bring up a Google Map showing the location where that tweet was sent.

Here’s a screenshot:

It’s a simple integration, but it’s important to the future of Twitter. Location has become this year’s big trend, and with Facebook set to launch location features next month, the company can’t afford to be left behind.

What do you think: is this an important market for Twitter to command? What location features should it launch next? Let us know in the comments.

Reviews: Foursquare, Twitter, tweetie

Tags: geolocation, twitter

Sony has named its forthcoming PlayStation 3 motion controller “PlayStation Move.” The controller is Sony’s answer to Nintendo’s Wii Remote and Microsoft’s Project Natal for Xbox 360 — a way to use motion to play video games instead of (or at least in addition to) buttons.

The controller was originally announced at the E3 interactive entertainment conference last year, but it was not named. Since then people have simply called it “the PlayStation motion controller.” It’s good to have a name to work with even though it’s a straightforward one.

Move is expected to launch in Fall of 2010, right next to Microsoft’s competing Project Natal peripheral for the Xbox 360. Both devices will use cameras to track movements, but the similarities end there. Move uses a spherical light which is tracked by the camera in concert with internal sensors. Natal on the other hand uses 3D camera technology to track the entirety of the player’s body without a controller.

Sony plans to charge under $100 for a package including Move, the PlayStation Eye camera and one game. The pitch: It’s far more accurate than Nintendo’s Wii remote, so it will appeal to hardcore gamers who play difficult games, not just casual gamers who enjoy party games.

The sensor controller will be accompanied by an attachment with an analog stick, just like the nunchuk that Wii owners attach to their Wii remotes.

Move will be supported by new games Ape Escape, Echochrome 2, and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11, plus old games LittleBigPlanet, Flower, and Resident Evil 5. Others are planned too, including several made specifically for the controller: boxing game Dukes, family party game Move Party, high-def sports suite Sports Champions, Kung Fu game Slider, and shooter The Shoot.

Here are some images of the controller, some screenshots from the planned games, and an embedded trailer from Sony.

Images

PlayStation Move Trailer

[img credit: Kotaku]

Update: Sony blogged about PlayStation Move, adding tons of details and images. We’ve added the info here.

Tags: GDC, gdc-2010, motion controls, nintendo wii, playstation 3, playstation move, sony, video games, wii remote

Google has just released an alternative player for Google Reader that gives those with a penchant for browsing news the ability to do so in an image-heavy, TV-like fashion.

Dubbed Google Reader Play, the new tool is an experimental Google Labs project that presents stories one by one — based on their Recommend Items technology — using enlarged photos and auto-playing videos (in lieu of text) on a black backdrop. Viewers can redefine categories and star, like or share stories, with those behaviors further contributing to what Google displays.

Google Reader Play could be both an entertainment utility for browsing the web and a complement to your Google Reader experience. Actions that you take in Reader or Reader Play are shared between the two products, and the recommendations in Reader Play are personalized based on the people you’re following in Reader.

Google Reader Play is certainly eye-catching, but it’s more pop than it is substance. In fact, given that Google Reader appeals to fairly narrow audience today, we believe the product was intended to up the entertainment factor and introduce Reader-esque features to a much broader set of users.

It’s nice to look at and worth a try; whether or not that’s enough to attract the attention of those outside the web/tech realm remains to be seen. We do, however, think that Google Reader Play on an iPad or actual TV set, say via something like Boxee Box, would be worth watching.

Reviews: Google, Google Labs, Google Reader

Tags: Google, google reader, google reader play, tv

Web-based Twitter client Brizzly has three major developments to report: a new free iPhone app, a new Brizzly Guide (which gives trending topics on Twitter their own hub pages as permanent resources for information on the top Twitter discussion items over time), and the acquisition of WikiRank.

The Brizzly Guide is a user-editable area that fleshes out the backstory and adds contextual information to Twitter trends. Loading up the Guide shows the top 10 current trending topics at the left, and either a description of that topic or a prompt to be the first to explain the trend.

Taking cues from wiki-style user-editable sites like Wikipedia, the Brizzly Guide encourages users to curate the landing pages that will act as resources for current and past Twitter trends over time.

The free Brizzly iPhone app is available now in the App Store, featuring multiple account support, lists, photo uploads, saved searches syncing, classic-style retweet functionality, and support for the new Brizzly Guide with user-editable trends and news topics.

Further evidence of Brizzly’s adoption of wiki-style philosophy comes with the announcement of the company’s acquisition of Wikirank, an app that visualizes Wikipedia data and will soon, presumably, help visualize Brizzly data and build out a more robust Brizzly Guide. Wikirank displays popular and trending pages in a clean and easy-to-use interface. CEO Jason Shellen said of the acquisition, “We will be integrating Wikirank technology into the Brizzly Guide over the coming months,” so we should expect to see more from the Twitter client surrounding trending and data visualization in the near future.

Are you a Brizzly user? What do you currently use to monitor Twitter trends?

Reviews: Brizzly, Twitter, Wikipedia

Tags: brizzly, iphone, iphone apps, twitter

Last night at its Campfire One event, Google officially launched the Google Apps Marketplace. The Google Apps Marketplace offers third-party developers and services a way to integrate directly with the Google Apps platform and sell that integration at whatever price point they choose. This is a huge win for the cloud because it finally allows other cloud services to tap into some of Google’s APIs for things like Gmail and Google Docs at a much deeper level, which can benefit their own customers, as well as offering additional value to Google Apps itself.

Although the launch was yesterday, many companies and developers have been preparing for this event for quite some time and a number of very cool and useful apps are already available in the Marketplace. Here are just a few that stand out to us.

1. Zoho for Google Apps

Zoho and Google Apps actually offer a lot of the same services: hosted email, word processing, spreadsheet and presentation tools, wikis, chat, etc. However, that doesn’t mean that Zoho doesn’t benefit from Google Apps integration.

Plus, because Zoho also offers services that go beyond what Google Apps can do, direct integration can be a nice way for Zoho to keep customers using their product (or even make them more interested in checking it out).

Zoho has two products in the Google Apps Marketplace: Zoho CRM and Zoho Projects. Zoho CRM is free for up to three users and then $12 per month per user starting with the fourth user. Zoho Projects is free for one project and starts at $12 per month for unlimited projects.

Both tools allow users to plugin Google Apps into the Zoho CRM or Zoho Projects system.

2. Intuit Online Payroll

Intuit, makers of Quicken and Quickbooks, has an online payroll tool called Intuit Online Payroll. Intuit Online Payroll for Google Apps was one of the applications demoed at the Campfire One event yesterday and it lets users access their payroll or paychecks from anywhere in Google Apps.

For instance, paychecks can be retrieved from Google Calendar, users can print checks or E-File their taxes and run the payroll application from directly within Google Apps.

Pricing is $39 per month for one employee filing taxes in one state, each additional employee is $1.50 per month and each additional state for filing taxes is $12 per month.

3. Manymoon

Manymoon is a team collaboration application that integrates with Google Apps. Think of it as a project and task management tool.

The Manymoon app was built to deeply integrate with Google Docs, Google Calendar and Gmail. The company has also created a Google Gadget for managing and monitoring tasks.

Manymoon is free and is currently the highest rated app in the Google Apps Marketplace.

4. Aviary

Aviary offers web-based tools for things like image editing and creation, vector graphics, and audio editing. Now Aviary can integrate into Google Apps, which lets you use Aviary to create graphics that can be used and accessed within things like Google Docs and Google Sites.

The free app lets you do all kinds of stuff, like edit images for business cards, presentation slides and labels, create scalable vector art, record and remix audio and even edit the markup from websites or slides.

This is the sort of functionality that Google doesn’t have the resources to offer, which is why it’s great that Aviary can just plug into existing Google Apps accounts!

5. Expensify

Expensify is a service designed to make expense reporting less painful. Expensify’s Google Apps app integrates directly with Google Apps, which eliminates one more step in the expense-report creation process.

Once reports are submitted and approved, they can be exported to QuickBooks or other accounting solutions in one-step. Expensify is always free for report creation and submission and for two submitters a month, the approval process is free too. After that, approval for each individual submitter is only $5 a month.

6. Box.net

Like Zoho, Box.net shares some features with Google Apps. Box.net has really morphed from a file storage service into a full-fledged cloud-based content management system akin to something like Microsoft SharePoint. Many of the companies that are creating apps for the Google Apps Marketplace also have apps for Box.net’s OpenBox platform.

However, while there is some overlap in terms of services offered (especially since Google Docs added file storage support in January), there is even more opportunity for users of both services.

Box.net is offering a Cloud Content Management app for Google Docs that will let you basically access and integrate your Google files directly within the Box.net ecosystem.

That means you can create a Google Doc or Google Spreadsheet as a file type within Box, which means you can then utilize the collaboration tools of both platforms. You can also access and manipulate your Box content directly from within Gmail and Google Calendar — which really makes this attractive for companies that want to look at replacing both Exchange Server and SharePoint.

Existing Box.net users can call their account manager to start the setup process of integrating the two systems and new users can sign up for a free trial of Box.net and automagically add it to Google Apps, plus get 30% off upon sign-up.

More to Come

We’re only scratching the surface in terms of what the Google Apps Marketplace can potentially offer users — as well as developers and other providers — but just looking at some of the apps and integrations that already exist, we have to say, this is exciting.

The power of the “cloud” really isn’t realized until you can see how easy it is to not just access files from various places (like on mobile phones), but also when you can easily share and integrate with other services. For small business users especially, the extensibility options offered to Google Apps via the Marketplace makes Google’s platform even more compelling.

Have you tried any of the new Google Apps apps? What do you think? Let us know!

Reviews: Aviary, Box.net, Gmail, Google, Google Docs, zoho

Tags: Aviary, box.net, cloud computing, Expensify, google apps, Google Apps Marketplace, intuit, manymoon, Zoho

Remember the Stanford iPhone Orchestra and their kick-ass musical stylings? Well, there’s a new smartphone virtuoso on the scene by the name of PixieTea who could become more synonymous with the word “telephone” than Lady Gaga herself. The Chinese artist created a video and song — mostly on an iPhone 3GS — that has been going viral over in China.

PixieTea’s video has become a hit on Youku (basically the Chinese YouTube), racking up 1,670,109 hits and counting since it was posted back in December. Gizmodo brought the vid to the attention of the U.S. today when it shared it on its site.

According to Gizmodo, the girl made use of apps like DrumMeister, Bassist, iDrum, NlogSynthesizer, NESynth and iShred, as well as a laptop, a camera and photography software. And let’s not forgot those sweet pants, which recall the ones rocked by fellow foreign viral legends, the Norwegian curling team.

Check out the video below, which puts all those tape deck recordings of “Like a Virgin” that my sister and I made when I was six to utter shame.

Oh, and bonus points to anyone who can translate the lyrics for us so that we can sing along.

Tags: apple, iphone, music, viral video

It seems like every city in America wants Google Fiber. And who can blame them? Ever since Google announced its plan last month to bring ultra-high speed Internet connections (as in, up to 100x faster than what most of the country has today) to between 50,000 and 500,000 people, cities across the U.S. have been clamoring to curry the favor of the search giant.

First there was Topeka, KS, which renamed itself by proclamation to Google, KS. Then Duluth, MN upped the ante by promising (comedically, we hope) to name all the town’s first-born children after Google. Then Greenville, SC entered the fray with their all-out “We Are Feeling Lucky” social media campaign that included a landing page, YouTube channel, Facebook events, and Twitter hashtag.

But will any of these efforts be enough?

The Competition

Topeka, Duluth, and Greenville are not alone in wanting Google to trick out their municipalities with super fast Internet speeds. A growing number of American cities are making their pitch to Google in advance of the March 26th deadline, and some of them are pretty creative.

Peoria, IL, for example, is playing off its reputation as the prototypical middle American town and the famous “Will it play in Peoria?” catchphrase. They’ve launched Google Plays in Peoria in an attempt to convince the company that their town is the perfect test-bed for Google’s new technology.

Perhaps taking a cue from Topeka, on the other hand, Sarasota, FL has also renamed itself… to Google Island. Their site includes the standard YouTube videos, Facebook Fan Page, Twitter account, and cleverly, a “Declaration of Independence from Narrowband Networks.”

Other cities have also pulled out all the stops in their campaign to get Big G to invest in their infrastructure. Baltimore, MD thinks a petition is the way to go, and presents their case using a Google Maps mashup, YouTube videos, and a list of local startups that could use a few more bits on their BmoreFiber.com pitch page.

Austin, TX, Charlottesville, VA, Greensboro, NC, Portland, OR, Grand Rapids, MI, and Indianapolis, IN are also in on the action with either official or citizen-led campaigns to catch Google’s attention.

Who Wins? Google, For One

Google has yet to reveal how it will pick where its magical fiber will be implemented — glitz and numbers may ultimately have nothing to do with it. However, no matter which city wins the ultimate prize of having Google come to town and pimp out their Internet connections the way Xhibit pimps out cars, Google itself is a big winner in the process. So are social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Google wins because they get to further their agenda. The stampede among cities to compete for Google’s trial has already demonstrated the desire that people and municipalities have for faster Internet infrastructure and “open access” networks. “It’s obvious the ISPs and incumbent utility providers don’t feel the incentive they need, the pressure they need, to keep themselves up to date,” wrote a commenter on a blog post from Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn’s office declaring their intention to compete for Google Fiber. Making the public more aware of the issues that Google cares about (better/faster infrastructure, universal access, net neutrality) is a win for Google, whose plans for the cloud-based computing hinge on faster and more ubiquitous broadband connections.

Facebook, meanwhile, has proven to be one of the most popular meeting grounds for Google Fiber advocates. Most of the campaigns already mentioned in this post have a presence on Facebook, and some communities and citizen-led groups have put the entirety of their energy on promoting the case to fellow citizens through the social network. There are growing Facebook groups for Google Fiber in Ventura, CA, Columbia, MO, Davis, CA, Huntsville, AL, Buffalo, NY, Baton Rouge, LA, Rochester, NY, Fresno, CA, Cincinnati, OH, San Luis Obispo, CA — to name just a few. In fact, a Groups search for “Google Fiber” on Facebook this morning yielded almost 250 results.

Other cities and towns are turning to Twitter to make their case. Madison, WI, for example, has a Twitter account and is using the hashtag #madfiber to spread the word about Google Fiber to other Madison residents. And Memphis, TN mayor A.C. Wharton, Jr. is using his Twitter account to tweet about his city’s pitch and encourage citizens to get involved using the #memphisgoogle hashtag.

Social gathering places like Facebook and Twitter are used all the time for campaigns bigger than the Google Fiber competition, so it may seem naive to call those sites winners here. But like Google, social networks would benefit immensely from faster, more universal broadband access, so getting their brands entangled in the movement early might be a major boon down the road.

Is your city gunning for Google Fiber? Which of these campaigns do you think will best catch Google’s attention? Let us know in the comments.

Reviews: Facebook, Google, Google Maps, Twitter, YouTube

Tags: facebook, Fiber Optic, Google, google fiber, Google Kansas, ISP, isps, social media, tech, trending, twitter, youtube

This year’s South By Southwest (SXSW) festival is rapidly approaching. Beginning with the Interactive Media events on March 12th, Austin, Texas will be the place to connect with the brightest in tech and media and get the scoop on some exciting new ventures.

Whether you plan to physically attend or not, social media will be critical to how people connect and share ideas at this world-class event. If you want to keep in touch with all the goings-on, look no further than these tools that you can use on the web, your mobile device, and your favorite social networks.

For Those Headed to Austin

While in-person networking is the goal of many, social media will be key in bringing interested parties together across this vast festival that this year is spread across four separate campuses. If you’ll be in attendance, check out these resources for staying connected.

The Official SXSW First-Timers Guide

If you’re brand new to SXSW and feeling a bit overwhelmed at the scope, the first-timers guide has a wealth of resources to assist the uninitiated. These include links to online registration (if you still need to sign up), hotel booking, scheduling tools, maps, and this informative video.

my.SXSW and QR Coded Badges

The official social network of the festival is my.SXSW, and you are automatically invited to join upon registering. This closed network, just for attendees, allows users to build personalized conference schedules, join exclusive groups, and connect with others at the festival.

The addition of QR codes on registered badges gives attendees with smartphones an added way to solidify in-person connections. Simply scan a new friend’s personalized QR code and you’ll automatically be following him or her within the my.SXSW network.

For additional ways to utilize the my.SXSW network, check out the info on their tools page.

SXSW2010 Event Calendar on sched.org

Sched.org is an interactive calendar with social media integration that makes it ideal for festivals like SXSW. An “unofficial” but highly useful calendar has been created for SXSW that will give you an overview of each day’s events, talks and panels.

Sign in with Facebook Connect or Twitter and start compiling a list of the events you’ll be attending. By clicking on a particular event, you can also see who else is attending, and view real-time updates about the event from other attendees on social networks. With a bit of effort, this tool could become your go-to social dashboard and connection builder for the entire festival.

SitBy.Us

Social media aficionados will be converging on Austin from all over the U.S. and the world. It’s likely that some of your Twitter friends will be in attendance while you’re there.

Don’t let an opportunity for an in-person meeting slip by. SitBy.Us is a useful tool that lets you see which panels your Twitter friends will be attending, and even where in each room they will sit.

By logging in with your Twitter account (via OAuth), SitBy.Us provides a mobile-optimized web interface that allows you to plan and coordinate panel attendance with people you’re looking to connect with in person (and perhaps even avoid those you don’t!).

SXSW Badges for Foursquare

Foursquare has created 16 new SXSW-specific badges for those location-based networkers who are Austin bound. What’s more, if you do unlock a badge, you can track down a Foursquare team member at the festival and claim a temporary tattoo with the mark of honor.

Cliqset’s SXSW Map

Cliqset.com has created a real-time map that aggregates all of the geo-tagged activity in the festival area of Austin. Pulling in data from the major location-based social networks (Brightkite, Flickr, Foursquare, Gowalla, Qik, and Twitter), the map will give you a bird’s eye view of who is at SXSW, where they are, and what they’re doing.

Click a pinpoint on the map to expand the user’s status update. It should be interesting to see the map fill up with notes come festival time this Friday.

Disclosure: Cliqset is a Mashable sponsor

Mashable’s Austin Real-Time

Looking to connect with like-minded festival goers or other attendees from your hometown? Check out Mashable’s own Austin Real-Time Network. Sign in with your Twitter, Facebook, or Cliqset ID and browse or search for other festival patrons by common interest or location. By adding yourself to the network, you can also share what you’re doing and where you are via your favorite social networks.

For Those Who Will Watch from Afar

If you’re not able to make it to Austin this year, don’t fret. The magic of social media and the web can bring the festival within reach. While you may not be able to hob-knob with your favorite tech and music geeks in the warm Austin sun, you can still get your SXSW fix with these resources.

The Official SXSW Twitter and Facebook Accounts

Being the socially-savvy team that they are, the crew behind the festival does a good job keeping their fans and followers in the know. If you want to keep an eye on developments in Austin, be sure to add these official channels to your social feeds.

SXSW Videos

Though not officially connected to the festival, SXSW Videos is a user-generated destination for footage from the event.

Powered by Viddler, the site lets you browse videos that come out of SXSW (in various categories, including Interviews, Shows, Bands, etc.) as well as upload your own if you’re in attendance.

The content can be a bit of a grab-bag, but if you’re looking for some first-hand video accounts of what’s happening on the ground, check in there every once in a while.

SXSW Blogs

Searching for other ways to live vicariously through the SXSW attendees? Dedicated blogs are a good way to stay in the loop.

The Unofficial SXSW Insider’s Guide is a blog/community built with Ning where festival attendees (and interested parties who couldn’t make it) can blog, upload photos, and discuss events.

You can browse the site blog-style to see what people are up to, or connect with individual members to get a more social scoop.

SXSW Baby is another unofficial blog that will be covering the events throughout the festival.

Currently, they have quite a few tips for those who are enroute to Austin. But if you’ll be checking in from home, stay tuned for further updates as the festival kicks off this Friday.

Mashable’s SXSWi Channel

Of course you can always stay up to date on the latest news coming from Austin with Mashable’s own channel, dedicated to the Interactive Media portion of the festival. Members of our team will be on the ground in Austin to get you the social media and tech scoops that are sure to break in the days ahead.

More SXSW resources from Mashable:

- 3 Things to Do Before MashBash SXSWi This Sunday Night

- Coming to SXSW? Add Yourself to Austin Realtime!

Reviews: Brightkite, Facebook, Flickr, Foursquare, Gowalla, Mashable, Twitter

Tags: BLOGS, cliqset, facebook, festival, foursquare, gowalla, location-based, networking, ning, social media, social networks, sxsw, sxsw2010, twitter

Facebook may have secured a patent for its news feed technology, and Google for location-based ads, but that doesn’t make the two companies immune to other patent challengers. In fact, both Google and Facebook are being sued by Winksite over mobile social networking technology.

The complaint, first reported by Bloomberg, was said to be filed by Winksite yesterday in a Manhattan federal court, and points to patent infringement claims around Facebook Mobile and Google Buzz. The company is looking for reparation in financial form (though specific amounts have yet to be disclosed). More importantly, it is also seeking “a court order to prevent further use of its invention.”

Winksite was awarded the patent in question — United States Patent No. 7,599,983 “Method, apparatus and system for management of information content for enhanced accessibility over wireless communication networks”  – in October of last year, though its mobile application technology dates back to 2004. Given this, Winksite’s lawyer Jeremy Pitcock believes that both the social networking and search giant were aware of the patent and are thus liable for damages.

The patent summary reads:

“In accordance with one aspect of the invention, information content is managed in a network-based communication system by providing a content management site accessible to a user of the system. The content management site is configured so as to permit the user to enter information in accordance with a specified format comprising a plurality of selectable mobile information channels each corresponding to an information category. The entered information is processed to generate for the user a mobile site comprising information content that is accessible via one or more mobile devices over a wireless network of the system.

“By way of example, the content management site and the mobile site may each comprise web sites accessible over the Internet. A given mobile site may be shared by a group of members having a common interest. The mobile site may comprise, for example, a collaborative workspace, a data mailbox, a collaborative community, or other similar element(s). The information content of the mobile site is preferably configured such that a persistent version of the content is accessible via one or more mobile devices over the wireless network.

“In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the information content of the mobile site is configured so as to integrate therewith information associated with at least one messaging action, collaboration action, location-based service action, or other wireless networking functionality of the wireless network. The information associated with the wireless networking functionality of the wireless network may be determinable based on one or more parameters associated with one or more of the mobile information channels of the content management site. “

Both Google and Facebook are said to be reviewing the complaint but have yet to put out public statements addressing the matter.

We’re curious to see how the court and companies respond, but until then we will dig into the case and original patent to see if we can get more clarity on the specific technologies that Winksite feels are being unlawfully used in Buzz and Facebook Mobile.

[img credit: KLH49, iStockphoto]

Reviews: Facebook, Google Buzz, iStockphoto

Tags: facebook mobile, google buzz, lawsuit, patent, patent infringement

If you’re seeking a job in social media, we’d like to help out. For starters, Mashable’s Job Lists section gathers together all our resource lists, how-tos and expert guides to help you get hired. In particular, you might want to see our articles on How to Leverage Social Media for Career Success and How to Find a Job on Twitter.

But we’d like to help in a more direct way, too. Mashable’s job boards are a place for socially-savvy companies to find people like you. This week and every week, Mashable features its coveted job board listings for a variety of positions in the web, social media space, and beyond. Have a look at what’s good and new on our job boards:

Mashable Job Board ListingsSenior ASP.NET Developer at a confidential company in Santa Monica, CA.

We are seeking an exceptionally ambitious .NET Software Engineer with a passion for programming and an insatiable desire to develop products that will impact users around the world.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Digital/Social Media Director at Chlopak, Leonard, Schechter & Associates in Washington DC.

Strategist: Develops digital/social media strategies and weaves them into public affairs, crisis and corporate communications plans to meet clients’ needs and goals.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Social Media Coordinator at Surfaces USA in Los Angeles, CA.

Must have strong writing & communication skills for launching a social media platform for 7 stores.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Web Developer at Scheels in Fargo, ND.

Experience developing object oriented applications, software and software systems in order to meet customer requirements

Read more about this opportunity here.

Online Marketing Specialist at United Domains in Cambridge, MA.

In this role you will bear considerable responsibility for driving forward the continued growth of United Domains’ business in multiple strategically critical areas. These include:

Read more about this opportunity here.

Operations Engineer at Blackboard Inc. in San Francisco, CA.

We are currently looking for an Operations Engineer to join our Mobile team in our San Francisco offices.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Mobile Web Developer at Blackboard Inc. in San Francisco, CA.

In particular, our team is looking for an engineer who has experience and ambition in developing mobile optimized websites.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Blackberry Developer at Blackboard Inc. in San Francisco, CA.

In particular, our team is looking for an engineer who has experience and ambition in developing software using the Blackberry platform.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Android Developer at Blackboard Inc. in San Francisco, CA.

In particular, our team is looking for an engineer who has experience and ambition in developing software using the Android platform.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Online PR Associate at Xomba.com in Jacksonville, FL.

The ideal candidate will possess an understanding of traditional as well as online PR strategies, a proficiency using Web-based social media tools and experience developing and executing successful marketing programs.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Social Media Sales Consultant at Meltwater Buzz in Mountain View, CA.

The position offers complete account responsibility from first contact to end negotiations, and account management.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Account Executive at Impact Radius in Santa Barbara, CA.

We are looking for an experienced Account Executive to recruit and retain Media Partners to work with Advertisers on a performance basis.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Social Media Sales Consultant at Meltwater Buzz in New York, NY.

The position offers complete account responsibility from first contact to end negotiations, and account management.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Community Account Manager at (mt) Media Temple in Culver City, CA.

In this role, you’ll be the primary point of contact between our VIP clients, select partners and various internal departments.

Read more about this opportunity here.

New York Editor at Citysearch in New York, NY.

We’re growing here at Citysearch and we are Seeking: Consummate person-about-town for a full-time position as Citysearch New York City’s local City Editor/Community Cruise Director.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Senior Account Executive at MWW Group in New York, NY.

Senior Account Executive serves as primary day-to-day client contacts.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Part Time Marketing/Social Media Intern at SheSpeaks Inc. in New York, NY.

You will play a key role to contribute in our fast growing technology focused social community platform business working directly to deliver great ideas and results to hundreds of thousands of consumers and for the best known Fortune 500 brands.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Senior Account Executive at Electric Artists in New York, NY.

Two of our entertainment clients require a marketing, PR and social media superstar who will support some of the hottest shows on cable with online marketing, PR, social media and promotional initiatives.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Web/Multimedia Designer at Colby College in Waterville, ME.

The Web/Multimedia Designer is responsible for design, project management, usability, and implementation for assigned parts of the official Colby website and for ancillary sites, and for being an active contributing member to the College’s multimedia efforts.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Technical Champion at CreativeFeed in New York, NY.

We are looking for an entrepreneurial tech leader to drive the technical train at CreativeFeed.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Media Sales Professional at TMG in Washington DC.

We are looking for a confident, enthusiastic account executive with 5+ years of demonstrated experience to generate new business across multiple platforms – print, online and video.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Facebook Application Developer at a confidential company in Houston, TX.

You’re a frontend capable developer whose true skills are backend.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Social Media Strategist at M Booth & Associates in New York, NY.

The right candidate will be able to provide strategic counsel to the agency’s internal teams and to our clients who are looking to create conversations with consumers and influencers online.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Account Executive at Wildfire Interactive in Palo Alto, CA.

We are looking for Account Executives to build relationships and win business from large, well-known agencies and brands.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Account Manager at Wildfire Interactive in Palo Alto, CA.

We are looking for Account Managers to provide the highest level of customer service to our largest customers.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Product Manager at Wildfire Interactive in Palo Alto, CA.

We’re looking for folks with a passion for creating great products.

Read more about this opportunity here.

MySQL DBA/Developer at Interactive One in New York, NY.

Interactive One is seeking a MySQL DBA/developer with a minimum of 3 years experience.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Corporate Social Media Rockstar at Harrah’s Entertainment in Las Vegas, NV.

The Social Media Manager will lead Web 2.0 strategy for all casino/hotels nationwide.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Social Media Manager at Hachette Filipacchi Media US in New York, NY.

The ideal candidate will help increase uptake of HFM traffic, content and other digital assets via social media activity.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Senior Marketing Manager at SheSpeaks Inc. in New York, NY.

The right person will get an opportunity to shape all aspects of our marketing business: communications, materials, online, social media and client products.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Creative Strategy Consultant at Common Cents Inc. in New York, NY.

Common Cents seeks a Creative Strategy Consultant, for immediate hire, to develop an online strategy that will create a compelling user experience to highlight the Common Cents brand and spawn a devoted network of supporters who provide needed revenue to operate the program.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Senior Product Manager/Evangelist at Microsoft in Redmond, WA.

This is an opportunity to join the Windows Live Consumer Product Management team as our lead for driving the strategy and execution for how we get our core stories infused and landed with press, analysts, bloggers and other key players in the industry.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Senior Brand Manager at Smarter Travel Media in Charlestown, MA.

In this newly created position you’ll be responsible for delivering against US brand awareness & engagement goals, leveraging PR, social media, existing and new strategic partnerships and other resources, across a portfolio of online travel brands.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Web Developer at Vantage Strategy Consulting in Annapolis, MD.

As a web developer, the individual is responsible for developing innovative, reusable web-based tools for progressive websites and community building.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Social Media Admin Assistant at www.tree.com in San Diego, CA.

An online content development and social media company in San Diego is seeking a contractor based Social Media Administrative Assistant to help with its growing list of campaigns and clients.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Project Manager/Digital Media at TMG in Washington DC.

The Project Manager is responsible for managing custom digital media production’s initiatives in a dynamic publishing environment within TMG.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Digital Strategist at 360i.com in New York, NY.

Working with top names clients in media and entertainment, consumer package goods, and retail (like NBC, MTV, Ralph Lauren, Coca-Cola, and JC Penney), the Digital Brand Strategist will be responsible for leading the overall strategic vision, working across creative, media and emerging media to establish a brand road map that starts with social or digital marketing and cascades through all customer touch points.

Read more about this opportunity here.

LAMP Software Engineer at Adknowledge in Kansas City, MO.

Our Software Engineer will be responsible for integrating with third party APIS (application programming interfaces) and producing high quality code in a LAMP (linux, apache, mysql, & php) environment.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Director of Digital Communications at TCI in St. Louis, MO.

This St. Louis, Missouri based position is responsible for strategic planning, creating and implementing online campaigns for multiple clients in diverse industries.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Digital Director at TMG in Washington DC.

The right candidate must provide the structure and support for the overall vision for assigned projects (e.g. web development, strategy, technology, etc.).

Read more about this opportunity here.

Mashable has a variety of web 2.0, application development, business development, and social networking job opportunities available. Check them out at Mashable’s Job Board.

Got a job posting to share with our readers? Post a job to Mashable today ($99 for a 30 day listing) and get it highlighted every week on Mashable.com (in addition to exposure all day every day in the Mashable marketplace).

Reviews: Android, Mashable, eXperience

Tags: career, careers, jobs

YouTube is pushing itself further into citizen journalism with an interview with FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, and just as it has in the past, the world’s largest video portal is allowing its users to submit questions via CitizenTube.

The interview, which takes place right after the release of the National Broadband Plan on Tuesday, March 16, will explore topics such as access and affordability, security, Internet in schools and net neutrality. Most, if not all, of the questions will come from YouTube user submissions.

Last month, the FCC released a report on broadband adoption that indicated that cost is the biggest barrier to widespread broadband adoption in the U.S. We’re sure this, along with concerns about net neutrality and the FCC’s new plan around it, will be hot topics of discussion.

Last month was the first edition of the CitizenTube series, where President Obama answered questions live on YouTube after the State of the Union. It proved to be a major success, with more than 12,000 questions submitted and 660,000 votes registered. While we don’t expect the same type of response for the FCC chairman, there still should be thousands of questions from concerned citizens on the state of broadband and Internet in America.

Reviews: YouTube

Tags: CitizenTube, fcc, youtube

One of the many initiatives on MySpace’s upcoming roadmap is a renewed focus on the applications platform, most notably surrounding games. The company announced this morning at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco the launch of a new Games Gallery experience, a gaming-specific iPhone app, and a number of new tools and analytics for developers.

As we learned in our interview yesterday, about one-third of MySpace users currently play games daily, and the goal is to drive that number up to 50%. The new MySpace Games Gallery experience gives users a better interface for discovering, sharing and rating new titles by providing personalized recommendations, popular game charts and notifications from friends’ Streams.

A new iPhone application, dubbed Neon, lets users access their games on the go. The app provides real-time notifications that are shareable with friends, access to all games currently available on MySpace and a way to remotely install games right from the phone. A number of new social games are launching on the platform as well, including Fish Isle, Hoop Fever Live, Kingdoms of Camelot, Paradise Paintball, SPP Ranch, Warlords, Wild Ones and Zombie Revenge.

For game developers, MySpace is adding a number of new features to the platform, including a new API for analytics, a way to track how users are finding new games, access to improved performance tools for multiplayer games and integration with Unity, a powerful 3D gaming engine. The latter is part of an effort to encourage third-party developers to craft more sophisticated and visually rich game titles than the current crop of casual social titles currently in vogue on social networks (Farmville et al).

Do you play casual games on MySpace, Facebook or other social networks? Are you interested in being able to access the titles you play from your phone? Would you be interested in seeing more sophisticated games become available on social networks?

Reviews: Facebook, MySpace, iPhone

Tags: casual games, games, GDC, GDC2010, iphone, iphone apps, myspace, social games, unity, video games

The Facebook platform game FarmVille now supports the Facebook Credits virtual currency.

The popular online game uses two units of in-game currency: Farm Cash and Farm Coins. Previously, you could buy them with a credit card or PayPal. Now the game offers Facebook Credits as an option.

Facebook Credits are the number-one option, actually. They’re the default payment choice, featured at the top of the list pictured here.

We recently learned that Facebook takes 30% of developers’ Facebook Credits revenue — the same percentage that Apple takes from its iPhone and iPod touch App Store sales. Analysts have speculated that Facebook might surpass $1 billion in revenue this year, and the social network’s virtual currency could be a vital part of growth beyond that.

This new option in FarmVille is arguably bigger for Facebook Credits than it is for the game. FarmVille has more than 80 million users, making it bigger than Twitter. Exposure to an audience that large is an important milestone for the Facebook Credits project, which has been a slowly expanding experiment up until now.

Reviews: Facebook, iPhone

Tags: facebook, facebook credits, facebook platform, farmville, microtransactions, online games, virtual currency, Zynga

Today at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, OnLive CEO Steve Perlman revealed a U.S. launch date of June 17 and a monthly price of $14.95 for his subscription-based, on-demand video game-streaming service.

We wrote about OnLive previously when it went into beta testing. You can think about the service as essentially “Netflix Instant Queue for games,” where your monthly subscription costs gives you instant access through your PC or Mac to a library of video game titles, including high-profile new releases from launch partners Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, 2K Games, THQ and Warner Bros. At launch, we should expect between a dozen and 25 games to be live on the service, with more to come as game publishers negotiations proceed.

One of the perks of this type of system is that players don’t need to have screaming fast hardware to play the latest, graphics-intensive game titles — all that processing is done on the server side, and images are sent back to the player’s computer (or OnLive’s Micro Console TV Adapter unit) over the network. Mac users also stand to benefit in particular from a service like OnLive, in that many PC titles never get released on the Mac or are only ported long after release. Still, the service will face competition from Valve’s Steam, which recently announced native Mac support for its digital distribution platform and several of its popular titles.

OnLive does offer something fundamentally different, however — instead of downloading video game software to your local computer, OnLive keeps its games running in the cloud and users play them instantly across the network. Not only is the service disruptive in terms of consumer behavior, but could upset the existing supply chain by disintermediating retail stores and even in some sense consoles themselves.

If you’re interested in checking out OnLive in action, the company just expanded its beta program to accept another 25,000 users. Successful registrants will also be rewarded with three months’ worth of free service.

Are you interested in an on-demand video game service? Do you prefer to download and own your own digital game copies a la Steam or does a cloud-based streaming service appeal to you? Is $14.95 a reasonable price for a monthly subscription?

Reviews: Steam

Tags: 2k games, cloud computing, EA, GDC, GDC2010, mac, onlive, pc, streaming, THQ, ubisoft, video games, warner bros

The first Lady Gaga song pack for the Rock Band music video game is coming next week. It will include the songs “Bad Romance,” “Just Dance,” “Monster” and “Poker Face.” You’ll be able to buy each song for $2 or all of them for $6.99.

Yes, “Paparazzi” and “LoveGame” are missing from the list, but this might be just the beginning of Rock Band’s Gaga content. Gaga is a hit in geek culture. She’s a spokeswoman for Polaroid. One hundred thousand Facebook users rallied to create and celebrate National Lady Gaga day. Twenty-five percent of Vevo’s 35 million visitors only watch Gaga videos. And her “Bad Romance” music video (which has almost 143 million views on YouTube) is loaded with gadgets like iPods, laptops, and Wii remotes.

Rock Band and Lady Gaga are already in the zeitgeist together. Last year, South Park ran a scene with Cartman performing Gaga’s “Poker Face” on Rock Band with his friends and it became a viral YouTube video. We’ve embedded it below. Have fun, and get this: This South Park version will be available for Rock Band, too!

You’ll be able to start bluffin’ with your muffin’ (or at least your suite of fake musical instruments) on the Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii on Tuesday, March 16, and on the Sony PlayStation 3 the following Thursday, March 18.

South Park Does Lady Gaga in Rock Band

Reviews: Facebook, YouTube

Tags: celebrities, electronic arts, harmonix, Lady Gaga, music, playstation 3, PS3, rock band, South Park, video, video games, Wii, Xbox 360

When it comes to competition, CNN President Jon Klein fears Facebook. The man at the top of the news network believes that the social network is more of a threat to his business than other broadcast media organizations.

In a recent question-and-answer session with BusinessWeek, Klein specifically states, “We want to be the most trusted source,” and, “I’m more worried about the 500 million or so people on Facebook versus the 2 million on Fox.”

The intriguing statements come just weeks after Hitwise released data showing that Facebook’s new role is becoming that of a news site. As a news portal and discovery engine, Facebook has the power to make or break a story, a power that clearly threatens the rank and file of the old media elite.

Where we discover news is no doubt changing, but that’s not all bad news for CNN. We tend to think that the power wielded by newsies on Facebook could prove to be an advantage for CNN should the network really cater to the social networking crowd.

For example, in recent months we’ve seen the ratings of award shows skyrocket; part of the ratings bump correlates with web denizens experiencing the televised broadcast with their friends, family and followers online. It would seem logical then that TV and online can coexist in a mutually beneficial relationship.

As for CNN’s immediate future, Klein’s comments also indicate distinct strategies for web and broadcast. Moving forward the company plans to continue with video content on CNN.com and ramp up affiliate deals with the likes of HBO and Time Inc.

So where do you get your news: CNN or Facebook?

Disclosure: Mashable has a content syndication partnership with CNN.

[img credt: Pragmagrapher]

Reviews: Facebook, Mashable

Tags: cnn, facebook, media, News, trending, tv

The Internet is in the running for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has confirmed. Championed by Wired magazine in Italy, the nomination has been backed by OLPC founder Nicholas Negroponte.

Italian Wired suggests that the Internet should receive the highly regarded prize for helping to advance “dialogue, debate and consensus.”

The nomination from Wired has been dismissed by some as a publicity stunt — and the support of long-time Wired columnist and investor Nicholas Negroponte is hardly surprising. Although currently seeing some success with the One Laptop Per Child program, Negroponte’s past projects have included such dubious endeavors as as Swatch Internet Time.

The award is to be given to the person (or organization) who has “done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.” The creators of the World Wide Web — Tim Berners-Lee, Larry Roberts and Vint Cerf — have been nominated, too.

The final nominations will be now be considered by the Committee with the winner due to be announced on October 8, while the awards ceremony will take place in December.

Do you think the Internet should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize? Or should it go to a person or organization? Is Wired’s campaign just a PR stunt? Have your say in the comments below.

Tags: internet, nobel peace prize, Tim Berners-Lee, Wired

Daytrotter is celebrating its fourth anniversary promoting music discovery of emerging bands with a new business model. Now bands who sign on for one of Daytrotter’s unique daily live sessions have an opportunity to sell high-quality digital recordings for a revenue split using a new in-house payment system that additionally gives artists real-time access to sales figures and statistics.

“We started thinking about how we could help these bands more and make more things happen for them,” Daytrotter Founder Sean Moeller told us. The site will adopt a freemium model in order to preserve access to the Daytrotter service fans know and love; users will still be able to download 128 Kbps MP3s or stream audio from Daytrotter sessions for free, but high-quality Apple lossless versions of the sessions will be available for purchase. Prices will vary, but are expected to be in the ballpark of about $4 for a typical four- to eight-track session, with a Download Manager application handling fast and easy access to the music you’ve ordered.

Nearly 90 bands have already signed on for distribution deals with Daytrotter, and Moeller says talks will be ongoing with the majority of the 1,200-some artists that Daytrotter has worked with in the past. For new bands coming in for a Daytrotter session, the option is open to sell tracks through the site, but isn’t at all mandatory: “It’s a way to give these bands an option. We don’t force bands to sign anything when they come in to do a session; it’s all in good faith,” said Moeller.

The new initiative reflects a rapidly changing music industry as business models shift onto the digital landscape. Moeller noted, “The record label model is really old at this point,” and that as more and more people are turning to blogs as sources of music discovery, why not “cut out the middleman”? This model offers a chance for new revenue streams for bands as well as an opportunity to go beyond an advertising-supported model for Daytrotter. While revenue-sharing specifics were not disclosed, Moeller said labels and bands should expect “a fair split.”

In addition to selling their Daytrotter sessions, artists are encouraged to use the new platform to sell other studio albums, live recordings, and to generally think of Daytrotter as a new partnership opportunity for direct sales. One way to think about the new business model shift is to imagine replacing “the now-gone neighborhood record store with the cool kid behind the counter whose judgment you could always count on,” Moeller said.

For music fans, buying direct through Daytrotter means supporting their favorite bands with a more favorable cut than with services like iTunes, as well as contributing to Daytrotter’s mission of promoting music discovery and giving exposure to up and coming bands.

If you’re already a fan of Daytrotter, what do you think of the new business model? If you’re new to the site, would you feel good about kicking in a few bucks to support emerging artists or are you happy with free streams and lower-quality downloads?

Tags: business models, daytrotter, digital downloads, music, music industry