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Google +1 Button Now Shares Directly to Google+

Google has updated the button 1 with several new features, including the ability to directly share a website for Google +. "From today, we are making it easier for Google + users to share web pages with their circles, straight from the 1 button," said Senior Vice President Vic Gundotra Social Google in a blog. "Only one page, as usual and look for 'Share on Google +" the new option. From there you can comment, choose a circle and share. "




In the past, clicking on the button in a single shared the contents of a tab in a user profile + Google. This is in contrast to the button as Facebook, which published an article on the Facebook wall of a user. Now that Google has its own social network, the search giant can match the functionality of Facebook button.

Google also announced the addition of the button bits + 1. A fragment of + is simply the link, the image and complete description when you share a link with Google +. These fragments + make the content more attractive Google + social network, so the search giant is offering publishers the ability to customize their fragments. Publishers can customize the code of a button to set what is shown in a snippet +.

Google says that a button has grown rapidly since its introduction in June. The button is now integrated in over 1 million web sites, for a total of 4 million hits a day. Those are impressive numbers, but the success or failure of the 1 key will be measured in clicks, not views.

AmazonLocal Daily Deals Service Comes to New York


AmazonLocal, daily online store offers, goes to the city of New York.
Amazon will begin offering daily specials in the coming weeks to customers in four regions - Downtown, Midtown and Uptown Manhattan and Brooklyn. A first time are 50% off tickets last Cirque du Soleil, Zarkana in the center, $ 13 for 27 the value of cupcakes in Brooklyn cupcake and $ 15 to $ 30 in purchases Upper East Side Gristede any supermarket. (Upper West Sides Upper East and are considered "Uptown").



In the coming months, Amazon plans to offer web site offers members as well, including $ 25 to $ 50 to spend on jewelry and watches at Amazon and $ 25 to $ 50 to spend on 6pm.com.

Entry to New York comes after Amazon launched AmazonLocal in Boise, Idaho, in June. AmazonLocal is now in 30 locations, including San Francisco, Charlotte, North Carolina, Austin, Texas, and Orlando, Florida. Amazon is also an investor in and launched a promotion LivingSocial very effective in January to offer a card for $ 20 Amazon gift for $ 10.

Mike George, vice president of AmazonLocal Mashable says the market is large enough for several players. "I do not necessarily believe that there will be a winner in this space," he says. "There is an enormous amount of invention going on."

Buffer helps you build a tweet queue and spreads out your updates over time

You know what kind of Twitter that publishes 10 tweets in 10 minutes? Not their fault, say the founders of buffer. Twitter just created inefficient for people who are not surfing the Internet all day, but prefer to read in chunks. "When you read things is not necessarily the best time to share", co-founder of buffer Widrich Leonhard says. "You want to read it, and do not necessarily want to participate immediately in a conversation. Maybe it's night and nobody sees your tweets."



To resolve this problem, Widrich and co-founder Joel Gascoigne has created a simple solution. Buffer is a tool that helps users create a queue of tweets, and you are reading, and then organizes the tweets to hit its channels throughout the day.


According to the analysis of the implementation of a sample of 2. 000 users, on average Buffer clickthrough rates increased in tweets by 200% in the first three weeks of the inscription - probably because Twitter more often and at times of the day when more people are using Twitter .

What makes it worth Buffer is that you never have to visit the website actually. Has extensions for all major browsers allow users to add tweets directly from the page you want to share, add a button option next Twitter response retweets saving to a queue (this feature is limited to the extent of Chrome) and is making efforts to integrate with the readers.

"If we have the best algorithm, but is only a web control panel and you should always go there and put in their tweets, that will be very difficult for you," says Widrich. "But if this is where you go if you're in your reader ... that will make the exchange of experiences to be much easier. "

Twitter recently Strawberryj reader. I put a button in the application buffer. Buffer hopes to have a public API ready next month, so that other services can do something similar. Services rather than adding buffer, the more difficult for a Twitter client (or Twitter itself) to crush the launch by simply creating a similar function.

"We do not want to be a customer, you really only want the experience of sharing in social networks and improve that."

Current buffer is the only income source of their premium accounts, allowing more than one Twitter account and a larger tail Twitter. Of about 30,000 users of the launch, about 2.5% made its paid version.

Facebook’s Big Privacy Changes

Facebook unveiled a massive wave of change in the privacy of Tuesday. Revision is one of the more privacy in the history of the company, which includes more than a dozen changes in the profiles, status updates, location and tags.
In fact, there are so many changes that easy to get confused about the changes Facebook is doing and what impact their privacy. The updates are significant enough that Facebook will make each of its 750 million users go through a tutorial on setting updated privacy.



Profiles

Changes in the privacy of the main Facebook profiles are:

Greater control of the profile: Profile visibility controls now appear next to content when editing your profile. For example, if you just want to see your friends about the music you like, you can change directly from the profile editing page.
Online tips: Facebook shows a balloon, a friend or gear icon to indicate whether some of the content is public, only seen by friends or customized for a group of friends or on the list.
"View Profile How": The "profile as" feature has been moved from the Privacy Settings page in the top right corner of the user profile. This is designed to make it more accessible.
Review of the Privacy page: Reform of privacy will result in a privacy page much cleaner and easier, since most of the privacy settings are now integrated at the profile page.
Tags

Changes in the privacy of Facebook major labels are:

Reviews Tag: Facebook has implemented a system where users can approve or reject the photo tags, the state or the place before they appear on their profiles. This profile can be enabled or disabled depending on user preference.
Changes in the labeling of photos: Due to the revisions tag feature, Facebook felt comfortable allowing the user to label someone a photo, whether they are friends. This makes it easy to tag people in group photos. Users must approve these labels before they appear on the profile of a user.
Author tags in the box: It's easier to see who is labeled a status update. The left side of the box now includes an area editor for managing recordings.
Untagging new features: If a user untags a photo, you will be given the option of sending a request to the Registrar of the photo to remove it. You also have the option to block that person completely.
Status and location updates

Changes in the privacy of the major updates to share the location and condition are:

Public updates: the "all" option updates state becomes "public" for clarity.
No more lock icon: The padlock icon in the Author box has also changed. We now show the icon of the globe, a friend or team, depending on whether the update is public, for friends or custom.
Facebook integration Places: Places Facebook has integrated into the Author box. Now users can mark a location in any status update. The same applies to photos and photo albums.
No more restrictions on GPS: Now users can mark any location in a status update or a picture, regardless of whether they are really close. This makes it possible to make a photo album after you have returned home.
Mobile Changes: The icon Facebook places no longer appear in mobile applications. Instead of "close" icon will take its place. We will show that users have marked nearby.
Reactions

We asked some privacy and security groups to respond to changes in the privacy of Facebook. Here are two responses:

1. Electronic Frontier Foundation:

"We've been asking Facebook for granular control over the privacy settings for some time, and we are pleased that Facebook now offers in-line controls. We also welcome the introduction of greater control over labeling.

Social networking services should ensure that users have permanent control over privacy and personal information stored on the service. For effects that users need clear user interface that allows them to make informed decisions about who sees their data and how it is used. We look forward to see how these controls work in place, to see if users understand and reduce the number of unintentional on sharing on Facebook.

It is also good to see more competition in the privacy controls between social networks. Google Entering the circles gave users more controls for online sharing, and Facebook is now online providing more granular controls. We expect this trend of competition continues.

One disappointment is that Facebook is considering the elimination of the option may not allow users to keep their friends checking in places. As we understand, there is no deadline for this control, but will be available for at least 60 days, and select the option to be protected to maintain it. Even if a user does not want or need to control now, we recommend you select the option to make sure that this control is available to them. "

2. Safety Connect:

"This is an important step forward in the privacy of Facebook users of all ages - one that all members of the Security Advisory Council liked. Giving users the opportunity to think about the level of exposure they want with each update status or photo posted encourages everyone to be a little more aware of our social media use, and that's a good thing as we all hope the social norms of social media. "

Twitter Co-Founders Want to Help Unlock Human Potential With New App

Co-founders of Twitter, Biz Stone and Evan Williams has announced his first project since leaving Twitter: an association with a lift, a new application designed to release human potential.
The project falls within the scope of the Corporation Obviously, an organization founded by Williams in the mid 2000's to support its various projects. Obvious was revived earlier this year with Biz Stone and former vice president of product Jason Goldman from Twitter co-founders.



"Our focus is threefold: Build, partners, and invest," Stone said in a blog. "We started working on some ideas of ourselves, we are investigating the best way to create an investment vehicle, and today we are very pleased to announce our first official partnership."

Their first project is a collaboration with Tony Stubblebine (CrowdVine, Odeo) and Jon Crosby (Camino, Songbird). The launch another uprising, "a new and interesting application to release the human potential through positive reinforcement." Stubblebine and Crosby are the initiators of the project, while obviously helps with the design, strategy, funding and recruitment. Instead, obvious that the equity in their own elevation.

Levante obvious and are not releasing details about the application - which is in private Alpha - but evident as the company first has to meet high expectations. Lift has a team of stars, and the support of Twitter co-founders will give you an immediate audience.

Lift may be the first boot Corporation obvious, but not the last. Williams, stone, and Goldman has just begun.

Twitter Enhances User Profiles With Image Galleries

If you post pictures on Twitter via their new photo upload tool, or a third party photo-sharing service as yFrog, TwitPic or Instagram, photos will soon appear in your Twitter profile in a gallery of images. Twitter is the deployment of user galleries, since the function calls to members on Monday. Galleries will automatically display the 100 most recent images that the user has shared via Twitter - which dates back to January 1, 2010 - support services for photo sharing. Galleries will live in a user profile and highlight some recent pictures few. A visitor can click "view all" to see more images, either in a grid view that shows thumbnails or a detailed view of highlighting the most recent image and text of the tweet that was shared with him.



Ties updating Twitter to share photos of thrust and will radically change the appearance of Twitter profiles. Galleries offer equal billing to the pictures shared by manufacturers of third party applications, but also serve to remind users that Twitter is no longer just a place to 140 characters - is for the photos too. The update is likely designed to appeal to Twitter users to add more photos to your tweets.

Galleries at the launch will be composite. Twitter Communications Manager Carolyn Penner said in a tweet that users can expect to see the Monday update. "We are launching one of my favorite features today: user galleries! View photos from a shared account on Twitter. Sit tight - which is very soon," she wrote.

Windows 8 will boast “robust” support for USB 3.0 devices

Microsoft revealed that Windows 8 will boast "robust" support for USB 3.0 devices, but will continue to support the USB specification of age. Microsoft Dennis Flanagan, director of program management for network devices and group, said the engineering work Microsoft is doing to support USB 3.0 on the company blog. The USB standard is more than 10 times faster than its predecessor USB 2.0. Its competitor, Apple has opted for the standard lightning fast.

"The decision to invest in the USB 3.0 was easy to do, but do so without compromising the existing ecosystem USB was a big challenge to overcome," Flanagan said in a blog. "Our design had to follow the specification revision 3.0, precisely to allow new USB 3.0 hardware. There are billions of old USB devices must be compatible with Windows."




To USB 3. 0 working with the next generation of Windows, Flanagan says Microsoft began working with hardware manufacturers soon to "meticulous design of a new USB software stack for the new driver, maintaining existing interfaces and behaviors, ensuring all devices and the controller work. " To do this, which refined a model checking tool called Zing software to test every aspect of your software model.

Other studies to prepare for USB 3.0 includes a large number of hardware testing and creating a custom tool called Mutt (USB testing tool) "to simulate a full range of device operation that we had observed in recent years." In essence, it allowed Microsoft to test 1,000 different USB devices with a single USB flash drive.

Make your design portfolio more attractive to employers

Employers who hire designers often are not the designers themselves. That can actually cause a disconnect between what designers show their portfolios and what employers are really looking for. If you are curious about the types of design portfolios that shine in job interviews, why not learn from the businessmen who loved them? Here are three tips on how employers maximize the appeal of their online portfolio.



1. Choose the Right Hosting

Be sure to choose the right hosting and content management system (CMS) to present their work. If you have built your own website or a plan to use a portfolio of services (Carbonmade above), make sure your site is translated identically in all web browsers (Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc.).

2. Presentation simple, but professional

The purpose of your portfolio to make his work accessible. Fancy designs, animation may seem attractive, but may distract from the real work is trying to show. The simplicity translates to professionalism more often than the fancy graphics, exaggerated. In terms of aesthetics and visual presentation that is simple and clean, and let the work speak for itself.

David Lifson, president of Postling: "Often designers have brochure websites, and I think that they are not useful. Looking for high-density data of examples where there is more to usability visual design. That's what I would highly functional web sites based on. "
Merrill Stubbs and Amanda Hesser, co-founders Food52: "What you are shown, whether a website or a specific presentation ... [which] must be very professional."
Cleveland Carter, CEO of Art.sy: "Although it is an opportunity to show his chops and you want something, I have seen more examples of people who carry it out ... I've seen more 'fancy' websites made harm than good done. "

3. Make it easy to use

Hesser Stubbs and warn that although employers may, as the visual work of a designer, the designer "can not understand the implications of the user experience of their designs. "By its portfolio of user-friendly design, which is showing an understanding of navigation and user experience. If your portfolio is easy to use, it is likely that the product design will be easy too.

Begin by reducing the number of clicks and links and the amount of displacement required to access all content, suggest Cleveland.

4. Know your audience

Determine the specific skills that your potential employers are looking for. For example, experience, bonus on product management, web development (HTML, Javascript and CSS) or marketing bonus points added to the portfolio of a talented designer clearly.

Each employer will have different hiring needs, and we must adapt accordingly. Stubbs Food52 Hesser and need a designer with experience building social networking due to the strong social aspect of the company, while Lifson and Cleveland were looking for someone with experience in product management and design. Smaller companies, in particular, experienced designers seeking versatile, which may include knowledge of various programs such as Photoshop and Fireworks.

Displayed designer Jordan Fretz A complete list of tools that are familiar with a detailed description of their background.

5. It has a diverse portfolio

Hesser and Stubbs said: "A portfolio is varied is important for you to work with many different types of customers as possible." Designer Food52 Camillia Benbassat features working in its range of products using different types of media. Dragging the mouse over each picture on your display reveals the name of the company, the type of media, and some essential details about the project. Each is clearly labeled and categorized, either by design, websites, mobile applications, user experience, identity, printing or packaging.

6. Organize

While the many examples is a plus, still have to solve in a clear and organize their work in the portfolio. On the website of Elliot Jay Stocks, the top bar shows the job offered, but the rest of the exhibition is organized by client and project type.

7. Be accessible

Your contact information should be the easiest thing to find on your site. There are multiple ways to contact, if possible. Designer Jared Christensen rather presents his LinkedIn profile, along with your resume, and other social networking sites in your About Me page.

8. Keep it up

Portfolios show is updated frequently to take pride in their work to produce more actively. Even if your portfolio contains a few unfinished projects, provide samples with a "work in progress", they say, as a designer Matt Bango has in its portfolio.

9. Credibility

It is important to build and maintain credibility. This means you should be able to reproduce and modify everything in your portfolio. Part of the recruitment process involves hiring Postling the applicant to carry a small (paying) job assignment. "I want to see [the designers] can actually produce what your wallet says it can produce," Lifson says, "because you never know if sometimes they get a little help."

Stubbs Hesser and look to the past experience. They believe previous job indicates whether a designer is accustomed to deadlines and notes, and maintains a level of professionalism.

Cleveland also seeks what he calls "social proof", in other words, the credentials of previous work or testimony. Providing links to these things in place makes it easier for the employer to obtain an immediate sense of professionalism.

10. Share Your Portfolio

Once you have created an impressive portfolio of shares, and advertising across multiple platforms. Postling says designers need to "do their outdoor work, whether in Forrst, Dribbble or Tumblr. Provide links to your portfolio of various social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn, as well as the signature of your email work. You will get more views of your shop window, which can lead to more interviews.

QR Code Marketing: 5 Tips for a Successful Campaign

Mobile barcodes are appearing everywhere - buses, magazines, television, bar coasters. According to a recent study by comScore, 14 million mobile phone users to scan U.S. QR barcode or only in June, mostly through newspapers, magazines and product packaging, both at home and in the store. My company's own data reveals that the bar codes that allow access to a discount or coupon or that allow consumers to know more about a product or service is the most popular. Given that mobile barcodes finally crack the public, have huge potential to present brands with brilliant results. Here are five practices best mobile bar code to help ensure a successful campaign.



1. Be everywhere

Mobile barcodes should be incorporated into all digital and traditional media, so that the consumer has 360 degrees of exposure to mobile marketing campaign. This will also ensure that the consumer experience, dialogue and interactivity is at the heart of the campaign and not just an afterthought.

2. Promote the value and make it easier

Gifts, discounts, free tickets and exclusive access to oblige consumers to interact and explore their code. If your code simply gives the customer the opportunity to see a TV ad or a link to a website, it is best to try again. Scanning a bar code must provide consumers a brand experience that is unique, dynamic and interactive.

Note that a bar code is moving in the ad. Consumers should be able to find easily and quickly scan. For outdoor ads, place the code in the eye or arm level. In a print advertisement, the barcode must not fall on a fold of which hinder the scan. Be sure to leave space around the barcode mobile and use a minimum of a print specification x 1 inches. For television or film, the code must remain on screen long enough for the viewer to start the scanning application and scan the code.

3. Keep it simple

QR codes or custom brand are definitely getting some noise, but it is also important to create a code everyone can recognize. The production code in a simple format of black and white pictures will increase the number of phones and code readers that can be analyzed. Also, be sure to use global standards, open (ie, Datamatrix) to maximize the scope of the universal client and impact.

4. Build client affinity

Remember that the consumer who just scanned your code is in motion. She is branded content on a mobile screen and therefore, expects immediate results. Make sure the bar code through links to a Web-enabled phones instead of a PC site design. Remember that the "dead links" (codes that go nowhere or give incorrect information) are the equivalent of a slam - consumers do not try again.

Matthias Galica, ShareSquare general manager, offers advice for marketers and brands using QR codes, and specifically highlights the evidence for the functionality of a bar code across a variety of scanning devices and applications before launching. It is important, especially because consumers scan codes are likely familiar with the technology and voice - the kind of consumers who want on your side.

5. Account the objectives and Analytics

Boost sales, increase customer engagement, build brand loyalty, educate your audience. Whatever the goal of the campaign, be sure to define your objectives before you integrate mobile barcode. Consider monitoring the campaign through a management platform barcode. Your company will be able to draw on the expertise of the supplier, to better assess the effectiveness of campaigns and evaluate their success in real time through analysis.

German State Bans Facebook’s “Like”

The German state of Schleswig-Holstein has ordered government institutions to close their Facebook pages and remove the "As" button on their websites - or face fines.
Data protection commissioner of Schleswig-Holstein, Thilo Weichert, says an analysis of his office shows that develops profiles of Facebook users and non-users with data collected by the same button, reports Associated Press. If true, this would violate the laws of the German and European data protection. In a statement, the organization of data protection urged Internet users "to keep fingers clicking social plugins" as well as the button to avoid being profiled.



"We firmly reject any claim that Facebook is not compatible with EU rules on data protection," said a spokeswoman for Facebook in another statement. "The Facebook As the button is a feature so popular because people have complete control over how information is shared through it. For more than a year, the plug-in has added value to many companies and individuals every day. We will review the materials produced by the ULD [the data protection agency], both on our own behalf and on behalf of Internet users in Germany. "

According to Facebook, the only information the company receives a user who is signed in the press the button as it is an IP address.

German regulators have been faced with Facebook before. Earlier this month, the data protection supervisor in Hamburg, said that the new automatic photo tagging Facebook feature may violate European privacy laws.

StumbleUpon Drives More Than 50% of Social Media Traffic

What social network drives most traffic to the rest of the web? If you think it's Facebook or Twitter, you're wrong. StumbleUpon now represents over 50% of all traffic of reference of the best places in the media. New data shows that StatCounter StumbleUpon is the main source of traffic between the world's leading social networking media. For the first 18 days of August, StumbleUpon represented 50.27% of referral traffic from the 10 social sites. Facebook was the second with a market share of 38.9%, while Reddit, YouTube and Twitter, each received less than 4%.



The statistics are startling, to say the least. StumbleUpon has been growing rapidly (recently surpassed 25 billion StumbleUpon button clicks), but not anywhere near as many users as Facebook or Twitter. The company tracks approximately 3 million web sites, however, so you have a decent sample size.

Although we did not dare to say that traffic drives over StumbleUpon Facebook (12 million users can actually exceed 750 million?) The service is clearly growing in influence. Mashable has seen a steady increase in referral traffic to StumbleUpon recent months, and there is nothing to suggest that growth will not continue.

Google+ Updates in Your Email Signature

WiseStamp beginning the company has improved its Chrome and Firefox extension Thursday with a email application from Google Earth Plus. The email application allows you to include G + latest Google + status update on your email signature. The e-mail recipients can see your update and add to their circles directly from the message. The Google + update was included in the 2.7.1 version WiseStamp version. Chrome users can instantly install the email application. Firefox users will have to do a manual update, pending release.



E-mail senders WiseStamp offers a wide range of social applications to spice up their personal and professional firms. The implementation of interactive tools and social firm, has appeared in more than 207 million emails sent.

Google+ Hangouts Can Now Be Initiated From YouTube

Google has quietly launched a new feature of Google's social network +, allowing users click Shares of any YouTube video, showing an icon that indicates to see the video with friends in a gathering place for Google +. Google does not formally announce this new feature, but revealed through product manager Brian Glick in - where else - Google +, which casually mentioned that this way: You can start Google + Hangout with a YouTube video directly from YouTube. Look with your friends. :)



Just click "Share" of any video below, then click "Start Google + Hangout" at the bottom right corner.

A few weeks ago, YouTube product manager Brandon Live Insignia mentioned the possibility of silence to allow future meeting places YouTube videos in vivo, and this should be the first stage of this initiative.

As mentioned below, has been possible to watch videos with your friends from the Google home +, through a more complicated manual process should be started with Google +. But this new button that allows you to start gathering places for YouTube with a couple of clicks makes it much easier.

StumbleUpon’s New Explore Feature Lets You Stumble Specific Topics

StumbleUpon social discovery tool has inspired 25 billion of clicks on the pages of leading people through great songs like "art" or "fashionable." Now is giving recommendations to a more specific level, with a new feature launched Wednesday. With the "Explore Box," users may encounter related pages with hundreds of thousands of specific issues - such as Vincent Van Gogh - instead of working in some 500 established categories - like art - that has stuck in the past to StumbleUpon . It's like a search engine and "best of" list had a child. If StumbleUpon has not ordered the exact term you are looking for, will match you with the next best thing.




At this time the function is limited to a small search bar on the browser of the product. But despite the minimal presence on the web is a huge change for StumbleUpon.

In the future, says StumbleUpon CEO Garrett Camp, StumbleUpon Box Explore integrate technology with its monitoring function so that users may encounter a mix of general and specific topics. That will make the engine much more personal discovery, and eventually (though the camp says no, probably in the short term) will allow advertisers to target closer to StumbleUpon your ads.

"We had to rewrite, basically, the recommendation engine," said camp Mashable. "Although it seems a lot of work into a feature, which will have an impact throughout the experience."

Skype App Lets You Pay for Wi-Fi by The Minute at 1 Million Hotspots

You can now use Skype credit to pay for Wi-Fi on the iPhone or iPad. The phone giant launched the Internet "Skype WiFi" Wednesday at the Apple Store, an application that lets you connect to more than 1 million Wi-Fi hotspots worldwide - and only pay for the minutes you use . Unlike services like Boingo access point (which powers mobile Skype Wi-Fi), which require a daily pass or a monthly subscription, Skype charges for Wi-Fi Wi-Fi users per minute. Access rates starting at $ 0.06 per minute, but can be longer depending on the supplier. The service has previously been available for laptops under the name "Skype Access."



Why would anyone want to pay online if they have a mobile phone with a data plan? A blog about the new feature, Skype suggests it might be useful to avoid data roaming charges abroad. We might add that it is very useful when your iPhone 3G signal is weak, and you want to download an email vital.

If you find mobile access to pay per minute Wi-Fi tempting, try the application for free this weekend - August 20 and 21 - 60 minutes.

YouTube Gives Music Publishers Ads on Fan-Made Videos

Thanks to a new deal between YouTube and the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) and its subsidiary The Harry Fox Agency (HFA), music publishers and songwriters will start getting money when their songs are used in the fan-made videos.
According to a YouTube blog post, the 46,000 music publishers HFA now be able to license their music for use by YouTube users. Every time a filmmaker add a song to work (for example, a fan video professing undying love for Justin Bieber), an ad to play off the vine, scoring publishers and composers of money.



Content Identification System from YouTube - which allows the video-sharing site to identify songs videos - is used to locate appropriate content.

Previously, YouTube only ran ads next to music videos when copyright holders for both sound recording and composition allows the site to do so. Now, more artists will be able to reap the benefits.

Businesses Launched Online Instead Of Storefront

Ever wonder why some companies choose to nix the brick and mortar? Scroll through the gallery to discover the real world council of web entrepreneurs in all industries of canned packed online clothing swap. They explained why online stores were adequate for their products and services, and who have shared valuable advice for fellow business owners, including the tools to succeed.



1. thredUP




Founders: James Reinhart, Chris Oliver Homer & Lubin

Service: online children's clothing, books and toys for parents to exchange

Where are: San Francisco, CA

How big is the area you serve? Nationally, as well as U.S. military families stationed abroad.

Why online versus a physical store? thredUP citizen is essentially a hand-me-down network. While the consignment shops and swap parties are great local solutions, often offer a limited selection when it comes to sizes and types of baby products you need. thredUP exchange brings the nationwide, allowing families to hand items to a family grown, and in return receive the following size of another family.

How to promote your online store? Word of mouth, blogger outreach, daily deals, and public relations.

Any other advice for small businesses? If possible, try to think through a plan of renewal of commitment in advance. The mistake many small businesses that is pushing a "timer," customers, failing to follow up and loss of money in the long term. Track your new customers through your sales funnel and inject email messages addressed to possible ... When approaching an agreement to date, many companies the question, "How can we get people to buy this offer?" What you should ask is, "How do we get people in the door with this offer, then turn them into repeat customers?"


2. Paper Feet




Founder: Jimmy Tomczak

Product: Paperfeet minimalist sandals are upcycled vinyl fence durable and resistant to water that would otherwise end up in a landfill.

Where are: Ann Arbor, MI

Why online versus a physical store? Shoes barefoot is a growing niche, there is usually not enough people in a physical place - especially in Michigan - to sustain a store.

Why does your product work better online? Persons who are barefoot active in online groups like the Society of barefoot runners, The Society for Barefoot Living, and live barefoot. Then look at the website of the exact solution of the product you are looking for.

Any advice for small businesses that opt ​​for online stores? An online business has to be convincing. If nobody knows you, nobody cares. Share the story. The impact. Start now. When paperfeet. com launched, there were people share "their favorite adventures" and explain "why paperfeet?" when the pre-sale. This really helped us to know our clients and proved to be fun, too.


3. Bella Puzzles




Founder: Lara Braithwaite

Product: Personalized Guest Books and inheritance puzzle

Where are: Portland, OR

Customer base: First U.S. customers, but a growing number of international clients

Why online versus a physical store? An online store has allowed me to start the business benefits of previous sales. As a result, I have been able to grow a business Bella Puzzles six-figure loan without any ... The personalized nature of the resources of my product to customers worldwide. A physical store greatly limit the number of potential customers.

How to promote your online store? I started with an Etsy shop. I promote the shop and my own website through Etsy, Twitter, Facebook and my blog.


4. Gobble Journal




Founder: Chen Dazhi

Service: Dining rewards program that offers members exclusive discounts (10-50% discount) in our partner restaurants.

Where are: Currently, the subway service in New York and San Francisco Bay Area.

Why online versus a physical store? Our website serves as a showcase for over 500 digital partner restaurants. It is much more sustainable driving traffic to a website that is accessible to guests anywhere on a single physical store, or even the website of a restaurant just for that matter.

Why does your sector / product work better online? Our founder, Dazhi Chen, tried to launch a similar program before the advent of smart phones and the Internet widely accessible. Without the Internet would not be able to use the model of accelerated repayment through PayPal which is fundamental to our program.


5. She hit pause Studies




Founder: Matt Schwartz

Product: Polaroid prints

Where are: Brooklyn, NY

Why online versus a physical store? I have no patience for sitting in a tent all week. For me I consider it a waste of time and overhead, and it would kill my creativity and flexible lifestyle that feels like a reward for what I do.

Why is your product, or the art industry in general, whether online? Online purchasing of work is much more relaxed than enter a gallery. Convert back and forth with customers, letting them know what they want to know about me or the work. I even tell people the temperature it was when I was making a particular photo or the cost of filling a bathtub with bubble gum (for "Girl with Gumballs on the feet"). When people buy art, they are buying a piece of me or a story I created.

What online tools used to sell / promote your artwork? Bimonthly newsletter, Etsy shop, recently hired social media / SEO manager.

Any advice for small businesses that opt ​​for online stores? Read as many books as you can about the company. One of my favorites is "The Purple Cow" by Seth Godin. Outsource everything you can afford if anyone can do better. It is important to be in competition with yourself, unlike the people in your industry. Everything takes time.


6. U.S. Wellness Meats




Founder: John Wood

Product: 100% grass-fed meat, including beef, bison, lamb, poultry, rabbits, shellfish and dairy products

Where are: Monticello, MO

Why online versus a physical store? Monticello, MO, is the smallest county seat in the state, with 98 in the 2010 census. Our business in northeast Missouri is in a very rural and sparsely populated areas in the U.S. The economic situation is difficult, and grass-fed meats have a very limited market within 75 miles of our business address. Consequently, in line was the obvious route to take during our brainstorming sessions yellow sticky note in March and April 2000.

Why does your sector / product work better online? The quick answer is convenience, and the ability of intelligent source of protein sources are not available in the market district. We have worked hard to purchase products with a unique history, which is essential for building confidence in our product selection online. Being online, we are able to answer questions about the product immediately by telephone or email response. This window of communication is what builds trust, which is required before online shoppers will spend money.


7. McClure Pickles




Founder: Bob McClure

Product: Pickles

Where are: Brooklyn, NY

Why online versus a physical store? Costs of physical outlets to minimize the margins, increasing the burden and create a dependency on "which is effect," meaning that are at the mercy of the customer coming to your location.

What online tools used to sell / market your product? Social media marketing, our retail partners blogs / food, word of mouth, press with online presence.

Any advice for small businesses that opt ​​for online stores? If you are trying to drive traffic to your site and you have not had any big news, connecting with others online where to buy (and Food52 Foodzie are specific foods, but they help relieve the burden of marketing all on its own ).


8. OfAKind




Founders: Cerulean Erica and Claire Mazur

Service: promote new fashion designers. We designers commission to create limited edition pieces that are only available for purchase at our site and tell their stories - where they come from, what inspires them, how they produce their work.

Where are: New York, NY

Why online versus a physical store?

Erica: We both grew up in small towns-ish - I am from Peoria, IL, and Claire is Wilmington, DE - so there was very little access to designers interesting read in magazines like Elle or Harper's Bazaar. We wanted to give people outside the big cities access to designers that we think will be the next big things. At the same time, when you're in places like New York or Los Angeles, boutiques can be intimidating, and it is very difficult to find time to discover new designers. We want to make easier the process of discovery.

Claire: I also found it much easier than opening a brick and mortar store and handle all the physical maintenance, rental and services, having to pay people to man the store - all to be able to get a very limited audience.

What online tools used to sell / market your product?

Erica: The main driver for us is that our site uses Tumblr as CMS, which means that all of our content and our product is presented in the panels of our fans, links to buy you. That has been so huge for us - especially since the fashion community is increasingly Tumblr stronger day by day.

Any advice for small businesses that opt ​​for online stores?

Claire: I think one of the best things we did early on was to create a blog before they started the business - which is maintained while we were dealing with product supply and construction of the site. It helped us find our voice and we wanted to determine what our brand is (and not).


9. Sevenly




Founder: Dale Partridge

Product: T-shirts for charity Crowdfunded

Where are: Los Angeles, CA

Why online versus a physical store? With the power of social media and our uncanny ability to exploit the "share" (online version of word of mouth), we can create, modify and deliver a customer experience unlike any physical store. By activating the emotions through video, online challenges, photographs and detailed information that can not be found on the shelf, they are winning the race for customer satisfaction in most areas.

How to promote your online store? We take influential online, people who never heard of that have millions of followers, fans and subscribers.

Any advice for small businesses that opt ​​for online stores? People do not buy what you do, why they buy it. Focus home page of the most profound of why you're in business in the first place. This is what creates cult-like brands.


10. Kings County jerky




Founder: Chris Woehrl

Product: mixed grass-fed beef

Where are: Brooklyn, NY

The customer base: In a macro level, I would say it is composed of two fields: fans hungry for great tasting beef jerky, and the types of foods consciously attracted to craft products with new and unique flavors made with quality ingredients as grass-fed beef. We have also a special interest and unexpected discovery: Most of our clients are women.

Why online versus a physical store? Because we make our own product, the initial investment had to go completely in the construction of our (very expensive) manufacturing facility. Knowing that we could sell our products through an online store allows us to put all of our investment in building the infrastructure and not have to worry about investing in a power brick and mortar.

When and why did you decide to take advantage of physical sales / promotions? Seize the opportunities of physical sales and promotions whenever they occur. We are passionate about our brand ambassadors, not the web platform can communicate our message and enthusiasm as we can in a face to face.

Any advice for small businesses that opt ​​for online stores? Choose your platform shop wisely. A lot of third Webstores have terrible user interfaces, poor navigation or too complex and lousy customer service.


11. Weddington Road




Founder: Ilana Stern

Service: group purchasing online for bridal parties

Where are: San Francisco, CA

Why online versus a physical store? One of the biggest problems for brides when it comes to bridesmaid dresses is that your bridesmaids live all over the place, which means a lot of work for her to coordinate the whole world because it is difficult (if not impossible) for everyone in one physical location, next to the store and try the dresses ... We rationalize a complex shopping experience for them, which means you can have fun looking at the dresses, the exchange of views, etc, while the site and our team handles the logistics of ordering, ensuring questions are answered and track of each bridesmaid (the removal of this important "do" the board of the bride).

What online tools used by visitors? The ability to share and dresses range as well as create and save different configurations is an important part of the shopping experience in a group. Furthermore, the ability for brides to track the activity of each bridesmaid is something brides love, they can stay on top of the process, without bothering her bridesmaids (which means that the bridesmaids who love too !).

When and why did you decide to take advantage of physical sales / promotions? Brides can order samples of fabric so Weddington, which is an important part of how to put the item online / physical to our customers - send large samples so you can really get a good idea of ​​what the web different combinations of colors appear in person. This helps to touch and feel that brides feel comfortable buying online without having to go to a brick and mortar store.

4 Ways Non-Profits Can Jump Into Google+

If you and your nonprofit has kept within + Google's "one people" phase, now is a good time to reconsider. Yes, your Facebook and Twitter are still significant presence - and remains - but the new social network of the city has a lot of great features you can take advantage of these moments. While Google publicly announced that the pages of the business group and are imminent, nonprofit should not expect to get your feet wet. Nonprofit social media consultant Beth Kanter communications staff should spend 15 minutes a day raiding in the new network. We asked non-profit staff for their best practices to experiment with Google + and their hopes for the future of the new social network. Here are four ways nonprofit can do most of the growing network.



1. Host exclusive venues

In search of a good way to reward major donors and dedicated volunteers? Use venues, Google video + 's conference feature to hold a meeting with a celebrity or a major player in their organization. His supporters love the individual attention of a small venue that rewards commitment.

Tammy Gordon, director of AARP of communication and strategy, hopes to begin their day of service 9.11 with an inspiring speech from a celebrity ambassador for a meeting place. "It will be a great way to connect with key volunteers," says Gordon.

The host of the den to create a circle of participants in the event, such as "9 / 11 days of volunteer service."

AARP's team is nervous about using the personal account of a particular staff member to host a meeting place on a large scale. This concern is probably shared by many organizations wish to launch pages and business group.

One way to overcome these concerns is the host speaker venue. If the host is part of a team of non-profit, consider the venue an opportunity for volunteers to maintain human contact in your organization.

2. Meet their circles

The circles are a great way of messengers key objective, instead of bombing not interested. Try to organize specific circles of interest, geography or history of the donation.

Danielle Brigida, National Wildlife Federation for social media outreach chair, organize their circles for their interests. Their circles are professional politicians, nature lovers and photographers. Emphasizes that fans can be in various circles, so to arrange the circles with greater precision.

Carefully curated Circles are a great way of crowdsourcing ideas of their followers valued. You can ask your volunteers the types of events they would like to see, or ask your next campaign donors of ideas. Spark conversations between people with common interests.

Gordon expects the business pages are included in the circles of exclusion so that fans can select the type of information they receive. The AARP plans to offer in health circles, social security, consumer entertainment and politics.

3. Huddle or hangout with your colleagues

Jokes Worldreader team that has a lot done during his "turbo-gathering places," says Susan Moody, director of communications. With an international team that spans continents and time zones Worldreader Google can use the + 's new for easy communication.

Similarly, the AARP's communications team is planning a meeting this Wednesday for his first Google + seminar.

While Google + is not the first platform to host group video conferencing, many companies have long paid for the service. Now, calls improvised group can simplify and accelerate the exchange of ideas for collaboration between colleagues.

Curls are another way teams can stay in touch. Arriving late for a presentation? It has a brilliant idea to share during off hours? You can share the updates with a group by name, email address or a circle by using the text messaging group for the implementation of Google + 's iPhone. Its history is stored in the crowded application, making it easy to connect to your computer.

4. Volunteers join in a Huddle

If you are putting on a great event, optimize communications for its volunteers through huddle. Just add the names of everyone who has signed a circle and let the posts begin!

This can be especially useful if you are organizing highly coordinated or quickly change events such as parades, demonstrations or protests.

Curls can also be the perfect solution for sharing information with people in different email servers or mailing lists. The groups are not administrators, so that people can easily add new volunteers to the conversation. If a volunteer is removed, you can easily remove from the list.

While Bridget has been involved in some trials is nestled among the members of nonprofit staff, has not fully explored the potential of the Google platform + text messages in groups. However, its speed and ease is expected to promote the comprehensive implementation of nonprofit organizations.

Tapl.io Simplifies Place Search on the Web

"We want to eliminate all unnecessary searches that people have to do," says Sam Beaudin of the vision behind starting Tapl.io. Tapl.io browser is an application that puts a different profile of a website - through sites Facebook, Foodspotting, Foursquare, Google sites, Yelp, OpenTable, TripAdvisor, Citysearch and others - from side to side for a faster access. "I do not want to go to ten places to learn about a place," says Beaudin. "Tapl.io born out of necessity. We wanted to make a seamless search experience and allow all of these sites before silos to work together."



Tapl.io available as a browser extension for Chrome and Safari, delivers what it promises. Find a restaurant on Yelp (or any of the sites Tapla. io 's compatible) as you normally would, and a browser toolbar appears with tabs for each of the profiles of the restaurant site.

You can also click the action button to Twitter or Facebook profiles share many a place - in the same tab view you see - and share that experience with friends who have installed the extension Tapl.io 's browser.

Tapl.io says Beaudin, keeps track of the tabs that used by most teams at the top left corner for faster access. "It adapts itself to the search patterns of a unique person."

The implementation is currently focused on improving the vertical restaurant, but is in process of expanding its coverage to include travel and venue locations.

Increasingly, mobile users are becoming applications to find out related information. Tapla ago. io result in a mobile environment? Not in its current form, Beaudin said. However, the implementation is already testing some different mobile applications, he adds.

Tapla. io simplified logic seems to match Google search - the same one that was related Google relaunched Tuesday, your browser toolbar own content for the coating similar to the browse and search the web.

Tapl.io was founded by Beaudin and his freshman teammate David Reiss. The couple is currently bootstrapping start-up, but they are in talks with potential investors.

PPC Marketing Campaigns

Pay-per-click (PPC) is key to online marketing campaigns more current, and is often expensive and overwhelming. If the tedious nature and large time commitment required to run a successful - or unsuccessful - the PPC campaign has to go down, you're not alone. However, a good return on investment makes it all worthwhile. Here are 10 tips to help you improve your PPC campaign, with the hope of getting a higher ROI and make the process more enjoyable and fruitful.



1. Run a negative campaign

No, the idea is not to beat their competitors openly through the ad copy. Instead, use negative keywords, one of the most underused features it offers for PPC campaigns. Negative keywords allow you to choose words that do not trigger your ad. For example, if you are a seller of new cars, the place of the word "use" in the negative list to target customers looking for a new vehicle. When used correctly and updated often, negative keywords can help cut your clickers to serious buyers and save your dollars PPC.

2. Location, location, location

Why have seen the ad, or worse yet, click it to someone in Iowa, where only sell insurance in California? PPC dollars are wasted because people do not focus unsophisticated impressions by location. Google, Microsoft and Yahoo offer geographic features, allowing users to their destination markets based on IP addresses, geo-specific keywords, or both.

3. Make an offer they can not refuse

With so much competition, it is necessary to differentiate your ad. Are you running a promotion? It is free shipping? Offer value and then capitalize on it with a call to action. Terms such as "More" and "Free Download" to attract customers. Encouraging users to act and let them know what to expect from the other side of the click.

4. Be Dynamic

Dynamic keyword insertion allows you to create more relevant ad text by placing the exact phrase search on your ad. When the potential customer is looking for the right word, they are more likely to click. While the dynamic insertion of keywords is very useful and can increase your click through rate tremendously, not for the novice PPC. While out, the dynamic keyword insertion can result in ads that appear unclear and irrelevant and can quickly deplete your budget.

5. Use keywords long tail

Long Tail Keywords are three to four word phrases that are specific to your product. The reason this works is that visitors use very specific search phrases are often later in the purchasing process and can result in a higher conversion rate. Someone looking for shoes could search for "boots", and then reduced to "black knee-high boots" when you are ready to buy. Another benefit to the long tail keywords is its lack of popularity among new PPC. With fewer people bidding on keywords, your cost per click down. Adding words to the intention of his long tail such as "buy", "price" or "where to buy" in order to grab those on the verge of a purchase. If you are confused and needs time suggestions tail keywords, visit Wordstream.

6. This is a test

Do not just create a PPC campaign and expect the best - the appropriate tests and analysis are required. Metrics to help understand your campaign results, so setting A / B testing to see what works. Remember to test multiple ads at once, but only allow for a variable at a time and run the tests long enough to collect adequate data.

7. Timing is everything

In addition to geographic targeting, PPC campaigns allow time for orientation. Analyze metrics to determine if your ads are at their highest rate of conversion. If you are receiving hundreds of clicks at 3 am, but without making sales, restricting ad impressions during those hours to save your budget.

8. A website is not a landing page

Again ... a website is not a landing page. Do not dispose of all your hard work by sending the target customers of a website are not objective. Create a simple landing page that includes the right to its announcement made. Do not waste your visitors - and potential sales - to confuse them with unnecessary content.

9. Learn generating keywords, but not too well

Keyword generator useful for getting started when the keywords of mining. Some very good tools are the tools of Google AdWords keywords, intelligence and Microsoft Advertising Tools by Market Samurai. However, do not rely heavily on keyword generators - often a human touch is what is necessary to point out that the human form. You know what they are looking for, so go with your instinct.

10. Google Quality Score: Recognize

Google quality level determines the overall ranking of your AdWords account and help you determine where your ads are place in the search page. Keep your high score, following the rules set by Google AdWords and continuously provide quality ads. Keep up your quality of Google, as an unexpected drop is a red flag.

Adobe Muse Now in Free Public Beta

Adobe released the public beta of its new software for creating websites with the name Muse on Monday. Unlike Dreamweaver, Adobe's flagship Web development tool, Muse is for graphic designers who want to create websites without having to code elegant.



We've been playing the muse of the past two weeks as part of the private beta, and are impressed with the functionality of the tool and featureset. What sets Muse of some other open source tools for creating websites is as follows: the user interface and design paradigms similar to those of other Adobe Creative Suite, InDesign knowledge.

This was by design. Adobe says that most users who are identified as graphic designers - that is, not web developers and interaction designers - still primarily work with printing. Muse is for these users.

A common scenario is a graphic designer create a website in Illustrator, Fireworks or Photoshop and then pass the attached file outside web designers who will do everything possible to code the competition.

Expensive Google Acquisitions

Search Google global corporation, Inc. adds to its already considerable empire when it announced its proposed acquisition of Motorola's mobility on the morning of August 15. The purchase marks the most expensive acquisition to date in Google's staggering $ 12.5 billion. Google has acquired more than 100 companies over the past ten years.




1. dMarc Broadcasting

In January 2006, Google acquired the advertising firm dMarc Broadcasting for $ 102 million. Integrated Google AdSense on your application dMarc.

2. On2 Technologies

After negotiations between the two companies, Google acquired video compression firm On2 in February 2010 for $ 133 million in Google shares. On2 codec technology designed video that Google uses to optimize WebM video format.

3. Slide.com

Google bought the company Slide.com web 2.0 in August 2010 for $ 182 million. Originally founded by PayPal co-founder Max Levchin Slide.com was known as the third largest Facebook application developers until Google bought it to "Google services with a social conscience."

4. Admeld

Google bought Admeld. in June 2011 for $ 400 million. The company specializes in optimizing the performance of online advertising by simplifying ad. Admeld integrated with Google and DoubleClick invite additional acquisitions of media.

5. Postini

In July 2007, Google bought web security and archiving company Postini for $ 625 million. Offers cloud computing services and spam filters that Google will soon integrated into Gmail.

6. ITA Software

Google purchase of travel industry software company ITA Software for $ 700 million in July 2010. Google uses the ATI software to optimize their travel and flight search.

7. AdMob

In November 2009 Google acquired mobile advertising company AdMob for $ 750 million. Google helped the company improve its mobile advertising solutions.

8. YouTube

Long ago, in October 2006 Google bought YouTube for $ 1.65 billion impact. Although the company was not absorbed by Google Video, YouTube continues to operate as a subsidiary of Google.

9. DoubleClick

Google bought DoubleClick for $ 3.1 billion in April 2007. The subsidiary of Google provides an advertising service and support for AdSense.

10. Motorola Mobility

Most recent acquisition of Google and expensive to date occurred August 15, 2011 with the purchase of Motorola Mobility. Motorola is one of 39 Android phone makers. With the purchase of mobile hardware manufacturer, Google hopes "to supercharge the Android ecosystem."

Kuapay Lets Mobile Users Pay With QR Codes

There is no doubt that the payment is changing: Starbucks Card Mobile is a stroke of good faith, PayPal predicts that the end of the portfolio is near, mobile money transaction is expected to reach $ 670 billion for 2015, and it is believed that over 80% of POS systems accept mobile payments in 2016. Do you have a chance with an unknown upstart Google, the credit card companies, PayPal and square all competing for market share? Headquartered in Santa Monica Kuapay mobile payments startup is now ramping up operations, but believes he can win the traders and consumers now - as opposed to waiting for NFC devices to catch - with what he considers mobile payment system more simple.



"The world of mobile payments will move faster if we create products that are easier for users," said Joaquin Ayuso Kuapay founder, who previously had sold social networking site Myspace Spanish Telefónica. "Virtualization Portfolio is a way that the market wants to take. We are in a place to expose the market to users faster."


Kuapay has BlackBerry iPhone, Android and applications for consumers. Users can add information on your credit card and then present the participating merchants with a QR code to scan and pay at the cash register. It works quite similar to Starbucks 2D "bar code scanning system.

The mobile application is intended to be a "real" and secure the virtual wallet that reduces barriers to the participation of the consumer and the merchant said Ayuso.

In addition to managing payments, the application saves the user's history of transactions, encrypts card data, requires the user to set a PIN number for access, keeps track of points and rewards loyalty program, and supports discounts and offers.

The solution is also meant to be accessible to traders, Ayuso insists, because they do not require additional hardware. Merchants only need to upgrade your POS software in place to begin accepting payments Kuapay. The launch, Ayuso said, has relationships with all major POS providers to make quite automatic update process.

Kuapay, which has raised $ 900,000 in seed capital, is currently beta testing its mobile payment system in certain locations in Santa Monica, and abroad in Chile and Spain. It plans to launch publicly in the fourth quarter of this year.

Facebook Advertisers Can Target Users by Zip Code

Advertisers wishing to target Facebook members in specific zip codes can now do so. The social network has made the new orientation option available to advertisers through Facebook and tools Editor Power Manager self-service ads. Facebook has confirmed that the selection of the postcode, which was discovered by political, is now available in the U.S.



"The goal postal code launched yesterday and this change was made due to requests for a change," says a spokesperson for Facebook Mashable.

Advertisers can now address the members by country, state or province, you can now target ads and stories hosted users in more localized areas.

"In recent months, Facebook has been showing the modules in the sidebar asking users to confirm that several of the zip codes that are closer or live within," Inside Facebook reports.

Now that advertisers have the possibility of hyper-local to the public what types of ads to expect users of Facebook? Local traders and small businesses are the most likely candidates to promote products and services by zip codes. Political theory also that the addition of zip objectives will be a factor in the upcoming elections.

"In an election cycle in social networks is expected to play an important role, Facebook's new program signals its intention to become a major player in the market expanding, and lucrative, local campaigns," says the site .

Facebook Making Games Better

For those who enjoy the games on Facebook, facebook are launching new features to make it easier to find new games and play with their friends. A new set of ticker. When you're playing, you will see a separate stream of his friends play activity, results and achievements in a teletype. The best way to find new games is through friends and now have more opportunities to see what they're playing.



Maybe your best friend has started playing Sims, his roommate has a high score in PacMan, or his mother and sister have had words with friends. Simply click on a story and you can start playing the game yourself.

Now you can control who can see these stories for each individual application settings. If you want friends to see you're playing a game, but not in another, you can change that. You can also limit the sight of the quote by clicking "X" in a story for disposal.

More space to play

facebook are also introducing a larger screen for the game so you can have a more involved experience. You begin to see games that can be expanded to full screen, as CityVille, Zoo World, Monster World, and Manor Mystery in the coming days.

Mark your favorites

If you use a lot of games or applications, you can now keep the best at the top of the markers on their website. To add a new bookmark, click the menu next to the marker. You can also change, delete and modify the settings from the menu.

If you like sports games, word games, strategy or action games, they are all best when played with friends. facebook hope these changes make playing games even more fun on Facebook.

Twitpic Founder Launches Twitter Clone

Revenge is a dish best served cloned. Twitpic founder Noah Everett Heello unveiled, its role in the copy function of Twitter. The decision comes just a day after Twitter completed deployment of its photo-sharing service - Twitpic a direct competitor.

Heello looks and acts like Twitter, in almost every way. Instead of Twitter, users send "pings" to his followers. Retweeting Instead, users "echo" other messages. And rather than follow friends "listen" to his friends. The only real difference is that updates appear in the stream of a user in real time, which is quite annoying if you want to click something on Twitter from a friend.




And if that were not enough, Heello account the integration of Twitter and Facebook, so that their messages Heello can still go to your social networks. It also includes a real-time channel of all public activity, which currently contains a number of fake accounts claiming to be the CNN, Tumblr and Mark Zuckerberg.

The clone looks more like a publicity stunt for a real company. Everett Twitter surprised with the release of a feature that would compete directly with your company, and this may be recovery. However, Everett said that Heello VentureBeat video support soon, arrivals, the integration of SMS, mobile and "Channels" feature that works as lists of Twitter.

Much as we love new social media services Mashable, we're not sure what to do with Heello. If Everett was looking for some attention, well, mission accomplished. However, the service will have a difficult time gaining ground on Twitter and its 200 million registered users, without any truly innovative features.

On the other hand, if there is a skill that business is the ability to load forward with blind optimism, even when the numbers are against him.

StumbleUpon Button Clicks Reaches 25 Billion

StumbleUpon social discovery tool has reached a new milestone, and his famous "Stumble" is clicked the button for more than 25 billion times. "Today we celebrate 25 billion clicks the Stumble It! Button," said Community Manager Monica StumbleUpon Semergiu in a tweet.



The media company has been on a roll since he left eBay in 2009. In November 2010, the social site users hit 12 million.

StumbleUpon reached 27.5 million trips in one day and last month broke his record mobile phone use during the Super Bowl this year. In April, the company faces a month 1000000000 blow.

StumbleUpon While not receiving the same kind of media attention that Facebook, Twitter, or Google Foursquare Garner +, has quietly grown into a social power of media with millions of loyal users. The result has been a solid business that will celebrate its 10th birthday in November.

Digg Launches Newswire, a Social News Curation Tool

Digg launched a new social feature called news discovery on Monday Newswire.
Newswire "gives you the tools to shape the stories that break on Digg," the blog social news site. Unlike other parts of Digg, the news Newswire updates in real time - as the stories are presented, appear in the "recent" in the Newswire. As Dugg, stories move up the "Trend" in the Newswire.



As the company points out in his blog, the key to choosing the top stories on Digg is finding them. This tool was created to help ease the pain of searching through a pile of mediocre content to find diamonds. Instead, users will find the latest in "recent" and the most popular stories of "Trends."



Popularity is calculated "to see how many Diggs, tastes and Tweets [a story] is, who has Dugg, when submitted, the quality of past tales, and a handful of other signs," the blog of Digg.


The feed can be customized Newswire, focusing the search results with the following information:

By "recent" or "fashionable" stories
For media types like images, videos or text (or all stories)
By number of Diggs ("more" or "less than" a number of Diggs)
By theme, such as business, entertainment, technology, etc.
To promote transparency of how the news is unfolding, the Newswire also has a channel activity in the right column, as well as its own page.

Digg has faced difficult times - founder Kevin Rose left the company earlier this year, the site has faced falling traffic Reddit competitor site has benefited from the decline of Digg and the company made major staff cuts at year's end past.

Bit.ly Buys Social Media Publishing Tool Twitterfeed

URL Shortening Site dominant Bit.ly tool, has acquired social twitterfeed publication.
TweetDeck is a tool that automatically publishes RSS feeds to social networking with a title and a shortened link Bit.ly. With this service, you can set your blog to publish to your Twitter account, Twitter or RSS to publish on its Web site LinkedIn. While some functions may appear in Bit.ly twitterfeed at some point, not the technology that is Bit.ly later.



"Let's face it, posting Twitter updates is not an exact science," says CEO Peter Bit.ly Stern.

More valuable is twitterfeed user base and its creator, Mario Menti. Twitterfeed has over 1 million unique users and posts more than 5 million updates per month (okay, these are automatic). Bit. ly could have the opportunity to make its analysis of the most obvious features of the user base - and increase sales to its data quality tools in the meantime.

For now, however, neither Bit. twitterfeed mind nor users are likely to notice the change in ownership.

"We bought it because it is a product that is there, is growing in use," says Stern, who became CEO in May after the deal was closed. "In the immediate future is a kind of business as usual."

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Barred From Sale in Europe

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is recovered from another continent.
The Regional Court of Dusseldorf, Germany, Apple has granted a preliminary injunction against Samsung, preventing the sale and marketing of the device in Europe - except the Netherlands. The court sided with the claim that the Apple device, Samsung has infringed Apple's patents and copy parts of the iPhone 2. While Samsung may appeal the ruling will not be able to do so for at least four weeks.





Europe is the second continent to ban the sale of the device in these lands after the release of the tablet was delayed in Australia on 1 August. The tablet to hit the U.S. market June 8.

Walmart To Shut Down 7-Year-Old MP3 Music Store

Walmart MP3 Downloads, retail competitor iTunes 7 years old, turn off at the end of the month.
The company plans to silence the site on August 29, according to The New York Times. Once seen as a serious threat to iTunes, online music store ever Walmart made tremendous strides against Apple, despite deep discount. Pricing at the store for the track was $ 0.88, less than Apple for $ 0.11.




Walmart store resumes in 2008, making great achievements in $ 0.74 cents per song and other songs for $ 0.94, plus a free download of the week. The store includes more than 3 million songs containing all the major labels. There were other benefits as a free MP3 each CD purchased in store or online. But nothing, apparently, could tempt Apple users far enough to make it worthwhile for the Bentonville giant.

Twitter Rolls Out Photo Sharing to All Users

Twitter photo sharing and upload service is now available to all users, Twitter has confirmed.
The feature, which made its debut in early June, allows users to add images to your tweets. Now, users will find a camera icon at the bottom of the "What's happening?" Twitter.com box. Clicking it will allow users to select an image to upload, then you can preview before sending into the world. Tweets that contain photos include a link to pic.twitter.com, along with a thumbnail attached.




The function is being implemented prior to the launch of Apple iOS 5. New Apple's mobile operating system has a prominent Twitter integration, so it is essentially the default network for users of social IOS. Users can share photos via Twitter iOS 5. Twitter is not saying when moving load of photos will be available in the Android applications and IOS, but we suspect that functionality is coming soon.

Twitter photo sharing service is powered by Photobucket, which provides all the hosting pictures uploaded by users.

Photo service Twitter basically negates the usefulness of the photo-sharing services like TwitPic. Twitter has been criticized for competing with third-party services built on its platform. Developers do not know if Twitter suddenly begin to compete with their products, an issue that has created a cloud of uncertainty over the Twitter ecosystem.

Check out the screenshots he took the role of Twitter to share photos when first released and let us know if you will change to the official Twitter service for sharing photos in the comments.