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A hacker called pod2g claims he’s found an exploit that will allow a jailbreak of iOS 4.1, and other hackers from the jailbreaking community have confirmed it.

Jailbreaking (overriding Apple’s software lock-down on iOS devices) is usually a cat-and-mouse game: hackers find a new exploit, and then Apple patches it with the next iOS update.

This time, however, things might be different, as this new jailbreak is based on a boot ROM exploit, meaning it targets a low-level part of the OS, and Apple will have to update the hardware – not the software – to patch it.

Furthermore, it means that most iOS devices, regardless of the iOS version they have installed, may be vulnerable to the exploit: iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, the iPad, and so on.

Although the U.S. government recently declared jailbreaking legal, it still voids your warranty, so do it at your own peril. If you do plan to jailbreak your iOS device, you should probably wait before you upgrade it to 4.1, as the jailbreak is still not public; meaning there’s not an easy way for the layman to apply it. Judging from the buzz in the jailbreaking community, which is still testing and fine-tuning the hack, it might be the real thing.

More About: apple, hack, hacker, hackers, ios 4.1, ipad, iphone, iPod Touch, jailbreak

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When you’re trying to build your company’s brand, one clear focal point is the marketplace and another is the target consumer.  An often overlooked (or under considered) leg of the stool is your work force, and subsequently, everyone those people know. Internal branding. Do your plans for steadily building a sustainable brand place enough weight on those internal audiences so crucial to your success?

One of my favorite quotes related to branding is from Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com.  When speaking of a company’s reputation, the legacy under recursive construction, Bezos said something like “Your brand is what they say about you when you’ve left the room.”  The “they” in that sentence being any audience or segment and the “you” being the company, the brand.  The guys in charge.

The way I see it, small business needs a better understanding of the role internal audiences play within the branding infrastructure, the manner in which their perceptions lead them to do their jobs, and the way they embody the brand on their own accord.

The brand beneath the surface

A brand is a living, breathing organism.  It experiences failures, successes, and everyday trials.  While the vast majority of small business resources are placed behind developing and promoting the brand externally, that approach discounts the value held by employees.  We need to cross the streams.  The very people that solve the problems, deliver the goods, negotiate manufacturer pricing and code the site can offer unique perspectives if only they’re asked.  Their individual roles means they have a direct line-of-sight to the customer not held by anyone else (more so if they’re old-timers or have had lateral or successive roles).  These people are a gold mine of information that can help:

• Surface flaws in process or procedure (create value through efficiency or increased ease of use)
• Identify barriers to purchase (functionality, policies, taxonomy, etc.)
• Define future marketing communications strategies (bet you don’t know what those guys in the other room know. Ask.)
• Spark innovation (brilliant ideas come from everywhere. Don’t be myopic and brainstorm with the same staid group)
• Solidify personal ownership, end-to-end (give ‘em the complete picture, how their role affects the whole)
• So, you think smugly, you’ve already asked their opinion?  In a SurveyMonkey poll in Q4 2009?  You see where I’m going with this. After you collected the information, did you do anything with it?  Or does the cross-tab function in your Excel only work when it involves tangible assets like inventory?  In this case, not only are you missing out on valuable, relevant, and timely insight but you’ve also probably sent a poor message to those who bothered to participate.

The brand within each of them

If you aren’t tapping into your paid assets (so to speak) to find out what you don’t know, then chances are you’re not giving sufficient thought to how well those valuable assets live and breathe the brand (see above).  While admittedly some people want to clock in, do a job, and cruise on home, most people truly want to be part of something bigger than them.  I’m talking about the people out there on that floor, in that warehouse, in those cubbies – they’re ready to be emotionally invested in their work.  Are you walking blithely by, oblivious to those folks just waiting for a rally cry?

Building your internal brand is more than the logo’d coffee mugs and calendars that nOObs get handed on day one.  The gear may be flags they can carry out into the field, but that stuff holds little meaning if the tools and training (read: mentorship programs, career development training, joint efforts between HR and marketing, and leadership that walk the talk) establishing internal brand culture isn’t in place.  When the purpose, the meaning, isn’t there, then it just becomes a job and subject to all the vulnerabilities inherent to anything perfunctory.

The brand on the street

Your employees buy groceries, run to the post office, and play Little League with a bajillion people.  These people, as people will, ask your employees “So, where do you work?” and “How do you like it?” If you had to guess, what do you think the responses would be to the latter?  Answers can range from the practical “The pay is fair.” or “The benefits are good.” to the more telling responses invariably leading to … wait for it … wait … culture.

If people in authority micromanage, it speaks to the culture.  If there’s inequity in employee perks or disproportionate leniency for some, that speaks to culture.  If one guy is allowed to be a loudmouthed crude jerk or another gal only fills openings with her cronies or hand-picked recruits (irrespective of true qualifications), that speaks to culture.   As the boss, you may not always hear about such things but if they’re happening, you can bet money the rank-and-file are talking and commiserating.  And they’re telling their friends.

The point

Systematically, purposefully building an internal brand-centric culture as part of a comprehensive strategy can lead to heightened customer-focused actions and stronger bottom-line results.  What are you (or your employer) doing to develop the relationship between employees and the brand?

Related articles by Zemanta

• Your Culture Drives Your Brand (paulisakson.typepad.com)
• The 10 Point Plan to Build an Internal Community of Brand Loyal Fans (successful-blog.com)
• Branding In 30 Seconds (conversationmarketing.com)

We knew the T-Mobile G2 (the successor to the G1, the first Android phone) is coming, but we didn’t know much about it – not even its looks. Now, T-Mobile has finally spilled the beans, and while the exact date the device is coming to the market is still unknown, customers will be able to pre-order limited quantities “later this month.”

Will it be as revolutionary as its predecessor? Judging by its specifications, it’s unlikely, but it does have a couple of interesting features. First of all, it supports HSPA+, which makes it the first T-Mobile’s 4G/3.5G smartphone. Furthermore, (we’d never guess it by looking at the front side of the device) it also has a “unique hinge design” that hides a full QWERTY keyboard.

If these features piqued your interest, get ready for the fairly standard (for newer Android smartphones, at least) set of specifications: a 3.7-inch screen, an 800 MHz Snapdragon CPU, and a 5-megapixel camera with a LED flash and autofocus, capable of recording HD (720p) videos. The device comes with 4GB internal memory with pre-installed 8GB micro SD card, and it supports up to 32 GB of external memory. Finally, there’s the 3.5mm headphone jack, Bluetooth, Flash support and that snazzy Swype text input people have been using to break texting records lately.

Reviews: Android, Bluetooth

More About: G2, smartphone, T-Mobile

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According to a recent post from Twitter infrastructure employee John Kalucki, the highly anticipated User Streams API product will be moved from a closed beta to an open beta testing period quite soon.

Twitter first announced User Streams at Chirp, where Twitter Director of Platform Ryan Sarver told a crowd of eager developers about a new feature and API that would get data in real time and without rate limits. Onstage at the conference, Sarver pinged content from Twitter.com onto TweetDeck in real time. The API was made available to devs for a brief period during the conference, but any apps or features created around it were not shown to the general public.

However, the company did open the API to two partners in July: TweetDeck and Echofon. At that time, Twitter also announced a new Streaming API product called Site Streams.

Today, Kalucki took to Google Groups to let developers know that the User Streams product launch “is moving along as planned.

“We haven’t had any downtime, and we’ve only had a few subtle functionality problems to refine. In short, all is going very well… We intend to move this product into an open beta test period soon, and then on into full production shortly thereafter.” Originally, the open beta was slated for late August; still, we’d be just as happy to see a smooth launch in September.

Twitter’s roadmap for User Streams includes an at-scale launch in Q3 or Q4 of this year.

What do you think of User Streams so far? Are you excited about the potential for user applications?

Reviews: Chirp Blu, Google Groups, TweetDeck, Twitter

More About: api, twitter, User Streams

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The warm weather is beginning to cool just a bit, kids are heading back to school. We hate to admit it, but summer’s over, and with it have gone our wonderful, leisurely vacations.

If you’re not quite ready to readjust to the not-so-lazy days of the rest of the year, you might want to give YouTube’s latest channel a spin.

On the official YouTube blog, YouTuber Mark Day wrote, “There’s no shortage of videos on YouTube to inspire travel plans, and our new program Vacationer… brings the best of our partners’ travel content into a single destination.”

The Vacationer channel offers a carousel of escapist frolics shot in pleasant and exotic locations. Provided by such entities as National Geographic, the Travel Channel, HowCast, Lonely Planet and more, the content ranges from videos on steel drums and belly dancers to clips of of a 24-hour sojourn in New York City.

These videos run the gamut from fascinating to entertaining to genuinely useful and cover vacation information and inspiration for the U.S., Canada, Europe, the Caribbean and “exotic” locales.

While this might not be as practical as a simple YouTube search if you already have a destination in mind, it’s a great place to get ideas for your next trip or simply learn about interesting destinations around the world.

We also like the channel’s interface, which reminds us distinctly of iTunes’ Cover Flow.

The channel is sponsored by Norweigan Cruise Lines, which gets its own tab on the channel for showcasing its cruise ship-related videos.

What do you think of Vacationer so far? What kinds of videos or sections should YouTube add? And what other themed channels do you think should come out next? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Reviews: YouTube

More About: travel, vacation, vacationer, youtube

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One of the new features that Apple announced at its music event last week was AirPlay, a feature that lets users wirelessly stream their music to different stereo systems all over their house.

An evolution of AirTunes, a feature that first premiered with the AirPort Express in 2004, AirPlay lets users stream their iTunes library from and to multiple locations, including the forthcoming Apple TV. It also offers the ability to control playback and manage playlists from an iPhone or iPod touch. The big difference with AirPlay is that instead of connecting an AirPort Express to an optical audio cable or headphone jack, music can be transmitted wirelessly to compatible stereo equipment.

CNBC has a profile of BridgeCo, the company responsible for making AirPlay work with stereo makers like Denon, iHome, Maranz, JBL and Bowers & Wilkens.

As CNBC notes, this appears to be the first time that Apple has opened up its iTunes software system to a third party. Similar music streaming systems such as Sonos or Logitech’s Squeezebox have required reverse engineering to work with iTunes’ streaming protocol. These systems can work quite well, but there is always the possibility that a software update could break compatibility.

This time, Apple let BridgeCo’s staff look at the iTunes code in order to build software that could be embedded into stereo systems and interface naturally with computers running iTunes.

Official compatibility also means that manufacturers can add features such as the ability to display song or playlist information on LED and LCD displays.

AirPlay will offer more than just wireless music streaming; beginning with iOS 4.2, users will also be able to stream video and audio content to an Apple TV from their iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad. It isn’t clear if that capability will be supported to speaker systems, but that should be a theoretical option.

For BridgeCo, nabbing the Apple deal might just be what is able to push the company into the black. The 10-year old company still isn’t profitable but hopes to change that after the first wave of AirPlay-enabled devices start arriving in stores.

What do you think? Would you buy a stereo with AirPlay enabled?

Reviews: Sonos

More About: airplay, apple, bridgeco, itunes, sonos, streaming music

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

Name: Yoink

Quick Pitch: Yoink makes it simple to give away your unwanted items and find free goods near you.

Genius Idea: For years, savvy Internet denizens have used the Freecycle network group in their city to give away stuff they don’t want and to find free items for pickup. The only problem with Freecycle is that everything is managed in Yahoo Groups, making the whole experience rather clunky.

Others have used Craigslist to accomplish the same task, but this approach can be time-consuming, both while searching for the exact item you want and while traveling sometimes-long distances to get it.

Yoink employs the exact same everybody-wins-when-we-recycle-and-reuse-goods mentally but modernizes the entire experience and makes it easy to find items near you.

The product has a simple purpose: Use the site or iPhone app to give or get (yoink) items. You can scour Yoink for available items nearby using the map-based view, or you can search for specific items. When you’re ready to claim something, click the “Yoink” button to reserve the item; then, you can message the giver to arrange for pick-up.

You can also list whatever items you want to offload and rack up “generosity points” for everything you give away. Listing items is just as simple as yoinking them. Just start typing in the “What can you give?” box on the homepage, and the area will expand so you can attach a photo and specify the item’s location.

Yoink also tracks individual giving and yoinking behaviors across the site. Just navigate to the Stats tab to check out how you rank against other members when it comes to generosity.

If one person’s trash really is another person’s treasure, then Yoink is essentially the middleman between the two, providing a better way to uncover unwanted treasures in your neighborhood.

Image courtesy of nedrichards, Flickr

Sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark

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

Reviews: Craigslist, Flickr, Internet, Yoink

More About: bizspark, freecycle, spark-of-genius, yoink

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Google Instant is just a few hours old, but in “technology years,” it’s already reached the awkward adolescent stage in which it is mercilessly judged by others.

We were present at Google’s unveiling of this new approach to search, which Google reps have dubbed “one part art, one part science.” The feature itself, from the user experience side of things, is one part text prediction, one part instant search results.

Some of us have been pretty impressed with the new technology. “With one keystroke, “w,” you’ll instantly get your weather forecast,” wrote our own Ben Parr this morning. “Wow.”

On his personal blog, Google search god Matt Cutts explains why these UI changes help make Google search faster.

“If we want to get people answers and solve their problems faster, we can help with that by improving our UI to help you formulate queries more quickly (and then doing a bunch of hard work under the hood to answer that query too). Google typically returns search results in milliseconds, but it takes several seconds for you to type a query. In other words, the limiting factor on a typical search is you. With predictive search and instant results, you can often get the answer you want much faster.”

Nevertheless, some among us have been less enthusiastic about the alphabet according to Google. Let’s face it: Sometimes, you know what you want to search for, and all the extra information can be a bit distracting, especially for the more ADD-prone technophiles out there.

So, what’s your opinion of Google Instant so far?

Do you like Google Instant?online survey

The poll will close Friday, September 10, at 10 p.m. PDT. Be sure to cast your vote by then, and let us know how you really feel in the comments, as well.

Reviews: Google, blog

More About: Google, Google Instant, matt cutts, poll, Search

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At a recent conference, The New York Times‘ publisher and chairman Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., stated that he eventually expects the “Gray Lady” will no longer be a physical newspaper.

“We will stop printing the New York Times sometime in the future, date TBD,” he said to attendees of the International Newsroom Summit.

This type of statement is sure to cause alarmist reactions in some and will strike others as a completely obvious conclusion to the ongoing struggles of traditional media.

As newspaper circulation continues to fall, so do newspaper revenues. All told, losses amount to 27.2% or ad revenue lost year-over-year between 2008 and 2009. More and more consumers are using the web to stay updated about current events; in fact, in a poll earlier this year, only 21.7% of Mashable readers said they got their news from a newspaper.

In other words, the traditional newspaper might be in trouble, but news as a commodity isn’t going anywhere

Sulzberger’s statement acknowledges this fact; we see it as a commitment to finding new, timely, culturally relevant ways to reach readers and profit from gathering and reporting the news.

Nevertheless, it’s taken most news outlets quite a bit of time to come around to the realization that print isn’t the be-all-end-all of journalism. By delaying innovation, many publications have put themselves in financially dire straits while scrambling to catch up with web-friendly revenue models.

This particular newspaper has flirted with various revenue models for online content over the past several years. Readers will be subject to a metered paywall beginning next year.

Sulzberger noted at the conference, “Our pursuit of the pay model is a step in the right direction for us. We believe that serious media organizations must start to collect additional revenue from their readers… information is less and less yearning to be free.”

NYTimes.com had previously toyed with another paywall-type mode, called TimesSelect, around three years ago. The change wasn’t as lucrative as the paper had expected; still, Sulzberger sees the experiment as educational, not necessarily a failure.

“If we discover that we’ve tried something that’s not working, we could change it,” he said.

What do you think of Sulzberger’s statement that the newspaper would cease to exist physically? Let us know in the comments.

Image credits: Flickr, mfobrien.

Reviews: Flickr

More About: journalism, media, new york times, News, NYTimes, traditional media, trending

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Kno Inc., the company behind the 14-inch dual-touchscreen tablet unveiled at D8 earlier this year, announced it has closed a $46 million debt-and-equity round led by Andreessen Horowitz.

The leading venture capital firm, which has also financed prominent startups such as Foursquare, Zynga and Skype, was joined by Silicon Valley Bank and TriplePoint Capital. Andreessen had previously led a $7.5 million Series B, which Kno closed in December 2009.

The digital textbook company plans to use the funds to continue developing its e-reader tablet and accompanying platform, which includes digital textbooks, educational apps and other related media.

“We plan to use the infusion of capital to get the Kno into the hands of students for beta testing this fall and ultimately for the first customer ship later this year,” Kno Co-founder and CTO Babur Habib said in a statement.

Room for digital innovation in the education sector is certainly there. A recent study from Simba Information estimates that e-textbooks will account for 11% of textbook sales by 2013. Furthermore, tablet sales are expected to grow from 3.5 million units in 2010 to 20.4 million units in 2015, according to Forrester. Whether students will be eager to purchase Kno’s 5.5-pound — and likely expensive (the company claims it will be “under $1000,” which is none-too-promising) — dual-screen tablet remains to be seen, however.

Reviews: Foursquare, Skype

More About: e-books, e-readers, e-reading, e-textbooks, Kno, Tablet

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Contrary to popular belief, Pete Cashmore doesn’t have an obsessive love for potatoes. Rather he dubbed his blog “Mashable” because the original site covered tech “mashups” — web projects created by combining two services, like Flickr and Google Maps.

Other companies have different strategies for naming or branding themselves or their products. And in the tech world, most of these reasons aren’t apparent. Sure, everyone knows by this point that Google comes from a specific large number called a “googol” and that Microsoft combines “microcomputer” and “software.” But what the heck is a Twitter?

We reached out to tech companies asking them to explain their names. What we got were 11 interesting stories that will satisfy your curiosity.

1. Twitter

The name Twitter was picked out of a hat. A small group of employees from Odeo, the San Francisco podcasting startup where Twitter initially began, had a brainstorming session. They were trying to come up with names that fit with the theme of a mobile phone buzzing in your pocket with an update.

After narrowing down the options (which included Jitter and Twitter), they wrote them down, put them in a hat, and let fate decide. Fate decided on Twitter (because clearly asking someone if they saw your latest ‘jeep’ is just weird).

2. Android

Apparently Andy Rubin, the co-founder and former CEO of Android, really, really likes robots. “You have to be a little bit careful when you’re around Andy and his robots,” says Nick Sears, the other Android co-founder, in this YouTube video. “I’ve seen his dog attack his robots.”

3. Foursquare

Dodgeball, Dennis Crowley’s first attempt at social networking for mobile phones was acquired by Google in 2005. When Google killed the project, Crowley founded an improved location-based social game he named Foursquare.

Does Dennis Crowley have some sort of unresolved childhood issues relating to playground games?

As it turns out, no he doesn’t. “Dennis chose to name both companies after playground games because they were both designed to be fun and playful,” said Foursquare’s PR manager in an e-mail. Apparently Foursquare was actually always Crowley’s first choice, but the domain name wasn’t available when he founded Dodgeball.

4. 37signals

As with so many great things, the name 37signals was inspired by PBS. Carlos Segura, one of the original partners of the company was watching a science show called NOVA. He learned that in the search for extraterrestrials, humans constantly analyze radio waves from outer space. While almost all of the signal sources have been identified, 37 signals remain unexplained.

As for the camping theme, there’s no great explanation. “Camping… It just happened,” wrote founder Jason Fried in an e-mail. “Basecamp was the first product and then we sort of ran with it. But Highrise and Sortfolio didn’t follow the theme. If we can follow it, great, but it’s not at all a requirement.”

Still, for a company that professes to not care about names, 37signals has some pretty creative ones.

5. Yahoo!

Founders David Filo and Jerry Yang started what would become Yahoo when they were Ph.D. candidates at Stanford University. The project originally consisted of categorized lists of favorite links on the web, which made its original name, “Jerry and David’s Guide to the World Wide Web,” at least accurate if not so catchy.

Yahoo is actually an acronym for “Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle.” But according to the company, the team chose the name for its definition: “rude, unsophisticated, uncouth.”

6. Adobe

Adobe founders John Warnock and Chuck Geschke were working for Xerox during the late 70s and early 80s, and living in Los Altos, CA, and Adobe Creek just happens run through the town.

According to the creek’s Wikipedia page, it was named for the nearby house of a 19th Century governor. So, at least in some sense, the company was named for the building material.

7. BlackBerry

Despite popular belief, the way that the buttons look a bit like the seeds of a berry wasn’t taken into account. The name BlackBerry was purely a marketing decision. The communications team offered up this explanation in an e-mail:

“RIM wanted a name that would be distinctive, memorable and fun and that would work well internationally and appeal to a wide range of customers. RIM decided to go with a connotative word for the brand name rather than a descriptive or invented word.”

8. Apple

Apple has no official story, which means that you can take your pick of the following rumors:

• Steve Jobs used to work at a California or Oregon apple farm during the summer. He grew to really appreciate apples.
• Steve Jobs really liked the Beatles.
• Steve Jobs was three months late filing a name for the business, and he threatened to call his company Apple Computers if his colleagues didn’t suggest a better name by 5 p.m.
• Steve Jobs wanted to distance the company from the cold, unapproachable, complicated imagery created by other computer companies at the time.

You probably have your own theories, so let us know in the comments below.

9. Zappos

Zappos was originally named ShoeSite.com when it was founded in 1999. This posed a bit of a problem when it wanted to start selling more than just shoes. While still quite fond of shoes, the team didn’t abandon the theme entirely. They decided on a variation of the word “shoes” in Spanish. Thus “zapatos” was converted to Zappos for the company name.

10. Nintendo

The three words “Nin” “ten” “do” is Japanese for “we do all that we can, as best as we can, and await the results.” Nintendo is sort of a motto and company name all in one. Who knew that the gaming giant was so poetic?

11. Aardvark

Today, Aardvark has a sleek website where users can type or e-mail their questions to be answered by the appropriate people in their own social networks. But co-founder Max Ventilla’s idea began as a chat buddy that could intermediate conversations with people you know online.

There were advantages to having this name at the top of the buddy list, a spot which was occupied on Ventilla’s buddy roster by his friend Aaron. Alphabetically speaking, there aren’t many options that trump Aaron. “Aardvark” is one of the few names that could shoulder him out.

Other factors the name had going for it were its ability to conjugate into the invented active verb “vark,” and being an animal that people recognized but typically didn’t have strong associations with.

“We also felt that an animal had the right positioning as helpful but not perfect,” said Ventilla in an e-mail. “If we chose a human or a robot mascot people would spend their time trying to make it look stupid, but they’d cut an animal more slack.”

More Tech Resources from Mashable:

- Life After Google: 15 Startups Founded by Ex-Employees
- 10 Fun Facts You Didn’t Know About Google
- 10 Great Google Slideshows
- 10 Great Watches for Gadget Lovers [PICS]
- 10 of the Web’s Most Insightful News Infographics

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, monkeybusinessimagesReviews: Aardvark, Android, Dodgeball, Foursquare, Google, Mashable, Twitter, YouTube, iStockphoto

More About: 37signals, adobe, android, apple, blackberry, brand, branding, foursquare, name, Name origins, Nintendo, steve jobs, twitter, Yahoo, Zappos

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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 of 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:

Jobs at Mashable

Ad Ops Manager at Mashable in New York, NY.

Product Manager at Mashable in New York, NY.

VP Sales at Mashable in New York, NY.

Copy Editor at Mashable in New York, NY.

Mashable Job Board Listings

Social Media Analyst at Blueocean Market Intelligence in Issaquah, WA.

Software Engineer at Google in New York, NY.

Marketing & Social Media Manager at SheFinds Media in New York, NY.

Product Manager at Lime Company in New York, NY.

Business Analytics Manager at Playfish in San Francisco, CA.

Sr. Analyst at Playfish in San Francisco, CA.

Social Media Marketing Manager at M80 in New York, NY.

Online Community Manager at Campfire in New York, NY.

Co-Founder/Web Developer at TBD in San Francisco, CA.

Community Manager at HowAboutWe in New York, NY.

Start-up Software Engineer at Metamarkets in San Francisco, CA.

Interactive Producer at Root & Madison in Dallas, TX.

Copywriter at Ignite Social Media in Cary, NC.

Web Marketing Manager at New York University in New York, NY.

SEM Specialist at Provide Commerce in San Diego, CA.

Online Affiliate Specialist/Manager at Spin Six Strategic Marketing Design in Scottsdale, AZ.

Acquisition Marketing Manager at Playfish in San Francisco, CA.

Policy and Compliance Manager at Playfish in San Francisco, CA.

Director of Business Development at myYearbook.com in New York, NY.

Javascript UI Developers at Dobra Resources in Reston, VA.

Flex UI Developer at Dobra Resources in Reston, VA.

Social Media Manager at M80 in Chicago, IL.

Administrative Assistant at Digitas Health in Philadelphia, PA.

Financial Project Manager at Digitas Health in Philadelphia, PA.

Product Manager at Lime Labs in New York, NY.

Regional Sales Manager – Social Theater at myYearbook.com in New York, NY.

Sales Director – Mobile Advertising Sales at myYearbook.com in New York, NY.

Web Designer at Thinkwell Group in Burbank, CA.

User Experience Designer at Thinkwell Group in Burbank, CA.

Community Manager at National University System in San Diego, CA.

Social Marketer at Circle of Moms in San Francisco, CA.

Vice President of Platform Engineering at Synacor in Los Angeles, CA.

Director of Engineering at Synacor in Los Angeles, CA.

Director of Engineering at Synacor in Buffalo, NY.

Ambassador of Buzz at Acquia in Woburn, MA.

Web/UI Designer at Fuze Box, Inc. in San Francisco, CA.

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Social Media Manager at M80 in Washington, D.C.

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Image courtesy of iStockphoto, YinYang

Reviews: Google, Mashable, iStockphoto

Last year’s Super Bowl champions, the New Orleans Saints, will kick off their season with a home opener against the Minnesota Vikings Thursday night. In anticipation of the game, running back Reggie Bush is giving away eight autographed footballs to fans who track them down scavenger-hunt-style.

Bush and his agency, Activ8Social, have concocted the social media challenge Reggie Bush #RedZones. As part of the campaign, which started Monday, autographed footballs are being dropped in the city of New Orleans. Fans have to piece together clues via social media sites — Facebook, Twitter, TwitPic and Foursquare — to snatch up the footballs in question.

Twitpics will highlight the general vicinity of the Redzone football drop, and Foursquare checkins (also posted to Twitter) will more precisely indicate each football’s whereabouts. Reggie Bush’s Facebook page is serving as the command center for the scavenger hunt and will help fans find out about drop times and track down clues.

The #RedZones contest also incorporates Stickybits into the action. Fans will find physical displays featuring a photo of Bush and a Stickybits barcode littered throughout the city. They can scan the code to add a photo, video or message in support of Reggie Bush, and the most creative bit will win an autographed football. Bush’s Facebook page includes a Stickybits tab, so out-of-towners can participate in the challenge as well.

While timely, given the start of the new season, the social media scavenger hunt is also likely designed to deflect negative attention away from the NCAA’s June decision to penalize USC for improper benefits to Reggie Bush during his time at the school. It has yet to be determined whether Bush will have to return his 2005 Heisman Trophy.

Still, athletes and social media promotions go hand-in-hand. During the NBA playoffs, Amare Stoudemire’s Facebook page gave fans the opportunity to purchase discount playoff tickets via a custom group buying application. As social media becomes an essential part of the sports enthusiast’s lifestyle, we can expect to see even more of these campaigns pop up.

Reviews: Facebook, Foursquare, Twitpic, Twitter

More About: facebook, foursquare, new orleans saints, reggie bush, stickybits, twitter

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Kobo, the platform that powers Borders’s suite of e-reading devices and mobile apps, among others, has released its first desktop application for PC and Mac owners.

Like its preexisting e-reading software and apps for iOS, BlackBerry and Android, the desktop application allows consumers to browse, purchase and organize e-books directly on their computers or laptops. It also connects users of third-party e-readers, such as Sony’s, to Kobo to purchase and download content.

The desktop application offers all of the same reading functionality as the software and mobile apps, including the ability to adjust font types and sizes to suit individual preferences. Users can pick up reading on their desktop where they left off on their e-reader or smartphone, and vice versa. Unfortunately, neither the desktop application nor Kobo’s existing apps allow users to add highlights or annotations, which ultimately renders Amazon’s Kindle platform superior.

The Kobo desktop application does have one notable advantage over the Kindle desktop application: It enables users to browse and purchase books within the app, whereas the Kindle App redirects users to a new browser window to shop.

What do you think of Kobo’s new desktop application? What is your e-reading platform of choice and why?

Thumbnail courtesy of quinn.anya, Flickr

Reviews: Android, BlackBerry Rocks!, Flickr

More About: amazon, Android App, barnes & noble, blackberry, borders, e-readers, e-reading, iOS, ipad app, iphone app, Kindle, kobo, nook

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Apple has officially released iOS 4.1 to iTunes. iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and iPod touch owners (second-generation and up) can get the update.

Apple has added a bunch of new features and enhancements to iOS 4.1. In addition to fixing bugs (like the proximity sensor) and speeding up performance on iPhone 3G devices, iOS 4.1 also includes a new HDR photography mode, the ability to upload HD video over Wi-Fi, Game Center and the integration of Ping into the iTunes mobile app.

We took some time to play with iOS 4.1 this afternoon, after already spending some time with the beta releases.

We agree with bloggers Matt Drance and John Gruber that the Ping experience is better on the iPhone than it is in iTunes. The music discovery element is more central, and it feels more natural to “like” and share songs, or to browse through what others like or buy.

Game Center is here, but for now all you can really do is choose your nickname and add friends. We think this has potential, especially as more game developers take advantage of it. Although there are other third-party game networks that developers can use, Game Center has the distinct advantage of being available on virtually every iOS device. That means that tens of millions of users can easily connect and play games, and share information with one another from across the globe.

The HDR photography mode could be seen as a gimmick, but we were actually impressed with the results in our brief tests. We were able to get better definition on objects and better colors from the sky, while shooting outdoors on a slightly overcast day.

That isn’t to say that HDR is perfect. Depending on the lighting and the object, HDR can sometimes just make things look more washed out. This is a great feature to have built into the camera app but it’s not going to put any HDR software for Mac or PC out of business.

On the bug fix side, we took a call immediately after upgrading to iOS 4.1 and didn’t end up accidentally calling someone else while on the phone. (Hooray!)

Check out our gallery to see iOS 4.1 in action.

iOS 4.1 Main Screen

The Game Center icon is new.

Game Center Main Page

This is Game Center.

iTunes in iOS 4.1

Note the addition of the Ping menu.

iTunes in iOS 4.1

The more tab now takes you to these options. Ping replaced Ringtones in the app menu so the more tab now includes it as an option.

Ping Activity

This tab shows you an overview of what your friends are doing on Ping.

Ping People

You can run through the list of people that you follow.

Ping Album Like/Post

You can now "like" albums or post about them to your stream.

Ping Album Like

I like Arcade Fire.

Ping Song Like/Post

You can also like individual songs or post direct links to them in your stream.

Ping Post

The post screen.

Ping Profile

Your profile in Ping. It shows all of your likes, posts and the new people that you follow.

TV Show Rental

In addition to buying an episode of a TV show, you can also rent certain shows for $.99 apiece.

If you do rent a TV show from your iPhone or iPod touch, the SD version will be the only one downloaded to your device. If you buy an episode outright, the SD episode is downloaded and an HD episode (if it's available) will be downloaded to your computer

HDR Camera Option

The camera app now has an HDR button.

Photo Without HDR

Photo without HDR.

Photo With HDR

The same photo with the HDR effects applied.

HDR Up-close

A close-up look at the HDR version of this photo.

Non-HDR Up-close

A close-up look at the non-HDR version of this photo.

Non-HDR v. HDR

The non-HDR photo is on the left, the HDR version is on the right.

Reviews: Ping

More About: apple, apple itunes, hdr, iOS, ios 4.1, iphone, itunes, Ping

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Television’s top humorists are always looking for new cultural elements to satirize, and two of the most popular subjects over the past year have been gadgets or social media — or both, as they’re increasingly intertwined.

If you flip through the channels on your cable or satellite TV receiver for just a few minutes, you’re bound to come across a reference to Google, Facebook or texting. But we’re interested in the deeper cuts, so we’ve collected five of the funniest (but not the only) TV episodes that make things like Facebook, Apple, FarmVille, or Chatroulette the focus of almost all the humor.

We’ve provided a short clip and description for each episode. If you’re interested in watching the complete episode, you’ll find links to places you can get them online at the bottom of each entry. Most of these links and videos are region-locked to the United States. Since we’re writing this story in the U.S. that’s our only choice. If you live in another region, please feel free to share video and download links for your region in the comments.

The Simpsons – “Mypods and Boomsticks”

The Simpsons go to the too-cool-for-normal-people “Mapple Store,” where they see “Steve Mobs” address his cult-like followers on a giant screen 1984-style. Oh, the irony. Lisa gets a “Mypod,” and that’s just the start of an episode that manages to be as sharp an Apple satire as you’ll ever see.

Amazon Video on Demand
iTunes

South Park – “You Have Ø Friends”

While The Simpsons hit the ball out of the park with “Mypods and Boomsticks,” South Park’s Facebook episode is the ultimate social media satire.

The generally crass animated series actually manages a certain degree of profundity as it explores the way social networks can be used to make us feel better about the shortcomings of our “real” relationships. Facebook isn’t the only topic to receive this treatment, either; podcasting, FarmVille and Chatroulette get some attention too. Throw in a killer Tron sequence and it’s a must-see episode.

South Park Studios
Amazon Video on Demand
iTunes

Modern Family – “Game Changer”

This episode of Modern Family is basically a half-hour of product placement for Apple’s then just-released iPad, but it doesn’t fail to make some jokes about the absurd lengths people will go to for the latest and hottest gadget.

The iPad is coming out on Phil’s birthday, so his wife volunteers to go stand in line to get him one so he can sleep in. She falls asleep instead of taking care of it, so she’s forced to go to extreme lengths to hide her failure while she tries other ways to nab the gadget for her husband.

Hulu Plus
Amazon Video on Demand
iTunes

30 Rock – “Secret Santa”

Bizarre acquisitions by NBC parent company GE are a running gag on 30 Rock. This time GE acquires “YouFace,” a social networking site that bears a striking resemblance to Facebook, only more absurd — sort of. NBC executive Jack Donaghy reconnects with his high school crush using the social site, and relies on advice from a young receptionist to draw conclusions from the woman’s news feed and photo activity.

YouFace plays a smaller role in the episode than tech does in these other episodes, but it’s such a great gag that we had to include it anyway.

Hulu Plus
Amazon Video on Demand
iTunes

The Simpsons – “Bart Gets a Z”

The Simpsons has been on the air for 21 years, so it has most of the satirical bases covered. While the “Mypods” episode mostly riffed on Apple, “Bart Gets a Z” goes after social media, texting and other tech topics. A new substitute teacher at Bart’s school uses technology to reach his students, texting assignments like “Homework: 20 minutes of Twittering.”

If you don’t get your Simpsons social media fix with this episode, stay tuned for the upcoming season because Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is expected to have a cameo.

Amazon Video on Demand
iTunes

More social media resources from Mashable:

- Why Social Media Is the New Source of Hollywood Talent
- How Dana White Built a UFC Empire with Social Media
- How Political Campaigns Are Using Social Media for Real Results
- 4 Tips for Producing Quality Web Videos
- Top 10 YouTube News Bloopers

Reviews: Facebook, Google, iTunes

More About: episodes, funny, humor, social media, tech, television, tv, video

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Sometime this fall, you can expect Google Instant Search to appear on your mobile phone.

Earlier today, the search giant released Google Instant to the masses. The dramatic change to Google’s iconic search engine delivers real-time search results as you type — no clicking required. In fact, the company calls it “search before you type” because Instant Search predicts what you’re about to type and delivers search results based on those predictions.

Today’s announcements could be a game changer in the search space, but Google isn’t satisfied with having real-time search on just the desktop. It wants to dominate mobile as well.

Instant Search for mobile works just like its desktop counterpart. You start typing in a query and Google delivers search results based on what it predicts you’ll type. There are a few restrictions (3G connection speeds, no tab button on most devices, not all mobile devices support it), but in the demo we were given earlier today, it worked like a charm. We expect that this feature will work best on the iPhone and Android devices. Google also says that its mobile apps will eventually support Instant Search functionality.

Here’s our sneak peek at Google Instant Search for mobile:

Reviews: Android, Google

More About: android, Google, Google Instant, Google Instant Search, google search, Instant Search, iphone, Mobile 2.0, ƒgoogle

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OnStar will soon offer a service that reads both Facebook and text messages to subscribers, according to an undisclosed source. Drivers will be able to respond with pre-canned messages, allowing them to keep their eyes on the road and hands on the wheel.

The service, which is expected to launch later this month, will be OnStar’s first attempt at integrating social media services into its fleet of in-vehicle hardware. Although it’s improbable that many users will opt to have a torrent of Facebook updates read to them while driving, the text message service will likely be a quick hit.

That said, the potential integration of Facebook Places with OnStar could be a major hit. With GPS at OnStar’s core and geolocation the next great digital frontier, General Motors could provide precisely the fuel Facebook needs to accelerate adoption of Places.

Since early iterations of the service are said to be focused primarily on content delivery, it’s unlikely that Places will find itself on OnStar this year. But if this relationship is meant to be, it’s hard to imagine a situation in which Facebook and General Motors won’t soon take advantage of geolocation.

Reviews: Facebook

More About: facebook, Facebook Places, geolocation, GM, gps, OnStar

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Google Instant Search gives you real-time results as you type and predicts your queries. That is, unless you’re searching for naughty things.

Earlier today, Google launched Instant Search to its U.S. users, with an international rollout to come later this week. The “fundamental shift in search” delivers search results while you type — no clicking or hitting “enter” required. By typing the letter “w,” you’re instantly delivered the weather forecast, the query the search giant predicts you’re most likely seeking.

However, if you try to type “penis,” Instant Search will not deliver any results. You’ll be greeted with a blank page. The same is true for other queries like the f-bomb. Several other queries simply ignore the naughty words and deliver other Instant results. It doesn’t matter whether you have Safesearch disabled or not.

Google was asked about this “feature” during today’s Q&A session. Google’s Johanna Wright, director of product management for Instant, responded that Instant Search’s inability to predict your sexy queries is actually a safety feature to protect children. The same rules that apply to Google’s other products apply to Instant, so the company decided the best way not to deliver unintended search results for “Shih Tzu” was to disable naughty words in Google Instant entirely.

Frankly, we’re glad that Google isn’t including adult-related keywords in real-time search. We can only imagine the questions a seven-year-old girl would ask when she started typing “Pussycat Dolls.” Besides, all you have to do to get your porn is hit “enter,” the same as it was before.

What do you think of Google’s decision to exclude naughty words from Instant Search? Let us know in the comments.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, 1001nights

Reviews: Google, iStockphoto

More About: Google, Google Instant, Google Instant Search, google search, trending

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Google just launched Google Instant, a speedy new search offering that lets users search as they type. With Google Instant, the search engine technology is capable of predicting a user’s search query — in gray text — before he finishes typing it.

Those predictions tell an interesting story, especially when you look at single letter predictions. During today’s press event, Google demonstrated that by typing the letter “W,” Google Instant predicts the query to be “weather,” and immediately returns weather results before the searcher ever hits the search button. Pretty cool stuff.

So, we got to thinking, what about the rest of the alphabet? As it turns out, Google has interesting predictions for those letters as well, as you can see in the image gallery embedded below. A is for Amazon, B is for Bank of America, E is for eBay, T is for Target and X is for Xbox. It’s a fascinating Google-defined alphabet soup — especially when you consider the instant results and how this may influence search user behavior and affect the highlighted brand names.

We should note that Google Suggest technology helps to power the predictions, so a few of the one letter predictions in the screenshots are skewed by my own search behaviors. For instance, in my Google Instant queries, J is for Jeromes — a San Diego furniture merchant — but for others, J returns Justin Bieber as the predicted query. Still, it’s clear that Google Instant predictions offer powerful insight into search terms down to the letter level.

a-amazon

b-bank-of-america

c-craigslist

d-dmv

e-ebay

f-facebook

g-gmail

h-hotmail

i-ikea

j-jeromes

k-kaiser

l-lowes

m-myspace

n-netflix

o-orbitz

p-pandora

q-quotes

r-rei

s-sdge

t-target

u-usps

v-verizon

w-weather

x-xbox

y-yahoo

z-zillow

Reviews: Google, justin bieber

More About: Google, Google Instant, Google Instant Search, google suggest, Search

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