ars technica

Week in gaming: Ubisoft DRM, PlayStation Move, and God of War IIIThose playing Assassin's Creed 2 on the PC got a rude reminder of DRM's pitfalls when the servers that authenticate the game went down. Many complained on the company's official forum, and tempers ran hot.At GDC, Sony showed off its new PlayStation Move controller, along with a number of games. The audience response was positive, but the demos shown seemed both inspired and informed by what the Wii has done before. We got a quick hands-on with the controller followed by a bit more time playing SOCOM 4 with it. Read the comments on this post
» 13 Mar 2010, 7:00 am

Valve's Gabe Newell shares his thoughts on DRMAt this year's Game Developer's Choice Awards, Vavle's Gabe Newell won the Pioneer Award, and he used the opportunity to share a slide show with the crowd of developers, press, and business people. His message? DRM is not good for business. He spoke about DRM adding negative worth to products, and his remarks were greeted by loud and enthusiastic applause. "One thing that you hear [Valve] talk a lot about is entertainment as a service, it's an attitude that says 'what have I done for my customers today?'" he said. "It informs all the decisions we make, and once you get into that mindset it helps you avoid things like some of the Digital Rights Management problems that actually make your entertainment products worth less by wrapping thos
» 12 Mar 2010, 3:30 pm

Surprise: iPhone app use heaviest at night and on weekendsApple has made inroads into the professional market with the iPhone—the company has noted that some Fortune 500 companies have deployed them alongside or even replacing BlackBerrys. Despite this, analysis of app usage suggests that it remains a mostly personal device. Mobile analytic firm Localytics examined logs of use of third-party apps and found that app use during the week typically begins to ramp up around 5am and slowly increases to a peak around 9pm. Weekdays also tend to have a little bump in use right around lunch time. On weekends, however, use starts picking up around 6am, reaching a steady peak around noon until 11pm. App usage sharply ramps down after 11, but slightly slower than it does on a typical week day. This usage
» 12 Mar 2010, 1:58 pm

Netflix settles privacy lawsuit, ditches $1 million contestNetflix has canceled its $1 million contest aimed at finding a better recommendation engine in the wake of a privacy lawsuit settlement. The company informed its users today via the company blog, noting that it had "reached an understanding" with the Federal Trade Commission, leading it to ditch the Netflix Prize contest. Netflix first announced the contest—actually the sequel to its original contest—in August of 2009. The goal was to crowdsource its active user base to write a more intelligent recommendation engine based on users' past rentals. This is something Netflix already does, of course, but there's always room for improvement; the company wanted to find the Next Big Thing™ by offering $1 million to the person with the best a
» 12 Mar 2010, 1:04 pm

New Zealand relies on BGP router protocol to filter the 'NetNew Zealand's government-run Internet filtering system is now running, and two ISPs are already using the system. Seven thousand websites are on the list, most dealing with child sexual abuse, bestiality, and other illegal content, as classified by the country's official censors (you too can be a censor for a day). Such material has been illegal offline in New Zealand for years, so the expansion of the program to the Internet isn't a big surprise. But will it work? The government runs the filter, but ISP participation remains voluntary. Currently, Maxnet and Watchdog are confirmed to be using the filter, though other ISPs are said to be interested. Maxnet CEO John Hanna explained his company's position to Computerworld New Zealand: "Filte
» 12 Mar 2010, 12:00 pm

China and Google playing game of Chicken over censorshipChinese authorities are pounding their desks over compliance with the law as Google's C-Day approaches. The "C" is for Censorship, of course, which Google plans to lift in China sometime in the near future. The company has been in talks with China ever since the highly publicized hack earlier this year, and although the two may not be in agreement over what to censor, it seems likely that Google will keep at least some of its business in China. "Google has made its case, both publicly and privately," China's Minister of Industry and Information Technology Li Yizhong told the press on Friday when questioned about censorship, according to Reuters. "If you don't respect Chinese laws, you are unfriendly and irresponsible, and the consequences
» 12 Mar 2010, 10:40 am

Science journo quits writing to fight chiropractic libel suitThe UK's libel laws, which place the burden of proof onto those who have published inflammatory statements, have had a chilling effect on journalism in that nation, and have led to a closet industry in "libel tourism." As such, there have been repeated efforts to reform the laws, often led by professional organizations of writers and journalists. A 2008 case, however, brought a new community into the fight: science communicators, drawn in when the British Chiropractic Association sued a journalist for calling some of its medical claims "bogus." Although the legal fight has continued, the journalist in question, Simon Singh, has now been forced to quit his job at The Guardian in order to defend himself. Many of our readers who follow sci
» 12 Mar 2010, 9:23 am

Bed readers rejoice: iPad gains last-minute rotation lockWhen Apple first introduced the iPad in late January, we noted with much disappointment that the device had no way to lock the screen orientation. This is apparently no longer the case, however—according to an updated iPad specs page, there is now a screen-rotation-lock switch on the right-hand side of the device, seemingly replacing the mute switch that was there when the media first played with it. In January, Ars confirmed the lack of a screen-lock option with an Apple representative at the iPad event. At that time, the Apple rep reminded us that individual apps give users the option to lock the screen into portrait or landscape mode (which is already the case on a number of third-party iPhone apps), but that the iPad itself had no u
» 12 Mar 2010, 8:48 am

Firefox 3.6 sees 100M downloads, now pushing notificationsFirefox 3.6—the latest version of the popular open source Web browser—was officially released in January, but there are still many users who have not yet updated. In an effort to increase awareness about the availability of version 3.6, Mozilla announced today that it will start rolling out upgrade notifications to its users through the browser's built-in update system. According to Mozilla's statistics, the new version has already been downloaded over 100 million times since its release in January. That doesn't include the significant number of existing users who have already migrated to 3.6 by using the browser's built-in upgrade system without being prompted to do so. Firefox is arguably one of the most successful open source soft
» 12 Mar 2010, 8:20 am

Five insights into the behaviors of social media usersWe do a decent amount of social media coverage here at Ars, but not everything that happens with Facebook, Twitter, and the like is worth its own story. Sometimes, though, we happen across things that make us say "huh, that's interesting." It turns out there are a lot of things we thought we knew about social media users, but not all of them are true. Here are a few tidbits we gathered that may surprise some of you. Read the comments on this post
» 12 Mar 2010, 7:42 am

New WMAP data can't erase "dark flow"About 18 months ago, we discussed a mysterious "dark flow" that was seen in early releases of the data from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe data. At that time, we remarked that it was little more than a cosmic curiosity and possibly a statistical blip. New research from the same group, using the more complete five-year data set from the WMAP cosmic microwave background imager and X-ray luminosity data, reveals that the dark flow is still there, and that it runs deeper than previously thought. In a paper published in the March 20th issue of The Astrophysical Journal Letters, the authors report that they have followed the dark flow—which appears to involve matter streaming either into or out of the constellation Centaurus/Hydra—t
» 12 Mar 2010, 7:00 am

Beppe Grillo

Idee, non ideologieIl mio tour elettorale continua, mentre i media continuano a ignorare il MoVimento 5 Stelle. I cittadini invece riempiono le piazze per ascoltare idee e non ideologie. Gente comune, giovane, onesta, come a Matera, come a Brescia. E' uno spettacolo incredibile per questa Italia di sepolcri imbiancati vedere tanta bella gente che crede nel futuro, che sorride. Che discute di programmi, di cose concrete che si possono fare da domani mattina. Senza i miasmi dei partiti che di giorno si combattono e di sera inciuciano. Nessuno di loro parla di programmi, il MoVimento è creato invece su un Programma. Scaricatelo, leggetelo, declamatelo. Le idee sono il nostro virus, fatele girare. Grazie a tutti coloro che con questo freddo polare sono venuti ad
» 13 Mar 2010, 9:48 am

L'incapacità di chiedere scusa"Chiedi scusa!". Vi ricordate i vostri genitori? Dopo una testata al compagno di giochi o una pernacchia alla vicina di casa scattava la sberla e subito dopo l'ordine, tassativo, delle scuse sotto minaccia di un altro manrovescio. La parola: "scusa" era una richiesta di perdono, un'ammissione di colpa, un atto di umanità. L'incapacità di chiedere scusa non è virilità, ma una forma di vigliaccheria e di superbia. Chi si ritiene superiore ai propri errori non è tenuto a giustificarsi. Al posto della scusa scattano le scuse, i buoni motivi di cattivo gusto per assolversi, insieme alle accuse a chiunque faccia notare gli errori commessi.Un ministro che alza le mani su un giornalista non deve scusarsi.Leggi e commenta il post su www.beppeg
» 13 Mar 2010, 9:46 am

Il tramonto del Sole 24 OreIn un anno il Sole 24 Ore è passato da un attivo di 16,1 milioni di euro a meno 52,6 milioni. E' l'effetto del famoso economista Riotta. Basta con i finanziamenti pubblici al giornale di Confindustria!"SOLE 24 ORE: UN...Leggi e commenta il post su www.beppegrillo.it Commenti (5) | Commenti piu' votati | Scrivi | Invia il tuo video | Iscriviti | Autenticati | Invia ad un amico | | GrilloNews | La Settimana
» 13 Mar 2010, 6:43 am

I Mondiali della Protezione CivileIn Italia il costo della vita è sempre più alto. I Mondiali di ciclismo del 2008 (su cui indaga la Procura) sono costati OTTO volte di più di quelli svizzeri dell'anno dopo. E' l'effetto della Bertolaso Tax, o forse...Leggi e commenta il post su www.beppegrillo.it Commenti (9) | Commenti piu' votati | Scrivi | Invia il tuo video | Iscriviti | Autenticati | Invia ad un amico | | GrilloNews | La Settimana
» 12 Mar 2010, 2:12 pm

Verso i 2000 miliardi di debito e oltreNel mese di gennaio 2010 il debito pubblico è aumentato di 26,7 miliardi di euro. Quasi un miliardo al giorno. Tremorti non si ferma più, è in caduta libera. Dopo una breve sosta nel mese di dicembre 2009, il debito pubblico sta accelerando. Con questo ritmo a fine anno avremo 320,4 miliardi in più. Sfonderemo i DUEMILA miliardi, arriveremo a 2.081,5 miliardi. Accumulare in un solo mese circa cinquantunomila miliardi di vecchie lire di debito è una cifra pazzesca, fuori dalla comprensione umana, da non credere. Nel 2010 l'interesse sul debito aumenterà, più debito, più interessi. più default per tutti. Più elicotteri per qualcuno.Leggi e commenta il post su www.beppegrillo.it Commenti (32) | Commenti piu' votati | Scrivi | Invia
» 12 Mar 2010, 1:35 pm

I direttorissimiMinzolini in dolce colloquio con Berlusconi? Dov’è la novità? Un consigliere dell’Agcom consigliato dal presidente del Consiglio di cancellare “Anno Zero”? E allora? Non c’è bisogno di prove per sapere che le televisioni (pubbliche e private) sono controllate e i direttori sono burattini nelle mani dei politici. Berlusconi è solo più sfacciato, più coglione (lo intercettano da 30 anni e ci casca sempre), più protervo, più abituato a mentire e a far mentire. Televisioni e giornali sono farciti di direttorissimi, di Umilio Fede e di Minchiolini e di Vespasiani. E’ una galleria della lingua felpata, delle notizie scomparse, del palinsesto alla carta con pietanze indigeribili.Leggi e commenta il post su www.beppegrillo.it
» 12 Mar 2010, 11:59 am

La Cina va in cittàLa Cina sta migrando dalle campagne alle città. Nel 2040 il 70% dei cinesi vivrà nei centri urbani. Oggi è solo il 45%. E' la più grande migrazione interna di massa della Storia dell'uomo. Sono previste 15 città da 25 milioni di abitanti entro il 2015. Pechino e Shanghai aumenteranno di quattro volte le loro dimensioni. Megalopoli da "Blade Runner" con uomini in spazi ridotti. I formicai del futuro saranno i più esposti ai cambiamenti climatici, alla scarsità dell'acqua e dell'energia come spiegato dai principali opinionisti del mondo in "Terra reloaded". Perchè allora? Siamo sempre in leggera controtendenza. Ps: Le scuole che hanno richiesto gratuitamente e ricevuto il documentario "Terra reloaded" sono centinaia. Quelle che ancora
» 11 Mar 2010, 2:30 pm

Spezzeremo le reni alla GreciaL'Italia del record dell'evasione (200 miliardi di euro), dei condoni mascherati (Scudo Fiscale al 5% di tassazione sui capitali non dichiarati) e dei supertassati. Spezzeremo le reni alla Grecia, come ai bei tempi!"Non metteremo le mani in tasca agli...Leggi e commenta il post su www.beppegrillo.it Commenti (21) | Commenti piu' votati | Scrivi | Invia il tuo video | Iscriviti | Autenticati | Invia ad un amico | | GrilloNews | La Settimana
» 11 Mar 2010, 1:15 pm

La torta dell'Expo 2015L'Expo 2015 ha questo di bello, che serve per "Nutrire il pianeta, energia per la vita". Questo è infatti il tema dell'Esposizione Universale di Milano. Le esposizioni sono un retaggio di fine '800. Oggi, con un click del pc tutto è visibile, qual è il senso di costruire capannoni e grattacieli per richiamare persone da tutto il mondo per una fiera dell'ovvio? Per quale motivo si dovrebbe prendere l'aereo da New York o da Tokyo per visitare l'area più cementificata d'Europa? Tra le più inquinate del mondo con lo smog al posto dell'aria? All'Expo del 1992 di Siviglia parteciparono 42 milioni di visitatori e fu un fallimento economico. A Milano erano previsti all'inizio 29 milioni, ora la previsione è di 20 milioni e mancano ancora 5 an
» 11 Mar 2010, 9:42 am

Le "cuties"L'Italia è un virus tremendo, contagioso, irresistibile. L'Europa ci teme, ma in fondo ci copia. Chi disprezza, compra. Se noi abbiamo veline, escort e, con rispetto parlando, zoccole candidabili alle elezioni, gli inglesi per ora iniziano con le "cuties", le carine. I laburisti lanciano Gloria De Piero, classificata tra le donne più sexy del mondo, detta: "Brown Sugar", un gioco di parole che associa lo zucchero di canna al leader laburista Gordon Brown. I conservatori rispondono con Joanne Cash, una fotocopia di Michelle Hunziker, alta, bionda, capelli lunghi. E' la D'Addario che traccia il solco, ma è Berlusconi che lo diffonde. In tutto il mondo avremo in politica le quote rosa, dedotte però dalle racchie. Anche l'occhio dell'elet
» 10 Mar 2010, 10:32 am

La Russa, il buttafuori della DifesaLa Russa in realtà non è il ministro della Difesa, ma il ministro della Guerra. Si allena come buttafuori tra un giornalista e l'altro."MILANO - ... finale convulso di conferenza stampa, nella sede del Pdl, Rocco Carlomagno, ... freelance...Leggi e commenta il post su www.beppegrillo.it Commenti (147) | Commenti piu' votati | Scrivi | Invia il tuo video | Iscriviti | Autenticati | Invia ad un amico | | GrilloNews | La Settimana
» 10 Mar 2010, 9:23 am

Daily Kos

Reid Slams McConnell on HCRThis is one helluva letter. Reid, to McConnell, in part: “While Republicans were distorting the facts in the health care debate and inflicting delay after needless delay, millions of Americans have continued to suffer as they struggle to afford to stay healthy, stay out of bankruptcy and stay in their homes. Thousands of Americans lose their health care every day, and tens of thousands of the uninsured have lost their lives since this debate began.” “Many Republicans now are demanding that we simply ignore the progress we’ve made, the extensive debate and negotiations we’ve held, the amendments we’ve added (including more than 100 from Republicans) and the votes of a supermajority in favor of a bill whose contents the America
» 13 Mar 2010, 8:46 am

Rove a "Proud" Torture CheerleaderWords fail. In a BBC interview, Karl Rove, who was known as "Bush's brain", said he "was proud we used techniques that broke the will of these terrorists". He said waterboarding, which simulates drowning, should not be considered torture. Perhaps Rove should have been waterboarded by investigators to determine his role in the Valerie Plame outing. Maybe it's not too late to give that a try. Want to volunteer to be waterboarded, Karl?
» 13 Mar 2010, 8:00 am

Obama: Time to overhaul No Child Left BehindBut what matters to you – what matters to our country – is not what happens in the next election, but what we do to lift up the next generation.  And the fact is, there are few issues that speak more directly to our long term success as a nation than issues concerning the education we provide to our children. President Obama announced in his weekly address this morning an "overhaul" of the No Child Left Behind Act that his administration will deliver to Congress Monday, a revision, he said, that will concede that while "the federal government can play a leading role in encouraging the reforms and high standards we need, the impetus for that change will come from states, and from local schools and school districts." His address led
» 13 Mar 2010, 7:00 am

This Week in ScienceUrsus americanus kermodei, or Spirit Bears, are a beautiful and genetically unique subpopulation of American Black Bears with a creamy coat of great import to the natural and native history of Canada. They are not albinos or polar bears, and may well represent a subspecies in the process of adapting -- dare I say evolving -- to the rugged white water rapids and icy, snowy terrain of Canada. Sadly, under pressure from climate change and habitat destruction, the National Resource Defense Council reports their final act in the evolutionary saga might soon be extinction: Trophy hunting of any bear is an archaic and unacceptable practice but it is especially deplorable when bear populations are in decline. Guides believe that there may be far
» 13 Mar 2010, 6:00 am

Your Abbreviated Pundit Round-upSaturday opinions and points of view. WaPo: Democratic leaders on Friday stoked expectations that the year-long debate in Congress over health care may be coming to an end, after President Obama delayed his upcoming trip to the South Pacific and House leaders indicated they could deliver a final bill for his signature by the end of next week. Finally, no more Friedman units. We hope. Charles Blow: Welcome to Ticklegate. And it's no laughing matter. Sexual harassment never is. NY Times editorial: People who met with Mr. Obama asked the same thing. His response: Get some Republicans on board, then we’ll discuss it. The fate of immigration reform, then, hangs on its ability to win Republican votes. In today’s Washington, tha
» 13 Mar 2010, 3:52 am

Open Thread for Night Owls: Rescuing Sex SlavesHuman trafficking, much of it for sexual purposes, is a worldwide phenomenon. It can be found everywhere from Vietnam to the United States. Estimates of its victims run from 4 million to 27 million, which numbers provide a window on how difficult it is to get a handle on the crime. Each year since 2004, the U.S. Attorney General has presented Congress a report on human trafficking, which includes children and adults sold for sexual purposes and other forced labor. In other words, they are slaves. The number of children in this grim trade are estimated at one million, 80% of them girls. But, really, nobody knows for certain. While many of these slaves are transported over international boundaries - perhaps 800,000 a year - the majority stay
» 12 Mar 2010, 9:03 pm

Open Thread and Diary RescueRiding the Diary Rescue streetcar tonight are vcmvo2, jlms qkw, jennyjem, dopper0189, Alfonso Nevarez, ybruti, and YatPundit in the motorman's chair of the handicap-accessible 400-series Riverfront car on an almost-spring New Orleans evening. Diary Rescue is all about promoting good writers, so remember to subscribe to diarists whose work you enjoy reading. The Rescues: coquiero adds to her series called Parenting a Child with Autism with a description of the expense and effort required to find the right bed for her daughter. (ybruti) In Mountaintop Removal Redux: Bobby vs. Blankenship, rperks reminds us of the real agenda that fuels "Big Coal's" vicious attacks on the mountains: greed. (vcmvo2) davidseth sheds sunlight on the dark and b
» 12 Mar 2010, 8:07 pm

Weekly Tracking Poll: IncrementalismResearch 2000 for Daily Kos. 3/8/2010-3/11/2010. Registered Voters. MoE 2.8% (Last week's results in parentheses): FAVORABLEUNFAVORABLENET CHANGEPRESIDENT OBAMA54 (53)42 (43)+2PELOSI:35 (36)56 (56)-1REID:26 (27)67 (66)-2McCONNELL:20 (21)63 (63)-1BOEHNER:19 (19)63 (62)-1CONGRESSIONAL DEMS:38 (37)60 (61)+2CONGRESSIONAL GOPS:23 (24)68 (67)-2 DEMOCRATIC PARTY:40 (39)56 (57)+2REPUBLICAN PARTY:29 (30)67 (66)-2 Full crosstabs here. This poll is updated every Friday morning, and you can see trendline graphs here. Since this is now the second week since the big transition from a universe of all adults to a universe of registered voters, we can finally draw some legitimate comparisons. Unfortunately, there isn't a whole lot of volatility to explo
» 12 Mar 2010, 7:46 pm

Apparently Size Does MatterAfter all these months we finally learn the real reason Republicans, to a man, oppose health care reform ... self-esteem: Discuss.
» 12 Mar 2010, 7:06 pm

The Big Lie in Lindsey Graham's 9/11 Military Trials PushSpencer Ackerman has a critical post about just how duplicitous Lindsey Graham is in his crusade to stop the 9/11 trials from going forward in federal courts. Graham has been working with Rahm Emanuel on this, promising that if he gets his way on no civilian trials, then he'll get Republicans to drop their opposition to closing Guantanamo. On Friday, the White House said it was “weeks away” from any decision about whether to scrap a civilian trial for the man known as KSM — which could give Graham what he wants. There’s just one problem. Graham’s rationale for why KSM needs to be tried in a military commission and not a civilian court has to do with the procedures in the commissions for protecting classified information. But th
» 12 Mar 2010, 6:30 pm

Texas Board of Education vs. AmericaThink Progress and the Texas Freedom Network report that the Texas Board of Education has elected to remove references to Thomas Jefferson from the state's social studies curriculum standards. Think Progress: The Board removed Thomas Jefferson from the Texas curriculum, “replacing him with religious right icon John Calvin.” TFN: 9:30 – Board member Cynthia Dunbar wants to change a standard having students study the impact of Enlightenment ideas on political revolutions from 1750 to the present. She wants to drop the reference to Enlightenment ideas (replacing with “the writings of”) and to Thomas Jefferson. She adds Thomas Aquinas and others. Jefferson’s ideas, she argues, were based on other political philosophers listed
» 12 Mar 2010, 5:46 pm

Dosh Dosh

How to Create Successful Product Websites that People LoveYou just launched a new product. You want people to tell others in their social network. You want word of it to spread like a virus from person to person, eventually resulting in more buzz, attention and sales. And you want to do it using the internet. Purely online. No TV, newspapers or radio. No print [...]How to Create Successful Product Websites that People Love
» 14 Dec 2009, 6:45 pm

11 Ways to Influence People Online and Make Them Take ActionInfluence can be defined as the power exerted over the minds and behavior of others. A power that can affect, persuade and cause changes to someone or something. In order to influence people, you first need to discover what is already influencing them. What makes them tick? What do they care about? We need some leverage to work with when we’re trying [...]11 Ways to Influence People Online and Make Them Take Action
» 11 Nov 2009, 10:41 am

How to Achieve Your Goals by Changing the Way You Surf the WebEveryone has their favorite way of using the internet. Many of us search to find what we want, click in to a specific website, read what’s available and click out. That’s not necessarily a bad thing because it’s efficient. We learn to tune out things we don’t need and go straight for what’s essential. This goal-oriented way [...]How to Achieve Your Goals by Changing the Way You Surf the Web
» 5 Nov 2009, 8:38 am

An Essential Marketing Principle: Give Before You Try to GetExperts have talked about this before. How many times have you read about the importance of ‘adding value’ for your audience? How many times have you read about ‘building trust’ with your readers/prospects?  Many, many times. You know it well. Every marketing guru has spoken about this topic. I’m sick of hearing it. But it STILL bears repeating. Because some people still don’t get it. [...]An Essential Marketing Principle: Give Before You Try to Get
» 18 May 2009, 12:31 pm

Twitter Marketing: Why You Don’t Need to Mass Follow UsersA few days ago Twitter announced on their status blog that all Twitter users are only allowed to follow a maximum of 1000 people a day. This rule was designed to cut down on ‘follow spam’, the act of following many Twitter users in order to get them to follow you back or click on your links. When combined with the already [...]Twitter Marketing: Why You Don’t Need to Mass Follow Users
» 22 Apr 2009, 10:34 am

Ad Swaps: A Smart and Easy Way to Get Free TrafficAfter yesterday’s post on marketing without search engines, I decided to follow up with a strategy you can use to get quality free traffic. One of the easiest ways to get visitors to your web site is to spend money. Nothing is more effortless then paying for traffic. But if you can’t afford it or [...]Ad Swaps: A Smart and Easy Way to Get Free Traffic
» 15 Apr 2009, 4:48 pm

Marketing Your Website Without Search EnginesI’m not old enough to remember what the internet was like without search engines. Apparently, there were lists of web-servers: they were manually updated and publicized in news updates like this. And then the search engines came crawling, indexing and sorting out pages. As the web expanded with more users and businesses putting up websites, search engines [...]Marketing Your Website Without Search Engines
» 14 Apr 2009, 12:09 pm

The Most Powerful Way to Presell Any Product or ServicePreselling is the art of conditioning potential customers and making them more likely to buy products/services. It is usually performed at your website before you send the visitor over to the vendor’s store or landing page. The goal of all presell tactics is to get prospects into a frame of mind whereby they not [...]The Most Powerful Way to Presell Any Product or Service
» 9 Apr 2009, 10:33 am

The Unhealthy Obsession With DoFollow Blog LinksIf you don’t know what ‘dofollow’ means, read this first before continuing. Many webmasters or bloggers are infatuated with dofollow blogs. Not everyone is obsessed with them, but there are many who spend time or money trying to leave keyword comments on dofollow blogs, in order to improve their website’s search engine rankings. They sell tools to [...]The Unhealthy Obsession With DoFollow Blog Links
» 6 Apr 2009, 2:06 pm

6 Fool-Proof Steps to Make More Money With Your WebsiteEvery website has a bunch of web pages which get more search traffic than others. These pages are constantly visited daily by new visitors, people who have never seen the site in question before. I call these ‘money pages’ because they are a reliable source of immediate and future income. But they’re not just ‘money’ because they bring [...]6 Fool-Proof Steps to Make More Money With Your Website
» 18 Mar 2009, 3:11 am

Gizmodo

Apple's iPad Will (Perhaps Controversially) Read E-Books Aloud [Ebooks]In addition to the orientation-lock button, yesterday's pre-order commencement delivered another surprise nugget: the iPad will read all EPUB books out loud. If you remember the shitstorm that surrounded Kindle's text-to-voice feature, you'll know that this is a bold move. More »
» 13 Mar 2010, 9:47 am

Google Reportedly 99.9 Percent Sure To Shut Down Its Chinese Search [Censorship]Though the last we heard, Google was nearing a compromise that would allow them to stop censoring their Google.cn search results, the Financial Times is reporting that they are almost certainly going to close their Chinese search engine. Since their initial ultimatum in January, Google and China have traded vague statements about reaching a compromise, but, unsurprisingly, talks haven't produced a mutually agreeable solution. [Financial Times] More »
» 13 Mar 2010, 9:39 am

Apple's Magic Mouse Gets Decidedly Unmagical Ergonomic Fix [Magicmouse]The Magic Mouse, for all of its sleek lines and multitouch, uh, magic, can feel a little awkward in the hand. MMFixed has the solution: a stick-on hump that gives your fingers some leverage and your palm some lovin'. More »
» 13 Mar 2010, 8:49 am

FCC Proposing Its Plan For America's Net Future To Congress This Week [Fcc]As the intertubes overtake boob tubes and telephone tubes as our primary mode of communication, it becomes increasingly important to ensure that access is available and affordable for all Americans. The FCC's ambitious new plan looks to do just that. More »
» 13 Mar 2010, 7:23 am

Audio-Technica BoogieBox Speaker Handles the Heaviest of Metals [Speakers]There's no shortage of cutesy portable speakers for listening to music when you're out and about. But if you want something that doesn't feel like it's going to snap in two, the Audio-Technica BoogieBox will do you a solid. More »
» 13 Mar 2010, 6:18 am

A Reminder of How Sad the Internet Can Look Without Flash [Image Cache]When we discussed the iPad and whether it was worth giving in to the peer pressure and pre-ordering it, a commenter decided to remind us of his reason for resisting: No Flash. And yes, it can make things look sad. More »
» 12 Mar 2010, 7:40 pm

This Power Strip Has an Entire Miniature City On It [Art]As part of a graduate show at the Kyoto University of Art and Design, students built miniature cities out of common household objects—including this power strip. They're just missing mini-people. [Spoon Tamago via Crib Candy via Boing Boing] More »
» 12 Mar 2010, 7:00 pm

Black Ninja Monday is When the Commenter Trolls Get Their Due [Comments]Several star commenters have noted recently that the troll factor is rising again. This post is reminder that all comments wasting words and the comment moderator's time wondering about such issues as "why does gizmodo love/hate/get paid by company XYZ?" may result in zero warnings and then a ban. And whatever happens to your comment account, remember: it's not my fault if you lose your account because you said something stupid. Black Ninja Monday is when the action goes down, so you've got two days to turn things around. The obvious choices: You can have fun in troll hell, or join the ranks of the thoughtful, starred, proud and clever commenters everyone appreciates. Again, Monday: that's when there'll be internet blood everywhere. But it
» 12 Mar 2010, 6:25 pm

By Your Accelerometers Combined, I Am Quake Catcher! [Earthquakes]What if computers could be turned into a worldwide earthquake detecting network? With the Quake Catcher software and your laptop's built-in accelerometer, that might just be possible. More »
» 12 Mar 2010, 6:20 pm

Friday Night Funnies: 8 Images to Close Out the Week [Tgif]It's been a long week and we could use a laugh. We've already started worrying about taxes and pre-ordering iPads, among other stresses. To sum it all up, here are some illustrations from a cartoon maestro called Lunchbreath. More »
» 12 Mar 2010, 5:40 pm

R/C Helicopters + Petri Dish + Flying Whale Snot = Science [Machines Vs Nature]Instead of harpooning a whale for samples, wouldn't it be easier to just collect their snot using an R/C helicopter? More »
» 12 Mar 2010, 5:39 pm

huffingtonpost

Pro-Life Group Urges Congress To Pass Health Care ReformTwenty-five pro-life Catholic theologians and Evangelical leaders yesterday sent letters to members of Congress urging them not to let misleading information about abortion provisions in the Senate health care bill block passage of sorely-needed reform. More on Health Care
» 13 Mar 2010, 9:16 am

Rudi Assauer: 'No Place In Football For Gays'A former football manager has provoked outrage by saying there is 'no place' for gay players in football. Rudi Assauer, who was boss of Schalke in Germany, said: 'Perhaps they are OK in other sports but not in football.' More on Soccer
» 13 Mar 2010, 8:43 am

Jamie Paulin-Ramirez Held In Connection With Plot To Assassinate Swedish CartoonistDENVER — A Colorado woman has been detained in Ireland in connection with an alleged plot to assassinate a Swedish cartoonist whose sketch offended many Muslims, a U.S. official said Saturday. Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, 31, was among seven people arrested in Ireland this week as authorities investigate an alleged plot to kill cartoonist Lars Vilks over a 2007 sketch depicting the head of the Prophet Muhammad on a dog's body. The drawing provoked terror front Al-Qaida in Iraq to offer a $100,000 bounty for his slaying. The U.S. official was not authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity. After the arrests, U.S. authorities unsealed terror charges against Colleen LaRose, 46, of Pennsylvania. She alleged
» 13 Mar 2010, 8:36 am

Ben Roethlisberger Hires Private Investigator For Assault CaseATLANTA — An attorney for Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has hired a private investigator to look into a sexual assault allegation made by a 20-year-old Georgia college student. Police in the college town of Milledgeville continue to investigate, but have released little information since the accusation was made a week ago. The two-time Super Bowl champ's lawyer, Ed Garland, said he has hired his own investigative team. "Any lawyer representing anyone needs to know all the facts so that he can perform his duties," he said. Roethlisberger has not been charged, and Garland said "no criminal conduct took place." Carl Cansino, a lawyer for the club where the woman says the assault took place, said he was contac
» 13 Mar 2010, 8:34 am

Natalie Randolph, Female Football Coach, Celebrated In DCWASHINGTON — The football players at Calvin Coolidge Senior High School, Mayor Adrian Fenty and a room full of cheering staff needed only one word to describe her: coach. Natalie Randolph, a 29-year-old biology and environmental sciences teacher, was introduced Friday as the coach of the school's Coolidge Colts. She's believed to be the nation's only female head coach of a high school varsity football team. "While I'm proud to be part of what this all means," Randolph said, "being female has nothing to do with it. I love football. I love football, I love teaching, I love these kids. My being female has nothing to do with my support and respect for my players on the field and in the classroom." The news conference drew the kind o
» 13 Mar 2010, 8:17 am

Henry Kissinger Hospitalized In South KoreaSEOUL, South Korea — A hospital official says former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is recovering after being hospitalized in the South Korean capital with stomach pains. Severance Hospital spokesman Lee Sung-man said Saturday that Kissinger would be released on Sunday. He did not give any further details. The 86-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate arrived in Seoul earlier in the week to attend a security forum. He also met with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak. Kissinger served as secretary of state for presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.
» 13 Mar 2010, 8:02 am

Michael Lewis 60 Minutes Interview: Wall Street Bonuses 'A Very Elegant Form Of Theft' (VIDEO)Michael Lewis, author of one of the defining books about Wall Street excess, "Liar's Poker," told 60 Minutes that bonuses at banks bailed out by the government are akin to "a very elegant form of theft." [The big banks] have access to a zero percent loan in virtually unlimited quantities from the Federal Reserve. You can take that money and reinvest it in Treasury bonds or government agency securities and you will get the spread and you could do it over and over. You're essentially borrowing from the government ... and taking a cut. Really what's going on is the people on the top of the firm want to make a lot of money and if they're going to make a lot of money, they have got to pay the people under them a lot of money, WATCH: Watc
» 13 Mar 2010, 7:55 am

South Park: Tiger Woods Episode Will Begin 14th SeasonNEW YORK — Golf clubs in hands or not, the kids of "South Park" are ready to take on Tiger Woods. Creators of the Comedy Central cartoon have long since proven that no subject is sacred to them. So for the opening of its 14th season on Wednesday, the troubled golfer encounters Stan, Kyle, Kenny and Cartman in their animated Colorado town. "It's such an important issue in America right now – the sex addiction outbreak," Matt Stone, who makes the series with partner Trey Parker, said on Friday. "We're all really concerned about him and hope he gets better." Sex addiction, the intersection of powerful men and willing women, late-night phone calls to the police and bad public relations gave them so much fodder they could have made
» 13 Mar 2010, 7:38 am

US High-Speed Rail: China To Bid On ProjectsBEIJING — China plans to bid for contracts to build U.S. high-speed train lines and is stepping up exports of rail technology to Europe and Latin America, a government official said Saturday. China has built 4,000 miles (6,500 kilometers) of high-speed rail for its own train system and President Barack Obama issued a pledge in November with his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, to cooperate in developing the technology. "We are organizing relevant companies to participate in bidding for U.S. high-speed railways," Wang Zhiguo, a deputy railways minister, told a news conference. Wang gave no details of where China's railway builders might seek contracts, but systems are planned in California, Florida and Illinois. He said state-owne
» 13 Mar 2010, 7:31 am

Pakistan Suicide Attack Kills 13SAIDU SHARIF, Pakistan — A renewed wave of violence struck Saturday in small-town Pakistan when a suicide bomber on a motorized rickshaw killed 13 people at a security checkpoint, raising fears the nation is sliding back into a period of relentless bloodletting. The blast – the second major attack in Pakistan in less than 24 hours – occurred in the Swat Valley, where Taliban fighters battled government soldiers for months last year. The attack in Saidu Sharif, Swat's administrative capital, also wounded 52 people. A day earlier, two suicide bombers killed 55 people in coordinated explosions in the eastern city of Lahore. No one has claimed responsibility for either attack, but suspicion quickly fell on the loose network of I
» 13 Mar 2010, 7:27 am

Shiite, secular blocs pick up provinces in IraqBAGHDAD — A secular bloc led by former Iraqi prime minister Ayad Allawi and a Shiite religious bloc both appeared to pick up votes as new results were released in Iraq's election. But the gains for the secular Iraqiya and the Shiite Iraqi National Alliance did not appear to be enough to overtake Nouri al-Maliki. The Shiite prime minister's group continues to lead in the vote count from last Sunday's parliamentary vote. With about 15 percent of the votes counted in the northern Ninevah province, Iraqiya was leading with 62,000 votes. In Qadisiyah province in the southern Shiite heartland, the Iraqi National Alliance, was ahead with a little over 2,000 votes. The prime minister's coalition is ahead in five of 11 provinces that ha
» 13 Mar 2010, 7:17 am

Lifehacker

Top 10 Google Apps Marketplace Apps [Lifehacker Top 10]Google's Apps suite for domain owners and businesses has finally received some star treatment with the launch of the Apps Marketplace. Which Google-friendly apps are free, worth the cost, and entirely useful? These 10 are definitely worth a look. More »
» 13 Mar 2010, 9:00 am

Make Plantable Greeting Cards Using Seed Paper [Crafts]If you've run out of clever greeting card ideas, try a card you can plant into the ground. Craft blog Make and Takes demonstrates how to make "seed paper" and turn it into a plantable greeting card. More »
» 13 Mar 2010, 8:00 am

From the Tips Box: Defrosting Meat, Packing Materials, and Remembering Secret Numbers [From The Tips Box]Readers offer their best tips for defrosting meat in the microwave, shipping items with just a paper bag, and remembering sensitive numbers like Social Security or bank PINs. More »
» 12 Mar 2010, 5:00 pm

This Week's Most Popular Posts [Highlights]This week we took a look at the best jobs in America, made the most from our point-and-shoot cameras, improvised an impressive laptop bag from a hoodie, and more. More »
» 12 Mar 2010, 4:00 pm

FastestChrome Soups Up Search, Auto-Loads Pages [Downloads]Chrome is a terrific browser on its own, but FastestChrome makes it even better. It adds extra search options to the Omnibar, creates "endless scrolling" for multi-page articles, fixes text-only URLs, and tunes up other Chrome features. More »
» 12 Mar 2010, 3:00 pm

Have You Done your Taxes Yet? [Reader Poll]It's a little over a month until the taxman cometh. That's still plenty of time to do your taxes if you haven't yet, but we're curious: Have you filed your tax returns already? More »
» 12 Mar 2010, 2:00 pm

Fix Uneven Skin Tones in Photoshop Elements [Photoshop]Adjusting skin tones in photos can often be harder than adjusting for other colors, but Photoshop guru Helen Bradley has some quick tips for smoothing skin tones as effectively as possible. More »
» 12 Mar 2010, 1:00 pm

Stretch Your Phone's Battery Life by Choosing the Right Network [Batteries]We've offered our best tips for getting the most from your smartphone's battery, but The New York Times revisits the mobile users' favorite topic. While most of the tips are familiar, he did suggest one somewhat drastic idea we'd never highlighted: More »
» 12 Mar 2010, 12:00 pm

Google Voice Turns One; Here's How to Get the Most from It [Birthdays]Google Voice turned one yesterday, and in the year since Google reopened the service previously known as GrandCentral, we've:Helped you decide if Google Voice is a good fit for you Eased your transition to Voice Showed you how to make free VoIP calls from Voice Detailed how to make unlimited free calls from your cellphone using Voice More »
» 12 Mar 2010, 11:30 am

GoPetFriendly Finds Pet-Friendly Hotels, Campgrounds, and Much More [Travel]We love traveling with our pets, but we don't like gambling on whether the hotel where we want to stay allows animals. Web site GoPetFriendly helps figure out where to rest your head without leaving Rover behind. More »
» 12 Mar 2010, 11:00 am

The Business Card Is Alive and Well After All [What You Said]Earlier this week we asked if you still carried business cards, pointing out that the business card feels more and more outdated in a digital age. Your response: Digital age be damned! Around 70 percent of you still carry business cards—37 percent carrying them wherever you go, 33 percent making sure they're on hand where people commonly exchange them. Only 13 percent of you have gone the "who needs 'em" route, while 14 percent of you have them but don't carry them often. Photo by boblet. More »
» 12 Mar 2010, 10:30 am

Mashable!

Top 10 Twitter Trends for This Week [CHART]Hooray for Hollywood! — the big winner this week in our roundup of the top 10 Twitter trends. From the Oscars to Alice in Wonderland (and of course, Justin Bieber), celebrity — whether be it music or film — dominated the Twitterverse.The latest data, which comes from our friends at What the Trend, gives us a snapshot of what topics dominated Twitter. Given the topical nature of the list, hashtag memes and games have been excluded.Tween-favorite Justin Bieber lost his spot at #1 to the Big Show — AKA the Oscars. The 82nd Academy Awards dominated Twitter on Sunday night and was the most discussed topic of the week as a whole. Don’t feel bad for Bieber though: he’s still number two on the list.Now, who’s hot who not/Tell me who r
» 13 Mar 2010, 9:29 am

Chatroulette Founder Working to Preserve User PrivacyThe creator of Chatroulette has revealed that he is working on a way to preserve user’s privacy, following the launch of Chat Roulette Map, a Google Maps mashups that pinpoints the location of users of the service.Andrey Ternovskiy, speaking in an interview with the New York Times Bits blog, stated, “There is a certain level of anonymity on the Chatroulette that Chatroulette Map takes away, but I plan to add something to my site to allow them to still hide their whereabouts.”Chatroulette Map highlights a Chatroulette user’s location by looking at his or her IP addresses, which is revealed via the peer-to-peer nature of the webcam connection. As well as placing a marker on a map, users are screengrabbed, offering anyone in the world
» 13 Mar 2010, 8:46 am

Giiv Lets You Give Gifts Via Text MessageThis post is part of Mashable’s Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. Name: Giiv Quick Pitch: Giiv is a mobile gifting service that delivers gifts in real time in the format of a friendly text message. Genius Idea: Gift certificates are an awesome (if occasionally generic) way to say “You rock!” Giiv.com makes this process easier by letting you give gift cards and certificates to someone you care about via text message.Giiv.com is fairly simple: you find a gift that you want to give a friend or loved one, and then you enter in his or her mobile number and a n
» 12 Mar 2010, 5:22 pm

Flickr Co-founder’s Startup Hunch Raises $10 MillionHunch, a New York City-based startup founded by Flickr co-founder Caterina Fake and SiteAdvisor founder/angel investor Chris Dixon, has raised $10 million in funding for its questions and recommendations site.Nearly a year ago, Ms. Fake revealed her new startup to the world. Her goal: to create a service that would help people make decisions via crowdsourced questions and advice from its users. Hunch launched last June and has been growing steadily ever since (it peaked at nearly half a million U.S. visitors last month).According to MediaMemo, the startup has raised $10-$12 million from Khosla Ventures and previous investors General Catalyst Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, and original angel investor Ron Conway (an early investor in G
» 12 Mar 2010, 4:23 pm

Privacy Concerns Put the Kibosh on the Netflix PrizeAmid class-action lawsuits over privacy and subsequent FTC inquiries, Netflix announced today that it will not be pursuing the next Netflix Prize.For more than three years, individuals competed to win the $1 million Netflix Prize, in the process improving the company’s algorithm for recommending movies to its users.When the results were first announced last summer, Netflix followed them up with an announcement that a second contest would take place.Unfortunately, the next iteration is not to be. A class action privacy lawsuit arose when a customer claimed that the rental information that Netflix makes available for use in the contest wasn’t anonymous enough and could theoretically be linked to her and reveal her sexuality.As Ars Technic
» 12 Mar 2010, 3:32 pm

The Rise of Foursquare in Numbers [STATS]Yesterday, Foursquare turned one. You read that right: The mobile social network that made its splash at SXSW 2009 and has tremendous buzz is just 366 days old.Despite that short amount of time, Foursquare has more than half a million users, 1.4 million venues and 15.5 million checkins, and it’s still growing. Experian Hitwise decided to use this milestone to analyze Foursquare’s growth.As you might imagine, not only have Foursquare’s mobile apps seen growth, but so has Foursquare.com. What did strike us as surprising is that the site’s number-one referrer is Facebook, which accounted for a whopping 33% of upstream visits last week. That’s even bigger than Google (22%) and Twitter (8%) combined. It’s yet another indicator o
» 12 Mar 2010, 3:14 pm

Keyboard Cat: The Next Generation [VIDEO]For years now we have all found solace and joy in Charlie Schmidt’s “Keyboard Cat,” a musically inclined feline with Beethoven-sick skills and a mischievous mien. Now, a new kitty is on the scene: Bento. And believe you me, this Cat’s got synth-drenched magic coming out of his claws.By now we all know the story of Keyboard Cat — a video born 30 years ago when an unemployed performance artist named Charlie Schmidt turned camera and creative eye to his cat, Fatso.Years later, Schmidt uploaded the vid to the Internets and, lo and behold, people liked it. Because, well, people enjoy cats — especially when they’re acting like people.Now, with little fanfare, a new video has been uploaded to Schmidt’s YouTube channel, the descript
» 12 Mar 2010, 2:26 pm

Why Sex-Ed Remains a Challenge for Social MediaGeoff Livingston co-founded Zoetica to focus on cause-related work, and released an award-winning book on new media Now is Gone in 2007.Addressing the very private nature of intimacy remains the most difficult aspect of sex-ed on the social web. While “Public Health 2.0″ is a top priority for related causes and organizations, it can be difficult to approach from a social media standpoint. Because it’s the most private and sensitive of issues, many people are embarrassed or offended by conversations about sex.However, many organizations, from mass media outlets to cause-specific efforts, are still attempting to use social tools to address reproductive health issues. The difficulty in running a successful effort lies in navigating the
» 12 Mar 2010, 2:00 pm

Thanks to Mashable’s Socially Savvy SupportersThanks to this week’s advertisers and partners for enabling us to bring you the latest social media news and resources. Mashable’s sponsors are as social media savvy as our readers!Advertise with us and get noticed.Help us to help you. Mashable is seeking out site sponsors for our large, diverse audience — social media users, venture capitalists, early adopters, developers, bloggers, and many more. You’ll receive hundreds of thousands of views a day in addition to weekly recognition to thank you as our premium sponsors. Are you interested? Contact us for more information and to receive our media kit and rate card.This week, our valued sponsors are Gist, phpFox, Yield Software, Clickatell, Influxis, Microsoft BizSpark, MailChimp, S
» 12 Mar 2010, 1:59 pm

Apple Sells 90,000 iPads in the First Day? [REPORT]The iPad officially became available for pre-order earlier today and while plenty of you are still debating about whether or not to pre-order, it appears as if the device might already sold 51,000 units in just two hours via pre-order. Wow.If you’ve ever doubted how dedicated Apple fans are, the background on how these figures were determined will assuage any doubts. A group of particularly prudent Apple fans from the APPL Sanity Board at Investor Village decided to put together a spreadsheet of order numbers, times that orders were placed and contents of those order. As someone who has been known to obsess over Apple details myself (tracking a freightliner from China to the US with 27″ iMacs on-board in order to better guestimate deliv
» 12 Mar 2010, 12:32 pm

How Musicians Are Using Social Media to Connect with FansGreg Rollett runs a music marketing company from his laptop in Orlando, FL. He is an advocate of the New Music Economy and very hopeful that artists can still live the rock star lifestyle in the digital age. Connect with Greg on Twitter, @g_ro.Today’s musicians, both mainstream and indie, are using social media to connect with fans, build anticipation, and generate revenue in new and unique ways. The products range from singles to mix tapes to digital six-packs, even oddly shaped USB sticks, vinyl, and the occasional traditional album.But how are these artists reaching their new fan bases online through social channels? Much like the business world, social media promotion for musicians is still a very new game, with no exact recipe for pl
» 12 Mar 2010, 11:54 am

Perez Hilton

SuBo Not Down With FiddyJust a few months ago, rapper 50 Cent was talking about how he'd like to collaborate with Susan Boyle and even record a track with her. Though we guess he must have not liked her that much. According to reports, SuBo was hoping to have been picked to open up for Fiddy on his UK tour. Instead, he [...]
» 13 Mar 2010, 9:40 am

Kerry Katona Has New Babysitters - For HER!!Is Kerry Katona FINALLY getting her disaster of a life together?? Probably not!! But she's definitely heading in the right direction!! The 29 year old reality star recently dropped the drugged out dead weight that is her disgusting husband, Mark Croft, and has just signed with a new team of babysitters management, Can Associates, who are [...]
» 13 Mar 2010, 9:20 am

The Gays Take On Taylor Swift!!This is ADORABLE! And pretty well done for kids in college!! Check out this HOMOLICIOUS take on Taylor Swift's You Belong With Me music video, recreated by students at the University of Rochester!! The boys are super CUTE!! And who is that FIERCE lady playing the evil girlfriend? We LOVE her!! Kudos, guys!!
» 13 Mar 2010, 9:00 am

Quote Of The Day"Over Christmas she had a tree-trimming party that I went to. Yeah, I trimmed her bush… Shit. Please don't put that in." - Gerard Butler, to Men's Health, on Jennifer Aniston [Image via WENN.]
» 13 Mar 2010, 8:40 am

Disney To Spin Off ABC?!Disney chief Robert Inger told shareholders on Wednesday that even though the company is "comfortable" with its mix of assets, it is keeping its options open regarding an ABC spin-off. "There are no guarantees in terms of what will remain part of our company and what will not," he said. Analyst Michael Nathanson offered some [...]
» 13 Mar 2010, 8:20 am

Nina Sky Lashing Out At Label!Musical duo Nina Sky made up of identical twins Nicole and Natalie Albino are PISSED at their label Polo Grounds and it president Bryan Leech for postponing the release of their second album Starting Today. After releasing two singles, "Curtain Call" and "On Some Bullshit" the CD still hasn't dropped after TWO years! So naturally they took [...]
» 13 Mar 2010, 8:00 am

New Songs From Robyn!!We CAN'T wait!! We announced earlier that our beloved Robyn is BACK this year with THREE new albums!! That's what we like to hear - go big or go home!! Four clips of new songs have made their way onto Youtube, and they're only making us MORE ANXIOUS to hear the completed albums!! Listen above to pieces of You [...]
» 13 Mar 2010, 7:40 am

Gerard Butler Shocked By His Own Ears!Weird that we have never noticed this before! It's all we can see now! Gerard Butler revealed to Men's Journal Magazine that as a child, he had ear surgery that left him with a mangled ear. He apparently never really noticed the extent of the damage until he had to shave his head for his role [...]
» 13 Mar 2010, 7:20 am

Tim Gunn Poo-Poos Johnny Weir!Tim Gunn has had some choice words for people lately. First he called the Kardashians tasteless and vulgar and now he's telling off fur loving ice skater Johnny Weir. Johnny recently expressed how he wants to be a judge on Project Runway, but Tim doesn't think he's right for the show. The fashion guru spat: "I [...]
» 13 Mar 2010, 7:00 am

In Case You Missed It…CLICK HERE to catch up on all the celebrity juice you may have missed this week! CLICK HERE to catch up on all the celebrity juice you may have missed this week! CLICK HERE to catch up on all the celebrity juice you may have missed this week! CLICK HERE to catch up on all the celebrity juice [...]
» 12 Mar 2010, 9:01 pm

ProBlogger

Why Your Business Needs FriendsA Guest Post by Johnny B. Truant from The Charlie and Johnny Jam Sessions. I got an email the other day from a man who was at his wit’s end. The email explained that in this man’s business, he was doing many of the same basic things that I was doing, but with much less success. He [...]Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger. Why Your Business Needs Friends
» 13 Mar 2010, 5:27 am

The First Week of Your Blog: Set Up Key PagesOne of the series of posts that we’re building here at ProBlogger is all about what to do in the first week of your new blog. We’re assuming you’ve already got your domain, chosen your blog platform and have installed a template/theme/design – but what comes next? So far we’ve covered: Writing Your First Compelling Content Planning Future [...]Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger. The First Week of Your Blog: Set Up Key Pages
» 12 Mar 2010, 6:05 am

How to Blog: How to Choose a Blog Niche [6 Tips]Earlier in the week we looked at the importance of ‘niches’ when it comes to building profitable blogs. Today I want to extend the topic and gives the process that I tend to use when working out if I want to start a new blog in a particular niche. I hope you find it helpful. Many [...]Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger. How to Blog: How to Choose a Blog Niche [6 Tips]
» 11 Mar 2010, 8:56 am

Let’s Meet at SXSWi!As this post goes live I’ll be in the process of arriving at SXSW Interactive in Austin Texas. I was fortunate enough to at SXSWi two years back and it was one of the best conference experiences that I’ve had – so I’ve made it a priority this year to return. My schedule is pretty open. The [...]Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger. Let’s Meet at SXSWi!
» 11 Mar 2010, 5:56 am

Blog Security: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Scares Me Into Taking It Seriously.guest post by Kelly Diels warning: there are lessons and even actionable advice in here, but it is buried inside a story. I write stories because I love you and don’t want to bore you and because if you laugh then chances are that you’ll remember the educational bit, too. There’s actual research that this works – [...]Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger. Blog Security: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Scares Me Into Taking It Seriously.
» 10 Mar 2010, 5:01 am

How to Blog: Choose a Niche for Your Blog [Why Niches are Important]While I get many questions from bloggers asking for advice on ‘how to blog‘ perhaps one of the biggest questions a new blogger needs to ask themselves before they move on to the HOW to blog question is ‘WHAT will I blog about?’ There is no real right or wrong answer to this question as blogs [...]Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger. How to Blog: Choose a Niche for Your Blog [Why Niches are Important]
» 9 Mar 2010, 5:54 am

Feeling “Blogged Out?” [10 Pro Bloggers Share Their Advice on What to Do]A Guest post by Heather Allard from The Mogul Mom. If you’re a regular ProBlogger reader, you know that Darren dishes up heaps of incredible blogging advice 7 days a week, 365 days a year. His archives positively overflow with information on how to build a blog from the ground up, how to engage readers, how [...]Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger. Feeling “Blogged Out?” [10 Pro Bloggers Share Their Advice on What to Do]
» 8 Mar 2010, 6:08 am

What Do You Do With Your Blog to Make it Stand Out from the Crowd?Last week on Twitter I was asked by @southrngurl6489 the following question: If you had to pick only one thing that makes a blog stand out from its peers, what would you pick and why? I thought it’d be a good question to open up to a wider audience as its something I’ve touched on quite a [...]Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger. What Do You Do With Your Blog to Make it Stand Out from the Crowd?
» 7 Mar 2010, 5:26 am

7 Tips to Keep Your Family On-Board for Your Blogging JourneyA guest post by Dustin Riechmann of Engaged Marriage. My life is pretty typical for a 30-year old family man these days. I do my best to maintain a hectic schedule and the demands that come with balancing a wife, kids, a full-time career, a mortgage, church, community service, tee ball practice, my daughter’s [...]Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger. 7 Tips to Keep Your Family On-Board for Your Blogging Journey
» 6 Mar 2010, 6:00 am

9 Tips for Creating More Small Business Blogging IdeasA Guest Post by Mark Hayward. What the hell am I supposed to write about, I own a {insert your small business here}? Really, who cares about your flower shop, bike shop, auto parts store, or coffee house? Answer: Your customers certainly care. We all know by now that consistent small business blogging can drastically improve your Search Engine [...]Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger. 9 Tips for Creating More Small Business Blogging Ideas
» 5 Mar 2010, 5:33 am

How To NOT Repulse Readers And Send Them Running Scream… Um…I Mean Clicking AwayA Guest Post by Cori Padget from Write Syntax and Big Girl Branding. In a word? Engage. Engage, engage, engage, engage. Get it yet? ENGAGE! OK, I’m thinking you get it now, kinda sorta. But in case you don’t, let’s discuss it further. EN… Just kidding! If you’re a writer, or a blogger, or someone [...]Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger. How To NOT Repulse Readers And Send Them Running Scream… Um…I Mean Clicking Away
» 4 Mar 2010, 6:17 am

Seth Godin

We can do itToo often, it seems, this attitude is missing from teams, organizations or the community. It's missing because people are quick to opt out of the 'we' part. "What do you mean, we?" they ask. It's so easy to not be...
» 13 Mar 2010, 4:03 am

Naming tool of the weekOleg points us to http://wordoid.com/ It's a conjugator, brainstorming and domain finder, all in one. Nicely done. I've done a few posts on naming to help you get started. Here's an old one too. And while I'm sharing links, here's...
» 13 Mar 2010, 2:31 am

Wondering aroundI stumbled on a great typo last night. "Staff in the lobby were wondering around..." Wandering around is an aimless waste of time. Wondering around, though, that sounds useful. Wondering why this product is the way it is, wondering how...
» 12 Mar 2010, 2:16 am

Helping spread the wordSince Linchpin was published six weeks ago, I've gotten some terrific email. Most of it is about individuals who used the ideas in the book to instigate a process of self-reinvention or validation. Some of the best mail, though, has...
» 11 Mar 2010, 11:56 am

Creating the list...is not the same as obeying the list. Do you make the list you check off, follow and work on every day? When does it get made? Who approves it? Do you identify tasks or perform them? If you had...
» 11 Mar 2010, 2:21 am

The Wordperfect AxiomWhen the platform changes, the leaders change. Wordperfect had a virtual monopoly on word processing in big firms that used DOS. Then Windows arrived and the folks at Wordperfect didn't feel the need to hurry in porting themselves to the...
» 10 Mar 2010, 2:35 am

The factory in the centerOld time factories had a linear layout, because there was just one steam engine driving one drive shaft. Every machine in the shop had to line up under the shaft (connected by a pulley) in order to get power. That...
» 9 Mar 2010, 2:24 am

You rockThis is deceptive. You don't rock all the time. No one does. No one is a rock star, superstar, world-changing artist all the time. In fact, it's a self-defeating goal. You can't do it. No, but you might rock five...
» 8 Mar 2010, 2:07 am

Losing Andrew CarnegieCarnegie apparently said, "Take away my people, but leave my factories and soon grass will grow on the factory floors......Take away my factories, but leave my people and soon we will have a new and better factory." Is there a...
» 7 Mar 2010, 2:43 am

Spring reading list--big ideas for idea peopleReaders have told me that they enjoy my off-the-wall book lists. Here's another. Science fiction, Tom Peters, Krista Tippett and even a book for touring musicians. Enjoy them. And don't forget it's okay to share books. They don't wear out.
» 6 Mar 2010, 9:44 am

Pulitzer PrizefightingPeople are drawn to existing competitions like moths to a flame. It's precisely the wrong way to succeed. Lots of journalists take significant detours in their careers and their writing in order to win a Pulitzer. Maybe not to actually...
» 6 Mar 2010, 2:36 am

Smashing Magazine

Plasticine Art Showcase: Shape Your Imagination  Do you remember?.. The first time you played with pieces of modeling clay, melting them in your hands and going deeper and deeper into the colourful plasticine world where your imagination was the only limit. Since the 19th century, when Franz Kolb and William Harbutt independently of each other invented plasticine (modeling clay), it has been used in almost all fields of art: illustration, web design, typography, claymation, installation design.Plasticine artworks can be found just everywhere: advertisements, book/magazine as well as CD/DVD covers, movies / TV series, music videos, computer / console games, and even web design elements. Below you will find a collection of beautiful plasticine artworks that hopefully will inspire you an
» 13 Mar 2010, 3:51 am

45 Fresh Useful JavaScript and jQuery Techniques and Tools  Yes, this is another round-up of fresh and useful Javascript techniques, tools and resources. But don't close the tab yet, as you might find this one very useful. In this selection we present calendars, forms, buttons, navigation, debugging, optimization and compatibility tables as well as handy resources and tools. We also cover various jQuery-plugins that will help you extend the functionality of your website and improve user experience with ready components or coding solutions.The last section also covers a number of useful educational resources such as a compilation of useful JavaScript coding practices, a detailed comparison of JavaScript frameworks and general JavaScript programming conventions. We are looking forward to your feed
» 12 Mar 2010, 7:14 am

Forms On Mobile Devices: Modern Solutions  Mobile forms tend to have significantly more constraints than their desktop cousins: screens are smaller; connections are slower; text entry is trickier; the list goes on. So, limiting the number of forms in your mobile applications and websites is generally a good idea. When you do want input from users on mobile devices, radio buttons, checkboxes, select menus and lists tend to work much better than open text fields.But constraints breed innovation, and mobile forms are no different. The limitations of mobile devices have forced developers and designers to find new ways to allow users to input data faster and more easily. Thanks to the modern solutions covered in this article, the mobile space may not be a place to avoid forms much lo
» 11 Mar 2010, 3:58 am

Uncovering Toy Cameras and Polaroid Vintage Effects (With Photoshop Tutorials)  Since its emergence, the digital photography market has gradually supplanted the traditional one. APN and digital SLR cameras entered our lives, and some people announced the death of silver-based images. This is not all lie, and yet old-fashioned images have been particularly popular in the past few years. All we do seem to do now is try to recreate the atmosphere of those bygone times anyway. Blurry, distorted and over-saturated images are not just a fad anymore. People have became familiar with the style and even consider it a full-fledged photographic genre.And this is where toy cameras play a role. These devices, made entirely of plastic, including often the lens itself, are not only toys. Sure, they cost next to nothing and have n
» 10 Mar 2010, 6:23 am

Entering The Wonderful World of Geo Location  I thought I could not be out-geeked. With a background in radio, and having dabbled in the demo scene on the Commodore 64 and hung out on BBSes and IRC for a long time and all the other things normal kids don't quite get, I thought I was safe in this area.Then I went to my first WhereCamp, an unconference dealing with geographical issues and how they relate to the world of Web development. Even my A-Levels in Astronomy did not help me there. I was out-geeked by the people who drive and tweak the things that we now consider normal about geo-location on the Web.Pulling out your phone, find your location and getting directions to the nearest bar is easy, but a lot of work has gone into making that possible. The good news is that because of
» 8 Mar 2010, 3:56 pm

Common Questions About Design Professionalism  The design profession is full of happy folks, and understanding why so many designers enjoy their work is not hard. But not all are so happy. If you’re not careful, the joy of getting paid to pursue your passion can be tainted by the less joyous realities of the professional world. You see, no matter how skilled you are as a designer, unless you are equally prepared in professional matters, your prospects will be limited and your circumstances compromised. This is true whether you work freelance, for an agency or in-house with a company.Every week I hear from designers who are struggling to come to terms with these realities. Unhappy with their current circumstances, they write to ask for advice on improving their lot. Usually, they e
» 8 Mar 2010, 1:48 am

Handy Tools and Tips for E-Commerce Websites  
» 6 Mar 2010, 2:47 am

Print Magazines for Web Designers, Digital Artists, and Photographers  Although much valuable information for all sorts of web and print professionals can be found online, it is often difficult to weed through all the noise and find good quality content. I believe it's vital that professionals in different creative fields supplement their online learning and research through well-edited and high-quality print publications. Print magazines, more often than not, are well-researched and are headed by top-notch editorial staff, usually containing information and resources on the cutting edge of their respective industries' trends and happenings. To that end, to help you fulfill part of your offline research needs, I've compiled a list of print magazines that are of interest to professionals in three different
» 5 Mar 2010, 5:32 am

Beautiful Illustrator Artworks By Artists Around The World  Adobe Illustrator is a powerful software for illustrating that allows users to produce beautiful artwork, technical illustrations, and even graphics for both print and the web. Adobe Illustrator is a multipurpose vector illustration tool and its versatility makes it the most preferred choice among many professional artists and designers.In the past, we've published a collection of Beautiful Photoshop Illustrations By Artists Around The World, and this is the latest post that will showcase the power of Adobe Illustrator. We present here hundreds of brilliant illustrations by artists from around the world that will surely mesmerize you and stir your imagination. Have a look, and feel the power of Illustrator!We recognize that there are ma
» 4 Mar 2010, 3:10 am

How To Market Your Mobile Application  App Store is a competitive environment. Against more than 140,000 apps, all screaming for attention, how do you make sure your app gets its time in the spotlight? What does it take to get good media coverage? How do you get people to talk about your app—and, ideally, how do you get them to buy it and show it to their friends?Following the simple rules laid out below, you will increase your chances in the battle for fame and glory. These tips might seem rudimentary or in-your-face obvious, but they are so often neglected in the heat of the moment.
» 3 Mar 2010, 3:59 am