Mophie Juice Pair Plus more than doubles iPhone 4 battery life

Mophie has announced the second of its iPhone battery boosting range - the Juice Pack Plus - which it says will "more than double" your iPhone 4's battery life.
The "ultra thin and lightweight" device fits onto your iPhone 4 like a regular (if slightly fatter) case, and gives you an extended power time-frame thanks to its 2,000 mAh capacity battery, that you can charge up via USB.
With 3G on, you should get an extra 8 hours of talk with the Juice Pack Plus (2 more than the Air version) and double this if you're happy to go 2G only. You should get 44 hours more music playback, and 11 hours extra video.
If you're all about the web, have no fear - you'll get up to 7 additional hours internet use on 3G or 11 hours with your Wi-Fi switched on.
The case also works as a "virtual speaker box", with sound being redirected to the front of the device due to its shape.
There's an LED light display to tell you how much power you've got left in the tank and, like the Air version, you don't need to remove it to charge or sync your iPhone 4 due to the pass-through USB option.

The Mophie Juice Pack Plus is available now, in black, cyan, magenta or yellow, and will cost you £89.95.

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Marantz Melody Media review

The hi-fi landscape is changing and, not surprisingly, it all revolves around Apple if this high-end piece of kit from Japanese brand Marantz is anything to go by. The Marantz Melody Media was crowned as the, “world’s first AirPlay certified music system” when it was announced last summer, though the Apple AirPlay functions didn't go live until firmware updates were issued in November.
It’s no longer alone - other gear from Marantz and Denon now features Apple AirPlay, as does B&W’s new Zeppelin Air - but this employment of the lossless streaming tech is seriously impressive.
Amusingly, the Melody Media’s forbear was described as a “DAB microsystem”, but despite this sleek and solid “networked CD receiver’s” inclusion of a digital radio DAB tuner this is so much more than a simple radio, with streaming, web radio Napster and Last.fm included. Is this just Apple TV without video? No way - it offers some serious audiophile quality that, at its best, breathes new life into any crumbling collection of MP3s of varying quality - though its preferred diet is CD or lossless WAV files.

If you’re in any doubt that this a serious slab of hi-fi kit, take a glance at the Melody’s ample rear. Back there you’ll find connections for stereo speakers alongside three auxiliary inputs (two phonos and one optical digital audio) and some phono outputs. There’s also a subwoofer pre-output, a link to an M-XPort (for adding an optional wireless Bluetooth audio module), and a full suite of antennae ports, though the key connection is wired Ethernet LAN. Providing a direct, wired link to a home network means there’s no fussing over entering WEP keys and suchlike, though it does mean that the unit must live near a broadband router. In our test it immediately found both a PC laptop running Windows 7 and a Mac installed with TwonkyMedia.
The front is visually user-friendlier, housing a CD drive (something of a rarity on gadgets we review these days), a USB slot (that is capable of charging, too), a 3.5mm jack input for non-Apple MP3 players, and a headphones jack.
Getting the Melody onto a home network is no problem, and nor is streaming from computers sitting on that network wirelessly. Streamed from a Mac, stereo imaging within Björk’s Homogenic is seriously impressive, and though the Melody can't quite remove the sharpness of treble highs in this 192kbps track, it does an immaculate job at the other end of the frequency range. Swap to Radiohead’s The Bends at 320kbps and that CD drive suddenly seems rather pointless.

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HTC Prime: The next Windows Phone 7 QWERTY device?

Been waiting around to see what HTC brings to the Windows Phone 7 table next? Well, your wait could well be over as Chinese site (XDA) has details of a couple of supposed new devices, including the tasty looking HTC Prime.
The Prime is a QWERTY slider based device, although it looks quite a lot different to the current WP7 HTC QWERTY incumbent, the HTC 7 Pro.
Its display is listed as slightly bigger than the Pro's at 3.7-inches, but with the same WVGA display. It's also said to have a 5-megapixel camera and 512MB of RAM.
As well as the Prime, XDA has also posted a rendering of another WP7 possibility from the Taiwanese phone giant - the HTC Ignite.

The Ignite rumour, however, does leave us slightly suspicious due to its suggested spec sheet. Sure, a 3.7-inch WVGA display, 5-megapixel camera, and 512MB of RAM ticks all of the Microsoft boxes, but a 800MHz processor and resistive touchscreen? Well, that doesn't quite fit with the "tough, but fair" minimum requirements drawn up in Redmond.
Both phones are due out in mid-2011 apparently, although we're not holding our breath with regards to the Ignite - at least not at those specs.

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No NFC for iPhone 5, should be on board iPhone 6

picture iphone-4

Ready for a rumour mill let down? Although it had been widely touted, the iPhone 5 will not be packing any sort of NFC technology.
The NFC denial comes courtesy of a report from the Indy, with "sources at several of the largest mobile operators in the UK", revealing that Apple "had disclosed in meetings that it would not be including Near Field Communication (NFC) technology...in the latest version of the iPhone, be it the iPhone 4GS or the iPhone 5."
Back in January a leading business analyst had told Bloomberg that Apple was lining up Near Field Communication payment options for its next iDevices (including the iPad 2, of which it failed to materialise).
Also, in August, Apple appointed Benjamin Vigier as "product manager for mobile commerce". Vigier previously worked at NFC specialists Mobile Wallet and mFoundry as well as working within the NFC departments at Sandisk and a French telecoms company, so it all looked to be on the cards for a 2011 inclusion.
But, it looks as if we'll have to wait for the 2012 iPhone version for some wave and pay fun - with one of the Independent's sources claiming that Apple is working on its own NFC option (due to a lack of clear standards so far), linked to iTunes, that is likely to be released next year.
In the meantime, if anybody fancies lending us some cash, please do get in touch - we'd thrown away all of our credit and debit cards in anticipation.
Boo to to the rumour mill, boo - you'd got all of our hopes up and now you've dashed them away. You cruel being, you.

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Twitter kills fail whale, installs one-handed robot

Twitter looks to have ditched its iconic fail whale and replaced it with a one-handed robot – a trend that seems to be catching on.
Now, instead of a whale being carried away by a bunch of birds when something goes wrong, users of the company’s 404 error page get a small white robot with only one hand, alongside the words:
“Something is technically wrong.”
Something, indeed, is wrong; the little fella’s only got one hand. And then there's the pain and anguish of having to look at his discarded hand on the floor in front of him. Mean. It's like a tech version of 127 Days.
While we aren’t sure how long Twitter’s been showing the sad robot rather than the whale image, a quick ask around amongst some heavy users we know brought a "ooh that’s fun", rather than "oh yeah, saw that months ago".

Adopting a robot seems like a new trend. Google installed a new 404 error page at the beginning of March that, you guessed it, shows a robot in bits with a sad face trying to put itself back together.
Are we seeing the start of a new meme perhaps?

Let us know if you have found or find any other robot themed 404 error pages in the comments below....

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Android 2.2 most popular version

Using Android? I bet you’ve got Android 2.2 on your phone. How we did we guess that? Because Google has let us know that 61.3 per cent of devices in use are using that version of the company’s mobile operating system.
If you start to include Android 2.1 and Android 2.3 that number jumps to 92 per cent according to the search engine.
As for Honeycomb (Android 3.0) not surprisingly there aren’t many people out there using it with the only device – the Motorola Xoom currently only on sale in the US and only via Verizon (the Wi-Fi only model is coming end of the March in the US).
Google collected the data to see what the state of it’s eco-system was during the first two weeks of March up to March 15, 2011.

It means that an app developed for Android 1.5 for example will work with 100 per cent of all devices available on the market, however developing an app for Android 2.3.3 shows that only a handful of users will be able to benefit.

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HTC Flyer: £600 - coming mid-April

The HTC Flyer could be here in April and cost £600 according to UK retailer Clove.
Although HTC has yet to officially set a date other than Q2, or a price for that matter, following the launch of its pen touting tablet at Mobile World Congress in February, that hasn’t stopped the electrical retailer breaking rank and splashing us with the news.
“We’ve had some good news this afternoon,” says the company’s blog. “The first stock of the HTC Flyer is due to land mid-April!”
Because of that, Clove has slapped up a pre-order page for those keen enough to say yes to the 7-inch Android 2.2 tablet with Sense UI.
But before you start to moan that’s more expensive than “a n other” tablet you can thing of – Clove put in a handy caveat that probably means they are merely guessing at the price:
“As usual, prices on pre-orders will be amended prior to shipping once an official price is confirmed,” it warns.

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Microsoft Zune players finally buckle under iPod pressure

The Zune is dead, long live the Zune.
That seems to be the message coming out of Microsoft HQ after the tech giant admitted that no more Zune devices would be manufactured, although the Zune name will live on through its various software platforms.
"We have nothing to announce about another Zune device," a Microsoft spokesman said via email in response to questions after an earlier Bloomberg report stated that the company had ceased Zune device manufacturing.
The Zune range, which never did make it to the UK despite numerous rumours over the last four or so years, ultimately failed in its aims of taking on, and beating, the Apple iPod.
The first Zune model hit US shops on 14 November 2006 and boasted a 30GB capacity, FM radio, and a 3-inch screen. The final model was the Zune HD which went live on 15 September and packed an an OLED capacitative touch screen, HD video out, and HD radio. In total there were seven Zune devices.
The Zune portal is still alive and well though, particularly on Windows Phone 7 devices and the Xbox 360, and it's clear Microsoft has no intentions of retiring the brand just yet.
"Our long-term strategy focuses on the strength of the entire Zune ecosystem across Microsoft platforms, and we remain committed to providing a great music and video experience with the Zune service."

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Samsung goes live with 3D VOD service

Back in January at CES 2011, Samsung announced a partnership with DreamWorks that would see "a new streaming 3D Video-On-Demand (VOD) service that would make DreamWorks Animation content - trailers and promotions in both 3D and 2D- available for streaming via the 3D application for Samsung Smart TVs beginning in 2011.
And now it looks as if the service has landed already in Korea.
As well as the movie trailers and clips the 3D service, which is available through connected Samsung Smart TV devices, will also offer 3D music videos, music concerts (with "nationally famous artists", no less) and children's 3D content too.
Described as "the industry's first VOD service...to provide high-quality 3D content", the service will no doubt be used to peddle Samsung's ever increasing 3D range.
The 3D VOD service that has gone live in Samsung's homeland is, according to a Google translation job anyway, coming to the United States and Europe before the year is out, with a global roll-out planned as well.
We'll bring you more UK and US specific details as soon as we have them.

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Google buys into the luck of the Irish

Most people will buy a pint of Guinness to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Or at a stretch go for one of those silly big hats or perhaps an Irish rugby jersey.
But Google has gone all out for its Irish celebrations - snapping up Dublin-based image processing specialist Green Parrot Pictures in a move to improving the quality of videos available on YouTube.
Green Parrot Pictures is a 6-year-old company whose digital video technology has been used on some big Hollywood blockbusters including Lord of the Rings, X-Men and Spiderman.
Speaking via the YouTube blog, Jeremy Doig, director of Google Video Technology said:
"At YouTube, we see 35 hours of video uploaded to the site every minute from people all over the world. Some videos are beautifully shot by professionals or aspiring filmmakers using the very latest in HD cameras and equipment. But some of YouTube’s most popular or moving videos are shot using low-quality mobile phones and video cameras.
"[Green Parrot's] technology helps make videos look better while at the same time using less bandwidth and improving playback speed."
A statement on Green Parrot Pictures' website reads: "We're excited to join Google, where we will apply our expertise to improve the online video experience for hundreds of millions of users worldwide on many different products, platforms and services."

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3G Motorola Xoom - Yours for £599.99

The Carphone Warehouse has come clean with the pricing for 2011's mostly hotly anticipated tablet (that doesn't contain fruit) - revealing that the 3G enabled Motorola Xoom will sell in the UK for a penny shy of £600.
At £599.99, the Carphone Warehouse is going to be offering a SIM-free version of the Honeycomb boasting tablet at exactly £100 more than the Wi-Fi only version is priced up at.
Plus, Xoomers will also be able to make use of the charging dock (worth £34.99) that the mobile retailer is throwing in for free.
There's still no official word on release date for the Android 3.0-sporting iPad-rival, but it is expected to arrive in the next month or two, having initially been touted as appearing in Q2 2011.
The Carphone Warehouse is stating "early April" and you can pre-order now.
There's no news yet as to what sort of subsidised deals CW will be doing when taking up a contract, however, so you may wanna hold-back for a few days to see what it comes up with.

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London 2012 Olympics tickets - online buying guide

The London 2012 Olympics tickets are officially on sale and the overwhelming majority of the business is going to be done online. As such, we’ve put together a brief guide on how to sail through the whole process and make sure you don’t get stiffed on the way.

Before you get too excited, you need to know if you’re actually eligible to apply. First of all, you need to be over 16. You can still go to the Games if you’re not but you’ll need to get someone who is of age to apply on your behalf. Beyond that, any resident of the UK, the UK’s overseas colonies and anyone from the vast majority of Europe can apply using the London 2012 website. If you’re on another continent, then you’ll need to contact your National Olympic Committee instead.

So, if you’re over 16 and from the UK or Europe, then here’s what you need.
Sign Up
First you have to create an account and register with the London 2012 ticketing website. It's relatively brief and painless. No blood groups or residences from the last three years required.
Choose your events
There are 32 sports to choose from using the Olympic Games search tool, including the opening and closing ceremonies, and within those categories you can drill down to find women's javelin, the 120kg men's Greco-Roman wrestling finals or whatever it is you're looking for.
If you're trying to get a picture of the whole thing in one go to see if you can make a day out or short break of it, then download the entire London Olympic Games timetable PDF instead.
For each session within each event, there's a large range of ticket prices to choose running from £20 all the way up to so much cash that you could have yourself a nice holiday in Barbados instead. Pick what level of seat you're willing to pay for each one and look out for the events with little blue flags next to them. They indicate that special prices are available for senior citizens and under 16, the latter of whom will be able to pay the same number of pounds as they have years of age for their tickets. Fortunately, the same idea wasn't put forward for the OAPs.
You have until 11.59pm on 26 April 2011 to make your choices but you can save your progress and come back to it at any time before that.
Naturally, it's going to be oversubscribed, so it will go down to a completely unbiased ballot in such circumstances and you'll find out how you did some time between 10 May - 10 June 2011 when payment for your successful applications will be taken.
Money
Slightly scandalously, the only payment method accepted is Visa seeing as it's Visa who sponsors the Games. Fortunately, you can use a camera inside not made by either Panasonic, Samsung and GE and indeed eat something other than McDonalds on your day out as well.
Tickets
The tickets are officially speaking non-transferable but London 2012 ticketing will be setting up a site whereby you can put ones that you no longer need up for sale at face value. There's been nothing explicit about reselling from eBay, Gumtree or any other of the usual online second hand markets but one might suspect - certainly from the former - a ban on Olympic ticket sales. According to London 2012, it is illegal to sell Olympic Games tickets on the black market.
That said, it seems that you can buy tickets as a lead booker and then give them out to friends and family. The suggestion is that the lead booker needs to be there on entrance, meaning that they can't be bought and sold openly, but there's nothing explicit here and it wouldn't be a big surprise to find that actually you can bend the rules. So, as a result, don't be shocked if you do see tickets on sale in all sorts of weird and wonderful places. They won't be at face value and they won't all be genuine either.
Stay safe online
If you do find yourself in a position of looking to buy a ticket to one of the 2012 sessions through a third party website, you can check that it's kosher on a special page. Head back to Ticketing Website Checker on the official London 2012 website. If it doesn't pass the acid test then leave it well alone.
The other danger is the scams or, more specifically, the spams. The London 2012 Olympic Games is going is to be the mother of all covers for thousands upon thousands of attempted cyber crime attacks. At the one end, there's simply people setting up bogus sites to take payments from those who think they're buying tickets but there'll also be plenty of trojans, key stroke loggers, rootkits and worms uploaded to anyone who clicks on links in spam e-mails that are clearly fraudulent as well.
There's a list on the London 2012 website of ones already doing the rounds and it's seriously long already. In fact, it's so long that it's not even worth checking. The best advice we can give is not to open unsolicited mails about the Olympics at all. Just don't bother. You're not going to win free tickets unless you remember entering the competition in the first place and if any offers look too good to be true, it's because they are.
Finally
All tickets remaining after this first round is over will go on sale from June/July 2011 and, if you really don't fancy applying online, you can do it in the post with a paper application form that you can get from local branches of Lloyds TSB and Bank of Scotland. Applications must, again, be received by 26 April but instead of Visa having the monopoly here, you can pay by cheque or postal order.

Which events are you up for watching and which ones do you think need to be included come 2016? Let us know in the comments.

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Amazon scores exclusive Einstein Kindle collection

Still looking for a reason to jump on board the Kindle bandwagon? Well, how's about this - Amazon has just announced that it has reached a deal to bring seven exclusive digital books by Albert Einstein to its ebook reading platform.
The books, from publisher Open Road, contain new photographs and extra bibliographical information from the boffins at the Hebrew University Einstein Archives.
"As part of our mission to bring iconic books to E, we are proud to digitally publish the authorized ebooks of a selection of Albert Einstein's most important writings," said Jane Friedman, CEO and co-founder of Open Road Integrated Media.
"In partnership with Philosophical Library and Hebrew University, we have curated fascinating material about Einstein's life that will both attract new readers and appeal to diehard fans. We are excited to be kicking off the launch of these classic titles with Amazon today, for what would be Einstein's 132nd birthday."
The seven digital books are: Essays in Humanism, Essays in Science, Letters on Wave Mechanics: Correspondence with H. A. Lorentz, Max Planck, and Erwin Schrödinger, Letters to Solovine: 1906-1955, Out of My Later Years: The Scientist, Philosopher, and Man Portrayed Through His Own Words, The Theory of Relativity and Other Essays, and The World As I See It.
"Albert Einstein is one of our most important thinkers," said Russ Grandinetti, vice president of Kindle Content. "These books cover everything from the Theory of Relativity to Einstein's own letters chronicling his thoughts on life. We're excited to make these books available for Kindle device owners and app users, and think readers will enjoy them."

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Sony NGP to power up on 11 November?

We all suspected that, when details broke that Sony was planning on unleashing its next-gen handheld console - the Sony NGP - before 2011 was up, it would be Japanese gamers getting their game-on first.
But us Europeans could also be seeing some NGP action this year - with a possible launch date of 11 November (the catchy 11/11/11) being touted in reports.
MCV sources have stated that Western development deadlines have been set so that our versions of the launch titles are ready to go by the end of summer, giving plenty of time for an autumn release.
Sony top bods, including Kaz Hirai and Jack Tretton, have previously hinted that the console would land sometime late this year, but possibly only in one territory (presumably Japan) - but this may not yet prove to be the case.
The NGP was officially announced back in January. It features a 5-inch OLED touchscreen with a much-improved resolution of 960x544, a quad-core ARM CortexTM-A9 CPU, a second dual analogue stick, and a Six-axis motion sensing system (three-axis gyroscope, three-axis accelerometer).
The back has touch technology for an all new way to interact with gaming, and there are also cameras front and back as well as a new micro-analogue control stick added on the right of the console.
It is the long awaited follow up to the original PSP. But has it arrived too late? With mobile gaming growing rapidly, is there still room for a dedicated portable gaming system?

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Jawbone Era hands-on

The Jawbone line from Aliph have always been known for being compact, stylish and equipped with hardcore noise cancellation in the form of NoiseAssassin. The latest headset, the Jawbone Era, features NoiseAssassin 3.0, claiming eliminate more noise than any other headset. Expansys sent us through a Jawbone Era Midnight edition, for a quick hands-on.
We’re not normally taken by packaging on Pocket-lint, but we have to marvel at the compact and recyclable packaging that houses the Jawbone Era, especially as it is easy to get into and it elegantly houses a range of accessories.
You not only get the Bluetooth headset, but you also get a wide choice of ear fitting options - there are a number of difference sizes of earbud, or the option of an ear hook to get the secure fit that you want. You can mix and match the fittings if you like, but they do attract debris - just look at our photos in the gallery. No, don't panic that isn't ear wax, it's just dust.
The compact headset measures 51.3 x 14.5 x 24.1mm and weighs just 10.2g. It looks like previous models, namely the Icon, but with distinctive perforated metal outer shell. This shell is laid on red backing, which shimmers through the surface when the light catches it, giving a great effect. 

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TVonics unleashes the DTR-Z500HD Freeview+ HD recorder

TVonics has unveiled its latest PVR - the Freeview HD packing DTR-Z500HD.
The durable, rugged set top box has the same features that you'll find packed in the DTR-HD500 though in a newly designed aluminium casing that its makers state "is perfect for stacking".
The Z500HD includes HDMI switch technology which will allow you to hook up two HDMI devices to your TV using only one of its slots. It also has a couple of USB ports and series and trailer recording options.
As well as the new device, TVonics has also stated that it will be launching new software upgrades for existing HD (and DTR-HV250) customers, adding an EPG upgrade and a Dolby Surround Sound upgrade.
Andy Carr, CTO, TVonics commented: “Anyone with kids knows that nothing, especially gadgets, is safe when they’re playing. TVonics has therefore designed the DTR-Z500HD to withstand family life.”
“Along with wanting products that are physically durable, we also know that people want a product that’s going to last and not become obsolete the moment a new model comes on the market. That’s why we are committed to providing software upgrades whenever possible so our existing HD customers can expect to see more downloadable upgrades in the near future.”

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iPhone 5 screen surfaces - suggests thinner bezel

The picture shows what is claimed to be the digitiser panel of a fifth gen iPhone, and if genuine, the bezel is markedly thinner than the one on the iPhone 4. It therefore allows for a larger display within the same sized body as the current generation handset. Indeed, it matches other suggestions circulating around the web that the iPhone 5 will feature a 4-inch screen.
Obviously, it's early days yet, and we're pretty sure that Cupertino has its hands full prepping the launch of the iPad 2 (on Wednesday), so it could be some time before we see whether this sheet of plastic ever makes it onto a device.
There's no point hanging around in Californian bars just yet.

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Google Upgrades Program To Help U.S. Nonprofits Use AdWords, Apps And More

via techcrunch.com

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The Five Best Cord Cutting Devices (Plus One Bonus

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Take Two: Justin Bieber Unveils His Wax Figure – Style News - StyleWatch

via stylenews.peoplestylewatch.com

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How Amazon Is Bringing Real Page Numbers to Kindle Books

“Adding ‘real’ page numbers means we had to find a way to match specific text in a Kindle book to the corresponding text in a print book and identify the correct page number to display,”

Will this be for the Hardcover version, the Paberback version, the US edition, UK edition, original edition, later re-typeset edition, etc. of the print book? Are they going to let you choose which print edition you want the page numbers from or are they just going to pick one? If they are just going to pick one, are they going to tell you which one they use?

via mashable.com

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Facebook "Likes" More Profitable Than Tweets [STUDY

If event registration site Eventbrite’s experience is any indication, social media marketers looking for monetary returns on their efforts might get more value from Facebook than Twitter.

The company announced Wednesday that an average tweet about an event drove 80 cents in ticket sales during the past six months, whereas an average Facebook Like drove $1.34.

The study, which used in-house social analytics tools to track ticket sales on the site, was a continuation of a similar analysis the company released in October after analyzing data from a 12-week period. That study also indicated Facebook drove more sales for Eventbrite than Twitter, although the difference between the two networks’ sales per post was greater at that point than throughout the entire six-month period.

In addition to each individual Facebook Like driving more sales than an individual tweet, the study also revealed cumulative activity on Facebook was greater than activity on Twitter for Eventbrite. People shared Eventbrite events on Facebook almost four times as often as they did on Twitter. The company attributes this disparity to Facebook’s wider reach and greater emphasis on real-world ties.

It’s important to note that only a very small percentage of site visitors shared event pages on either network. Just 1% of people who landed on an event page shared it with their friends; 10% of people who had purchased a ticket did the same.

Obviously people are more likely to share events if they are attending. Their friends, according to Eventbrite’s data, are also more likely to buy tickets to an event shared on Facebook by a ticket holder than one shared by an uncommitted friend. But whether these trends, or any of Eventbrite’s findings, are relevant to other types of purchases is still a matter of speculation. But Eventbrite is betting they are.

“We carefully track sharing behavior in an effort to help event organizers tap into a new world of distribution for their event promotion,” wrote Tamara Mendelsohn, Eventbrite’s director of marketing and former senior analyst at Forrester Research, in a blog post about the study. “But the findings apply broadly to all e-commerce businesses, because the foundations of e-commerce are shifting as the social graph becomes a meaningful influence in driving transactions.”

via mashable.com

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Google Upgrades Digital Tool Set for Non-Profits

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The History of Computer Viruses [INFOGRAPHIC

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Persistence

via chrisbrogan.com

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YouTube Blog: Ooh la la -- ask Gaga a question

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YouTube Blog: YouTube NextUp: Are you the next big thing on YouTube

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Rihanna: I Like My Bod Even Though It's Not Perfect | Rolling Stone Music

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YouTube Blog: Supercharging the “Next” phase in YouTube partner development

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YouTube Blog: Good Work – Enjoy the spotlight at the Cannes Lions Festival for a good cause

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Strokes' New Album 'Angles' is Best Since Their Debut | Rolling Stone Music

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By Rolling Stone

March 16, 2011 1:50 PM ET

David Fricke has reviewed the Strokes' highly anticipated new album Angles – and in a four-star review, he says the record was worth the wait. 

According to Fricke, Angles is the Strokes' first step away from the sound of their instant-classic debut. Instead of the rigid purity of Is This It, the new album nods to the more expansive sound of the Velvet Underground's 1970 record Loaded.

Related:
The Return of the Strokes: Inside the Fractious Sessions for Their Fourth Album

via rollingstone.com

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YouTube Blog: Good Work – Enjoy the spotlight at the Cannes Lions Festival for a good cause

via youtube-global.blogspot.com

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YouTube Blog: YouTube NextUp: Are you the next big thing on YouTube

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Janet Jackson Signs Film Production Deal | Rolling Stone Music

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By Matthew Perpetua

March 16, 2011 11:50 AM ET

Janet Jackson has signed a production deal with Lionsgate to develop and produce a feature film for the studio. Though Jackson has been an actress since before her music career began in 1982, this will be her first time working behind the scenes in movies. Jackson has a pre-existing relationship with Lionsgate, having appeared in three Tyler Perry pictures released by the studio.

Contest: Choose the Cover of Rolling Stone

Jackson has not selected any projects to pursue just yet, but has said that she has an interest in film noir. It make take her a while to get started on a film project – she is currently in the middle of the American leg of her Number Ones: Up Close and Personal world tour, and is promoting a recently released memoir titled True You: A Journey to Finding and Loving Yourself.

via rollingstone.com

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Pearl Jam to Begin Work on 10th Studio Album | Rolling Stone Music

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By Matthew Perpetua

March 16, 2011 12:30 PM ET

Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament has told Billboard that the band have written 25 songs for a new album to be recorded later this year. "April will be the time where we get together and learn to play all these demos and figure out which 12-15 of them float to the top," he said. According to Ament, the band have been focused on putting together reissues of their albums Vs. and Vitalogy and working on a Cameron Crowde-directed documentary and book celebrating their 20th anniversary as a band that they are eager to look forward to the future.

Contest: Choose the Cover of Rolling Stone

This will be a busy year for the members of Pearl Jam, both collectively and on their own. Frontman Eddie Vedder is currently on a solo tour in Australia and is about to begin work on a new solo album. Drummer Matt Cameron is about to record a new album with Soundgarden and Ament is set to release a new disc from his solo project Tres Mts. In addition to recording a new Pearl Jam album, the group are planning a special 20th anniversary destination festival tentatively scheduled for Labor Day weekend.

Grunge: Mohawks, Flannels and Loud Guitars

via rollingstone.com

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Strokes' New Album 'Angles' is Best Since Their Debut | Rolling Stone Music

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By Rolling Stone

March 16, 2011 1:50 PM ET

David Fricke has reviewed the Strokes' highly anticipated new album Angles – and in a four-star review, he says the record was worth the wait. 

According to Fricke, Angles is the Strokes' first step away from the sound of their instant-classic debut. Instead of the rigid purity of Is This It, the new album nods to the more expansive sound of the Velvet Underground's 1970 record Loaded.

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The Return of the Strokes: Inside the Fractious Sessions for Their Fourth Album

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Rihanna: I Like My Bod Even Though It's Not Perfect | Rolling Stone Music

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Five Real Estate Tips from Warren Buffett

How familiar are you with the mortgage process? Mortgage terms? Mortgage fees and costs? Learn about them all here.

• Types of Mortgage Loans
• How Much House Can You Afford?
• Obtaining Preapproval for Mortgages
• Should You Rent or Buy a Home?
• Save Money on Mortgages
• Improve the Value of Your Home
• Mortgages From the Blog

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Hire the Least Likely Candidate&#8230

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Google introduces Anthill hardware VP8 decoder

Google introduces Anthill hardware VP8 decoder

by Lee Mathews on March 16, 2011 at 11:00 AM

FILED UNDER: video, web, google,

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It's full speed ahead for Google's VP8 video codec. Now that the bulk of YouTube's video library has been converted, it's on to the next task -- which looks to be hardware decoding. To that end, Google has unveiled Anthill, a hardware VP8 decoding solution that is substantially faster and more efficient than current software solutions.

Google's Aki Kuusela said, "The H1 (Anthill) hardware encoder can produce good quality with very low power consumption using almost no clock cycles from the CPU." H1 can push 1080p video at 30 FPS and 720p at 60 FPS, and you can see how it stacks up to a trio of software decoders above.

It will, of course, take some time before OEMs to begin integrating hardware VP8 support into their products. But with Google's ties to Android handset manufacturers, television and set-top box producers, and the Open Screen project, there's little doubt the company will be able to get its numerous friends on board.

[It's worth noting that comparing hardware decoding to software decoding is a bit unfair. There are hardware H.264 decoders, too! -Ed]

Tags: anthill, codec, decode, decoding, google, h1, hardware, video, vp8, web, webm, youtube

• via: cnet
• source: WebM Project

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IMPORTANT&USEFUL GMAIL FUNCTION.

1)
How To Enable Desktop Mail Notifications For GMail

Google added new a new feature for their GMail clients, the notifications for new mail and chat messages from now on can be seen right from your desktop and so you won’t have to check the Gmail Inbox to see if there is a new mail.
For the time being this feature will be available only for Chrome, which will see the browser transforming into a desktop notifying tool for new mail and chat messages in your GMail account. When a new mail reaches your Gmail Inbox, Chrome will automatically display a notification on your desktop and by clicking it you will be directed to Gmail Inbox and so you will be able to read the email.

Also, this new feature is supported on Chrome OS, as normally the Chrome OS can’t run any type of desktop notifier, while the web apps such as the one built in Chrome browser is supported and that’s why Chrome OS will be capable of displaying Gmail notifications from now on.
This new feature comes with several different settings, like the option to enable only the Chat notifications or enabling only the important emails to announce you. Google also is planning to release the Gmail desktop notification support for all the other internet browsers.
Here’s how you can enable the mail and chat notifications in Chrome:

1. Log into your Gmail account.
2. Click ‘Settings’.
3. Now under the ‘General’ tab settings menu, you need to find the ‘Desktop Notifications’ menu field.
4. Now you need to check ‘Chat Notifications On’ option and ‘New mail notifications on’ or the ‘Important notifications on’ option, if you wish to receive notifications only when a mail message arrives in your Priority Inbox.
5. That’s it, now you will be notified by Chrome whenever you receive a new email message.

Try this new feature from Google and i’m sure that you won’t be disappointed, as you will save serious amounts of time because you won’t have to periodically check your email account to see if there is new mail in your Inbox.

2)

How To Import Emails Into Your New Gmail, Live Mail Or Yahoo Mail Account

If you want to change your email account without losing any of your mails, this article will provide all the necessary information for moving the mail from and to Gmail, Yahoo Mail and Windows Live Hotmail. There are situations when you just want to dump an email account and move to another one. While you might want to keep your email provider and just create a new account, most people turn to other providers in search for a better experience. Fortunately, there are many services out there that specialize in moving mails from one account to another, and most of them are free. If you want to move all your mails to your Windows Live Hotmail account, a service called TrueSwitch provides quick and easy transfers from AOL, Gmail, Yahoo Mail and several other providers. In addition, you can also use TrueSwitch to move your mails from another Hotmail account.

How To Import Emails Into Your New Gmail, Live Mail Or Yahoo Mail Account
How To Move Mails To Yahoo Mail Just like for moving mails to Windows Live Hotmail, TrueSwitch is still one of the best services. We recommend that you use it to move mails from your Hotmail, Gmail, AOL, Juno,etc accounts to your Yahoo Mail Account. If you want to move mails from one Yahoo Mail account to another, True Switch can help you without needing to upgrade to Yahoo! Mail Plus. How To Move Mails To Gmail If you want to move your emails to the Gmail account, you can use the Mail Fetcher feature that will allow you to import emails from 5 POP-supporting email accounts. This means that you can easily import Hotmail and AOL messages, but not the ones stored in your Yahoo Mail account since it does not support POP or IMAP. An upgrade to Yahoo Mail Plus will enable POP support on your mail account, but there is an alternative: use TrueSwitch to move your emails to Windows Live Hotmail, and then import them using the Mail Fetcher in Gmail. Now you have imported your mails from Yahoo to Gmail. Importing Mails From Your ISP Mail If your mail is handled by a popular ISP such as AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and others, TrueSwtich is the fastest way to import mails from those accounts. If your ISP is not on the supported list for TrueSwtich, and you don’t know how to configure POP3 or IMAP support, the alternative is Yippie Move. This application can move mails between an impressive numbers of email providers. The downside is that it costs $15 per email account, which is a lot. 3) How to activate and use the Android Priority Inbox ( Gmail Mailbox ) In the following guide you will learn how to activate the Android Priority Inbox, an important feature of the Gmail mailbox. This can be possible as Google just launched ( yesterday actually ) an updated Gmail application for Android 2.2 ( Froyo ) users. Why use this? Because you will only get notified when you receive important mails, and not some random updates from your tweeter account. No idea what the Gmail Android Priority Inbox is about? Well, it is the Android compatible version of the Gmail Priority option. It’s a newly developed mail feature, which allows you to choose the type of messages considered important. All these messages will then show in a new inbox, called the priority inbox, which takes the place of the old inbox. You will have two inboxes activated: one for important mails and the other, for not so important messages. This can be very useful when you are receiving hundreads of emails daily, most of all from unimportant sources. The priority inbox will only notify you when receiving an important message. In the rest of the time, it will stay empty. Leaping to the Android version, the Priority Inbox does the same thing, just on an Android smartphone. Unfortunately, this feature can only be activated only on Froyo users ( Android 2.2 ) and requires you to update to the latest Gmail version. The guide bellow should resolve all of these problems. Let’s start.

Gmail Logo

How to activate and use the Android Priority Inbox

First of all, you will need to update the Gmail Android app. You can do this by going to the Android Market -> Menu -> Downloads and you should see the Gmail app within the list. If not, that means that you are not running on Android 2.2, the application is already updated or, that you haven’t installed it. A quick search on the Android Market for “Gmail” should do the trick. Once you all got the latest version.

Setting the Priority Inbox as default

1. Open the Gmail app.
2. Go to Menu.
3. Select More.
4. Touch on Settings.
5. A window like bellow will appear. Check the boxes like we did. Now when you will open the Gmail Android App, you will see the Priority Inbox instead of the normal mailbox.


Checking the Priority Inbox without setting as default

Don’t want to set the Priority Inbox as the default mailbox? Well, there is another way. The priority inbox can be always used by doing this ( the same features, including marking messages ):
1. Open the Gmail Android App.
2. Go to Labels.
3. Open Priority Inbox.
Note: After activating Priority, there is one problem remaining. The application usually learns in time what the important messages are, to set some type of messages important as default. This only happens in a 4-day range. That means the app learns what messages are important by only checking the last for days. To completely sync the application, do these:
1. Open Gmail.
2. Go to Menu.
3. Select More.
4. Now touch on Settings.
5. Change the value of the synchronization timing.
4) How to Configure Opera Mail with Gmail, Yahoo and AOL I`m sure you are all aware by the fact that Opera`s latest Web browser, which is Opera 10, has added an essential feature on its software-named Opera Mail. Well, it`s no surprise that Opera had to step up its game, because with such competition, there is no time for mistakes. There is no doubt that with this two combined functions, Opera 10 will be a success. Opera Mail users don`t have to worry about missing their massages during an unexpected lost connection, because the software has a session restore option, which, in many cases is the hand of God. If you really are interested in Opera Mail features, then you should read here. I`m glad to announce you that I`ve found some tips and steps of configuring you Opera Mail whit Yahoo, Gmail and AOL, so follow these steps: - You should start by enabling POP or IMAP in you Gmail account. - Then go to Tools , click Mail >Chat accounts - You will have to create an account, if you don`t have already one, or simply click Add. - Select E-mail and then click Next. - A dialog box should pop-up. - Complete the following and then press Next: - Real name: here you have to choose a name, which will be displayed in From field of your sent e-mails - E-mail address: your entire Gmail address. - Organization: this box is optional, so if you don`t have an organization or you don`t want to complete, then you shouldn`t. - In the next dialog, type the following: - Login Name: here you have to type your Gmail login name - Password: your Gmail password - After that process is done, select IMAP or POP, of course, depending on the service you`ve enabled in your Gmail account - And finally click Finish. For an optimal sync between your Gmail account and Opera Mail, only If you are using IMAP with Gmail, you`ll have to do something extra such: - Set up an IMAP account - Then Go to Mail and click IMAP Folders. - Select your Gmail account, right under the Accounts option - Uncheck these folders: - [Gmail]/All Mail – [Gmail]/Spam – [Gmail]/Trash - Now, press OK The configuring process for Yahoo and AOL is basically the same, so what are you waiting for?

Opera Mail accounts 5)
Google implemented in its Gmail service is capable of sorting the important mails automatically for you.
Gmail already was equipped with a powerful spam filter that kept away most spam messages and now with the addition of Priority Inbox, your email inbox will be more organized than ever and you will be able to read the important mails before the others. The Priority Inbox feature logs the way you interact with your mails and based on this, it will start sorting the future important messages you get into your inbox. For the moment, the Priority Inbox is in it’s beta phase and in the next couple of weeks, the full version should be released. The Priority Inbox can be enabled on your Gmail account by clicking on the ‘New! Priority Inbox’ red colored link. Priority Inbox has support for customization and it allows users to set stars for mail messages that they consider to be important or they can star the messages to be read at a later time. If you enabled the Priority Inbox for your Gmail account and you aren’t satisfied with it, then you should know that you can switch back to your old inbox. To do this you need to click ‘Inbox’ or you can go to Gmail Settings and check the ‘Do Not Show Priority Inbox’ in the Priority Inbox settings menu.

Gmail Priority Inbox Settings
See below the video presentation of the new Gmail feature called Priority Inbox :
Priority Inbox

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How To Be A Social Media Jerk | Six Pixels of Separation - Marketing and Communications Blog - By Mitch Joel at Twist Image

You'll read a whole bunch of different perspectives online about what you should and should not be doing when it comes to Social Media.

I'm a big believer in doing what works best for you and ignoring what most of the Digerati think. Seth Godin often says, "your mileage may vary," while Chris Brogan is always smart with his, "you're doing it wrong," Blog posts. Still, there are some pretty obvious faux-pas that take place online and - for the most post - I think this happens because individuals feel like there are less ramifications if they're hiding behind a keyboard or a smartphone than if they were standing face-to-face with you.

It's a bit of a trick... but it works.

The easiest way to improve the on-ramp success of your Social Media efforts is to always imagine that the person you're connecting with is standing right in front of you. Think about it this way, if the person were standing there - right in front of your face, would you...

• Cover your face? Imagine speaking to someone but they kept their identity unknown. How awkward would that be? Show your face... post a real (and recent) photo of yourself.
• Use a fake name? Do you think you're going to build trust with someone if the other person is using a nickname, fake name or the name of the company they work for? Imagine someone asking, "what's your name?" and the response back from the person is, "my name is Local Marketing Guru!"
• Give your business card to everyone? Does anyone like the person at the local chamber of commerce event who runs around the room throwing out their business cards as if they are ninja stars? It's not important to connect to as many people as possible in one shot... it's much more important to connect to the right people by taking your time and really getting to know people.
• Be so pushy? Someone just asked to connect to me on LinkedIn. The second I accepted the request, I was immediately emailed a very long sales pitch email about what they sell and how I could buy it. On top of that, the email included a two-meg attachment PDF brochure. This is the in-person equivalent of walking up to someone, introducing yourself and not letting them get a word in edge-wise as you suddenly begin to ramble through a twenty-minute sales presentation without their permission.
• Call them out in public? I see this a lot on Twitter. People are loosely connected and then one person calls the merits of the other individual's online activities out in public. Can you imagine being in a small circle of people you just met (or sort of know) at an event, when someone turns to the entire group and says, "you see this person standing in front of you? I heard them speak before the event and I think they're completely stupid?" That would never happen in person... why do it online?
• Ask them to do something for you without really knowing them? The next time you're at an event, turn to the person you just met and ask them if they would mind writing a reference letter for you. How did that go? I'm amazed at how quickly individuals will ask for something of value (for themselves) from someone they do not know without giving first. There's nothing wrong with asking for help, but the way you ask for help that returns a more positive result is by giving first. By being valuable to others before asking them for favors. By giving abundantly and being helpful.

I'm being a Social Media jerk... or snob.

I'm sure some of the comments below will attempt to turn me into some kind of snob or jerk. The truth is simply this: I do my best to connect and build my online relationships the same way I do when I'm not online. My way of building a professional network may be different from yours. Your mileage may vary (as Seth would say). I may, in fact, be doing it wrong (as Chris would say).

What do you say?

By Mitch Joel

Related Posts:

• An "A" For Effort
• Your 2011 Digital Marketing Reboot
• The Digital Marketer's Master Library

Tags:

• chris brogan
• connections
• digerati
• linkedin
• networking
• online social networking
• seth godin
• smartphone
• social media
• social media jerk
• social media snob
• twitter

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