Who’s got the best power plug? Crave UK answers the question with their tongue somewhat in cheek. Could there be any bias with their choice for the #1 plug? I guess the writers don’t travel much and don’t care about size. Also, perhaps anthropomorphism is a bit too highly ranked? More intelligent ways to be shocked. Permalink | Leave a comment »
Selected by franandrowena
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Holy Kaw!
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My plug is better than yours
7 Nov 2009 | 8:38 am -
25 wackiest NYC Marathon costumes
6 Nov 2009 | 11:01 pmRunning 26.2 miles while sucking down polluted urban air wasn’t quite difficult enough for some jogging fools competing in the New York City Marathon last week, so a handful of creative folks decided to extend Halloween an extra day and run the race while donning costumes. Photogs spotted clowns, super heroes, Uncle Sam, nuns and even an apparently alive Michael Jackson. Lucky for you, you didn’t have to travel all the way to the Big Apple to check out all the shenanigans because Buzz Feed has collected images of the 25 best costumes at the 2009 NYC marathon. Enjoy (and feel lazy… -
Tech that refuses to die
6 Nov 2009 | 10:26 pmCall them the Jason Vorhees of technology—gadgets that just won’t die, no matter how many times you kill ‘em with a chain saw. Tech moves fast,—remember, like 10 years ago you probably had a pager in your pocket—but why is it that some technology seems completely resistant to kicking the bucket? From cables that remain tangled under your desk to the hipsters’ audio format of choice, vinyl, CNet highlights eight tech items that refuse to meet the Grim Reaper. Even Twitter makes a surprise entry on the list. Check out the full list, including why the sans… -
How to change
6 Nov 2009 | 10:09 pmWant to change? Then, according to Peter Bregman, just change one thing. In his case he stopped consuming large amounts of sugar. For me, it would be carbohydrates. But the article isn’t really about dieting—it’s about how to become a better business person, so read it and reap. More Lifehacks. Permalink | Leave a comment » -
Guess who is a Glamour woman of the year?
6 Nov 2009 | 9:56 pmIt’s going to be a long time before I post about anything in Glamour, but this is a special occasion. The magazine named Google’s Marissa Mayer as one of the women of the year for 2009. Joining her is “refuse to use Bluetooth” Maria Shriver and others. The only reason Matt Cutts didn’t win is that he’s a man—despite the concerted efforts of SEO consultants around the world to game the voting.. More, albeit less glamourous, news about Google. Permalink | Leave a comment »
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NYT > Real Estate
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In the Region | New Jersey: A Makeover Plan, Up Close
6 Nov 2009 | 10:48 pmProgress is being made in converting Newark’s empty lots and abandoned buildings into new housing, despite a crushing recession. -
Big Deal: Almost Family
6 Nov 2009 | 10:48 pmJoseph A. Olshefski, who spent much of his adult life at 313 East 58th, is now acting as the broker for the owner, who is selling it. -
Living In | Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y.: Where Rivers Meet, Ahh-Inspiring Views
6 Nov 2009 | 10:47 pmAbout 40 percent of Croton-on-Hudson is set aside as parkland, and the area is known for its rivers. -
Square Feet | The 30-Minute Interview: Howard L. Michaels
6 Nov 2009 | 8:06 pmMr. Michaels is the chairman and chief executive of the Carlton Group, a real estate investment bank that specializes in equity and debt placement. -
Mortgages: HUD Combats Discrimination
6 Nov 2009 | 8:06 pmThe federal government is poised to enact rules to combat discrimination on loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration.
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WSJ.com: Real Estate
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U.K.'s Liberty Forges On
4 Nov 2009 | 2:42 pmLiberty International has made strides over the past year shoring up its balance sheet, managing occupancy and maintaining cash flow. But the U.K.'s largest retail landlord's problems are far from over. -
Fears of New Bubble as Cash Pours In
4 Nov 2009 | 2:41 pmThe World Bank and IMF are raising concerns that efforts by governments and central banks to stoke a recovery will create asset bubbles in real estate, stock and currency markets. -
Wells Bets on Recovery to Fix Mortgages
4 Nov 2009 | 12:43 pmWells Fargo & Co.'s strategy for modifying troubled Pick-A-Pay mortgages looks like a game of kick-the-can-down-the-road. -
Developers Diversified Deal Is Nearer
4 Nov 2009 | 11:27 amA closely watched deal that may help uncork the commercial-property debt market is picking up steam after being threatened by the Fed. -
Hotel Venture Runs Into Ugly Reality
4 Nov 2009 | 7:53 amA foray into hotels by Sam Nazarian, who operates some of L.A.'s hottest nightspots, has turned into a costly slog amid the worst hotel market in decades.
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Wash Post Real Estate
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Ask the Builder: Research soapstone counters before buying
6 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pmDEAR TIM: A kitchen designer recommended soapstone countertops for my new kitchen. Do you have any experience with soapstone counters or even a soapstone sink? I've never heard of this material and wonder about it. Would you use it in your home? If not, why not? -- Tara M., Montrose, Calif. -
30-year rates fall back below 5 percent
6 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pmMortgage rates for 30-year, fixed-rate home loans fell for the first time in a month this week as the Federal Reserve pledged to keep its benchmark rate near zero. -
Housewatch: Architect Berkus's own house is small, full of poetry and surprise
6 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pmWhen architect Barry Berkus designed a pied-Ã -terre for himself in Santa Barbara, Calif., three years ago, he brought an unusual depth to the project. -
Basement condo? Busy road? It's a tough sell.
6 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pmGus Drakakis's single-family brick colonial didn't seem like it would be an easy sell. Yes, it was in good condition. And yes, it was remodeled. -
Charles County's Clarks Run a place to put down roots
6 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pmMike Hanks grew up in Clarks Run, and he loved his childhood days playing sports with his friends around the La Plata neighborhood. Years later, when Hanks was looking for a safe place to raise a family, Clarks Run was an easy choice. In fact, he bought his old house from his parents.
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Yahoo! News: Business - Real Estate
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Freddie Mac loses $6.3B in 3Q (AP)
6 Nov 2009 | 2:44 pmAP - Freddie Mac says its losses narrowed to $6.3 billion in the third quarter and the company didn't need a federal cash infusion. -
Obama signs homebuyer, jobless bill assistance (AP)
6 Nov 2009 | 12:44 pmAP - President Barack Obama signed a $24 billion economic stimulus bill into law Friday, giving tax incentives to prospective homebuyers and additional jobless benefits to those idled by the business slump. -
Defense asks jury to clear ex-hedge fund managers (AP)
6 Nov 2009 | 12:30 pmAP - Two former Bear Stearns hedge fund managers charged with lying to investors always were honest about the risks of investing in securities linked to the volatile subprime mortgage market, a defense lawyer told a jury on Friday. -
Obama to Sign Bill Extending Homebuyer Credit, Jobless Benefits (Bloomberg)
5 Nov 2009 | 9:01 pmBloomberg - Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama is set to sign into law a bill that extends $8,000 tax credits for first- time homebuyers and unemployment benefits. -
Obama set to sign a big tax break for homebuyers (AP)
5 Nov 2009 | 5:43 pmAP - Missed out on Cash for Clunkers? Congress has another deal for you: Buy a home before May 1 and collect up to $6,500 from the government. If you're a first-time homebuyer, get up to $8,000.
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Go Beyond MLS
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New and Sexy LeapFish: But Framesets Can Present Issues.
6 Nov 2009 | 3:37 pmA mention by US Today, stream of hundreds of Tweets , mentioned by hundreds of blogs, a “cutting edge” video on youtube- LeapFish.com relaunch can certainly be seen as enormous success, except… The leading technology blogs continue to give LeapFish.com nothing short of a “cold shoulder”. All the buzz surrounding the relaunch is focused on how sexy and nice looking the new website is, no one seems to be trying to “flip beyond the cover page”. I would like to write about LeapFish’s implementation of framesets on their pages that may actually spook… -
Tips On Keeping Your WordPress Less Vulnerable To Hackers
1 Nov 2009 | 2:12 pmWordPress, being one of the most popular publishing platforms and content management system also is the most frequent target for spammers. Google reacts quickly to identify the hacked sites – as a result your traffic and sales can drastically drop. The good news is that Google will try to make reasonable attempts to notify webmasters about potential problems via Google Webmasters Tools. However if you do not act quickly, it can be truly a devastating blow to your online presence. So how do you prepare yourself for the event such as your blog being hacked by injecting code into your… -
Trolls Are Not Allowed!
31 Oct 2009 | 4:16 pmWithin minutes of publishing last post I had a visitor- a very pissed off visitor. Who managed to spew his venom on Bill Hartzer’s blog as well (Bill my apologies for the “nofollow” attribute, I do trust your website- I hate to give LeapFish any juice): While I can speculate who this “Anonymous” may have been- the only certain fact I know is that he came to read the post via Twitter after an entry was posted in my account that announcing that I have written the post. There is no point to communicate with anonymous trolls like that. Most of the time they have no… -
LeapFish 2.0 Claims To Solve The Real Time Search. But Will They Survive Beyond 2009?
29 Oct 2009 | 12:31 pmAfter rather a painful year LeapFish.com- a meta search aggregator site just like Dogpile.com or Mamma.com, is ready to launch what they call it “LeapFish 2.0″- claiming that it will solve the real-time search. Believe it or not I, of all people, was on of the “few privileged” to view their “test” products. However I could not keep quiet about my discovery: And of course LeapFish killed that subdomain few minutes after my “Twitter broadcast”. Did they find my viewing of their new product not welcomed? Or is it also possible I “tuned… -
Telling Google How Often To Crawl Your Site- Not A Good Idea After All.
23 Sep 2009 | 8:58 amA while back I wrote an article pointing out one of the features available to webmasters at Google Webmaster Central – ability to set a custom crawl rate. At the time I thought it was an outstanding idea. It is still is a good solution should googlebot visit your site too often causing issues with bandwidth (even though I have never heard of such scenario). Webmasters however should exercise caution when increasing the crawl rate via Google Webmaster Central. A few weeks ago I was involved in an upgrade of a website with 2000+ pages. One of the side effects of the upgrade was that we…
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Today's Real Estate News
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Give up home, Fannie will lease it back
6 Nov 2009 | 8:57 pm'Deed for Lease' program avoids foreclosureread more -
All roads lead to low rates
6 Nov 2009 | 12:05 pmCommentary: How do we measure 'recovery'?read more -
Move Inc. revenue declining
6 Nov 2009 | 8:04 amCompany not projecting growth in 2010read more -
The real estate video road show
6 Nov 2009 | 8:02 amWheel Estate Cam, Episode 2read more -
Redfin offers real-time sales info
6 Nov 2009 | 4:52 amCEO suggests do-it-yourself CMAsread more
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GeekEstate Blog
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Walk Score Releases Public Transit Data
5 Nov 2009 | 1:18 pmFor those who were using Walk Score’s real estate tile, you now have public transit data on your website (for the 40 cities covered) as a result of the addition of transit data to Walk Score. You can learn more over on the Walk Score Blog. -
Twitter DM Phishing Program Going Around
5 Nov 2009 | 10:48 amIf you get a DM that says “hey, FIND Out your IQ! here [link]” or “hi, look at this quiz [link]” — DON’T click the link. If you’ve experienced this but already clicked the link (doh!), change your password immediately. Additionally, tell the person that the DM came from so they are aware that their Twitter account has been compromised and to change their password. Scammers/Spammers suck. -
Ian Watt’s Talk at Coach Tom Ferry’s Event in San Diego
5 Nov 2009 | 10:05 amVancouver Realtor Ian Watt was invited to speak in San Diego yesterday at Coach Tom Ferry’s real estate agent event. He spoke right after Tom Ferry and before Gary Vee – not a bad lineup to be included in. For those that missed it, here is Ian’s talk: -
How To: Eliminate the Guesswork from Site Design
5 Nov 2009 | 7:04 amOver the past few months, there have been several excellent summaries on website design on Geek Estate. Drew’s post talked about the 9 Essential Principles for Good Web Design and Jeff put together a great article about website design and usability and how it can make a huge difference. When discussing design changes, it can be a very grey area. Everyone has an opinion: the CEO, the developers, the marketing team, your mom (ok, so maybe not your mom). But you get the idea. Today, I want to introduce to you a tool that will allow you to eliminate the guesswork from site design. Yup,… -
Web 3.0 – A Post Intended to “Define” & “Design”
2 Nov 2009 | 10:47 amGood Morning Everyone, I am posting this on Geek Estate because I am sure that the comments and discussions that are derived from it, will be from some of the finest, and most daring thinkers in Real Estate. Afterall, this is where anyone, who is someone, comes for the latest in Real Estate Technology…isn’t it? My topic is Web 3.0, what will it look like? How can we help shape it? and most importantly, How can we use it to improve our “Internet Persona”? Be first to market, so to speak. It was just 3 short years ago that I, and many others in the REBlog space, began…
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Homes101 Real Estate News
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Sellers' Quick Lawn Fix
5 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pmIt's one of the most unsightly and often hard to fix trouble spots for homeowners -- a lawn that has gone to the dogs! -
Developing Your Referral Strategy
5 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pmTo develop referrals, start with a referral mindset. -
30-Year Fixed Rate Falls Below 5 Percent
5 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pmMcLean, VA -- Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE) today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®) in which the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.98 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending November 5, 2009, down from last week when it averaged 5.03 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 6.20 percent. -
Investor Report: Have We Finally Hit Bottom?
5 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pmIt's a question that's relevant to investors in just about any once-hot market that's gone from boom to bust: Have prices finally bottomed out? Or could they be poised for still further declines? -
Is Your Agent Experienced in Distressed Properties?
4 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pmIf you are buying a short sale, foreclosed home or other distressed property, you ought to have someone experienced in distressed properties working for you.
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BloodhoundBlog
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The Deeds for Lease Program Coming Soon to a Slum Near You (Also Coming Soon: the Slum)
6 Nov 2009 | 10:03 pmFannie Mae announced today it’s implementation of the Deeds for Lease Program (which name, interestingly, they have trademarked). I cannot begin to count the problems with this latest attempt by the government to sober up an alcoholic nation by supplying enough booze to drown a water hippo. You can read the press release and imagine the nightmare yourself so I’m not going to recount it here, but I will point out one of the less reported aspects of this program that has the potential to cause a whole lot of those pesky unintended consequences our political leaders are so loathe to… -
Homebound hounds: You’re going to have break those chains on your own this year in San Diego
6 Nov 2009 | 5:51 pmI think it should be obvious by our lack of self-promotion, but we ended up not putting anything together for BloodhoundBlog Unchained in San Diego. I can’t speak for Brian, but I’ve been wall-to-wall with work for months, and I haven’t had time for anything else. I’ll go through the PayPal records tonight to make sure everyone’s money is refunded. Meanwhile: If you see any NAR grand poobahs, be sure to kick ‘em in the shins for shifting all your November move-ups into December. Christmas may be good, Thanksgiving not so much… -
A strategy for the Republican party that can actually win elections
6 Nov 2009 | 3:00 amThe national Republican party is riven by an insuperable internal contradiction. Out of one side of their mouths, Republicans wish to portray themselves as tax cutters, red-tape slashers, champions of liberty fearlessly hacking away at the slimy tentacles of the leviathan state. Ignore for the moment that they’re spineless jellyfish when it comes time to cut, slash or hack; this is how they wish to present themselves. Out of the other side of their mouths, Republicans offer American voters an alternate set of slimy tentacles for the same old leviathan. The state they promise to shrink… -
Congress extends and expands the home-buyer’s tax credit
5 Nov 2009 | 5:16 pmThe Washington Post: Under the housing program, people seeking to own a home for the first time in three years would receive an $8,000 tax credit if they sign a contract by April 30 and close on it by June 30. Current homeowners who are buying a new primary residence would be eligible for a $6,500 tax credit starting Dec. 1 if they owned their home for five consecutive years in the previous eight. The timing is more lenient for military families who have been deployed overseas for 90 days or more in 2008 or 2009. They would have until April 30, 2011 to sign a contract. But the measure limits… -
FannieRents: “Taxpayers are now going to own all these houses Fannie Mae should have unloaded. It’s going to cost a fortune.”
5 Nov 2009 | 3:22 pmYahoo News: Can’t pay the mortgage? You still might be able to stay in your home. Government-controlled mortgage company Fannie Mae is going to give borrowers on the verge of foreclosure the option of renting their homes for a year. The change announced Thursday could give a temporary break to thousands of homeowners, but critics question whether it will only add to the mushrooming losses at the company, which has received billions in taxpayer money. The new “Deed for Lease” program will allow homeowners to transfer title to Fannie Mae and sign a one-year lease, with…
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Future of Real Estate Marketing
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Terabitz Launches New Web Platform for Brokers
3 Nov 2009 | 7:12 amTerabitz has been very quiet lately. A refresher for those of you might not have heard of the company – they launched in 2007 to much fanfare (see Terabitz Gives You Loads of Data) — as a sort of “Netvibes for real estate” — but the company made hard tack to starboard in the years since and have reinvented themselves as a platform for real estate brokerages. It’s a crowded marketplace in that space, but certainly one that is always ripe for innovation. This week they’ve pulled the up the curtain on what they’ve been up too, with a new release of… -
Online real estate reality check
29 Oct 2009 | 3:10 pmA guest post from Tim Fagan, CEO of HomeFinder.com A while back I was in the audience at an industry conference when a woman on stage asked this question: “At the end of the day, do any of these online real estate companies really help anyone buy or sell a home?” My initial reaction – as someone running one of “these” companies – was to dismiss the question as gratuitous, and dead wrong. She’s just trying to provoke the audience. We provide all kinds of information on our site – of course we’re helping. And that’s what a REALTOR is there for anyway. So what’s the… -
Crush It the Vook Now Available
27 Oct 2009 | 6:00 amGary Vaynerchuk (@garyvee) really needs no introduction. Web 2.0 guru, brilliant marketer and unabashed self-promoting social media superstar, he is on a mission to help you take advantage of the all the latest web technology to further your goals and monetize your passions. I first met Gary at his keynote at Real Estate Connect in New York where I had the opportunity to corner him for an video interview (see Leverage the power of social media). Gary’s book Crush It has been tearing up the best-seller lists and I’m stoked to announce that as of today, Crush it is available as a… -
Agentpress Launches Wordpress Themes for Real Estate
26 Oct 2009 | 5:38 pmAgentPress is a brand new Wordpress theme released today, designed specifically for use by the real estate industry. The theme is a collaboration between Wordpress designers StudioPress and the real estate blog MyTechOpinion.com. You can see a live demo here. It’s a sharp looking design that really pushes Wordpress beyond its blogging basics. For just shy of a hundred bones (a pretty small investment really) you get a great looking web site with a lot of baked in functionality. But more than just a good looking site — with a choice of four color schemes — you get the benefit… -
Best. Real Estate. Ad. Ever
23 Oct 2009 | 5:00 amIt’s pretty epic. Seriously. I love the honesty. The attitude. And the tongue in cheek humor puts it over the top. Click here to view the embedded video. Besides, any guy who can take a crescent wrench to the face 5 times will win my business ever time. Looking for a mobile home? Check out Cullman Liquidation. Ad: Win more business! Showcase your company with a custom video ad from Turnhere. Save 50% off your first video!.
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ProBlogger Blog Tips
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Blogging is Rocket Science
7 Nov 2009 | 6:07 amToday’s post is by Kevin Sanders of Strong and Fit. Do you ever have those moments when seemingly random, unrelated thoughts kind of merge together in your mind? This happened to me a couple of weeks ago. I remembered a documentary I watched on the space shuttle years ago. Something was said about the percentage of fuel it burns within the first two minutes of liftoff. It stuck in my mind and I tried to find the information on Google. No luck. Then I remembered that one of my family members (Dale Hutchens, Ph.D.) works with NASA. He is a chemical engineer who was directly involved with… -
Six Ways To Make More Money As An Affiliate
6 Nov 2009 | 5:15 amBy Johnny B. Truant I’m going to go out on a limb and say that affiliate marketing is the easiest way to make money online. You don’t have to create a product or develop a service, you don’t need huge amounts of focused traffic the way you do with AdSense, (I started using AdSense a year ago and just recently passed the $100 minimum payout), and you don’t need to do a ton of advertising or SEO to make it work. All you really need is an audience to whom you can refer products and services. Of course, the above statement is true in the same way it’s true that you… -
The Paint By Numbers Guide To Artful Blogging
6 Nov 2009 | 5:15 amA Guest Post by Greg Hayes from Live Fit Blog. Do you subscribe to the idea that blogging is an art form? I do. Britannica Online defines art as “The use of skill and imagination in the creation of aesthetic objects, environments, or experiences that can be shared with others.” If you’re a blogger, then by definition, you most certainly engage in the following activities during the creation of content: Creative Writing Web Page Design (Aesthetics) Idea Development (Novelty) Social Media (Shared Experiences) When we start our blog, we read the A-list bloggers, and they repeat the… -
14 Types of Stories You Can Tell On Your Blog
4 Nov 2009 | 6:18 amYesterday we explored WHY stories can be such a powerful communication tool on your blog. Today we’ll look at 14 types of stories that you might like to try on your blog. 14 Types of stories can you tell on your blog Personal Discovery Stories – tell how you discovered a lesson. These stories show your readers how similar you are to them and also might give some practical advice on how they might learn from your experience. Stories as Analogies and Illustrations – tell a story that on the surface has nothing to do with your topic but which illustrates a principle that is relevant. -
Why Stories are an Effective Communication Tool for Your Blog
3 Nov 2009 | 6:18 amAs I write this it is the first Tuesday morning of a new month and I’m sitting in a local coffee shop going through my ‘start of the month routine‘. It involves a large lattè (everything else hinges on this) and some delving into my blogs metrics to see how they’ve been performing. While I do keep track of the traffic stats of my blogs each day I like to set aside an hour or two at the start of each month to go a little deeper and do some more analysis of trends on my blogs – I find that when I do this I notice things that I can build on to continue momentum on…
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Mashable!
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POLL: TweetDeck Trounces Seesmic Desktop in Reader Vote
6 Nov 2009 | 8:41 pmWe’ve had a number of close calls here during our Web Faceoff series, but this wasn’t one of them. This week we pitted TweetDeck and Seesmic Desktop against each other in a bar room brawl for favorite Twitter client. Now, the results are in. Whereas last week’s Windows 7 versus OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard battle was a close one, with Windows 7 going the distance to outlast the current Mac OS, this week’s showdown had a big winner. …and TweetDeck was it, with a full 71% of the vote (3294 votes) as compared to Seesmic Desktop’s 23% (1055 votes). Six percent or 260… -
iPhone Coming to Verizon in 2010 [RUMOR]
6 Nov 2009 | 5:21 pmMany signs point to the Apple and AT&T agreement that makes the latter the exclusive carrier of the iPhone within the US coming to an end within the next year. For starters, non-exclusivity has been profitable for Apple in other parts of the world. Moreover, even AT&T’s CEO acknowledges the deal won’t last forever. And while Verizon might be all about showing off what Droid does right now, a new report suggests it could become the first carrier other than AT&T to offer iPhone on American soil, starting in the second half of 2010. According to a report obtained by Apple… -
DocVerse Puts Google Docs-Like Collaboration Inside Microsoft Office
6 Nov 2009 | 5:20 pmThis 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: DocVerse Quick Pitch: DocVerse brings the collaboration functionality of products like Google Docs to the 600 million users of Word, PowerPoint and Excel. Genius Idea: Collaboration is a key to success in any business, especially when you have a scattered team that needs to work on documents constantly. There are already a lot of options,… -
FishVille Launches on Facebook; It’s Like Underwater FarmVille
6 Nov 2009 | 3:56 pmWe were sort of surprised to discover how many of you proclaim your love for FarmVille, the social farming sim game from Zynga. We reported that the company had trademarked the name FishVille last month, and speculated that an aquatic derivative of the wildly popular social game might be in the works. And indeed it was, with FishVille launching in beta today. It’s a bit of a late contender to the aquarium games space, with Happy Aquarium, Fish World and My Fishbowl all getting a head start. Nevertheless, Zynga has enough clout in the social games space to make FishVille a quick winner… -
5 Must-Have iPhone Apps for Wine Lovers
6 Nov 2009 | 3:23 pmMegan Berry is an evangelist for Mobclix, the industry’s largest mobile ad exchange, working on social media and marketing. She also blogs at The Huffington Post and the Mobclix blog. You can follow her on Twitter as @meganberry, or through the @Mobclix handle. Unsure about mixing your iPhone with wine? Well, if you’re a true vinophile, the iPhone is an amazing device to keep you more connected to your wine. The following list of top wine apps on the iPhone will convince you that mixing the two is worth the risk of spilling some pinot noir on your phone. Like wine itself, these…
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PR 2.0
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Rumors of the Death of Blogs are Greatly Exaggerated
6 Nov 2009 | 4:02 amSource: feministingEach year at Blogworld Expo, Technorati CEO Richard Jalichandra presents The State of the Blogosphere as one of the event’s prestigious keynotes. For those who are unfamiliar with Technorati, it serves as a directory and search engine for the blogosphere as well as a benchmark for the ranking of blogs worldwide.While there has been much discussion about the relevance and even demise of blogs as the statusphere and micro updates gained traction in addition to earning prominence in the mainstream spotlight, the reality is that blogs are a vital ingredient to the media… -
RT @Twitter: New Retweet Feature Goes Live
5 Nov 2009 | 7:29 pmSource: TwitterThis is breaking news at the moment, therefore this post will update as new information trickles in.Twitter is making good on its recent promise to introduce new features to bring users back to Twitter.com.Similar to the way that it rolled out Lists, Twitter is incrementally releasing its new Retweet feature initially previewed in August 2009.As described by @Biz, co-founder of Twitter:Retweet is a button that makes forwarding a particularly interesting tweet to all your followers very easy. In turn, we hope interesting, newsworthy, or even just plain funny information will… -
Social Media Influencers are not Traditional Influencers
5 Nov 2009 | 4:19 amSourceGuest post by Damien Basille, follow him on Twitter | Read his blogAs more and more brands are moving all of their ad spend online, defining how influence affects their return on investment is necessary and must be done as soon as possible. While some are making inroads to define these calculations many are overlooking the fact that influence affects everything. Without factoring in the real issue of different types of influence you run into a number of problems, for instance focusing on one group of influencers over another or getting broad sweeping numbers instead of knowing exactly… -
The Future of the Embargo
3 Nov 2009 | 4:25 amCreditIn media and blogger relations, PR typically wields two powerful tools to help boost the effectiveness of pitching and potential placement of news: the embargo and the exclusive.In the case of an exclusive, a story is usually packaged prior to official release for one particular writer, fully understanding their style, nuances, and audience. If the story is accepted, it is not pitched to any other media outlets until after the story runs. The benefit for PR is that it can bank on the publishing of a guaranteed, high profile story. The advantage for the reporter is that they maintain a… -
Twitter Releases New Widget for Lists
2 Nov 2009 | 7:14 pmTwitter recently expanded its new Lists service to users network-wide and in doing so, injected a sense of excitement, confusion, and also utility. Lists represent a significant milestone for Twitter as it transcends asynchronous conversations and and broadcast messages into a form of intelligence gathering, education, entertainment, and news.Twitter Lists are also stirring controversy as many believe that it sets the foundation for a new level of establishing a metric for influence. Whereas prominence was measured by the number of followers as well as the friends-to-follower ratio, now the…
