TechAddress

Mint 11: Hang With Celebs and Elites for Just $10 a Month

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 19:34:05 +0000

Plugins are great. As anyone who bothers to make their online lives enhanced with conveniences knows, browser extensions, also known as “add-ons,” are a fantastic way to streamline tasks.

At the same time, installation of such software can be annoying. The act of restarting Firefox, IE or Safari is simply a no-go in some situations. Fortunately, the invention of the “bookmarklet” has made inroads in the market over the past several seasons. And because we’ve seen a number of good ones crop up as of late, we thought we’d take a look back to see where we’ve come from and present our “best-of.” Be sure to share your favorites, too!

Delicious

Delicious - Along with Google Gears or Greasemonkey, Delicious is one of those essentials that are hard to do without once you’re hooked. And while it sports a full-featured plug-in for power users, the services offers a bookmarklet as an alternative. Aesthetically speaking, I happen to find it much more appealing than its “big brother.”

Faviki

Faviki - Another social bookmarking service, Faviki is one of those services that becomes more valuable the more invested you become with it. Some features are plain as day, while others are there when you’re least expecting you’d need them. Of course, the service’s bookmarklet only does so much, but its inclusion of a smart tagging feature is reason enough to register an account.

LaterLoop

LaterLoop - So you want to bookmark a bunch of stuff to access when you’re cut off from the Web, and would really enjoy the ability to read that material on your laptop or mobile phone or whathaveyou. LaterLoop helps you do this. Naturally, there are some discrepancies between the service’s plugin and the bookmarklet, but you pretty much end up with the same outcome.

Tip’d

Tip’d - Tip’d is a kind of Digg-like startup built exclusively for people interested in finance. Which, in the current economic climate, counts pretty much everyone under the sun. A bookmarklet allows users to submit links when away from the service. Which is a good thing, considering that Tip’d does not and likely never will achieve the ubiquity that its technical inspiration has managed to reach.

BitLet

BitTorrent? Check. No-plugin and no-software downloads? Check. How much better does it get than that? Not very! BitLet is pretty darn great.

Lizzer

Links are what make the Web as incredible as it is. No question about it. So why not empower Web users with a superfast method to search for and establish links with sites and services and individual webpages that can help enrich their own publications. Lizzer does exactly that. If you’re a prolific blogger and you copy and paste hyperlinks from your journeys online with so much regularity that it really becomes a tiresome practice, this will take the edge off. You might even say it’s a godsend.

Iminta

A FriendFeed-competitor (which also has its own bookmarklet), Iminta behaves pretty much how you’d expect a lifestreaming service to. It incorporates dozens of services into a singular view of what you like and what you do online. Some reviews, including our own, regarded its behavior as more detailed control panel to that of FriendFeed. Is that a good thing? You decide. If you can’t get into the waxing and waning hype over FriendFeed and want something else to chew on, this is a pretty darn good option to dabble in.

YouBundle

A service described as a Mahalo competitor for its aggregate, editor-influenced data collection process, YouBundle is a bit hard-edged compared to the beveled softness espoused by many Web 2.0 ventures today, but it’s certainly got some technical chops to show users. Oh, and it’s got a bookmarklet, too!

Zhiing

This one is about social networking in the real world. Found someplace online that you’d like to visit today or tomorrow with friends, be it for lunch, dinner, drinks, or dessert, or simply just to hang out at? Zhiing helps you get information passed around quickly, whether its by email or to friends’ mobile phones.

Bubble Comment

So there’s a webpage you’d like to share with friends or family, but you’d like to add some witty commentary atop the standard supply of content. (It might be a news article or a comic, for example.) If you can muster up a brief video explainer, Bubble Comment is a near perfect complement to what it is you’re sending along. The service allows users to input URLs on site if they wish, but a bookmarklet is provided for folks who can’t get away from the camera.

Source:Mashable!

I’m of two minds about about the world of to-do list applications populating the Web and our desktop and mobile devices. On one hand, there clearly are far too many. On the other, what suits Joe Taskmaster doesn’t necessary work for everyone.

This leaves me with one conclusion. Bring ‘em on. The count is so large already, what’s the harm in another making its debut? With that said, we shine some light on Wipee List, a simpleton among others in the field.

Simple and Shareable

Though I can’t say I’m a fan of the name, its visual and technical delivery is decent enough that I’m resigned to accept that part of it. Account creation is simple and quick, requiring user name, a password and country specification. Once you get the confirmation email, you’re ready to go. Add items, edit them, check them off, delete them from view with an easy drag-and-drop motion. If you’d like to share your list, you may.

In addition to the present set of options, the developers plan to allow users to customize the style of their lists, and they’ll be launching AIR- and iPhone-compatible applications as well as an API for enhanced utility.

A Dinghy in a Sea of Yachts (and Lots More Dinghies)

For such young public release, the creators have done the unusual and stamped Wipee List with a 1.0 label sans any beta designation, which may seem a bit premature to some users given the rundown of improvements and extensions planned. But the job so far is a fairly decent one. If Remember The Milk or 37signals’ Ta-da List or Todoist aren’t your thing, perhaps this one will suit your better.

Source:Mashable!

There’s social networking of the MySpace and Facebook variety, and then there’s social networking of the premium, “classy,” “sophisticated,” “not-for-everyone” kind that carries a price to join. The latter formula is what Mint 11 is proposing.

Something tells me that this might not work out very well as a business. Unless the membership is pretty loaded, in which case it might be just fine.

Admission is a Bargain, But the Devil is in the Details

You don’t have to be laden with cash to join, mind you, seeing as its monthly membership runs a mere $10.00. But invitations to “posh private parties, celebrity concerts & shows in top destinations such as New York, Miami, and The Bahamas” will only take you so far. If you truly want to keep up with the Joneses, I imagine your billfold is going to have to be pretty thick-sized.

But hey, if the promise of an exclusive network of just “thousands” of users and VIP access to gatherings that play host to “celebrities and the world’s elite” grabs your interest, there’s a registration form ready for entry. Wine tastings, private cruises, the “hottest nightclubs,” and weekend getaways are all on the menu, awaiting your perusal. Store discounts, too, apparently.

For the record, payments and networking aren’t a fresh formula by any means. The entrepreneur-friendly E.Factor has a premium aspect to it. And the model photography service Zivity carries precisely the same subscription cost as Mint 11. Plus, there’s been plenty of discussion had about the pros and cons associated with a potential shift of, say, a LinkedIn or Facebook to a member-financed paradigm. After all, social networking services have become regarded as applications and developer platforms, and there’s a considerable amount of paid-for webware currently in play. For some businesses it’s simply a given that advertising can’t be the sole revenue driver.

Success is Anybody’s Guess

But there’s the active part of Mint 11 that only leaves me thinking, “really?” So we’ll see what comes of it. I’m not bullish about it, yet there’s enough silent wealth out there that may just make it a sustainable pursuit. It’s a toss-up, and fairly adventurous one, you might say.

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@kevinscold is Funny…Is It Legal?

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 03:32:56 +0000

Source:Mashable!

If California prosecutors have their way, Digg founder Kevin Rose could easily be found guilty of felony computer hacking for widely-reported actions he took yesterday.

Rose set up a Twitter account yesterday pretending to be his cold, which amazingly accrued during the previous 24 hours over 787 followers:

@kevinscold: hanging out w/@kevinrose, making his head hurt and nose stuffed up… hopefully he’ll take me to @digg tomorrow.

Funny, but is it legal? As both we and Techdirt’s Mike Masnick have explained over the last few month, a very dangerous precedent is being set in the trial of Lori Drew in the aftermath of teenage Megan Meier’s cyberbullying and subsequent suicide. Kevin’s actions in creating a fake Twitter profile for his recent cold mirror the actions Lori Drew is being accused of doing on MySpace.

Back in May I noted what a stretch it was to call the act of creating a fake profile on MySpace “accessing a protected system.”

Only in the biggest stretch in the sense of the word can you call MySpace a protected system, especially when what all Drew did was click on a very prominent sign-up button, and then enter false information for the personal data.

Mike Massnick noted that developments have occurred in the case yesterday:

While the judge in the case decided not to dismiss the case, he apparently has decided that evidence of Meier’s suicide will not be allowed in the case. This, at least, is a good decision. The lawsuit itself has nothing to do with the suicide, and allowing it to be used in front of a jury would likely lead to the same emotional response that resulted in the original charges being filed. Of course, with the case getting so much widespread publicity, you’d have to imagine that many jury members will already be familiar with what happened in the case.

The fact that so many potential jurors will already be familiar with the story is exactly the problem with the judge deciding to let stand the case, despite the strong reasons for dismissal. This means that even though said jurors will likely be instructed not to take the mitigating circumstances of Megan’s death into consideration, they will.

This will set an unfortunate precedent for the future. It’s important to note that Lori isn’t being prosecuted for what she did with the fake MySpace profile, only that she set one up.

I don’t think that realistically those of us that set up a joke profile like Kevin’s can expect prosecution for every frivolous act. On the other hand, it does set up the dangerous situation in which we’re all liable for criminal prosecution at any moment. By making innocuous actions criminal, it completely devalues and blinds law enforcement to actual online criminal behavior.

In an age where anyone’s free speech becomes illegal, only unpopular speech will be prosecuted. In other words - was harassing a young woman and taunting her to the levels of extreme emotional distress immoral and wrong? You’d be hard pressed to find someone to say no to that. Does that mean that the law should be perverted so that she can face justice by way of the legal system? I say no - the cost to all of us is simply too great.

We’ve all created fake profiles similar to what Kevin did yesterday, and if Lori Drew’s prosecutors have their way, we could all see headlines like the one above with our names in Kevin’s spot, and the convictions will be a lot more easy for prosecutors to achieve.

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What’s Your Favorite Celebrity/Gossip Site?

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 23:37:18 +0000

Source:Mashable!

This article is part of the Open Web Awards, an open, international contest for the best websites and services.

As much as we appreciate you reading Mashable, we realize you probably spend at least a little bit of time perusing some of the celebrity gossip blogs. And if you’re really obsessed, you might even read blogs maintained by actual celebrities, or participate in a celebrity’s social network (just not Nick Lachey’s, we hope).

Some of these outfits have turned into mainstream media operations, with things like TMZ’s syndicated TV show and Perez Hilton himself making regular appearances on MTV and VH1. Who does the best job of serving your celebrity gossip fix? Nominate your favorite using the widget below:

Make Your Nomination

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@Al_Gore is the Real Al Gore

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 09:30:06 +0000

Source:Mashable!

Last night we wondered if the Twitter users @theREALalgore was in fact the real Al Gore. The concensus of the commentors seems to be that there was no way in heck that it was, and that was further confirmed today by what appears to be the officially sanctioned real Al Gore Twitter account over at @al_gore.

First noticed by Mashable commentor Joseph Morin, the account seems to have been launched shortly after his with Kevin Rose on the Digg Dialog. While it’s certainly taken him a lot longer than the next day turnaround he promised back in September, he’s on now and posting links to his blog and general goings on.

He’s definitely accrued a boatload of followers in his first day on Twitter. As I’m writing this, he’s up to almost 5,500 followers, though the only follower he’s reciprocated for so far is the corporate Current account.

It’s fairly hard to tell at this point if Gore is going to follow suit with many his fellow political tweeters and have interns and staffers handle the account or if he’s going to handle it himself - the current tweets on the account don’t give much indication either way.

While I doubt we’ll see anything as salacious as what Valleywag suggests should he handle the account himself, it would be interesting for folks on either side of the political spectrum to get a peek inside the general goings on of the former vice-president. While he certainly is going to attract a following as is, I know folks on the other side of the fence like me aren’t particularly interested in subscribing to a bland propaganda channel.

If I know there’s a person behind the words, rather than a vetted and edited 140 character description of some link he wants to pimp, I’m more likely to pay attention, and that’s sort of the point of social media in general, and Twitter in particular. If there’s anyone from the political sphere who could understand that, it should be Al Gore.

Here’s hoping he does.

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Is @theRealAlGore the Real Al Gore?

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 09:31:15 +0000

Source:Mashable!

I and just about everyone on the so-called tech blogosphere’s A-List just got the follow notice on Twitter that Al Gore, the so-called inventor of the Internet, had finally decided to tweet as promised.

The account looks real enough - the naming scheme follows a lot of celebrity tweeters’ styles (theREALdvorak, theREALbritney, etc). The website linked to the account even looked official enough, with prominent logos and links to all of Al Gore’s various ventures and projects.

Something about it all set off my hoax-o-meter, though, so I decided to do a bit of late night investigation.

The first thing that caught my eye is that the list of followers reads like a who’s who of the A-List. It starts with the Twitter staff like @ev and @biz, and works it’s way down to folks like @laughingsquid, @xenijardin and @scobleizer. Combine that with the fact that the follower/followed ratio is something like 102/1600, it’s obvious that there’s an adding bot involved here (or an intern with a very sore clicking finger).

The first two tweets were a little suspect, too. The first one says: “invented a new blog @ www.aninconvenientblog.org”, and the second tweet says: “world’s first blog post…http://tinyurl.com/65ezrt.” I’ve never met Al Gore, but I can’t imagine him playing on his widely known faux pas in such a cavalier manner.

Both links bring you to a blog post where Al Gore is supposedly congratulating President-Elect Obama on his big win, and alluding to Al Gore’s role in the new administration:

As many of you know, I am good friends with Barack. I called him earlier today to congratulate him on his victory over Senator John McCain.

I look forward to serving in the Obama administration and while I cannot yet reveal what my exact role will be, I can assure you that President-Elect Obama and I are eager to get started building a new world. One that is green and sustainable.

I took a look at the DNS records, but they provided no real clues (only more questions). The DNS information was protected by a standard anonymizing service out of Canada.

I did an informal poll of a few folks who were chatting with me via IM at time the Twitter notification came in. All of them had just recieved an identical invite, and all of them responded pretty uniformly, along the lines that it appeared to be an expertly done forgery.

My best guess would have to be that this is a fakery, perhaps with the motive of tricking some journalists into speculating whether or not Al Gore will be involved with Obama’s ecology initiatives. I could be wrong, though - if you have evidence to the contrary (or even more solid evidence to prove it is a fakery), please contribute it via the comments below.

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President-Elect Obama: Looking Back as We Move Forward

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 07:30:49 +0000

Source:Mashable!

All three major cable news networks have now called the election for Barack Obama. As a way to celebrate the new president’s ascencion (yes, even I’m capable of doing that), I figured it might be worth it to look back over the last couple of years at Mashable as we’ve been covering the soon-to-be President-Elect and his frequent intersections with our areas of coverage.

The junior senator from Illinois is by far one of the most often talked about politicians from any country in the web world. Just about every mainstream pundit on the Old Tee Vee tonight made mention of the fact that this is the first “two screen” election (in reference to the computer screen and the TV screen), and Republican operative Patrick Ruffini pointed to a quote from John McCain’s chief campaign strategist Steve Schmidt regarding Barack Obama’s online efforts:

“It was a profound leap forward technologically,” Mr. Schmidt added. “Republicans will have to figure out how to compete with this in order to become competitive again at a national level and in House and Senate races.”

That first foray online was chronicled by Pete back in February of 2007 with the launch of MyBarackObama.com:

It’s probably fair to say that the Democrats will benefit most from political campaigning on the web: the younger demographic on social networks tends to learn to the left, or so we’re told… it’s 100 times better than anything offering by Hillary Clinton or John Edwards. Barack is also more suited to the age of celebrity, wall-to-wall TV news and YouTube addiction: he’s more charismatic than the other candidates, and comes across better in video clips.

When YouTube’s YouChoose political channel started filling out with content in March ‘07, Barack Obama was the first to show signs that he’d be a runaway hit online, again noticed by Pete:

Does Barack Obama have a shot at the White House? If you follow YouTube and other social sites, you’d have good reason to believe he does…what’s staggering here is how Barack Obama seems to be out pacing the other candidates by a mile: he’s racked up 71,817 views on the Obama channel, compared to 23,746 for Edwards and 22,596 for Clinton - the others have achieved a fraction of that.

Throughout the summer of 2007, Obama continued to make waves online by launching unique campaign profiles for each state he campaigned in on MySpace, winning the support of Republican presidential nominee Rudy Guiliani’s daughter on Facebook, and participating in an open dialog via LinkedIn’s Q&A sessions (where he solicited the advice of technology business leaders).

Not all the press here at Mashable was positive. A month or so after I joined on (the timing is purely coincidental, I’m sure), Obama was involved in a record setting eBay charity auction:

Catherine England, an eBay spokeswoman, said the winning bid on Rush Limbaugh’s auction set a record for the most expensive item ever sold for charity on the site. The item in question was a letter from Democratic senators, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, blasting Limbaugh for using the phrase “phony soldiers” on the air. The letter sold Friday for $2.1 million.

“It is unconscionable that Mr. Limbaugh would criticize them for exercising the fundamentally American right to free speech,” the letter read, also signed by Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and Chris Dodd. Limbaugh denied the allegations levied by the letter, saying the quotes were taken out of context.

The incident, much like the unsavory conflict by which Obama wrested control of his MySpace profile, created barely a bump in the road for the Obama viral marketing machine. In the wake of his Super Tuesday wins, one of Obama’s acceptance speeches inspired former Black Eyed Peas artist will.i.am to remix it into the fastest spreading viral video in history. I spoke with Will on the Mashable Conversations podcast a day or two after the video spread:

At some point around the time of the primaries, Obama’s name showing up in the news became less of a novelty and more of an SEO play. The number of articles, lists and editorials here at Mashable as well as anywhere else you look in the blogosphere during that time simply ballooned.

One of the more popular topics that first started bubbling up as a meme was the idea that Barack Obama pledged to select a national CTO. This was a topic I touched on here at Mashable as recently as yesterday, but it first started gaining steam in August when Dave Winer was suggested by Duncan Riley and Robert Scoble as the perfect candidate for an American National CTO.

A day later, the Obama campaign announced a name not for CTO, but for Vice-President. The manner in which they had intended to announce was groundbreaking in its novelty - via SMS. In what ended up being a bait-and-switch move, the candidacy of Joe Biden for veep was leaked to the press, and the millions who signed up for the SMS alert had given over their names to be marketed to without gaining that “insidery scoop” in return.

As the election drew to a close, it became clear that while online content may not be a sure-fire indicator of a meatspace winner (anyone remember Ron Paul at this point?), Barack Obama was looking like he would be the winner. Several of us here at Mashable followed the election night coverage online both in imagery and raw numbers, all culminating with Barack Obama a few hours ago giving his acceptance speech broadcast live via his UStream channel.

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What I Learned From Robert Scoble About How to Become Internet Famous

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 19:33:20 +0000

Source:Mashable!

Andrew Warner is an Internet entrepreneur and the founder of Mixergy.com.

I’ve interviewed Robert Scoble several times about how to become Internet famous because I’m dying to get some fame. I know it’s not the kind of thing I’m supposed to admit, but I’ve noticed that people who are better known have an easier time launching and growing projects.

Scoble is one of Forbes’ 10 biggest Web celebrities, but he’s also ultra-patient, so he indulged my quest. Here’s what he taught me:

Attack Where There isn’t a King

Web 2.0 already has its big names. Why waste time fighting them for dominance?

Scoble told me to notice how big Gary Vaynerchuk became by going after wine, an industry that didn’t have an online celebrity until he got there. “If I started out today,” he said, “I think I would follow Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV.”

Follow the 15 Reader Rule

Building a reputation takes time. So you have to focus on a subject that you’re passionate enough about to keep pursuing, even when hardly anyone else notices. “Passion,” he told me, “will keep you going after you figure out you only have 15 readers.”

Get With REAL Celebrities

I think Hollywood is a big waste of time, but I can’t deny that movie stars are the real celebrities. Scoble told me to find ways to connect with them. I’ve interviewed several Internet CEOs who told me their traffic jumped just by featuring movie stars.

“Mix in celebrities from movies with the technology,” he told me, when I insisted that I’m obsessed with interviewing Internet success stories.

Start the Avalanche

I wake up every morning wanting to take over the world. Scoble suggested I take a step back and dominate one small niche first, then another and another until I start my avalanche.

“All avalanches start with one snowflake,” he said.

Keep Producing

I got to know about Scoble because I kept seeing him online. That’s part of his plan. He keeps producing content so that he stays on top of Google’s search results and stays connected to his readers. I’ve watched him pull out his iPhone between conversations and add content to FriendFeed, Twitter and other sites.

His biggest message to me was: “Publish a lot, because this is a Google world.”

Do you have any suggestions for how to become Internet famous? Add them to the comments.

Andrew Warner’s last internet company was a big stinking failure and he had to shut it down. To keep from having a company collapse again, he’s interviewing as many Internet successes as he can. You can hear his interviews on Mixergy.

Image via Wikipedia

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