TechAddress

What’s Your Favorite Wiki?

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:33:50 +0000

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

Wiki software can be seen just about everywhere, from corporate intranets to human-powered search engines to the world’s biggest wiki – Wikipedia. As the popularity of wikis has grown, so too has the number of different companies providing software for them. We recently took a look at more than 30 different providers of wiki solutions, all of which offer a slightly different twist on the idea of collaborative editing. Let us know which is your favorite by making a nomination using the widget below:

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Feel free to elaborate on your nomination in the comments, or try to gain more support for your favorite service by copying the widget to your blog (click the “Grab This” link in the widget above)!

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“iStockphoto is the world’s leading image market and a revenue-sharing social network. Browse 3.5 million images and videos starting at $1 or become a contributor.”

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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:

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“PartnerUp brings small business and social networking together to create a community where entrepreneurs find the people, resources and information to grow their businesses.”

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“iStockphoto is the world’s leading image market and a revenue-sharing social network. Browse 3.5 million images and videos starting at $1 or become a contributor.”

“With Quintura’s advanced visual-based search and analytics solution, content publishers can increase site usage while creating new ad revenues”

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What’s Your Favorite Fashion Site?

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 19:31:34 +0000

Source:Mashable!

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

Getting dressed is pretty easy (and not even necessary usually) for those of us that work from home as bloggers, but for everyone else, fashion can be a big deal. We’ve covered tons of different websites that try to make fashion easier, ranging from those who cover the latest fashion news to applications that let you rate what your friends are wearing.

To get an idea of some of the sites vying for top fashion site, check out our 25+ Sites for the Fashion Minded. Then, nominate your favorite using the widget below:

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“PartnerUp brings small business and social networking together to create a community where entrepreneurs find the people, resources and information to grow their businesses.”

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“iStockphoto is the world’s leading image market and a revenue-sharing social network. Browse 3.5 million images and videos starting at $1 or become a contributor.”

“With Quintura’s advanced visual-based search and analytics solution, content publishers can increase site usage while creating new ad revenues”

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What’s Your Favorite Social Shopping Site?

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 17:33:43 +0000

Source:Mashable!

MySpace has launched an internally developed application called Primetime that is essentially a custom media player providing access to all of Hulu’s video content. The app allows you to embed the player on your personal homepage and profile, and lets you to search Hulu and watch video from within the player.

MySpace previously allowed users to watch some of this content – like Saturday Night Live and 24 – via a special page on the site, but now, users can simply watch whatever they want from their homepage or profile (where there friends can also watch and in turn add the app). Like Hulu, videos will include various forms of advertising like pre and post-roll commercials.

While it’s not surprising that MySpace is moving to make better use of Hulu content – it is after all a joint venture between parent company News Corp and NBC Universal – it does represent a massive opportunity to expand Hulu’s distribution. MySpace is still the world’s second largest social networking site, reaching more than 100 million unique visitors per month.

And while Hulu has shown impressive growth in its first year, many of those 100 million MySpace visitors probably haven’t checked it out yet - that all changes with the Primetime app. Smart move by News Corp to better integrate these two properties.

Source:Mashable!

Popacular, a site that measures popularity of websites according to the number of related tweets, has a huge counter that counts the overall number of tweets. I don’t know how accurate this thing can be, given that it’s third party, but if it is, then we’ve recently surpassed the billionth tweet mark.

This is just another sign of how big Twitter has become. For comparison, Facebook recently announced they host 10 billion photos in their database; however, Facebook is huge and has been around much longer than Twitter. If anyone ever needed a clear sign that Twitter has gone mainstream - however you define it - this milestone is it.

Also, seeing that counter spin amazingly fast makes us sorry for all those times we’ve made fun of Twitter’s engineers for not being able to keep the site up during a traffic rush. Sorry, guys, we understand now.

Source:Mashable!

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

Unlike most categories in The Open Web Awards, social shopping is comprised largely of companies that sell physical goods (or at least procure them on behalf of their customers). Last year, our people’s choice winner was Zlio, a French company that lets you create your own online stores, while our judge’s choice was Woot, the “deal a day” website with a cult-like following.

Which social shopping site was your favorite over the past year? Nominate it using the widget below:

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Platinum Partner

“PartnerUp brings small business and social networking together to create a community where entrepreneurs find the people, resources and information to grow their businesses.”

Gold Sponsors

“iStockphoto is the world’s leading image market and a revenue-sharing social network. Browse 3.5 million images and videos starting at $1 or become a contributor.”

“With Quintura’s advanced visual-based search and analytics solution, content publishers can increase site usage while creating new ad revenues”

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What’s Your Favorite Travel Site?

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 19:34:05 +0000

Source:Mashable!

Most websites issue some sort of cookie to keep track of you during your visit or when you come back again. Sometimes you’d rather have more privacy on certain sites: that’s one reason why Firefox 3.1 Beta 2 will include a “privacy mode” to keep your private browsing…private.

Until then, there are plenty of tools for managing your cookies in Firefox. Here are 15 Firefox extensions for managing cookies that will allow you to totally disable cookies, allow some, and even build a whitelist.

Tell us in the comments how you choose to manage your cookies.

Cookie Disabling

Cookie Monster - Allows you to set a rule to block all cookies or just set temporary rules for various sites.

CookieSafe - CookieSafe allows you to disable, temporarily enable or always allow cookies from most sites on the Web by just using a button on your status bar.

CS Lite - A scaled down, simplified version of CS Lite that aims to be more stable and easier for anyone to use.

Distrust - Removes all the cookies collected during a Web browsing session as soon as you close the browser.

Stealther - Besides disabling cookies for certain surfing sessions, Stealther will also disable your browsing history, recently closed tab history and more.

Cookie Management

Add & Edit Cookies - Allows you to edit both session and saved cookies.

Cookie Button - After you set your default cookie permissions in the options menu, the cookie button appears on the address bar and will allow you to change the settings on a site by site basis.

Cookie Whitelist With Buttons - Gives you a whitelist for all cookie issuing sites. Use the buttons in the status bar to temporarily accept cookies from the site you are on, or click the add button to quickly add the current site to your list.

CookieCuller - A very straightforward extension that allows you to delete any unwanted cookies and keep the others.

CookieMan Context - Allows you to access a context menu for your cookies via the options privacy menu. It will allow you to search for desired sites, right click on the site name and quickly change your cookie options.

CookieSwap - A nice extension that will allow you to swap cookies so you can be logged into multiple email accounts at once. For Web designers, it will allow you to act like different visitors for site testing.

Extended Cookie Manager - Extended Cookie Manager will inform you via the status bar if a cookie was received from a site and then will notify you if it was blocked, allowed, or allowed only for the current session.

Firecookie - Works with Firebug to create cookies, delete them, edit, see all of the current cookies for a site and more.

HttpFox - You can monitor all of the traffic between your browser and a given website, including what cookies it is delivering and receiving.

View Cookies - Adds a tab in the Page Info area so you can easily view what cookies are on your system.

Source:Mashable!

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

There are tons of ways to go about planning your travel online, from finding the lowest cost airfare to booking the best accommodations. We’ve put together several resource lists to sort through all of the different services and help you plan both your business trips and your leisure travel:

∙ Travel Toolbox: 75+ Online Travel Resources

∙ 30+ Tools for Cheap and Convenient Air Travel

∙ 30+ Tools for Finding Cheap Travel Accommodations

Which of these services can you not leave home without? Nominate your favorite using the widget below.

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Platinum Partner

“PartnerUp brings small business and social networking together to create a community where entrepreneurs find the people, resources and information to grow their businesses.”

Gold Sponsors

“iStockphoto is the world’s leading image market and a revenue-sharing social network. Browse 3.5 million images and videos starting at $1 or become a contributor.”

“With Quintura’s advanced visual-based search and analytics solution, content publishers can increase site usage while creating new ad revenues”

Prize Sponsor

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Tech Events Guide: Mashable Reader Discounts

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 01:46:21 +0000

Source:Mashable!

Part game, part free music site, TheNextBigSound is surely one of the slickest new music sites we’ve seen.

As demoed at the TECHcocktail event in Chicago last week, the concept is simple and ingenious: listen to free music from unsigned bands, and “sign” your favorites to your own virtual record label. When your signed artists become hits on the site, you score points.

Simple…ingenious…and very addictive.

Once you’re done building a music empire, don’t forget to check out the hundreds of other free music sites we’ve covered recently:

Online Music: 90+ Essential Music and Audio Websites

Keep Rocking: 30+ Sites for Free & Legal Music

30+ Awesome Sites for Streaming Music

25 Tools For The Independent Musician

Music News Toolbox: 50+ Links For Discovering New Music

Source:Mashable!

Torley amplifies your awesome with the useful and fun. He loves life, wife, and watermelons. You can check out his profiles at Torley.com

I’m thrilled that websites are increasingly becoming aware that long registration forms discourage you from joining them. Like free drinks at a bar, there have been a few core approaches used to increase your chances of committing: simply shortening a form and leaving much info optional until later is a popular choice, and so is allowing you to test-drive or tour features firsthand before ever giving away your personal info.

Image editor Picnik and form-maker Wufoo are superb examples. But still, after you’ve signed up, you’ll likely want to enter a bunch of stuff — especially on social networking sites that ask about your taste in music and your pet’s middle name. So what do you do? Here are some simple steps that you can use to smooth the form-filling process, and each subsequent time you sign up for a site, think of the following as a handy checklist that ensures you’ve got everything ready.

Use the same username everywhere

Not always possible, but the reason why this matters is that it curbs the sheer frustration of “WHAT WAS MY USERNAME!?” Yes, modern Web browsers can remember it for you, but what if you’re at a public terminal and want to login? Or what if you clear your personal data? Even if most places offer a “Forgot your username/password?” service, avoiding trouble from the start is smartest.

As essential as water is wet: pick something brief yet unique, and definitely memorable. If you can use your email address as Guy Kawasaki is fond of advocating, that folds 2 things to remember into 1. I go with “Torley” because that’s my first name — it may not be so clear for you, but in any case, I recommend trying out UserNameCheck.com (previously covered on Mashable) to get a good feel. It shows where your suggested name’s taken across almost 70 sites.

Even if you’ve already signed up for various sites, this is a good principle to keep in mind going forward. Another reason why it’s important: if you’re into lifestream aggregators like FriendFeed, they’ll ask what your usernames are on other services. Some aggregators have the ability to auto-add you to multiple services if you have the same name on all. Otherwise, it’s more laborious.

I should mention this can also be a good motivator for being an early registrant of a site you might possibly be interested in, just to make sure you’ve claimed your name.

Prepare a “passport” of all commonly-used info

At the most basic level: it never hurts, and often helps to have a folder in an easy-to-reach place on your computer — like your desktop or Documents — where you have a plain or rich text file containing the stuff you often enter into profiles either during or after initial registration.

Some examples of common fill-me-in fields: Biography (aka “About Me”), Location, Interests, and Occupation. Social sharing sites get more granular, e.g., Flickr also has a “Favorite Books & Authors,” “Favorite Movies, Stars & Directors,” and even “Favorite Music & Artists.” MySpace, FaceBook, and others have their own equivalents. I may not fill these out unless there’s some compelling advantage to doing so — like finding others with the same taste, or posting my fave bands on a music recommendation site that actively parses that info to suggest new tunes. But the point is: these “personality pop quiz” fields can be time-consuming and require some thought, so a prepared copy-and-paste can make a big difference!

Part of your text file could look like this:

- Favorite Books & Authors: Harry Potter, Stephen King’s The Stand

- Favorite Movies, Stars & Directors: Johnny Depp, Ed Wood, Neil Patrick Harris as Dr. Horrible

- Favorite Music & Artists: Tangerine Dream, Vangelis, Yanni, A-Ha’s “Take on Me”

Then, copy-and-paste as needed.

One level up on the automation scale is making your Web browser help you autofill. Modern browsers have autocomplete, and Firefox offers add-ons like Autofill Forms which I adore. I know many people like RoboForm, which works with Internet Explorer too. These tools have the disadvantage of possibly not being able to recognize a form if it’s seemingly labeled the same but has a different ID, so that’s where copy and paste fallback is useful.

And further up — or perhaps sideways, since this is complementary, a macro app will let you enter long chunks of text with a single, or few keystrokes. I favor PhraseExpress (version 6 was recently released), which works in just about any Windows program that supports pasting text. One of the best ways to judge if you need a program like this is to ask yourself: “Do I find myself typing the same stuff over and over while grumbling about how tired I am?”

The goal here: the quickest possible access to your text, cutting down on time and trouble.

But ah, what about pictures?

Have your “passport photo” ready, too

You know what they say about a picture being worth so many words. Many sites have a generic placeholder until you choose to override it with one of your own, which you should. And if you belong to many sites with the same visible identity, it helps to use the same picture — it’s easy and boosts your personal brand, if you’re into that.

Aside from selecting from a premade gallery, these are the two most common choices:

1. Local upload - Browse your hard drive for a photo

2. Remote upload - Specify an URL, e.g., http://blahblah1234.com/profile.jpg

Let’s cover both of these. With “Local upload,” it helps to put a few different versions of a picture in your earlier-established profile passport folder, alongside your text file(s). Some sites have eccentric requirements, but by and large and not unlike fast food, you’ll want a:

1. Small size - 75×75 pixels or less, useful on many forums, Gravatar, etc.

2. Medium size - Say, 500×500 pixels, likely to be shown in your “extended profile”

3. SUPER-SIZE - As big as it can be!

It’s true some sites will auto-resize or allow you to crop your upload (e.g., for non-square ratios), but that’s far from universal, so don’t count on it. Your image can be in JPG or PNG format — the former’s more common. And make sure it looks great at a small size. (E.g., no Boschian gardens in their entirety.)

The same principle applies to “Remote upload.” It gets easier if you use Flickr, because Flickr automatically creates up to five different-sized versions. Click through to see the actual profile pic/avatar/buddy icon I use, called “Watermelon Eye:”

And you can save Web images for local upload, sparing you resize time. But please don’t violate anyone’s rights (that sounds so dirty) — make your own art or get something in the public domain or Creative Commons.

I love to save time so much that I use Direct Folders (basic version is free), which provides easy access to your commonly used files and folders. It allows me to double-click when a file browser is open, then select my profile image with one more click. Pedantic? No way, all those clicks add up when you’ve signed up for over hundreds of sites for experience’s sake as I have.

Simply put: a well-chosen photo helps you to stand out and be more memorable.

Identify profile patterns across sites

Certain site profiles look similar because they’re built on the same software. vBulletin forums, WordPress blogs, and Ning networks are prominent instances. If you sign up for a lot of one or more of these archetypes, you’ll want to continually optimize your “profile passport” to be streamlined for the next time you sign up.

For instance, you’ll often notice a vBulletin forum’s User Control Panel has a layout like this:

Thus, reinforced lesson of the story gleaned from the above: be prepared!.

Extend these principles to specific site content

A growing number of sites use data and metadata like tags to organize your stuff. Flickr — which I mention so often because it’s a great example — makes it easy to see which tags you’ve used the most. Some places can autocomplete popular tags. Unfortunately, they’re the exception, not the rule. When I upload a video tutorial to YouTube, blip.tv, or Vimeo, I have a PhraseExpress shortcut: typing in “[tags]” expands that abbreviation to a list of commonly-used tags, which I can edit as needed. Just like a word processor template isn’t the end of your creation, but is a facilitator to get on the right track.

Here’s another example of specifics: if you’re a musician, there are numerous music (like Jamendo and SoundCloud) and stock content sites (like Envato) which encourage you to upload your MP3s. Do just that, and put the MP3s alongside the text files in your passport folder. In this case, your text file would have relevant info like the story behind each song — whatever you observe keeps appearing on different sites.

This goes beyond filling out your profile and can be applied in a variety of ways, but the same benefits are incredibly true. It’s part of what I call knowledge compound interest, where the methods you “invest” today and share tomorrow — exactly as I’m doing here — will earn unto itself in the long run. After all, a well-filled profile shows how interesting you are, and tags add value to identifying your content. Time’s a-tickin’, and the sooner you get started, the more you have to gain.

Don’t be stressed to fill everything out at once

I emphasize this, because as much as a rabid, buzzword-binging junkie I can be at times, I’m also smart enough to know that the best experiences come with extended usage, not all in a day. Especially with so many startups to check out on Mashable.

I like to dip into various sites and tinker around to gain an understanding, and naturally cling to the ones which are useful for me after weeks. I never stay on a site just because of peer pressure.

Accretion counts for a lot: incrementally edit your profiles as you grow in life and your passions evolve. Leave optional fields empty if your intuition indicates you won’t benefit from filling them out. And as for what you are willing to share, I can’t say it better than Madonna: “Express yourself, don’t repress yourself.” Even if your taste in colors is a bit wacky:

If you find a site particularly well-worth using and you enjoy being active in the community, then by all means, contribute what you feel will be helpful for your fellow members to get to know you. And if you’d rather lurk, then make that your modus operandi.

The usefulness of what I’ve shared above will make itself clear after the next few signups you do, but don’t hesitate — apply and adapt them for your comfort at the earliest opportunity you get, and let me know your time-saving tips ‘n’ tricks!

Source:Mashable!

Here’s Mashable’s latest round-up of upcoming Web 2.0 events, parties, and conferences. For more upcoming event listings, check out Mashable’s Events section.

Not on this list? Contact us and let’s establish a media partnership.

November 11-14, 2008, Las Vegas: For anyone involved in the production, marketing, or management of an Internet web site - this is a must attend event to be held in Las Vegas, NV. PubCon covers search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), web hosting issues, domains & the domaining business, Internet video, podcasting, multimedia, and special sessions of interactive attendee site reviews. In addition, there are tracks on new marketing techniques, linking strategies, social media, and online advertising. Save 15% by using the code on our discount announcement.

November 12-14, 2008, Las Vegas: The word of mouth marketing industry is young and nimble, and it’s changing rapidly from week-to-week and month-to-month. Whether you live and breathe word of mouth or have seen firsthand the impact of WOMM and want to learn more, WOMMA’s annual Word of Mouth Marketing Summit is the place to be. WOMMA’s Word of Mouth Marketing Summit is crammed with informative sessions that address this fast-changing industry, and will bring attendees up-to-date on the current state of the WOM world. A discount of $75 is offered to Mashable using discount code FriendsofMashable.

November 12, 2008, London: E.Factor is hosting a “Measuring Success” discussion to understand metrics for performance pacing, dangers of relying on profit, using non-financial indicators, and overcoming measurement problems. Get the details here.

November 12, 2008, Mountain View: At Under the Radar: Mobility, the team at Dealmaker Media is showcasing mobile startups from ‘round the globe at their pinnacle Under the Radar conference. Test driven, vetted mobile startups will hit the stage to be judged and critiqued by the likes of Motorola, CBS Mobile, Nokia, the iFund, Comcast, T-Mobile, Verizon and more. A $100 off ticket is here.

November 14, 2008, San Francisco: AdRevenue 08 is the first open conference totally dedicated to improving the monetary value of ad inventory for online publishers and ad networks so you can go from having unsold ads to revenue. A 20% discount code and more information is right over here.

November 17-19, 2008, Mountain View: Mashup Camp is a free, unconference-style event focused on connecting and engaging hundreds of members of the Mashup community at a grassroots level. Chalk Talks, SpeedGeeking sessions, Best Mashup Contests, panel discussions, free meals and an extensive list of “rock star” speakers including Tim O’Reilly (O’Reilly Media, Inc.), distinguish Mashup Camp as the go-to event for anybody (software developers, IT pros, etc) with an interest in the mashup approach to software development.

November 17-20, 2008, San Francisco: Attend the Advanced Learning Institute’s 3rd National Forum on Social Media for Internal Communications: How To Engage Employees, Drive Change & Improve Your Bottom Line Using BLOGGING, PODCASTING & The Latest WEB 2.0 Technologies this November 17-20 in San Francisco to learn how to use social media for internal communications and leverage the latest interactive tools and techniques to advance your organizational goals.

Hear from leading experts at Wachovia Corporation, JetBlue Airways, Sabre Holdings, IBM, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Watson Wyatt Worldwide, and more on how to integrate social media technology into your communication programs to engage employees and dramatically improve internal communications.

If you mention Mashable when registering, you’ll save $200.

November 18, 2008, San Francisco: At SF New Tech, hear live 5 minute demos of great companies, enjoy cocktails and conversation, and more. This month, 23andMe, 11SquareFeet, MixMatchMusic, ChoiceBot, Hubpages, and FixYa will be presenting. It all goes down at Mighty @ 119 Utah St at 6:30pm. Be there!

November 18, 2008, Mountain View: Web 2.0 Mapping and Social Networks group is about sharing, teaching, learning, and networking around current and future web-based geospatial and social networking technology. You belong if you are an entrepreneur, VC, developer, social-networker, product manager, programmer, developer, visionary, geographer, geologist, explorer, marketer, business exec, project manager, student, or creative person who is curious about Web 2.0 mapping and social networks. We meet on the third Tuesday of every month at Google in Mountain View, CA. We welcome all and exclude no one. This month, hear presentations from OpenLandmark and Wichro.

November 18-19, 2008, Redwood City: At the VentureWire Technology Showcase, you will see 125 early- and later-stage start-ups from the U.S., Asia and Europe who have been deemed as industry stand-outs in Advertising, Business Technologies, Media, Mobile Applications, Networking, Web and Wireless. Selected for their breakthrough technologies, the presenting start-ups are truly positioned to redefine their markets. This is your chance to scout these prime deal prospects, acquisition targets or business partners as well as potential competitors. Spend two days mixing and mingling with the tech industry’s leading venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, corporate executives, analysts and other influential figures. More information and a discount code is right here.

November 18-19, 2008, Toronto: Join nextMEDIA – Monetizing Digital Media, a unique two day event that brings together the broadcast, new media, and advertising communities to focus on the dollars and sense of digital media. More information and a discount code is here.

November 24-25, 2008, Israel: Affiliate marketers unite in Israel for Affilicon Israel. For the first time ever, you have the chance to meet face-to-face in Israel with top affiliate marketers and learn from experts in Search Engine Optimization, social networking and media, and other leading internet technologies. At Affilicon, network with highly successful affiliates who live and breathe the world of affiliate marketing. Meet new people and explore new potential relationships with operators and vendors. Want more information? And perhaps a discount code? Click here.

December 3, 2008, San Francisco: The 2008 Holiday Season is upon us and when the NYC Webgrrls Community gets together for the Holidays, it is an industry event, not only about revelry but also about the celebration of the achievements of women in technology and business. The event starts at 7PM with a 2-hour open bar followed by great Italian food, door prizes, and drawings. More information is here.

December 3, 2008, San Francisco: Silicon Valley Rocks! is the first music showcase featuring performances from Silicon Valley’s tech community - from VCs and entrepreneurs to bloggers and software developers - to raise money for Music in Schools Today (MuST) a Bay Area non-profit that seeks to rescue school music programs from budget cuts. The full details are here.

December 4, 2008, New York City: Webgrrls is having a NYC party just like the one in San Francisco the night before (scroll up for more information). Or just get the information and RSVP.

December 9-10, 2008, San Francisco: The Mobile Media Investor Conference (MMIC) program will happen in San Francisco and is your opportunity to network with mobile industry leaders and investors. At the MMIC program, you can hear case studies and learn real examples of how to make money and how to raise money in the mobile media world. Your 10% discount is here.

February 6-7, 2009, Orlando: In today’s economy, maintaining a competitive advantage is crucial, whether you are a freelancer, or run a development shop. Using the productivity benefits of Rails helps us to stand out in the crowded space of developers and development firms. And the Rails core team hasn’t kept us wanting, adding features such as internationalization, compatibility with Ruby 1.9 and JRuby, thread safety, and much more. And if the Rails Rumble proved anything, it’s that a small team of Rails developers can accomplish a great amount with little time. So how do we as developers continue to improve how we work and what we produce? Get more information by attending the acts_as_conference.

February 12, 2009, Santa Monica: The highly-anticipated Twiistup will hold their 5th and largest event to date on Thursday, February 12th at a massive hangar in Santa Monica, CA. The search is on for startups to “show-off” at the event. Fifteen showoffs will be selected to showcase their products and services to an audience of investors, entrepreneurs, press and other influencers in tech, media and entertainment. You can find out how to apply and register for the event by clicking here.

March 9-10, 2009, London: The Social Networking World Forum is the perfect event for professionals to learn and discuss the future development of social media. The two day conference and exhibition will provide a focused platform for the global social media industry. The conference aims to address core issues such as monetization, future technologies/services, engaging social groups with brands and how businesses can get the most out of social and business networks.

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