Curated Stories December 14, 2010

George Ewart Evans, the pioneer of British oral history, collected 250 recordings of around 170 individuals born largely in the 1880′s and ’90s. That collection is now accessible online via the British Library,…

Uh, the Postal Service began receiving Letters to Santa Claus more than 100 years ago. In 1912, Postmaster General Frank Hitchcock authorized local postmasters to allow postal employees and citizens to respond…

Facebook users are showing off some serious creativity by taking advantage of the new profile page photo layout.French artist Alexandre Oudin (below) has been identified as the creator of the craze, and more an…

Proctor and Gamble, the company that gave soap operas their name, has withdrawn its sponsorship of the last daytime TV show. After 77 years of advertising its Tide detergent and Ivory soap on shows like Guiding…

One of the greatest SciFi movies of all times, in my view, was Stanley Kubrick’s 2001–A Space Odyssey . A key element in the story was HAL [ at left], a computer who got its feel hurt, then caused havoc.
I sp…

For location startups, the check-in is like wearing a shirt in a restaurant, without it, you have no service. Soon coupons or other deals will join the check-in as the sort of commodity offering that every loc…

The key, according to Goldman Sach’s new Apple analyst, is how it leverages its platform.

Last week we announced that we’re giving away a BRAND NEW FORD FIESTA in NYC through a special QR code hunt a week from today. But what on earth is a QR code? Well, if you’ve ever been to Japan, you probabl…

This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.When you think of online destinatio…

I just had the pleasure of sitting in on a SinglePlatform team development session — where everyone in the company (they have about a dozen people at the moment) sat down to work through personal styles of…

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the government needs a search warrant to read your email.Join the conversation about this story »

Infinity Blade on the iPhone looks damn good. And as of Thursday, anyone will be able to make a game for the iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad will be able to make a…

suraj.sun writes “The website-attacking group ‘Anonymous’ tried and failed to take down Amazon.com on Thursday. The group’s vengeance horde quickly found out something techies have known for years: Amazon, whic…

Like many Google applications, Latitude took awhile to come to iOS. Now it’s here, and you can use your GPS-enabled iOS device to report your location to whom…

LinkedIn launched a new tool last week that lets you use your profile to create a professional resume.
The feature works great, and if you keep your LinkedIn profile updated, you’ll have a new resume in no time…

Whether you need business advice, updates on your competitors, or suggestions on how to raise much needed funds, there is a wealth of information on Twitter at your disposal.
These 20 Tweeters provide the best…

With just 10 shopping days left before Christmas, there are
millions (if not billions) of display ad impressions waiting to be
served to online shoppers. A new report shows retailers behind
these campaigns m…

Human beings have been inventing ways to trick, swindle, and cheat one another since, well, always. And it just so happens that the season of giving perfectly…

Are you a results-oriented team player with a proven track record? Or are you a fast-paced problem solver with extensive experience? Chances are, if you’re any of these things, then you’re also a job-seeker usi…

Gmail’s undo send feature is a godsend for those of us constantly trying to recover from our mistakes, and now Google’s added a similar feature for Contacts. N…

Over the last 12 months, Twitter grew by more than 100 million users, who helped the network pump out more than 25 billion tweets.
What’s impressive about all those tweets is how, 140 characters at a time, they…

Be good to your Facebook fans, who can click “unlike” almost as easily as they liked you in the first place. It’s harder work to keep them happy than you might think at first — that’s why large brands…

One of the great promises of Internet TV is the ability to facilitate real-time conversations about what we’re watching right alongside the show itself. Social media apps help connect TV viewers with a larger…

Whether it’s Angry Birds or Foursquare, we at Mashable love to play games on our mobile devices. Which is why we were excited to hear that Neatorama and mental_floss are hosting a QR code-based scavenger hunt…

The latest recession has profoundly altered consumer behavior. As home values plummet, stock portfolios shrink, and company profits erode, prospects are less likely to make purchases, and thrift is back in vogu…

Most organizations try to predict retention rates based on customer-satisfaction scores. The reality is that in B2B, user satisfaction does not equal customer retention. Remember, most customers who leave a com…

If Google was looking for a warm welcome for its Chrome OS and the new Cr-48 laptops it’s currently giving away to select beta testers, well then, it was wrong. The actual hardware has received a reception co…

Following Google Voice’s arrival on the iPhone, it seems Touch and iPad owners can now get in on the action—for free. Whats Google Voice? Check out our video…

It’s time to take everything you learned in college about economies of scale and apply it to that ink-sucking monster with the lonely USB cable. Is it cheaper…

Marketing may sound boring to some, I mean… who cares about facts, figures, data and trends. It’s a business, however, much like any other business – except maybe more cutthroat in today’s online pre…

We’ve noted before that sports writers have an usual habit of giving away all their best scoops on Twitter.
As last night’s flurry of breaking news proved, that trend is only continuing to escalate to the point…

Giant retail electronic payments network operator Visa has released a free iPhone app in the United States, giving users access to over 50 merchant offers ranging from clothing and dining to entertainment, jus…

The danger with following best practices without injecting the organization’s culture and personality in content development and conversation strategy is that you could be swapping one logo for another and be…

As consumer use of and time spent on social media sites increases, the opportunities for effective advertising become more attractive to companies in search of customers to connect with. We’ve given the ad…

Guest post by Rand Fishkin
CEO, SEOmoz
The process of launching a new website is, for many entrepreneurs, bloggers and business owners, an uncertain and scary prospect. This is often due to…

It should be pretty clear by now that Google is taking location very seriously. The original launch of Latitude in early 2009 was just a first step. Now they have robust APIs, Google Places, and key executive M…

Over the weekend, the Wall Street Journal ran an article pointing out how Google is increasingly favoring its own properties, in search results over natural results to outside sites which previously commanded…

Since French artist Alexandre Oudin took advantage of the new Facebook design to express himself, we’ve been seeing some creative ways to mess with your (and your friends’) profile pictures. As we predicte…

As an a complementary piece to their recent book, Storytelling for User Experience, Whitney Quesenbery and Kevin Brooks posted a comprehensive article not long ago, Juicy Stories Sell Ideas.

The authors descr…

After Google and Twitter, time has come for Facebook to tell us what its users have been chirping about all year.To get the top trends, Facebook analyzed status updates across 236 countries, comparing the rate…

It’s amusing to see defenders of current copyright law often making final declarations about how copyright is a “right” for artists, and thus protecting those rights absolutely makes sense. What they never see…

Some things sell for not much more than they cost to make. Things like steel.
Others? They sell for high multiples of cost. Spa services, fancy ties, long haul airplane tickets, coaching, books–these are thin…

A few nights ago, I sat down with the intention to write a blog post. I had been mulling a specific idea over for several days. I thought it was a slam dunk. I should be done in 30 minutes, I thought, 45 minute…

A British newspaper’s top American pundits, somewhat out of date.It’s that end-of-the-year time when pundits everywhere feel the urge to make predictions for the future. This is the very nature of sooth-sayer…

Facebook can be a great tool for web workers, but if you’ve “friended” both professional and personal contacts, you need to be careful about how much information you’re sharing.
Last week, Aliza wrote…

Former Googler, FriendFeed founder and Facebook-er turned investor Paul Buchheit just tweeted this zinger:
Prediction: ChromeOS will be killed next year (or “merged” with Android)
Considering his former e…

Marketers and PR professionals are facing an explosion in the quantity and diversity of influencers – the people with real and measurable impact on the decisions other people make. Social me…

Yesterday I was explaining the main story pattern to storytelling workshop participants. Since the marker did not write well enough I used notebook pages to demonstrate the pattern and placed them on the floor…

The US Army spends heavily on technology, and it’s easy to understand why, since our security is at stake. Now it wants to give its troops a little added advantage via a common device: the smartphone. Reports…

Like Netflix? Then get ready to prove it by sharing your film interests with your social network. Netflix is looking to hire a “Facebook Integration — Engineer / Architect” into its new Social Systems enginee…

Following the French artist who “hacked” his Facebook profile using the new photos slideslow at the top, heaps of copycat versions have sprung up—one even u…

The status quo is accepted, regardless how complex, but we demand the new thing be simple.
Here’s a business plan for a textbook manufacturer ca. 1955:
Hire a professor, pay them to spend years making a textb…

Shopkick, the mobile commerce/location startup that competes with Foursquare and Facebook, just scored another distribution deal with another big-name retailer.
Crate and Barrel, the furniture and home goods st…

Groupon might seem like a great way to advertise your business and attract customers. If you don’t approach it the right way, however, it could end up costing you.
Businesses use Groupon to reach out to the co…

A lot of people see me, you and others “Tweet” and wonder why they should get involved. I am asked this question at least once per week. Twitter is a great, great platform that we can all use to make a b…

When it comes to the amount of data I share about myself and my family on the Web, there’s little question that I am at the odd end of the bell curve. It’s not a secret what my family structure looks like. My k…

When something like a password database compromise happens, it’s a good time to reassess your online security. With the right tool, I’ve reset my Gawker Media…

What happens when the CEO of a major corporation decides to deal directly with customers? Not large customers, but ordinary ones. There havent been many opportunities to find out as, lets face it, the last thin…

Facebook makes up 78% of all social media traffic; Twitter is a measly 5%. Despite the market share, a study by Social Twist says using Twitter for marketing is the better bet.
After analyzing more than one m…

One of the biggest hassles of location-based services like Foursquare is the actual process of checking in.You arrive at the restaurant, your friends are already waiting at the table and there’s not really…

Ping, Apple’s half-hearted attempt at its own music-focused social networking site, has finally received an update worth noting: Social Playlists. On Friday, the iTunes-only website Ping added a new feature whi…

Cindy Chastain, about whom I wrote last year, has posted a couple of new storytelling slideshows on SlideShare. (Chastain writes about storytelling as applied to user experience). Neither slideshow has audio n…

Everything you “know” about social media for small business is wrong.
Small businesses—accountants, lawyers, and brick-and-mortar shops—don’t need 5,000 Facebook fans, Diggs, or blogs that are updat…

2010′s coming to a close and everyone’s in a rush to get their picture taken for holiday cards, albums, or even their brand new Facebook profiles. Here’s how…

Robert Scoble / Scobleizer:
Why Google Latitude breaks for me — This morning Google Latitude was released to the iPhone. I will use it, but its totally breaking for me. Heres why: — 1. Google C…

The second most common question I get at my talks is: “How do you find the time to do all this social media stuff?” People want to know how to find time to blog, tweet, produce videos, and create valuable onlin…

We are pleased to announce a new premium report: Engaging Online Communities. Thanks to Microsoft for sponsoring the report and making it available as a free download.

The countless individual interactions peo…

Apple fans are downright obsessed with the company, its products, and Steve Jobs. When a customer receives an email from the mighty Jobs, it completely rocks their world. There are entire websites, like Email…

Almost two years after announcing Latitude, Google’s entry into the location sharing market, Apple and Google have finally come together to offer an official native Latitude app on the iPhone. And it’s a real…

Ever go home for the holidays and find your parents asking you to help them with “techie tasks” like uploading photos to the Internet?You’re not alone. A bunch of folks over at Google find themselves in t…

International Data Corporation predicts that the number of mobile application downloads worldwide will grow from 10.9 billion in 2010 to 76.9 billion in 2014. The market intelligence company also anticipates mo…

As more and more consumers use their phones for both business and product search and purchasing, mobile ad formats for retailers are becoming a more compelling way to connect with these users. Today, Google is…

Sadly, I haven’t received my Cr48 yet, even though (are you listening Google? Email me and make me happy) I am a devout lover of Chrome and have moved most of my computing life into the cloud. But there…

You may need to rethink your entire online strategy: While more than three out of every four social media uses involves Facebook, shared links on the site don’t generate as many clickthroughs as Twitter, acco…

Americans are now spending as many hours online as they do in front of their TV screens, according to a survey released by Forrester on Monday.The average American now spends roughly 13 hours per week using the…

How much is a tweet worth? $500, according to a recent promotion by Toyota — more than 1,000 times the value Eventbrite places on a tweet. The car manufacturer is rewarding those who purchase a new Toyota by…

I bought this Fantastic Ice Scraper in 1982 at a gas station in Wisconsin. It’s such a superior scraper that I’ve been careful to make sure it transferred from disposed-of vehicle to replacement vehicle four t…

Steroids for writers. Hmmm… what an interesting notion.
A magic pill that will make you stronger, faster, better and more successful, almost immediately.
I’ve got just the ticket for you. And it’s not…

For the first time ever, U.S. consumers report spending an equal amount of time using the Internet as they do watching TV. According to a report released by Forrester today, Gen Xers now claim to spend more ti…

Foursquare has an open position for a data scientist. Specifically, the company is looking for someone with “experience with prediction or recommender systems, search and ranking algorithms, and classification…

Maintaining a sensible work-life balance can be difficult for anyone. But if you’re launching your own company, the challenge is thousand-fold. Back in September, BankSimple founder Alex Payne wrote a post de…

David Carr wrote in today’s New York Times:
“Mainstream media may spend a lot of time trying to ferret information out of official hands, but they largely operate in the belief that the state is legitimate…

If there’s one thing I’ve had to adjust to as a small business owner, it is budgeting the time needed each month to do the busy work of being in business. Whether it’s paying bills, filing…

We chose our top 10 services based upon what trends bubbled in 2010 and the companies and organizations that responded or even set the tone for the overall market.

We looked at the entire landscape but with a…

Facebook’s social graph appears to those who look at it most as blocks of code. Paul Butler, an engineering intern at the company, has rendered it into a stunning visual map of friendships that proves his the…

Do you still rely on company Websites when you need more than the information about a program a company is running? Say you want to do something with it and before you make the final decision, you want to be…

Back in the day, social activity was a handshake on the sales floor. It was a beer after work. It was a cup of coffee or afternoon tea. It was a tennis match or a game of chess. It was lunch. It was a conversa…

It’s crunch time. Christmas is less than two weeks away, and if you’re anything like me, you’re just now realizing how much is left to buy. It’s even worse when there’s someone on yo…

Now you must realize by now that for women when the going gets tough the tough go shopping. It is also a well known fact that if you are becoming stressed that a bit of “retail therapy” is far better than…

There are no absolutes. There are no hard and fast rules.

The truth is that Marketing is changing, shifting and adapting. A lot of those changes have to do with Social Media, but not all of them. Prior to Soci…

When people in the news business try to figure out how to make news pay after the Internet, it seems analogous to the French, after being invaded by Germany in World War II, trying to figure out where to put th…

We were talking about Google’s six billion dollar bid for Groupon, and she suggested that I think up an online business idea that would make us rich.”What is it,” she asked, “that most people need, but don’t kn…

Unity Stoakes is the co-founder and president of OrganizedWisdom, an expert-driven digital media company focused on health and wellness. OrganizedWisdom is building the world’s first digital mapping of online…

The Wikileaks controversy has been weighing heavily on my mind and heart. I can’t imagine a more complex or emotional web-related issue to consider.
I’m conflicted. As a former journalist I value the role…

This week – because we are all running as fast as possible – towards the holidays, I thought I’d share with your five SHORT must-read posts from last week. Each of them demonstrate just how much you can…

Scott Gerber is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, public speaker and author of Never Get a “Real” Job: How to Dump Your Boss, Build a Business and Not Go Broke. The content for this post was sourced fr…