Tablet Maker Kno Raises $46 Million for Dual-Screen Digital Textbook


Mashable! 9 Sep 2010, 2:29 am CEST

Kno Inc., the company behind the 14-inch dual-touchscreen tablet unveiled at D8 earlier this year, announced it has closed a $46 million debt-and-equity round led by Andreessen Horowitz.

The leading venture capital firm, which has also financed prominent startups such as Foursquare, Zynga and Skype, was joined by Silicon Valley Bank and TriplePoint Capital. Andreessen had previously led a $7.5 million Series B, which Kno closed in December 2009.

The digital textbook company plans to use the funds to continue developing its e-reader tablet and accompanying platform, which includes digital textbooks, educational apps and other related media.

“We plan to use the infusion of capital to get the Kno into the hands of students for beta testing this fall and ultimately for the first customer ship later this year,” Kno Co-founder and CTO Babur Habib said in a statement.

Room for digital innovation in the education sector is certainly there. A recent study from Simba Information estimates that e-textbooks will account for 11% of textbook sales by 2013. Furthermore, tablet sales are expected to grow from 3.5 million units in 2010 to 20.4 million units in 2015, according to Forrester. Whether students will be eager to purchase Kno’s 5.5-pound — and likely expensive (the company claims it will be “under $1000,” which is none-too-promising) — dual-screen tablet remains to be seen, however.

Reviews: Foursquare, Skype

More About: e-books, e-readers, e-reading, e-textbooks, Kno, Tablet

For more Business coverage:

Daily Dose


Techland 9 Sep 2010, 2:00 am CEST

Wednesday, September 8, 2010 - Quote to Live By: "I know you're scared; we're all scared, but that doesn't mean were cowards. We can take these skeletons, we can take them, with science." - Ash from Army of Darkness Up Front: A Class To Die For: Course at University of Baltimore is a Real Thriller, [...]

Exclusive Video: Steve Young Football Tosses Wacky Football Action Onto the iPad


Techland 9 Sep 2010, 1:31 am CEST

EA's Madden NFL franchise rules the sales charts every year and the franchise's disciples like to think it the be-all and end-all of video game football. But there are things Madden doesn't have. Like zombies. Like wild pigs. Like cyclones. All of those show up in Steve Young Football, an iPad game which makes its [...]

11 True Stories Behind Tech’s Top Names


Mashable! 9 Sep 2010, 1:04 am CEST

    Contrary to popular belief, Pete Cashmore doesn’t have an obsessive love for potatoes. Rather he dubbed his blog “Mashable” because the original site covered tech “mashups” — web projects created by combining two services, like Flickr and Google Maps.

    Other companies have different strategies for naming or branding themselves or their products. And in the tech world, most of these reasons aren’t apparent. Sure, everyone knows by this point that Google comes from a specific large number called a “googol” and that Microsoft combines “microcomputer” and “software.” But what the heck is a Twitter?

    We reached out to tech companies asking them to explain their names. What we got were 11 interesting stories that will satisfy your curiosity.

    1. Twitter

    The name Twitter was picked out of a hat. A small group of employees from Odeo, the San Francisco podcasting startup where Twitter initially began, had a brainstorming session. They were trying to come up with names that fit with the theme of a mobile phone buzzing in your pocket with an update.

    After narrowing down the options (which included Jitter and Twitter), they wrote them down, put them in a hat, and let fate decide. Fate decided on Twitter (because clearly asking someone if they saw your latest ‘jeep’ is just weird).

    2. Android

    Apparently Andy Rubin, the co-founder and former CEO of Android, really, really likes robots. “You have to be a little bit careful when you’re around Andy and his robots,” says Nick Sears, the other Android co-founder, in this YouTube video. “I’ve seen his dog attack his robots.”

    3. Foursquare

    Dodgeball, Dennis Crowley’s first attempt at social networking for mobile phones was acquired by Google in 2005. When Google killed the project, Crowley founded an improved location-based social game he named Foursquare.

    Does Dennis Crowley have some sort of unresolved childhood issues relating to playground games?

    As it turns out, no he doesn’t. “Dennis chose to name both companies after playground games because they were both designed to be fun and playful,” said Foursquare’s PR manager in an e-mail. Apparently Foursquare was actually always Crowley’s first choice, but the domain name wasn’t available when he founded Dodgeball.

    4. 37signals

    37signals

    As with so many great things, the name 37signals was inspired by PBS. Carlos Segura, one of the original partners of the company was watching a science show called NOVA. He learned that in the search for extraterrestrials, humans constantly analyze radio waves from outer space. While almost all of the signal sources have been identified, 37 signals remain unexplained.

    As for the camping theme, there’s no great explanation. “Camping… It just happened,” wrote founder Jason Fried in an e-mail. “Basecamp was the first product and then we sort of ran with it. But Highrise and Sortfolio didn’t follow the theme. If we can follow it, great, but it’s not at all a requirement.”

    Still, for a company that professes to not care about names, 37signals has some pretty creative ones.

    5. Yahoo!

    Founders David Filo and Jerry Yang started what would become Yahoo when they were Ph.D. candidates at Stanford University. The project originally consisted of categorized lists of favorite links on the web, which made its original name, “Jerry and David’s Guide to the World Wide Web,” at least accurate if not so catchy.

    Yahoo is actually an acronym for “Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle.” But according to the company, the team chose the name for its definition: “rude, unsophisticated, uncouth.”

    6. Adobe

    Apple

    Adobe founders John Warnock and Chuck Geschke were working for Xerox during the late 70s and early 80s, and living in Los Altos, CA, and Adobe Creek just happens run through the town.

    According to the creek’s Wikipedia page, it was named for the nearby house of a 19th Century governor. So, at least in some sense, the company was named for the building material.

    7. BlackBerry

    Despite popular belief, the way that the buttons look a bit like the seeds of a berry wasn’t taken into account. The name BlackBerry was purely a marketing decision. The communications team offered up this explanation in an e-mail:

    “RIM wanted a name that would be distinctive, memorable and fun and that would work well internationally and appeal to a wide range of customers. RIM decided to go with a connotative word for the brand name rather than a descriptive or invented word.”

    8. Apple

    Apple

    Apple has no official story, which means that you can take your pick of the following rumors:

    • Steve Jobs used to work at a California or Oregon apple farm during the summer. He grew to really appreciate apples.
    • Steve Jobs really liked the Beatles.
    • Steve Jobs was three months late filing a name for the business, and he threatened to call his company Apple Computers if his colleagues didn’t suggest a better name by 5 p.m.
    • Steve Jobs wanted to distance the company from the cold, unapproachable, complicated imagery created by other computer companies at the time.

    You probably have your own theories, so let us know in the comments below.

    9. Zappos

    Zappos was originally named ShoeSite.com when it was founded in 1999. This posed a bit of a problem when it wanted to start selling more than just shoes. While still quite fond of shoes, the team didn’t abandon the theme entirely. They decided on a variation of the word “shoes” in Spanish. Thus “zapatos” was converted to Zappos for the company name.

    10. Nintendo

    Apple

    The three words “Nin” “ten” “do” is Japanese for “we do all that we can, as best as we can, and await the results.” Nintendo is sort of a motto and company name all in one. Who knew that the gaming giant was so poetic?

    11. Aardvark

    Today, Aardvark has a sleek website where users can type or e-mail their questions to be answered by the appropriate people in their own social networks. But co-founder Max Ventilla’s idea began as a chat buddy that could intermediate conversations with people you know online.

    There were advantages to having this name at the top of the buddy list, a spot which was occupied on Ventilla’s buddy roster by his friend Aaron. Alphabetically speaking, there aren’t many options that trump Aaron. “Aardvark” is one of the few names that could shoulder him out.

    Other factors the name had going for it were its ability to conjugate into the invented active verb “vark,” and being an animal that people recognized but typically didn’t have strong associations with.

    “We also felt that an animal had the right positioning as helpful but not perfect,” said Ventilla in an e-mail. “If we chose a human or a robot mascot people would spend their time trying to make it look stupid, but they’d cut an animal more slack.”

    More Tech Resources from Mashable:

    - Life After Google: 15 Startups Founded by Ex-Employees
    - 10 Fun Facts You Didn’t Know About Google
    - 10 Great Google Slideshows
    - 10 Great Watches for Gadget Lovers [PICS]
    - 10 of the Web’s Most Insightful News Infographics

    Image courtesy of iStockphoto, monkeybusinessimages

    Reviews: Aardvark, Android, Dodgeball, Foursquare, Google, Mashable, Twitter, YouTube, iStockphoto

    More About: 37signals, adobe, android, apple, blackberry, brand, branding, foursquare, name, Name origins, Nintendo, steve jobs, twitter, Yahoo, Zappos

    For more Tech coverage:

We’re Still Hiring! And 30+ Other Social Media Jobs


Mashable! 9 Sep 2010, 1:02 am CEST

If you’re seeking a job in social media, we’d like to help out. For starters, Mashable’s Job Lists section gathers together all of our resource lists, how-tos and expert guides to help you get hired. In particular, you might want to see our articles on How to Leverage Social Media for Career Success and How to Find a Job on Twitter.

But we’d like to help in a more direct way, too. Mashable’s job boards are a place for socially savvy companies to find people like you. This week and every week, Mashable features its coveted job board listings for a variety of positions in the web, social media space and beyond. Have a look at what’s good and new on our job boards:

Jobs at Mashable

Ad Ops Manager at Mashable in New York, NY.

Product Manager at Mashable in New York, NY.

VP Sales at Mashable in New York, NY.

Copy Editor at Mashable in New York, NY.

Mashable Job Board Listings

Social Media Analyst at Blueocean Market Intelligence in Issaquah, WA.

Software Engineer at Google in New York, NY.

Marketing & Social Media Manager at SheFinds Media in New York, NY.

Product Manager at Lime Company in New York, NY.

Business Analytics Manager at Playfish in San Francisco, CA.

Sr. Analyst at Playfish in San Francisco, CA.

Social Media Marketing Manager at M80 in New York, NY.

Online Community Manager at Campfire in New York, NY.

Co-Founder/Web Developer at TBD in San Francisco, CA.

Community Manager at HowAboutWe in New York, NY.

Start-up Software Engineer at Metamarkets in San Francisco, CA.

Interactive Producer at Root & Madison in Dallas, TX.

Copywriter at Ignite Social Media in Cary, NC.

Web Marketing Manager at New York University in New York, NY.

SEM Specialist at Provide Commerce in San Diego, CA.

Online Affiliate Specialist/Manager at Spin Six Strategic Marketing Design in Scottsdale, AZ.

Acquisition Marketing Manager at Playfish in San Francisco, CA.

Policy and Compliance Manager at Playfish in San Francisco, CA.

Director of Business Development at myYearbook.com in New York, NY.

Javascript UI Developers at Dobra Resources in Reston, VA.

Flex UI Developer at Dobra Resources in Reston, VA.

Social Media Manager at M80 in Chicago, IL.

Administrative Assistant at Digitas Health in Philadelphia, PA.

Financial Project Manager at Digitas Health in Philadelphia, PA.

Product Manager at Lime Labs in New York, NY.

Regional Sales Manager – Social Theater at myYearbook.com in New York, NY.

Sales Director – Mobile Advertising Sales at myYearbook.com in New York, NY.

Web Designer at Thinkwell Group in Burbank, CA.

User Experience Designer at Thinkwell Group in Burbank, CA.

Community Manager at National University System in San Diego, CA.

Social Marketer at Circle of Moms in San Francisco, CA.

Vice President of Platform Engineering at Synacor in Los Angeles, CA.

Director of Engineering at Synacor in Los Angeles, CA.

Director of Engineering at Synacor in Buffalo, NY.

Ambassador of Buzz at Acquia in Woburn, MA.

Web/UI Designer at Fuze Box, Inc. in San Francisco, CA.

Web Programmer at Bean Creative in Alexandria, VA.

Social Media Manager at M80 in Washington, D.C.

Product Manager at AutoTrader.com in Atlanta, GA.

Video Producer/Editor at TMG in Washington, D.C.

Web Production Intern at Louis Vuitton in New York, NY.

VP of Facebook Promotions at North Social in Oakland, CA.

Mashable’s Job Board has a variety of web 2.0, application development, business development and social networking job opportunities available. Check them out at here.

Find a Web 2.0 Job with Mashable

Got a job posting to share with our readers? Post a job to Mashable today ($99 for a 30 day listing) and get it highlighted every week on Mashable.com (in addition to exposure all day every day in the Mashable marketplace).

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, YinYang

Reviews: Google, Mashable, iStockphoto

Rumor PaTroll: Halo Movie Not A Priority, Ghost Rider 2 Script Details


Techland 9 Sep 2010, 1:00 am CEST

Wednesday, September 8, 2010 - This is your latest in nerdy nightly news gossip There could be a Halo movie... but it's not really a priority People were buzzing about Variety's article in which it mentions that Microsoft is looking to make a Halo movie. The games story line is awesome so I think it [...]

Year 2070 - Steve Young Football (iPad, iPhone, iPod)


Techland 9 Sep 2010, 12:57 am CEST

1st collector for Year 2070 - Steve Young Football (iPad, iPhone,...Follow my videos on vodpod

Reggie Bush Uses Foursquare and Stickybits for Football Scavenger Hunt


Mashable! 9 Sep 2010, 12:38 am CEST

Last year’s Super Bowl champions, the New Orleans Saints, will kick off their season with a home opener against the Minnesota Vikings Thursday night. In anticipation of the game, running back Reggie Bush is giving away eight autographed footballs to fans who track them down scavenger-hunt-style.

Bush and his agency, Active8Social, have concocted the social media challenge Reggie Bush #RedZones. As part of the campaign, which started Monday, autographed footballs are being dropped in the city of New Orleans. Fans have to piece together clues via social media sites — Facebook, Twitter, TwitPic and Foursquare — to snatch up the footballs in question.

Twitpics will highlight the general vicinity of the Redzone football drop, and Foursquare checkins (also posted to Twitter) will more precisely indicate each football’s whereabouts. Reggie Bush’s Facebook page is serving as the command center for the scavenger hunt and will help fans find out about drop times and track down clues.

The #RedZones contest also incorporates Stickybits into the action. Fans will find physical displays featuring a photo of Bush and a Stickybits barcode littered throughout the city. They can scan the code to add a photo, video or message in support of Reggie Bush, and the most creative bit will win an autographed football. Bush’s Facebook page includes a Stickybits tab, so out-of-towners can participate in the challenge as well.

While timely, given the start of the new season, the social media scavenger hunt is also likely designed to deflect negative attention away from the NCAA’s June decision to penalize USC for improper benefits to Reggie Bush during his time at the school. It has yet to be determined whether Bush will have to return his 2005 Heisman Trophy.

Still, athletes and social media promotions go hand-in-hand. During the NBA playoffs, Amare Stoudemire’s Facebook page gave fans the opportunity to purchase discount playoff tickets via a custom group buying application. As social media becomes an essential part of the sports enthusiast’s lifestyle, we can expect to see even more of these campaigns pop up.

More About: facebook, foursquare, new orleans saints, reggie bush, stickybits, twitter

For more Mobile coverage:

Kobo Extends E-Reading to the Desktop


Mashable! 9 Sep 2010, 12:04 am CEST

Kobo, the platform that powers Borders’s suite of e-reading devices and mobile apps, among others, has released its first desktop application for PC and Mac owners.

Like its preexisting e-reading software and apps for iOS, BlackBerry and Android, the desktop application allows consumers to browse, purchase and organize e-books directly on their computers or laptops. It also connects users of third-party e-readers, such as Sony’s, to Kobo to purchase and download content.

The desktop application offers all of the same reading functionality as the software and mobile apps, including the ability to adjust font types and sizes to suit individual preferences. Users can pick up reading on their desktop where they left off on their e-reader or smartphone, and vice versa. Unfortunately, neither the desktop application nor Kobo’s existing apps allow users to add highlights or annotations, which ultimately renders Amazon’s Kindle platform superior.

The Kobo desktop application does have one notable advantage over the Kindle desktop application: It enables users to browse and purchase books within the app, whereas the Kindle App redirects users to a new browser window to shop.

What do you think of Kobo’s new desktop application? What is your e-reading platform of choice and why?

Thumbnail courtesy of quinn.anya, Flickr

More About: amazon, Android App, barnes & noble, blackberry, borders, e-readers, e-reading, iOS, ipad app, iphone app, Kindle, kobo, nook

For more Tech coverage:

Hands-On with iOS 4.1: HDR, Game Center and Ping for Mobile [PICS]


Mashable! 8 Sep 2010, 11:51 pm CEST

Apple has officially released iOS 4.1 to iTunes. iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and iPod touch owners (second-generation and up) can get the update.

Apple has added a bunch of new features and enhancements to iOS 4.1. In addition to fixing bugs (like the proximity sensor) and speeding up performance on iPhone 3G devices, iOS 4.1 also includes a new HDR photography mode, the ability to upload HD video over Wi-Fi, Game Center and the integration of Ping into the iTunes mobile app.

We took some time to play with iOS 4.1 this afternoon, after already spending some time with the beta releases.

We agree with bloggers Matt Drance and John Gruber that the Ping experience is better on the iPhone than it is in iTunes. The music discovery element is more central, and it feels more natural to “like” and share songs, or to browse through what others like or buy.

Game Center is here, but for now all you can really do is choose your nickname and add friends. We think this has potential, especially as more game developers take advantage of it. Although there are other third-party game networks that developers can use, Game Center has the distinct advantage of being available on virtually every iOS device. That means that tens of millions of users can easily connect and play games, and share information with one another from across the globe.

The HDR photography mode could be seen as a gimmick, but we were actually impressed with the results in our brief tests. We were able to get better definition on objects and better colors from the sky, while shooting outdoors on a slightly overcast day.

That isn’t to say that HDR is perfect. Depending on the lighting and the object, HDR can sometimes just make things look more washed out. This is a great feature to have built into the camera app but it’s not going to put any HDR software for Mac or PC out of business.

On the bug fix side, we took a call immediately after upgrading to iOS 4.1 and didn’t end up accidentally calling someone else while on the phone. (Hooray!)

Check out our gallery to see iOS 4.1 in action.


iOS 4.1 Main Screen




The Game Center icon is new.


Game Center Main Page




This is Game Center.


iTunes in iOS 4.1




Note the addition of the Ping menu.


iTunes in iOS 4.1




The more tab now takes you to these options. Ping replaced Ringtones in the app menu so the more tab now includes it as an option.


Ping Activity




This tab shows you an overview of what your friends are doing on Ping.


Ping People




You can run through the list of people that you follow.


Ping Album Like/Post




You can now "like" albums or post about them to your stream.


Ping Album Like




I like Arcade Fire.


Ping Song Like/Post




You can also like individual songs or post direct links to them in your stream.


Ping Post




The post screen.


Ping Profile




Your profile in Ping. It shows all of your likes, posts and the new people that you follow.


TV Show Rental




In addition to buying an episode of a TV show, you can also rent certain shows for $.99 apiece.

If you do rent a TV show from your iPhone or iPod touch, the SD version will be the only one downloaded to your device. If you buy an episode outright, the SD episode is downloaded and an HD episode (if it's available) will be downloaded to your computer


HDR Camera Option




The camera app now has an HDR button.


Photo Without HDR




Photo without HDR.


Photo With HDR




The same photo with the HDR effects applied.


HDR Up-close




A close-up look at the HDR version of this photo.


Non-HDR Up-close




A close-up look at the non-HDR version of this photo.


Non-HDR v. HDR



The non-HDR photo is on the left, the HDR version is on the right.

More About: apple, apple itunes, hdr, iOS, ios 4.1, iphone, itunes, Ping

For more Apple coverage:

Which Metal Singers Have the Best Vocal Technique?


Utne Reader Latest 10 Articles 8 Sep 2010, 11:44 pm CEST

According to one classically-trained voice instructor, some heavy-metal vocalists succeed in areas where even classical singers struggle....

5 Hilarious TV Episodes About Tech and Social Media


Mashable! 8 Sep 2010, 10:47 pm CEST

Television’s top humorists are always looking for new cultural elements to satirize, and two of the most popular subjects over the past year have been gadgets or social media — or both, as they’re increasingly intertwined.

If you flip through the channels on your cable or satellite TV receiver for just a few minutes, you’re bound to come across a reference to Google, Facebook or texting. But we’re interested in the deeper cuts, so we’ve collected five of the funniest (but not the only) TV episodes that make things like Facebook, Apple, FarmVille, or Chatroulette the focus of almost all the humor.

We’ve provided a short clip and description for each episode. If you’re interested in watching the complete episode, you’ll find links to places you can get them online at the bottom of each entry. Most of these links and videos are region-locked to the United States. Since we’re writing this story in the U.S. that’s our only choice. If you live in another region, please feel free to share video and download links for your region in the comments.

The Simpsons – “Mypods and Boomsticks”

The Simpsons go to the too-cool-for-normal-people “Mapple Store,” where they see “Steve Mobs” address his cult-like followers on a giant screen 1984-style. Oh, the irony. Lisa gets a “Mypod,” and that’s just the start of an episode that manages to be as sharp an Apple satire as you’ll ever see.

Amazon Video on Demand
iTunes

South Park – “You Have Ø Friends”

While The Simpsons hit the ball out of the park with “Mypods and Boomsticks,” South Park’s Facebook episode is the ultimate social media satire.

The generally crass animated series actually manages a certain degree of profundity as it explores the way social networks can be used to make us feel better about the shortcomings of our “real” relationships. Facebook isn’t the only topic to receive this treatment, either; podcasting, FarmVille and Chatroulette get some attention too. Throw in a killer Tron sequence and it’s a must-see episode.

South Park Studios
Amazon Video on Demand
iTunes

Modern Family – “Game Changer”

This episode of Modern Family is basically a half-hour of product placement for Apple’s then just-released iPad, but it doesn’t fail to make some jokes about the absurd lengths people will go to for the latest and hottest gadget.

The iPad is coming out on Phil’s birthday, so his wife volunteers to go stand in line to get him one so he can sleep in. She falls asleep instead of taking care of it, so she’s forced to go to extreme lengths to hide her failure while she tries other ways to nab the gadget for her husband.

Hulu Plus
Amazon Video on Demand
iTunes

30 Rock – “Secret Santa”

Bizarre acquisitions by NBC parent company GE are a running gag on 30 Rock. This time GE acquires “YouFace,” a social networking site that bears a striking resemblance to Facebook, only more absurd — sort of. NBC executive Jack Donaghy reconnects with his high school crush using the social site, and relies on advice from a young receptionist to draw conclusions from the woman’s news feed and photo activity.

YouFace plays a smaller role in the episode than tech does in these other episodes, but it’s such a great gag that we had to include it anyway.

Hulu Plus
Amazon Video on Demand
iTunes

The Simpsons – “Bart Gets a Z”

The Simpsons has been on the air for 21 years, so it has most of the satirical bases covered. While the “Mypods” episode mostly riffed on Apple, “Bart Gets a Z” goes after social media, texting and other tech topics. A new substitute teacher at Bart’s school uses technology to reach his students, texting assignments like “Homework: 20 minutes of Twittering.”

If you don’t get your Simpsons social media fix with this episode, stay tuned for the upcoming season because Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is expected to have a cameo.

Amazon Video on Demand
iTunes

More social media resources from Mashable:

- Why Social Media Is the New Source of Hollywood Talent
- How Dana White Built a UFC Empire with Social Media
- How Political Campaigns Are Using Social Media for Real Results
- 4 Tips for Producing Quality Web Videos
- Top 10 YouTube News Bloopers

More About: episodes, funny, humor, social media, tech, television, tv, video

For more Entertainment coverage:

Dances with Wookiees: A Tale of Growing up Geek


Techland 8 Sep 2010, 10:30 pm CEST

Tony Pacitti is a diehard Star Wars fan. Though it may make him a social outcast in the eyes of the mainstream (and a geek God in the nerddom), he's managed to take his awkward experiences growing up and turn them into a memoir that everyone can relate to. In My Best Friend is a [...]

A Sneak Peek at Google Instant Search for Mobile [VIDEO]


Mashable! 8 Sep 2010, 10:22 pm CEST

Sometime this fall, you can expect Google Instant Search to appear on your mobile phone.

Earlier today, the search giant released Google Instant to the masses. The dramatic change to Google’s iconic search engine delivers real-time search results as you type — no clicking required. In fact, the company calls it “search before you type” because Instant Search predicts what you’re about to type and delivers search results based on those predictions.

Today’s announcements could be a game changer in the search space, but Google isn’t satisfied with having real-time search on just the desktop. It wants to dominate mobile as well.

Instant Search for mobile works just like its desktop counterpart. You start typing in a query and Google delivers search results based on what it predicts you’ll type. There are a few restrictions (3G connection speeds, no tab button on most devices, not all mobile devices support it), but in the demo we were given earlier today, it worked like a charm. We expect that this feature will work best on the iPhone and Android devices. Google also says that its mobile apps will eventually support Instant Search functionality.

Here’s our sneak peek at Google Instant Search for mobile:

More About: android, Google, Google Instant, Google Instant Search, google search, Instant Search, iphone, Mobile 2.0, ƒgoogle

For more Mobile coverage:

General Motors to Integrate Facebook with OnStar


Mashable! 8 Sep 2010, 10:10 pm CEST

OnStar will soon offer a service that reads both Facebook and text messages to subscribers, according to an undisclosed source. Drivers will be able to respond with pre-canned messages, allowing them to keep their eyes on the road and hands on the wheel.

The service, which is expected to launch later this month, will be OnStar’s first attempt at integrating social media services into its fleet of in-vehicle hardware. Although it’s improbable that many users will opt to have a torrent of Facebook updates read to them while driving, the text message service will likely be a quick hit.

That said, the potential integration of Facebook Places with OnStar could be a major hit. With GPS at OnStar’s core and geolocation the next great digital frontier, General Motors could provide precisely the fuel Facebook needs to accelerate adoption of Places.

Since early iterations of the service are said to be focused primarily on content delivery, it’s unlikely that Places will find itself on OnStar this year. But if this relationship is meant to be, it’s hard to imagine a situation in which Facebook and General Motors won’t soon take advantage of geolocation.

More About: facebook, Facebook Places, geolocation, GM, gps, OnStar

For more Tech coverage:

13 Thoughts On Warehouse 13 2.10: Where And When


Techland 8 Sep 2010, 10:00 pm CEST

Visual references to Back To The Future, dialogue references to Total Recall and Bill and Ted and plot reference to Star Trek? Truly, the only thing this week's Warehouse 13 missed was Huey Lewis and the News popping up to play "Back In Time." Here're 13 thoughts about this week's time-bending "Where And When."

The Room Gets Game Treatment


Techland 8 Sep 2010, 9:30 pm CEST

If you haven't seen Tommy Wiseau's masterpiece The Room, you are truly missing out on the best of independent cinema. A hilarious drama with "the passion of Tenneessee Williams" (yes, the name was misspelled in the quote), there's a reason why Entertainment Weekly calls it "The Citizen Kane of Bad Movies." While waiting for Wiseau to release [...]

Google Instant Doesn’t Like Your Sexy Searches


Mashable! 8 Sep 2010, 9:15 pm CEST

Google Instant Search gives you real-time results as you type and predicts your queries. That is, unless you’re searching for naughty things.

Earlier today, Google launched Instant Search to its U.S. users, with an international rollout to come later this week. The “fundamental shift in search” delivers search results while you type — no clicking or hitting “enter” required. By typing the letter “w,” you’re instantly delivered the weather forecast, the query the search giant predicts you’re most likely seeking.

However, if you try to type “penis,” Instant Search will not deliver any results. You’ll be greeted with a blank page. The same is true for other queries like the f-bomb. Several other queries simply ignore the naughty words and deliver other Instant results. It doesn’t matter whether you have Safesearch disabled or not.

Google was asked about this “feature” during today’s Q&A session. Google’s Johanna Wright, director of product management for Instant, responded that Instant Search’s inability to predict your sexy queries is actually a safety feature to protect children. The same rules that apply to Google’s other products apply to Instant, so the company decided the best way not to deliver unintended search results for “Shih Tzu” was to disable naughty words in Google Instant entirely.

Frankly, we’re glad that Google isn’t including adult-related keywords in real-time search. We can only imagine the questions a seven-year-old girl would ask when she started typing “Pussycat Dolls.” Besides, all you have to do to get your porn is hit “enter,” the same as it was before.

What do you think of Google’s decision to exclude naughty words from Instant Search? Let us know in the comments.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, 1001nights

More About: Google, Google Instant, Google Instant Search, google search

For more Social Media coverage:

Google Instant Predictions From A to Z


Mashable! 8 Sep 2010, 9:09 pm CEST


Google just launched Google Instant, a speedy new search offering that lets users search as they type. With Google Instant, the search engine technology is capable of predicting a user’s search query — in gray text — before he finishes typing it.

Those predictions tell an interesting story, especially when you look at single letter predictions. During today’s press event, Google demonstrated that by typing the letter “W,” Google Instant predicts the query to be “weather,” and immediately returns weather results before the searcher ever hits the search button. Pretty cool stuff.

So, we got to thinking, what about the rest of the alphabet? As it turns out, Google has interesting predictions for those letters as well, as you can see in the image gallery embedded below. A is for Amazon, B is for Bank of America, E is for eBay, T is for Target and X is for Xbox. It’s a fascinating Google-defined alphabet soup — especially when you consider the instant results and how this may influence search user behavior and affect the highlighted brand names.

We should note that Google Suggest technology helps to power the predictions, so a few of the one letter predictions in the screenshots are skewed by my own search behaviors. For instance, in my Google Instant queries, J is for Jeromes — a San Diego furniture merchant — but for others, J returns Justin Bieber as the predicted query. Still, it’s clear that Google Instant predictions offer powerful insight into search terms down to the letter level.


a-amazon





b-bank-of-america





c-craigslist





d-dmv





e-ebay





f-facebook





g-gmail





h-hotmail





i-ikea





j-jeromes





k-kaiser





l-lowes





m-myspace





n-netflix





o-orbitz





p-pandora





q-quotes





r-rei





s-sdge





t-target





u-usps





v-verizon





w-weather





x-xbox





y-yahoo





z-zillow



More About: Google, Google Instant, Google Instant Search, google suggest, Search

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