tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89780532693598243472023-12-14T04:51:56.301-08:00Simplex Focus - tech news and trendstech news ,review and hot trendsĐinh Quang Huyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14910882054516360320noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8978053269359824347.post-26671566053291984402010-12-28T20:58:00.000-08:002010-12-28T20:58:53.443-08:001000 core chip - speed up modern PC up to 20 timesScottish scientists have sucessfully built a 1,000-core processor, said that it will run 20 times faster than today’s chips while using less power.<br />
<img src="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/fastchip.jpg" /><br />
A research team at University of Glasgow lead by Dr. Wim Vanderbauwhede created the futuristic processor using a programmable chip called a field programmable gate array (FPGA).<br />
<br />
Instead of the built-in circuitry of conventional desktop computer chips, these processors can be customized. So with some extremely clever programming, the research team was able to divide the processor into 1,000 cores, each capable of its own computation. According to the Daily Mail, the 1,000-core processor processes 5 gigabytes data per second, and that’s “20 times faster than modern computers.” Each one of the cores has its own dedicated memory to speeding it up even more. Remarkably, they were able to leverage all this extra speed and power without using more energy. <br />
<br />
Will this processors be popular in anytime soon ? the team leader Vanderbauwhede said , “I believe these kinds of processors will only become more common and help to speed up computers even further over the next few years.”Đinh Quang Huyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14910882054516360320noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8978053269359824347.post-8519804011850027392010-12-01T17:23:00.000-08:002010-12-01T17:23:49.440-08:00Heaviest Online Shopping Day in History<img src="http://mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/holiday-gifts.jpg"><br />
Data from Comscore showed that Cyber Monday may have been the heaviest online spending day in history with a record-breaking $1.028 billion in online spending — a 16% jump in spending when compared against the same day last year.<br />
Up to now ,in this year's holiday season ,more than $13 billion has been spent online ,and cyber monday (29/11) was the heaviest online shopping day with the money spent over $1 billion dollar .<br />
<br />
<img src="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/cyber-monday-comscore.jpg" /><br />
<br />
Cyber Monday’s 16-percent growth in sales versus year ago was driven primarily by an increase in average spending per buyer (up 12 percent) while the number of buyers on Cyber Monday grew by a lower 4 percent to 9 million. The average spending per transaction grew 10 percent to $60.05, while the total number of transactions increased 6 percent to 17.1 million.<br />
<br />
“The online holiday shopping season has clearly gotten off to a very strong start, which is welcome news. At the same time, it’s important to note that some of the early strength in consumer spending is almost certainly the result of retailers’ heavier-than-normal promotional and discounting activity at this early point in the season,” said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni.Đinh Quang Huyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14910882054516360320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8978053269359824347.post-79720694642904181902010-11-26T19:13:00.000-08:002010-11-26T19:13:44.323-08:00Google instant preview and search result<img src="http://www.sitepronews.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/googlelogo3.jpg" /><br />
Google Instant Preview is a new feature following the September roll out of Google Instant which completes searches while they’re being typed into Google’s search field, with the goal of significantly reducing time spent searching. But is the new feature really going to speed up the searcher’s experience, or is it yet another complicated layer on what was once a simple and easy-to-understand search interface? Google’s own research revealed that on average searchers using Google Instant Preview are 5% more likely to be satisfied with the search results they click after seeing a visual preview next to the organic listing.<br />
Google Instant Preview essentially gives users the ability to see a website before they visit it. Google accomplishes this by taking a screenshot of every webpage in its index and giving users access to it via a magnifying glass icon that sits to the right of every search result.<br />
When a user clicks on the magnifying glass icon, a screenshot of the webpage in question will appear to the right of the search result listing. It’s an at-a-glance view of the website page without actually having to visit the webpage.<br />
One of the key elements to Instant Previews though is that Google sometimes highlights a section of the page where the page description occurs. This becomes a useful feature when you’re trying to find information on a specific person on a page that lists dozens or hundreds of people. Instead of having to scroll through the entire page to find the person, you can just look at the Instant Preview and see where they are on the page.<span id="more-8688"></span><br />
“We realized early on that this kind of experience would only make sense if it was lightning fast. Not long ago simply downloading an image could take 20 or 30 seconds, and even today many websites take four or five seconds to load,” Raj Krishnan, Product Manager wrote in the Google Blog. “With Google Instant Preview, we match a search query with an index of the entire web, identify the relevant parts of each webpage, stitch them together and serve the resulting preview completely customised to your search–usually in under one-tenth of a second.”<br />
SEO expert Peter Bowen at First One On says, “while Google Instant Preview is designed to speed up the searching process what it actually does is to speed up the decision-making process of choosing whether or not to click on the link by previewing the visual screenshot of the resulting webpage.”<br />
“Google currently provides a lot more data to help the searcher. At one time search engines just displayed the first two lines from a webpage under a search result, but now they include information like site links, date, cached content, jump to links and even Google Places.”<br />
Instant Previews can be helpful for many kinds of tasks. For example, say you looked at a page before and need to find it again – with a preview, you can tell if any of the results look familiar. Or perhaps you’re looking for an official website – look for a logo and formal style and you’ll probably be able to identify it. Or maybe you’re looking for a how-to guide – it’s easy to spot a page with clear illustrations and step-by-step instructions.<br />
From an SEO perspective the big question is how will Google Instant Preview affect our understanding of traditional SEO, and what changes should we consider making to webpages so that they can be easily previewed in a tiny screenshot?<br />
When a searcher performs a search and sees the search results page displayed, they do have a choice of whether or not to activate the Google Instant Preview feature by clicking on the magnifying glass icon.<br />
“However, clicking on the magnifying glass icon is less of a commitment than clicking on a link, and you still need to convince the searcher that it is worth their time to preview a website” says Peter Bowen. “Therefore it becomes more important than ever to have a well defined and well written description of what the website page is about and it has to fit within the 150 character limit. So the Meta content description is what you will have to change and be aware of here.”<br />
As we already know, Flash is not SEO friendly because it cannot be read by search engines and is even worse for Instant Preview as it shows as a black rectangle and cannot be rendered. The same is true for video files that also display a black rectangle in the preview, so consideration of this is important too.<br />
It should be pointed out that because the image size of the screenshot is so small, unless the text in headings is large enough, it will be impossible to read.<br />
So what does all this mean? Well, we have to start thinking about the overall page layout and if it looks good at postage stamp size or if it is just a blur of text with no images to make it look appealing. This means creating pages that pay more attention to navigation, titles and headers, spacing, colors and objects, such as call-to-action buttons. Having a good looking page with relevant titles now may count as much as the content on the page itself.<br />
It is likely that we will begin to see a lot more webpages with well defined graphics and other visual aids designed to get a searcher’s attention. This makes SEO even more important than ever, make sure that your images are named with keywords and their file names and alt text are descriptive and accurate.<br />
Google Instant Preview is here to stay and designed to make the search selection process easier and according to Google faster, but in the end, good SEO practices are what is going make the difference of whether or not you get discovered on the search engine results pages.<br />
<b>(written by Peter Bowen )</b><br />
<hr /><b>Peter Bowen is a seasoned SEO Marketing specialist who has been involved with the internet since 1994 when he won the Entrepreneur of the Year award for developing an online internet shopping mall. He has developed software for learning and now concentrates his efforts on helping others to understand and market their products and services through effective search marketing strategies. <a href="http://www.firstoneon.com/">First One On</a> helps clients through the maze of SEO to get top rankings for their clients. </b>Đinh Quang Huyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14910882054516360320noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8978053269359824347.post-15767220090206883782010-11-22T05:09:00.000-08:002010-11-22T05:09:01.397-08:00$6 million for one Google engineer to prevent Facebook's attraction<img src="http://static.businessinsider.com/image/4c8a58e67f8b9acd18400900/sergey-brin-cash.jpg"><br />
6 million dollars has been offered to a engineer to change his mind not working for Facebook by Google .This is the latest event in talent war between Google and Facebook . Many talented persons from Google moved to Facebook ,a new star in internet .And now ,Google increased their bid for one engineer to change his mind ,and to prevent attraction from Facebook .<br />
Peoples who moved from Google to Facebook said that they love Facebook ,where they can express their idea and doing interesting works .When Google become a large company with many employees around the world ,it's very hard for creative persons to express their idea and pursue their interesting projects . Many keyrole engineers who worked for Wave projects were in this case and they chosed to move to Facebook .Đinh Quang Huyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14910882054516360320noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8978053269359824347.post-21468383346101996252010-11-16T21:10:00.000-08:002010-11-16T21:10:40.943-08:00Are you ready for Black Friday<img src="http://tech.blorge.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/blackfriday.jpg"><br />
Black Friday (sometimes Green Friday) is the Friday following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, traditionally the beginning of the Christmas shopping season .This day ,many things are in big sale off .<br />
As a blogger ,we are all waiting for sale off from hosting and web service provider . This time last year ,at Hostgator ,a well-known hosting provider , price of hosting packages down by 75% :D That's a great number<br />
Blackfriday will be 26/11 this year . Let's wait ^^Đinh Quang Huyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14910882054516360320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8978053269359824347.post-77557884726227998642010-11-13T08:59:00.000-08:002010-11-13T08:59:51.197-08:00what will facebook do with fb.com domain ?<img src="http://mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/fb-225.jpg"/><br />
In September ,fb.com domain has been sold to an undisclosed buyer by the American Farm Bureau .However, Domain Name Wire has revealed that the domain’s whois has been updated to reflect that Facebook (Facebook) is the domain’s administrator.<br />
It is said this domain using in Facebook internally ,but doesn't know what facebook gonna do with it .<br />
Most likely, Fb.com will become the e-mail domain of the company’s 1,400+ employees. Yahoo does something similar; its staff uses @yahoo-inc.com e-mail addresses instead @Yahoo.com in order to avoid confusion between its employees and the hundreds of millions of users of its e-mail service.<br />
By the way ,Facebook has been updated their message system to work like email . Maybe in future ,we can use email with @facebook.com ?Đinh Quang Huyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14910882054516360320noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8978053269359824347.post-18959407169413564592010-08-19T11:30:00.000-07:002010-08-19T11:40:23.318-07:00Use Adobe Fonts in Your Own Web Designs<img src="http://mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/adobe-typekit-225.jpg"><br />
Typekit, a company doing its part to help bring better typography to the web, has just announced an new partnership with Adobe.<br />
<br />
The partnership means that Typekit users can now integrate famous fonts like Myriad, Cooper Black and Adobe Garamond into their own sites and designs.<br />
<br />
Adobe took the time to optimize and hint its collection of fonts for the screen, ensuring that type looks its best. The web fonts support the same languages and scripts as their counterparts on the desktop.<br />
<br />
We spoke with Bryan Mason from Typekit and he expanded more on the process of making these fonts web-ready: “Adobe has been working on the hinting and screen rendering of these (and others to follow) for months. On a pixel-specific level, Adobe reviews each font character-by-character, weight-by-weight. It is amazingly meticulous work — and the results show.” Mason also said new Adobe fonts will be added to the service as they are web-ready.<br />
<br />
We also spoke with Jeffrey Veen from Typekit about what the company — which is celebrating its one-year anniversary — has planned going forward. He said in part: “We’re also adding more and more features that help designers focus on creativity and not compatibility. Soon, we’ll be launching some amazing CSS3 tools that not only focus on webfonts, but all of the new browser capabilities.”<br />
<br />
These are the Adobe fonts that are now available to Typekit users:<br />
<br />
Adobe Garamond<br />
Adobe Text<br />
Bickham Script<br />
Caflisch Script<br />
Chaparral<br />
Cooper Black<br />
Cronos<br />
Garamond Premier<br />
Hypatia Sans<br />
Minion<br />
Myriad<br />
Myriad Condensed<br />
News Gothic<br />
Poplar<br />
Rosewood<br />
Rosewood Fill<br />
Trajan<br />
Voluta Script<br />
Not all fonts and weights are available for all user plans, but select Adobe fonts are available at every tier.<br />
<br />
What do you think of Adobe and Typekit’s announcement? Do you plan on integrating Myriad Pro in your designs? Let us know!Đinh Quang Huyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14910882054516360320noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8978053269359824347.post-38389344009787726242010-08-19T11:29:00.001-07:002010-08-19T11:40:30.327-07:00HOW TO: Make Your Mobile Websites Act More Like Native Apps<img src="http://mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/jquery-mobile-225.jpg"><br />
As smartphone sales continue to soar, more and more developers are focusing their efforts on building applications for mobile devices. Whether it is a native application or a mobile-optimized website, mobile innovation is taking place at a breakneck pace.<br />
<br />
Native applications still have their place, but increasingly, the number of different device types, operating systems, and screen sizes make developing optimized mobile web apps more and more enticing. Historically, there has been a trade-off between the rapid, iterative, cross-platform nature of web applications versus the more standard UI, support for gestures, and multi-touch and hardware optimizations on the native side.<br />
<br />
Fortunately, a number of different frameworks are making it easier and easier for developers to create mobile web applications that look and feel more like native apps. Here are six examples. If you don’t see your favorites on the list, add them in the comments below.Đinh Quang Huyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14910882054516360320noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8978053269359824347.post-69098919793292257672010-08-19T11:28:00.001-07:002010-08-19T11:28:53.937-07:0010 Essential Free E-Books for Web Designers<div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">While many may still prefer print for long-form reading, <a href="http://mashable.com/2010/07/19/amazon-kindle-sales/" style="color: #2266bb; text-decoration: none;">e-books are gaining popularity</a> as a worthy digital alternative. Aside from all the usual benefits of digitizing a book (faster searches, less page-flipping, linked pages, additional resources, etc.), e-books are a huge help to digital and online professionals.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">There are now e-books available on almost every aspect of design, from planning your business and managing your time, to designing web applications. This post highlights 10 of the best free e-books for designers, with selections available as PDFs or in HTML.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Whether they’re meant to inspire or educate, let us know if you can recommend any other free e-books aimed at designers in the comments below.</div><hr style="border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><h2 style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 20px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">1. <a href="http://www.zeldman.com/2009/04/16/taking-your-talent-to-the-web-is-now-a-free-downloadable-book-from-zeldmancom/" style="color: #2266bb; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Taking Your Talent To The Web</a></h2><hr style="border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><center style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><img alt="talenttoweb image" original="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/TalentToWeb.jpg" src="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/TalentToWeb.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline;" /><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div></center><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">This detailed, intelligent guide is a how-to on transitioning from print to web by Jeffrey Zeldman. It was written for print designers whose clients want websites, print art directors who’d like to move into full–time web and interaction design, homepage creators who are ready to turn pro, and professionals who seek to deepen their web skills and understanding.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Even though it was written in 2001, much of the advice about transitioning from print to the web still holds true, and print designers and art directors are still scrambling to move into web and interaction design.</div><hr style="border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><h2 style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 20px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">2. <a href="http://book.airgid.com/" style="color: #2266bb; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Web Designer’s Success Guide</a></h2><hr style="border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><center style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><img alt="success image" original="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/SuccessGuide.jpg" src="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/SuccessGuide.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline;" /><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div></center><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><i>Web Designer’s Success Guide</i> is the definitive resource for starting your own freelance web design business. Written by Kevin Airgid, a recognized designer who runs an interactive studio, the book offers step-by-step instructions on topics like transitioning from full-time to self-employment, marketing your freelance business, managing projects and pricing yourself appropriately.</div><hr style="border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><h2 style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 20px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">3. <a href="http://designingfortheweb.co.uk/book/" style="color: #2266bb; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Designing For The Web</a></h2><hr style="border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><center style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><img alt="designforweb image" original="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DesignForWeb.jpg" src="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DesignForWeb.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline;" /><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div></center><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><i>A Practical Guide To Designing For The Web</i> aims to teach core web development techniques based on the principles of graphic design. Written by recognized designer and author Mark Boulton, it is a stand-out amongst web design books with the right balance between practical and inspirational.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">It features five sections: Getting Started, Research, Typography, Color and Layout. The focus is on learning graphic design theory, which you can then easily apply to your own designs.</div><hr style="border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><h2 style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 20px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">4. <a href="http://www.webguru-india.com/free-webdesign-ebook.php" style="color: #2266bb; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Design Your Imagination</a></h2><hr style="border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><center style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><img alt="design imagination image" original="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DesignImagination.jpg" src="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DesignImagination.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline;" /><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div></center><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><i>Design Your Imagination</i> is a complete and comprehensive guide on website design for those new to the industry, although it may also prove helpful for experienced web designers as well. Almost every aspect of website design is exemplified in this e-book, which aims to help beginners hone their creativity.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">This book features more than 28 chapters that deal with a broad array of subjects, from the history of web design through web design principles, planning, and more, all illustrated with practical examples.</div><hr style="border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><h2 style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 20px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">5. <a href="http://www.wishfulthinking.co.uk/2007/12/03/time-management-for-creative-people-free-e-book/" style="color: #2266bb; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Time Management For Creative People</a></h2><hr style="border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><center style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><img alt="creative people image" original="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/CreativePeople.jpg" src="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/CreativePeople.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline;" /><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div></center><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Compiled from a series of posts published on <a href="http://www.businessofdesignonline.com/time-management-why-you-need-to-be-organised-to-be-creative/" style="color: #2266bb; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Business of Design Online</a> by writer and creativity coach Mark McGuinness, this is an easily digestible guide to help professionals in the creative sector maximize their time and productivity.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Subtitled “Manage the Mundane – Create the Extraordinary,” this book is designed to help you maintain your creative focus while dealing with your other commitments. It includes plenty of practical time management tips tailored specifically for creative types.</div><hr style="border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><h2 style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 20px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">6. <a href="http://gettingreal.37signals.com/toc.php" style="color: #2266bb; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Getting Real</a></h2><hr style="border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><center style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><img alt="getting real image" original="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/GettingReal.jpg" src="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/GettingReal.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline;" /><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div></center><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><i>Getting Real</i> is the business, design, programming, and marketing philosophy of <a href="http://37signals.com/" style="color: #2266bb; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">37signals</a>, a developer of web-based software used by over one million people and businesses in 70 countries. With short, value-packed chapters, this book is an excellent guide for building web-based applications in a smarter, faster and easier way.</div><hr style="border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><h2 style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 20px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">7. <a href="http://woork.blogspot.com/2009/01/woork-handbook.html" style="color: #2266bb; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Woork Handbook</a></h2><hr style="border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><center style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><img alt="woork handbook image" original="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/WoorkHandbook.jpg" src="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/WoorkHandbook.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline;" /><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div></center><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><i>The Woork Handbook</i> is focused around web design and programming and primarily deals with CSS, HTML, Ajax, web programming, Mootools, Scriptaculous and other topics about web design.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">It is an excellent reference book on a range of subjects all drawn from a wealth of excellent articles published on Woork.</div><hr style="border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><h2 style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 20px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">8. <a href="http://webtypography.net/" style="color: #2266bb; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">A Practical Guide To Web Typography</a></h2><hr style="border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><center style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><img alt="web typography image" original="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/WebTypography.jpg" src="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/WebTypography.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline;" /><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div></center><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Robert Bringhurst’s book, <i>The Elements of Typographic Style</i>, is on many a designer’s bookshelf, and is considered to be a classic in the industry. The renowned typographer Hermann Zapf calls the book “a must for everybody in the graphic arts, and especially for those just entering the field.”</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">In order to allay some of the myths surrounding typography on the web, this book has been structured as a walk through Bringhurst’s working principles, explaining how to accomplish each using techniques available in HTML and CSS. Practicality is ever present with workarounds, alternatives and compromises for less able browsers.</div><hr style="border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><h2 style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 20px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">9. <a href="http://www.uiaccess.com/accessucd/index.html" style="color: #2266bb; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Integrating Accessibility Throughout Design</a></h2><hr style="border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><center style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><img alt="accessible design image" original="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/AccessibleDesign.jpg" src="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/AccessibleDesign.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline;" /><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div></center><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">This e-book is a practical guide with advice on how to improve your websites, software, hardware, and consumer products, all with an eye on accessibility and avoiding future snags. Written by Shawn Henry, an outreach coordinator who promotes web accessibility for people with disabilities, it’s a straightforward and engaging resource.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The book covers the basics of improving accessibility in design projects with tips for comfortable interaction, having accessibility in a user-centered design process, examples of accessibility in user group profiles, personas, scenarios and much more.</div><hr style="border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><h2 style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 20px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">10. <a href="http://www.webstyleguide.com/wsg3/index.html" style="color: #2266bb; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Web Style Guide</a></h2><hr style="border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><center style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><img alt="webstyle guide image" original="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/WebStyleGuide.jpg" src="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/WebStyleGuide.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline;" /><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div></center><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">An in-depth resource that offers information and instruction related to several areas of web development, including interface design, information architecture and usability.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The book explains established design principles and illustrates how they apply to projects whose primary concerns are information design and efficient search and navigation.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Beginner and advanced designers will find this to be one of the most practical guides available.</div>Đinh Quang Huyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14910882054516360320noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8978053269359824347.post-71660238048736201322010-08-19T11:27:00.001-07:002010-08-19T11:40:39.463-07:0012 Beginner Tutorials for Getting Started With Photoshop<img src="http://mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/photo-editor.jpg"><br />
This series is supported by Ben & Jerry’s Joe, Ben & Jerry’s new line-up of Fair Trade and frozen iced coffee drinks. Learn more about it here.<br />
<br />
Adobe Photoshop, the ubiquitous and industry standard graphics software for photographers, designers, digital artists, as well as casual enthusiasts, can be a baffling application to understand the first time you fire it up. Luckily, littered across the vast space of the web are tutorials in all shapes and sizes that will help you get up and running in no time.<br />
<br />
In this post, I’ve pieced together 12 excellent Photoshop tutorials geared toward beginners. If you’re a complete novice or a casual user of this software, you’ve stopped by the right place.<br />
<br />
Because this is specifically for beginners — and because Photoshop’s robust set of features is near-bottomless — I’ve skipped intermediate and advanced topics such as drawing with the Pen tool and working with 3D effects.<br />
<br />
If you have tips for aspiring Photoshoppers, share them in the comments below.Đinh Quang Huyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14910882054516360320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8978053269359824347.post-58054224375649368852010-08-19T11:06:00.002-07:002010-08-19T11:40:45.211-07:00YouTube Launches Charts to Rank Top Web Videos<img src="http://mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/youtube-charts.jpg"><br />
YouTube has just announced it will be featuring its top videos in a new section called YouTube Charts.<br />
<br />
This page will keep you updated on which videos are trending right now, which are all-time classics, how various vids stack up against one another and more. Think of it as the Billboard Hot 100 for the world of web video.<br />
<br />
We’re guessing this will pretty much settle the Gaga v. Bieber YouTube debate once and for all as well as surface interesting and timely content from around the ‘Tube.<br />
<br />
YouTube Charts filter top videos by several criteria. You can grab a list of videos that got the most views, the most likes or the most subscribers over the past day, the past week, the past month or all time. You’ll be able to see the top 100 videos from each list; that means the YouTube Charts will feature 900 videos and channels (likely with some redundancies) every day.<br />
<br />
The “most subscribed” option also gives us some insight into what individuals or production channels are gaining popularity at any given moment.Đinh Quang Huyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14910882054516360320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8978053269359824347.post-83506033621700301652010-08-19T11:06:00.001-07:002010-08-19T11:40:56.018-07:00Google Releases Universal Search for Gmail, Docs and Sites<img src="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/apps-search-500.png"><br />
Ever wanted to search not only your e-mail, but your presentations, spreadsheets and documents? Googleis working on an experimental project to do just that.<br />
<br />
Google Apps Search is a new Gmail Labs feature that “extends search with Google Docs and Sites results,” according to the feature’s description. When you activate it, the “Search Mail” button changes to “Search Mail and Docs.” Now whenever you perform a search through your Gmail, it will not only display the 20 most recent e-mails with that query, but will also show 20 related Google Docs or Sites as well. These are displayed below the Gmail search results.<br />
<br />
In addition to universal search functionality, Apps Search also includes a second feature: “Did you mean?” search suggestions. Whenever your queries contain typos, Google will provide a suggestion for the search it believes you meant to perform, just like Google Search does.<br />
<br />
Combined with the “Search the Web” button that sits directly to the right of the “Search Mail and Docs” button, Gmail is quickly becoming a central location for performing all of your searches. Many Google Docs are related to e-mail threads; I can’t tell you how many times I’ve searched my e-mail just to get to a Google Doc. It’s nice to see a Labs feature address this problem.<br />
<br />
What do you think of Apps Search? Will you activate it for your account?Đinh Quang Huyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14910882054516360320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8978053269359824347.post-74956726737083056292010-08-19T11:03:00.000-07:002010-08-19T11:40:56.821-07:00Viral Videos and Flickr Photos Could Help You Circumvent Censorship<img src="http://mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/spy.jpg"><br />
A group of researchers at Georgia Tech may have an answer to the epidemic of government censorship we’ve seen marring communications in many international spheres of late: a system they’re calling “Collage” that will allow people to hide messages in user-generated content, to be disseminated via platforms like Twitter, Flickr and YouTube. That’s right, Keyboard Cat could become a harbinger of covert news.<br />
<br />
So how does this process work? Sam Burnett, one of the researchers involved in the project, described the system to us in layman’s terms: “Someone uploads pictures containing hidden messages to Flickr, then someone else comes along and downloads them and decodes the message. (Of course, it’s not dependent specifically on Flickr, YouTube, etc.)” A tool called Selenium helps in disseminating said messages.<br />
<br />
He also points out that while the current iteration of Collage uses an image steganography tool called Outguess for hiding content in images and a text steganography tool called SNOW for embedding content in text, the design makes it easy for users to change around its components — for example, instead of steganography, people could use watermarking techniques. Watermarking makes it difficult to remove the data without wreaking havoc on the cover material itself.<br />
<br />
“As far as we know, Collage is the first anti-censorship system to store messages inside user-generated content (e.g., on Flickr, YouTube, etc.) such that a censor can block/corrupt some of this content and users will still be able to retrieve their messages. The sender may publish 10 photos, with the expectation that the receiver can download any five of them and still reconstruct the message,” Burnett told us. “The main advantage of this approach is that, because we store our messages on existing user-generated content hosts, the system doesn’t require any additional infrastructure deployment (computers, network connections, etc.). This is in contrast to systems like Tor that rely extensively on volunteer support.”<br />
<br />
The researchers also plan on releasing the API, so that others can build applications.<br />
<br />
Although it’s easy for governments to block such sites — YouTube, Twitter and Google have been blocked in the past — Burnett and Co. are banking on that fact that it’s difficult for them to block all content sites.<br />
<br />
If you’re interested in finding out more about Collage, you can check out the full paper on the subject, embedded below. A demo of the technology will take place at SIGCOMM in New Delhi on September 1, and Collage will be published on the Georgia Tech Network Operations and Internet Security website.Đinh Quang Huyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14910882054516360320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8978053269359824347.post-24081814616487613612010-08-19T10:53:00.000-07:002010-12-28T21:01:14.300-08:00Yahoo Mail Comes to the iPad, HTML5-Style<img height="250" src="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/yahoo_mail_big.jpg" width="320" /><br />
Yahoo has launched a new, HTML5-based version of Yahoo Mail for the iPad. It’s similar to the recently launched version of Yahoo Mail for the iPhone and iPod Touch, Yahoo Mail product manager Lee Parry says, only optimized for iPad’s larger screen.<br />
<br />
Features include local caching, which enables you to access and search your messages while offline. There’s also the ability to see rich photo attachments in full form, or as previews directly in the inbox views, as well as a dual-pane view for a better overview of your inbox.<br />
<br />
You can also search through your inbox using Full Search, personal folders or Smart Folders with messages from your most important contacts.<br />
<br />
To try it out, open mail.yahoo.com in your iPad’s Safari browser.Đinh Quang Huyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14910882054516360320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8978053269359824347.post-43861248206551930252010-08-19T10:47:00.001-07:002010-08-19T10:47:35.473-07:00Intel Acquires McAfee For $7.68 Billion<img src="http://mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/intel-260.jpg"><br />
Intel has agreed to acquire McAfee Inc. for approximately $7.68 billion ($48 per share in cash), the company announced today. The boards of directors of both companies have approved the deal, which is expected to close following shareholder approval and regulatory clearances.<br />
<br />
It’s a huge deal for Intel, primarily a hardware company, to acquire a security-oriented software company, especially one as big as McAfee. However, Intel believes that security has become an integral part of computing, which makes it their business, too.<br />
<br />
“With the rapid expansion of growth across a vast array of Internet-connected devices, more and more of the elements of our lives have moved online. In the past, energy-efficient performance and connectivity have defined computing requirements. Looking forward, security will join those as a third pillar of what people demand from all computing experiences,” said Paul Otellini, Intel president and CEO.<br />
<br />
The fact that McAfee has experienced fantastic growth in recent quarters probably spurred Intel to go through with the deal, too. Be it hardware-enhanced security or pure software security products, there’s no doubt about it: Intel is now one of the market leaders.<br />
<br />
McAfee will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary, and it will be reporting to Intel’s Software and Services Group.Đinh Quang Huyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14910882054516360320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8978053269359824347.post-55849119547133981852010-08-19T10:46:00.001-07:002010-08-19T10:46:58.002-07:00People Magazine iPad App Launch Stalled by Photographer Disputes<img src="http://mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/ipad-magazines-225.jpg"><br />
Publishers are clamoring to get their magazine titles onto Apple’s iPad, but many may be facing a new challenge: photographers.<br />
<br />
The Hollywood Reporter reports that Time Inc. has been forced to delay the release of its People magazine iPad app, in part because of disputes with photo agencies over licensing agreements as they pertain to the iPad.<br />
<br />
Time Inc. has already released iPad variants of its Time, Fortune and Sports Illustrated titles, and had hoped to launch People earlier this month.<br />
<br />
While a spokeswoman for People says that the iPad application launch delay has “absolutely nothing to do with the photo agencies,” statements from various agencies belie those claims. THR reports that at least eight different agencies are banding together to withhold their photographs unless People grants them additional compensation for iPad usage.<br />
<br />
In other words, if People doesn’t agree to pay more to use photographs in the iPad app, the magazine will have a much more difficult time obtaining photos of Lindsay Lohan once she leaves rehab.<br />
<br />
Photo agencies that sell celebrity photographs to media publications like People make the majority of their revenue by selling the print rights to those photographs. Online usage fees command a much smaller price, in part because online photos rarely generate significant ad or subscription revenue. As Brandy Navarre, VP at X17 notes, “When you’re talking about paid apps supplemented by advertisements, that’s something different altogether.”<br />
<br />
People’s position is that it shouldn’t have to pay anything to use the photographs because the iPad app is just a replication of the print product. Aside from paying for any photos that aren’t in the print edition — for things like photo galleries — People thinks its current contract with photographers should cover iPad usage.<br />
<br />
Furthermore, People also argues that because it views the iPad app as a marketing tool, it can use photographs under a clause in its contract with photographers that allows for promotional repurposing.<br />
<br />
Photographers and photo agencies, already feeling the pressure of an ad recession, don’t want to write off their rights and fees for what many think could end up being the next big avenue for publishing. Agencies want to avoid what happened to many unions when the DVD platform took off. It took a prolonged writers’ strike for the WGA to gain royalties from DVD and digital sales of its members’ work.<br />
<br />
So why are other magazines not facing the same pressures as People? In part because People has the highest circulation in its field — more than 3.5 million for the first half of 2010 — and as THR notes, it has a much more diversified agency pool than many of its competitors. People is also known for being willing to shell out big money for exclusive photographs at a level that other publications just can’t match.<br />
<br />
The resolution with People could end up having a big impact on other photo-heavy publications that want to bring content to the iPad or other tablets.<br />
<br />
The evolution of publishing is certainly taking place digitally — and often online. The debate raises an important question that many publishers are still trying to find an answer to: Where does the line between digital and web publication lie? Furthermore, do those differences necessitate different rules for licensing, pricing and access?<br />
<br />
What do you think? Let us know your thoughts in the commentsĐinh Quang Huyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14910882054516360320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8978053269359824347.post-49219207601199502202010-08-19T10:45:00.000-07:002010-08-19T10:45:52.369-07:00Why the Social Gaming Biz is Just Heating Up<div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><em>Jeremy Liew invests primarily in the Internet and mobile sectors, with a particular interest in social media, commerce, gaming, financial and methods for increasing monetization. He joined <a href="http://www.lightspeedvp.com/" style="color: #2266bb; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Lightspeed</a> in early 2006.</em></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">These are interesting times in the social gaming industry. Two weeks ago <a href="http://mashable.com/2010/07/27/disney-playdom/" style="color: #2266bb; text-decoration: none;">Disney acquired Playdom</a>, and last week <a href="http://mashable.com/2010/08/06/google-slide/" style="color: #2266bb; text-decoration: none;">Google acquired Slide</a>. Just like that, two of the largest social game publishers have become part of larger companies. This activity all comes on the heels of <a href="http://mashable.com/2009/11/09/ea-acquires-playfish-2/" style="color: #2266bb; text-decoration: none;">EA’s acquisition of Playfish</a> late last year.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Social gaming, as a category, has grown incredibly quickly, becoming one of the dominant drivers of usage on <a href="http://www.mashable.com/category/facebook" style="color: #2266bb; text-decoration: none;">Facebook</a>, and an increasingly core component of people’s entertainment. This growth represents a real threat to other forms of entertainment, and has precipitated the three deals that we have seen so far.</div><hr style="border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><h2 style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 20px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">3 Factors in Social Gaming Viability and Acquisition</h2><hr style="border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><br />
<center style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-355796" height="240" original="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/money.jpg" src="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/money.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline;" title="money" width="640" /><br />
<div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div></center><br />
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The acquisitions show three commonalities. The first is <strong>strong management</strong>. Playfish is run by Kristian Segerstrale, a co-founder of Glu Mobile, a leading mobile game publisher. Playdom is run by John Pleasants, formerly COO of EA. And Slide’s CEO is Max Levchin, a co-founder of <a href="http://mashable.com/tag/paypal" style="color: #2266bb; text-decoration: none;">PayPal</a>. In each case, the leadership brings real experience, not just in social gaming, but also from previous successes.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The second is <strong>revenue scale</strong>. Each company was generating millions in monthly revenue at the time of acquisition, with valuations on exit being driven higher for the companies with the highest revenue at time of exit. To move the needle for companies as big as <a href="http://mashable.com/category/google" style="color: #2266bb; text-decoration: none;">Google</a>, Disney and EA, an acquisition needs to show the potential to drive hundreds of millions in annual revenue within a few years.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The third is <strong>capacity for repeatability</strong>. Games are a hit-driven business. While it is valuable to have a hit game, it is much more valuable to have a game factory that can repeatably produce more successes. There is uncertainty about the chances of any given game being a hit, so part of repeatability is about a company’s ability to take many shots on goal. The more studios and game developers that a company has, the more shots on goal it can take at any given time. At time of exit, each company had hundreds of employees building games, and had multiple games at some level of revenue or usage scale.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">However, the ability to take a lot of shots on goal is not enough. The other key driver of repeatability involves helping a game reliably find a scale audience. This can come from a large installed base of players, or from the ability to justify paid customer acquisition through high monetization. Each company had one or more of these abilities when they were acquired.</div><hr style="border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><h2 style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 20px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Social Games Have Value for Different Types of Companies</h2><hr style="border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The three acquisitions also differ in some meaningful ways. Each acquirer comes from a different category. One is a traditional game publisher (EA), one a traditional media company (Disney), and one a large Internet company (Google). This gives us some clues about what other companies may have interest in the sector. Potential future acquisitions might come from companies like Ubisoft and Activision from the game side, Viacom, CBS, Comcast/NBC and Newscorp on the media side, and companies such as <a href="http://mashable.com/tag/aol" style="color: #2266bb; text-decoration: none;">AOL</a>, IAC, <a href="http://mashable.com/category/microsoft" style="color: #2266bb; text-decoration: none;">Microsoft</a>and <a href="http://mashable.com/tag/yahoo" style="color: #2266bb; text-decoration: none;">Yahoo!</a> from the Internet side.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">In addition, given the success of free to play games in Asia, there are a number of potential Chinese (Shanda, QQ), Japanese (Mixi, DeNA) and Korean (SK Telecom, Nexon) companies who could look to one of these social gaming companies to establish a market in the U.S.</div><hr style="border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><h2 style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 20px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Which Acquisition Will Be Next?</h2><hr style="border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">While there are many entities that might be in the market to buy a gaming company, there are only four still independent U.S.-based social game publishers that have the revenue scale (more than $1 million each month) to be attractive as a target; Rockyou, Crowdstar, Watercooler and of course <a href="http://mashable.com/tag/zynga" style="color: #2266bb; text-decoration: none;">Zynga</a>.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Zynga is the industry powerhouse, and we’ve estimated in the past that they are doing <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2010/05/03/zynga-revenue/" style="color: #2266bb; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">more than $60 million a month in revenue</a>. They benefit from the ability to support multiple large development studios building high quality games, and to launch those games with significant marketing budgets and unparalleled cross promotional reach. Their 200 million monthly active users is four times the size of their closest competitors. This allows Zynga to quickly hook millions of users on its new games within days of launch, as they have recently demonstrated with <a href="http://mashable.com/2010/06/22/frontierville-2/" style="color: #2266bb; text-decoration: none;">Frontierville</a> and Treasure Isle. This is something that no other company is currently able to match.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">But given estimates of Softbank’s investment in Zynga at a <a href="http://mashable.com/2010/05/04/zynga-farmville-value/" style="color: #2266bb; text-decoration: none;">$4 billion valuation</a> range, they may be too big an acquisition for many of the potential buyers. While many companies might wish to own them, they may be more likely to be on a track to go public themselves.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">On the other hand, the other three companies may see a lot of interest over the next 12 to 18 months. In this game of musical chairs, there are far more players than there are chairs, and when the music stops, many of the potential acquirers may find themselves with no where to sit.</div><hr style="border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><h2 style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 20px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Smaller Players</h2><hr style="border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><br />
<center style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-355800" height="427" original="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/booyah.jpg" src="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/booyah.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline;" title="booyah" width="640" /><br />
<div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div></center><br />
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">There has also been a lot of activity at a smaller scale as well. Playdom and Zynga themselves have both been acquisitive, buying Acclaim, Challenge Games, Hive7, Lil Green Patch, Metaplace, MyMiniLife, Offbeat Creations, Serious Business, Three Melons, Trippert, Unoh, XPD Media and several others between them.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">That still leaves a number of social game developers that have at least one game at scale and revenues greater than $100,000 per month, including Booyah, Casual Collective, 50 cubes, LOLapps, Meteor Games, Metrogames, Slashkey and ZipZapPlay. Some of these are newer entrants who have burst to prominence in the last few months, while others are older companies that are continuing to milk the success of an earlier game launch.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">If we believe that value in social games is being attributed to management, revenue scale and repeatability, we may well see more consolidation at this level as well. Although these smaller companies may not be big enough to form the core of a social gaming group inside a big acquirer, they will be strategically valuable to the four bigger independent game developers who are continuing to build their scale and repeatability.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Furthermore, putting together some of these smaller players could create new “at scale” independent publishers with revenues greater than $1 million per month, and the core elements of repeatability, a multi-studio structure, cross promotional scale and know-how in virality and monetization.</div><hr style="border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><h2 style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 20px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The Future</h2><hr style="border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">This industry is exciting because of its dynamic nature, and I don’t expect that to change over the next 12 months. We will likely continue to see new game publishers burst onto the scene. At the same time, there will likely be further consolidation activity on three dimensions from giants buying the scale independent social game publishers, from the scale independent social game publishers buying smaller developers, and from some smaller developers coming together to create scale players.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Which company do you think will be the next to be acquired?</div>Đinh Quang Huyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14910882054516360320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8978053269359824347.post-53201002601582535252010-08-19T10:43:00.001-07:002010-08-19T10:43:42.536-07:00Twitter Lists and Tweet Counts Currently Disabled<div style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/cake-640.jpg" /></div><br />
Update: Both issues seem to have been resolved; Twitter lists and tweet counts are now back to normal.<br />
<br />
Reports are pouring in that Twitter lists as well as tweet counts are currently malfunctioning for some users.<br />
<br />
This has been going on for several hours, and Twitter is aware of the issue. According to a message on Twitter’s status blog, Twitter is working on the problem; the company estimates that lists and tweet counts will be restored by 6 a.m. PDT.<br />
<br />
If you really need to see your total number of tweets right now, you should still be able to do so on your profile page.Đinh Quang Huyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14910882054516360320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8978053269359824347.post-20506952805852689112010-08-19T10:42:00.002-07:002010-08-19T11:41:32.087-07:00“The Last Exorcism” Viral Campaign Spooks Chatroulette<img src="http://mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/chatroulette.jpg"><br />
Among all of the weird characters you can encounter on popular random video chat service Chatroulette, pretty girls are a breath of fresh air, right? Well, it depends: for users who’ve stumbled upon the viral video campaign from Lionsgate, promoting their latest horror movie The Last Exorcism, what started as a pleasant chat ended very… unexpectedly.<br />
<br />
We won’t spoil it for you — check out the video below (be advised, it contains strong words and unpleasant imagery) to see the best reactions of Chatroulette users.<br />
<br />
Interestingly, this is not the first viral video campaign for the movie; a couple of weeks ago a website called Church of Saint Marks appeared with “information” on exorcism. What the site actually featured was one of the main characters from the movie, Reverend Cotton Marcus.Đinh Quang Huyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14910882054516360320noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8978053269359824347.post-44110546392297187262010-08-19T10:42:00.000-07:002010-08-19T11:41:25.832-07:00Privacy Group Voices Concerns About Facebook Places<div style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img src="http://mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/facebook-speech-bubbles-260.jpg" /></div><br />
Earlier this evening, Facebook formally announced its geolocation component, Facebook Places, and it has already sparked concerns from a major privacy advocate.<br />
<br />
The ACLU of Northern California has issued its preliminary response to the features and is taking issue with the granularity and visibility of some of the new location-based user controls.<br />
<br />
Tagging, a feature that has made Facebook Photos such a success, is a key part of Facebook Places. Just as you can tag friends in photos you find or upload, you will also be able to tag individuals when you check in at a new location.<br />
<br />
But while Facebook makes it easy for users to allow their friends to check them in, the ACLU says that opting out of that feature is more difficult. For example, the feature lets users select a “not now” option when friends attempt to check them in, but not a “never” option to prevent friends from attempting to do so in the future. Further, if you’re already a Places user, friends can just check you in automatically.<br />
<br />
The ACLU also takes issue with the “Here Now” feature, which displays users that have recently checked in at a given Place. The problem, according to the ACLU, is that this list is accessible to anyone else who is checked-in to the same place. The ACLU has already put together a resource page dedicated to helping users lock down more of their information.<br />
<br />
It will likely take a few days of real world Facebook Places use to digest all of the privacy implications, but initially it seems that the biggest problem may not be with controlling what information an individual shares but what information others can share about them. Further, as the service becomes available and third-party apps start to work with the APIs, we’ll get a better idea of what this all really means.<br />
<br />
Right now, the only thing that seems really clear is that no matter how much Facebook may want to skirt the privacy issues it faced this spring, the company likely to face some serious questions from its users with this new product. After all, the potential for a location-based social graph is enormous, but so too are the real-world opportunities for privacy breaches.Đinh Quang Huyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14910882054516360320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8978053269359824347.post-84310293216864066792010-08-19T10:41:00.000-07:002010-08-19T11:41:19.731-07:00Will You Use Facebook Places?<div style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/facebookplaces-225.jpg" /></div><br />
It’s official: Facebook has jumped into the geolocation game with Facebook Places. The question is: will Facebook’s hundreds of millions of users embrace it?<br />
<br />
Facebook Places is a checkin service that’s quite similar to Foursquare or Gowalla on the surface — it allows you to checkin to places. What differentiates it is its tagging features, which allow you to tag friends that are with you at a location. There is also a focus on Facebook Place Pages, which house the checkin history of a given place on the web.<br />
<br />
Now that the details surrounding Facebook’s Places platform have been revealed, we wanted to find out what you, the readers, think. Is Facebook Places something you will use? Or will you continue to use services like Foursquare or Gowalla instead?<br />
<br />
We want to know your thoughts, so please vote in the poll below and don’t hesitate to explain or defend your choice in our comments section below!Đinh Quang Huyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14910882054516360320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8978053269359824347.post-29179960627799724832010-08-19T10:37:00.000-07:002010-08-19T11:41:19.316-07:005 Useful Facebook Trend and Search Services<div style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img height="200" src="http://mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/facebook-search-225.jpg" width="200" /></div><br />
As the world’s largest social network, <a href="http://www.mashable.com/category/facebook">Facebook</a> is a fascinating place to find out what’s hot, what’s news, and discover the latest meme.<br />
Despite recent improvements, <span class="blippr-nobr">Facebook’s<span class="blippr-nobr"><a class="blippr-inline-smiley blippr-inline-smiley-05" href="http://www.blippr.com/apps/336650-Facebook" rel="http://www.blippr.com/apps/336650-Facebook.whtml" target="_blank"> (<img alt="Facebook" class="wp-smiley" height="14" original="http://netdna.blippr.com/images/inline-face_05.png?1265851550" src="http://netdna.blippr.com/images/inline-face_05.png?1265851550" width="14" />)</a></span></span> in-site search doesn’t necessarily offer the best way to see such data. However, there are various services that provide a dedicated way to either search Facebook’s 500 million-strong data stream (at least what’s made public), or see what’s “trending” on the site in a way that’s similar to <a href="http://www.mahable.com/category/twitter">Twitter</a><span class="blippr-nobr"><a class="blippr-inline-smiley blippr-inline-smiley-07" href="http://www.blippr.com/apps/336651-Twitter" rel="http://www.blippr.com/apps/336651-Twitter.whtml" target="_blank"> (<img alt="Twitter" class="wp-smiley" height="14" original="http://netdna.blippr.com/images/inline-face_07.png?1265851550" src="http://netdna.blippr.com/images/inline-face_07.png?1265851550" style="display: none;" width="14" />)</a></span>.<br />
<br />
While we can’t overlook the fact that search engines like <a href="http://mashable.com/category/google">Google</a><span class="blippr-nobr"><a class="blippr-inline-smiley blippr-inline-smiley-07" href="http://www.blippr.com/apps/336661-Google" rel="http://www.blippr.com/apps/336661-Google.whtml" target="_blank"> (<img alt="Google" class="wp-smiley" height="14" original="http://netdna.blippr.com/images/inline-face_07.png?1265851550" src="http://netdna.blippr.com/images/inline-face_07.png?1265851550" style="display: none;" width="14" />)</a></span> and <a href="http://mashable.com/category/bing">Bing</a><span class="blippr-nobr"><a class="blippr-inline-smiley blippr-inline-smiley-03" href="http://www.blippr.com/apps/393174-Bing" rel="http://www.blippr.com/apps/393174-Bing.whtml" target="_blank"> (<img alt="Bing" class="wp-smiley" height="14" original="http://netdna.blippr.com/images/inline-face_03.png?1265851550" src="http://netdna.blippr.com/images/inline-face_03.png?1265851550" style="display: none;" width="14" />)</a></span> have begun offering “social search,” we think the five services listed below offer a more useful way to find out what people are saying about a particular topic, or even find out what’s being “Liked” in your social circle.<br />
<h2>1. <a href="http://www.kurrently.com/" target="_blank">Kurrently</a></h2><h2><a href="http://www.kurrently.com/" target="_blank"></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;"><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-355744" height="233" original="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/kurrently.jpg" src="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/kurrently.jpg" style="display: inline;" title="kurrently facebook search engine trending tools " width="615" /></span></h2>Kurrently is a dedicated search engine for both Twitter and Facebook, but you can narrow down the options to see results from one service or the other.<br />
Kurrently’s great selling point is that the search results continue to refresh after you’ve looked up a word or phrase, so you can experience the kind of auto-updating hashtag search we’re already familiar with on Twitter.<br />
Kurrently’s programmer Gilbert Leung said he started the site because he wanted to get a sense of the global sentiment on a certain issue.<br />
“Twitter Search was the obvious tool at the time,” says Leung, “but my immediate question was, ‘What about Facebook?’ Why am I searching through a community of around 60 million when a network of around 500 million exists?’”<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 24px; font-weight: bold;">2. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 24px; font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://itstrending.com/" target="_blank">It’s Trending</a></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<center><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-355682" height="214" original="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/itstrending.jpg" src="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/itstrending.jpg" style="display: inline;" title="facebook search tools services sites itstrending" width="615" /></center>Right now It’s Trending offers a non-searchable, real-time feed of the most shared content across Facebook, which is useful for anyone who wants a snapshot glimpse of the social web’s current zeitgeist in an incredibly simple and uncomplicated way.<br />
Giving you a new way to see hot topics across categories (video, news, sports, tech, gaming, comedy, etc) and across popular sites (Cracked, YouTube, <span class="blippr-nobr">Vimeo<span class="blippr-nobr"><a class="blippr-inline-smiley blippr-inline-smiley-05" href="http://www.blippr.com/apps/336792-Vimeo" rel="http://www.blippr.com/apps/336792-Vimeo.whtml" target="_blank"> (<img alt="Vimeo" class="wp-smiley" height="14" original="http://netdna.blippr.com/images/inline-face_05.png?1265851550" src="http://netdna.blippr.com/images/inline-face_05.png?1265851550" style="display: none;" width="14" />)</a></span></span>, DailyMotion, TechCrunch, Huffington Post, NY Times, CNN and yes, <span class="blippr-nobr">Mashable<span class="blippr-nobr"><a class="blippr-inline-smiley blippr-inline-smiley-07" href="http://www.blippr.com/apps/337174-Mashable" rel="http://www.blippr.com/apps/337174-Mashable.whtml" target="_blank"> (<img alt="Mashable" class="wp-smiley" height="14" original="http://netdna.blippr.com/images/inline-face_07.png?1265851550" src="http://netdna.blippr.com/images/inline-face_07.png?1265851550" style="display: none;" width="14" />)</a></span></span>) it’s a good-looking service that has big plans for the future — so definitely one to watch.<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 24px; font-weight: bold;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 24px; font-weight: bold;">3. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 24px; font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://youropenbook.org/" target="_blank">Openbook</a></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<center><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-355698" height="300" original="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/openbook.jpg" src="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/openbook.jpg" style="display: inline;" title="facebook search services tools sites openbook" width="615" /></center>While many of you may already be familiar with Openbook, it’s worthy of a place on this list for how simple it is to search, or see what others are searching for.<br />
Also worth mentioning for marketeers or researchers is Openbook’s unique ability to see search results from just male or female Facebookers — something that’s an incredibly useful tool if you need to narrow down data on a gender basis.<br />
<h2>4. <a href="http://www.booshaka.com/" target="_blank">Booshaka</a></h2><br />
<br />
<br />
<center><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-355718" height="354" original="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/booshaka.jpg" src="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/booshaka.jpg" style="display: inline;" title="facebook search tools sites services trending booshaka" width="615" /></center>Recent startup <a href="http://mashable.com/2010/08/12/booshaka/">Booshaka</a> offers a real-time look at what’s trending on Facebook based on open search keywords, as well as via topic if you’re interested in more a general browse.<br />
Main channel topics include news, music, sports, politics, gossip, TV, fashion, movies, deals, travel, brands and games (with each broken down into further sub-topics). Clicking on one of these will give you a stream of updates from relevant accounts.<br />
Once you’ve carried out a topic search, you can see how many “Likes” and comments a Facebook post has received, and narrow down the results by what’s trending now, what’s most popular, what’s most recent, and what has the biggest “buzz.”<br />
These further options could potentially help identify up-and-coming trends, as well as find out what folks are saying about established ones.<br />
<h2>5. <a href="http://facepinch.com/" target="_blank">Facepinch</a></h2><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<center><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-356574" height="221" original="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/facepinch.jpg" src="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/facepinch.jpg" style="display: inline;" title="facebook search trending analysis facepinch" width="615" /></center>Facepinch promises to let you know popular “Likes” (as well as create your own “Like”), view hot trending topics, and see what’s being sought after on Facebook with its top 100 most popular searches list. There is also the option to see recent searches if you’re more interested in what’s happening <em>right now</em>.<br />
While there’s no data to be gleaned from it, you can also browse recently updated profile pics with a gallery of random Facebook users’ names and thumbnails. The site’s default is the U.S., but you can select specific countries if you’ve an interest in a particular geographical area.<br />
The service’s creator, London-based Andrew Webb, states that besides the more obvious voyeuristic uses, he sees value in the site for brands:<br />
“[C]ompanies and marketing professionals [can] see an unfiltered glimpse of how their products are being really perceived by the public.”<br />
<h2>BONUS: <a href="http://likebutton.me/" target="_blank">Like Button</a></h2><br />
<br />
<br />
<center><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-355702" height="248" original="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/likebutton.jpg" src="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/likebutton.jpg" style="display: inline;" title="facebook search tools sites services likebutton" width="615" /></center>More aimed at finding out what’s hot in your own social circle, Like Button shows you “what people you know like on the <span class="blippr-nobr">Internet<span class="blippr-nobr"><a class="blippr-inline-smiley blippr-inline-smiley-05" href="http://www.blippr.com/apps/603086-Internet" rel="http://www.blippr.com/apps/603086-Internet.whtml" target="_blank"> (<img alt="Internet" class="wp-smiley" height="14" original="http://netdna.blippr.com/images/inline-face_05.png?1265851550" src="http://netdna.blippr.com/images/inline-face_05.png?1265851550" style="display: none;" width="14" />)</a></span></span> right now.”<br />
If you’re signed in via Facebook, you can see what your buddies have “Liked” on popular pre-loaded sites such as <a href="http://mashable.com/category/youtube">YouTube</a><span class="blippr-nobr"><a class="blippr-inline-smiley blippr-inline-smiley-07" href="http://www.blippr.com/apps/336658-YouTube" rel="http://www.blippr.com/apps/336658-YouTube.whtml" target="_blank"> (<img alt="YouTube" class="wp-smiley" height="14" original="http://netdna.blippr.com/images/inline-face_07.png?1265851550" src="http://netdna.blippr.com/images/inline-face_07.png?1265851550" style="display: none;" width="14" />)</a></span>, CNN, The Huffington Post, etc, and via categories including news, social media, tech, <a href="http://mashable.com/category/apple">Apple</a>, etc. But there is the infinitely useful option to add sites of your choosing too, making the Like Button site a personalized social window on the web.<br />
You can also click to view a brief overview of what’s hot on Facebook with the nine top trends displayed and refreshed every 15 minutes.<br />
In addition, and on the fun side of things, Like Button lets you create your very own “Like” and “Dislike” buttons, the former of which looks like this when posted to your Facebook wall:Đinh Quang Huyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14910882054516360320noreply@blogger.com0