Although 3D printing has been around since the ’80s, it only recently moved out of specialty prototyping shops. As the technology becomes more accessible — allowing anybody to design anything they want — it could revolutionize the way products are made and distributed.
“We think it will give rise to a… read more
This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.
There’s a new dilemma in today’s training world: Is it prudent to allow technology devices in the classroom? One school of thought is that there should be… read more
Mashable won a Webby Award for our business coverage, so how on earth could you let yourself miss our latest digital media resources? Just kidding — for whatever reason you couldn’t keep up this week, check out our features roundup for the best social media, business and tech resources.
This week,… read more
Ricky Berens is a world-class athlete, but he’s no Michael Phelps. The two teamed up to help the United States win a relay swimming gold medal at the 2008 Olympics and will probably both participate in the 2012 Games. But outside the pool their lives couldn’t be more different.
Berens… read more
NetPlenish CEO Dave Compton believes “there are two types of shoppers: convenience and price-driven.”
Compton says his wife was faced with a common shopping problem — having to visit multiple stores to find the best deals. It was a weekly challenge for her to find a particular brand of dog… read more
Today’s marketers are under-utilizing the large amounts of personal data their customers are sharing publicly every day, according to Adobe’s senior manager of social-media products, Chad Warren. By looking at their customers’ activity not just on social networks but all over the web, brands can potentially engage with them in… read more
In this reviewing business you occasionally get waylaid: in preparing a new camera review I usually begin with the text sources and specs data to feel my way. In this case, I did so, quite carefully, but dug into the wordage of the Nikon Coolpix P5100. Wrong!
The way model numbers… read more
The marketing world needs to stop being so afraid and start solving problems, according to Cindy Gallop, an entrepreneur and consultant whose prescription for growth calls for synthesizing creativity and data collection.
Gallop, who spoke at Mashable Connect Saturday morning, critiqued the current state of marketing, which she believes is driven… read more
The product featured in the above video may be the perfect accessory for a Saturday night. Meet the “Spray That Makes You Drunk” — WA|AH Quantum Sensations — created by scientist David Edwards and designer Philippe Starck.
The WA|AH spray lets users skip breakfast, lunch and dinner and go straight… read more
When I leave the house in the morning, the first thing I check is that I have my phone with me. It’s not my keys nor my wallet, but my phone that I’m most worried about forgetting.
My mobile device has become my lifeline in a lot of ways — and… read more
Tony Morrison is the Vice President of Business Development at Cachinko. Find him on Talent Connection and connect with Cachinko on Facebook or Twitter.
In the recent years, we have heard in the news some pretty creative “Take This Job and Shove It” stories. Joey quit his job with the support… read more
If you’re doing most of your sharing on Pinterest from the office, you’re doing it wrong. The best time to share things on Pinterest is Saturday morning, according to data from Bitly, the URL shortening service.
Hilary Mason, Bitly’s chief scientist, revealed the nugget during a talk at Mashable Connect in… read more
It’s time for our best news of this week. We have a lot of graphic and web design, a bit of architecture, ads, tech news, awesome reads and other crazy stuff! So take a look at the links we’ve selected for your inspiration and to keep you updated about what’s… read more
View engaging conference lectures, interesting how to discussions, and high quality freelance advice via video here on FreelanceSwitch.
This week we look at Designing books is no laughing matter. OK, it is. presented by graphic designer Chip Kidd. In this video we learn about the art of book cover design…. read more
Light Stalking just got a whole lot better for photographers
Our community has grown incredibly fast over the last few years. We are now a strong group of over 500,000 photographers (and growing daily) We know that you are extremely passionate about the art of taking beautiful photos. So, we are… read more
Asking budding entrepreneurs where they’d like to build their next startup often elicits the same three-word response: New York City.
Over the past four years, there’s been a 40% spike in startup financing in “Silicon Alley” — a bigger increase than anywhere else in the U.S.
Cities around the world… read more
The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.
Name: Needle
Quick Pitch: Needle offers expert live chat service to online retailers to help customers… read more
Looking for your next burrito, slice of pizza or cupcake just got a little easier with an update to AT&T Interactive’s YP app. Now in addition to searching for types of restaurants around you, you can look up specific items on the menu.
“We believe local is evolving from ‘search’ to… read more
This post is part of our daily series of posts showing the most inspiring images selected by some of the Abduzeedo’s writers and users. If you want to participate and share your graphic design inspiration, You can submit your images and inspiration to RAWZ via http://raw.abduzeedo.com and don’t forget to… read more
This time we are presenting a beautiful collection of some impressive and stunning letterpress designs for you that you can use to give your designs a fresh feel and finish. Letter press designs are different from other designs since the textures and shading used in these designs are slightly different.
Letterpress… read more
As Mac users, we’re often expected to fit within the lines of the Apple “ecosystem” – a Mac, iPhone, and maybe even an iPad. But the fact of the matter is that for many people, using something other than an iOS device just makes sense.
With that in mind, I’m going… read more
An expo or a conference is a great way to network with other people who work in your industry, as well as a great place to reach a target market.
I co-own and edit a wedding magazine, so I’ve been to my fair share of bridal expos. And I’ve learned… read more
Most of our business decisions, it seems, are made in our inboxes. We research the best tools for our job, contact customers, discuss plans with coworkers, and more, all via email. Many of us use old emails for references, too, and I find myself searching through Sparrow for old emails… read more
Savvy freelance editors often have a preternatural ability to zero in on dream clients and to steer clear from troublesome ones.
Ideal clients are those that are effortless to work with, straightforward and clear, and earn you the most money in a short period of time.
In contrast, challenging… read more
Formulating the social media strategy for any business involves answering quite a few ‘whys’, ‘hows’, ‘whats’ etc. This article explores the intermediate decisions to be taken by a firm in its social media journey right from conceptualization of entry to launch.
Customers are bombarded with messages from various newspapers, TV channels… read more
When creating websites you have to consider a great deal of aspects such as usability, visual-appeal, the technical side, and last but not least, brand building. Many successful and profitable businesses have been tackled this brand building with user-centric website design. They do this for different reasons, but the one… read more
Advertise here via BSA
We live in a world where technology is all around us. How many of us spend one day without checking email, taking calls and sending text messages? The great progress in technology scientists have made in the past few decades has been unprecedented, and has given way… read more
There’s dozens of writing apps out there, ranging from the basic plain text editors built into your OS to advanced note apps that can store all your text notes, as well as PDFs and a zillion other things. Even if you’re looking for a minimalist writing app, there’s so many… read more
A few weeks ago, I was quite surprised when I saw the pavement quickly approaching while I was out for a walk. Laying there stunned, I soon realized what had happened: I fell. Ouch. B-minus. I normally try to be as attentive as possible, but this time a big crack… read more
I’m a sucker for a good study, and a team of Asian researchers have come out with one about how your social networking sites can accurately predict your personality—something you may (or may not) want to do if you run your own business.
There is a theory out there, which… read more
Any business looking to ensure that they offer a good customer service to their consumers is going to want some way of providing help to their users online. In today’s competitive market, being the best is crucial and if your customers think that you’re going to do your best at… read more
Advertise here with BSA
No matter what sort of art you create – whether you are a graphic designer, painter, illustrator, digital artist, videographer, or any other type of artist – being featured on the web’s top art and design blogs can result in a huge surge of active followers,… read more
In this issue of Ask FreelanceSwitch, we look at client communication and incorporation. Ask FreelanceSwitch is a regular column here that allows us to help beginners get a grip on freelancing. If you have a question about freelancing that you want answered, send an email to askfreelanceswitch@gmail.com.
Question 1
I’m a… read more
Dubbed as the Academy Awards of the internet, the 16th annual Webby Awards were announced recently.
The Webby Awards honor online performers in four different categories: Websites, interactive advertising, online film & video and mobile apps. Again, each category is split into two prizes – The Webby Awards themselves… read more
Have you ever been stiffed by a client? Many freelancers have—and it sucks. More often than not, the cost to take the client to court is frequently much more expensive than the unpaid invoice. So what’s a freelancer to do?
One thing they can do is join forces in a… read more
In this day an age it’s not uncommon to hear bold statements such as “The business card is dead, it’s all about wireless vCard” or “I’ll email my contact details over after the conference”.
The truth is business cards are as prominent as ever, especially with the ever advancing… read more
Way back in 1989, when the idea of using computers to manage customer relationships was still in its infancy, a guy by the name of John Ferrara founded Goldmine Software which would spend the next decade pioneering CRM software solutions. In 1999 he sold Goldmine to a South African firm…. read more
I love brainstorming! I think it’s a way of getting the best for a project. It puts all heads together and brings out the best ideas, without bruising egos and involves the team equally. I’ve seen great things come out of brainstorms.
Lately, I’ve seen people stating that brainstorming isn’t the… read more
I was listening to the recording of The Renegade Writer’s Become a Confident Writer Teleclass and they mentioned that adage: “Editors are just people.”
Now, I know from experience that they’re lying—but I’ll get to that in a second.
First I think it’s important to note that one of the prerequisites… read more
As more of our lives are shared online, it becomes increasingly difficult to keep track of the things we want to keep private. You may be surprised how much of a trail you leave behind just from browsing the Internet. From saved cookies to form history, your personal information is… read more
Advertise here via BSA
Most people don’t often stop to think about the meaning of a logo, generally just taking them at face value and letting those meanings do their work subconsciously. Every now and then, usually after enough repetitions, it becomes obvious: there’s an arrow in the FedEx logo, or… read more
The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.
Name: Screenleap
Quick Pitch: Share your computer screen on the web with one click.
Genius Idea: No software is… read more
This post is part of our daily series of posts showing the most inspiring images selected by some of the Abduzeedo’s writers and users. If you want to participate and share your graphic design inspiration, You can submit your images and inspiration to RAWZ via http://raw.abduzeedo.com and don’t forget to… read more
As every kid who enjoyed heavy metal I started illustrating influenced by CD covers from bands as Sepultura, Slayer and Cannibal Corpse. I always enjoyed the gore and splatter aesthetic of this type of artwork, but I actually thought no one could make a living doing extreme metal artworks. I… read more
Twitter might be developing a premium version of its service, CEO Dick Costolo indicated on stage at Wired‘s business conference in New York City Tuesday afternoon.
An audience member asked Costolo whether Twitter would ever introduced a “pro” version for individual users. Costolo refused to confirm that Twitter was working to… read more
Kickstarter has raised more than $200 million from 2 million backers, cofounder Yancey Strickler said on stage at Wired‘s business conference in Manhattan Tuesday morning. That money has funded more than 22,000 projects in the three years the crowdfunding platform has been in business, he added.
Less positively, Strickler said that… read more
Marketing is integral to the success of any freelancer, and the difference between mediocre freelancers and professional ones is often how smart they are at marketing.
As a freelancer, you also need to realize that marketing isn’t all about working hard, it is about working smart. The main thing you… read more
Nellie Akalp is the CEO of CorpNet.com, an online legal document filing service, where she helps entrepreneurs incorporate or form an LLC for their new businesses. Connect with Nellie on Twitter or visit her free resource center.
Spring is in full bloom and for many that means dusting off the… read more
Time management is incredibly important for many people. We all have busy lives and the more we can get out of our time working, the more time we have for other things. With there being only twenty-four hours in a day it really comes down to being as efficient as… read more
There is certainly no denying the ever-growing popularity of Pinterest. With over 2.5 million users participating in the beta, Pinterest provides a new and unique way to discover and share the web. This growing popularity has, of course, spawned numerous sites that utilize a variety of Pinterest elements.
If Pinterest… read more
News aggregation site Digg‘s technology team may soon become part of The Washington Post’s media empire, according to reports.
The newspaper giant is “in the process of buying” Digg’s tech team, according to AllThingsD. The team will work with the people who created the WaPo’s Social Reader app. Digg, meanwhile, will… read more
Each month, we bring together a selection of the best tutorials and articles from across the whole Tuts+ network. Whether you’d like to read the top posts from your favourite site, or would like to start learning something completely new, this is the best place to start!
We’ve Been in Kuala… read more
All too often, freelancers look at their clients as one-off opportunities. They do a job, complete a project, and when payment exchanged, they wave good-bye and never look back. But regular contact with former clients should be an integral part of your freelance business.
Call it public relations or… read more
Searching online it’s easy to find great examples of websites using HTML5, but less easy to discover such sites by category. Commercial sites using the fifth revision to its full potential have been showing up all over the world, so we decided to research and collate some of the better… read more
Wherever you are in the world, this summer, get ready for the much anticipated movie Marvel’s the Avengers. For this occasion, I highlighted some designers that really stunned me and turn their world upside down to create pretty interesting concepts and pieces. I hope you will enjoy these series by… read more
This post is part of our daily series of posts showing the most inspiring images selected by some of the Abduzeedo’s writers and users. If you want to participate and share your graphic design inspiration, You can submit your images and inspiration to RAWZ via http://raw.abduzeedo.com and don’t forget to… read more
If you’ve been using the web over the past decade you’ll remember how difficult it used to be to send large files to people online. Either your file’s size wasn’t supported by the service you chose or the upload would time out, leaving you in the lurch. Since then, our… read more
Freelance business owners often struggle with the question of whether to hire a contractor or an employee. Many claim that contractors are the way to go, hands down; still others have only hire employees and claim they would never do anything different. So, what should you do when… read more
It’s been almost twenty years since the first branded Content Management Systems (CMSs) hit the market. They were an unbearable kluge back then, and didn’t work well; but hey, if you had a bajillion dollars to toss at MarchFirst or any one of hundreds of other pre-dot-bomb era… read more
The magazine I work for is looking to hire a part-time graphic designer to help the production department with creating print ads. The team has interviewed a few good candidates already, but nothing has stuck.
In fact, there was one woman who the team really liked. She showed us some… read more
Just as businesses were mastering Facebook Pages, Facebook pulled out the rug from underneath them and changed the game plan.
On March 30th, Facebook launched the new Timeline for Pages and no business was immune to the changes.
The new platform is a stark difference from the previous, and learning the ropes… read more
Once a week, we feature a fantastic freelance-themed comic from the talented N.C. Winters. Why not also take a look at our comic archive?
I was talking to a friend earlier today who works for a large design firm and he admitted to me that he’d never make it as a freelancer. His reason was based solely off the amount of time it took him to find the perfect font for everything. That lead… read more
For most of us, base jumping Go Pro photographers excepted, photography is a pretty safe hobby or profession. However sometimes we forget that the pride and joy hanging around our neck, is in fact, an expensive, hi-tech piece of equipment that may have cost several thousand dollars. The aim of… read more
A night out dancing is always so much better when you don’t have to hang on to a clunky purse.
College girls want to avoid carrying items to parties at all costs. Two Washington college students have created a pushup bra specifically for carrying a smartphone, credit cards, IDs,… read more
Magazine publishers are rapidly getting serious about ecommerce.
Earlier this month, Time Out New York, a weekly print and digital magazine covering entertainment in New York City, began selling event tickets through its website and iOS apps. And last week, Hearst-owned Real Simple magazine released a mobile gift guide that allows… read more
Josh Tolan is the CEO of Spark Hire, which combines a video job board and online interviewing platform to enrich interaction between job seekers and employers. Connect with him and Spark Hire on Facebook and Twitter.
Studying literature at Oxford or finance at the London School of Economics; strolling by… read more
How “business surfing” can make or break any entrepreneur!
In our social entrepreneurship series, The World at Work, Mashable interviews the faces behind the startups and projects that are working to make a global impact.
By harnessing the power of digital technology, these five companies have altered commonplace models such as crowdfunding and toy development to change the world… read more
The New York Times accused Apple of “sidestepping” billions of dollars in taxes by setting up subsidiary companies in tax-free or low-tax states and countries.
Apple, based in Cupertino, Calif., uses a small office in state-tax-free Nevada to manage and invest its profits, allowing it to bypass California’s 8.84% corporate… read more
Could Pinterest be the silver bullet for retailers on social media? Pinterest is clearly resonating with online consumers in a big way. To put it simply, customers who find a product via Pinterest are more likely to purchase it than those who find the product via other social networks.
SEE ALSO: 10 Video… read more
The House of Representatives changed, then passed, the controversial Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, better known as CISPA, late Thursday afternoon. As the dust settles, many are wondering where CISPA stands now and where it’s headed next.
Hey Mashable, what’s CISPA?
CISPA’s designed to let private business share information about cybersecurity… read more
Chris Cope is CEO of SlimWare Utilities. The company is founded on the premise that cloud computing and crowd-sourced applications will revolutionize the performance of personal computing.
Few activities are more frustrating than staring at your old computer, helplessly willing it to move faster. In business, and especially when it comes to… read more
Working as a contractor–or freelancing as it is often termed–is both a great stepping stone to running your own business and a viable career in itself. For the uninitiated, there can be numerous hurdles to overcome on the way to starting and having a… read more
Every other week we roundup some of the highest quality articles and resources that benefit freelancers from across the web. We present these articles here on various helpful topics. This week we have articles on pricing ecommerce web projects, creating remarkable guides, pushing past fear, and more.
Pricing Ecommerce Web… read more
Have you spent the past week studying the nuts and bolts of the new Gmail interface? Or have you been preoccupied with the space shuttle Enterprise‘s final flight to New York City (and the absurd memes that came along with it)? For whichever reasons you missed our latest digital media… read more
Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the twins who claimed to have played a big part in starting up Facebook and sued CEO Mark Zuckerberg for their share, have now become venture capitalists, announcing their new firm Friday morning on the CNBC show Squawk Box.
They’re off to a good start, considering… read more
Sharlyn Lauby, SPHR, CPLP, is the HR Bartender, whose blog is a friendly place to discuss workplace issues. When not “bartending,” Sharlyn is president of Internal Talent Management, which specializes in leadership training and human resources consulting.
Since paper applications are going the way of the dinosaur in favor of digital… read more
It’s time for our best news of this week. We have a lot of graphic and web design, a bit of architecture, ads, tech news, awesome reads and other crazy stuff! So take a look at the links we’ve selected for your inspiration and to keep you updated about what’s… read more
View engaging conference lectures, interesting how to discussions, and high quality freelance advice via video here on FreelanceSwitch.
This week we look at A new way to think about creativity by Elizabeth Gilbert. In this video “Eat, Pray, Love” Author Elizabeth Gilbert muses on the impossible things we expect from… read more
Managing a group is almost always a nightmare, and it doesn’t help if you’re stuck using a low-quality web app to delegate tasks. Whether you’re creating the next best-selling mobile game, coordinating a rebranding exercise or putting together a yard sale, it’s important to be able to communicate clearly and… read more
Had enough of machine-based online translation services such as Babelfish or Google Translate?
Ackuna is a crowdsourced translation project, connecting individuals around the world with human translators who can give you just the right phrasing. The free-to-use site is a side project of Translation Services USA.
“We’re building a… read more
As part of Skype’s latest marketing campaign, the video call service has launched a Facebook app geared at making our interactions more human: Skype Humoticons.
The app basically allows us to recreate classic emoticon images — such as the smiley face, sad face or tongue-out face — with our own real-life… read more
HelloFax got one step closer to its goal of eliminating the fax machine this week. The service has been integrated into Google Drive.
HelloFax’s Google Drive integration allows you to fax any document from Google Drive, as well as receive faxes from others in a special HelloFax folder within the drive…. read more
Brian Carter is vice president of marketing and customer success at InfiniGraph. He’s also the author of The Like Economy and the forthcoming LinkedIn For Business. Follow him @briancarter.
If you have a Facebook page, you likely know how important it is to get likes and comments. Without those, your EdgeRank… read more
Totally Unique and Creative Business Card Designs
Yahoo just took its war of lawsuits with Facebook to the next level, adding two more patent-infringement claims to the 10 it filed for back in March.
The company also accused Facebook of not having a good-faith belief in the counterclaim it filed almost a month ago.
“Today Yahoo! filed additional… read more
Deciding to leave your full-time job for your startup isn’t easy. But what happens when one founder is on board and the other would rather continue to take home a steady paycheck?
That issue plays itself out in the third episode of TechStars, where one company’s co-founder decides… read more
As AMC prepares for the premiere for its new original series The Pitch, the network faced a unique challenge — how to develop an ad campaign about a TV show about ad campaigns.
We spoke with Linda Schupack, EVP of Marketing at AMC, about pitch process for the key art around… read more
Mice-a-Palooza
More Microsoft mice than I’ve ever seen in one spot.
Click here to view this gallery.
Microsoft has been making… read more
Players are expressing their woes online after failing to pitch a perfect game on the recently-released MLB 2K12. Gamers who successfully pitch perfection can compete for a chance to win a trip to New York City and a million dollars.
The MLB 2K12 Perfect Game Challenge Tournament invites players… read more
Jesse Draper is creator and host of “The Valley Girl Show” through which she’s become a spokesperson for startups and helped pioneer the way of new media content distribution. Formerly a Nickelodeon star, Draper is now CEO of Valley Girl™ where she oversees the show and runs… read more
The NBA’s lockout-shortened regular season has come to a close and the 2012 playoffs tip-off Saturday. It was a pretty remarkable season on the court — LeBron James’s statistical genius, Jeremy Lin‘s magical run and Blake Griffin’s thunderous dunks being just a few of many highlights.
But pro basketball had… read more
Welcome to the first in a new series of interviews called “How I Work”. These interviews revolve around how thinkers and creators in the Web world design, code, and create. The goal is not to get into the specific nuances of their craft (as that information already exists online), but… read more
Traveling for work can be a blessing—or a curse—depending on how you handle it. I have to drive a fair amount for my job, but many freelancers spend hours in airports, train stations, and bus terminals.
I found some handy tips on staying productive while traveling on Inc.com. I thought… read more
Email marketing is the most popular trend of today’s business world. It is one of the simplest, yet most successful, ways to market your business. The core aim of email marketing is to reach out to the maximum number of customers and market your business. This helps you reach many… read more
Advertise here with BSA
Working as a digital professional in any field is tough. You have to constantly push towards gratifying clients and rushing through deadlines. Managing tasks in a team allows you to divide up the work much more evenly. However this also means it can be difficult getting… read more
You just finished a six week long project. You thought it came out great, so you didn’t expect their email, telling you they just weren’t happy with it. Now what?
Park your emotions. It’s easy to get worked up from negative feedback, particularly for a freelancer who is naturally quite tied… read more