HTML5 video Libraries, Toolkits and Players

For the most part, Flash has always been the standard for showing video on the web (think of YouTube and Vimeo), supported in all browsers with the only exception being the iPhone and most recently, the iPad.
But now, with HTML5, the new video tag is creeping into our lives… read more

WhiteHouse.gov Open-Sources Its Code

Yesterday at DrupalCon, representatives of WhiteHouse.gov announced they were open sourcing, a.k.a. giving away free of charge, modules of Drupal code they had developed and customized. Drupal itself is an open source project and one of the most popular website-building tools around. This CMS powers a sizeable chunk of… read more

Google Confirms Free Turn-by-Turn Directions Coming to iPhone

Free turn-by-turn Google Maps Navigation has already threatened an entire industry of GPS navigation companies whose livelihood depends on selling paid versions of what the search giant is now giving away for free. Currently Google Maps Navigation is available for Android phones only, but in a London press conference… read more

Even Tiger Woods is Hopping on the Virtual Currency Bandwagon

The promise of virtual currency has proved an effective way to get users to engage with their friends in social games like FarmVille and Mafia Wars. Now, Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online – the web-based version of the popular console game from Electronic Arts – is giving this… read more

Showtime Picks Up Lisa Kudrow’s Web Series “Web Therapy”

Lisa Kudrow of Friends fame can thank her stint as a web TV star for her next big return to the small screen. Web Therapy — an accredited web series she created and stars in — has been picked up by Showtime.

Digital Spy reports that that the 45 ten-minute… read more

How Social Media Helped Travelers During the Iceland Volcano Eruption

Shashank Nigam is the CEO of SimpliFlying.com, an award-winning blog on airline branding. He tweets at @simpliflying.

Hundreds of thousands of travelers scrambled to find alternative modes of transportation, last minute hotel bookings and even home-stays when the Icelandic volcano disrupted air travel around Europe over the last seven days…. read more

Couple Grounded by Volcanic Ash Married Via Skype

Oh, man, it’s just like one of those treacle-soaked romantic comedies: When one couple found themselves stranded in Dubai due to a pesky case of volcanic ash, they improvised and got married anyway… via Skype.

Brit Sean Murtagh, 24, and 30-year-old Aussie Natalie Mead almost missed their wedding… read more

YouTube’s Advice: Dispute Hitler “Downfall” Parody Takedowns

Two days ago, several of the popular Hitler Downfall parody videos were pulled from YouTube because owner Constantin Films claimed they infringed on the copyright. YouTube indirectly responded on its blog today by encouraging its users to dispute the takedowns through a process it already has in place for… read more

Find and Track Trends on Your Phone with iCoolhunt

This post is part of Mashable’s Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark.

Name: iCoolhunt

Quick Pitch: iCoolhunt is the first location-based… read more

Design Inspiration: Showcase of Beautiful Typography and Text Effects

Every once in a while we showcase various works of typography and text effects for your design inspiration. In today’s post we have 30 items to feature, covering a wide variety in types and styles of design.

You may also be interested in our previous showcases:

Typography Inspiration Showcase
30 Examples of Inspirational… read more

Nikon D40 – Modern Classic [REVIEW]

40 Reasons why you don’t need 18mp

In February 2010, Canon released the EOS 550D with an 18 megapixel sensor, HD video and a $900 price tag. Will Canon tell the folks lining up to buy this camera how much extra work it will add to their simple lives? And how… read more

5 Masterminds That Have Redefined Startup Life

This series is supported by Bantam Live, a web-based collaboration workspace for small business teams. For more information visit Bantamlive.com.

Since the earliest days of the Internet entrepreneur, there have been vast shifts in ideologies about what makes for a successful online business. These shifts have been predicated by thought… read more

More Than Half of Mobile Internet Time Is Spent on Social Networks [STATS]

A recent study by Ground Truth, a mobile measurement firm, revealed that approximately 60% of the time spent on the mobile Internet is spent on social networking sites and apps. Users spent only about 14% of mobile Internet time on portals, the second most popular category.

“The disparity of time… read more

Foursquare Makes it Easy for Businesses to Sign Up

Foursquare is making it easier than ever for businesses to offer venue promotions and get insight on their Foursquare traction. The location-oriented social network has launched a do-it-yourself tool for business to claim their venue and reap the rewards of the business dashboard.

Venue pages now include the message, “Are… read more

A Personal Selection of Premium Character Design Websites and Resources

It’s important to not get overwhelmed with all the information out there on character illustration and design. In addition to finding a selection of high quality sites you want to participate in, I recommend buying one or two books at a time and working all the way through them. While… read more

Satellites Will Issue Speeding Tickets from Space

UK drivers had better stay under that speed limit, because the traffic authorities are watching… from outer space. According to The Telegraph, an American company called PIPS Technology has developed a system that uses two cameras on the ground and one mounted on a satellite in orbit to catch… read more

Mafia Wars and FishVille Players Raise Money for Charities

In a shining example of social media for social good, Zynga’s social game players have been raising money for two non-profit organizations, one that targets Huntington’s disease and another that aims to bring clean drinking water to developing areas.

Over the course of two five-day campaigns, users raised more than… read more

Earth Day: How Are You Contributing?

It’s Earth Day and people everywhere are taking action, no matter how small, to contribute or change the way they consume to reduce their impact on our environment. Thanks to the internet, there are fantastic ideas gushing from all over the globe to help you find one or more ways… read more

10 Excellent Examples of Recycled Gadgetry

This series is brought to you by Best Buy. For more information on their recycling program and to make your recycle pledge, please visit recycleiton.com.

As Kermit once wisely said, it isn’t easy being green, especially if you’re really into your gadgets, but recycling old products and buying new ones… read more

Search Suggest Comes to Google Maps

Google Suggest — the often amusing auto-suggest feature in search boxes — has made its way to Google Maps today.

Previously only available in Germany, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, the feature is now available on ten new domains — including the U.S. and the U.K — and in eight… read more

10 Free iPhone Apps to Help You Go Green for Earth Day

In honor of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, we thought it fitting to compile a list of free green-inspired iPhone apps that promote continued environmental awareness. Although incredible progress has been made in this movement over the past few decades, the fate of the environment still hinges on… read more

Showcase Of Web Design In Netherlands

The Netherlands, also known as the “Low Countries,” is a small, crowded, muddy piece of land through which a few big important rivers fortunately run. In this country, you can find coffee shops, wooden shoes, tulips, windmills and a lot of water.

And everything is rather small! Well, at least most… read more

Create Super Customized Dress Shirts with Blank Label

This post is part of Mashable’s Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark.

Name: Blank Label

Quick Pitch: Blank Label is a… read more

Hulu to Launch a Subscription Service in May?

In May, Hulu plans to start testing a subscription service that would cost a monthly fee of $9.95, claims the L.A. Times, citing people familiar with the plans.

Currently, Hulu viewers can see the five most recent episodes of popular shows such as Glee and Lost. The subscription service, called… read more

Attack of the Mac Emulators: Retro Games on OS X

Remember all those great video games you had when you were younger? Wouldn’t it be amazing if you could download and play those games on your Mac? It turns out you can.

Today we enter into some seriously shaky territory that often stretches the bounds of both legality and awesomeness:… read more

Coping with Client Fallout

I recently had a project that did not end well. In a nutshell, the client refused to work with me to revise his copy and simply insisted he didn’t like it. He didn’t even give me the chance to improve upon it. Without his effort, I was left to retort… read more

Ginger Monkey’s New and Beautiful Work

Tom Lane is the guy behind Ginger Monkey, living in Bristol, the UK, he has produced some incredible works for big clients such as Sony Ericcson, Mercedez-Benz, Coca-Cola, BT, BMW, Miller and many others. We can also see his works on popular magazines like Computer Arts. So in this post… read more

Choosing Your First Full Time Position Wisely

Having went through this in the past, I had no guidance of what to look for. Applying for several jobs over the internet job boards, I found a small company hiring developers with little to no experience, and offering the job through a local internship program. I thought this was… read more

Premium Vector Pack – Classic Japan

We have a new set of vector illustrations available exclusively for Vector Premium members. Crafted by the group over at Designious, there are numerous classic, Japanese style, vector illustrations in this set. You can use them in your next project where an eastern feel is needed. Learn more at the… read more

Dell Lightning Is the Windows Phone 7 Device You’ve Been Craving

With Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 platform around the corner, we expect the first devices based on the OS to be powerful beasts, and Dell Lightning, a leaked Windows Phone 7 potrait slider phone, confirms our expectations.

It packs a (now quite standard) 1GHz Snapdragon CPU, a WVGA 4.1 inch OLED… read more

Ginger Monkey’s New and Beautiful Work

Tom Lane is the guy behind Ginger Monkey, living in Bristol, the UK, he has produced some incredible works for big clients such as Sony Ericcson, Mercedez-Benz, Coca-Cola, BT, BMW, Miller and many others. We can also see his works on popular magazines like Computer Arts. So in this post… read more

Get Fast Access To All Your Google Tools In Chrome With MyShortcuts

The main reason for me to shift from Firefox to Chrome was the speed and performance it was offering me. At first it really didn’t had any extensions and I was not able to improve my work productivity but as soon as the extensions hit the market I was one… read more

Levi’s Integrates Facebook Social Plugins into Online Shop

Levi’s is one of the first major brands to implement Facebook’s social plugins into their online shop, turning it into a “social shopping experience.”

Upon entering levi.com, shoppers can now choose to shop socially by clicking on the “like-minded shopping starts here” sign. In there, customers can share Levi’s products… read more

Understanding and the Meaning of Color Within Design

Color is the perceivable characteristic of light; light is energy, so color is a form of energy. In 1666 sir Isaac Newton discovered that sunlight is a mixture of colors by noticing that when a ray of light passes through a prism it is dispersed into its seven constituent colors:… read more

Manipulating the DOM with jQuery: 10+ useful code snippets

The Document Object Model is an API which allows developers to access, read, and modify the content of a web page. In this article, I’m going to show you 10+ extremely useful code snippets to manipulate the DOM using jQuery. read more

A pixel is not a pixel is not a pixel

Very informative and useful article about pixel sizes on mobile devices. A must read. read more

Easily Share Videos To Facebook And Twitter From Your Cell Phone With Thwapr

Facebook and Twitter users who own smartphones often are on the lookout for applications that can complement their social media usage. One way in which our social media accounts can be made more active is by developing a simple method to record videos on our cellphones and then share them… read more

Creating and Applying Natural Textures

Textures make a website feel tangible.

They give content a relationship to the physical world, a sense of place and a reality that people can relate to.

Unfortunately, simulating physical textures isn’t as simple as shooting a photo or running a few Photoshop filters.

One has to blend random … read more

25% OFF our Photography E-Books Bundled Together

Over the last 6 months here at dPS we’ve launched two downloadable E-Books:

The Essential Guide to Portrait Photography
Photo Nuts and Bolts: Know Your Camera and Take Better Photos

Both have been downloaded and appreciated by thousands of our readers and in doing so have helped to keep dPS funded… read more

Hollywood and “The Cove” Join Forces for Dolphin Awareness PSA [VIDEO]

Hollywood is coming together to spread the word about the brutal slaughter of dolphins off the coast of Japan. In the Academy Award winning documentary The Cove, these practices are exposed from the perspective of those that are working to put a stop to it.

In honor of Earth Day,… read more

Apple Considering $8 Billion Acquisition of ARM [RUMOR]

ARM Holdings, the company that creates the processors for most of the world’s mobile phones including the iPhone and iPad, is now the center of major acquisition rumors. The potential buyer: none other than Apple.

According to the London Evening Standard, there is huge chatter in London’s financial scene… read more

Facebook Open Graph: What it Means for Privacy

At Facebook’s F8 Developer Conference today, the company fleshed out its plans to become the social center of the web. With the new Open Graph API and protocol and the ability to integrate websites and web apps within your existing social network, the platform will become more robust than… read more

Mashable’s Weekly Job Listings in Social Media

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

Mashable’s Google Wave API Contest Winners

After poring over the multitude of submissions we received to the Mashable’s Google Wave API Challenge, we’re proud to announce the results.

The three winners in our people’s choice categories are Texas Holdem Poker for “Most Fun,” Wave Transformer for “Most Useful” and Resourcy for “Best Use of the… read more

5 More Ways to Go Green for Earth Day

Geoff Livingston co-founded Zoetica to focus on cause-related work, and released an award-winning book on new media Now is Gone in 2007.

There are many ways to take part in the environmental movement on the social web. With Earth Day rapidly approaching this Thursday, we decided to revisit our… read more

Facebook Reveals FriendFeed’s Future [VIDEO]

Last August, when Facebook bought Twitter competitor FriendFeed, many of its core users were shocked and concerned, even speculating as to whether the social networking giant would shutter the startup and absorb its tech as part of a new feature or product.

At the time, we wrote, “There would be… read more

Leaked Next Generation iPhone Footage Goes Viral: Will It Boost Sales? [POLL]

By now, practically everyone has seen Gizmodo’s video of what is said to be a next generation iPhone — well, about 3.5 million people worldwide have seen it, at least. The incident itself, in which a hapless Apple employee named Gray Powell misplaces the phone at a bar, has… read more

Facebook’s Open Graph Personalizes the Web

Facebook has created a platform that allows sites and apps to share information about users in order to tailor offers, features and services to each one’s interests and tastes — even if that individual has never visited the site before.

When you’re signed on to Facebook, participating websites like CNN.com… read more

Facebook to Kill Facebook Connect

Facebook Connect, the company’s tool for bringing your social graph to third-party websites, will soon be no more.

During a press conference today at Facebook’s F8 conference in San Francisco, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the Facebook Connect brand would be eliminated as part of the launch of Open… read more

Pentax K-x – taking shots at Nikon and Canon

Pentax K-x: Background

I’d really looked forward to getting my hands on this camera. The reviews had been tantalising. Imaging Resource said: ‘the Pentax Kx has enormous value, thanks to its remarkable image and print quality, fine build, and class-leading burst speed, all combining to make one impressive digital SLR… read more

Pandora Partners with Facebook for Social Music

Music discovery engine Pandora is receiving some deep social integration with Facebook, Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced today at the F8 Developer Conference.

Made possible by Facebook’s new Open Graph protocol, Pandora will be able to stream music directly on Facebook.com from bands you’ve “liked” across the web. You’ll… read more

Facebook Teams Up with Microsoft on Docs.com

Mark Zuckerburg announced today on the stage of f8, the Facebook developer conference, that Facebook will be launching a collaborative document-editing tool with Microsoft. Docs.com will be released to the public in just a few hours.

Users will be able to find, create and share Microsoft Office documents with their… read more

8 Social Media Strategies to Engage Multicultural Consumers

Jessica Faye Carter is an award-winning author and columnist. Her company, Nette Media develops social media technologies for women and multicultural communities, and she blogs at Technicultr.

Recently, more companies than ever have begun using social media to reach multicultural consumers. If you’re wondering what’s behind the trend, it stems… read more

Facebook Makes Major Announcements at F8 [LIVE]

Here at Facebook’s F8 Conference in San Francisco, Facebook Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is making major announcements to an audience of developers and press.

Here are my live notes:

Live Notes: Mark Zuckerberg’s Keynote

- It took only 15 months for 100 million users to use Facebook onnect

- Asking for user… read more

Hospital Outfits Staff with 100 iPads

A hospital district in Visalia, California, has ordered 100 iPads to provide staff with access to rudimentary applications like e-mail, as well as X-ray images, EKG results and patient monitoring programs around its five sites.

Nick Volosin, the hospital’s director of technical services, thinks the iPad is a superior alternative… read more

AudioBox.fm: Like iTunes in the Cloud

When we say the world is increasingly moving towards desktop-like applications in the cloud, AudioBox.fm is a perfect example proving just that. Although there are many great music web apps, none of them give you the capabilities and interface AudioBox.fm does.

The AudioBox.fm is consistently making improvements and enhancements, sure to… read more

Get the Most out of Game Film with HomeField

This post is part of Mashable’s Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark.

Name: HomeField

Quick Pitch: HomeField is a… read more

The Making of a Chocolate Bar Character

Thought some of you might like to see my process for designing a character. This one is filled with cocoa love and chocolaty goodness. I’ll take the concept from sketch through to vector final. You’ll learn the process of making a fun loving character based on a clear concept. Also,… read more

5 Ways Classrooms Can Use Video Conferencing

The author of two books, 12-year-old Adora Svitak published her first, Flying Fingers, at the age of seven. In addition, she has spoken at some of the nation’s pre-eminent education conferences and taught students around the world via her video conferencing programs. Most recently, she spoke at the TED… read more

Google Considers Shelling Out $1 Billion for ITA Software

Google is in talks to acquire airline IT and services provider ITA Software for the price of $1 billion. According to Bloomberg, it’s not a done deal yet, but several people familiar with the matter confirmed that negotiations between two companies are indeed happening. It’s a big number, but… read more

Five Tips For Making Ideas Happen

Creative types have a problem. We have so many great ideas, but most of them never see the light of day. Why do most ideas never happen? The reason is that our own creative habits get in the way. For example, our tendency to generate new ideas often gets in… read more

WIN 1 of these 2 Great E-Books

Which of these great E-Books would you like to win?

This week I’ve got a great little competition for you which will put you in the running to win one of two great E-books. Bruce Percy has produced a great range of photography E-books and has been generous enough to give… read more

Typography Mania #25

Typography Mania is a weekly post series that comes around every Wednesday with the best of Typography work on the web, from videos to images everything is full of great design and inspiration. Check out this weeks Mania and comeback in 7 days for more.

<!–break–>
Click here to check out… read more

How to Create Bamboo in Adobe Photoshop

In this tutorial you will learn how to draw semi-realistic bamboo in Adobe Photoshop—perfect for textures and backgrounds.

Quick Nav:

Tutorial

Download the PSD (Source Files)Step 1: Creating a New Document

Create a new document with 800 on 600 pixels, resolution 300 dpi and a transparent background.

Step 2: Making the Texture

For texture,… read more

Why I Believe in Pricing Work Based on Value

For freelancers, the question of how to price your services is always up for debate. Should you charge by the hour or per project? What should your hourly rate be? What type of payment terms should you require? The answers to these questions will vary based… read more

How to Illustrate a Professional Looking Apple iPad

In this tutorial we will learn how to make a realistic looking illustration of an Apple iPad using the Rounded Corner Rectangle, Gradient Mesh and Gradient Tool. Don’t let the professional finish fool you; this tutorial is perfect for beginners and experts alike.

Step 1

First Create a new A4 portrait document…. read more

40 High-Quality Latest Free Fonts For Your Designs

It’s essential for Designers to have a good understanding of typography and selection as the importance of typography in design can’t be neglected. The proper selection of typography can convert your normal design into attractive piece of art.

Among other things, effective typography manages to achieve three necessary objectives of web… read more

15 Javascript and Plugins and Tutorials for Adding Ratings

Giving users the ability to interact with your web site is one of the key elements to its success. Allowing users to post a comment or response and socially sharing are two of the basic fundamentals of web interaction, another, maybe less popular, is giving users the quickfire option of… read more

Google Maps Navigation Comes to UK and Ireland

Late in 2009, Google released Google Maps Navigation for Android devices, which effectively brought free turn-by-turn navigation to every Android owner in the US.

Now, Google Maps Navigation comes to the UK and Ireland, and it works on smartphones running Android 1.6 and later. Voice commands and voice search, street… read more

12 Tips for Avoiding Burnout as a Freelancer

Freelancing is attractive to a lot of people because of the opportunity to work on your own and to set your own hours. However, in reality most full-time freelancers face a lot of stress and experience burnout in their work on a regular basis. In this post we’ll look at… read more

KartMe Is A Great Way To Organize And Share Your Favorite Online Content With Other People

We see social media sites popping up everywhere today. Beginning from Orkut, I now have accounts on more online social networks than I can count. The essentials of all social media are the same: stay in touch with your contacts and share interesting stuff you find online. Some social media… read more

Adobe Gives Up on iPhone App Development

The saga of Adobe and Apple or, more precisely, Flash app development for the iPhone, is drawing to its inevitable conclusion. It all started with Apple’s change to its iPhone Developer Program License Agreement – the notorious article 3.3.1 – which banned the use of the Flash-to-iPhone converter. In… read more

Huge 3D Printer Makes Buildings Out of Sand [VIDEO]

We’ve seen 3D printers before, but none quite this ambitious. Italian inventor Enrico Dini’s D-Shape is on a scale large enough to print entire buildings out of simple components: sand and an inorganic magnesium-base binding material.

The three-dimensional printing apparatus has hundreds of nozzles on its underside, which… read more

70+ Inspirational Logo Designs

I find viewing other artists and designers logos is a great way to get inspired for you next project. If you want to get those creative juices flowing, you should check out this post. I have assembled a beautiful collection of fresh logo designs that will definitely help stimulate your creative juices for your… read more

New Google Chrome Ads Show Off Extensions and Translate [VIDEOS]

Google has just lreleased two new ads on YouTube to show off Chrome features. Extensions and Translate are two components that flesh out users’ browsing experiences while simplifying online actions at the same time.

The spots were created by agency BBH, and they’re drop dead adorable.

The first illustrates how users… read more

89% of Content on Google Buzz Is Automated [STATS]

Social media analytics company PostRank found that the vast majority of content on Google Buzz — just slightly under 90% — comes from news feeds or other automated sources.

62.57% of Buzz posts originate on Twitter. Users are automatically re-posting their tweets to Buzz so they don’t have to type… read more

Exclusive: Tour the “If I Can Dream” Command Center [VIDEO]

Today, we went behind the scenes at Simon Fuller’s new direct-to-Hulu TV series If I Can Dream for a tour of the show’s command center and live DREAM Studio.

We met with David Ellner, President of Digital at 19 Entertainment, the company behind the impressive technical production for the show…. read more

Google Acquires Stealth Startup Founded by Ex-Apple Employees

Google has acquired Agnilux, a very secretive stealth startup founded by former Apple employees that reportedly was working on new server technology.

The company was founded by a group of engineers from P.A. Semi, which was acquired by Apple in April 2008 for $278 million — their technology is what… read more

Google Makes Government Requests for User Info Public

Google just introduced an app called the Government Requests tool. It’s a Google Maps app that shows how many requests each nation’s government has made for users’ personal information or for the removal of URLs from Google’s search index.

Google is the first Internet titan to make this information publicly… read more

BlackBerry OS 6.0 Screenshots Leaked [PICS]

Boy Genius Report has posted some screenshots of BlackBerry OS 6.0, the next big release from RIM. The screenshots don’t reveal every aspect of the OS, but it does give us a nice look at the new WebKit-powered web browser.

In August, RIM acquired Torch Mobile and with… read more

4 Tips for Tapping Into Twitter Conversations

Leyl Master Black is a Managing Director at Sparkpr, one of the world’s top independent PR agencies. Leyl has more than 15 years experience driving high-impact communications programs for emerging technology companies.

At any given time, there are thousands of conversations happening on Twitter. I’m not referring to… read more

What is the Oldest Piece of Camera Gear that you still Use Today?

Kodak Brownie Starlet – by Silvio Tanaka

What is the oldest piece of camera gear that you still use today?

Last week I posted a list of popular digital cameras and photography gear that our readers are currently buying. It’s an interesting snapshot of new (ish) cameras and gear that people are… read more

Take A Chance To Win Personal License Of SWF & FLV Player PRO

Eltima Software is running a contest, where winners will get 15 personal licenses of SWF & FLV Player PRO (worth $19.95 each). Well, you guys know what SWF & FLV Player PRO is. Lets say it once again for n00bs.

SWF & FLV Player PRO is a smart Flash Player, enriched… read more

30 New Tutorials for Manipulating Photos in Photoshop

Photo manipulation is one of the most common practices of photoshop users and designers. Aside from faking images, This type of technique can create unique and outstanding art designs. Learning how to manipulate photos could be fun and that’s why we compiled a list of photo manipulation tutorials… read more

AT&T Unveils Buzz.com

AT&T is officially opening up its recommendation service, Buzz.com, to the public. We wrote about the project when it was still in beta in January. The service is essentially Yelp meets Yellowpages.com and it shares a lot of similarities with the new Google Places.

The idea behind Buzz.com… read more

5 Unique Ways to Use Twitter for Business

**This series is supported by the Social Influence System and WE twendz™ pro, presented by Waggener Edstrom Worldwide. To learn more visit Waggeneredstrom.com/nozombies.

Customer service, recruiting, contests, giveaways and promotions — these are all standbys for businesses using Twitter as a medium to connect with customers and fans.

Given that Twitter… read more

Google Places: Google’s Local Business Center Gets an Upgrade

Google’s Local Business Center has been renamed “Google Places.” The re-branding effort is accompanied by a handful of new features designed to help local business owners gain an edge in search engine marketing.

The name change was made to better tie the business owner dashboard with Place Pages, the… read more

Tumblr Raises Another $5 Million in Funding

Tumblr has just announced another healthy influx of cash — $5 million from Spark and Union Square Ventures — nearly doubling the $5.2 million raised in A and B rounds of financing. The popular mini-blog company has been testing and optimizing various paid features for a while and hopes… read more

How Social Media Can Affect Real Social and Governmental Change

Craig Newmark is the founder of cragislist. He can be found on Twitter as @craignewmark and blogs at cnewmark.com.

People have always used the “social media” of their time to affect change. Without belaboring history, consider that some of the most widely-felt changes in the Western world were made… read more

Virgin America Announces Expansion via Twitter

Today, Virgin America announced its forthcoming expansion to Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) not via the travel press, but on the company’s Twitter account.

In addition to using Twitter to make the announcement, Virgin America is also running a 50% off promotion for the first 500 travelers who book flights… read more

Easy Time Tracking and Invoicing with FreshBooks

There’s quite a few invoicing apps out there, many of which do a fantastic job. One of my favorites though, and the one I actually use personally is FreshBooks. It’s arguably the best time tracking and invoicing web app available, certainly making billing far less painful.

Several Freelancers I’ve spoke with… read more

How Social Media Can Effect Real Social and Governmental Change

Craig Newmark is the founder of craigslist. He can be found on Twitter as @craignewmark and blogs at cnewmark.com.

People have always used the “social media” of their time to effect change. Without belaboring history, consider that some of the most widely-felt changes in the Western world were made… read more

Facebook Turns Off Facebook Lite

Facebook has stopped supporting its stripped-down Facebook Lite website. If you go to the old Facebook Lite address you’ll be redirected to the regular Facebook homepage.

The change was announced on Facebook’s own Fan Page. The company didn’t elaborate on why it decided to axe Lite. Its brief status… read more

Bands and Artists Websites: Showcase and Best Practices

Bands and Artists Websites: Showcase and Best Practices

read more

10 Nations Send Open Letter to Google: Protect Our Privacy

In a letter addressed to Google CEO Eric Schmidt, the Commissioner of Canada Jennifer Stoddart and the heads of the data protection authorities in France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain and the United Kingdom have expressed their concern about various privacy issues connected to some of… read more

Seven JavaScript Things I Wish I Knew Much Earlier In My Career

I’ve been writing JavaScript code for much longer than I care to remember. I am very excited about the language’s recent success; it’s good to be a part of that success story. I’ve written dozens of articles, book chapters and one full book on the matter, and yet I keep… read more

Creating a Collection of Quirky Caricatures

Last November we decided to round off the Tuts+ year with a bang; a huge giveaway (96 prizes, no less) to reward all the loyal Tuts+ readers. We felt it was a good opportunity to get visitors browsing the content on each and every one of the Tuts+ sites and… read more

Shooting for HDR Portraiture

Few kinds of photography have a more dynamic power than the area of Portraiture.

Portraiture is the medium through which we photographers endeavor to tell the stories of our friends, our family, and our clients. Through this art, we have the ability to capture a likeness of someone that will last… read more

Ask FreelanceSwitch #9

In this issue of Ask FreelanceSwitch, Travis King and Thursday Bram look at dealing with the hidden project approver and how to make connections.

Ask FreelanceSwitch is a new regular column here that allows us to help beginners get a grip on freelancing. If you have a question about freelancing that… read more

Beautiful Monochromatic Portraits by Federico Erra

I really love portraits. I think they are beautiful, inspiring and sometimes intriguing. And what I like most about them is that some photographers have the ability to turn them into really deep pieces, in something that communicates without saying a word, in something that we look and find a… read more