Apple’s Board of Directors on Steve Jobs

After a six year struggle, Steve Jobs was taken by his longtime battle with cancer.

Apple’s Board of Directors said the following in a statement:

“We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today.

Steve’s brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve… read more

Apple Pays Tribute to Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs, the visionary co-founder and longtime leader of Apple, has passed away at the age of 56.

To honor his memory, Apple.com now displays a full-page tribute to the man that helped reinvent computing, entertainment and mobile. Apple has also posted a short letter. It reads as follows:

“Apple has lost… read more

Steve Jobs Has Died

Steve Jobs, co-founder, chairman of the board, former CEO of Apple and industry icon for decades, has died.

Apple released this statement:

We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today.

Steve’s brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives…. read more

Yes, Sprint Will Offer Unlimited Data for iPhone 4S

Ask and ye shall receive. No sooner did we post our story on the top 10 burning questions that remain about the iPhone 4S than the first one gets answered. Sprint has confirmed it will be offering all-you-can-eat data packages on the iPhone 4S after all, according to AllThingsD.

“We will… read more

Will Apple Cards Reshape the Greeting Card Industry?

Were you surprised by Apple’s announcement of the new Cards app for iPhone? You shouldn’t be — it’s a multi-billion dollar industry that has so far weathered the recession better than most.

According to the U.S. Greeting Card Association, Americans send 7 billion greeting cards every year, with the average… read more

New iPhone Questions: 10 Things We Still Don’t Know

Apple’s “Let’s Talk iPhone” event answered some of our burning questions — such as what the next iPhone will look like (answer: same as the old one) and when we can get our hands on one (Oct. 14). But to quote the final season of Lost: Every answer only leads… read more

The Washington Post Wants Your Instagram Photos to Illustrate Health of U.S. Economy

The Washington Post has launched an Instagram project inviting readers to submit photos that illustrate what the economy looks like in their neighborhoods.

The project, titled “2012 Unfiltered,” aims to cut through political rhetoric about the state of the U.S. economy through visual evidence. Photos tagged with #econdebate in Instagram captions… read more

Twitter’s Jack Dorsey: “What Can We Do Better?”

If you have ever wanted to tell Twitter how you feel about its 200 million-member social network, now is the time to do it. Twitter’s Executive Chairman Jack Dorsey tweeted questions Wednesday to attract feedback on the five-year-old service.

A lot has changed since Twitter launched in 2006. To… read more

Will Microsoft Make Another Run at Acquiring Yahoo?

Microsoft is reportedly considering launching a renewed bid to acquire Yahoo, more than three years after its previous attempt.

To complete this potential acquisition, Microsoft may seek a partner for the deal, according to Reuters. The internal management team is divided on whether to make another run for the struggling online… read more

Hulu Could Get New Episodes of Arrested Development

Fans of the Bluth family, get excited: The new, limited-run series of Arrested Development is definitely going to end up somewhere.

Hulu has joined the rumored bidding war against Netflix and Showtime to get the rights to broadcast the show’s new episodes, according to a new report from Vulture.

The new… read more

Could This 10,000-Square-Foot QR Code Be the Largest Ever? [VIDEO]

A Jersey Shore racetrack has been covered in 80 gallons of black and white paint in one company’s quest to create the largest QR code of all time.

The monstrous code spans 10,000 square feet on the Wall Stadium Speedway — which means it’s only visible in all its glory from… read more

Comcast, Verizon & HBO Coming to Xbox Live

Microsoft has signed on an impressive roster of 40 TV and entertainment partners to Xbox Live, as the service evolves from a gaming hub into a full-range multimedia center.

In the U.S., Bravo, Comcast, HBO Go, Verizon FiOS, Epix and SyFy will be joining existing partners Netflix, Hulu Plus and AT&T… read more

3 More Reasons to Attend the Mashable Media Summit

The second annual Mashable Media Summit will bring to life the biggest changes occurring in media. Held on Nov. 4 at the TimesCenter in New York City, the one-day conference will examine how technology is transforming journalism, advertising and media business models.

Industry professionals who have recently joined our dynamic… read more

New AppleCare+ Plan Has Your iPhone Covered for $99

Prone to smartphone-related accidents? Don’t worry, Apple has a new iPhone AppleCare+ plan – one that covers accidental damage, such as stepping on your iPhone or accidentally flushing it down the toilet.

The new plan gives your iPhone one year of hardware repair coverage and 90 days of telephone technical… read more

New iPhone Blues: Why Apple’s CEO Doesn’t Care What You Hoped To See

There’s an odd sense of deflation across much of the tech world in the wake of Apple CEO Tim Cook’s first product launch Tuesday. It is a feeling akin to your favorite team making a pretty dull night out of what was supposed to be a major game, as… read more

A Social News App That Exposes Everything You Read

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: Hearsay.it

Quick Pitch: Hearsay is a social news reader where you share everything you read with anyone… read more

The 20 Most-Shared iPhone Ads [VIDEOS]

Face Time is not only a cool feature, but it was a gift to Apple‘s ad agency as well.

TBWAMedia Arts Lab, which handles Apple’s advertising, took the idea of displaying a touching moment via Face Time and ran with it. Apple’s ads have used a variation on that theme about… read more

Disney to Re-release 4 Hit Animated Movies in 3D

Disney is planning to re-release a cadre of its most popular and beloved animated films in 3D.

The decision followed close on the heels of the re-release of the Lion King in 3D. That film is close to crossing the $80 million mark, according to Disney.

While $80 million may not… read more

iPhone 4S: 4 Reasons to Upgrade

Apple has finally revealed its next iPhone — the iPhone 4S. The company is, as would be expected, calling it “the most amazing iPhone yet.” But what makes it better than the iPhone 4?

Apple fanboys and girls the world round might be disappointed that the new device does not live… read more

Social Marketing: 3 Ways to Reach the Head-of-Household

Reggie Bradford is the founder and CEO of Vitrue, the leading provider of social marketing software, offering SaaS solutions to help brands and agencies harness the marketing-communications potential of social media on Facebook, Twitter and other social communities. Follow Reggie on Twitter @ReggieBradford and @Vitrue.

There is an extremely powerful demographic… read more

Apple’s iPhone Event: Three Big Reasons It Still Mattered

Yes, Apple disappointed millions of current iPhone 4 owners by not introducing the iPhone 5.

Still the iPhone 4S is the next best thing. It has all new guts: new chip, new camera, and new antennas. It just happens to look exactly like the iPhone 4. This makes the iPhone… read more

How Magazines Are Adapting to the Mobile Revolution

Editors and executives from several leading magazine publishers took the stage at the Magazine Publishers of America’s Magazine Media Conference in New York City Tuesday. Discussion centered around early lessons from tablet publishing and the challenges of extending their content to a proliferating number of tablet sizes and platforms as… read more

iPhone 4S, New iPods & Siri: Everything You Need to Know About Apple’s Big Day

Apple gathered the world’s tech press at its headquarters in Cupertino to announce its latest products — and to dash the hopes of anyone expecting the iPhone 5 — on Tuesday.

What CEO Tim Cook did reveal during his first major product announcement was the iPhone 4S — which, if… read more

Who Ruled the Social TV Airwaves in September? [STATS]

September is always a huge month for TV with a slate of show premieres and returning favorites. But which networks ruled social TV? We’ve got a fresh set of data from Trendrr, a realtime social media tracker.

The big broadcast winner was FOX with a 29% share of the social traffic… read more

HOW TO: Trade in Your Old iPhone

One of the few downsides of a well-made product like the iPhone — perhaps the only one — is that it just doesn’t die quickly enough.

It would be nice if your iPhone died just as the new iPhone was being announced, but that’s probably not the case. The good… read more

Apple Shows Us What the iPhone 4S Can Do [VIDEO]

Apple announced its latest handset, the iPhone 4S, on Tuesday. Over at Apple.com, the company also posted this video showcasing the device and its new features.

Although the iPhone 4S looks almost identical to the iPhone 4, inside, the phone has been totally overhauled. Not only does it have a faster… read more

250,000 Kindle Fires Pre-ordered in 5 Days [REPORT]

More than 250,000 Kindle Fires have been pre-ordered since Amazon announced the new tablet computer last Wednesday, according to a report from Cult of Android.

The blog says a “verified source” within Amazon provided screenshots of the company’s internal inventory system. The screenshots show the Kindle Fire has been pre-ordered at… read more

Apple Stock Drops 5% Following iPhone Event

Apple‘s stock fell as much as 5% after its iPhone 4S announcement Tuesday, illustrating that the news failed to wow investors.

The drop, however, came as the market was also down. At press time the Dow was down about 1.5% and Nasdaq was about 1% down. Moreover, the market has gyrated… read more

iPhone 5 A No-Show: Did Apple Fail To Manage Expectations?

For the past year, we’ve endured a near-daily slew of rumors about a device called the iPhone 5. When Apple delayed its release of a new phone until Fall 2011, it only heightened expectations. Surely, if we were to wait more than the usual year between versions of the iPhone,… read more

Free iPhone: Apple Cuts 3GS Price to $0

Apple will sell the iPhone 3GS at the deeply discounted price point of $0.00, the company revealed at its Let’s Talk iPhone event Tuesday.

The 8 GB iPhone 3GS will be available for free with a new two-year carrier contract, said Phil Schiller, senior vice president of worldwide product marketing at… read more

iPhone 4S: When and Where You’ll Be Able to Get It [PICS]

Apple has officially announced its fifth generation handset, the iPhone 4S. The new device, which retains the iPhone 4 form factor, will be available for pre-order on Oct. 7 and available to purchase on Oct. 14.

The new phone will be available on more than 70 carriers in 100 countries… read more

Sprint Is Getting the iPhone

Apple has announced that Sprint will finally get the iPhone, making it the third U.S. wireless carrier to offer Apple’s flagship device.

Starting Oct. 14, Sprint will begin carrying the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and the iPhone 4S. We expect the new iPhone to sell for $200 with a two-year contract,… read more

New iPod Nano Is Clock and Fitness Watch in One [PICS]

The new iPod nano will be easier to use as a watch, Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing Phil Schiller revealed at the company’s press event Tuesday.

Users will be able to choose from 16 different clock faces (and yes, one of them is Mickey Mouse).

The iPod nano will… read more

Apple Unveils Siri, the iPhone 4S Voice Assistant

Apple has unveiled Siri, a new iPhone 4S feature that lets you complete tasks on your phone by talking to it.

During an on-stage demo at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., Apple VP Scott Forstall demonstrated Siri’s ability to process natural language and respond accordingly. When he asked the iPhone 4S,… read more

iPhone Adds “Find My Friends” App for Location Sharing

Among the myriad of announcements from Tuesday’s Apple event was an interesting new app called Find My Friends.

The app lets you track the location of other users, but unlike Google’s Latitude, which is meant to be used with a wide circle of people you know, Apple’s app seems designed… read more

Apple Announces iPhone 4S

Apple has unveiled the iPhone 4S, the next version of its popular smartphone.

It will be available for pre-order on Oct. 7 and available to purchase on Oct. 14. And like previous versions of the iPhone, the iPhone 4S will retail for $199 for a 16 GB model and $299 for… read more

Cards: Apple’s One-Stop-Shop for iPhone Greeting Cards

Apple is entering the greeting card business with the announcement of Cards, a do-it-yourself application for creating, printing and sending greeting cards.

Scott Forstall, senior vice president of iOS Software at Apple, previewed the application at Apple’s “Let’s Talk iPhone” event Tuesday. Forstall touted it as a one-stop-shop for creating cards… read more

iOS 5 Available for Free Download Oct. 12

iOS 5, the newest version of Apple’s mobile OS, will be available for free download on Oct. 12.

On stage at Apple’s iPhone event in Cuptertino, Calif., iOS VP Scott Forstall discussed some of the new features of iOS 5, many of which were revealed earlier this year at WWDC. … read more

Apple: 250 Million iOS Devices Sold and Other Huge Stats

As the world’s tech media waited for news about the new iPhone on Tuesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook took the opportunity of a captive audience to deliver a long list of favorable Apple stats.

Here’s the rundown of the numbers he revealed during his long windup:

Apple has six stores in… read more

Celebrities Say F–k You to Famine [VIDEO]

A host of celebrities have joined anti-poverty advocacy group ONE to launch a PSA campaign fighting the growing famine in Somalia.

The video features an all-star cast including George Clooney, Bono, Clive Owen, Jessica Alba, Ewan McGregor, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Mike Huckabee, Colin Farrell and more. The premise is that… read more

Apple Store Is Down, Ahead of iPhone Announcement

If you’ve looked at this thing called the Internet at any time in the past couple of days, you’re probably aware that Apple is about to launch its next generation iPhone — possibly the iPhone 5 or iPhone 4S.

And, as always during these announcements, the online Apple Store goes… read more

18 Tips for Shooting from a Train

A Guest Post by Ralph Velasco

Getting successful images from a moving train can be quite tricky, and a real test of one’s patience and persistence. Recently, I had a chance to take what is considered one of the great train rides of the world, the Ferrocarril Chihuahua al Pacifico, better… read more

Wheelz Lets College Kids Rent Their Rides for Cash

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: Wheelz

Quick Pitch: Wheelz is a campus car sharing platform connecting students with cars to students who… read more

2012 Election: 3 Digital Platforms Poised to Change the Conversation

While not as sexy as politician elbow jabbing, the race to develop winning political platforms for the 2012 U.S. election cycle is a hot contest among strategists and programmers.

Following its win in 2008, Blue State Digital is the shop to beat. The company built the dynamic My.BarackObama.com and enabled… read more

Startup Provides Platform For Smart Political Debate, with a Secretary of State

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has contributed opinion pieces to The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. Now you’ll find her in a less established forum, defending a recent op-ed on a brand new online debate platform called PolicyMic.

The site, which co-founders Christopher… read more

Sean Parker Joins Twitter, With An Apology to Zuckerberg

Napster co-founder and former Facebook president Sean Parker is appearing in our newsfeeds with increasing frequency these days.

First, there was the Forbes cover. Then there were the Facebook ads asking users to “Like” Sean Parker on Facebook, which Gawker discovered was part of an effort to build up buzz for… read more

Sprint Makes a Risky $20 Billion Bet on the iPhone

The future of Sprint now depends on the iPhone. The nation’s third-largest wireless carrier has reportedly agreed to purchase $20 billion in iPhones, regardless of whether it can find customers that will buy them.

The deal requires Sprint to purchase at least 30.5 million iPhones through the next four years, according… read more

RIP Diggnation: The End of a Web Video Era

After six years and 340 episodes, weekly online video show Diggnation is coming to an end, parent company Revision3 has announced.

Featuring Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht, Diggnation pairs the top tech stories from Digg with copious amounts of alcohol, frat boy humor and general nerd humor. The show made its… read more

RIP Napster? Rhapsody Buys Subscribers, Assets

The once beloved Napster may have reached the end of the line, after a 12-year-long roller coaster ride that included legal woes and social reinvention.

Music subscription service Rhapsody has signed an agreement to acquire Napster from parent company Best Buy for an undisclosed sum. Best Buy gets a minority… read more

HOW TO: Leverage LinkedIn for Your SEO Campaign

Erin Everhart is the director of web and social media marketing at the digital marketing and web design company, 352 Media Group. Connect with her on Twitter @erinever.

There are two ways to conquer web marketing: good content and even better relationships. The problem is, any SEO pro has already identified… read more

Mafia Wars 2 Is All About Aggression [PREVIEW]

Zynga’s new Mafia Wars 2 makes the hotly anticipated game more social by including Facebook shout-outs and contains more mature themes than its predecessor.

Zynga, the studio behind immensely popular games including FarmVille, Empires & Allies and the original Mafia Wars, will release in the coming weeks the sequel,… read more

5 Brands That Are Surprisingly Successful on Facebook

The Digital Marketing Series is supported by HubSpot, an inbound marketing software company based in Cambridge, Mass., that makes a full platform of marketing software, including social media management tools.

When Facebook became a big deal a couple of years ago, it was fairly easy to predict that some brands would… read more

Yahoo and ABC News Join Forces

Yahoo and ABC News have announced an agreement to share content including stories and web videos.

Under the deal, announced Monday, Yahoo and ABC News will reach 100 million users a month and redistribute content including GoodMorningAmerica.com, which is now on Yahoo.

The two will also introduce original web video… read more

HTC Security Flaw Exposes Private Data [REPORT]

Several HTC Android handsets, including EVO 3D, EVO 4G and Thunderbolt, are susceptible to a security flaw that exposes users’ private data, including emails, phone numbers and SMS data, according to a report from Android Police.

HTC recently added a suite of logging tools to some of its devices that gather… read more

Elmedia Player: The Right App With The Wrong Purpose?

At AppStorm, I’ve reviewed all kinds of media players and managers for Mac, from the great (Plex), to the not-so-great (Songbird). I’ve always been looking for something that has wonderful management features, but is also a pleasure to actually consume media with. While I use and love Plex, it still… read more

Thanks to Our Weekly Sponsor: Finch

Our sponsor this week is Finch, an amazing time tracking tool from Touch Studios.

Finch is an app that takes all the effort out of time tracking. If you can open it, you can use it! With virtually zero configuration, Finch sits quietly tucked away in your menu bar and collects… read more

10 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Digital PR Consultant

This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

Research indicates businesses increasingly rely on the public relations industry to develop and implement innovative, cost-effective communication strategies. And, with the increased demand for social media marketing,… read more

The Significant 7: The Most Influential Phones of the Last 10 Years

October 1 marks 10 years since Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo flipped the switch on the world’s first 3G network in Tokyo. Heralding new speeds and amazing possibilities such as “real-time videoconferencing or sending and receiving e-mail attachments with 10,000 characters,” it was an important moment in cellular history.

To celebrate this… read more

YouTube Cover Song Face-Off: Maroon 5′s “Moves Like Jagger”

Each week, Mashable picks a popular song, finds 10 covers of it and asks you to vote for your favorite.

“Moves Like Jagger” from Maroon 5 and Christina Aguilera — both Best New Artist Grammy winners — lands atop Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart this week.

The song debuted June 21 to… read more

No iPhone 5? Apple May Only Launch iPhone 4S [RUMOR]

Expecting Apple to unveil the iPhone 5? You may be in for a disappointment, according to various reports.

New evidence and speculation points to the existence of an iPhone 4S, rather than the iPhone 5 many people are expecting. The most recent iTunes developer beta includes several references to a CDMA… read more

Digg App For iOS: 5 Reasons You Should (Really) Use It

Bloggers today honestly appreciates the power of social networking and how it delivers not only traffic to blogs, important backlinks and of course more recognition. When we talk about social networking the first website that clicks my mind is Digg, followed by Stumbleupon and Reddit. Digg has been around for… read more

Top 10 Reasons Your Website Is Losing Sales

This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

UK retailers are losing more than £8 billion ($12.6 million USD) per year due to website inefficiencies, according to research by data and analytics firm QuBit.

Using its… read more

62 New Digital Media Resources You May Have Missed

This week seemed to go by fast, am I wrong? You barely had time to finish last week’s roundup — it was a doozy with 61 stories — before our newest list rolled out this week.

Not to worry! Mashable has organized all of our features into manageable categories so you… read more

Blogger Outreach: 5 Tips for Connecting With Top Influencers

This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

Some of the most respected influencers on the Internet today were viewed as illegitimate sources just a few years ago. You know them as “bloggers.” In a… read more

iPhone 5 Launch: Top 10 Questions

Apple’s iPhone event is rapidly approaching, and most of us are wondering precisely what’s going to be announced. So now we come to you, the millions of Mashable readers, asking you to answer our 10 poll questions so we can crowdsource this information, perhaps getting closer to the truth of… read more

Hot Tips For Landing Jobs at Google, Apple and Facebook [INFOGRAPHIC]

Google, Apple and Facebook are the tech trifecta, so we found facts that could help you land a job at one of these companies. No doubt, there will be stiff competition: Nearly one in four young professionals wants to work at Google, for instance, but there’s more room in the… read more

Desktopr: Put a Website On Your Desktop

There are two types of Mac users, those that keep their desktops sparkling clean and those who use their desktops as a digital junk drawer that holds every random scrap of content they come by.

I’m the former type. I like a good, clean desktop, often with an extremely minimal… read more

Social Debate Site Lets You Compare Viewpoints With the Candidates

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: TwoSides

Quick Pitch: TwoSides makes it easy to see every side of an issue and compare viewpoints… read more

Product Development: 9 Steps for Creative Problem Solving [INFOGRAPHIC]

Ronald Brown is a successful startup CEO with an extensive background in technology and consumer marketing. His new book, Anticipate. The Architecture of Small Team Innovation and Product Success is available via iTunes, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo.

Creativity is the main prerequisite for innovation. However, our culture emphasizes critical… read more

Social Good Summit 2011: A Worldwide Success [VIDEO]

Mashable, 92nd Street Y and the United Nations Foundation held the second annual Social Good Summit last week. The event united a dynamic community of global leaders to discuss how new media is creating innovative global solutions.

The summit was a huge success. It had 1,700 attendees during the week, and… read more

10 Facebook Timeline Designs That Will Blow You Away [PICS]

Facebook’s new Timeline design gives users a large “cover photo” space at the top of the page. We think this revamp is a great opportunity to get creative with your profile presentation.

We recently asked the Mashable readership to share how they’ve played with the new design. Here are 10 examples… read more

Jell-O “Jiggle-It” App Makes Your Dessert Dance [VIDEO]

Kraft has come up with a clever way to exploit Jell-O’s unique motion properties in the digital age with an app for the iPhone and the iPad that features a gelatin cube dancing to your music.

The free app [iTunes link], created by ad agency Crispin, Porter + Bogusky, uses an… read more

Battlefield 3: EA’s New Shooter Gets Social With Battlelog [HANDS-ON]

We got some hands-on time with Battlelog, a new social layer for Battlefield 3, the upcoming first-person shooter from Electronic Arts.

The Battlefield games have always been in direct competition with the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare series. Call of Duty has outsold EA’s Battlefield in recent years, but EA thinks… read more

School Lunch Wall Is Like a “Hot or Not” for Food

Chef Jaime Oliver is known for crusading against unhealthy food in school cafeterias. The celebrity chef has now brought his campaign online to let users decide for themselves in a “hot or not” style website called “School Lunch Wall.”

Users are encouraged to visit their local schools and snap photos of… read more

92% of Americans Take Action for Social Good [INFOGRAPHIC]

Ninety-two percent of American’s took action for social change this past year, according to the Social Change Impact Report from Walden University.

The report was created as a kind of barometer for who is engaged in social change, what issues matter to them and how they’re working together. Surprisingly, tech… read more

Foursquare Hack Reveals When Friends First Met

The Hack of the Week Series highlights a new hackathon programming project each week.

Google engineer Mihai Parparita met his wife during their junior year of college. But at some point, it occurred to them that they had actually taken a class together two years prior to that without introducing themselves.

It… read more

Facebook Sued Over “Timelines” Trademark

Facebook has been hit with a lawsuit over a trademark dispute surrounding the new Facebook Timeline profiles.

Timelines.com asserts that if Facebook is allowed to move forward with the launch of Timeline, it “will essentially eliminate Timelines.com” and cause mass confusion that Timelines.com is affiliated with Facebook.

Facebook Timeline, a… read more

How Apple and Facebook Nearly Fell Out — Over the HP TouchPad [EXCLUSIVE]

Tech titans Facebook and Apple have a contentious relationship that is frequently put to the test. But a Facebook for TouchPad application was very nearly the last straw, Mashable has learned from multiple sources.

Facebook and Apple, united by a common interest in beating Google, will finally put their differences aside… read more

22 Essential Tools for Testing Your Website’s Usability

The Web Design Usability Series is supported by join.me, an easy way to instantly share your screen with anyone. join.me lets you collaborate on-the-fly, put your heads together super-fast and even just show off.

A site’s ease of use, or its usability, is an integral part of its success, especially with… read more

Dunder Mifflin Also Releases a Tablet — And It’s a Triangle [VIDEO]

Amazon shook up the tablet market this week with its Kindle Fire, but the big news in fictional tablet introductions occurred on The Office Thursday night.

In the episode, Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) presents the triangle-shaped tablet, called “The Pyramid,” to a roomful of skeptical employees.

The device itself is hilarious,… read more

Video Q&A Platform VYou Makes Broadcasting Personal

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: VYou

Quick Pitch: VYou is a video Q&A platform.

Genius Idea: A video-sharing site with an interactive twist.

VYou’s… read more

IBM Eclipses Microsoft in Value for the First Time in 15 Years

Marking a comeback against a longtime rival, IBM has lapped Microsoft in market value for the first time since 1996.

Big Blue had a market cap of $214 billion on the close of the market on Thursday compared to $213.2 billion for Microsoft.

The news comes after IBM’s stock has… read more

7 Common Questions About Startup Employee Stock Options

Jim Wulforst is president of E*TRADE Financial Corporate Services, which provides employee stock plan administration solutions to both private and public companies, including 22% of the S&P 500.

Perhaps you’ve heard about the Google millionaires: 1,000 of the company’s early employees (including the company masseuse) who earned their wealth through company… read more

Trippy Lets Your Friends Help You Plan Your Trips

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: Trippy

Quick Pitch: Trippy lets your friends plan your trip, helping you more closely tailor your travel… read more

USA’s “Psych” Social TV Campaign Scores With Fans

USA Network launched a fun new interactive social media mystery game tie-in for its hit TV show Psych.

The game is called #HashTagKiller and it takes place on the Web using Facebook’s Open Graph API. The game launched on Wednesday and will unfold online over the next seven weeks. The… read more

MAD’s ThunderLOLCats Set Memes-Per-Minute Record [VIRAL VIDEO]

How well do you know Internet memes? Find out with this video from Cartoon Network’s MAD TV show, which created this meme-a-licious compendium of goofiness encompassing more than a decade of Internet culture.

Tell us in the comments which of your fave memes were left out, and if you’re sick and… read more

Netflix’s Very Bad Month: How Low Can It Go? [CHART]

As September comes to a close, Netflix‘s stock price is falling like the Autumn leaves.

The company’s stock lost another 11% on Thursday, racking up one of the biggest drops of the day on Nasdaq as investors reacted to Amazon‘s flurry of announcements on Wednesday — particularly Amazon’s offer of a… read more

YouTube Down? Video Service Sees First Disruption Since May

Having trouble watching that video a friend just sent you? That’ll be because YouTube is experiencing its first service interruption in months, and its first significant downtime of the year.

YouTube.com itself appears to be working, but links to individual videos are extremely sporadic. Downrightnow.com has called a “likely service… read more

PayPal & eBay Get Friendly With Facebook

Auction giant eBay and Facebook are quietly forging stronger ties with a secret joint partnership and the addition of Facebook exec Katie Mitic to eBay’s board of directors.

Mitic, the current director of platform and mobile marketing at Facebook, will now become the twelfth member of eBay’s board of directors. She… read more

Blekko Takes on Google — With Help From Russia

Blekko, a search upstart that believes in human curation, has added $30 million in fresh funding to its coffers and has found a new strategic partner — thanks to Russian Internet company Yandex.

Blekko is on a quest to build a search engine free of spam, content farms and malware. Its… read more

Fall TV Premieres: Who Won the Social Media Wars?

Fall marks a whole new season of television show premieres. As shows battle to win the airwaves, tracking platform SocialGuide has figured out which shows won the social media wars.

SocialGuide tracked Facebook comments, tweets, overall followers and a variety of other stats on 12 of the most hotly anticipated Fall… read more

Create a Custom Gift Card for Any Store With Giftly

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: Giftly

Quick Pitch: Giftly lets users create custom gift cards for any store.

Genius Idea: Bypassing the merchant… read more

Why Facebook Timeline Will Be Huge for Brands

Zeny Huang is an Emerging Media Strategist at JWT New York where she helps brands connect with fans in innovative and meaningful ways using social media. You can follow her on Twitter @Zenidala.

When Facebook unveiled Timeline last week, many users were struck by the idea of humanizing your profile by… read more

David Hasselhoff Dresses Like a Cheerleader and Destroys a Pink Limo [VIDEO]

Each day, Mashable highlights one noteworthy YouTube video. Check out all our viral video picks.

You thought we were kidding? It’s OK, we thought it was a joke too. In this promo video for the downloadable video game Burnout Crash! David Hasselhoff dresses up in a cheerleader outfit and blows up… read more

Facebook TV Show Stars You & Your Friends

Warner Bros. will launch an experimental live-action show next month that will run exclusively on Facebook and incorporate information from your profile to put you and your friends into select scenes.

The show, called Aim High, is story of a young man who is a high school student by day and… read more

Onion Reports Fake Shots in Capitol: Did Satire Site Go Too Far?

The Onion sent this alarming message to the feeds of its more than 3 million Twitter followers Thursday: “BREAKING: Witnesses reporting screams and gunfire heard inside Capitol building.”

Remembering the fake news of Obama’s assassination that hackers tweeted after breaking into a Fox News account in July, The Washington Post’s blog… read more

Fashion Blogging Grows Up: Why Advertisers Want a Piece of the Action

Alisa Gould-Simon is the Director of Marketing & Communications at Pose.com, a free mobile shopping application. She is a fashion consultant and writer and her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian and The Wall Street Journal. You can follow her on Twitter at @alisagouldsimon.

The advent of… read more

Spotify Hides Your Musical Taste From Facebook Friends With Private Listening Mode

Spotify has rolled out an update to its app that will allow users to “hide” their listening behaviors from auto-publishing to Facebook.

Since launching its integration with Facebook last week, users of the service have complained about the fact that all of their listening activities are automatically published to Facebook.

The… read more

How Pandora Bounced Back From the Brink of Ruin to Revolutionize Internet Radio

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Costly Internet radio royalty rates left Pandora on the brink of extinction in the summer… read more

NASA Invites Twitter Followers to View Next Launch — In Person

There are no more space shuttle launches to witness, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration seems to spend more time tracking things falling from the sky than launching them.

However, NASA is still busy boosting smaller, unmanned payloads into space, each of them tasked with studying some part of… read more