Mashable: Latest 29 News Updates - including “Google Translate for iOS Gets iPad Support”

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• Google Translate for iOS Gets iPad Support
• Ford to Open Research Lab in Silicon Valley in 2012
• Former Homeless Woman Becomes Twitter Celebrity
• Digital Detox Vacations: Dream Trip or Personal Nightmare?
• Facebook Shower Curtain Lets You Clean Up With Your Favorite Site
• eBay Instant Sale Pays You in Seconds for Old Electronics and Unwanted Gifts
• New Social Network Connects Travelers with Destinations, Experts
• U.S. Wanted a Spanish SOPA
• Instagram Photos Now Show Up Full Size on Facebook
• 5 Predictions for Online Data in 2012
• LG to Roll Out Its Own Google TV at CES 2012 [PICS]
• Mashable’s Digital Predictions for 2012
• HBO Stops Discounting Discs to Netflix, Intensifying Battle for Content
• Google Chrome Beta Released, Now Even Faster and More Secure
• Sprint Throttles Users with Its ‘Truly Unlimited’ Data Plans
• Smartphone Screens Get Ready: Gorilla Glass 2 is Coming
• Celebrity Apprentice: Meet the Most Connected Cast Yet
• Reddit Gets 2 Billion Impressions in December, Leaving Digg in the Dust
• NewsRight: a Game Changer for Online Journalism?
• Facebook Business Cards Are Here: 200,000 Users Get Free Bundles
• Unigo Uses the Power of the Internet to Pick the Perfect College
• Meet Tailbot: A Robotics Breakthrough Inspired by Dinosaurs [VIDEO]
• How to Access the Best New Features in Google Analytics
• Facebook, NBC Joining Forces to Host Social Presidential Debate
• RIM Cancels 2 BlackBerry 10 Phones, Now Working on Just 1 [RUMOR]
• NYC Mayor Bloomberg Vows to Learn Code in 2012
• AT&T Switches on 4G LTE in 11 Markets, Including New York City
• This Online Coding Contest Could Get You a Job Interview With Facebook, Apple and Amazon
• CES 2012: What to Expect
• 4 Online Secrets for Getting Amazing Flight Deals

Google Translate for iOS Gets iPad Support Posted: 06 Jan 2012 02:59 AM PST Google Translate app for the iPhone has hit version 1.3.0, bringing important news for iPad owners: the app is now universal for iOS devices, which includes iPad support. The iPad app is essentially a scaled version of the iPhone app, so don’t expect anything groundbreaking. As before, the app lets you translate written text between 63 languages. It also lets you translate by speaking text instead of typing it, but this option works only for 17 languages. For 24 languages you can hear the translation spoken aloud. You can also access your translation history even when offline, star your favorite translations and spell out the translation of non-Latin script languages in Latin characters to read it phonetically. The new version of the app is available for free in Apple’s App Store. More About: google translate, iOS, ipad

Ford to Open Research Lab in Silicon Valley in 2012 Posted: 06 Jan 2012 12:31 AM PST Ford has announced plans to open a Research and Development lab in Silicon Valley in early 2012, the first such facility the company has ever opened on the west coast. It’s hardly a surprising move, though, since car tech increasingly merges with information and communication technologies. In recent years, Ford has been investing in technologies such as SYNC, which offers in-car connectivity with smartphones and music players, and MyFord Mobile, a smartphone app which displays battery info for electric vehicles such as Ford Focus Electric. With the new lab Ford plans to “prepare for the next 100 years” and develop partnerships with tech firms, startups and universities in the area. The new Ford lab will be located in the San Francisco Bay area, but the exact location hasn’t been revealed yet. We’ll find out more about Ford’s future plans at this year’s CES, including the first live demo of the MyFord Mobile app. More About: ford, ford focus, MyFord Mobile, r&d, Silicon Valley, sync For more Mobile coverage: Follow Mashable Mobile on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Mobile channel Download our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad

Former Homeless Woman Becomes Twitter Celebrity Posted: 05 Jan 2012 09:17 PM PST Alone and homeless on the streets of Chicago, AnnMarie Walsh found comfort in Twitter. “It feels so good to know there is someone out there,” she said. “I could Tweet and there was always someone there listening.” Walsh was homeless for six years before she met a case worker at a Tweetup event who helped her find temporary housing. Her Twitter profile says she’s been off the streets since April 7, 2011. Walsh uses the Twitter handle @PadsChicago. The 41-year-old tweets to her more than 4,800 followers about what it was like to be homeless and also advocates for homeless people. When she was homeless, Walsh would tweet from her cell phone or use computers at her local library. She has slowly amassed more followers as her story of documenting her homelessness on Twitter has gained traction with the media. She joined Twitter more than two years ago. Initially, she said, Twitter appealed to her because she thought it could help her deal with mental health issues by making her more comfortable talking to people, at least in a digital sense. “It has really helped me come out and be better functioning in social settings,” she said. “I used it to get my feelings out.” The response she received from her Twitter followers made her feel more comfortable sharing her story. Using Twitter “made me realize how many good people are out there,” she said. Tweets came pouring in from people who wanted to help her. She received two free laptops from people she met through Twitter. People offered to pay her cell phone bill and others sent her bus passes. A documentary filmmaker also reached out to her via Twitter and asked her to be part of his project documenting homelessness. Through that filmmaker, she was invited to speak at Twitter’s 140 Characters Conference, being held in Los Angeles in 2009. Walsh would also attend Tweetup events in Chicago. At one such Tweetup, she met a case worker who helped her find temporary housing. “I’m still in a homeless frame of mind because I don’t have any income,” she said. “I would certainly love a job where I can help people in some way.” Walsh says she would particularly love a job working in social media. Walsh says she hopes her newfound Twitter fame will give her a platform to raise awareness of the homeless and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which Walsh said she has. Walsh isn’t the first homeless person to find themselves in the social media spotlight. Ted Williams gained momentary fame after a video of him using his “golden voice” went viral on YouTube in January of last year. The recovering drug addict enjoyed fame for a short while and a very public reunion with his daughter before he relapsed. When he left rehab, the Cleaveland Cavaliers offered him a job and a house. Another homeless man in New York was given a prepaid cell phone and set-up with a Twitter account by an organization that helps the homeless connect through social media. @Putodanny was able to get in touch with his daughter, who he hadn’t seen in 11 years, over Twitter. What is the most amazing Twitter story you’ve heard? Tell us in the comments. More About: homeless, Social Media, Twitter For more Social Good coverage: Follow Mashable Social Good on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Social Good channel Download our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad

Digital Detox Vacations: Dream Trip or Personal Nightmare? Posted: 05 Jan 2012 08:59 PM PST Caribbean nation St. Vincent and the Grenadines is challenging travelers to leave smartphones, tablets and other gadgets behind as a part of their new digital-detox vacation package, complete with a guidebook explaining how to function on a trip without tech, and a life coach. St. Vincent and the Grenadines — which is made up of 32 islands and cays, nine of which are inhabited – has launched a vacation package designed to wean people off their technology. Before arriving to the islands, visitors will receive tips on how to prep and de-tech for the stay, and an on-site life coach will provide advice on how to not let tech control your life. "This means actually experiencing a real vacation with human interaction, social skills and quality time with family and friends," St. Vincent and the Grenadines said in a statement. The seven-night getaway on the luxury island costs $3,799 for each person, including flights and hotel accommodations. Some establishments on St. Vincent and the Grenadines such as Petit St. Vincent Resort have embraced this concept by offering no TV, Internet or telephones in hotel rooms. In fact, at Petit St. Vincent Resort, guests who want room service need to get in touch with staffers by hoisting a small yellow flag on a bamboo pole outside the front door. The country said it embraced the idea of a digital detox package after a recent study found that 77% of consumers believe that time spent without gadgets and technology would help liberate them, improve their relationships and make them a better person. In addition, about 17% said their New Year's resolutions include going away on vacation and becoming less dependent on technology. St. Vincent and the Grenadines isn't the only vacation spot that has embraced the concept of unplugging. Other so-called "Black Hole Resorts" include Post Ranch Inn in Big Sur, Calif., and The Hotel Hāna-Maui in Maui, Hawaii. In fact, there aren't even clocks located in the rooms at The Hotel Hāna-Maui. Would you consider a digital-free vacation stay or would leaving tech behind be your worst nightmare? Let us know in the comments. More About: Gadgets, Mobile, travel, vacation

Facebook Shower Curtain Lets You Clean Up With Your Favorite Site Posted: 05 Jan 2012 08:33 PM PST Your favorite social network offers another type of privacy! This Facebook Shower Curtain has a transparent square in the screen that lets you create a profile image while you suds up. No drama, no “complicated status.” Just good ol’ bathtub jokes and tagged photos with the shower head. We found this shower curtain on the website Spinning Hat, along with other playful bathroom items like red shower gel in a blood bag and toilet paper printed with comics. Being inside a living Facebook profile reminds us of the Facebook costume that was popular a few years ago. There are a bevy of oddball items available on the web for Facebook fans — earrings, bras with the “like” icon, T-shirts, baby onesies. What’s the wackiest Facebook product you’ve seen? Post it in the comments. More About: Facebook, funny, joke, trending

eBay Instant Sale Pays You in Seconds for Old Electronics and Unwanted Gifts Posted: 05 Jan 2012 08:26 PM PST Out with the old and in with shiny new gadgets. If you’re among those gadget-owners getting rid of the “old,” plenty of retailers offer ways to sell back your unwanted electronic holiday presents and old gadgets. Here’s another: eBay Instant Sale. The eBay Instant Sale service lets you skip the lengthy eBay bidding process and sell your electronics directly for cash online or through an iPhone application, receiving a PayPal payment in seconds. Get $30 to $42 for an Apple iPhone 2G and about $72 to $130 for 3G and 3GS iPhones. Offers are up to $194 for newer iPhone 4 models. Sellers eager to make quick cash can get up to $407 for a 64 GB iPhone 4S, $328 for 16GB and $347 for 32GB. Newer MacBook Pros and MacBook Air sales will put around $400 to $800 in your pocket. The instant offers service is enabled by an eBay team working with AllTechWholeSale, a top-rated eBay seller. eBay does not receive a cut in these sales. The eBay Instant Sale service launched in October 2010 in a testing phase and re-launched as a full version in February 2011. Since then, more than 4 million offers have been generated. The top five sales have been Apple iPhones, Samsung, HTC, Blackberry and Motorola products, according to the AllTechWholeSale team. To find out how much your electronic product is worth, input a brand or product name, then complete a short survey about the storage capacity, functionality, power adapter availability, and its physical condition in terms of display, missing components, scratches and more. Broken gadgets can be traded up for cash too. There is also an updated version of the Instant Sales app, eBay’s 10th iPhone-capable app, available. The current version is compatible with iPod touch and iPad. As a seller, after after you accept the eBay Instant Sales immediate offer, you’ll get a prompt to print a free shipping label, so you can pack and ship your unwanted items. Other trade-in services include Gazelle, which also offers free shipping (not applicable to items worth less than $1). Payment is available via check, Amazon gift card or PayPal. Best Buy similarly offers an electronics buy-back program. Customers can drop off items at certain Best Buy locations in exchange for a gift card. There are guaranteed rates for purchases that fluctuate in value depending on when you sell the items after you buy them. Are you willing to trade in your gadgets using eBay Instant Sale? Have you used any of these options to get money for your old gadgets? Here are 10 tech retailers that will pay for your old electronics. 1. Gazelle Gazelle is a reCommerce service that will take iPads, external hard drives, GPS devices, satellite radios, Blu-ray movies and other gadgets. If your item isn't listed, you can contact them for a personalized quote. Payment can be made via Amazon gift card, checks, PayPal, or you can opt to have the funds donated to one of the charities they work with. Image courtesy of Flickr, Jordan Sangerman Click here to view this gallery. Image courtesy of Flickr, Jean-Baptiste Maurice More About: apple, blackberry, ebay, electronics, paypal

New Social Network Connects Travelers with Destinations, Experts Posted: 05 Jan 2012 08:10 PM PST 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: Touristlink Quick Pitch: Touristlink is a social network for travelers. Genius Idea: Social platform allows travelers to meet others, discover new destinations and connect with experts. Many turn to friends and family for advice and recommendations when traveling to a new destination. But now you can find all the travel information you need through a new social network called Touristlink, which allows travelers to not only meet and connect with other travelers around the world but also get answers from experts. “Touristlink is a way to communicate with other travelers and travel experts,” Dr. David Urmann, CEO of Touristlink, told Mashable. “Right now, no other site gives users a means to communicate with them.” By signing up for Touristlink through Facebook or on the site directly, members can create lists of their favorite destinations and share with friends, suggest new attractions for other travelers and post photos of cities they’ve traveled to in the past. Touristlink also provides a list of the top attractions in any city based on member rankings and reviews to help users discover new attractions and hot spots. To ensure all travel needs are met, Touristlink gives its users full access to its network of local tour guides, travel agencies, city tours, hotel owners and private rentals. If you need any help such as finding a luxury hotel situated on a beach, booking a day tour to Mount Everest or scheduling an airport pickup, just post your request and you’ll receive multiple offers from travel experts. Then, you can choose the deal that is best for you. Touristlink screens each travel expert to confirm their identity before allowing them into the system. Each expert is ranked based on their cheapest rates, services and how active they are. “The main difference between Touristlink and other travel sites is that we put users in touch with real people,” says Urmann. “Users can ask questions to guides and hotel owners, they can add them as friends and develop a relationship with them.” The site is free to use, but it adds a 10% service fee when you book anything through the site. For example, if you book a car service to pick you up at the airport and it costs $50, Touristlink will add the small fee. Touristlink is currently in public beta and has 1,500 registered members. The site will officially launch in May. Image courtesy of iStock, Maica Series Supported by Microsoft BizSpark The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark, a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today. More About: bizspark, Facebook, social network, travel For more Business coverage: Follow Mashable Business on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Business channel Download our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad

U.S. Wanted a Spanish SOPA Posted: 05 Jan 2012 07:46 PM PST The U.S. Ambassador to Spain warned the previous Spanish president late last year that he risked putting his country on an American trade blacklist by failing to pass a law similar to the Stop Online Piracy Act. The warning came in a leaked letter reported by Spanish-language newspaper El Pais. In the letter, dated Dec. 12, Ambassador Alan Solomont expresses “deep concern” over outgoing president Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero’s reluctance to pass the Sinde law, which would have prevented Spaniards from downloading content protected by copyright. Solomont later warns that Spain, already on the United States’ watch list for countries that do not provide “adequate and effective” protection of intellectual property, could be further degraded in status. Such a downgrade could result in trade restrictions between the two countries and potentially devastate the already fragile Spanish economy. “The government of Spain made commitments to the rights owners and to the US government,” Solomont says in the document. “Spain can not afford to see their credibility questioned on this issue.” President Zapatero refused to sign the law before stepping down on Dec. 21. The new Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, adopted the Internet piracy bill on Dec. 30. On the same day, another letter leaked to Prime Minister Rajoy, reportedly sent by the head of the American Chamber of Commerce in Spain, urging him to take immediate action on the intellectual property issue. This isn’t the first sign of American influence in Spanish Internet legislation. In December of 2010, El Pais published a series of diplomatic cables leaked via WikiLeaks which revealed that the U.S. has been heavily involved in crafting Spanish intellectual property law. According to those cables, the White House had a heavy hand in decisions made by multiple parties in Spain’s government. SEE ALSO: Where Do Your Elected Officials Stand on SOPA? More About: SOPA, Spain, stop online piracy act

Instagram Photos Now Show Up Full Size on Facebook Posted: 05 Jan 2012 07:27 PM PST Instagram has announced deeper integration with Facebook — now your Instagram pictures shared to Facebook will be displayed in full size on your timeline or the timeline of a friend. Not only will the photo show up in all its glory, but the caption you’ve added from within the Instagram app on the iPhone will be sitting there underneath. The integration goes even deeper, letting you share your friends’ pictures (or even groups of pictures) from Instagram onto Facebook. You can create an “Instagram Photos” album on your Facebook account to aggregate all those photos. The insular nature of the Instagram service still remains, where the only platform you can use to take Instagram pictures is the iPhone. But this new capability opens things up considerably. According to Instagram: You can also share Instagram images that a friend has posted to Facebook by using the "Share" button below that friend's image in order to post the photo to your own timeline, on a friend's timeline, in a group, on your page, or in a private message. Perhaps this is a signal of the further unfurling of the Instagram universe. You didn’t think Instagram was going to remain exclusive to the iPhone forever, did you? Even Instagram itself has always said it aims to spread the service to other platforms. Until now, I found it mildly frustrating to see my Instagram photos reduced to mere thumbnails whenever I shared them on my Facebook account, so I’m glad to see this new capability. How about you? Do you welcome this new Facebook integration, or do you wish Instagram would have left well enough alone? [via the official Instagram blog] Graphics courtesy Instagram More About: apps, Facebook, instagram, iphone, trending

5 Predictions for Online Data in 2012 Posted: 05 Jan 2012 06:55 PM PST Josh Jones-Dilworth is the founder and CEO of Jones-Dilworth, Inc., a public relations consultancy focused on bringing early-stage technologies to market. In the spirit of the new year, I’ve determined my online data predictions for 2012. And because I’m attempting to make this an annual experiment, let's begin my looking back at how my 2011 predictions shook out. 1. Personal data management matures into an industry. I'll admit the prediction was largely a fail. Ambitious startups like Singly + The Locker Project got off the ground, but did not pick up steam. Many new, related startups are in the works, but none have even come close to the goal of managing one’s data the way he manages his health or wealth, for instance. An end-to-end platform may emerge, but it will take time. 2. The flood gates of corporate data open widely. This prediction has come close to being true. It certainly has become important to mine, parse and manifest corporate data for internal and external uses alike. The predominant question has indeed shifted from "Should I make my data open and available?" to "How can I do it best?” But at the same time, a lot of people are still sitting on the sidelines, waiting to see how things develop. 3. Big data gets regulated. Facebook agreed to submit to independent privacy audits as part of its long-gestating FTC settlement. I'd argue that we'll see more regulation in 2012. Congress has taken an active role, and the big Internet companies have only further increased their lobbying spend. Controversies surrounding Carrier IQ, Apple and SOPA have accelerated public interest. Of course there's good regulation and bad regulation. Anyone doing business in or with data is going to have to understand how government works, and play an active role. 4. The trend itself gets old and tired. Another outright fail. It is certainly true that everything is becoming, or has already become, data-driven, but we haven't yet had the hangover I predicted. If anything, we're full-steam ahead, and as ebullient and ambitious as ever. This is good and bad — escalating investment of both human and real capital will spur innovation and speed up the inevitable. But the pace also makes us more vulnerable. Data for data's sake, or data for self-justification is an ongoing risk. 5. Data scientists become the new community managers. I think it's fair to say that this happened, by a large margin. Check out this chart from Indeed that chronicles the explosion of data scientist jobs. CMSWire explores the particulars in more detail. Last year aside, what's going to matter in 2012? 1. Future Tense Analytics — Hello, McFly? For a long time, were analytics defined by the past — what happened a day ago? A week ago? A year ago? The arrival of real-time technologies sped things up quite a bit. It's now commonplace to ask, what's happening? What's trending? What's changing? Today's best data-driven technologies and strategies orchestrate insights in the present tense. Naturally, predictive analytics tackle the future tense. This isn't a new notion, but the underlying technologies are finally mature enough for predictive use. Keep an eye on places like Decide.com. In 2012, future-tense capabilities will become widespread, and in high demand. 2. Mixing and Matching Data Sets One of the things that comes right after wider availability of data is the desire to put that data in context. For instance, this type of mashup culture is what put Mashable itself on the map back in 2006 and 2007. For other brands and enterprises, 2012 will be all about crashing diverse data sets together, and seeing what clicks. I'm actually a dissenter when it comes to companies like Factual or SimpleGeo's heavy emphasis on location as a single data vertical. Umbel‘s focus on audience definition and BlueKai‘s ad targeting are other examples of early leaders in a particular domain. It's not at all that these companies aren't cool or useful, but the most interesting things happen when you mash up data sources. For example, Umbel can provide incredible insight into your audience and its habits, but it's even more interesting when merged with usage logs, comment streams and share counts. The year 2012 will be about putting corporate data alongside open public sources — internal data meets external data. This is why I continue to be a big fan of data marketplaces like Infochimps, a company I advise, which has bundled data sets and API surrounding key themes, instead of verticals. The most actionable insights come from a diversity of data. 3. The Data Scientist Talent Grab A few years ago, I remember reading job descriptions for Ruby on Rails programmers who should have "5+ years of experience." This was funny, as Rails was only three years old at the time. That is what happens when a certain skill set spikes in demand. Employers assume market maturity when there is none, hiring gets very competitive, salaries rise, the very best practitioners give their employers an unfair advantage, and the market is flooded with wannabes (some of whom prove their mettle, some who do not). Training and professional development initiatives have taken center stage, and the land grab is on. McKinsey predicts that by 2018, the U.S. alone will face a 140,000 to 190,000-person shortage of professionals who have deep analytical skills, as well as a shortfall of 1.5 million managers and analysts with the know-how to analyze big data to make effective decisions. We're even seeing venture firms like Greylock hire top 5% data scientists to work across the entire portfolio, as one solution to the problem. And companies are employing new means of data science outsourcing (see: Kaggle, Mu Sigma). Since it's all still a relatively nascent field, I urge you to reinvest in the talent you already house. Knowledge of your own business is just as important as knowledge of data science. There are requisite skills of course, and it takes a certain kind of person, but in my own experience, there are bound to be many qualified individuals who are hungry and game. Soon there will be a much wider gap between the novices and the experts. However, don't think of data science chops as just something you can hire for, and be done with. It's a transformative trend, something that will eventually cut horizontally across your entire organization. In 2012, data science will appear in job descriptions left and right, and will become the most in-demand skill set in the technology sector. 4. Data-Driven Everywhere We generally think of data as the domain of large B2B companies that sell enterprise software, or of advertising networks and targeting systems that have an easy way of assigning a dollar value to their work. But the legal, pharma and law enforcement sectors have also been natural fits. In 2012, we'll see data-driven innovation and data-centric design emerge from the unlikeliest of places — think data-driven fashion, crop insurance, Hollywood box office and even humanities education. Essentially, don’t rule out the possibility of data-driven strategies anywhere. Even if a business doesn't run on data, it absolutely produces very interesting exhaust that can be used advantageously. 5. Data-Driven Non-profits Data has a higher purpose too — it's not just a pageview multiplier, or a CPM lift.  Data can help us understand how we are doing as a society and as a culture. Here I'm not talking about non-profits that use data to grow. I'm talking about non-profit initiatives that are built around data in and of themselves. Two great examples are CommonCrawl and the Earth Dashboard Project. Common Crawl builds and maintains a free and open crawl of the web and all its data, with the purpose of forwarding important research that requires large-scale analysis. The Earth Dashboard Project is an effort to build a living report card of sorts for the entire globe. It will be installed at the UN Headquarters in New York City as a way of reminding delegates and visitors of the bigger picture, our interconnectedness, and what we're really working toward every day. There is a lot to be done with data, not nearly all of it profitable. In 2012, we'll see five to seven new data-driven non-profits start to bite off important chunks of value that sit outside of corporate and governmental concerns. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, nadla More About: contributor, data, data collection, features, future, predictions For more Tech coverage: Follow Mashable Tech on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Tech channel Download our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad

LG to Roll Out Its Own Google TV at CES 2012 [PICS] Posted: 05 Jan 2012 06:32 PM PST LG announced it will introduce its own Google TV-equipped HDTV at CES 2010. The company says its “LG Smart TV with Google TV” will be an all-in-one unit , although it didn’t reveal the screen size yet. The 3D HDTV will use LG’s Cinema 3D technology that uses lightweight glasses that don’t require batteries. Along with that, LG touts its “magic remote QWERTY,” incorporating a small keyboard and controls to operate Google TV’s updated Android-based user interface. With LG announcing its version of Google TV, it joins Sony, Visio and Samsung with hardware supporting the format. After Logitech announced that it’s bowing out of the Google TV fold, it appears that a few more manufacturers are stepping up to take its place in short order. We’ll have a chance to see LG’s new Google TV-equipped HDTV when we go to CES 2012 next week, and we’ll give you a full report as soon as we take a closer look. Keep in mind that the main challenge with any Google TV announced in the next few days will have to do with content, not hardware. Google’s biggest stumbling block is getting production studios and content creators to allow their movies and TV shows to be accessible from Google TV. We’ve tested the early pre-Android version of Google TV, and found its main weakness was the lack of quality programming. Now that the user interface is based on Android, it’s more pleasant to use. But the fact remains: The strength of the platform is its ability to sort through all the TV programs available at the moment, and offer them up to the viewer. If studios won’t let their programs be accessible from Google TV, its power won’t be evident to anyone. In this situation, it’s more important to watch what the studios will do than what LG, Sony, Visio and Samsung will do. Here’s a new video from Google showing off its new Google TV interface, along with another pic of LG’s Google TV: More About: CES, CES 2012, google tv, LG

Mashable’s Digital Predictions for 2012 Posted: 05 Jan 2012 05:47 PM PST It’s hard to believe all that came out of the tech world in the year 2011. From drastic changes in social media trends to unexpected company acquisitions — both startups and major corporations — it goes without saying that it has been a banner year for technology as a whole. We asked the staff at Mashable to peer into their own crystal balls and tell us what their digital predictions were for 2012. Some are obvious transitions, but others might be a little surprising. Do you agree with our predictions? Let us know yours in the comments. Product and Software CD and DVD based software and game sales will continue to decline. Apple has already started its push to eliminate the optical disc — with its Mac App Store and the online-only availability of OS X Lion. Microsoft is also going to push digital app distribution via the Windows App Store component of Windows 8. Likewise, game companies will continue to push more games via download offerings, including Steam, Xbox Live and PlayStation Network, eschewing traditional discs. – Christina Warren Apple will release a triumvirate of products including a super slim edge-to-edge screen iPad 3, the long awaited iPhone 5 and an Apple TV. The last may also be called the iMac 50-inch. Amazon will introduce a completely redesigned Kindle Fire. The software will be somewhat different, but the hardware will be a rethinking of the 7-inch tablet. Microsoft Windows 8 will arrive by the end of the year, but with a number of different versions. Metro will be for tablets only and Windows 8 Home and Business will be for laptops and desktops. – Lance Ulanoff Voice Recognition I think voice recognition is going to be a big trend in 2012. The iPhone 4S’ Siri has brought the technology to a mainstream audience, and other manufacturers will be keen to capitalize on the buzz. It won’t just be phones that will offer the tech, we’ll see a variety of consumer electronics incorporating voice control elements — probably with mixed success! - Amy-Mae Elliott Mobile Smart phones will start to see quad core processors along with higher resolution displays, and more smart phones will start to see NFC chips. Mobile payments will start to become recognizable, and more people will understand what it is.- Keith Kaplan The Oscars will be streamed — in their entirety — online and on mobile. – Lance Ulanoff Frictionless Sharing “I saw the future early in 2011 when my colleague Sarah Kessler wrote about three startups betting on the idea that people would want to auto-share their browsing histories to social networks. Most people my age and older find this idea a bit startling — we like to control what and with whom we share online. But in reading about these companies way back in February, it occurred to me that this might be the root of a new generational divide. I see my teenage cousins on Facebook liking thousands of pages indiscriminately and sharing daily minutiae by the truckload. Some are living what seems like 100% of their lives out loud and online. The idea of automatically streaming your reading, listening and location habits will definitely appeal to them, and never appeal to me. Just as my parents will never “get” Twitter and Reddit, I will never “get” clickstreaming. Lo and behold, late 2011 brought these concepts directly to the mainstream: Facebook. The Washington Post’s Social Reader automatically shares the stories you read. “Frictionless sharing” like this will surely propagate widely in 2012 and beyond.” – Matt Silverman Television The coming year will also see much more focus on redefining the TV experience as Apple releases a TV set, which will seamlessly integrate the Internet. Despite the absence of Steve Jobs, the release will garner substantial hype and will be an immediate hit, prompting an upgrade cycle. - Todd Wasserman Smart TVs and TV apps, for example Hulu or Netflix, will start to become more popular. – Keith Kaplan This will be the first year most people become aware of what OLED HDTVs are, and will want one, especially after they’ve seen OLED’s sharp picture, super-flat screen and beautiful color saturation. However, it will be several years before OLED HDTVs in large sizes (over 55″) become affordable. – Charlie White Gaming Motion gaming is sort of the ire of all hardcore gamers but in 2012 game companies will continue to push the limits of their gesture-based peripherals. Sales of the Kinect and PS3 Move may not be as stratospherically high as the Nintendo Wii once was but we’re just starting to scratch the surface of what these things can do. The companies are throwing their hats into motion gaming and 2012 will be the year it sinks or swims (until, of course, the WiiU comes out). That, and there will be a new emphasis on motion-capping and life-like animation. The current crop of consoles can already get pretty close to photo-realism but animating those graphics has proved the toughest challenge. Games like L.A. Noire have shown what motion-capture can do in a video game setting. Be ready for more. Of course, mobile/social gaming and gamification will continue their steady plot to conquer the gaming world but expect big moves in motion gaming and motion-capture. – Zachary Sniderman Social Media Social media powerhouses like Facebook and Twitter will grow less in user acquisition and more in user engagement by implementing new features to keep users on the site longer. Pinboard site Pinterest will be a huge player in the space as it continues to organically grow its large, yet niche audience. As Google+ continues to add more features, better integrate with other Google products and become more business-friendly, it will be a contender for best social network. Mobile design will become a focus for social sites (if it hasn’t already) as average users become more inclined to not only consume content but also engage on tablets and smartphones. – Meghan Peters Facebook and Twitter will continue their rapid growth, especially outside of the U.S. Inside the U.S., Google+ will break 100 million users and look significantly different than it does right now. – Lance Ulanoff Business Acquisitions In 2012, Amazon will secure its place as the digital hub in a good portion of U.S. households by buying Netflix. This will not only add a lot more content to Amazon’s streaming choices and make buying Prime a no-brainer, but will also become a valuable branding tool as Amazon drops the Netflix name and that company’s red envelopes are replaced by Amazon’s yellow and white. - Todd Wasserman Netflix CEO Reed Hastings will step down, and someone will acquire Netflix. RIM will also announce a significant leadership change. It may also get acquired before the end of 2013. – Lance Ulanoff Image courtesy of iStockphoto, GreenPimp, gmutlu, LPETTET, robas More About: features, new year predictions, predictions, Social Media, Tech, Year End 2011

HBO Stops Discounting Discs to Netflix, Intensifying Battle for Content Posted: 05 Jan 2012 05:16 PM PST The unspoken battle between HBO and Netflix got a little uglier on Thursday when it was revealed that the premium cable channnel had stopped offering DVDs to Netflix at a discount. As first reported by the The New York Times and later confirmed by both companies, the volume wholesale discounts that HBO used to offer Netflix are no more. The change took place at the first of the year. Although Netflix remains committed to offering HBO titles to its rent-by-mail customers — the company can simply acquire the latest releases of Boardwalk Empire and True Blood via other retail outlets — this move underscores a trend we’ve written about before: The content battle taking place between online streaming and TV Everywhere, the initiative from content providers to offer their products directly to subscribers online. Brad Adgate, senior vice president and director of research at Horizon Media doesn’t think HBO’s decision to refuse discounts on its discs will have much of an impact on Netflix’s subscriber base, in part because “DVDs are kind of on its way out and Netflix has moved its core business to streaming.” He describes the relationship between HBO and Netflix as “frienemies,” noting that “they are competitors but also offer the other a source of revenue.” According to Adgate, the real challenge is the success of HBO’s streaming app, HBO Go, and the broader impact that might have on Netflix’s new core business. HBO Go vs. Netflix HBO’s parent company, Time Warner, has famously refused to license its popular and critically acclaimed content to Netflix (excepting early HBO programming like The Larry Sanders Show that are bound under different home-video agreements). Instead, HBO has pursued its own TV Everywhere initiative with HBO Go. HBO Go is an app that offers subscribers access to current HBO programming along with a back catalog of original series. This content is available on iOS, Android, Roku and video game consoles. HBO Go is a huge hit, with more than 5 million downloads in 2011. Time Warner Cable and Cablevision, two early TV Everywhere holdouts, have both agreed to start support HBO Go in 2012. As I’ve argued in the past, the success of HBO Go has shown content owners that they don’t necessarily have to bypass traditional distribution platforms like cable; instead content owners can augment their current cable deals with online/tablet/phone access. The Content Battle Continues When it comes to content, Netflix is in a bit of a catch 22. On the one hand, it needs a viable, robust and ever-increasing library of streaming content to keep its customer base. On the other hand, the success of Netflix — and indeed the broader success of Hulu Plus, HBO Go and online subscription in general — has made acquiring content much more expensive. As Adgate pointed out, Netflix’s deal with Starz expires next month. When the Starz agreement ends, Netflix will lose its streaming access to almost all of its Walt Disney, Pixar and Sony Pictures content. Netflix has tried to spin the loss, pointing out its content deals with AMC Networks and DreamWorks Animation, but as Adgate pointed out, the company is now paying the same amount for a small selection of titles that it used to pay for an entire year’s worth of Starz content. Adgate thinks Netflix’s next step will be to sell advertising “similar to the way Hulu does and what YouTube is trying to do” and in the process “create a second revenue stream” in addition to subscriber fees. Adgate argues that while many compare Netflix to ad-free pay cable à la HBO, the better comparison is traditional cable networks like FX or ESPN. As Adgate notes, “Consumers already pay $5 a month for ESPN and you get ads with that.” It’s an interesting proposition. While Netflix might have a hard time integrating advertising into its main catalog of titles, the company is increasingly investing in original programming. Its first original series will debut next month, with future projects — including the continuation of Arrested Development to follow into 2013. Viewers Still Love Netflix Of course, even with the content growing pains, viewers still love Netflix. The company reported 2 billion hours of streaming content was consumed at the end of 2011. Analyst Richard Greenfield told Variety that by his estimations, that would make Netflix the 15th most watched network. The real question is, what impact will new content deals (or a lack of deals) have on these viewership numbers. More About: hbo, HBO GO, netflix, tv everywhere For more Entertainment coverage: Follow Mashable Entertainment on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Entertainment channel Download our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad

Google Chrome Beta Released, Now Even Faster and More Secure Posted: 05 Jan 2012 04:41 PM PST Google Chrome has announced a new beta that speeds up the world’s second-favorite browser even more, as well as enhances its security. According to the official Google Chrome blog, the new beta release of the Chrome browser, version 17.0 .963.26 beta-m, gains some of its additional speed by “loading some Web pages in the background, even before you finish typing the URL in the omnibox.” Google announced at the same time the Chrome beta will offer additional protection against malicious websites and their malevolent downloads. Software engineer Dominic Hamon wrote in the Google Chrome blog post that this beta version includes “expanded functionality to analyze executable files (such as ".exe" and ".msi" files) that you download.” Chrome will notify users with a warning that they should discard such files. Hamon added that the company will be making Chrome smarter in the coming months, allowing it to detect even more malicious files. I downloaded the latest Chrome beta and tested it, and it certainly feels faster. It downloaded and installed without a hitch, and it seems stable so far. As I typed a web address I often visit into Chrome’s address window (called the “omnibox,” where all the searching and URLs appear in Chrome), it did feel like it popped up faster. I’ll keep testing this beta browser to see if I run into any bugs. You can try the new test release by downloading the Chrome beta here. By the way, while Chrome is the world’s second favorite browser, Google Chrome 15 beat out Internet Explorer 8 as the world’s most popular browser version. More About: beta, Browsers, google chrome, trending

Sprint Throttles Users with Its ‘Truly Unlimited’ Data Plans Posted: 05 Jan 2012 04:06 PM PST Sprint might claim it offers “truly unlimited” data for its smartphone plans, but the telecom admitted it still penalizes its heaviest users. At the Citigroup Entertainment, Media and Telecommunications Conference on Thursday, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse admitted to throttling — or restricting data speeds of — its biggest data hogs. Dow Jones quotes Hesse as saying, “For those that want to abuse it, we can knock them off.” Sprint reportedly throttles about 1% of its users. Of course, this practice is not unique to Sprint. AT&T throttles its heaviest users — including those with grandfathered-in “unlimited” plans. T-Mobile also throttles users who exceed a certain amount of data usage. The difference? Sprint runs television ads like this one, claiming its unlimited data plans really are unlimited. Sprint has long-touted its “truly unlimited” data plans as the key feature differentiating it from competing networks. Of course, the definition of “unlimited” is frequently changing. Back in October, Sprint stopped offering unlimited data plans for tablets, laptops, notebooks and mobile hotspots. Sprint reportedly made that move to keep the network clear for smartphone users. While we’re sure Sprint allows for some amount of traffic shaping and throttling in its contract with customers, we still think the company should change its advertising ASAP. Our question: What level of data constitutes throttling? 5GB? 10GB? 3.2GB? We’ve contacted Sprint for an answer. What do you think of Sprint’s definition of “truly unlimited?” [via MacRumors] More About: data plans, sprint, throttling For more Mobile coverage: Follow Mashable Mobile on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Mobile channel Download our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad

Smartphone Screens Get Ready: Gorilla Glass 2 is Coming Posted: 05 Jan 2012 03:42 PM PST It’s in the iPhone and iPad — though Apple doesn’t officially acknowledge its existence. Indeed, it’s in an increasing number of smartphone screens and tablets; at last count, more than 500 million devices carried it worldwide. You likely look at it all the time without noticing it. What is it? Gorilla Glass, a super-strong, lightweight 21st-century glass made by Pyrex manufacturer Corning. Now the company is preparing to unveil a brand new version of the material, Gorilla Glass 2, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. “Handset and tablet device manufacturers are clearly driving toward higher functionality from thinner designs,” says Corning Specialty Materials General Manager James Steiner in a statement. “Corning's latest innovation in Gorilla Glass technology is very well positioned to meet these challenges and enable broader touch technology penetration." The company is staying tight-lipped about exactly how much lighter or stronger the new glass is; we’ll find out more at CES 2012 starting on Monday. But chances are you’ll have to work a lot harder to shatter a smartphone screen made with Gorilla Glass 2. SEE ALSO: How Super-Strong Glass Keeps Your Smartphone Screen From Breaking Gorilla Glass 2 isn’t just for small devices. The company is bringing an impressive 82-inch touchscreen to the show, along with a Gorilla Glass-covered video wall, flanked by Gorilla Glass-fabricated speakers. The lightweight glass technology was long-rumored to be used in the iPhone. This was confirmed last year in Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs, which features the Apple CEO paying a visit to Corning’s factory — and brokering a deal to get the as-yet-untested glass into the first iPhone within six months. Have you ever shattered a Gorilla Glass smartphone? Would a lighter, thinner screen make you look twice at a new model? Let us know in the comments. More About: CES 2012, Corning, gorilla glass, trending

Celebrity Apprentice: Meet the Most Connected Cast Yet Posted: 05 Jan 2012 03:01 PM PST Celebrity Apprentice host Donald Trump has been touting this season’s crop of contestants as “the best cast we’ve ever had.” We’re not sure about “best,” but the cast certainly has an unbeatable following on social media. The celebrities’ social networks could help them in challenges that require their teams to raise the most money to win. One Facebook status update or Twitter missive from a contestant could rally followers — even fellow celebrity followers — to donate money during one of those challenges. Trump and NBC producers likely monitor each contestants’ online sentiment — so fan comments on social sites and message boards also could sway who Trump fires when the season begins Feb. 12. Producers might want to keep contestants that incite significant online buzz, which may translate to better TV ratings. SEE ALSO: Study Shows Correlation Between Social Buzz and TV Ratings For example, actor George Takei of Star Trek fame posted a Facebook status update about the show Wednesday. It has attracted more than 25,000 “Likes,” 2,800 comments and 1,100 shares. NBC revealed the cast Wednesday, but searches for Celebrity Apprentice topics are trending high Thursday on Google. Singer Clay Aiken, who finished second on American Idol‘s season two in 2003, was the fifth hottest-searched topic on Google on Thursday, with Celebrity Apprentice at number 15. Whether that means Aiken is an early fan favorite is yet to be seen. Google searchers could just be looking up who Aiken is. We’ve reached out to NBC to find out how much access the celebrities will have during taping. We’ll update this post once NBC responds. SEE ALSO: The Future of Social TV [VIDEO] | 5 Ways the Film and TV Industries Use Twitter For now, enjoy these 18 videos featuring each of the celebrities that will battle it out to avoid Trump’s signature “you’re fired” hand gesture. For full biographies of each, head over to the Celebrity Apprentice website. Note: Click on the celebrities’ names to go to their Twitter pages. Meet Clay Aiken “Former American Idol contestant Clay Aiken talks about the skills he brings to the show.” Meet Michael Andretti “Race car driver Michael Andretti talks about being competitive by nature, and his reasons for filling in for his son Marco.” Meet Adam Carolla “Adam Carolla doesn’t throw people under the bus… he throws them into a wood chipper.” Meet Tia Carrere “Actress Tia Carrere looks forward to hanging out with the ladies and vanquishing the men.” Meet Lou Ferrigno “Lou Ferrigno, better known as the Incredible Hulk, talks about his charity, the Muscular Dystrophy Association.” Meet Debbie Gibson “Debbie Gibson talks about her 25 years in the business since she was 16.” Meet Teresa Giudice “Real Housewife Teresa Giudice talks about the difference between her on-air persona and the people her friends now at home.” Meet Victoria Gotti “Reality TV star Victoria Gotti talks about her experience on reality TV, and why she’s sure she’s going to win.” Meet Arsenio Hall “Arsenio Hall talks about what the show means to him: that people in 2012 will know he’s alive!” Meet Penn Jillette “Magician Penn Jillette wants to show that the classic American individual can win playing by someone else’s rules.” Meet Lisa Lampanelli “Comedian Lisa Lampanelli, the “Queen of Mean” and a loud Italian, talks about her concern coming on a show with a lot of loud Italians.” Meet Dayana Mendoza “Miss Universe Dayana Mendoza gets emotional discussing her excitement being on the show.” Meet Aubrey O’Day “Singer Aubrey O’Day is not afraid to use her very strong voice.” Meet Dee Snider “Twisted Sister singer Dee Snider talks about his charity, the March of Dimes” Meet George Takei “George Takei — Star Trek‘s Sulu — talks about his chosen charity, the Japanese American National Museum.” Meet Paul Teutul, Sr. “American Chopper‘s Paul Teutul, Sr. talks about his first time meeting Trump on The Tonight Show.” Meet Cheryl Tiegs “Cheryl Tiegs talks about her chosen charity, the Farrah Fawcett Foundation.” Meet Patricia Velasquez “Model and actress Patricia Velasquez talks about the charity she started ten years ago, the Wayuu Taya Foundation.” More About: Celebrity Apprentice, Entertainment, Facebook, Social Media, social tv, television, Twitter For more Entertainment coverage: Follow Mashable Entertainment on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Entertainment channel Download our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad

Reddit Gets 2 Billion Impressions in December, Leaving Digg in the Dust Posted: 05 Jan 2012 02:30 PM PST Reddit raked in more than 2 billion pageviews in December, double the amount the site posted the year before The network also disclosed that it got close to 35 million unique visitors for the period, meaning the average user viewed about 13 pages per visit. The average time on site for Reddit was 16 minutes. That also averages to 100 million monthly pageviews per Reddit employee. Reddit broke the 1 billion pageview barrier last February. Reddit, a unit of Advance Publications (also the owner of Conde Nast) has been growing fast since 2010, when its longtime rival, Digg, imploded as many former fans rejected the site’s introduction of Version 4 in August of that year. Reddit appears to have eclipsed Digg in traffic in April 2011, but now Reddit’s traffic is more than twice that of Digg’s. A Digg rep says that the site got 14.1 million uniques in December, which is typically a slow month. The average is around 16 million or 17 million, she says. In its post, Reddit also made a point of underscoring how little it relied on search, Facebook and Twitter. The company claims it “doesn’t know anything” about SEO and doesn’t link to its Facebook and Twitter accounts, according to the post. What do you think? Are you a Reddit fan or do you wonder what all the fuss is about? Sound off in the comments. More About: digg, reddit For more Business coverage: Follow Mashable Business on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Business channel Download our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad

NewsRight: a Game Changer for Online Journalism? Posted: 05 Jan 2012 02:16 PM PST The Associated Press, The New York Times Co., The Washington Post Co. and several other news organizations banded together Thursday to launch a new company called NewsRight. Its goal: let news orgs see how widely their original reporting is being spread, and let them easily license content to interested partners. Following three years of planning, NewsRight’s industry reach is already substantial. It has 29 co-investors and 30 additional participating companies, representing more than 800 web sites of U.S. newspapers. David Westin, former ABC News president and NewsRight’s founding CEO, hopes the company will help sustain original content production. NewsRight’s News Registry platform tracks websites, blogs and other Internet aggregators to measure the spread of its participants’ content. “NewsRight is designed to address an issue in the marketplace of an increased appetite for news but some real challenges to supply,” Westin told Mashable. “There is a flaw in the business model right now. Value is not going to those who pay, and we want to correct the imbalance.” The company provides publishers with strings of HTML code to insert in their stories’ headlines and text, so they can track the spread of each piece of their content. The encoded stories report to the registry, showing where and when a story is reblogged and read. SEE ALSO: 6 Game-Changing Digital Journalism Events of 2011 Though Westin hopes NewsRight will help correct the broken business model in the new industry, NewsRight does not tell its publisher partners what to do with its information. Publications can chose if they would like to do nothing, believing their contents’ aggregation promotes their brand, seek licensing fees individually or join with other participants to obtain licensing through NewsRight. Do you think NewsRight can bring extra revenue to a depleted media industry? Let us know in the comments. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, fotosipsak More About: Associated Press, Media, new york times, news aggregation, online news For more Business coverage: Follow Mashable Business on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Business channel Download our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad

Facebook Business Cards Are Here: 200,000 Users Get Free Bundles Posted: 05 Jan 2012 02:04 PM PST MOO Cards, the makers of MiniCards—petite-sized business cards the size of a stick of gum—DIY business cards, and postcards, wants to make artsy business cards out of your Facebook Timeline. MOO Cards has partnered with Facebook to make what are simply dubbed Facebook Cards. Each Facebook Card is made from a template using your Facebook Cover picture and information from your profile. From Wednesday onward, MOO will be giving away free 50-card bundles to the first 200,000 users. For those who struggle with math, that’s 10 million business cards. A steady flow of free cards will be released, ensuring that the 10 million cards are not ordered within the very first hours of the promotion. For the next 10 days, 50,000 orders will be processed, followed by an additional 150,000 orders, says Paul Lewis, the head of marketing at MOO. Those first 50,000 will also have free shipping, but the rest will have a “small” shipping fee, so act fast. The promotion’s end date hasn’t yet been determined. Announcements about these releases will be posted on the MOO blog and the company’s Twitter account @overheardatmoo. SEE ALSO: Facebook Timeline Redefines Your Facebook: Pics of the New Profile Design All 800 million Facebook users can take advantage of the promotional freebie, as long as they’re one of the first 200,000 customers, of course. “MOO.com is very excited to announce this integration with Facebook to provide a revolutionary new customer experience that brings together Facebook Timeline with MOO’s high-quality printed products,” said MOO CEO and Founder Richard Moross in a press release. To get the offer, first click on “About” under your basic info on your Timeline. Then scroll down to “Contact Info” and roll over the little business card icon — you should see a rollover box that will direct you to MOO. In order to take advantage of the offer, Facebook users will need to have enabled Timeline. To place a regular paid order on MOO.com, sign in through Facebook and check that the aggregated information from your profile is correct on the card. Then you can flip the card over to add a favorite quote or phrase before printing. Currently, the cards are for sale in 50-card bundles. Facebook Cards are available at $15 for 50, $30 for 100, $45 for 150 and $60 for 200. How do you feel about the mix of online social networking and offline business networking? Let us know in the comments. More About: deals, Facebook, facebook timeline, moo, trending

Unigo Uses the Power of the Internet to Pick the Perfect College Posted: 05 Jan 2012 01:44 PM PST Picking a college is one of the most important decisions in a young person’s life, and Unigo.com supercharges that process by helping prospective students find a college counselor. Unigo features a new video chat service that pairs prospective students with counselors around the country. The right professor, the right resources and even the right city can have a drastic impact on a student’s career and future. So why is it so difficult to get solid, one-on-one time with a college counselor without paying buckets of money? Unigo.com pairs prospective college students with freelance college counselors all over web video chats. Founded by Jordan Goldman, the company actually launched in 2008 as an information resource with university reviews and college application tips. The site has put out a 150-page university guide with USA Today and supplies information to the U.S. News and World Report College Rankings. What was missing, however, was a way for interested or anxious students to actually spend one-on-one time with an expert who could help guide them through their uniquely different questions. The service lets high school students set up video chat with a counselor for $50/hour or a less formal video chat with a current college student for $16/hour. These sessions are treated like actual counseling sessions with the experts helping kids pick the right college for their interests, get advice on choosing roommates, guidance on financial aid options and more. Goldman launched the service in mid-December as a way to help everyone: Students get better advice, counselors get some extra money and parents feel better. The counselors and college students were chosen from a lengthy application process which saw 40,000 student applications and 1,000 counselor applications. Goldman says he and his team of 15 staffers then read through all of the submissions and narrowed it down to 15,000 student experts and 500 freelance counselors. All the contributors have been personally vetted by the Unigo team and each one has a rating and a catalogue of videos and advice which high schoolers can check before committing to a session. Of course, Unigo is not responsible for the quality of advice (though Goldman says it’s top notch), the site is meant as an open marketplace where people with skills (counseling) can offer it to people in need. It’s a good deal, Goldman says. Private counselors can cost thousands of dollars for just several sessions and the public system is way too overloaded to handle every question from every student. Goldman, just 28 years old, remembers getting just 20 precious minutes to talk with his counselor when he attended Tottenville High School in Staten Island. “Its not that they don't care, but [counselors] are overburdened and can only give the students so much time,” Goldman says. In just one month, the service has generated approximately $50,000 which is a nice chunk of change considering the rest of Unigo.com is offered completely free of charge. Unigo is not a charity, but Goldman thinks that the minimal cost is helping the site continue to help and serve students looking to make the right college decisions: “If we can virtualize college counseling,” Goldman says, “if we can get the 97,000 counselors across the country on our platform and help them make money in their free time, we can create a network to help people make some of the most important decisions of their lives.” Image courtesy of Flickr, ChrisM70 More About: college, education, Unigo

Meet Tailbot: A Robotics Breakthrough Inspired by Dinosaurs [VIDEO] Posted: 05 Jan 2012 01:33 PM PST Could the future of robotics actually lie somewhere in the ancient age of tyrannosaurus and velociraptors? That’s what the findings of an interdisciplinary group of UC Berkeley researchers appears to indicate. After studying the ways in which lizards — and probably dinosaurs before them — use their tails to maintain balance when leaping, the team of biologists and engineers has applied that prehistoric technology to a robotic car dubbed Tailbot. Researchers point to a famous scene from the film Jurassic Park, in which a velociraptor leaps from a balcony to a tyrannosaurus skeleton, as an example of their idea. The cutting-edge work could lead to practical advances in the field of robotics that enable more durable, nimble machines to function in hectic and uncertain situations, including disaster relief missions. In radioactive environments, for example, robots could one day successfully carry out operations too dangerous for human operatives. “Engineers quickly understood the value of a tail,” Thomas Libby, a team member and Berkeley graduate student in mechanical engineering, told the campus news center. “Robots are not nearly as agile as animals, so anything that can make a robot more stable is an advancement, which is why this work is so exciting.” Tailbot is equipped with a small gyroscope that detects its angle and sends feedback to the robot’s tail. The tail then adjusts accordingly to rebalance the machine. When dropped nose-down, Tailbot can right itself before dropping a foot, researchers say. UC Berkeley integrative biology professor Robert Full leads the team of researchers and has studied geckos for the past two decades, analyzing how the lizards’ toe hairs help them climb smooth surfaces such as glass and how their tails help them avoid dangerous falls and slips. More recently, Full and six students used motion capture technologies to record how the red-headed African Agama lizard uses its tail. When the lizard ran down a low-traction ramp to leap to a nearby surface, the lack of friction before take-off caused it to slip and spin haphazardly. But the lizard used its tail to counteract the imbalance. Full and his team took note, creating a mathematical model to help understand the lizard’s adjustments and apply similar functionality to Tailbot. Tailbot’s design created a stir at at a recent international conference on intelligent robotics, where the UC Berkeley team’s work was one of five projects highlighted from a field of more than two thousand robot studies. Their findings will also appear in the Jan. 12 issue of the journal Nature. Full said that the work “shows the competitive advantage of interdisciplinary approaches” in leading to innovation, but he and his team aren’t done yet. They are now researching how lizards use their tails to help control pitch, roll and yaw while running, another potential breakthrough that could also help create more capable robots in the future. And, as with their more recent findings, the team’s collaboration of the natural and mechanical sciences will continue to be an advantage in pushing robotic technology forward. “We showed for the first time that lizards swing their tail up or down to counteract the rotation to their body, keeping them stable,” Full said. “Inspiration from lizard tails will likely lead to far more agile search-and-rescue robots, as well as ones having greater capability to to more rapidly detect chemical, biological or nuclear hazards.” What do you think the future holds for robotics? What else can robots learn from the natural world? Let us know in the comments. Image courtesy of Robert Full Lab, UC Berkeley More About: mashable video, robotics, robots, Science, trending

How to Access the Best New Features in Google Analytics Posted: 05 Jan 2012 01:22 PM PST Rachael Gerson spearheads the Analytics division at SEER Interactive. Follow her on Twitter @rachaelgerson. In my last Google Analytics post, I talked about the 10 new Google Analytics features you need to start using. Now that you already know what these new features are, let's focus on how you can find them, and get started. Basic Navigation There are two main navigation methods for Google Analytics. The top navigation is used to view the Home section, Standard Reporting and Custom Reporting. Most of the reports from the previous article use the Standard Reporting tab. The second navigation is the side navigation. Use this navigation to select the profile, search for a specific report or access the report you need. Each item in the side navigation can be clicked on to expand the full menu. Click here to view this gallery. More About: contributor, features, Google, google analytics, Tech, trending, Web Development For more Dev & Design coverage: Follow Mashable Dev & Design on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Dev & Design channel Download our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad

Facebook, NBC Joining Forces to Host Social Presidential Debate Posted: 05 Jan 2012 01:07 PM PST NBC and Facebook are teaming up to co-host a Republican debate Sunday night with a unique social media component. The debate, moderated by Meet the Press host David Gregory, will air on NBC Sunday, Jan. 8 at 9 a.m. ET, two days before the New Hampshire primary. The debate will also be streaming live on MSNBC.com and on Facebook, allowing political junkies to tune-in online. Users who watch online (or on T.V. while online) will be able to submit questions directly to candidates via a Facebook widget. They will also be able to interact with one another in real-time as part of a comprehensive “second screen” experience, a setup familiar to many television fans. “By allowing people to connect in an authentic and meaningful way with presidential candidates, we hope more voters than ever will get involved with issues that matter most to them.” said Elliot Schrage, Vice President of Global Communications, Marketing and Public Policy at Facebook, in a statement. We originally reported on the NBC/Facebook debate in July of last year. Since then, NBC and Facebook have been asking users to share issues they would like to be addressed during the debate. And, as former President Bill Clinton famously said, “it’s the economy, stupid.” The Facebook portal isn’t constrained to a simple poll. It features a widget for more complex debate where 2,000 comments have been left over the past few months. Users aren’t just dropping comments and leaving, either. They’re replying and coming back to answer other users, showing real interaction on the site. This isn’t the first time Facebook has been heavily involved with a political debate, but the built-in stream and widgets are a significant evolution in Facebook’s involvement with politics. In 2008, Facebook partnered with ABC News and featured “Debate Groups,” simple spaces where users could discuss the night’s events. When President Obama was sworn in to office in 2009, Facebook brought users streaming video via CNN alongside “Livestream,” an instant chat tool. And during the 2010 midterm elections, Facebook and ABC again teamed up to livestream a town hall broadcast from Arizona State University. Other social media networks are in on the politics game, too. In July of last year, Twitter joined up with the White House for President Obama’s first “Twitter Town Hall.” The president took questions live from Twitter users and answered them via an online stream hosted on the White House’s website. To follow the debate Sunday, tune your TV to NBC or point your browser at MSNBC or Facebook. Then, check out Facebook’s politics portal to get involved with the social debate by asking questions for the candidates or by having a conversation with other online users. Are you excited about taking part in the NBC/Facebook debate? Let us know in the comments below. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, carterdayne More About: 2012 presidential campaign, Facebook

RIM Cancels 2 BlackBerry 10 Phones, Now Working on Just 1 [RUMOR] Posted: 05 Jan 2012 12:51 PM PST Things aren’t looking so good for BlackBerry. Amidst speculation on the phone company’s future, rumors are starting to surface that Research in Motion (RIM), the Canadian company that makes BlackBerry has cancelled two of its next generation smart phones. The news, first reported by Boy Genius Report, is that RIM has cancelled two next-gen smartphones, the BlackBerry Colt and the BlackBerry Milan. The Colt was supposed to be RIM’s first smartphone on its new operating system, BlackBerry 10 (originally called BBX), while the Milan was expected to work on the current operating system, BlackBerry 7. If the report is true, there is now just one BlackBerry 10 phone in the works. The phone, shown above and nicknamed “London” will have a tough road ahead as it fights with iPhones and Androids, both of which have become more popular for business and power users, BlackBerry’s once-core demographic. SEE ALSO: BlackBerry London: Leaked Image of First BBX OS Phone Appears To boot, the next generation of BlackBerry phones won’t come to market until the latter half of 2012. RIM is reportedly waiting on production of a processor that won’t be available until later in the year. The BlackBerry London hasn’t had an official release but leaked images from The Verge give an idea of its design. Mashable has reached out to RIM but hasn’t heard back. Cancelling two phones isn’t a nail in the coffin by any means. The fact that RIM is waiting for the right processors for its new phone bodes well for its quality. The London, however, will need to be a huge hit if RIM wants to stay competitive. Is the London set for success? Does the company even need a smash hit BlackBerry phone? Sound off in the comments. Update: A representative from RIM responded with: “RIM doesn’t typically comment on rumors or speculation about specific products or projects … ” although it will continue to develop both its BlackBerry 7 and BlackBerry 10 platforms. More About: bbx, blackberry, BlackBerry 10, BlackBerry London, Mobile, RIM, smartphone, trending

NYC Mayor Bloomberg Vows to Learn Code in 2012 Posted: 05 Jan 2012 12:43 PM PST More than 170,000 people have signed up for Codecademy’s challenge to learn how to code in 2012, and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is one of them. The challenge, Code Year, was launched by New York-based startup Codecademy on Sunday and quickly took off as Twitter and Facebook users adopted it as their New Years resolution. Codecademy turns learning JavaScript into an interactive game. Anybody who signs up for Code Year will receive one of these programming lessons each week in their email inbox. Mayor Bloomberg tweeted on Thursday afternoon that he had signed up for the challenge. SEE ALSO: Codecademy Signs Up 97,000 People for Its New Year's Resolution Coding Class “I think it just goes to show the importance of what we’re doing – and the growing emphasis NYC is putting on technology,” Codecademy co-founder Zach Sims tells Mashable. “It’s too awesome for words.” Bloomberg has taken a large interest in the New York technology scene, showing up everywhere from TechStars demo day to a Facebook press event. It’s not a surprise that he also showed up when a NYC startup signed up 170,000 people for a tech challenge in less than a week. Who knows? After he finishes the course, maybe he’ll start attending hackathons, too. Photo courtesy of NYC.org, Kristen Artz More About: Codecademy, trending For more Business coverage: Follow Mashable Business on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Business channel Download our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad

AT&T Switches on 4G LTE in 11 Markets, Including New York City Posted: 05 Jan 2012 12:23 PM PST Got LTE? If you have an AT&T LTE phone and live in New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles or eight other major cities in the U.S., the answer is finally yes. AT&T finally flipped the switch on its 4G LTE (long-term evolution) network in 11 markets today, including the three mentioned above as well as Austin, Chapel Hill, Oakland, Orlando, Phoenix, Raleigh, San Diego and San Jose. That brings the total number of areas AT&T customers can get LTE to 26, or about 74 million people, the carrier says. AT&T is a bit late. After announcing in November that LTE was coming to the New York metro area, the company later promised it would be active by the end of 2011. But the Big Apple dropped to ring in 2012, and anyone with an LTE phone like the Samsung Skyrocket still had an empty 4G icon staring back at them. Now the network is active, and those users can start surfing the web and downloading at fast LTE speeds. Users may experience different mileage depending on which market they’re in, though (observers have noted that speeds are faster in Houston, for example, than Chicago), since AT&T deploys LTE a bit differently in different areas. AT&T says its LTE rollout should be complete by the end of 2013. The carrier had been counting on adapting T-Mobile’s network technology to serve its LTE network after AT&T made a bid to buy the company last year. That deal fell through, however, so AT&T will have to adjust its plan to bring LTE to the entire country. LTE, of course, is the latest and greatest wireless network technology, connecting phones and modems to the Internet on cellphone networks at speeds much faster than 3G, or even slower “4G” technologies like WiMax or HSPA+. AT&T first began rolling out its long-awaited LTE network in September of 2011, becoming the second carrier to do so. Verizon went first in December 2010. For a refresher on what LTE is, the AT&T-made video below covers the basics pretty well. Do you have and LTE device in one of the markets listed above? Is it working, and how fast is your connection? Let us know in the comments. More About: 4G, att, LTE, trending For more Mobile coverage: Follow Mashable Mobile on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Mobile channel Download our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad

This Online Coding Contest Could Get You a Job Interview With Facebook, Apple and Amazon Posted: 05 Jan 2012 12:16 PM PST How is this for a gauge of how desperately technology companies are seeking programmers? Over the weekend, any coder can audition for jobs at companies such as Facebook, Amazon, Groupon and Apple simultaneously — without changing out of their pajamas. Programmer database startup Interviewstreet is hosting an online coding challenge called CodeSprint beginning Friday, and 75 technology companies will be looking for employment candidates on its leaderboard. Coders who sign up for the challenge will receive an email on Friday evening when a set of programming problems becomes available. As they solve problems throughout the weekend, they will earn points and can see how they stack up against other participants. After the challenge ends on Sunday night, the participating companies will have the opportunity to contact specific candidates for job interviews based on their performance. Questions will include basic programming challenges as well as real-world problems. A practice problem in the latter category, for instance, asks users to create a program that finds what time of day any Twitter user tweets most often. Some companies, including Groupon, have created problems that are relevant to their own engineering challenges. In all cases, better code that works faster will earn more points. This is the second time that Interviewstreet has hosted a coding challenge. The first event, in October, only admitted students at select universities, resulting in 140 job interviews. This upcoming challenge will allow anyone with Internet access to participate. Interviewstreet is not conducting virtual employment hackathons out of sympathy for unemployed computer scientists (of which there are few). Coding challenges are core to its business, which catalogs programmers based on skills they have proved themselves in. When an employer hires a coder it finds on the site, or through a CodeSprint challenge, they pay the startup $10,000. Are you participating in the CodeSprint challenge? Let us know in the comments below. More About: amazon, apple, CodeSprint, Facebook, Interviewstreet, jobs For more Business coverage: Follow Mashable Business on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Business channel Download our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad

CES 2012: What to Expect Posted: 05 Jan 2012 11:37 AM PST Is this the end of CES? That's one question I'll be trying to answer as I walk the acres-long trade show floor. I'll also be searching for the one true thing: that awesome product that makes the whole endeavor worthwhile. It's turning out to be an odd year for the 40-plus-year-old trade show. Microsoft announced just weeks before the big event in Las Vegas that 2012 would be, essentially, its last CES. No more keynotes, no more trade show booth. The Consumer Electronics Association put on a brave face and explained that the decision to end the 14-year Microsoft keynote run was a mutual one and that other vendors are lining up to occupy Microsoft's Central Hall space. Then just a few days ago, Verizon's CEO announced he would not participate in a scheduled panel. Some might try and conflagrate these two events, but as I see it, Microsoft's decision is momentous and Verizon's is minor and not indicative of anything. So what are we to make of this year's CES, and which products, talks and technologies will define the event that could mark a turning point in CES's history. HDTVs: Smarter, Bigger More Desperate The specter of Apple's iTV, which could arrive this year, looms large over CES 2012. My guess is manufacturers like Samsung, Sony and Sharp will work hard to prove their HDTVs were smart long before Steve Jobs thought he had "solved" the TV problem. They'll be right, too. Most of today's TVs have much in common with computers. All they lack are spinning hard drives and keyboards (though some have those, too). Google will likely show off another Google TV update, possibly during one of the main electronics giant's press conferences. My money is on Sony. I think we'll still see some 3D, but mostly the no-glasses-required variety. No one will care. We'll see giant TVs, but LG's giant, razor-thin, edge-to-edge 55-inch OLED screen could be the belle of the CE ball. Unless of course someone like Sony (the company that showed me my first OLED screen CESes ago) shows up with an even bigger OLED screen. By the way, I hope you aren’t too enamored of that bezel that runs around your HDTV. I expect more than a few of the next-gen sets (including LG’s OLED screen) to dispense with the bezel entirely. Only the Thin Laptops Survive HP's Spectre Ultrabook (we assume that's what it is, based on a 30-second teaser video) is sure to be just one of many super-thin, sub 3-lb, full-power laptops we'll see at CES (an eager Lenovo couldn’t wait until CES to unveil its T430u ultrabook). These Mac Airbook competitors will all be sexy enough to draw away some of the attention from what may be one of the bigger stories coming out of CES 2012. Re-Rise of the Tablets Last year's CES (2011) was a veritable "tabletpalooza." This year, it'll be more like a tablet convention. We'll see a number of big-name manufacturers take another run at the iPad and, perhaps, Amazon's 7-inch Kindle Fire (which sold at least a million units in a little more than a month last year). And not everyone will wait for CES to unveil their latest slabs. Velocity Micro jumped the gun this week and unveiled its new line of Cruz Tablets: the 9.7-inch T510 and the 7-inch T507. Expect this new generation of iPad competitors to look better and be more powerful than anything we've seen before. SEE ALSO: 14 Essential Stops to Make on Your Tour of CES 2012 Hello, Windows 8 — Goodbye, Microsoft Speaking of tablets, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will likely use his last CES keynote to tout Windows 8 and tablets running the upcoming update. Two years ago, Ballmer showed off an HP slate running Windows 7. It seems unlikely that HP will step up to the plate again in 2012 with a Windows 8 tablet — at least not one that Ballmer can show on stage. My money is on Acer, a company with first-mover tendencies. Windows 8 can run on ARM-based devices, so we may also see Samsung (not the Google-owned Motorola Mobility) with a Galaxy-like Windows 8 device. I will be curious to see if Ballmer pulls out all the stops and finally brings some excitement to his CES presentation. His keynotes have been lackluster affairs that, while typically delivering valuable information and product glimpses, never excite or inspire. Come on, Steve, go out with a bang. (By the way, I'll be live blogging the event Monday at 6:30 p.m. PT.) Super-Duper Phones I'm sure we'll see handsets from all the usual suspects: HTC, Nokia, Motorola, Samsung and LG. We may also see some smartphones from companies that usually deliver larger computing and CE devices. In fact, I expect Intel to at least show one or two reference models for super-phones built around its Medfield (Atom-update) CPU. Home of Your Future and the Internet of All Things The legion of home automation and control products will only get larger after this CES. Carrier, Phillips, Leviton, Savant and many more will show a wide array of home automation and control solutions and appliances that, if not self-aware, will certainly be able to connect to you through the Internet. Continuing a trend we saw start at CES 2011, in-car Internet technology will again take center stage at CES. Ford, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi are all expected to show off some new, always connected technologies, as well as driver assistance advancements and more sophisticated navigation tools. Going Social and App Aware I got so few pure software pitches this year, but quite a few app press releases and more than a few emails promising the next big thing in social media at CES 2012. Quite a few of these apps and networks revolve around videos and photos. Makes sense, since one-fourth of all photos are captured on smartphones. Gadget Explosion Here's what's best about CES: All the crazy gadgets. There will be portable fuel cell batteries, security web cams, flying toys, game gear, walking robots and countless doodads you haven't even imagined yet. Nestled in among there could be that one, magical consumer electronics product you've been waiting for. Which products and technologies are you most excited to hear about and see from this year’s consumer electronics extravaganza? Let us know in in the comments. More About: CES, CES 2012, HDTV, home automation, intel, LG, microsoft, OLED, smartphones, sony, tablets, trending, Windows 8

4 Online Secrets for Getting Amazing Flight Deals Posted: 05 Jan 2012 11:25 AM PST The best time to travel each year is during January and February, as flight prices plummet after the holiday season when consumers try to cut back on spending. So for those not burnt out from holiday travel and can spare some extra change, the Internet is bursting with great flight deals. "People are spent and traveled out, and there aren't as many destinations that are desirable for mid-winter travel since a lot of the bigger cities in the U.S. are experiencing colder weather, such as Boston, Chicago and even Atlanta," George Hobica, founder of AirfareWatchdog, told Mashable. "Airfares are always lowered from about now until Mid-February, when the school vacations start up – with the exception of some higher fares around Martin Luther King weekend." 1. Look for Airline Tweets A low fare could pop up at any minute of the day or week, so shop around, follow tweets — because the best deals, even if they’re good for travel over a long period, last only a few hours — and be prepared to go wherever it’s cheap rather than where you can’t afford, Hobica advises. 2. Sign Up for Alerts First, sign up for AirFareWatchDog's fare alerts and email newsletter that sends cheap flight deals based on your home airport. Most domestic deals are under or around $200 – and some right now are so low, it's mind-boggling. A roundtrip trip to Chicago from New York, for example, could cost as little as $54 and you’ll find airfare to Florida for less than $100. In addition, non-stop, round-trip flights from New York to Istanbul on Turkish Airlines are unusually inexpensive ($565), including taxes, and that fare has been steady for a few months. Other popular deals include a non-stop roundtrip flight to Liberia, Costa Rica under $400, taxes included, on JetBlue's new service route.’ 3. Let Web Sites Do Your Legwork Another site worth checking out is SkyScanner, which is perfect for flexible travelers. By typing "everywhere" into the destination search and selecting when you want to travel, the site reveals the cheapest options out there – from New York, fares to the Caribbean right now are under $300 and there's even an option to Ireland in the $400 range. Kayak also lets you search "everywhere" through its Explore feature, which shows on a map the prices to fly to certain destinations. 4. Know When — Exactly — to Buy While searching for deals, remember that traveling on a Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday are the cheapest days to fly, while Friday and Sunday are the busiest travel days and the most expensive. The most cost-efficient time to fly is also first thing in the morning and red-eyes, according to FareCompare.com, followed by lunch time and dinner-hour flights. The best time to purchase an airline ticket, however, is Tuesday at 3 p.m. ET, as discounted flights hit the sites. Most of these specials are pulled by Thursday, FareCompare said. The deals are good, but not the best ever. Rock-bottom airfare is actually slightly higher this time of year than it's been in the past, according to Hobica. For example, a standard roundtrip fare from New York to Los Angeles this time of year usually costs about $198, but it's priced at $238 now. Even so, the route is significantly less expensive than it was just a few weeks ago during the busy holiday-travel season when it inched close to $500. International airfare is also more pricy thanks to mergers and less seat availability. “Airlines are getting better at making use of their planes when they can to make the most money – some such as Delta were flying domestic routes usually reserved for 757 aircraft with larger 767 planes reserved for Europe," Hobica said. "Since European traffic was soft and certain domestic routes were strong, it made sense for them to take this approach but it cuts back on seat availability for the European travel and doesn't help the price." But all is not lost. You can still get great deals now and all year round by putting in a little time (and using a little strategy) to get what you want. Check out some other tips from AirfareWatchDog on how to find cheap airfare in the gallery below. 1. Sign Up for Airline Email Feeds, Frequent Flyer Programs Airlines want to develop a one-on-one relationship with you, so they'll send you special deals, such as 50% off promo codes, if you sign up. Click here to view this gallery. More About: Airlines, travel For more Business coverage: Follow Mashable Business on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Business channel Download our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad

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