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| Google Offers Expands to Five New Cities | |  Google's daily deals service, Google Offers, is coming to five new locales: Charlotte, Kansas City, Milwaukee, San Antonio and Tampa. These five cities bring the total number of locales where Google Offers is available to 38. Furthermore, this number will soon be 40, as two more cities - Oklahoma City and Omaha - are on the "coming soon" list. You can check the debut deals for the new cities here and sign for the service over at www.google.com/offers. |
| Google Offers Expands to Five New Cities | |  Google's daily deals service, Google Offers, is coming to five new locales: Charlotte, Kansas City, Milwaukee, San Antonio and Tampa. These five cities bring the total number of locales where Google Offers is available to 38. Furthermore, this number will soon be 40, as two more cities - Oklahoma City and Omaha - are on the "coming soon" list. For starters, Google is offering a beer tasting deal in Charlotte, cheap burgers in Milwaukee and a deal on Greek cuisine in Tampa. You can check all the debut deals for the new cities here and sign for the service over at www.google.com/offers. Image courtesy of Flickr, joi |
| How Fancloud Centralizes Sports Talk | | Tuesday, January 24, 2012 10:56 PM | Sam Laird |
|  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: Fancloud Quick Pitch: Fancloud aggregates the Twitter feeds of more than 2,000 sportswriters from around the country -- sorting them by sport and game, and enabling fans to join the conversation too. Genius Idea: An online meeting place for sportswriters, fans on the couch, and fans at the game. Sports fans attending games over the next few months shouldn't be surprised to see a gaudily painted, QR Code-emblazoned, eight-passenger Chevy van among the usual assortment of tailgate vehicles found in pre-game parking lots around America. Inside the van, they will find a flatscreen TV, mobile satellite dish and -- of course -- a hefty cooler. Fans will also likely find Terence Gelke, Bryan Shaw and Ben Bjurstrom inside the party-on-wheels. The three amigos are taking their tailgating machine on a 43-city, 14,000-mile, 100-plus-game tour. The purpose is to promote Fancloud.com, their social startup for sports fans. Fancloud serves a sort of virtual sports bar -- except if that bar was also inhabited by top sportswriters and virtual incarnations of people actually watching games in person. The site aggregates more than 10,000 tweets each day from beat reporters covering a variety of teams around the country. The tweets are then organized and streamed on different Fancloud channels according to sport or specific event. Then, fans can login via Twitter to start conversations with one another or the reporters. The Fancloud idea was born in January 2010, when Gelke, Shaw and Bjurstrom attended an NBA game wearing specially made Carmelo Anthony New York Knicks jerseys. Anthony, then with the Denver Nuggets, was the center of many trade rumors at the time. The three friends' whimsical jerseys gained them attention from TV cameras, Twitter users and print reporters alike. "Everyone was talking about it, but in separate areas," Gelke said in an interview. "At that point we realized that we needed a portal to connect fans at the game with the fans at home, and with the sportswriters who cover the game." The Southern California-based company raised $200,000 in Series A funding and plans to open up a new round of investments soon. Since its launch less than two weeks ago, Gelke said that Fancloud has attracted more than 3,000 visitors, who have a 50% return rate and stay on-site for an average of between four and five minutes each. As part of their roadtrip, the site's founders are giving away more than 100 free game tickets per week through a partnership with ASC Tickets. They're also meeting with executives from professional sports teams in different leagues to explore partnership opportunities. They say that multiple teams have a "strong interest" in installing Fancloud widgets on their own sites. Fancloud is currently monetized in part through another ASC partnership that allows fans to buy game tickets from different events' chatter channels. Gelke promises no on-site advertisements for the site's first year, though he said it might eventually host "a small amount" of clickable ads and offer a premium subscription membership. Fancloud has Android and iPhone applications planned for release within the next couple weeks, and a Facebook application will be released next week. To expose the service even more, the site's sportswriter feed will be made available to bar owners who want to combine the online and on-stool conversations by streaming content to a pub TV. Eventually, Fancloud's founders hope to make their site a significant part of the fan experience, with profile pages that allow people to post photos from games and record events attended and chats joined. "We think the site will be big for fantasy sports fans who want to get information on Twitter before it becomes a big story, and also good for more passive users who just want to get premium information from sportswriters," Gelke said. "Then, it's also great for heavier users who really want to interact with other fans as well." What do you think? Will Fancloud be a success? Let us know in the comments. |
| 4 Alternatives to Online Photo Editor Picnik | | Tuesday, January 24, 2012 8:33 PM | International Journalists' Network |
|  We're bummed that Google, which bought awesome online photo editor Picnik, plans to shut it down. Picnik, a web-based service, saved the bacon of many a journalist and blogger on deadline who just needed to make simple photo edits that weren't worth firing up Photoshop. (Silver lining: until it closes April 19, Picnik's premium services - which include cool special effects plus a ton of touch-up features - are now free for everyone.) Here are four sites to try when you need a quick online photo fix. Fotoflexer - This site offers a similar web-based photo editor with much of the same options as Picnik, though nowhere near as snappy to load. Advanced features include blemish fix and some easy-to-use layer functions; the web interface is available in 22 languages. If it looks familiar, you may already be using it on Picasa, Flickr, Photobucket and Facebook. One cool feature from the web browser version: you can edit live images taken with your computer's built-in camera. Pixenate bills itself as the photo editor of choice for the photo printing and photo sharing businesses. It offers a small but complete menu of edit options (crop, rotate, red eye, colors) plus a nice "fill light" button for underexposed pics and a "doodle" option that lets you draw images. When you've perfected your pic, you can save it to your desktop, share it on Flickr or print it as a T-shirt, mug, tote, etc. The interface is available in Spanish or English. Freeonlinephotoeditor.com - This bare-bones photo editor was super quick to load our test image and offered a wide menu of options. Changes are also snap, the only drawback is that instead of icons, there's text without any rollover explanations - so you have to know (or remember) what "halftone dithers" are - though the "undo" option crops up right after you make changes so you can easily to revert to the original. When you're done, you can save it on your computer, Photobucket or Facebook. Pixlr put out a welcome mat for Picnik users on its home page; the site's "express" version resembles its former competitor pretty closely. Pixlr is quick to upload photos and offers a ton of options from the "adjustment" menu. Our test found the pop-up menus for each function time consuming - click "auto fix," for example, and instead of just fixing the pic, the main menu disappears and another menu pops up. You have to click on "apply" or "cancel" from there to get back and start all over again with the other options. The express version allows users to save edited images only to their desktops. |
| Apple's First Quarter Earnings: The Unbelievable Numbers | | Tuesday, January 24, 2012 6:28 PM | Todd Wasserman |
|  Apple's blowout first quarter was notable for many reasons, not least of which was the company's record revenues of $46.3 billion. But the quarter was remarkable for several other reasons as well. Apple, which is known for keeping its affairs close to the vest, released a raft of information on Tuesday. Here are some of the highlights: Apple sold 37 million iPhones in the quarter, a 128% jump over the comparable quarter in 2010. iPad sales hit 15.4 million, a rise of 111%. Mac sales were 5.2 million, an increase of 26%. Apple sold 15.4 million iPods, a number which is down 21% as the iPhone cannibalizes sales of more limited-function devices. Apple now has $97.6 billion in cash on hand. Revenues from iTunes hit $1.7 billion. More than 140 million apps and pieces of content were downloaded on Dec. 25. There are 1.5 million iPads being used by educational institutions. iCloud has 85 million users. There are now 550,000 apps available. Developers of such apps have earned more than $4 billion, $700 million in Q1. Apple Stores produced $6.1 billion in revenues for the quarter. The average revenue per store was $17.1 million vs. $12 million last year. There are about 22,000 visitors per store per week. Apple's revenues for the quarter were higher than the company's revenues for its entire fiscal 2009. Image courtesy of Flickr, nechbi |
| Not Lovin' It: Twitter Users in Revolt Over McDonald's Promotion [VIDEO] | | Tuesday, January 24, 2012 5:39 PM | Mashable Video |
|  A Twitter campaign that was supposed to reveal positive stories from McDonald's suppliers turned into a nasty hashtag hijacking, as unhappy customers tweeted a variety of unpleasant tales -- such as finding fingernails in their food. The hashtag #McDStories started last week with a few tweets from the brand, promoting tales from suppliers. "Meet some of the hard-working people dedicated to providing McDs with quality food every day #McDStories http://t.co/BoNIwRJS," one of the tweets said. What ensued was less laudatory. "I haven't been to McDonald's in years, because I'd rather eat my own diarrhea," read one. "One time I walked into McDonald's and I could smell Type 2 diabetes floating in the air and I threw up," said another. In an interview with PaidContent, McDonald's social media director Rick Wion, said, inevitably "fans and detractors will chime in." That they did. "Within an hour, we saw that it wasn't going as planned," said Wion. "It was negative enough that we set about a change of course." Check out the video above to learn more about the fiasco. How do you think McDonald's could have handled this differently? Was there any way to stop the damage? Share your thoughts in the comments. |
| Apple Blows Out Q1 Earnings; Sells 37 Million iPhones, 15.4 Million iPads | | Tuesday, January 24, 2012 4:52 PM | Todd Wasserman |
|  Apple handily beat The Street's estimate for its fiscal first quarter, reporting revenues of $46.3 billion for the quarter and a net profit of $13.87 per share. That's beats $39 billion to $43 billion in revenues and $10.19 to $12.01 that analysts were expecting. The company also sold more iPhones and iPads than had been predicted. In a note to clients on Tuesday, for instance, Sterne Agee's Shaw Wu said he expected Apple to announce sales of 29.5 million iPhones and 13.5 million iPads. In fact, the company has sold 37 million and 15.4 million, respectively. "We're thrilled with our outstanding results and record-breaking sales of iPhones, iPads and Macs," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO, a press release. "Apple's momentum is incredibly strong, and we have some amazing new products in the pipeline." The strong sales were no doubt buoyed by the successful introduction of the iPhone 4S in October. But the strong iPad shows also illustrate that Amazon's competing tablet, Kindle Fire, has done little to halt sales of Apple's other hit product. Apple's iPhone sales jumped 128% compared to the year-ago quarter while iPad sales rose 21% from the comparable period in 2010. Image courtesy of Flickr, Lydia Fizz |
| Formspring Launches an Android App | | Tuesday, January 24, 2012 3:00 PM | Sarah Kessler |
|  Formspring, a 28-million-member platform for asking and answering questions, is launching its first Android app on Tuesday. From the app, users can ask their friends or specific users questions, answer questions they have been asked and view their news feeds. It's a screen-by-screen duplicate of the startup's iPhone app, which it launched in September. Though Formspring is mum on how many users its iPhone app has, it says that users on average spend 1.5 hours per session using it. A recent Nielsen report found social media mobile app use to be up 30% and unique mobile visitors on social networks to be up 47% since the same time last year. Formspring is in many ways a social network, so it makes sense to prioritize its mobile accessibility. Formspring is also launching a new homepage on Tuesday that highlights Formspring features that go beyond asking and answering questions. "With the new homepage you'll also be able to see the various Interest channels we created to give members a new way to meet and interact with each other through shared interests," explains Formspring Founder and CEO Ade Olonoh. "The new redesign also spotlights celebrities taking time to respond to their fans' most pressing questions and thousands of people building conversation around the Formspring question of the day." Incidentally, these are also the features most likely to help the startup establish positive income. The platform has experimented with sponsored questions of the day, which it delivers to all users. Taylor Launter's account, for instance, once asked users "Have you ever felt like you were living someone else's life?" and included a link to a YouTube trailer for Abduction, his latest movie. Twitter has shown how sponsored trending topics could be lucrative. And interest channels, which the platform launched in November with partners such as MTV, Hearst and The Huffington Post, could help make Formspring a more friendly environment for advertisers by giving a fuller picture of user interest graphs. |
| Why Startup Founders Need to Talk to Their Customers [VIDEO] | | Tuesday, January 24, 2012 2:38 PM | Mashable Video |
|  Based on lean startup methodology, Lean Startup Machine is a weekend-long startup competition, as well as a workshop for educating entrepreneurs on lean startup best practices. Founded by NYU business school drop out Trevor Owens, Lean Startup Machine plays host to a list of tech royalty, who come in to advise participants and teach teams how to understand their customers, quickly build, validate or invalidate their initial assumptions and then persevere or pivot, based on that feedback. Check out our interview to learn how Lean Startup Machine has helped participants figure out if their ideas are valid and pivot if they're not. Owens elaborates on why he feels that sometimes the best way to give entrepreneurs a dose of reality is to kick them out of the building and what he looks for when reviewing applications for his program (hint: demonstrate that you're truly dedicated to being an entrepreneur). Thanks to Mike Brown, Jr. for hosting our shoot at AOL Ventures. Follow Venture Studio, in association with Mashable, which is brought to you by Square1 Bank. The show is hosted by Dave Lerner, a 3x entrepreneur and angel investor. To join Venture Studio's Facebook page, click here. More Recent Episodes of Venture Studio: How a Startup Is Revolutionizing the Outdoor Ad Space/a> How One of New York's Hottest Coworking Spaces Got Started/a> How a Professional Pain Point Led to a Disruptive Business Idea/a> |
| Super Bowl Ads Will Get a Second Life on Facebook [INFOGRAPHIC] | | Tuesday, January 24, 2012 2:31 PM | Todd Wasserman |
|  If you were a Super Bowl viewer in 1984 who left the room during Apple's famous "1984" ad introducing the Mac, you would have soon discovered you made a massive mistake. In those days before YouTube, if you missed a Super Bowl ad, you really missed it. That was especially true for Apple's ad, which ran only once. In 2012, of course, it's a different story. With about two weeks before the big game, some ads are already available online. As for the rest? Try not seeing them after the game. That's because even if you avoid YouTube, chances are one of your Facebook friends is going to post one. That's the upshot of a survey by ad agency Venables Bell and Partners. The San Francisco ad shop polled 1,000 people online who watched the 2011 Super Bowl and planned to watch this year's as well. Venables Bell extrapolated those responses and found that there will be a tremendous amount of sharing going on after this year's game. Most notable: Some 35 million people are likely to post their favorite ad on Facebook. Since the average user has 130 friends, that comes out to 4.5 billion impressions. All of the sudden, the reported $3.5 million for a 30-second spot during the game seems like a huge bargain. What do you think? Do you intend to share your favorite Super Bowl ads? Let us know in the comments. Click the image to enlarge.
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