A promise of a full-fledged personal computer in the body of a cellphone is always exciting. We all want it; we’re not quite sure what to do with it, but if someone could pull it off, it’d be a geek’s dream come true. Nokia has been trying to do just that ever since they launched their Communicatorseries, but with Nokia N900 they’re taking a slightly different approach, choosing Maemo 5– a customized Debian distribution – to be the operating system. There’s no doubt that Nokia N900 can do a lot; it sports the powerful ARM Cortex A8 processor, 256 MB of dedicated RAM, 32 GB of storage (which can be further expanded via microSD memory cards), a 3.5 inch resistive touchscreen with a 800 × 480 pixel resolution and a 5 megapixel camera. But will it all be wrapped in an easy-to-use package, or will the end product only be interested to the hardcore tech crowd?Well, we’re about to find out, as Nokia N900 begins shipping. The first batch of devices goes to preorder buyers, but we should see it on store shelves in Europe, the Middle-East, Russia and North America soon, for the price of about 500 Euros SIM-free (about 750 dollars). Tags: N900, Nokia

  On Facebook, anyone can start a group. And the admin of a group controls various aspects of it: he can change its name, edit its info and picture or send messages to the members. But when an admin leaves, anyone else can join the group and register as the new admin. From what we can gather, this behavior is WAI (working as intended), or at least it’s been that way for quite some time now. But it’s also an obvious design flaw, and now a group called Control Your Infois abusingit (or raising awareness about it, depending on how you look at it) by finding groups without admins and taking them over. We’ve tried it out (on a group we own) and it works. Once an admin leaves, any Facebook user can join the group, take over, and do pretty much whatever he/she wants with it. Now, you may perceive this as normal behavior. After all, when an admin leaves, someone has to run the group, right? Wrong. There needs to be a mechanism that prevents abuse – for example, if you’re the leader of a clan in most MMO games, and you stop being leader, the leadership cannot be assumed by just any random player (it’s usually automatically transferred to the next in rank). And there’s plenty of potential for abuse here. Let’s say that an admin of a popular group, with thousands of members, leaves Facebook. A malicious person can take over the leadership of the group (it’s relatively easy to find such groups by conducting a simple Google search) and change the name and the picture of the group into something offensive.In a way, it’s good that Control Your Info is raising awareness about the issue, because Facebook needs to change the mechanism for transferring group leadership; I doubt, however, that taking over hundreds of Facebook groups is the right way to do it. In any case, if you’re a member of a Facebook group, be careful: you may find that the group has been taken over and changed into something you probably wouldn’t like to be a part of. Reviews: Facebook, GoogleTags: facebook, groups, hack

  Back in August, we were shocked to learn that Google was working on a new version of its search engine. The secret project, known officially as Google Caffeine, wouldn’t change the face or design of the Google search engine, but would instead provide an overhaul of the architecture of Google’s web search that would improve its indexing speed, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.Since the launch of the developer preview however, we haven’t heard much about it. It’s quietly been undergoing testing and tweaking. That’s all changing though, as now the developer preview of Google Caffeine has been taken down, replaced with an announcement that Google Caffeine will go live in its first datacenter soon.The new Caffeine splash pagesays it all. Here’s the full text:“Based on the success we’ve seen, we believe Caffeine is ready for a larger audience. Soon we will activate Caffeine more widely, beginning with one data center. This sandbox is no longer necessary and has been retired, but we appreciate the testing and positive input that webmasters and publishers have given. ”While we admit that there isn’t a lot to go off of, we can discern two key takeaways:- Caffeine testing was successful. The project is moving forward- Caffeine is going live on Google.com soon, starting with one datacenterWe’re going to dig deeper and see if we can’t find out when Caffeine will actually go live. The new Google search infrastructure is coming though, and as our previous tests have revealed, there should be a lot of subtle but important changes to search results arriving soon.Thanks to Arthurfor the tipImage Credit: Mike the girlvia FlickrReviews: Flickr, GoogleTags: Google, Google Caffiene

  We’ve been witnessing some blockbuster fights in our Web Faceoffseries. For last seven weeks, we’ve pitted two popular web or tech apps against each other and allowing you, the reader, vote on who is more worthy of the title of Web Faceoff Champion.Two weeks ago, Windows 7 managed to outgunMac OS X Snow Leopard, and just a week ago, TweetDeck took down Seesmic. It’s a new week though, meaning that we have a fresh set of competitors: Microsoft Office vs. Google Docs.We’ve been curious about what Mashable readers think about the two. On the one hand, Microsoft Office has been around for ages (in Internet time) and has an array of features that has built it deep loyalty. On the other hand you have Google Docs, which takes document-building to the cloud and makes it easy to collaborate with colleagues on almost any project.Therefore, it’s time for these two document-building tools to duke it out. The polls close at 12:00 PM PT on Friday, so made your voice heard before it’s too late. And as always, we welcome you to defend your pick in the comments.Who would win in a fight: Microsoft Office or Google Docs?(poll)Web Faceoff: Overall ResultsWeek 1:- Mozilla Firefox vs. Google Chrome- WINNER: Firefox, 4600 votes (Chrome: 3310 votes, Tie: 911 votes)Week 2:- Tumblr vs. Posterous- WINNER: Tumblr, 1809 votes (Posterous: 1496 votes, Tie: 256 votes)Week 3:- Pandora vs. Last.fm- WINNER: Last.fm, 1187 votes (Pandora: 1156 votes, Tie: 122 votes)Week 4:- Twitter vs. Facebook- WINNER: Facebook, 2484 votes (Twitter: 2061 votes, Tie: 588 votes)Week 5:- WordPress vs. Typepad- WINNER: WordPress, 2714 votes (Typepad: 267 votes, Tie: 357 votes)Week 6:- Windows 7 vs. Snow Leopard- WINNER: Windows 7, 3632 votes (Snow Leopard: 3278 votes, Tie: 121 votes)Week 7:- TweetDeck vs. Seesmic Desktop- WINNER: TweetDeck, 3294 votes (Seesmic Desktop, 1055 votes, Tie: 260 votes)Reviews: Chrome, Facebook, Firefox, Google Chrome, Google Docs, Mashable, Mozilla Firefox, Pandora, Posterous, Seesmic Desktop, Tumblr, TweetDeck, Twitter, TypePad, WordPressTags: Google, google docs, microsoft, microsoft office, web faceoff

  Verizon has been going after the iPhonein its ad campaigns as if Apple’s smartphone spit in its Cornflakes. A new ad for the just released Droidpits monochrome axle-greased toughness against colorful blinged out iPhone cases, insinuating that the carrier’s first Android phone isn’t “wussy” like that other smartphone.In fact, the Droid is not a smartphone at all. It’s a robot phone. Because a robot “is a thing that does.” Need a hole punched through a steel wall? Need a rock crushed? The Droid, apparently, does that.In the new ad released today, the iPhone is portrayed as the “semi-functional, giggling-brat-vanity” to the Droid’s “bare-knuckled bucket of does.” The ad continues an earlier marketing theme in which “Droid Does” is the slogan denoting how no-nonsense and functional the device is, culminating in the over-the-top hyperbole in this ad about hole-punching and rock crushing. We’re almost surprised there’s no “don’t try this at home” small print disclaimer somewhere in there.Check out the video below and let us know what you think. Is taking on the iPhone head-to-head a good choice for Verizon? Will the hyper-masculine ad campaign sway some of that coveted male 25-34 demographic who might be on the fence?[via CNet][Disclaimer: Motorola is a sponsor of to Mashable's Open Web Awards]Tags: ads, droid, iphone, MARKETING, motorola droid, verizon droid, video

  Twitter’s spree of partnerships isn’t stopping anytime soon. Late last month, Microsoft and Twitter struck a search dealto integrate Twitter within Bing. Mere hours later, Google struck back with its own search dealwith Twitter. Now there’s a new Twitter partnership launching tonight. This one is between Twitter and LinkedIn, the popular business social network. Starting tonight and tomorrow morning, users of both services can sync their status updates. Yes, you can tweet from Twitter and it will update your LinkedIn, and vice versa.The new feature, which will roll out overnight, allows you to cross-post to both networks. From the LinkedIn side, there is a Twitter Settings panelthat allows you to link your accounts and choose whether your Twitter account appears on your profile. There is also now a special box that you can check to tell LinkedIn whether you want to tweet out specific status updates:The integration on the Twitter side is even more interesting. In your settings, you can link your LinkedIn account to your Twitter and then choose whether you want to share all of your tweets on LinkedIn OR just specific ones by using one of two hashtags: #li or #in. This is exactly like the Selective Twitter StatusFacebook app, which updates your Facebook with the #fb hashtag. The difference this time is that Twitter officially supports the #li and #in hashtags for auto-updating LinkedIn:The Future of the Twitter and LinkedIn PartnershipI spoke with LinkedIn co-founder Allen blue about the new partnership and its implications. He told me that the first serious talks between Twitter and LinkedIn occurred 3 to 4 months ago. Part of the reason that this partnership occurred is because Twitter co-founder Biz Stone and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman share a close relationship.Perhaps the bigger revelation though is that there is the potential for even deeper integration between the two platforms. What Allen seemed most excited about was the potential for a business intelligence partnership. Presumably, LinkedIn could provide detailed connection and business data to Twitter, while the microblogging startup could provide real-time updates from the CEOs and employees of companies on the LinkedIn network. While no deal of this nature is set, it’s clear how the LinkedIn/Twitter relationship could be beneficial to both companies. Both Twitter and LinkedIn are growing at a rapid pace (in fact, LinkedIn has more users but less visitor traffic). The sync deal should provide LinkedIn a fresh boost of new, younger users, as well as increased exposure due to the hashtags. In return, Twitter gains exposure to LinkedIn’s lucrative, influential, and growing user base.The deal makes sense for both sides; in fact, we’re surprised it didn’t happen sooner. Whether they’ll be able to expand upon this partnership, we have yet to see. However, the potential for lucrative business intelligence and data exchange is likely going to be too much for both companies to pass up.Reviews: Facebook, LinkedIn, TwitterTags: linkedin, twitter

  Joining a growing list of social media memes turned mainstream media dealsis the hilarious Twitter serial Shit My Dad Says, that we recently featured as one of the ten funniest Twitter accountsaround.The author of the account, Justin Halpern, simply tweets the quips and funny off-the-cuffs from his live-in 73-year-old dad. The results are hysterical enough to have already landed him a book deal, and now with a CBS option dealthe concept will be finding its way to the other small screen, the television.The creators of Will & Grace, David Kohan and Max Mutchnick, are already on board to executive produce the show, planned as a family comedy. Halpern will co-write the script with Patrick Schumacker.The show will join “Texts from Last Night” as the second internet memeto get picked up by a broadcast network this season, both intended as half-hour series. Do you follow @ShitMyDadSays? Do you think it will translate well to the television medium? Let us know in the comments.Tags: cbs, internet memes, shit my dad says, television, trending, tv, twitter

  Earlier today, video gaming giant Electronic Arts (EA) announced its blockbuster acquisition of the Facebook/social gaming company Playfishfor between $300-400 million. It’s a major move by EA into the social gaming space and one that places a smart team and a set of top-rated social networking games (e.g. Pet Society) into its control.While it’s too early to understand the ramifications and implications of the Playfish acquisition, we do firmly believe that the potential impact of the EA/Playfish combo are enormous. This is the first time the social and video gaming realms have truly merged. In fact, it could prove to be a watershed moment for not only the social gaming industry, but for video games in general.After thinking about the current state of gaming and how social gaming could affect, we’ve come up with a set of six predictions surrounding how social gaming could affect not only Electronic Arts, but the entire video gaming industry. Here are our predictions:1. There Will Be More Social Gaming Acquisitions:Playfish will not be the last social gaming acquisition by a video gaming or entertainment company. Zyngaand Playdomare potential targets, and even peripheral companies such as virtual currency platforms could become attractive. There are many smaller, independent social gaming companies that could be snatched up as well. As to who will acquire them: the possibilities range from console and game makers (e.g. Nintendo and Microsoft) to online content kingpins (e.g. MySpace).2. EA Will Find New Ways to Monetize Social Gaming:Over the last week or so, there has been a backlashagainst cost per action (CPA) and lead generation offers within social games. The result has been deceptive ad crackdownsand the pulling of these offers from platforms such as Zynga, where they account for a significant chunk of total revenues.Yet we are not worried about the ability of social games to monetize, especially in light of today’s acquisition. EA knows how to turn a profitand will find unique ways to generate revenue from its newest addition. Subscriptions, console-based virtual purchases, and more prominent advertisers could (and probably will) all become part of the mix. It won’t need CPA ads to monetize.3. Virtual Goods Will Become Even Bigger Business:Related to prediction #2, we believe that there is huge upside for the virtual currency, gift, and goods market. It shocks us how big the virtual goods market has already become. The U.S. market alone is thought to be worth $1 billionand the Asian market to be worth around $7 billion.The virtual goods market hasn’t come close to reaching its potential, though. As more and more users join social games such as FarmVille and become more comfortable spending their hard-earned cash on virtual seeds, that number will go up. Couple that with upcoming payment platforms from Facebookand PayPal, and you have a recipe for a high-growth emerging market.4. You Will See a Wave of Social Gaming on the Console:EA’s core competency is creating video games for consoles such as the Xbox, the Wii, and the PS3. Games such as Pet Society or Who Has The Biggest Brain will likely make their way onto the console, either in disc or downloadable form. It’s lucrative and people have proven their willingness to pay for the HD, console-based experience. Other social gaming platforms will either be acquired or strike lucrative deals to bring their games to the console as well.5. EA and Others Will Make Even Stronger Moves on Mobile:As we wrote back in September, game console makers are feeling the heat from Apple. The iPhone has quickly become a powerhouse of a gaming platform, providing a new challenge to your standard handheld gaming device (e.g. the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP). Social games are already on the iPhone and utilizing Facebook Connect to share scores and allow friends to compete. Zynga’s Live Poker and Playfish’s Biggest Brain are prime examples of social games turned iPhone apps. That trend will only increase exponentially as mobile (especially the iPhone and Android) become stronger gaming platforms.Reviews: Android, Facebook, MySpace, pet societyTags: EA, electronic arts, facebook, gaming, microsoft, myspace, Nintendo, Opinion, Pet Society, social gaming, video games, xbox, Xbox 360

  Twitter’s international push has been rapidly accelerating. In the last month alone, the company has brought tweeting via SMS to India, launched Twitter Mobile in Japan, and opened up Twitter to Spanish speakers across the world.Now Twitter has made inroads into Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous country. In an announcementon the Twitter blog, Director of Mobile Products and Partnerships Kevin Thau revealed that it has partnered with Indonesian mobile carrier AXIS to offer tweeting via SMS.On the surface, the deal is nearly identical to the India Airtel deal. It allows Indonesian mobile phone owners, many of whom don’t have the same mobile web access that U.S. citizens enjoy, to start tweeting via text message.You’re going to hear a lot more about these deals as Twitter continues its international expansion. The microblogging company is not going to be taking a break from establishing global partnerships anytime soon.Image Credit: Shapeshiftvia FlickrReviews: Flickr, TwitterTags: Indonesia, SMS, twitter

  Howdy and hello, music fans! Today is another Free Music Mondayfor you. If you’re not already familiar with this series, we’re celebrating the #musicmondaytradition on Twitter.We pick 10 tracks from around the web and give you either links to the downloads or embedded streams where possible. Last week was the Singer-Songwriter Edition, and this week we pay tribute to hip-hop in its many forms and flavors. If you have a track you’d like to offer our readers during a future edition of Music Monday, head on to the end of this post for submission details.Let’s roll the list!1. Glam.I.Rock: Empty Ave. — Catchy beats and liberal use of the Auto-Tune plug-inmake this a hot track on The Sixty Oneright now. Stream it below or head on over and download it.2. Jay-Z: Empire State of Mind (feat. Alicia Keys) — The third single from Jay-Z’s latest album The Blueprint 3: you can stream the track below courtesy of LaLa, or pick up a copyof the album for $1.35 (streaming only) or $7.99 (MP3 downloads). [via The Music File]Empire State Of Mind (feat. Al…3. The Hood Internet: Two Weeks of Hip Hop (Grizzly Bear vs. Dead Prez) — We featured a great fan-made video for the Grizzly Bear component of this hip-hop mashup in the Rock and Pop Editionof Free Music Monday. Snag a download of this hot remixcourtesy of Pasta Prima. [via Hype Machine]4. DOOM: Unexpected Guests— Stream the entire album of Doom’s compiled best B-sides and collaborations at Spinnerthis week.5. BLVD: Music For People — Download this four song samplerfrom San Francisco’s genre-bending BLVD, mixing up hip-hop with rock and electro.6. Hydroponiks: Strife feat. Anika — Great descending acoustic guitar hook with Hydroponiks’ wordsmithing and sultry vocal break from Anika. Stream it below.7. Mudkids: Ride — Right-click to download a free trackfrom this Midwestern positive-vibe hip-hop group out of Indianapolis, Indiana. Check out more about the artist on their MySpace page, YouTube channeland Twitter account.8. Gift of Gab: The Writz — Takes an irresistible hook from Irving Berlin’s Puttin’ on the Ritzfrom the 1930 film score and overlays Bay Area rapper Gift of Gab’s prodigious lyrical talent. He’s been referred to as “awalking encyclopedia of MCing styles;” stream the track below.9. Poe Picasso: Exhibit B: Manifest Destiny — Snag a free download of the entire albumfrom this Brooklyn-based hip-hop artist, featuring an interactive digital album booklet with lyrics, photos and more.10. M.I.A.: Paper Planes — This track from the 2009 BET Awards’ Best Female Hip-Hop Artistwas featured in the soundtrack for the 8 Academy Award-winning film Slumdog Millionare. Stream it below.Paper Planes – M.I.A.As always, thanks for tuning in! If you like Free Music Monday, please give us a push by sending it to your music-loving friends. You can find the latest edition of this feature by hitting up the Free Music Mondaytag page, so please check back. We’ve appended the list of past Special Edition themed Free Music Mondays at the end of this post in case you missed any of the back catalog. Thanks huge to everyone for the great submissions we’re getting. If you sent us tracks and we haven’t featured them yet, stay tuned for a future Free Music Monday. If you’d like to submit tracks for yourself or an artist you represent, give us a shout at barb AT mashable DOT com. Be sure to send us either a link to an embeddable stream and/or let us know which track(s) you’re willing to provide as a free download. Thanks everyone!Free Music Monday Back Catalogue- Electronica Edition- Labor Day Edition- Live Edition- Rock and Pop Edition- Singer-Songwriter Edition- Your Submissions EditionTags: free music monday, mp3s, music

  Since its debut, Shazam, the music discovery tool, has remained one of the most popular applications in Apple’s App Store. The immensely popular app is also available on many other mobile devices, and in June surpassed more than 50 million global users.Now Shazam Entertainment is looking to capitalize on their widespread popularity with a second, premium Shazam application that will set you back $4.99. Shazam Encore, released today, includes added functionality like music recommendations, album reviews, hot and popular tagged tracks, music search, and the ability to dock your iPod/iPhone in your car and tag music playing on your car stereo.We think it’s a valiant effort to monetize the Shazam product, but given that the free application suits the purpose of discovering music perfectly, we think the new app is going to be a hard sell. Take a look at Encore’s full list of premium features included below, and let us know whether you’re game for the $4.99 charge. Shazam Encore Features- Improved speed performance: making it even quicker for users to tag tracks and learn more about their music.- Music recommendations: users can discover other music similar to the track that’s been tagged to enhance their music collection and knowledge.- Find what’s hot and popular: Shazam music charts generated by millions of other Shazamers can be accessed to help users keep up to date with the new tracks and players in the music scene.- Search music: easily find music by artist, album or track from over 8 million songs.- Drive and Tag: Shazam automatically enters into car mode when the iPhone is placed in an in-car dock to make it simple to discover what’s playing on the radio even when driving.[via VentureBeat]Reviews: Shazam

  When Twitter announced that it would soon attach location to tweets, we began to imagine the possibilities. In fact, we made a wishlist of geolocation featureswe’d like to see Twitter implement. Our top request was the ability to see trending topics by country, state, and city.Apparently, Twitter thinks that’s a solid idea as well. In fact, the company has just taken the first step towards implementing local Twitter trends. On the Twitter API Announcements Google Group, the microblogging company announced the developer preview for the Trends API, which will open up a wave of new info on local Twitter trends to developers.Here’s the first part of the announcement by Twitter’s Raffi Krikorian (bolded text is our emphasis):“We’ve heard from lots of users that trending topics, as seen on the twitter.com homepage and on search.twitter.com, are a fun way to figure out what’s going on in the Twitter-verse at this very instant. The one feature request that we’ve heard over and over, however, is “what’s going on where I am?”. To answer that, we wanted to give you all a heads up regarding the new “Trends API” that we’re launching. This API will open up trending information that is specific to a number of locations around the world.”“At a high level, there will be two new endpoints:- an endpoint to give a listing of all locations that trends areavailable for, and- an endpoint to actually allow you to query by a specific location.”Summary: The new API will open up the ability for Twitter apps to figure out what’s trending in a pre-defined set of locations. This means that while San Francisco will almost certainly have a set of local trends, my hometown of Princeton, IL (7200 residents) probably will not, at least in the beginning.We look forward to testing out local Twitter trends and seeing what the company and 3rd party developers create. In the meantime, let us know what you think of this new announcement in the comments.Reviews: TwitterTags: trending, trending topics, twitter

  CoTweet, the Twitter CRM toolalready being used by numerous big brands, is announcing the launch of their Enterprise Innovators Program.Previously a free tool for beta users, the new enterprise option tacks on additional analytics and tweet history and starts at $1,500/mo (according to The Wall Street Journal). The company is boasting that McDonald’s, Microsoft, SunTrust, Coca-Cola, and Ford have already upgraded.According to CoTweet, paying customers get reach analytics, engagement analytics, influence analytics, a lifetime archive of customer interactions, faster Twitter updates, and account management from a dedicated resource. While we’ve been impressed with CoTweet’s initial offerings, the minimum $1,500/mo price tag does seem lofty for a Twitter tool, though perhaps not for the big budget customers the company focuses on. With the move, CoTweet is now also infringing upon the territory of enterprise Twitter analytics service providers like Alterian (Techrigy) and Radian6. However, CoTweet also doubles as a pretty sophisticated Twitter client that gives multiple individuals the ability to manage the same Twitter account, which makes the addition of analytics an intriguing all-in-one option.Even if you do have the budget for managing your big brand’s Twitter presence with CoTweet, you’re still subject to their approval process. The Enterprise Innovators Program is currently by invitation only, so you’ll still have to request an invite for the paid service.Image courtesy of iStockphoto, mattjeacock.Reviews: Twitter, iStockphotoTags: cotweet, enterprise, twitter

  One of the emerging trends in social media is geolocation. It makes a lot of sense because connecting with people and activities going on around you is a great way to enhance and actively use the real-time nature of social networking. With GPS becoming practically a standard feature on smartphones and the popularity of Foursquare, we expect to see a lot of geolocation in 2010.Loopt, one of the early players in the geolocation space, is ready to take on the future of localized social networking head-on. Last month, Loopt Mixfor the iPhone was released. Today, Loopt has updated the free Loopt for BlackBerrywith more features and and enhanced experience.Loopt first introduced its BlackBerry app back in June of 2008and while the basic features were there, the app has never really been on par with the offerings for the iPhone.One advantage of Loopt for the BlackBerry is that it uses background location updating, which allows users to update their location in real-time, even if the app isn’t running in the foreground.Here are some of the new features of the updated Loopt for BlackBerry:- Discover places and events and see how your friends rate them- See where you friends are on the map and view their updates in real-time and comment on updates- Check-in and share updates with friends and update Facebook and Twitter at the same time- Rate local places and eventsLooking at the screenshots, Loopt for BlackBerry now looks much more streamlined and elegant.If you have a BlackBerry Curve 8900, BlackBerry Bold 9000 or BlackBerry Tour, you can download the latest version of Loopt from the BlackBerry App World. Have you played with Loopt for the BlackBerry? What do you think? Let us know!Reviews: Facebook, Foursquare, TwitterTags: blackberry, blackberry app world, geolocation, loopt