One of the best things about Twitter is the way that it allows content and information to spread quickly across the network from person-to-person. This happened for two reasons: 1. because Twitter is a one-to-many communications platform and 2. because it allows for content to be easily repeated. In fact, the latter led to what we call the “retweet.” It’s safe to say that the founders of Twitter did not initially envision this as a use for their platform, but the retweet convention organized itself organically and was embraced by third-party apps.Unfortunately, retweets were messy for a couple of ways. First, because of the 140 character limit placed on tweets, retweeting someone else’s content sometimes meant editing their text in order to ensure that the customary “RT” and “@username” attributions fit. Second, because there’s often overlap in who we follow, retweets many times led to redundancy in your timeline as more than one of the people you followed retweeted the same content. So a couple of days ago, Twitter rolled out a solutionin the form of a completely new retweet system.Retweets: Old vs. NewRetweeting someone used to be a completely manual process. You had to copy and paste their tweet, add the “RT” designation, and the “@username” attribution, then click the “update” button. Some third party Twitter clients had built-in retweet buttons, which would automatically add the proper attribution and designation text. Many times you would need to edit the original retweeted text in order to make it fit within Twitter’s 140 character limit. (This was because adding the “RT” and “@username” text would often push the tweet over the limit.)The old style of retweets also led to redundancy within your timeline. For example, I follow a number of people that also follow @mashable. Many of these people routinely retweet Mashable stories, so whenever the @mashable account tweets a new link, my Twitter timeline is often filled with multiple identical retweets.Twitter’s new official retweet feature fixes both of these issues. Now, instead of retweets being appended with the “RT” text designation, they have a special retweet icon. Further, they come directly from the original tweeter’s account — regardless of whether you are following that person. If one of your followers retweets User X, you’ll see that tweet in your timeline, with the icon designating it as a retweet and a message telling you which if your followers retweeted that tweet.Further, Twitter has fixed the redundancy issue by grouping together identical retweets. You’ll only see that tweet appear in your timeline once, but the message telling you who retweeted it will let you know which two or more of your followers retweeted.Is this good or bad? Twitter’s new retweets are undeniably cleaner and more organized than the original, manual method. Your timeline will be easier to read and less noisy as a result, and the new API means that third-party clients can build in native retweeting in a much cleaner way (some already have). Also, you no longer need to edit original tweet text, which means it is less likely you’ll anger someone by inadvertently changing the meaning of their original tweet or messing up the attribution.However, it can also be somewhat jarring to see people you’re not following in your timeline, and the new retweets lack the ability to add commentary to retweets. In the past, when retweeting something, users would often add their own two cents before the “RT” text. Adding comments is not supported by the current implementation of retweets on Twitter (though there is a chance it will be in the future).How To RetweetRetweeting works a lot like replying to tweets from the web interface. If you hover your cursor over a tweet — in either your timeline or on any user’s profile page, a “Retweet” link will appear directly to the right of the “Reply” link that has always been there. To retweet the tweet, all you have to do is click on the link.But then what happens? The tweet you just retweeted will appear in the timelines of your friends regardless of whether they follow the original tweeter. If you think twice about your retweet, you can undo it. To manage your retweets, click on the “Retweets” link in the right hand side navigation. That will bring you to a page with three tabs:– Retweets by others – These are all the retweets by the people you follow. They’re arranged loosely by time, but the most retweeted posts tend to bubble to the top of the list. From here you can reply to or retweet any of the tweets listed– Retweets by you – This tab shows all of the tweets that you have retweeted. From here you can reply to tweets or undo your retweet (simply hover over the tweet and click the “Undo” link that appears).– Your tweets, retweeted – These are your original tweets that others have retweeted. From here you can delete your tweets. You can also see who retweeted you, and when.While there is no way to turn retweets off completely, there are two ways to block retweets from from appearing your timeline on a user by user basis. If you block a user, you won’t see their retweets in your timeline, even if someone you’re following retweets that user. You can also block retweets that a user you are following makes from appearing your timeline.To turn off retweets from a specific user, visit their profile page and click on the circular green retweet button that appears next to the “Following” message at the top of their page. Once you click on the button, it will turn grey, indicating that retweets from that user will no longer appear in your timeline. You can toggle this option on and off using this button.What Twitter Hopes to AccomplishTwitter co-founder Evan Williams wrote recentlythat he hopes the new retweet feature will solve the problems of attribution confusion, messy or broken messages, and will reduce timeline noise. Williams said that the new retweet feature should “make Twitter a more powerful system for helping people find out what’s happening now that they care about.”If embraced by users and third-party Twitter clients, there is almost no way to imagine that wouldn’t be the case. However, the inability to add comments to retweets is an issue that Twitter may need to address, especially to appeal to the power users who often shape the use of the platform and evangelize it to others.What do you think of Twitter’s new retweet feature so far? Let us know in the comments.Reviews: Mashable, TwitterTags: how to, List, Lists, retweet, retweets, twitter

  If you’ve been on the web long enough, you’ll know that Twitter isn’t the first startup to have suffered scaling issues: the auction site had significant problems keeping the servers humming in its early days. Today eBayis giving users a small reminder of that era: eBay’s search engine is down, meaning goods cannot be found without using the category structure.With the holiday shopping season ramping up, eBay will be losing significant revenue through the downtime: no doubt its engineers are working the weekend to get things working again.Are you having trouble with eBay search? Let us know in the comments.Reviews: eBay

  If you’re looking to bring Facebook to the Windows desktop and Twitter-centric update tools like Seesmic or TweetDeck are too limiting for you, you might want to take Fishbowlfor a spin. The app, built on Microsoft Silverlight 4, features photo browsing and zoom, photo slideshows, drag-and-drop image uploads and a completely ad-free way to browse and update the news feed. It works on XP, Vista and Windows 7, and just became available for download.We’re already more addicted to Facebook than could be considered healthy, not to mention our affection for the Mac, but for those Windows users looking for a rich desktop experience, our friends at Download Squad are calling Fishbowl a “kick-ass Facebook client for Windows 7” – it’s free and built by Microsoft’s own developers, so it might be worth taking for a spin.[Images via Download Squad]Reviews: FacebookTags: facebook, fishbowl

  The finals of our annual Open Web Awardsare hotly contested, with 170,000+ votes cast since Wednesday. Among the most active categories: the top videos and channels on YouTube.Popular YouTube channel CardGamesFTWhas a strategy to help it beat out the competition: turtles. At least, a humorous clip linking turtles, Facebook and people called “Steve” aspires to drive more votes for the channel in the “Funniest YouTube Channel” category. The competition is tough, however: competitors include top YouTubers ShaneDawsonTV, Smosh, loadingreadyrunand RayWilliamJohnson. If you’d like to vote for or against CardGamesFTW this year, head over to the Open Web Awards site, and remember you can vote once per category per day. Cast your votes in Mashable’s Open Web Awards 2009 >>Reviews: FacebookTags: trending, turtles, youtube

  The New York Times’ Nicholas Kristof is controversially asking web users to “Boycott Bing“, claiming that Bing is censoring Simplified Chinese queries even outside the People’s Republic of China. Last night, Bing responded to Kristof’s Friday afternoon posting, citing a programming bug but failing to deny the censorship claims. To us, both sides of the argument seem lacking.Boycott Bing?Kristof’s complaint is part of an ongoing debate: should US companies censor their search results to appease Chinese authorities? Those in favor say it’s simply good business sense to be present in China, and censored results are better than no results at all. Others see search engines compromising their values. But that debate concerns search results within Chinese borders: Kristof says Simplified Chinese results are censored wherever you search from:…conduct the search with the simplified characters used in mainland China, then you get sanitized pro-Communist results. This is especially true of image searches. Magic! No Tiananmen Square massacre. The Dalai Lama becomes an oppressor. Falun Gong believers are villains, not victims.What’s most offensive is that this is true wherever in the world the search is conducted – including in my office in New York. If Microsoft felt it had to bow to Chinese censorship within China’s borders, based on the IP address, that might be defensible. But when Microsoft skews its worldwide searches to make Hu Jintao feel better, that’s a disgrace. It becomes simply a unit of the Central Committee Propaganda Department.Kristof then somewhat undermines his argument by admitting that Google does much the same thing, albeit to a lesser extent: “Google censors results on its search engine used within China, google.cn, but offers mostly uncensored results using simplified Chinese characters on its worldwide browser, google.com. However, some searches on google.com, such as images for Falun Gong, are also censored.” Should we boycott Google too?Bing RespondsBing’s responseis unconvincing, vague and evasive, suggesting simultaneously that “some results” are fine, and that a bug might be partly to blame. As Mr. Kristof reported over the summer, we did fix a bug in web search that addressed this issue. There are some queries that provide very balanced web results, for example å…­å›› 天安门 (June 4th Tiananmen). We recognize that we can continue to improve our relevancy and comprehensiveness in these web results and we will.In addition, today’s investigations uncovered the fact that our image search is not functioning properly for queries entered using Simplified Chinese characters outside of the PRC. We have identified the bug and are at work on the fix. We expect to have this done before the Thanksgiving holiday.If Bing is in the clear here, their response is poor. The answer they should have given if there’s no case to be made: “We don’t censor Simplified Chinese search results outside China. It’s a bug and results will be improved by Thanksgiving.” To respond in these vague terms implies Bing has something to hide.Reviews: Bing, GoogleTags: bing, Google, Search

  Google has already transitioned GrandCentral users over to Google Voice, and now comes the final step in that move: Google is shuttering the GrandCentral websiteand telling users to download any old messages and contacts they have on that site. The GrandCentral site will be closed on the last day of the year – December 31st – and a further reminder will be sent before that date. In a mail to users today, the company advised:The GrandCentral website is shutting down – GrandCentral is now Google Voice.Dear GrandCentral User:We’re writing to let you know that we will be closing down the GrandCentral website as of December 31, 2009.All GrandCentral accounts were upgraded to Google Voice earlier this year, but since that time, you’ve still been able to log-in to your GrandCentral account and listen to old messages there. You will no longer be able to log-in to your GrandCentral account after December 31. Because of this, we strongly suggest downloading any messages or contacts that you want to keep in the next 43 days.We will send you another reminder before closing down the site, but we suggest you take action now to download any information you want to keep.- The Google Voice TeamIt seems the end of 2009 will also bring an end to the GrandCentral name, but the excellent telecommunications service continues to flourish under the Google brand.Reviews: Google, Google VoiceTags: Google, Google Voice, grandcentral

  Social media is a double-edged sword. Due to its unfiltered nature, it can be a powerful promotional tool. However, it can also publicly expose our problems. Former reality TV star Tila Tequila is an unfortunate but prime example.Some backstory: Tila Tequila is one of the most popular artists on MySpace, was the subject of an MTV reality show, and most recently filed assault chargesagainst San Diego Chargers linebacker Shawne Merriman, which were subsequently dropped.Fastforward to Wednesday, November 18th. That night, Tila had a very public meltdownon her Ustream page. She waved around a gun, played around with a knife, ranted about Shawne Merriman, and stripped naked, all live for thousands of people to see (the video was immediately taken down).Despite claiming that she would never use her Ustream ever again, Tila is back on live video, and this time it’s even more bizzare. She is streaming as “Jane Cordovez,” which seem to be her alter ego for the evening. She is not only waving around a gun once again, but is dancing around with a sword. Yes, a sword. And that’s only half an hour into the live stream.It’s unfortunate that she’s allowing her breakdown to be publicly streamed. While her brand has always been racy, the last few days have been simply bizzare. If she indeed has issues, we hope she gets some help.The live, unfiltered video stream is below:Reviews: MySpace, ustreamTags: live video, Tila Tequila, ustream, video

  We’ve been matching up popular web services, applications and mobile apps against each other in heated one-on-one battles here in our weekly Faceoff Series. Last week Microsoft Office bested Google Docsin a head to head race for the title of office suite champion.This week we turned our attention to a rather timely battle being waged on the mobile front, between Apple’s still wildly-selling iPhone platform and Google’s slower to boil Android mobile operating system. Apparently the latter has been gaining some ground, resulting in our first unexpected upset victory in the Faceoff series.… Google Android is the winning platform by a more than 2:1 margin. Out of 5045 total votes, Android walked away with 3323 of them or 66%, while the iPhone platform only netted 1494 or 30%. The tie vote included 228 or 5% who just couldn’t choose between them. Many people cited the openness of the platform and third-party development process as well as Android’s versatility, being able to be put to use not just on phones but also netbooks, tablet devices, eReaders and more.Still, given the popularity of the iPhone we were a little surprised by these results. Are you? Let us know in the comments.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)Week 8:- Microsoft Office vs. Google Docs- WINNER: Microsoft Office, 1365 votes (Google Docs: 994 votes, Tie: 315 votes)Week 9:- Apple iPhone vs. Google Android- WINNER: Google Android, 3323 votes (Apple iPhone: 1494 votes, Tie: 228 votes)Reviews: Android, Chrome, Facebook, Firefox, Google, Google Chrome, Google Docs, Mozilla Firefox, Pandora, Posterous, Seesmic Desktop, Tumblr, TweetDeck, Twitter, TypePad, WordPressTags: android, apple, Google, iphone, Mobile 2.0, web faceoff

  This post is part of Mashable’s Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark.Name: Fido FactorQuick Pitch: Fido Factor is a dog-specific local search and review site and iPhone app built for dog owners. It’s a “Yelp for dogs.”Genius Idea: We dog owners love our canines: it’s really that simple. We raise them, feed them, play with them, sleep with them, and fall in love with them. We want to take them almost everywhere we go too, but that’s where you start running into problems.The problem is also simple: there aren’t a lot of places where you can take your dog. It’s only appropriate to bring your pup to certain restaurants, parks, and hotels, but it’s practically impossible to know which places are OK for your loyal companion.That’s where Fido Factor comes in. The site calls itself “the ultimate guide to dog-friendly locations.” Its purpose is really clear: to tell you where you can bring your dog in your city. Fido Factor goes beyond that, though, with a well-designed website and companion iPhone app.Fido Factor compiles a user-generated list of dog-friendly locations. Currently, it’s only available in four cities: Boston, San Francisco, New York City, and Portland, but that list is growing. Simply search for a location type (i.e. restaurant) and you’ll find a list of dog-friendly locales, along with ratings, reviews, and a filled-in Google Map. It really is a lot like Yelp, but for dog lovers.There are few other cool features to note. The biggest one is the Fido Factor iPhone app, which not only tells you about nearby locations for your best friend, but even has a feature called “Pooch Pics,” where you can take a picture at a location and upload it for all to see on the website. The website also boasts Facebook Connectintegration. Fido Factor is still small, and it is very simple, but it really solves a constant issue for dog owners effectively. Finding a place to gather with your dog-loving friends has never been so easy.Spark of Genius Series Sponsored by Microsoft BizSparkBizSpark is 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.Entrepreneurs can take advantage of the Azure Services platformfor their website hosting and storage needs. Microsoft recently announced the “new CloudApp()” contest– use the Azure Services Platform for hosting your .NET or PHP app, and you could be the lucky winner of a USD 5000* (please see website for official rules and guidelines).â€�Reviews: PHP, YelpTags: bizspark, dogs, Fido Factor

  When it was released earlier this month, the retail price for the Motorola Droidwas $200 for new activations on Verizon. Although Verizon is staying firm with that price point for now, it appears that some of its retailers are not.Specifically, Amazon and Dell have both cut priceson the smartphone to $150 and $120, respectively. The news comes just one day after news broke of price cutsby online retailers on other devices not named iPhone: the Palm Pre and Pixi.Of course, the device cost shouldn’t really play a huge role in consumer’s decision given the total costs of ownershipfor all of them are well into the thousands of dollars over the life of the wireless contract. Nonetheless, if retailers are slashing prices, meaning they’re making less on each sale, it could be a sign that these iPhone alternatives aren’t selling as well as anticipated.So far, it’s been estimated that the Droid sold about 100,000 handsetsin its first weekend and 250,000in its first week on the market. [Disclosure: Motorola is a sponsor of Mashable's Open Web Awards.]Tags: droid, Mobile 2.0, Motorola, smartphones, verizon

  Each Friday we choose a Lunchtime Polltopic to get a sense of how Mashable readers feel about the chosen topic of the week. Below are the results from last Friday’s poll, where we asked for your favorite news reader.Is your favorite app or service not represented in the list? Let us know in the comments! And to make sure your vote counts next time, be sure to vote in this week’s Lunchtime Poll, where we want to know your favorite video-sharing service.A surprising number of readers in the top 10 were Mac apps, and enough of you said you’d switched to using Twitter as your primary news source to propel it to #5. Google Reader was far and away the winner though, with over three times the number of votes for the 2nd place finisher Feedly.Top 10 Mashable Reader News Readers10. Reeder(iPhone) [warning: iTunes link]9. Times(Mac)8. Klipfolio7. Shrook(Mac)6. NetNewsWire(Mac)5. Twitter4. FeedDemon(Windows)3. NetVibes2. Feedly1. Google ReaderImage courtesy of iStockphoto, ericsphotographyReviews: Google Reader, Twitter, feedly, iStockphotoTags: google reader, lunchtime poll, news readers, polls, rss, twitter

  Susan Payton is the Managing Partner of Egg Marketing & Public Relations, an internet marketing firm. She blogs at The Marketing Eggspert Blog, and teaches marketing courses at Marketing EggSchool. Follow her on Twitter @eggmarketing.We’re a week away from Black Friday and just a few years ago, if you wanted to find the best deals, you had to wait for the sales flyers to hit your newspaper or mailbox. You’d make a list of what you wanted and get your game plan together. But that’s all changed because of social media. Tools like iPhone apps, blogs, Twitter, and Facebook will be key in helping competitive shoppers get a leg up against the thousands of shoppers vying for the deals of the century this season. And with holiday spending projected to be down 3%from last year’s low numbers, stores aredoing whatever they can to make it easier for shoppers to spend their money with them.Blogs and WebsitesWeeks before Black Friday, blogs and websites like Black Friday 2009and BlackFriday.infohave been uploading sales flyers from every store imaginable to help shoppers plan out their attack on the biggest shopping day of the year. For gadget-lovers, Gizmodo’s #blackfriday feedhas the latest posts about the best electronic deals to be had. Mom-related blogs and forums, such as MomsLikeMe, a geography based networking site, or Triangle Mom2Mom, focus on the strategies for what to do with the kids when shopping on Black Friday, local sales and events, and advice on how to stretch that dollar even farther.The benefit to blogs is that they are updated constantly, with deals being posted every day. Find one or two you like and subscribe to their RSS feeds to stay abreast of the latest Black Friday news and offers.My Black Friday Dealstakes a sprinkling of social media and mixes it together with a dash of blogging to create a place for shoppers to interact. The site uses the mobile photo slide show app Whrrlto allow bloggers to take pictures of the best deals they can find in stores and upload them to the site to be voted on by deal seekers. The best deals will then be shared on Twitter, Flickr, and Facebook.Full disclosure: Susan works with Collective Bias, which runs My Black Friday Deals.Social MediaBloggers, consumers, and brands alike are all using Twitter and Facebook this year for Black Friday. Staples has been “leaking” its own Black Friday deals on its Twitterand Facebookaccounts for days, and a search for the term #blackfridayon Twitter nets an endless stream of deals, tips, and links that will help shoppers save on Friday. You can also check out the @blackfridayaccount, which tweets Black Friday news from across the web.Macy’stoo has been priming its followers on Twitter for its Black Friday sales, as well as its annual Thanksgiving Day Parade. Wal-Mart, which has claimed it won’t be beat on price on Black Friday or after, is tweeting its deals already in place, and will likely do so through Black Friday.The dedicated Black Friday blogs and web sites (such as the ones mentioned above) are also getting a piece of the social media pie by creating Fan Pages on Facebook, like the one for Black-Friday.net. Pages like this really put the power in the hands of the people, who can share deals as they find them.YouTubeis chock full of videos about Black Friday, as well. The site has a large library of clips from both consumers and major news networks, with advice on handling the crowds on Black Friday, what to expect at the stores, and tips on which stores have the best deals.There’s an App for ThatNow that I have an iPhone, I get excited about functional, useful applications like the Black Friday apps that have come out this year. DealNewshas a free Black Friday app that lets you sort deals by “Early Bird,” “In Store Only,” and “Limited Availability,” as well as see photos of the sale items.The Toys R Us Big Book Favorites applets users make wish lists, find deals, and share deals (it’s free, too). The $0.99 BF Dealsapp, meanwhile, lets you see a map of other users at stores so you can find a less crowded one (assuming a lot of the shoppers have the app), and it sends your deals to your Twitter account. There are others (do a search in the iTunes store for “Black Friday”), and stores like K-Mart and Wal-Mart may incorporate Black Friday deals into their existing iPhone apps.Wrapping It UpIf you’re planning to brave the crowds on Black Friday, be smart. Get on Twitter, Facebook, or the dozens of Black Friday blogs to find the deals you want. Take your iPhone with you to reduce the number of stores you go to in fruitless search of items that were sold out at 5 AM. And most of all, good luck to you!Image courtesy of iStockphoto, MarcusPhoto1Reviews: Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, YouTube, iStockphotoTags: black friday, deals, List, Lists, shopping, trending

  It’s Friday, people, which means that not only is it Follow Friday, it’s also time for the Lunchtime Poll! Last week we wanted to know about your favorite news reader(or whether you use RSS at all). We’ll have the results for you later today, but let’s get a head start on the new poll: what’s your favorite video sharing service?We’ll start off with some responses from the staff here at Mashable, and let you fine folks have at it in the comments. Be sure to let us know along with your vote why you chose it as your favorite. We’ll post the results next week to show the zeitgeist from Mashable readers.Are you in? Let’s roll the question!What’s your favorite video sharing service?Mashable FavesAdam Ostrow: YouTube or Ustream. It’s all about the content.Pete Cashmore: YouTube.Sharon Feder: I’m not a power user, but Vimeo is definitely my favorite.Ben Parr: Viddler, YouTube, and Ustream, depending on the situation.Christina Warren: Vimeo, because it has the best quality.Barb Dybwad: I like Qik for mobile, Flickr for short visually-interesting clips, and YouTube for an endless stream of distractions punctuated by hilarious cats.Tamar Weinberg: YouTube because it actually can process Kodak Zi6 videos (Flickr and Vimeo cannot), but Vimeo has a really awesome GUI.Image courtesy of iStockphoto, ericsphotographyReviews: Flickr, Mashable, Vimeo, YouTube, iStockphoto, ustreamTags: flickr, lunchtime poll, qik, ustream, viddler, video, video sharing, youtube

  Thanks to this week’s advertisers and partners for enabling us to bring you the latest social media news and resources. Mashable’s sponsors are as social media savvy as our readers!Advertise with us and get noticed.Help us to help you. Mashable is seeking out site sponsors for our large, diverse audience — social media users, venture capitalists, early adopters, developers, bloggers, and many more. You’ll receive hundreds of thousands of views a day in addition to weekly recognition to thank you as our premium sponsors. Are you interested? Contact usfor more information and to receive our media kit and rate card.This week, our valued sponsors are The NY Times Reader 2.0, Leapfish, Web 2.0 Expo New York, nimbb, MOTOBLUR, Conduit, Clickatell, Influxis, EdgeCast, Microsoft BizSpark, MailChimp, Sun Startup Essentials, and Eventbrite.Times Reader 2.0, powered by Adobe AIR, is a downloadable software application offering a digital experience of The Times that’s very much like reading the printed newspaper. Whether you’re using Windows, Mac OS or Linux, Times Reader gives you everything you’d expect from The New York Times in print, delivered to your computer in less than a minute. After you’ve synched, no Internet connection is needed, so you can take the most insightful journalism with you wherever you go.LeapFishis an evolved search engine that provides a single, connected, multimedia experience for both searching and sharing traditional, social and real-time content making the new web easier to navigate, more integrated and ultimately more efficient.Nimbbis the easiest way to add video recording to your Web projects. Using our Nimbb Player and API, any developer can integrate webcam video recording in their site easily. Our Flash player can be embedded using a few HTML lines and we host everything on our server. Developers can create a free account and our subscription prices start at only $9 per month. Our company is located in Montreal. We created Nimbb to answer our own needs to have a video recording widget that we could use in many projects to lower our development cost. Anyone that subscribes to our “Platinumâ€� package before November 13th will get 5000 additional videos as a bonus (that’s a $599 value)! To get your videos, simply use our contact form, specify your account’s email, and mention “Free videos with Mashableâ€�.MOTOBLURfrom Motorola was built expressly for the way people communicate today. It’s the only service that automatically delivers and organizes your conversations, contacts and content from all your favorite sites and sources in easy-to-manage streams. Whether it’s Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, text messages, Gmail or work e-mail, MOTOBLUR keeps track of it all and serves it up on a customizable home screen and integrates it through the phone. Plus, with MOTOBLUR you have peace of mind, because all of your info is backed up and secure. Discover MOTOBLUR on Motorola CLIQ available at T-Mobile. It’s time to spend less time managing life and more time living it.The Conduit On-Demand Marketing Platformoffers web publishers of all sizes various solutions, including creating and publishing a branded community toolbar, sending your community desktop alerts, sharing and distributing content from the Conduit Marketplace, and much more. The platform is free, easy-to-use and very powerful, and is available for Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari browsers. Anything you can put on a website can also be deployed on a community toolbar and offered to your users wherever they are on the web, including: your logo, content, gadgets, feeds, social media tools, chat windows, games, services, links, and more. Every community toolbar also comes complete with a search-box powered by Google, to ensure your users have easy access to the most popular search on the web. Click herefor more information on how to set up your own community toolbar, send desktop alerts, and find cool content and gadgets – for FREE!Clickatelloffers bulk sms and mobile marketing solutions. Over 700 networks and over 200 countries covered.Influxisis an official Adobe hosting partner and resource for the Adobe Flash Media Interactive Server. Influxis provides Flash hosting plans for all levels of use – beginner to enterprise. With a reputation for exceptional customer service, Influxis provides an extremely reliable international network of FMS servers in the U.S., U.K., and Germany.EdgeCast Networksoffers a superior, cost-effective, global content delivery service that gives our customers competitive advantage in the delivery of digital media. Our world-class content delivery platform provides customers the cost benefits and flexibility of controlling their own content delivery network while liberating them from ISP contracts, capital investments and operational hassles.BizSparkis a program which offers new software businesses and entrepreneurs access to Microsoft design, development, and production tools with no upfront costs for up to three years. Members can also connect with a nationwide community of Network Partners – investors, incubators, service providers, and entrepreneurial organizations – who are keen to help.For more information, or to connect with a Microsoft BizSpark advisor, please visit MicrosoftStartupZone.com/BizSpark.MailChimpis a powerful, easy-to-use email marketing service. You design, me deliver.If you’re working for a startup, Sun can help you get it off the ground fast. We created the fee-free Sun Startup Essentials program offering deep discounts on industry leading, power efficient systems and storage products, optimized open-source software, massively scalable Web hosting services, plus free visibility via Sun’s co-marketing engine. It’s time to build your business on the kind of infrastructure that can scale right along with the skyrocketing demands of success. Find out about Sun Startup Essentials today!Eventbriteis an online events marketplace where tens of thousands of individuals, businesses and organizations of all sizes manage, promote and sell tickets to their events. Make your event a success on Eventbrite.Additionally, thanks to the following partners for making Mashable happen:Thanks to ConVerdgefor implementing our My Mashablesocial network and W3 EDGEfor the development and maintenance of Mashable.comMashable would also like to thank AttentionPRfor their PR support. AttentionPR proves that PR today is measurable, transparent, and yes, social. Learn more about AttentionPR.Rackspaceis the better way to do hosting. No more worrying about web hosting uptime. No more spending your time, energy and resources trying to stay on top of things like patching, updating, monitoring, backing up data and the like. Learn why.ConcentricSkyoffers web development and strategic consulting services with a focus on emerging technologies such as Social Media and iPhone Apps. From simple websites to integrated web applications, we deliver innovative solutions that exceed your expectations – not your budget.We can get your name out there.Contact usfor more information about supporting Mashable’s growth and development. Alternatively, visit our advertise sectionfor more details about:-Competitive direct ad sales-Sponsorship Opportunities for Events and other channels-Sponsored giveaways and contests-Custom ad deals and partnershipsCPM-based advertising is available through our partner, Federated Media, but if you contact us directly, you’ll be entitled to exclusive unpublished discounts.Reviews: Facebook, Firefox, Gmail, Google, Internet Explorer, Mashable, MySpace, Safari, The Conduit, Twitter, adobe AIR, linux