Google’s been on a homepage logo changing spree: they’ve celebrated H.G. Wells, the bar code, Confucious, Gandhi, and Sesame Streetover the last few months alone.If you check Google.comnow though, you’ll see that the search giant is celebrating something different: the discovery of water on the moon! NASA made the stunning announcement earlier today after its moon bombing mission successfully revealed water under the lunar surface. And now the Google logo depicts the bombing revealing water.When you think about it, Google had a quick turnaround time for this logo. As fellow space enthusiasts, our hats go off to NASA and the men and women behind the successful mission. Hopefully this is only the beginning of something even bigger than ourselves.Reviews: GoogleTags: Google, google logo, moon, space, trending, water

  Update: Twitter seems to have fixed the issue. If your pages are still having the issue, make sure to refresh and/or clear your cache. You may still see broken pages for a while.-If you’re taking a look at Twitter.com right now, you’re going to see some very messed up web pages. Images gone, design layouts borked, text overlapping, and missing fonts are just the start. Now thousands of Twitter users are complaining or completely confused.From our perspective, it looks as if the Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) of Twitter.com is broken in some way (or the servers aren’t loading them). We’ll figure it out and update you when Twitter is fixed and why this massive error occurred in the first place. In the meantime, here’s a screenshot of you’ll find on Twitter profile pages if you haven’t visited already:Reviews: TwitterTags: twitter

  Since its inception in 1990, Microsoft Office has quickly been the dominant force in office applications and document building. Need to build a presentation? There’s PowerPoint. Looking to create complex spreadsheets? Excel is still the gold standard. And with the power of Windows to help push the desktop software, its presence only grew.Over the last few years though, the web has begun to change this dynamic. Collaboration has become more important in business. At the same time, web applications have become more and more able to match the power and features of their desktop counterparts. In the document space, Google Docshas carried the banner for web-based document building.Now Google claims that Docs will be a viable alternativeto Office by next year. At the same time, Office 2010 boasts web-based versionsof its popular software. With the two giants locked in battle, we wanted to get your take on things. We asked you to vote on which doc-building tool you prefer……and while it may not come as a surprise, Microsoft Office came out on top. But surprisingly the match was a close fight all the way to the end. Microsoft Office only secured a slim majority of the vote, 51% or 1365 votes. Google Docs registered 37% of the tally with its 994 votes. Finally, 12% of you (315 votes) said it was a tie and both were good tools.We expected Office to win this one, but from the votes and the reader comments, it seems that the winds of change have begun to blow. Whether Office 2010’s web integration will be enough to fend off Google’s attempts to challenge Microsoft, we’ll just have to wait and see. Be sure to tune in next week for the next edition of our Web Faceoffseries! Below are the full results of the last eight weeks: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)Week 8: Microsoft Office vs. Google Docs- WINNER: Microsoft Office, 1365 votes (Google Docs: 994 votes, Tie: 315 votes)Reviews: Chrome, Facebook, Firefox, Google, Google Chrome, Google Docs, Mozilla Firefox, Pandora, Posterous, Seesmic Desktop, Tumblr, TweetDeck, Twitter, TypePad, WordPressTags: Google, google docs, microsoft, microsoft office, poll, web faceoff

  Want to bail out of your Verizon service for a shiny new iPhone, or head to another carrier before your contract ends? There’s an early termination fee for that. And starting next week, that fee is going to doubleif you’ve bought a smartphone or other mobile the carrier considers an “advanced device” high-end enough to warrant a steep $350 penalty for ditching.Currently the ETF starts at $175 and is pro-rated by $5 each month you’re in your contract. If you pick up a BlackBerry or Android phone (like the new Droid) after November 15, though, you’ll be in for a $350 starting fee that drops by $10 a month. That means even if you cancel your contract in the very last month of service you’d owe Verizon a $110 chunk of change.To explain how we could possibly have even gotten here requires a bit of backstory. When you buy a phone on a carrier in the U.S. (and in many other countries around the world), you typically get a discounted price on the phone in exchange for signing a 1- or 2-year service contract with that carrier. The cell companies are willing to subsidize the actual street cost of a phone because of the guarantee that they’ll make it back as well as a tidy profit off of your cell service over the life of the contract.Thus the argument goes that because smartphones are even more expensive in actual cost value than that basic, no-frills flip phone you can get cheap or even free, the carrier needs more “insurance” should you decide to duck out early. However, consumers and even some legislators are none too happy with the news, including a Minnesota Senatorwho seeks to block the deal. Others like David Pogue in his NYTimes editorialtie Verizon’s announcement to other shady revenue tactics and the carrier’s overall reputation of aggressive pricing and steep additional fees.What do you think: is Verizon over-reaching its bounds? Do we already pay enough in extra data costs for these “advanced devices” to offset the subsidy, or is the company justified in trying to cover its costs?Reviews: AndroidTags: ETF, Mobile 2.0, smartphones, verizon

  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 Leapfish, Web 2.0 Expo New York, nimbb, Streaming Media West, MOTOBLUR, Conduit, Clickatell, Influxis, EdgeCast, Microsoft BizSpark, MailChimp, Sun Startup Essentials, and Eventbrite.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.Web 2.0 Expo New Yorkbrings together the designers, developers, entrepreneurs, VCs, marketing professionals, product managers, and business strategists – from start-ups to enterprises – that are building the next-generation web. Along with a dynamic Expo Hall and plenty of networking opportunities, ten main topic areas discussing a spectrum of Web 2.0 topics from business strategy to web design, user experience, developer hacks, community building, security, mobile, web ops, user-generated content, and more. Register today and save 25% (code: webny09bd5) or get a free Expo Pass (code: webny09bde) at web2expo.com/ny.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€�.Attended by more than 2,500 executives last year, Streaming Media Westis the only show that covers both the business of online video and the technology of streaming, downloading, Webcasting, Internet TV, IPTV, and mobile video. Covering both corporate and consumer business, technology, and content issues in the enterprise, advertising, media and entertainment, broadcast, and education markets, Streaming Media West is about more than just streaming! Go to streamingmedia.com/westto secure your free pass or discounted conference sessions access. Go to streamingmedia.comfor future conference dates and locations.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

  Jessica Faye Carteris an award-winning author and columnist. Her company, Nette Mediadevelops social media technologies for women and multicultural communities, and she blogs at Technicultr.The expression of community has changed considerably since the emergence of social media technologies, but its basic foundation — the notion of individuals exchanging information, ideas, and opinions — remains firmly intact. Today, one of the most widely-used tools in developing these types of exchanges online is WordPress, the popular blogging and publishing platform. Part of its appeal is the ease with which users can build advanced functionality into their sites with plugins. If you’re interested in building a community around your site, there are plenty of third-party add-ons that can help create one.These 10 WordPress plugins add features that will help you to engage your user base.Highlight Your Best Content1. Featured Content Gallery– If you’re not an expert in programming or design, Featured Content Gallery makes it easy to highlight images, posts, or pages anywhere on your site. It comes with a sleek and contemporary design that is fully customizable through the WordPress dashboard, so that you can integrate your highlighted content seamlessly with the rest of your site.2. Popularity Contest– Your users will want to know what’s popular and interesting to their peers in the community and the Popularity Contest Plugin can help. It keeps track of the most popular posts and pages on your site and acts as a leaderboard that directs users to the most active content in your community. You can customize the point values assigned to user actions on the site, such as comments or views, and display the results easily in a widgetized-sidebar.Facilitate User Engagement3. Viper’s Video Quicktags– Including video in your community is easy using Viper’s Video Quicktags. Just enter the URL of the video in the prompt box and see a preview of the video right on your screen. Then specify the dimensions and other customizations you’d like to add and see your final product before saving it into your post. Supported video sites include YouTube, Google Video, Vimeo and others.4. WPtouch– Part of keeping the community vibrant means letting your users take it with them. You can go mobile with your community using WPtouch and avoid building a mobile website or the costs of developing an iPhone application. You can control the mobile user interface by allowing the browser to automatically route users to the interface of your choosing — your site or the WPtouch interface, which looks similar to an iPhone app. You can also show or hide post excerpts and customize the icons and general appearance of your mobile site.5. Disqus Comment System– Nothing stops a potential commenter in their tracks faster than having to set up a user ID and password in order to leave a message on your site. At the same time, most of us would like some sort of authentication process we can use to identify and correspond with other users as we develop our communities. The Disqus Comment System allows users to engage with your site using their Twitter, Disqus, Facebook, OpenID or selected other accounts. This prevents users from having to set up new accounts while allowing for authentication. Bonus: the Reactions feature allows you to include the social component of user feedback into your comments.6. Customize Your Community– Customize Your Community (CYC) provides some useful options for those building communities in WordPress. It allows you to re-brand the WordPress pages for registration, logging in/out, and lost passwords, as well as the user profile pages. In addition to giving your community a standardized look and feel, CYC helps with a long-standing navigational issue in WordPress: it automatically directs “subscribers” to their profiles and bypasses the WP backend entirely.Measure on the Fly7. Clicky– While Google Analytics provides you with a long-term perspective on your site metrics, Clicky gives you instantaneous feedback. The dashboard includes traditional site metrics, but also offers cool features, like “Spy”, which pinpoints the location of current visitors on a map. It’s an easy way to get a snapshot of your site’s current activity and, in conjunction with Google Analytics, gives you a comprehensive overview of your site’s activity.Improve User Navigation8. Breadcrumb NavXT– Your users aren’t exactly Hansel and Gretel, but they still may occasionally need help navigating your site, particularly if it’s content-heavy. Breadcrumbs are usually located just below a site’s primary navigation system and look something like this:Home » Dance Music » Saint Etienne » Method of Modern LoveBreadcrumb NavXT, the successor to Breadcrumb Navigation XT, improves your site’s navigation by building this kind of virtual breadcrumb trail for your users to follow. This way, users will know where they’re located on your site. This plugin may require customization, depending on your theme; check out the Advanced Options section of the plugin’s homepagefor additional instructions.Monetize It!9. Advertising Manager– If you were previously using the Adsense Manager plugin, you’ve probably noticed that it hasn’t been updated in a while. That’s because it has been succeeded by Advertising Manager, which is recommended unless you are using WordPress version 2.5 or earlier. The renamed version supports a broader group of ad networks in addition to Google AdSense, such as Adify, AdBrite, and several others. It also imports your AdSense Manager settings, for users of the previous plugin.10. WP125– Do you prefer a more hands-on management style for your advertising? WP125 allows you to do everything from arranging the ad display so that it fits your site design to setting timelines for ads (they can be removed automatically or manually at expiration). It also provides a placeholder for empty ad space, which you can switch to your own customized version.Do you have another plugin that’s been helpful to you in building your community? Share your favorites in the comments below.More WordPress resources from Mashable:WordPress Themes: “Top 12 Stunning WordPress Themes“, “30+ WordPress 3 Column Themes,” “20 WordPress 4-Column Themes,” “30+ WordPress 1-Column Themes,” “10 Unusual & Original WordPress Themes”Plugins: “50+ WordPress Plugins for Multimedia,” “30+ WordPress Plugins for Statistics,” “30+ WordPress Plugins for Comments,” “30+ WordPress Plugins to Get More Blog Readers,” “Top 10 WordPress Plugins to Promote Your Social Media Profiles”Miscellaneous: “WordPress God: 300+ Tools for Running Your WordPress Blog,” “The 7 Weirdest and Wackiest Uses for WordPress“Reviews: Clicky, Disqus, Facebook, Google Analytics, Google Video, Twitter, Vimeo, WordPress, YouTubeTags: community, Lists, plugins, Wordpress

  Friday is a happy time for many, which makes it the perfect time for our weekly Lunchtime Poll! If you’ve participated before, you know we throw out a poll question, start off with some responses from the staff here at Mashable, and let you fine folks have at it in the comments. Last week we wanted to know about your favorite Twitter photo-sharing services, and the results are inif you want to know how they stack up for Mashable readers. This week we’re curious about your RSS habits. Some pundits have claimed that RSS is dead, but we think the news of its death may be greatly exaggerated. Do you use a news reader? If RSS is dead to you too, be sure to let us know that in the comments as well.What’s your favorite news reader?Mashable FavesAdam Ostrow: Google Reader … still makes it easy to read my favorite news sources all in one placePete Cashmore: Google Reader. Lazyfeed is getting some buzz but I haven’t gotten into the habit of using it.Sharon Feder: Google Reader — it’s a simple, reliable, and an important tool I use daily.Adam Hirsch: I used to be FeedDemon, but I’m all Google Reader for portability and speed. I set it as a separate Chrome app.Josh Catone: I’m perhaps the only person on the planet who can’t stand Google Reader. I use Vienna on Mac, and FeedDemon on Windows.Ben Parr: Google Reader, and it’s not even close.Jennifer Van Grove: Google Reader, it’s my lifeline to the outside world.Christina Warren: Fever. You have to host it yourself but it’s pure gold if you have lots of feeds.Barb Dybwad: Primarily NetNewsWire on the Mac, but I’ve been using Google Reader again a lot more for serendipity finds since they added Magic sort(it’s magic!).Image courtesy of iStockphoto, ericsphotographyReviews: Chrome, Google Reader, Mashable, iStockphotoTags: FeedDemon, fever, google reader, lunchtime poll, netnewswire, news reader, rss, vienna

  If you already use Internet Explorer but haven’t upgraded to the latest version yet, there are plenty of reasons to do so. But perhaps none is as adorable as the following endorsement from none other than the Smoky Mountain Songbird herself, Dolly Parton.In the video she promotes a new feature on her websitethat makes use of a feature only supported in IE8, web slices. And it’s unexpectedly endearing. Check out the video below.[via ReadWriteWeb]Tags: Browsers, dolly parton, IE8, internet explorer, microsoft, video

  For better or worse, iTunes and the iTunes Store have become a ubiquitous part of the digital media experience. In fact, it’s such a common part of the experience that Apple just expects that everyone has it installed.Consequently, if you click on an iTunes link in a web browser, iTunes either opens up on your computer or you’re taken to a page that tells you you need to install iTunes. However, as Macworldfigured out, that’s starting to change. Apple has just quietly rolled out some web-based search and viewing capabilities for the Music and TV portion of the iTunes Store called iTunes Preview.Right now you can see iTunes Preview by going to the iTunes Chartspage or by following a link from the music store created within iTunes like this one. You can now view an albums page, see the songs included on the album, the length, individual track price, and read review from iTunes reviewers. You can also browse through the discography of that artist and look up similar artists and genres. You cannot, however, preview song tracks. For that, you still need to open up iTunes (or click on a “view in iTunes” button). You can also browse through movies and TV shows, but not to the extent that you can music.iTunes Preview makes us wonder if some sort of web-based version of iTunes is on the horizon. As it stands, iTunes 9is essentially just rendering WebKit pagesanyway, so the ability to offer up the results on the web is already available.If Apple were to embrace a more web-oriented iTunes, it could potentially open up the store content (the stuff that isn’t DRM anyway) to other devices. Apple has always used iTunes as a way to convert customers to using an iPod or iPhone, but that might not always be the case.What do you think of iTunes Preview? Do you think this is a sign of things to come? Let us know!Tags: apple, itunes, itunes preview

  Although the LCROSS mission last month (aka the “moon bombingâ€�) that was broadcast live on TV and the Internet may have not provided any spectacular footage, it did apparently deliver some remarkable findings. According to NASA, “the mission successfully uncovered water during the Oct. 9, 2009 impacts into the permanently shadowed region of Cabeus cater near the moon’s south pole.â€� In other words, we have a pretty huge scientific discovery on our hands: water on the moon!In addition to finding water, NASA has released the above image, showing the “ejecta plumeâ€� from 20 seconds after impact. Although not the Michael Bay movie-like explosion that observers might’ve been hoping for, we now at least have a convincing visual from the mission. The project is far from complete though, and NASA hints more amazing discoveries might be made. According to Anthony Colaprete, LCROSS project scientist, “The full understanding of the LCROSS data may take some time. The data is that rich. Along with the water in Cabeus, there are hints of other intriguing substances.â€�Nicely done, NASA. We forgive you for not providing us with a spectacular embeddable video and the awkward live news broadcasts Tags: moon, NASA

  Steve Cunningham is the CEO of Polar Unlimited, a digital marketing agency. To win a signed and personalized copy of each of the books mentioned here, visit Read It For Me.So you want to get up to speed fast on the latest social media thinking. Maybe give your colleague, boss or friend a dose of new social strategies. But where to start? Amazon nicely suggests 44,444 titles that they would be delighted to overnight direct to your bookshelf. Ummm, no thanks. Fortunately, you’ve got your own social media fairy right here. (Hi!) We’ve already done the hard part for you, and have narrowed down those 44,444 titles to 5 killer must-reads that can get you on the road to social media stardom. Abracadabra!5 Social Media LessonsThis story is magically formatted for 2 types of people: readers and watchers. Look up for the video, or scroll down for the text. Magic. You’ll learn why trust is the new currency, from Chris Brogan and Julien Smith, how the social media revolution has “turned the bullhorn aroundâ€� from Tara Hunt, the two pillars of social media success from Mitch Joel, why you need to work your face off from Gary Vaynerchuk, and lastly, the nitty gritty of some of the most effective tools out there to grow your business and personal brand with Tamar Weinberg. These 5 ideas are (almost!) all you need to create and execute a powerful social media game-plan. Let’s go…Lesson #1 – You Need to Build TrustThis lesson comes from Trust Agentsby Chris Brogan and Julien Smith.The first step in building trust is to turn yourself into Donnie Brasco. That’s right, you have to become a member of the community. The movie Donnie Brasco is the real life story of Joe Pistone, the FBI agent who infiltrated the Mafia and brought them to their knees. Joey spent 6 months sitting on a barstool in New York, drinking, eating peanuts, and watching the scene around him. He knew that the only way to integrate himself into the mafia community was to watch and learn how it operated first. You should feel free to take the same approach, sans peanuts. Go to the websites of the people you want to connect with, and watch how they interact with each other. When you feel comfortable knowing how to interact, start leaving thoughtful comments on other people’s blogs. That lets the blogger know you’re listening and it helps them build up credibility. Your credibility will follow.Lesson #2 – Turn the Bullhorn AroundThis lesson comes from The Whuffie Factorby Tara Hunt.What you’ll learn, while sitting on your virtual barstool, is the fascinating part: you’ll learn quite literally how to transform your products and services. And that’s a big deal. Hunt gives us some great tips on how to properly put all this new information to work to your advantage: (1) use it to design a product/service for the broadest possible community, (2) make sure you respond to all feedback, even if it’s with “no thanks,” and (3) give credit to the people whose ideas you implement.Lesson #3 – Learn the Pillars of Social Media SuccessThis lesson comes from Six Pixels of Separationby Mitch Joel.You’ve listened to and integrated feedback, and now you are ready to communicate. The 2 pillars which should guide your communication are permission and content. Permission is grade-school easy: only share relevant and timely information with the people who have agreed to receive it. Content comes next. As Joel says, your ability to create compelling text, audio, video, and images is what’s going to build your story and get people excited about staying connected. He says to ask yourself these hard questions to decide what content to create: (1) What expertise and knowledge do I have, and how can I best share this with my customers? (2) Is there something I can create that will empower my consumers to connect to one another better? (3) Which medium am I most compelling with – text, audio, images, or video?Lesson #4 – Work Your Face OffThis lesson comes from Crush It!by Gary Vaynerchuck.Vaynerchuck’s not drugs, it’s drive. He wants you to work your 9-5 day job, go home and hug your spouse, kiss your baby, and then get working again from 9-2 AM on the thing you love. As he so eloquently puts it, “you’ll be bleeding out of your eyeballs at your computer.â€� When you want to change the world, there’s no place or time for couch surfing Grey’s Anatomy, Wii, Scrabble, book clubs (there’s always time for 10 minute reviews on Mashable, of course), or online poker. So, be sure to pick something you are very passionate about, because there’s NO way you will work this hard at something you don’t enjoy.Lesson #5 – Get Smart About the ToolsThis lesson comes from The New Community Rulesby Tamar Weinberg.Editor’s Note: Tamar Weinberg is Mashable’s Director of Community.Want the nitty gritty details of social media success? Weinberg (the Queen of Smart) has literally hundreds of great tips in this book. Some of the gems include: submitting your blog to various directories (a simple but often overlooked step), learning how to run contests on Twitter to drive traffic, how to become a power account user on the social news sites, and how to use Yahoo! Answers to create thought leadership for your brand.So that’s the scoop. Five killer social media must-reads. This is a tech democracy we’re living in here – where the net and content overcomes traditional media gatekeeping. These 5 books are your roadmap to becoming a social media rockstar in 2010 – rock on!More business resources from Mashable:- 5 Advanced Social Media Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses- 4 Ways Social Media is Changing Business- 6 Must-Follow Steps for Selling in Any Economy- 5 Easy Social Media Wins for Your Small Business- HOW TO: Use Twitter Hashtags for BusinessImage courtesy of iStockphoto, f4fReviews: Mashable, Twitter, iStockphotoTags: book review, crush it, List, Lists, six pixel of separation, social media, the new community rules, the whuffie factor, trust agents, Whuffie

  It might have taken two years, but Google’s Androidoperating system is suddenly very much at the center of the mobile universe, with a new device being revealed seemingly every day. Now, Dell is getting on board by announcingthe Mini 3, a smartphone that will be marketed through China Mobile and Claro (a Brazilian carrier). Dell isn’t yet revealing many specs about the device itself, which is its first smartphone. Those will be “announced on a partner-by-partner basis when devices are available in stores,â€� which is expected by year end on both carriers.China Mobile is a big get for both Google and Dell though – it’s the world’s largest carrier with more than 500 million customers. Other devices from various manufacturers that run on Android are expected to launchon the carrier soon as well.As for the iPhone, it recently launched in Chinaon Unicom, though so far its sales have been lacklusterto say the least. It would seem that the Chinese smartphone market is fair game, and for the moment, it looks like Google has an opportunity to make some serious inroads.Reviews: Android, GoogleTags: china mobile, dell, Google, Google Android, Mobile 2.0

  This week’s “faceoffâ€� on Mashable is between Microsoft Office and Google Docs. While we’ll share with you the final results soon, so far, many of you seem to think that Docs is a viable alternative to Microsoft’s long dominant Office suite.And, Google thinks so too, at least within the next year or so. The company’s President of enterprise products tells ZDNet Asiathat Docs will push 30-50 updates in that time, at which point he believes the web-based office suite would be capable of serving the “vast majority’s needs.â€�Of course, Microsoft isn’t going to sit quietly while that’s happening. Office 2010looks to bring Microsoft’s web and collaboration capabilities up to par with the likes of Google Docs, and offer them for free to anyone with a Windows Live account. It’s going to be an interesting battle to watch play out, though convincing the masses to “go Googleâ€� is a lot different than simply having the functionality in place so that it’s a realistic option. Meanwhile, stay tuned for the final results of our faceoff and go vote if you’d like your opinion to count. Reviews: Google, Google DocsTags: Google, google docs, microsoft, microsoft office

  A couple of days ago, in an interview with Sky News Australia, Rupert Murdoch explicitly said he plans to make News Corp’s content invisible to search engines. Now, News Corp’s chief digital officer Jonathan Miller, has revealed a timeframein which this is supposed to happen. Speaking at the Monaco Media Forum, Miller said it will happen within “months and quarters – not weeks.â€�He then repeats Murdoch’s mantra, claiming Google’s search traffic is next to useless. “The traffic which comes in from Google brings a consumer who more often than not read one article and then leaves the site. That is the least valuable of traffic to us… the economic impact is not as great as you might think. You can survive without it,â€� he said. It may seem like quite a crazy idea, but News Corp plans to bring other media companies along for the ride. “We will lead. There is a pent up need for this. There has to be a resolution for the free versus pay debate otherwise we cannot afford to pay for things like news bureaus in Kabul,â€� Miller said. In a way, it’s a big experiment, and since Murdoch (thinks he) can afford it, the rest of the world can simply stay on the sidelines and watch what happens. My guess is that News Corp’s properties will simply get less traffic, and in turn sell fewer ads and earn less money, creating losses that money from subscriptions won’t cover. I just cannot imagine a world in which all of the big creators of news create a paywall around their content and then everyone decides that this content is so great they should pay for it instead of finding it elsewhere for free. The landscape of the news industry and the way news is disseminated has changed so much that sticking to the old business model and completely shutting off new possibilities won’t work. I might be wrong, though; I guess we’ll know soon enough. Reviews: GoogleTags: Google, News Corp, rupert murdoch