You’ll have to wait another 36 days to see the next chapter in the highly successful Twilight saga, but you can listen to the accompanying tunes right now, courtesy of MySpace.Head on over to the official Twilight MySpacepage, scroll down past the humongous images of the movie’s vampire/human/werewolf trio, and you’ll find them all in the standard MySpace music player. The songs include Death Cabe for Cutie’s “Meet Me on the Equinox”, Thom Yorke’s “Hearing Damage”, The Killers’ “A White Demon Love Song”, Muse’s “I Belong to You”, and (my favorite) Bon Iver and St. Vincent’s “Roslyn”. All in all, a solid collection of tunes that’ll be of interest even to music fans who don’t care about the movie. Reviews: MySpaceTags: myspace, soundtrack, Twilight: New Moon
The odds a golfer will be injured while playing golf in a year are 1 in 644. The odds a householder with an income of $100,000 or more will spend money on men’s coats, jackets, blazers, or vests in a year are 1 in 1.56. The odds of you being eaten by a shark…well, that depends on where you live, how old you are, and what you do for a living. But a new website called Book of Oddscan tell you that. The site launched today (we’ve been playing with the closed beta for a couple of days), and it’s a very interesting project, described by the authors as a “reference on the odds of everyday life.” It’s a very comprehensive knowledge base that is equally similar to Wikipedia and Boing Boing: you can use it for serious research (the odds statements on the site adhere to standards of quality and always have a source; for more on that, read about their methodology), but it can also be a cool resource for odd facts. The Book of Odds took three years to create, and it shows. The site is loaded with features; you can search it through regular or advanced search, browse it through categories (such as Accidents & Death), or use a cool visual browser to navigate through the data. Statements in the Book contain – besides the textual part – a confidence index, a graphical representation of the odds, sources, comments and tags, as well as a list of other occurrences with similar odds. You can also create your own personalized Book of Odds and compare it to other users, and you can suggest new odds to be added to the Book. On top of all that the entire site is smooth, polished, and easy to navigate. As far as the content goes, the creators of the site tried very hard to sprinkle bits of interesting info here and there, even if you haven’t specifically been looking at it. But the amount of data on the site can be overwhelming. For example, if you type “computer” in the search, you’ll get a long list of very similar statements (such as “The odds an employed person 16 or older is a computer programmer are 1 in 342.9″) which might be tedious to browse through. We can’t say if this is good or bad; depending on whether you’re on the site to do research or to have fun, it could be either. One thing is certain; in a world where you have some amazing sources of knowledge such as Wikipediaand Wolfram Alpha, the Book of Odds manages to create another great resource, offering you tons of data you won’t easily find anywhere else. Reviews: WikipediaTags: book of odds, Knowledge
While we’ve heard of Internet addictionand video game addiction (World of Warcraft especially), we’ve definitely never heard of iPhone app addiction. That is, until now.ABC 7 New York decided to do an in-depth analysis…of iPhone app addiction. They interviewed “iPhones junkies” who couldn’ stop “apping.” Yes, ABC 7 actually uses those phrases in its 2 minute short, which we have embedded below.The video (which we discovered in the back of one of New York City’s lovely cabs) is tough to watch with a straight face. After they interviewed self-proclaimed “iPhone junkies,” ABC 7 then got an analysis from a psychologist, who compared the discomfort some people feel without their iPhone apps to narcotic withdrawal. Yes, they compared drug withdrawal to the iPhone.So let’s get serious for a moment. Is it possible that there’s such a thing as “iPhone app addiction?” We’re not doctors, so we guess it’s possible. Is having three people on the street calling themselves “addicted” on T.V. an indication of a true addiction? Not in any way. Should we be comparing ‘iPhone withdrawal’ to withdrawal from narcotics? That’s beyond what we’d call a stretch. You should just watch the video at this point. Is their case legitimate, or are they grasping for straws? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.ABC 7 Video: Addicted to iPhone Apps?If you can’t see the video, here is a direct link.Tags: addiction, iphone, iphone apps
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: PlurchaseQuick Pitch: Plurchase lets you shop with friends on sites like Amazon and Zappos. See what friends are shopping for, and chat with them.Genius Idea: Plurchase brings the social act of window shopping to e-commerce. With Plurchase, you can invite friends to join you while you shop and discuss with them the items you’re looking at before you buy.As convenient as online shopping can be, one of the downsides is that unless you happen to have someone with you while you’re online, the communal aspect of “are these shoes cute” or “is this dress too expensive” is lost. Sure, you can send friends or family members an e-mail pointing to the item you are looking at, but the real-time aspect gets buried in the shuffle.Plurchase is attempting to change that by brining a social kick to e-commerce sites like Amazonand Zappos. Go to Plurchase.com, choose where you want to shop and then send your friends a URL (or post connect with Facebook and send a request or share an item that way) and they can join you in real-time and see what you’re shopping for and chat.Plurchase loads as a sidebar on the standard Amazon.com or Zappos site and there are no plugins or registration required. You can choose to publish an item to Facebook and ask others to join you, but what you share and with whom is totally up to you.Plurchase also works cross-site, so if I’m shopping for Blu-ray discs at Amazon.com and my friend Sang is checking out some kicks at Zappos, we can share our results with each other and continue to chat in the little sidebar window.It’s a pretty neat idea to be able to communicate while you shop. In addition to Amazon/Zappos, Plurchase also supports Craigslist and is looking to add more sites, as well as Twitterand voice chat integration in the future. It’s also a free service — they make their money off of affiliate payments from the sites they support.We can see Plurchase being useful for individuals wanting to shop for a gift for someone together. For instance, my sister and I often get into argument if we actually go shopping together, however, if we could browse the web for a gift for our parents for Christmas or their anniversary, the world might be a more civil place and our parents might even get a joint gift for once.What do you think about socializing e-commerce? Let us know in the comments!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).”Reviews: Blu, Craigslist, Facebook, PHP, TwitterTags: amazon, ecommerce, plurchase, Zappos
There are lots of things you can do on Twitter besides tweet— and interactive storytelling just became one of them.Neil Gaiman, famed author and creator of The Sandman comic series, and BBC Audiobooks America have gotten together to produce an interesting creative fiction experimentutilizing the microblogging service. Neil tweeted the first lineof the interactive story at noon EST Tuesday, with other Twitter users joining in to continue the tale using the hashtag #bbcawdio.Out of the chaos of the multi-threaded responses, BBC Audiobooks will be making an attempt to stitch the best narrative together. You can start to see some of the results compiled in reverse chronological order at @BBCAA. When the final script is compiled, they’ll head into the studio to actually record and produce an audiobook of the Twitter experiment, which will be available as a free download from the BBCas well as available at iTunes and other audiobook retailers in time for the holidays.As a fan of the Choose Your Own Adventure series in childhood, I’m tickled to see a modern-day interactive experiment that evokes a similar sense of possibility and mystery. Plus, it’s one of the more creative and collaborative uses of Twitter we’ve seen to date — and there’s no shortage of examples out there.Did you participate in the #bbcawdio interactive story today? Will you be interested in checking out the final product once the audiobook is ready?Reviews: TwitterTags: audiobooks, bbc, books, interactive fiction, Neil Gaiman, twitter
Cincinnati Bengals Wide Receiver Chad Ochocinco has been all about social media: flying out random Twitter users to gamesand compared losing Twitter and Ustream to losing his johnson. But now 85 has gone mobile.The Ochocinco Experience(iTunes Link) is the official iPhone app of the talkative NFL player. He proudly boasts that he is the “1st athlete with an iPhone app” (we can’t confirm this).So what does it do? Most of its features are to be expected – it provides exclusive video and photos of Chad, allows you to upload tailgating pictures, includes Ocho’s Twitter timeline, and his stats for the current NFL season. And all you have to pay to become an Ochocinco devotee is $4.99.Yes, Chad’s effectively leveraged social media. Yes, Chad and his Bengals are actually having a decent season. That doesn’t mean we (or his fanbase) are going to put down $5 to experience him on-the-go. There is such a thing as too much Ocho Cinco.What do you think: is the app a savvy move by the socially-adept NFL star, or a waste of app store space? Let us know in the comments.Tags: chad ochocinco, iphone, nfl
The WikiReaderis a small handheld device about the size of a stack of Post-It notes that exists to serve one function and one function only: access to Wikipediafrom the palm of your hand.The device embodies simplicity with a monochrome touchscreen and 3 simple buttons: Search, History, and Random. It runs on two AAA batteries, reportedly enough to power the device for several months.The catch — beyond being a one-trick pony — is that unlike the actual Wikipedia, the WikiReader is not updated in real-time as articles change. Updates to the 3 million article collection included on the device are only available quarterly, either as a free download from the Wikireader website or as a $29 annual subscription for updates on microSD cards.To us it seems a lot to ask for an Internet appliance that only has a single function. From we’ve discerned from the video below and other marketing materials, the device seems aimed particularly at schoolchildren who might benefit from a constant knowledge base companion at a lesser cost (and less moving parts) than a laptop or even a netbook. Would you consider a device like this either for yourself or as a gift?Reviews: WikipediaTags: gadgets, wikipedia, wikireader
This isjust a quick service announcement: Twitter is investigating an issuewith users becoming locked out of the service after changing their email address or username, or resetting their passwords.In the meantime: do not change your password, email address or Twitter handle. Until Twitter corrects the issue, it’s best not to attempt any of these changes at this time.They go on to say that if you have made any of these changes but do manage to successfully log in, try to stay logged in for a few hoursand don’t use any third party applications. They suspect it may be a caching issue, and have prioritized it to be fixed as soon as possible.Has this issue affected you or someone you know today?Reviews: TwitterTags: bugs, developer, twitter
Crowdsourcing is an increasingly popular way to tackle big problems — both Facebookand Googleare taking this approach to translating the web into multiple languages.Now Google is leveraging the wisdom of the crowds for another purpose: the Building Makertool helps users make accurate 3D models of buildingsfor representation in Google Earth.Using Google-provided aerial photographs, you essentially overlay appropriate 3D shapes on top of several different views of a building to construct an accurate model of it. When finished, submit your building to Google for review. If approved, the model will be added to the 3D Buildings layer in Google Earth.For now, you can only construct buildings in 50 cities (dear Google: no Los Angeles? What gives?), but the company will be adding more over time. You don’t have to be familiar with a building to generate a decent model of it, though — and for geography and travel buffs it’s a fun way to engage with different cities around the world.Just like with the Monopoly City Streets“virtual” building initiative, you can use the free Google SketchUpto edit or modify your creations, and the finished products will live in the Google 3D Warehouse, an online database of 3D models.Check out a video demo of Building Maker below and let us know if you’ve had a chance to use the tool, or if you plan to. We found it fun, easy, and even slightly addicting.Reviews: Google, Google Earth, Google SketchUp, Monopoly City StreetsTags: 3D, 3D modeling, Google, google building maker, google earth, mapping
Television and film star Zach Braff,is not dead, despite the ongoing rumors to the contrary that circulated via Twitter and Facebook yesterday. Apparently prankster Chris Laganella (who has since apologized), thought a web page spoof that he created back in 2007 about Braff being dead would go unnoticed by all but his friends.Yesterday, quite the opposite happened, and the Twittersphere randomly blew up with tweets that recirculated the rumor to trending status for most of the day. The rumor made such an online stir that Braff himself took to YouTube to create a hilarious video confirming that he is, in fact, alive.Zach Braff opens the video saying, “I’m alive.” He then goes on to poke fun at his own sitcom, Scrubs, laughs at the fact that his “I’m alive” post didn’t get that many likes on Facebook, and also humorously draws attention to the glaring inaccuracies of the celebrity death rumor. In one of his funnier quips, Braff refutes the claim that he was found dead in a 32,000 square foot estate by saying, “Look, I’m not Oprah, that’s a big ass house.”All in all the video is quite hysterical. We especially like the douchebag of the day award Braff doles out to Laganella at the 1:45 mark. But, we won’t spoil the whole video for you, check it out for yourself below.Image courtesy of iStockphoto, MentalArt.Reviews: Facebook, YouTube, iStockphotoTags: zach braff
One of today’s big political stories is Senator Olympia Snowe going against her party and casting the lone Republican votethat enabled the Senate Finance Committee to pass a $829 billion health care bill.The news sparked an instantaneous reaction on the social web, where tweets about the bill and Snowe dominated Twitter’s trending topics earlier this afternoon. On one end, people were happy that the bill is starting to make progress, on the other, Republicans were furious that Snowe deserted her party.Once again, we turned to Crimson Hexagon for some data analysis, and in this case, it looks like outrage won the day. Tweets insinuating Snowe should be ashamed, leave the party, or be called in protest added up to 59% of the total volume of tweets analyzed about the story. Meanwhile, 37% were in favor, while 4% didn’t really care. Combined with the collective confusion and hostility we saw last week when Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize, does this point to Twitter moving in a more conservative direction? It’s probably too early to confirm that, though in August, CNN penned a widely shared piece “Liberal bloggers admit conservatives have upper hand on Twitter.” Of course, people are generally a lot louder when they disagree with something than when they are passively supportive. In any event, the tweets about the Snowe story certainly show the passion that people on both sides of the debate have for the issue.Reviews: TwitterTags: healthcare, obama, olympia snowe, politics, twitter
Many once-mighty forces in journalism and media are rapidly declining. Few demonstrate this better than today’s news that Bloomberg has acquired BusinessWeek for less than $5 million.The business periodical, founded in 1929, has been seeking a new owner for several months now. Its current one, McGraw-Hill, has been eager to exchange BusinessWeek’s declining circulation and liabilities since July of this year. After some bidding between potential buyers, the business news conglomerate Bloomberg has come out on top. The price, according to BusinessWeekfunny enough, is between $2 and $5 million.While details are still coming in on the deal, we do know that Bloomberg intends to use the BusinessWeek brand to reach out to a wider array of business executives and government officials in an effort to make new inroads in the consumer realm. The BusinessWeek logo will be changed to incorporate the Bloomberg brand in some way.While we believe BusinessWeek will be in good hands with Bloomberg and could even stage a comeback, it’s still a sad day for the once-venerable print industry. The web has systematically taken out core components of its business and revenue by providing a more efficient method of news distribution. For such a well-known and long-lasting brand to be sold for essentially peanuts is a powerful indication of what is happening to the entire print industry.Image Credit: Azhurevia FlickrReviews: FlickrTags: acquisition, Bloomberg, BusinessWeek
It seems like just yesterday that the JK Wedding Dance viral phenomenondominated online conversation, quickly amassing more than 12 million views. It didn’t take long before this real-life video hit spawned a parody video, bumped salesfor the featured song, and served as a boon for click-to-buy ads.The story doesn’t end there. After The Office paid tributeto the wedding dance in last week’s episode, the original video is once again seeing massive spikes in video views.According to Visible Measures, prior to the comedic television spoof, the video was averaging around 105,000 views/day. Immediately following Jim and Pam’s TV wedding done JK-style, however, the original once again got passed around with alacrity with over 400,000 views in a single day.While JK Wedding Dance was a viral video hit prior to The Office doing their interpretation, Visible Measures’ chart clearly shows that the episode did, in fact, significantly influence online video viewing behavior. Of course, online views have since started to taper off, but it still reinforces the idea that there is a huge overlap in web and television audiences, with one medium able to dramatically influence the other.In case you’ve still somehow manage to miss both pop culture video phenoms, we’ve embedded them for you below.JK Wedding DanceThe Office Wedding DanceTags: jk wedding dance, the office, viral video, visible measures
Oh, the people you’ll meet … if you do something like create the phenomenon that is Twitter. Its co-founders have been guests at The White House, thrown out ceremonial first pitches, and even been on Oprahand Martha Stewart.Add another name to the list of close encounters between Twitter and the world’s power brokers: President George W. Bush. This afternoon, co-founder Biz Stone posted an image of himself with the former President on yFrog.Stone’s message: “President Bush told me he just got a new BlackBerry, will tweets be next?” While that remains to be seen, Bush would be joining dozens of prominent political figures now using the service, including Al Gore, Sarah Palin, John McCain, and of course, the current President, Barack Obama.Who would you like to see on Twitter that hasn’t yet made the leap? Share your thoughts in the comments.Reviews: TwitterTags: biz stone, george w. bush, twitter
