Home / mashable.com rss archive / August-27-2007


Brand New Digg Design Goes Live
After a premature exposure earlier today, the all new Digg design is up and running. As promised, there’s a new “All” tab plus cleaner navigation. The images section has yet to appear; based on Rose’s recent posts, October is the latest you can expect that, and hopefully before.What do you think? Improvement?Recommended: [...]

Pandoras GlobalGiving Poster Contest In Final Round
Pandora has teamed up with GlobalGiving to hold a poster contest to raise awareness for various global causes. The purpose of the contest was for participants to incorporate the Pandora logo and themes of music, charity, technology, or any other theme into the poster. The winner is to be determined by the [...]

Mayas Mom Acquired by BabyCenter
Maya’s Mom, the social networking site for mothers, has been acquired by BabyCenter, the mom-centric parenting network, making this its first acquisition. The financial details of the deal were not disclosed.According to the deal, Maya’s Mom will remain a standalone product, and its back-end software will be utilized across BabyCenter’s network of global websites. [...]

30+ Firefox Add-ons for Web Developers & Designers
Firefox has cool add-ons which make the job of website designers and developers much easier. Here is our list of 30+ excellent Firefox add-ons that every web developer and designer should know about.Recommended: Hi5 Layouts at Mashcodes!Share This

Jaxtr Raises $10M in Series A Round: Reaches 1 Million Users
Jaxtr has raised $10 million in a Series A round of funding. The round was led by August Capital, with the Mayfield Fund, Draper Richards, Draper Fisher Jurveston and Mangrove Capital participating in the round of funding as well.Along with this funding announcement, Jaxtr also reports that it’s registered user base has [...]

Facebook To Split the Naughty and Nice Developers
Facebook is prepping some changes to their developer platform and they’re giving everyone a heads up so they can prepare for it. The majority of the changes are directed at making sure their users aren’t unknowingly used for further promotion and unwanted contact. No longer will an app be able to put an [...]

Is This the New Digg.com?
Is this the new Digg design Kevin Rose has been talking about? (Click for larger image). It certainly includes the features that have been mentioned, like an “All” tab to view all media on the site. Still no photo section, though.A user at the iVirtua forums spotted the design during Digg’s downtime [...]

YouTube Malware in your Email Inbox
McAfee Avert Labs has caught wind of a new malware worm that poses as a link to a YouTube video, which comes in HTML format through your email.The link appears in an email, which looks to be coming from a friend. The email says:“You can see your face right in the video. [...]

Google Launches Official Facebook App
As if in reaction to the discussions this weekend about Facebook and social sites killing off Google, the search giant has released a Facebook application today. Built on Google’s AJAX Search API, the app lets you share your results with friends. It’s an interesting take on social search: hit “Share” next to any [...]

Fox Launches Local Sports Video-Sharing Network
Fox has launched a new site just for sports highlights, with a distinct slant towards local high school content.Entitled FoxHiLites, this site enables you to create a profile, upload videos, and watch videos as well. From a user’s profile you can check out all of the videos they’ve uploaded. See what school they [...]

Google Could be Sued for Anti-Semitic Clips on YouTube
YouTube is facing some pretty upset people in Germany for racist clips found on the site, promoting anti-Semitic behavior.With clips showing a 1940 anti-Semitic propaganda film “Jud Suess” and a couple of music videos showing WWII Nazi military operations from far-right rock band Landser (which has been outlawed in Germany), activists and individuals are [...]

Grow Your Mustache to Fight Cancer
The Great Stache Off is a fund raiser that’s raising money for the fight against testicular cancer.If you’re wondering what this is all about, I’ll go ahead and fill you in. Contestants joining agree to shave off all facial hair by September 1. They’ll remain clean-shaven until October 31, except for their [...]

Amazon Sued by Humane Society for Cockfighting Magazines
Amazon is being sued by the Humane Society, which has filed a civil lawsuit in Washington D.C., stating that the online store has violated animal cruelty laws.With the sale of magazines like The Feathered Warrior and The Gamecock, and several other books and monographs about cockfighting, the Humane Society states that Amazon is perpetuating [...]

Spigit Adds Presidential Elections to Simulation Engine Site
Spigit, the incubation community that lets you do a “trial run” for the success of your website, has launched a site for the Election 2008 coverage. Read our review of Spigit here.With this dedicated portion of its site, users can review potential presidential candidates, and share their two cents regarding each one. Similar [...]

FilesTube Searches for File-Sharing Sites
FilesTube is a search engine that will find places for you to download content.From mp3s to wmv files, FilesTube will give you a list of search results, all leading to a file sharing or uploading website. Select the type of file you’d like, and type in what you’re looking for. FilesTube will [...]

Wis.dm Raises $5M for Bookmarking and Media-Sharing Site
Wis.dm, the social bookmarking and media-sharing site that’s relaunched with a Q&A slant, has received $5 million in funding. The funding was provided by North Bridge Venture Partners, with its Michael Skok joining the board.The marketing efforts for Wis.dm have been tweaked as well, with users now being spurred to ask questions that can [...]

MocoSpace Raises $3M for Mobile Network
MocoSpace, a mobile social network, has received $3 million in a Series A round of funding. The round was led by General Catalyst, and Pilot Group and Michael Daring, a former eBay executive, participated as well.The funding will be used to expand the company’s sales and marketing. Founded by Justin Siegel and Jamie [...]

TorrentSpy Blocks U.S. Users In Response to Court Order to Log IP Adresses
TorrentSpy, the BitTorrent search engine, is now blocking US-based IP addresses from performing searches on its site. This is in response to the federal court order that determined that TorrentSpy must begin logging users’ IP addresses, as well as their activity on the site.With this court order going against TorrentSpy’s own privacy policy, which [...]

20+ Firefox Plugins For Managing Email
If email is an inevitable part of your everyday online life, and you spend a lot of time browsing the web, perhaps you should consider managing at least a part of your email related tasks from Firefox itself. Mashable has compiled over 20 Firefox plugins which enable you to send, receive, check and manage emails [...]

MySpace Forcing Chinese Users to Switch to MySpace.cn
A notice sent out by MySpace has indicated that users located in China must move their accounts to MySpace.cn, or lose their accounts entirely.MySpace won’t say the exact reason for the forced switch, but it’s a known fact that MySpace.cn is goverened by local authorities, while MySpace is not. The two [...]

12StepSpace is MySpace for Drug Rehabilitation
September has been deemed Recovery Month, and the Recovery Media Network (RMN) is officially launching on the brink of September in order to offer its services to those that need assistance in recovering from substance abuse.There are three sites that make up the RMN, including treatmentpathways.com , anonymousspace.com, and the anchor site 12stepspace.com. We’ll [...]

Mint.com Offers Web-based Financial Tracking Tools
Mint.com is an upcoming service that will help you track your finances and improve cash flow. The service is still in private beta, and I got a chance to check it out.With this service, you can insert the data from several financial institutions, including your credit card companies. Mint will keep track of [...]

GPhone Confirmed?
Is the GPhone going to be a sub-$100 device that takes on the One Laptop Per Child project? Rizzn.com, after supposedly speaking to the kind of loose lipped leaker you’d never find at Apple (they’d get fired), says that it’s not an iPhone rival but a low-priced challenger to the $100(ish) dollar laptop. [...]

SocialSuggester to Launch Facebook App for Recommendations
SocialSuggester, the social recommendation service for media like books, movies, music and television shows, is getting ready to launch its Facebook application later on this week.With this app, you can rate items like bands, film, interests, etc. along with reviews and comments for other items you view. Search for items you [...]

Grayboxx Officially Launches Local Search
Grayboxx, the local search engine, has officially launched its service in Burlington, VA.Having been kept under pretty tight wraps for years now, we got a sneak peek at what Grayboxx has to offer a few weeks back. Now that it’s beginning to roll out its service in cities across the nation, more people will [...]

Frostfirehive Launches Underpowered Netvibes Rival
Frostfirehive.com is launching with one simple aim: to make your browser’s start page a more friendly place.As a new standalone start page, Frostfirehive.com is looking to make the start page a more friendly, and easily customizable, experience for the user. Providing feeds and links to many of the most popular apps on the web [...]

The Spokeo Challenge: Dont Like the Site, Get $5
Spokeo officially launched its social networking friends aggregation tool last month, and is now getting ready to launch the Spokeo Challenge, giving $5 to any user that doesn’t love its site.An interesting marketing ploy that’s been used with various products, from deodorant to beer, the Challenge will surely peak the interest of some people [...]

BandsInTown Adds Social Networking to Tracking Service
BandsInTown, the network that lets you find and track bands you’re interested in, has undergone a major update to its site, incorporating several new features in order to make it more of a social network for friends. Read our initial review here.With the ability to add friends, send private messages, leave comments on user [...]

Behance Officially Launches Network for Creative Professionals
Behance, the online portfolio and networking service, has officially launched. You’ll remember that we reviewed the site here during its private beta test phase last week.With the official launch, Behance is taking the opportunity to note how it differs from your average network for creative professionals, highlighting its provision for those beyond artists, [...]

Viacoms SouthParkStudios to Offer Online Hub for Comedy Content
Viacom has signed a new deal with the creators and executive producers of Comedy Central’s “South Park,” Matt Stone and Trey Parker, which plans to expand on SouthParkStudios‘ website. In addition, “South Park” has been given a three-year extension on its contract, through 2011, with Stone and Parker getting a raise as well [...]

Thumbalizr Takes Screen Shots from a URL
Thumbalizr is an image tool that lets you take screen shots of web pages and offers up several dimension options for you to download your image. Just enter in the URL of the web page you’d like a screen shot for, and hit “go.” There are options to take a shot of [...]

Freewebs Officially Launches Revamped Site Creator
Freewebs has officially launched its redesigned website creator and editor. We covered the announcement here, and tried out the new features on the site. You’ll remember that there’s now a WYSIWYG editor and drag’n'drop technology for creating and editing your website, with more customization options for the entire look and feel of [...]

How to Block YouTubes Ads
Well, Google’s stopped playing video ads on YouTube for the time being, meaning you’ll be hard pressed to have any fun removing the ad for yourself. A Firefox extension called TubeStop was created to keep YouTube videos from automatically playing on the video-sharing site. A great side effect of TubeStop has [...]

Atlanta Requests Craigslist to Remove Sex Ads
Craigslist is the latest to receive backlash for its provision of a platform by which predators can find children. Atlanta’s Mayor Shirley Franklin has started a “Dear John” campaign in an effort to rid the city of its child prostitution industry, and Craigslist has become a target for reform. Atlanta vice officer [...]

Underground Apps: Live TV Via P2P
In October, Microsoft-supported Livestation will bring Live TV to your computer via P2P. However, Mashable author Stan Schroeder explains that LiveP2P TV on the desktop is already a reality, even if it’s not totally legal. –Today, I wanted to see the financial news on CNN. But, instead of switching on my television, I fired [...]

50+ Google Reader Extensions and Scripts For Firefox
Don’t get us wrong, Google Reader is our favorite feedreader. But sometimes, we just wish it was a little…better. Here are 50 Firefox extensions and scripts to make Google Reader your own.Note: some of these require the Greasemonkey or Stylish extensions. Also see Google Reader on the iPhone.Recommended: Hi5 Layouts at [...]

Nikon Opens Educational site on Flickr
Nikon has teamed up with Flickr to launch a sponsored educational activity on the photo-sharing site, called the Nikon Digital Learning Center.This will provide tips and tutorials for photographers, as well as a space for photographers to discuss related topics with Nikon School instructors Reed Hoffman and Bill Durrence in a live chat. [...]

Behance to Offer Online Artist Portfolios & Network
Behance is a new portfolio and networking service created for professional artists to share and work within a helpful and constructive community. The site is currently in private beta, but I got a chance to peek behind the curtain.There are a few main components to Behance for sharing and networking. You can [...]

Photo.com To Launch 3-in-1 Commerce & Social Network
Photo.com is a new site that will aim to combine an e-commerce solution with a social network for image-sharing and community building, while also offering a place for users to sell products as well. The site is not yet launched, and is collecting email addresses for announcing its public beta.With Chicago-based photo.com you’ll [...]

Web 2.0 Invites for August 24th, 2007
New TodayTrillian Astra InvitesTrillian Astra is the upcoming version of the instant messenger Trillian. It boasts strong web integ… Wevent InvitesWevent is an upcoming social network that’s looking to connect people around their events. The purp… Jooce InvitesJooce is your very own, private online desktop with public file sharing capabilities. A highly-sec… New [...]

Orkut Launching New Design
Orkut is rolling out a new design this morning, starting with a select number of users. It’s a much-needed change to the previously ugly social network that became unintentionally popular in Brazil. But what’s we’re really hoping for from Google is the launch of SocialStream, the aggregated social network they’re supposedly developing. [...]

Google to Create Online Transit Guide for N.Y.C.
Google will soon be working with the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority and new Jersey Transit to create an online guide for people that use the public transportation systems.With the combined transits carrying over 9 million people a day, this project will be a large one for Google. Offering an online guide with [...]

SoundExchange Reaches Agreement with Internet Radio Broadcasters
Finally. SoundExchange has struck a deal with the Digital Media Association, a group that represents Internet broadcasters, entailing that fees will be capped at $50,000 a year per web caster. Included in the deal, webcasters will be required to provide SoundExchange will full data on songs that are being broadcast. However, [...]

MySpace for Stat Heads: Nielsens Social Network
On first glance, this is crazy: web stats firm Nielsen is launching a social network with the trying-too-hard name “Hey! Nielsen“. The site, open only to employees during testing until the end of September, has been in development for over a year; it’s essentially a buzztracker for what’s hot in TV, music, movies and [...]

YouTube Makes Video Ads Optional for Content Owners
In an attempt to appease the rising number of YouTube users that are unhappy with the new video overlay advertisements, as well as content owners, Google has announced its plans to offer more control to content owners regarding the new video system.Only videos from content owners that have registered for InVideo, the new advertising [...]

Web 2.0 Marketplace Listings for August 24th, 2007
Here are the latest Web 2.0 Marketplace listings. Listings are currently $50/month.New TodayTech Lead/Architect for Web 2.0 marketing agencyOne of the countrys hottest marketing agencies is seeking an innovative tech lead or architect…New This WeekYFly.com for SaleGo to www.YFly.com and check it out for yourself.DoubleDub For SaleDoubledub.com gives you a new view of local [...]

15 Ways To Create Website Screenshots
Taking screenshots of web sites is probably one of the most commonly done tasks on the internet - doubly so if you have a blog or work as a journalist. This week, we wrote about Thumbalizr, a service that lets you take screenshots of websites. However, there are several other tools for easy screenshot capturing [...]

Fantasy Football Facebook App Giving Away $5,000 Prize
Pro Pigskin Pick’em is a Facebook application that lets you pick NFL games against the spread and compete with other players that have also added the application. You can create a group and run your own Pick’em pool and compete with a smaller group of friends as well. As with most sports [...]

FoxyTag Marks Speed Traps on your Google Maps
FoxyTag is a mobile application that alerts you to upcoming speed cameras while you’re driving. On your phone you’ll see tags marking a speed trap when you’re within 15 seconds of a speed camera. The application is interactive in that users help build up this database of speed tags. Mark the [...]

Yahoo Messenger Releases Update to Patch Webcam Chat Vulnerability
In its second update released this year, Yahoo Messenger has offered an update for patching a vulnerability in its webcam video chat feature. The vulnerability is a virus that will execute malicious code on your computer if you accept a webcam invitation from this party. This vulnerability in Yahoo Messenger’s webcam chat tool [...]

iPhone SIM Unlocked
The iPhone has finally been unlocked. The software, created by iPhoneSIMFree.com isn’t yet available for download, but it apparently takes a few minutes to set up and lets you use the iPhone on any network you like. This video from Engadget shows the magic in action, although you’ll need [...]

Fotolog Acquired for $90 Million
A nice payout for photo sharing site Fotolog: the company, popular in Latin America , has been acquired by Paris-based media company Hi Media for around $90 million in cash and stock (77% Hi Media stock, 23% cash). Fotolog has 10 million users, 15 million unique monthly visitors and 3.3 billion pageviews per month. [...]

Famster Launches White Label Social Networking Platform
Famster, best known for providing social networking for families, has announced it is launching a white labeling service today, letting companies build their own networks on the Famster code.The new service will allow companies to launch their own social networks with integration of their brands and logos in a controlled manner. Each company’s network [...]

Google Ads Could Go the User-Generated Route
It’s been noted that Google has filed a series of patent applications that hint at the company’s move into more user involvement for its ad distribution programs.With three different patents, it’s clear that Google would like to leverage a very large user base for the purpose of providing more targeted ads in a more [...]

Text2Store Launches Affiliate Widget for Local Deals
Text2store, the service that lets you receive coupons on your cell phone, has just launched a Deal Badge widget for you to promote local deals and earn a bit of extra revenue.With the Deal Badge widget, you’re participating in an affiliate program of sorts. Put the widget on your personal website, blog, or social [...]

MySpace To Allow Ads on Profile Pages?
Reports today say that MySpace may allow users to place ads on their pages, lifting the ban on user ads that’s been in place for most of the site’s history. The move would aim to increase MySpace’s revenue, so no doubt MySpace would demand a cut of any ads you put on your pages. [...]

FotoFlexer: Photo Editing Supreme?
Starting this week, you’ll be able to harness the power of FotoFlexer with all of your social networking needs.The powerful online photo editing service will be integrating their tools with Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, Picasa and Yahoo to make it even easier to work on the pictures you find there, or even work inside their services.Their [...]

IQZone Officially Launches Mobile Classifieds Nationwide
IQzone, the mobile classifieds network, is officially launching its service nationwide.You may remember that iqzone got its launch party started with its ASU Dorm Challenge last week. With a distinct emphasis on college students, appealing to the demographic that can’t seem to live without a cell phone seems to be the sensible way to [...]

Hippy Bloggers of the World Unite
So apparently October 15th is Blog Action Day, a day when bloggers will unite to blog about the environment (video above). Thank goodness the top politicians who have the power to divert resources to this stuff are experts on blogs and the Internet; otherwise this one would be a complete waste of time. [...]