Barnes & Noble CEO William Lynch is gearing up for a very interesting holiday season. His company just unveiled two brand-new HD content-consumption tablets: the Nook HD and the Nook HD+. One of those products, the 9-inch Nook HD+ competes directly with the tablet market's most dominant product: The Apple iPad.

We asked Lynch, in an interview on the day he introduced us to Barnes and Noble's new gadgets, about the decision to go after Apple and why neither of the Nook HD tablets includes a camera.

Lynch called the Apple iPad and expensive product and thinks his 16GB HD+ is a "wow price point" at $269. He contends that "below $600 the…
Continue reading...

More About: Nook HD, Nook Tablet, barnes and noble, tablets, trending

Welcome to this morning's edition of "First To Know," a series in which we keep you in the know on what's happening in the digital world. Today, we're looking at four particularly interesting stories.

RIM's BlackBerry User Base Grows by 2 Million

Canada's RIM, which revealed details about its upcoming mobile platform on Tuesday, BlackBerry 10, is struggling on the whole, but is doing quite well in the developing markets.

Thanks to sales in those markets, the company managed to boost its global user base by 2 million, the Financial Times reports.

Sharp to Cut 11,000 Jobs by March 2014

Sharp has increased the projected number of layoffs in an attempt to return to pro…
Continue reading...

More About: Google, Nexus 7, RIM, Sharp, features, first to know series, mashable

Google Street View is no longer limited to roads and sidewalks -- now, you can browse stunning panoramic images from under the sea.

With a simple click or swipe, users can explore the subacquatic world, including Australia's Great Barrier Reef, Hawaii's Hanauma Bay and Apo Islands in the Philippines. In total, there are panoramas of six of the ocean's coral reefs.

"We're adding the very first underwater panoramic images to Google Maps, the next step in our quest to provide people with the most comprehensive accurate and usable map of the world," Google announced Tuesday on its official blog. "Now, anyone can become the next virtual Jacques Cousteau and dive with sea turtles, fish…
Continue reading...

More About: Google, Google Maps, google street view

No one ever said being an entrepreneur is easy. Creating your own business and career path is tough -- and succeeding in this lifestyle seems to require an elusive mix of traits.

After all, most of the entrepreneurs I know are intelligent. They are hardworking and usually at the top of their given field. However, all too often I've watched these smart people go from thriving in the workplace to struggling as a business owner.

There are numerous reasons why some entrepreneurs make it big, while others flounder. Here are seven key reasons why some entrepreneurs fail to live up to their potential.

1. They Don't Have a Passion for Running a Business

Passion is usually n…
Continue reading...

More About: Small Business, features, leadership, mashable, open forum

Extreme smartphone use can certainly lead to strained eyes and stiff necks. That's the bad news. The good news? The mobile device you just can't live without can also help facilitate better health in new, more convenient ways than ever before.

How? The rise of mobile health apps and other tools. There are currently about 40,000 mobile health apps available for tablets and smartphones, and over 500 health projects worldwide that have a mobile emphasis.

That's according to the online health care education portal AlliedHealthWorld.com, which pulled information from a variety of sources around the web to show just how much of a positive impact smartphones can have on our well-being.…
Continue reading...

More About: health, smartphones, trending

With the help of a laser-range finder, a laptop and a Microsoft Kinect, researchers at MIT have created a wearable piece of equipment that can map out a building in real time.

The prototype, called SLAM (short for Simultaneous Localization and Mapping), was announced today.

Essentially, SLAM operates as a second pair of eyes by generating a virtual map of the user's location (think: real-time strategy video games.) Creators of the device say they hope firefighters and emergency personnel will use the device to help them more easily navigate through thick smoke during fire emergencies.

SEE ALSO: Wearable Device Creates Maps as You Walk

Wat…
Continue reading...

More About: mapping, microsoft, video games

If Facebook stalking or following friends on Twitter doesn't satisfy your curiosity, Foursquare has got you covered. The location-based social network unveiled updated notifications Tuesday that lets users keep tabs on their friends no matter where they go.

With the new settings, users can opt to "always" receive notifications when family or close pals check in somewhere "even when they're not nearby or you have all check-in notifications turned off," Foursquare announced in a blog post.

To select this option, users simply go to their friend's Foursquare profile, and select "Always On" from the drop-down menu.

The notifications allow you to keep up with globe-trekking friend…
Continue reading...

More About: foursquare, notifications, trending

Eradicating the world of extreme poverty isn't a quick fix, but joining the fight for awareness only takes one click.

When Hugh Evans, CEO of the Global Poverty Project, brainstormed an altruistic music festival, he didn't want it to be a typical benefit concert — he wanted to build a movement. He found the most effective way to do so was to create a "tool to amplify and unite a generation's call for justice."

Branched off the Global Poverty Project, Global Citizen and its associated Global Citizen Festival gave concertgoers a unique opportunity to earn their tickets. The premise of the experience is gamified; users earn points to take action with social media.

Instead…
Continue reading...

More About: Entertainment, Music, Social Good, features, philanthropy

Jimmy Wales, founder of the Wikimedia Foundation and Wikipedia.org, spoke about digital campaigning for global health at the 2012 Social Good Summit on Monday. Gabriel Jaramillo, general manager of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, joined him on the panel moderated by Mashable's Pete Cashmore.

Wales stressed the benefits of a large-scale idea, as well as the importance of one-on-one connections during a cause's awareness campaign in order to reach its goals. A cause that has this potential is Global Fund's new digital campaign, "The Big Push," which it hopes will galvanize support and spread awareness among those wanting to eliminate deaths caused by these three…
Continue reading...

More About: Social Good, Social Media, crowdfunding, social good summit, trending, viral philanthropy, wikipedia

1. Audubon Birds - A Field Guide to North American Birds

$9.99 Available for iPhone, iPad and Android phones and tablets. The National Audubon Society is a trusted name in ornithology and the society lives up to their reputation with an app that identifies nearly 800 species in North America. The app will keep experienced bird watchers engaged but is easy enough to use for the novice (best for young adults or older). After spotting a bird users can browse by the shape, color, size, wing shape, habitats and region. There are photos to clear up any confusion. Spotted a brown, duck-like bird? Could it be a bufflehead? It sure sounded like one. Users can also identify birds by call –– hours can be whiled away listening the mating sounds of birds across the country. The app has recently added eBird identification allowing users access to sightings noted by birders in the last 30 days.

Click here to view this gallery.

If your only definition of a tweet comes from Twitter, you need to get out more. With Fall in full swing, it's a great time for apple picking, hiking and checking out the birds.

These bird watching apps can encourage exploration in children and adults alike. They help the casual observer figure out what's flying around the feeder, and expand the serious ornithologist's understanding of the wonderful world of birds. Each app is available for whether you're perching inside or out.

Take a look through the gallery and let us know if any bird or bird-watching app strikes your fancy.

Image courtesy of ladybugbkt

More About: apps, bird watching, ipad, iphone

Beware: The next time you get an email from privacy@microsoft.com in your inbox, click delete.

That's because you're likely the target of a phishing scam designed to steal Gmail, Yahoo, Windows Live and AOL passwords, according to Naked Security, a blog by IT security firm Sophos.

Entitled, "Microsoft Windows Update," the email urges recipients to verify their email accounts by entering personal login information.

Dear Windows User,

It has come to our attention that your Microsoft windows Installation records are out of date. Every Windows installation has to be tied to an email account for daily update.

This requires you to verify the Email Account. Failure to verify your…
Continue reading...

More About: Yahoo, aol, email, gmail, hoax, microsoft, trending

Barnes & Noble Nook HD+

With the Nook HD+, Barnes & Noble both takes on the iPad and gives the recently unveiled Kindle Fire HD tablets a serious competitor. The big-size Nook tablet is priced at $269 for the 16GB model and $299 for 32GB. It's also 2.8 ounces lighter than the Kindle Fire HD, but it doesn't have any cameras.

Click here to view this gallery.

Barnes & Noble has seen Amazon's plethora of Kindle Fire HD tablets and, potentially, raised the ante with a pair of new high-resolution, lightweight and affordably priced tablets: the Nook HD 7-inch and the Nook HD+ 9-inch.

That's right, Barnes & Noble just stepped into Apple iPad territory.

The big-size tablets are priced at $269 for the 16GB model and $299 for 32GB, so Barnes & Noble is deeply undercutting Apple on price and even beating the recently launched Kindle Fire HD line. The 7-inch Nook HD will list for $199 for the 16 GB model and $229 for the 32 GB tablet. Both sizes include micro SD slots for memory expansion (up to 64GB) and come complete with their AC chargers. Ama…
Continue reading...

More About: Nook HD, Nook Tablet, barnes and noble, instructables, tablets, trending

Afghanistan

Click here to view this gallery.

A suicide bombing exploded outside of one of the only Internet cafes in Somalia's capital last Thursday. Three days later, the cafe's owner spoke on one of the Social Good Summit Mogadishu's Global Conversation panels.

When the event's organizer asked him if he still wanted to speak, the cafe owner replied, "This is even more important now."

The really exciting part of this year's Social Good Summit didn't take place on the 92nd Street Y's upper Manhattan stage -- it occurred at more than 200 meetups across the world.

The Social Good Summit's two newest partners -- The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the U.N. Development Programme -- helped elevate the summit to a unprecede…
Continue reading...

More About: Events, Social Good, World, social good summit, trending

Would the fight for Internet freedom get you to vote? That's the hope of a new voter registration drive labeled "Internet Votes."

Launched today, the initiative has been organized by the Center For Rights and Fight For The Future. The two non-partisan advocacy groups organized some of the protests against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) as well as the Internet Defense League.

With this new initiative they hope to make Internet freedom a more prominent issue in this year's presidential election. Through InternetVotes.org you can quickly register to vote and the website also provides code to include a widget on your website to get more people to regi…
Continue reading...

More About: 2012 presidential campaign, Politics, US, online privacy, open internet, trending

The list of celebrities and major brands burned by social media blunders is long and ever-growing.

Who could forget former U.S. Representative Anthony Weiner, whose tweeted crotch-shot set a new standard for political pratfalls in the social media age? Then there's actor Woody Harrelson, whose epically failed Reddit AMA spawned a derisive meme and undermined the very film he was aiming to promote.

Among brands, there's the Red Cross employee who accidentally tweeted about "#gettingslizzerd" from the charity's official account rather than her personal one. Ragu, Nestle and Kenneth Cole have all showed some Twitter or Facebook ineptitude of their own as well.

But not every high-pro…
Continue reading...

More About: Social Media, infographics, trending

Election Day is only 41 days away.

There's been some confusion this time around about voter registration -- mainly, a result of new voter ID laws recently issued in several states.

Back in August, Google launched a partnership with TurboVote as part of its Online Voter Guide -- a portal for Google users to get easy information about voting.

SEE ALSO: Online Peer Pressure Boosts Voter Turnout [STUDY]

The online guide gives direct access to TurboVote, where users can register to vote, vote by mail and get deadline reminders sent to them by SMS or email. There are election dates and deadlines for all 50 states and the District of Columbia, plus voter information for military and…
Continue reading...

More About: Google

Let's cut to the chase here: Standing just five feet five inches, Porter Mayberry is closer in height to Peter Dinklage than to the average NBA star.

But that doesn't stop the 22-year-old from throwing down some pro-quality slam dunks. One-handed, two-handed, forward, backward, off the bounce -- Mayberry's dunks have to be seen to be believed.

Luckily the video above, freshly uploaded to YouTube Tuesday afternoon, lets you do just that.

And if this doesn't satisfy your basketball jones, check out our recent post on Lilliputian high school sensation Aquille Carr, whose latest highlight reel has gone viral online with more than 1.5 million views in about a month.

More About: Sports, Watercooler, viral videos

Gamers who download some big October titles from Sony's PlayStation Network will get a price discount off the game's regular MSRP in retail stores, Sony announced in a blog post Tuesday afternoon.

The program is called PSN Day 1 Digital, and it also marks the first time that AAA titles from third-party publishers are available for download on the PlayStation 3 at the same time as they are released in stores.

Some highly anticipated titles, including Dishonored, Need For Speed: Most Wanted, NBA 2K13, will cost only $53.99 when downloaded via the PlayStation Network on launch day, and 007 Legends will have a 10% discount for the first week, according to the Sony blog. Additionally,…
Continue reading...

More About: playstation 3, playstation network, sony

Like Gangnam Style, the term "native advertising" was fairly obscure until mid-August and then all of the sudden it was everywhere.

Well, not everywhere, but it seemed to be in advertising circles and blogs where various experts got to tee off on the matter. Suddenly, would-be social media gurus had a new pet term to throw around to make others feel behind the curve. But is there actually any substance behind it, or is native advertising just the latest buzzword in an industry that specializes in creating buzzwords?

The answer: It depends on who you talk to. Native advertising appears to mean different things to different people.

First, some etymology: "Native advertising" appears t…
Continue reading...

More About: Advertising, Facebook, Marketing

Via NFL Memes By Zachary Steven Roeder

Click here to view this gallery.

In the wake of the Green Bay Packers's controversial loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Monday night, resentment about the NFL referee lockout has become a fiery inferno of anger burning its way through the Internet.

Football fans are unhappy, to say the least, and they are doing their best to ensure that the league hears their cries.

Song parodies have appeared on YouTube, Twitter exploded and players have spoken out against the NFL in 140 character tirades.

The NFL's social media approach to the controversy has failed to win over many of the angered fans. A series of edits to the NFL's Facebook page followed an initially misleading post after the game. And that wasn't the only examp…
Continue reading...

More About: Sports, Watercooler, nfl

A six-fingered man. Prince Humperdinck. Cliffs of Insanity. Mawage. Miracle Max.

On Sept. 25, 1987, Rob Reiner invited film goers to the fictional land of Florin for a romantic adventure filled with sword fights, outlaws and undying -- or mostly undying -- true love.

In the 25 years since its big screen debut, The Princess Bride has developed a following with a dedication to the film that rivals Westley's devotion to Buttercup. Honoring the movie with anything less than an André the Giant-size tribute would be inconceivable.

For an even more authentic trip down memory lane, ask a grandfatherly figure to read the content of this tribute out loud to you while curled up in bed…
Continue reading...

More About: GIFs, Movies, Watercooler

Take it from a California resident: you see a lot of crazy things in this state. And it's about to get a lot crazier, thanks to Jerry Brown and Google.

Governor Brown came to the Googleplex in Mountain View Tuesday afternoon to sign SB 1298, a bill that "creates a legal framework and safety standards for autonomous vehicles on state roads and highways."

To put that more plainly, Google -- one of the largest and most innovative companies in the state, and now the fifth largest in the US -- used its considerable wealth and charm to nudge the state legislature in Sacramento into letting it test its fleet of driverless cars without too much hassle.

SEE ALSO: Google's Driverless C…
Continue reading...

More About: Google, california, driverless car

Via celinenyc

Click here to view this gallery.

Tuesday is National Voter Registration Day, and what better way to convince the millennial generation of their responsibilities as a U.S. citizen than with GIFs?

With the help of GIF-master Mr.GIF, MTV has promoted a series of animated images as part of the Power of 12 campaign.

SEE ALSO: Your Favorite Celebrities Are Asking: Are You Registered to Vote?

Of course the campaign is a lot more than just GIFs. The goal is to keep 18-29 year olds eligible to vote with the knowledge and power to make an educated decision in the Presidential, Congressional and state races nationwide.

But that doesn't mean we can't appreciate the artwork for grabbing our attention, right?

If you have…
Continue reading...

More About: 2012 presidential campaign, GIFs, Watercooler, voter registration

How many times a day do you get a 404 error message when looking for information on the internet? What if you could put that wasted click to good use? Now you can, by helping to locate missing children.

The NotFound Project is a collaberative effort between Missing Children Europe, the European Federation for Missing and Sexually Exploited Children, and several partners. They've figured out a way to use the space on the web which wasn't being used and turn it into something useful: raising awareness about missing children.

Valeria Setti, Project Officer for Missing Children in Europe tells Mashable that instead of getting the dreaded 404 error, users will see a message that says "Thi…
Continue reading...

More About: 404 errors, missing kids

Love the "People You May Know" feature on LinkedIn? Then you may be happy to learn that Twitter is essentially copying the feature. Instead of a widget, though, Twitter will suggest potential contacts via a weekly email.

Twitter already offers suggestions for who to follow, of course, and those have gotten more prominent (and relevant) on the site as the company has refined the widget. It's based on an algorithm that has gotten better and more personalized, and now even takes into account your location.

"People You May Know," however, gets populated differently. Twitter said in a blog post that the people suggested are based on "signals" such as who your friends follow and the con…
Continue reading...

More About: Twitter, linkedin

Facebook updated its SDK on Tuesday, adding support for Facebook integration in iOS 6.

The 3.1 update marks the most significant update to the iOS SDK since it first launched in 2009, and gives developers access to functionality such as ad analytics, native UI controls, and a seamless Facebook Login across iOS devices.

"This integration opens up new opportunities for mobile app developers, as you can easily build the foundation for a social app, Facebook Login and sharing functionality into your product," Facebook representative Eddie O'Neal said in a blog post announcing the update. "The Facebook integration in iOS 6 is complementary to the Facebook SDK for iOS."

The SDK up…
Continue reading...

More About: Facebook, SDK, developer

Google has gone from being the tenth most valuable company in the United States to the fifth most valuable in just more than three months.

More About: Google, apple, stocks

Less than one week after Amazon unveiled its latest Kindle Fire HD tablet, the device was already occupying about 11% of all Kindle Fire traffic, a new study suggests.

According to a data conducted by Chitika Insights -- which looked at hundreds of millions of ad impressions from Sept. 14th to Sept. 18 to determine which devices and browsers were being used -- the Kindle Fire HD grew to 11% of Amazon's overall tablet traffic share, just five days after it launched.

SEE ALSO: Amazon Kindle Fire HD 7 Is a Great Tablet and a Great Value [REVIEW]

However, it was also revealed that when compared with the success of the Nexus 7, the Kindle Fire HD still has a long way to go in terms o…
Continue reading...

More About: Kindle, amazon, kindle fire, kindle fire hd

With computers and the Internet came digital advertising. PointRoll, a digital marketing company, decided to take a stroll down memory lane, revisiting the history of digital ads.

Their history goes as far back as 1987, when Apple introduced the Macintosh which featured HyperCard, widely considered the first multimedia tool. Over time, digital ads have evolved from static images to interactive designs with the help of universally used tools as Quicktime, Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, and Flash.

SEE ALSO: The 41-Year History of Email

The birth of social media and gadgets like the iPhone and the iPad created new opportunities for multimedia, location-based ads that span across plat…
Continue reading...

More About: online advertising

After an end-zone jostle on Sept. 25, the — albeit confused — ruling on the field gave the Seattle Seahawks a winning touchdown and subsequent 14-12 victory over the Green Bay Packers.

As Seattle fans erupted in cheers, the commentators narrated the confusion, and in the end, the replacement referees upheld the touchdown call. Angry fans flooded Twitter with complaints about the call, and Packers' guard TJ Lang voiced his opinion, too.
Got fucked by the refs.. Embarrassing. Thanks nfl— TJ Lang (@TJLang70) September 25, 2012

Fuck it NFL.. Fine me and use the money to pay the regular refs.— TJ Lang (@TJLang70) September 25, 2012

Maybe he hoped a follow-up tw…
Continue reading...

More About: Social Media, features, fines, football, nfl