German designers placed a high-tech, sensor-equipped chair in the middle of a palazzo in Milan last month to record stress points on the backsides of thousands of people. The goal? To determine how to design a lightweight and efficient chair that’s sturdy enough to support a wide variety of users. When someone sat in the chair, monitors recorded data and processed it with an “algorithm that determines the most structurally efficient version of the chair,” according to the blog Co.Design. The en...  show all text

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Some say fashion is pain, and in the case of Dave Hurban, it actually is. Hurban recently implanted magnets in his wrist himself — all for the ability to wear his trusty iPod Nano like a watch without having to sport a wristband. What motivated him to do it? “I just thought it would be cool,” Hurban said in an interview with Digital Trends. To turn himself into a human iPod dock, Hurban had to make four incisions on his wrist, where he inserted small magnets. After a little bit of blood and so...  show all text

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1. It’s Only Humanoid Media Case This gadget case can be hooked onto other bags thanks to its clippy robo-limbs. It will protect your precious tech kit from harm. Cost: $29.99 Click here to view this gallery. If your workload is on the heavy side, how about help from your very own army of robots? We’ve found 15 fabulous office accessories that feature some rad robotic designs. From USB hubs to thumbtacks to solutions to help you get organized, we’re sure there’s a robo buddy perfect for you.  show all text

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After issuing similar fixes for Lion and Snow Leopard in April, Apple has now released an Flashback removal security update for OS X Leopard. Apple describes the update as follows: “This update removes the most common variants of the Flashback malware. If the Flashback malware is found, a dialog will notify you that malware was removed. In some cases, the update may need to restart your computer in order to completely remove the Flashback malware.” Flashback is a malicious program which uses a ...  show all text

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SpaceX announced that it is gearing up to launch its Dragon capsule toward the International Space Station on Saturday. If successful, the trip will mark the first time a private spacecraft has ever docked at NASA’s habitable artificial satellite. Spaceflight company Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) will be sending the robotic capsule attached to its Falcon 9 rocket into orbit on a test mission to the orbital outpost. The launch date is now set for nearly three weeks after the capsule was  show all text

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Social media: It’s not just for college kids anymore. Families use Facebook to stay in touch across generations. Friends well into middle age share photos on Instagram. There’s even an 80-year-old grandmother on a quest for 80,000 Twitter followers. But how does social media’s widening reach affect the family unit? The brand-engagement firm GMR Marketing recently polled about 1,000 moms and kids to see how social media has penetrated family life and affected mother and child relationships. More...  show all text

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Facebook is updating its mobile app to make photos appear more prominently in users’ News Feeds. The social network, on the verge of becoming the most valuable U.S. tech company after its IPO this week, announced the redesign Monday via the Facebook Mobile Page. The changes, which will gradually roll out to users, come on the heels of Facebook acquiring Instagram for $1 billion in April. Just last week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told investors that mobile is the company’s top priority. Faceb...  show all text

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In a move that brings online dating full-circle, Match.com is launching a new service that will use its matching algorithms to fill offline events with compatible singles. Within the next year, the company plans to host 2,000 to 3,000 events across 40 markets. The service will be named “The Stir.” “We expect to send half a million people to events this year,” Match.com President Mandy Ginsberg tells Mashable. “I think we’ll be the biggest global events company in the world, with the exception of  show all text

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America's Got Talent Premieres: May 14 on NBC Social media: America's Got Talent ushers in a new judge this season: shock jock Howard Stern, who's already igniting buzz across social networks with his recent jabs at the American Idol's too-soft judging panel. Anticipate his critical judging style to incite significant social chatter. Meanwhile, AGT's Facebook Page has been pushing multimedia, including Spotify playlists from Stern and fellow judge Sharon Osbourne. Photo courtesy of Mark Sel...  show all text

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It’s Mother’s Day, which means its time to buy Mom a card to tell her how great she is. If you forgot today was the big day — or waited until today to pick up a card — you’re not alone. Searches for free ecards ranked third on Google this morning, peaking around 9am – right about the time most people were getting their day started. While there are tons of sites out there that offer electronic cards you can send Mom’s way, finding a free e-card is a little more difficult. Popular card maker Hall...  show all text

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I started in 2006 with nothing but a blog, a dream and not a clue as to what I was doing. But it was a crazy time for everyone online. It was still the early days of the social media boom. Everybody was kind of playing with the new platforms the way a kid plays with an Etch-a-Sketch — first with curious creativity, followed quickly by bafflement and irritation. It was strange and new and it’s often still strange to me six years down the road. But that is what makes this post so useful to you. I...  show all text

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Salt Lake City-based Anthony Griesel spent the past winter creating and testing ski poles that would let skiers stay connected on the slopes. His invention would allow skiers to answer their iPhones or Android devices with a finger swipe, read short text messages and view the time, temperature and elevation. But now Griesel needs help putting his invention into more hands. He’s turning to crowdfunding platform Kickstarter to raise $100,000 to mass produce his “smart ski poles.” So far, 60 people  show all text

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Was Instagram worth $1 billion? Will Google+ ever compete or beat Facebook? Shiv Singh, global head of digital for PepsiCo Beverages and author of Social Media Marketing for Dummies, shared his thoughts on those trendy questions and more during his recent visit to Mashable to unveil Pepsi’s new celebrity-infused “Live for Now” global ad campaign and “Pulse” digital dashboard. In a 10-minute interview with Mashable‘s editor-in-chief Lance Ulanoff, Singh commented about the launch of Google+, Fac...  show all text

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Google is in discussions to acquire Meebo for as much as $100 million, sources have told the often-reliable AllThingsD. Meebo was founded in 2005 as a messaging app for the browser, a product that still exists as Meebo Messenger. The Mountain View, Calif.-based startup has since developed an expanding suite of social and mobile apps for consumers as well as publishers, each designed to enable online communication. Meebo raised $25 million in its last round of financing in 2010. The round was led  show all text

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Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is telling would-be investors that mobile is Facebook’s number one priority. Zuckerberg addressed about 200 investors during the Palo Alto leg of Facebook’s IPO roadshow, answering questions and laying out plans for 2012 and beyond. According to Reuters, the CEO put his focus squarely on improving Facebook’s mobile app. This is an important pronouncement, and it aligns with what Facebook has said its in various S-1 filings. Since Facebook filed for its IPO back ...  show all text

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Apple plans to drop Google Maps and launch its own 3D mapping software in iOS 6, according to a report.

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It can be difficult to monitor the impact your brand is making on Facebook. Check out these 4 tools to get you in the know.

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President Obama will now take your song requests. President Obama’s team has set up a page on BarackObama.com for voters to submit potential campaign songs that could be added to his Obama 2012 Supporter Picks playlist on Spotify. “As we head into rally season, what music gets you fired up?” the page asks. “Submit your favorite tracks below, and you could see them on the Obama 2012 Supporter Picks playlist on Spotify.” Spotify is a music streaming site that gives users free access to millions of  show all text

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NEW ORLEANS – Speaking during a keynote session at CTIA Wireless on Tuesday, AT&T CEO Ralph de la Vega said Facebook is good for his company’s business. “I think that social networking is going to be a major force in this industry for years to come,” says Vega. “I think it helps people communicate. That’s what we do.” T-Mobile CEO Philipp Humm agreed, adding that Facebook’s social networking app was his company’s “number one app right now” and has customers “picking up their phone 150 times a d...  show all text

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The Yahoo director in charge of vetting CEO Scott Thompson is planning to resign from the board after questions emerged about Thompson’s resume, according to a report. Patti Hart (pictured), whose own background was also called into question, will “not stand for reelection” at Yahoo’s next annual meeting, according to AllThingsD, which cites “sources close to the situation.” The meeting is expected to take place in June. Yahoo reps could not be reached for comment. Hart, the CEO of International  show all text

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Samsung got official with the Samsung Focus 2 Monday, the third Windows Phone smartphone on its 4G LTE network. “Samsung is the unmatched leader in offering smartphones across a variety of platforms and the Focus 2 is a powerful example of our continued commitment to Windows Phone,” said Dale Sohn, president of Samsung Mobile. “As our first 4G LTE Windows Phone, the Focus 2 is a fast and versatile device for productivity, entertainment and social networking.” The Focus 2 follows in the footsteps  show all text

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Remember that favorite childhood question: if you could dig a hole so deep in your backyard that you would end up on the other side of the world, where would you be? Australia? China? One Google Maps-based website figures out where you would end up, if such a thing were possible. It turns out that if you’re digging from most of the continental U.S., you’d end up swimming somewhere in the Indian Ocean. AntipodeMap.com allows you can see which location is exactly halfway around the world from whe...  show all text

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An Apple programmer has accidentally left a debug flag in the most recent version of OS X Lion, which under certain conditions can cause login passwords to appear in a plain text debug log file, reports ZDNet. The flaw affects users who have used Apple’s encryption software FileVault prior to upgrading to 10.7.3, while FileVault 2 is unaffected. To make matters worse, Apple has not issued a fix for the matter, so changing your user credentials right now does not help, as those credentials might...  show all text

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Ask any job seeker, and he’ll tell you that looking for a job is, in and of itself, a job. It’s time-consuming to prep your cover letter, tweak your resume, follow up and plan your interview, especially when you’re applying for multiple positions. Sure, you could make an intense, color-coded spreadsheet — but most of us aren’t that Type A. That’s where Huntsy comes in — it’s like HootSuite for your job search. Huntsy’s dashboard offer’s a bird’s eye view (hence the owl logo) of your job hunt, o...  show all text

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Socialist challenger François Hollande unseated Nicolas Sarkozy in the French presidential election Sunday, making Sarkozy the first French president in 30 years to lose reelection. Twitter users circumvented an election results embargo — as they did April 22 during the first round of voting — by using code names for the two candidates. A 1977 French law prohibits the release of results before 8 p.m. on election night and fines violators up to $99,000. Discussions used the same hashtag, #radiol...  show all text

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Try to guess America’s most engaging social network. Facebook? Wrong. Twitter? Wrong. Pinterest? Wrong again. According to comScore‘s most recent social networking data, from the month of March, the San Francisco based site Tagged engages users like no other service. It was the only site to finish in the top two in both of comScore’s engagement metrics. Tagged users visited an average of 18 times each during March according to ComScore, second only to Facebook’s average of 36 visits per vistor....  show all text

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The Best of Instagram Series is presented by T-Mobile. Its 4G Tweet Race, a week-long campaign launching May 3, pits Twitter users against one another in a daily, frantic race for retweets. There are 7 races, and the winners of each heat win a new HTC One™ S phone with a year of T-Mobile’s Unlimited Value service, and the final winner takes home $4,000. Instagram users often get a bit of flack for oversharing their food photos. Now that the photo-sharing app is available for iOS, Android and po...  show all text

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The marketing world needs to stop being so afraid and start solving problems, according to Cindy Gallop, an entrepreneur and consultant whose prescription for growth calls for synthesizing creativity and data collection. Gallop, who spoke at Mashable Connect Saturday morning, critiqued the current state of marketing, which she believes is driven by fear. “Fear is the single worst dynamic in business,” she said. “Decisions made out of fear are always very bad decisions.” Such trepidation, predic...  show all text

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Asking budding entrepreneurs where they’d like to build their next startup often elicits the same three-word response: New York City. Over the past four years, there’s been a 40% spike in startup financing in “Silicon Alley” — a bigger increase than anywhere else in the U.S. Cities around the world are increasingly looking at New York, rather than San Francisco or Silicon Valley, as a model for nurturing startup growth through policymaking and urban planning. What’s New York’s secret to startup...  show all text

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The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. Name: Needle Quick Pitch: Needle offers expert live chat service to online retailers to help customers find the best products and increase sales. Genius Idea: “Fansourcing” — Turning superfans of your brand into part-time advisors for the rest of your customers. It’s hard not to argue that ...  show all text

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