Facebook social travel app Gogobot announced on Wednesday that it has reached the 1 million registered users mark. The app launched on Facebook in January, when the social network unveiled a slew of integrated apps, including Gogobot. Gogobot was in use before that time, launching in private beta 18 month ago. Now the app is exploding in popularity: A new user joins every 15 seconds, more than 5 million places have been shared on Gogobot and overall membership has grown 65x year-on-year. The so...  show all text

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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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Ever wonder how your dog is feeling during a run in the park or how your pet is doing while home alone? A smart collar that transmits data to the cloud directly from your pup’s body can now tell you. Information technology product manufacturer Fujitsu has developed a special device that can be attached to a dog’s collar or harness. From there, the device monitors the number of steps the dog takes, signs of shivering and external temperature. Changes in these numbers, which could point to obesity  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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Brian Honigman is the digital marketing manager at Marc Ecko Enterprises. He is a part of Ecko’s marketing and ecommerce team, ensuring a polished brand experience across all channels. Follow him on Twitter @Brian_Honigman. A/B testing is a crucial way to compare two versions of your creative, website layout, ads, and other digital assets to understand what best resonates with your audience. That said, it can also be unruly and expensive, even when you only use the tools focused on giving you ...  show all text

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It’s no secret that Facebook has decided the best way to spur more advertising on the platform is to encourage marketers to use their brand Pages more effectively. With that goal in mind, Facebook looked at postings on 23 brand Pages over one month to see which posts did the best. The upshot: When you talk about things related to your brand, you’ll get more engagement. For example, a post by a cruise line marketer (Facebook did not disclose which brands exactly were involved in the study) stati...  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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AMD just unveiled its latest processor, called Trinity. Meant for Ultrabooks, regular laptops and all-in-one designs, the new chip boasts better multimedia capabilities, at less power than the previous generation, Llano. With Trinity, AMD aims to satisfy both PC gamers in need of a mobile system as well as anyone who works with professional multimedia software like Photoshop or Sony Vegas. AMD says Trinity’s performance on a per-watt basis is actually double Llano’s, although the overall boost ...  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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Calling all Twitter comedians! Klondike is seeking the funniest tweeters for its Comedy Showcase. Entrants will compete for a chance to hang out VIP-style with their favorite famous comedians. The contest is hosted by the “funniest person on Twitter,” Rob Delaney. Starting Monday May 14, Delaney and Klondike will announce 10 pre-determined joke categories per week throughout the summer. The contest kicks off with the topic “Old People and Technology.” To join the contest, users must follow @Klo...  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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Image © TriStar Pictures It used to be difficult to find genuinely good female characters in science fiction and fantasy. And even today, with plenty of excellent female characters to pick from, there still aren’t that many that are also mothers. In honor of Mother’s Day today, here are our picks for the ten best mother characters from science fiction and fantasy. (Note: There are possible spoilers ahead, if you haven’t read/seen the stories from which the characters are taken.) 10. Carol Marcus  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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In our social entrepreneurship series, The World at Work, Mashable interviews the faces behind the startups and projects that are working to make a global impact. By harnessing the power of the web and digital technology, these companies have built a way for companies to commit to charity, made electric cars affordable and offered a new way for people to rally around political issues. While the companies are diverse, they are all on a mission to change our lives for the better and improve socie...  show all text

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When we think about ways the iPad has changed the world, our minds usually shoot to publishing, entertainment, or mobile communication. For the community of people living with disabilities, the iPad may have broken even more ground. The iOS device is not only cool, but provides education, therapy and, of course, entertainment. Last summer, Mashable explored ways iPads are making these changes. Now we’re following up with Sami Rahman, the father of 4-year-old Noah and co-founder of BridgingApps,...  show all text

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Sometimes you just can't get a girl to like you in the way you like her. The toddler in this video is finding that out at an early age.

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Ann Smarty is a search marketer and full-time web entrepreneur. Ann blogs on search and social media tools. Her newest project, My Blog Guest, is a free platform for guest bloggers and blog owners. Follow Ann on Twitter at @seosmarty and on Google+. Testimonials can be powerful marketing tools. But in the digital age customers have reason to doubt if every good review is a reflection of a good product or a made up comment meant to boost a company’s reputation. Social media testimonials, on the...  show all text

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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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HTC and Verizon announced the HTC Droid Incredible 4G on Monday, the third phone in the Droid Incredible line. The HTC Droid Incredible 4G has a 4-inch Super LCD display, and 1.2 GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor. The phone has an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera for shooting pics, and can also capture photos while simultaneously shooting high-definition video. A forward-facing camera is also available for video chatting. The phone will ship running the latest version of Android – Ice Cream Sand...  show all text

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Vancouver startup FlyingFlips wants to build a community of socially conscious graphic designers. The ecommerce platform lets shoppers vote for their favorite sandal designs, which they’d like to see become available for retail. The most-popular options will be manufactured and the artists will receive a portion of the sale proceeds. “We’re trying to build a really good social network of graphic designers,” FlyingFlips designer co-founder Trevor Broad told Mashable. “We call it open source flip...  show all text

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An interactive billboard in London is making it easy for passersby to get involved in stopping domestic violence. The ad, at the city’s Euston Station, shows a man yelling angrily at a woman. A prompt on the billboard tells viewers to go to /ncdv.org.uk/stop to drag the man away. As the video above shows, when you go to the site, you can actually do so, albeit for a short time. The National Centre for Domestic Violence, the organization behind this latest effort, isn’t the first to try to do so...  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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Photo via Wikimedia Commons After years of toiling in the darkness, with only his true adherents knowing the unlimited bounds of his genius, Joss Whedon has stepped into the light and become the master of Hollywood, creating what is one of the greatest superhero movies of all time, and starting the summer off with a resounding smash. Between Avengers and Cabin in the Woods, his star is shining brightly right now, and he’s in that magic place, professionally, where he can do pretty much whatever...  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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