The Change your number functionality, as spotted today by Boy Genius Report, is great news for users like me. Unfortunately, it will cost you to change it. There's a one-time $10 fee, which in my mind is well worth it. Best of all, Google Voice will activate your new number right away and still keep your old one active and forwarding to the new one for three months.

What's also nice is that in picking your new number, you can search by area code and by a word that you want your number to contain. So for example if I search for area code 408 and the word tuna, I can get a 408 number that ends in 8862 (T-U-N-A on a keypad).

Here are the details:

There is a $10 one-time fee to change your Google Voice number. Here is how it works:

• Pick a new number in the area codes we have.
• Pay $10 with Google Checkout, using your credit card.
• Your new number becomes active right away.
• Calls to your old number will keep coming to your Google Voice account for three months, so you have time to tell everyone about your new number.

We're still waiting on number portability (the ability to use your existing numbers as Google Voice numbers), but this is a nice start.

Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.

Max Ray Butler, 36, faces up to 60 years in prison for the two felonies under law, but his actual sentence will be influenced by a number of factors, not least a plea agreement with federal prosecutors that was filed under seal Monday.

Wearing an ill-fitting orange jail uniform and round glasses, his hair cut short and neat, the six-foot-plus Butler towered over the burly deputy marshals that brought him into the court room. Once he settled into his seat, he spoke softly and evenly as he answered questions from the judge, frequently drawing admonishments to speak up for the benefit of the court reporter.

I actually did the actions that are relevant in the indictment, and I am guilty, Butler said, at one point.

Butler identified himself in court as Max Vision, the name he gave himself in the 1990s when he became a superstar in the computer security community. At that time Butler was billing himself out as a $100-an-hour computer security consultant, and he earned the respect of his peers for creating and curating an open source library of attack signatures used to detect computer intrusions.

But it turned out Butler was staging recreational hacks on the side, and in 2001 he was sent to federal prison for 18 months for launching a scripted attack that closed security holes on thousands on Pentagon systems, and left backdoors behind for his own use.

While in prison, Butler met more serious criminals, and he was befriended by a professional swindler named Jeffrey Norminton. After his release, Norminton introduced him to an Orange County, California entrepreneur and former bank robber named Chris Aragon.

Butler admitted Monday that he began hacking banks, merchants and other hackers to steal credit card numbers, then sold them to Aragon. Aragon, who's pending trial on related state charges in southern California, turned that stolen data into near-perfect counterfeit cards, complete with holograms, and recruited a crew of shoppers who used the cards to snap up designer merchandise for resale on eBay. Aragon earned at least $1 million in the business, police say.

Butler became a priority to federal law enforcement officials in 2006, when, under the handle Iceman, he staged a brazen takeover of the online carder forums where hackers and fraudsters buy and sell stolen data, fake IDs and specialized underground services.

He hacked into the forums, wiped out their databases, and absorbed their content and membership into his own site, called CardersMarket.

On one of the sites he hacked, called DarkMarket, Butler later discovered that an administrator named Master Splyntr was logging in from an FBI office in Pittsburgh. Butler partnered with a Canadian hacker to try and expose Master Splyntr as a fed, but his claim was largely dismissed in the underground as inter-forum rivalry. DarkMarket went on to become a full-blown undercover FBI operation, and the FBI and Secret Service began an investigation into Iceman.

(I wrote about Butler in the January issue of Wired. I'm now working on a book about him and the carder forums for Crown publishing).

Using informants and some genuine electronic gumshoe work, the feds identified Iceman as Butler about a year later, and arrested him in September 2007 at a corporate apartment he used as a hacking safe house.

When the feds seized Butler's hard drive, they found five terabytes of encrypted data on his harddrive, the government said Monday. They later cracked Butler's crypto, and discovered 1.8 million stolen credit card numbers belonging to 1,000 different banks. The banks tallied the fraudulent charges on the cards at $86.4 million.

But Butler's defense attorney told U.S. District Judge Maurice B. Cohill Jr. Monday that Butler and his associates weren't' responsible for all of the fraudulent charges.

Butler, noted federal public defender, Michael Novara, frequently cracked the computers of other members of the underground, and stole their stuff. Some of the credit card numbers found on Butler's hard drive had been in the hands of cyber thieves before Butler began his hacking spree.

Max is kind of a hacker's hacker, said Novara. There was a lot of stuff on his computer that he was not responsible for, and did not intend to use.

I don't think I ever heard the expression, a hacker's hacker' before, said Judge Cohill, with a smile.

Sources say Butler's plea deal will also wrap up a separate federal case in Virginia, in which Butler is charged with staging the first documented spear phishing attack against employees of a financial institution, gaining access to the corporate network of Capitol One bank.

Butler was calm and attentive at Monday's proceeding, which opened with federal prosecutor Luke Dembosky crossing to the defense table to shake hands with the hacker, who smiled and nodded.

Through his attorney, Butler released a two-paragraph statement following his plea.

Max Vision, known in this case as Max Butler, pled guilty today as a first step toward getting this sad chapter of his life behind him. It is unfortunate that his life circumstances in 2005 led him to participate in this criminal conduct, and he very much regrets doing so, he wrote.

Max has always preferred using his extraordinary computer skills his computer vision for the good of society and the cyber world, and he hopes that he will be given the opportunity in the future to once again don the white hat.

Asked afterward what kind of sentence the government expects for Butler, Dembosky was vague with reporters. Suffice to say, it won't be probation.

See Also:

• Notorious Crime Forum DarkMarket Goes Dark
• Cybercrime Supersite DarkMarket' Was FBI Sting, Documents Confirm
• 56 Arrested in DarkMarket Sting, Says FBI
• One Hacker's Audacious Plan to Rule the Black Market in Stolen Credit Cards
• A White Hat' Goes to Jail

• Built-in cameras. The kids have had a ton of fun snapping pictures with the built-in cameras (there's both a user-facing camera as well as a camera that faces away from the user) and using the DSi's image editor to distort the pictures. (Nothing quite like a 7 year-old's face stretched to three times its normal width.)
  
• Wireless gameplay. There's actually three different ways for the DS to play wirelessly. Having seen it in operation with two kids, it's great.
• Certain games - like Brain Age, Mario Kart DS, both of which we have - give multiple players with a DS the ability to wirelessly download a companion version of the game and play together. (On the game boxes, this is called wireless multi-player download, details here.) This requires you to only own one game card, but multiple players can play.
• Other games support multi-card wireless play mean that if every player owns a copy of the game, they can connect to each other to play head-to-head. We haven't bought them the same game yet, so we haven't played with this version yet... now it's up to the boys to decide if they want to spend their gift cards and chore money on copies of the same game. :)
• Nintendo WiFi Connection. Yet other games can play head-to-head over the Internet. My nieces both have DS Lites; with copies of the same game (say, Mario Kart) the cousins can all play together over the net from 3,000 miles away. That's pretty darned cool.
• DSi Shop. If you connect the DSi to a broadband connection before October 5, you get free points to spend on free games from the DSi shop. The boys picked different games, and the quality isn't bad for free games. There's not much to pick from right now, but I'm sure there's more coming.

The year 2008 saw the emergence of some great pocket video cameras that are no larger than your mobile phone, inexpensive, they shoot good-looking video and are almost as easy to operate as an iPod - no confusing controls, just a single record button. These pocket camcorder attach to the computer via the USB port and record video in a straight-to-web format perfect for YouTube and other video sharing websites.

If you looking to buy one this holiday season, you have three pocket video cameras to choose from - Flip Video Camcorder, Creative Vado and Kodak Zi6.

Creative Vado Pocket Video Camera ($100)

This has a 2" screen with 2x zoom and 2 GB internal memory perfect for recording upto 2 hours of video (resolution 640480, MPEG4 AVI). Creative Vado can be recharged via USB (similar to iPod or Zune) and includes removable battery. You'll have to separately buy the RCA cable that is required to connect your Vado camera to a TV. Supports both Windows and Mac.

Creative Vado HD Video Camera ($200)

This camera has the same dimensions as the previous one (slightly heavier) and lets you shoot video in High Definition format (resolution 1280720, H.264 AVI).

The internal memory is 8 GB and the HDMI cable in included with Vada HD Camcorder. Read detailed reviews of Vado HD at PC World, PC Magazine and CNET.

Kodak Zi6 Pocket Video Camera ($180)

The Kodak Zi6 features a 2.4" LCD, 2x zoom, records both HD (H.264) & standard video but can also capture still photographs at 3MB resolution. Zi6 only has 128MB of internal memory, so you'll need to buy a separate memory SD Card to record longer home movies.

The Kodak Zi6 does include both A/V and HDMI cables for connecting the camcorder to the television screen. Also include 2 Ni-MH rechargeable battery and charger included. Read Kodak Zi6 reviews at MacWorld, PC Magazine and LaptopMag.

Flip Mino HD Camcorder ($230)

FlipMino HD sports a 1.5" screen and can record up to 60 minutes of video (1280 x720 at 30 frames per second) on its 4 GB internal memory (non expandable). The camera has internal rechargeable battery that can be charged via USB port or the power adapter though you'll have to buy it separately. TV connector cable is included to watch videos on television.

The included software program is compatible with both Mac and Windows and includes basic video editing features with the option of extracting still image frames from the video - the camera itself cannot snap still photos though. Read Flip Mino HD reviews and picture samples at Macworld and PC Magazine.

Pure Digital Flip Ultra Video Camera ($150)

The Flip Ultra video camera carries 2GB of built-in flash memory and can record 60 minutes of video at 640480. The camera has a 1.5" LCD and requires 2 AA batteries that last up to 2.5 hours.

It records video in MPEG-4 AVI format at 30 frames per second. NTSC cable is included with Flip Ultra for connecting the unit to TV though there's no way to expand the memory. Watch video review of Flip Ultra at Macworld and CNET.

Conclusion: I think the Zi6 offers best value for money - you get HD quality video, it has the largest LCD screen, the memory is expandable and Kodak Zi6 is the only pocket video camera that can shoot still photographs. Authors who have used the camera seem impressed by the video quality of Zi6 if there's reasonable light and the camera is held with a steady hand.

Related: Camcorder Buying Guide: NTSC vs PAL Cameras

Pocket Video Cameras - Buying Guide - Digital Inspiration

And no wonder. They're both the same sort of beastie: pockatable 720p HD cameras in an iPod-ish form factor, selling for about the same money.

(Yes, the Zi6 is about fifty bucks cheaper, but remember: that's without any memory. Toss in a 4 gig card and you're more or less square.)

With the holidays coming up, and the chance that Todd from Process Control will make as big an ass of himself at the breakroom holiday party as he did last year, lots of people want to know which of these Discreet Little Cameras to buy. Well, my uniform is proud to serve.

I took both cameras out for a jaunt or two and shot a bunch of clips in a variety of environments. Watch. Draw your own conclusions. And then read on and see if you're so absolutely brilliant that your conclusions are identical to mine.

Click on the fullscreen button to watch it at 1280720 resolutionjust keep in mind that this is nowhere near as good as the original video files.

Flip Mino HD vs. Kodak Zi6 from Andy Ihnatko on Vimeo.

Okay. Based solely on this footageit's a clear win for the Mino. I think it's obvious even in the Vimeo (which has been processed twice already). But here in iMovie, where I can see the original footage straight from the camerat's absolutely no contest. The Mino video is more agile, the colors are more accurate, and the lighting is more balanced. The Zi6 routinely produces over-saturated colors and doesn't appear to have enough bandwidth to record a full range of colors and tones. And low-light shooting is a bit of a mess.

Three full-sized frame grabs illustrate my point. These were taken straight from the original MP4 files. Click the thumbnail for the full 720p frame.

Pulling Out Into Traffic

Mino HD: Note the gray tones in the sky and the cream color of the sign. There's plenty of shadow detail inside the car, too.

Kodak Zi6. The sky and the sign are white, all of a sudden. And inside the car, shadows have turned to mud.

Outdoors, On A Tripod

Mino HD. Nice shot. Maybe it should be a tad brighter. But the lighting is natural and the colors are spot-on.

My shirt is purple, my skin is a little weird (even for me). I think the Zi6's designers told it "Humans like punchy contrast and saturated colors. Err accordingly."

Inside Panera Bread

Mino HD. Nice, bright image with (again) natural colors...not an easy trick, as we're inside a Panera Bread with its muted soup-oriented lighting.

Zi6. Boy, what a crummy at-bat. The wall should be avocado, not lime green. Any shadows have turned into grey mud. My sunglasses are no longer transparent, nor did the Zi6 capture any reflections off the lenses. And it shows that dim lighting is the Zi6's Waterloo. Its only solution in a situation like this is to extend the shutter speed and cut the frame rate in half. This clip was recorded at 15 frames per second instead of the Mino's 30, creating choppy, blurry footage.

Rainy Street Corner

Mino HD. Hmm. The sky is a bit purple. But otherwise...a nice shot. Check out the brick building on the corner. You can see the bricks on the outside and the details of the warm shop inside.

Zi6. This individual frame doesn't look too bad. The Zi6 certainly captured the sky more naturally than the Mino did. But as usual, shadow details have turned to mud...and the dim light has forced the Zi6 to shoot this at 15 frames per second. Quite noticeable when cars drive past.

Okay, so this is a total slam-dunk for the Mino HD, right? It's time for the Zi6 to slink off to the corner bar to drink itself into a state of apoplexy alongside the Zune and the Sony eBook Reader and every other bit of technology that's been roundly spanked and made irrelevant by a superior competitor?

Naw, not at all.

Based on two days' worth of side-by-side shooting, I'm convinced that the Mino HD's videos are far more natural and pleasant. But I wish that Mino HD videos sounded as good as the Kodak's. I don't know if the Zi6's designers did something as simple as choosing a high gain level for the microphone. Whatever the reason, the outside Panera clip handily demonstrates the Kodak's superiority in this category.

The Zi6 also has the intriguing advantage of being able to go on forever. Which is something that the Mino emphatically cannot do.

The Mino is sealed up as tightly as an iPhone. Its memory and battery are locked inside and can't be swapped. You record one hour's worth of video and then the Mino HD becomes nothing more than a conversation piece.

But the Zi6 takes standard SDHC memory cards. To hell with the Mino's built-in 4 gigs! Buy yourself a 16 gig card and record hours and hours of footage. And because it runs on 2 AA's, it'll can run forever. The Zi6 comes with a pair of rechargeables and natcherly, if you ever get caught short, you can just run to the store for some Energizers.

That's not an inconsiderable advantage.

The Zi6 and the Mino are both lifestyle cameras. So I suppose the choice comes down to the sort of lifestyle that you intend to lead.

If image quality is a big item on your wish list, it's the Mino. If your style of shooting is casual and unplanned you want to have something handy to shoot baby's first steps, keep something in your back pocket or your desk drawer in case the opportunity to direct and produce the next Don't Taze Me, Bro! should unexpectedly present itself it's the Mino. If you'll be shooting lots of stuff in low-light situationsthe Mino. Already own a real camcorder, and want a second one for more casual shooting and the ability to shoot an event from two angles? Mino.

(Oh, I didn't mention that the Mino is exactly the same size as the original Mino. The Zi6 is small enough to fit inside any pocket, but the Mino is so small that you'll have to pat yourself down to figure out what pocket it's even in.)

But if you're going to shoot events, then you'll want the Zi6. Although you'll yearn for the higher quality of the Mino, the fact remains that (God help us all) most family weddings go on for more than an hour. And you have better things to do on vacation than keep running back to your hotel room or cabin to free up space on your camcorder. You can shoot a whole week's worth of travelly hijinx on the Zi6.

As for the ease of editing your footageit's a draw. Both of these cameras record plain MP4 movie files. They imported into iMovie as easily as any other MP4 file.

Weird thing about the Flip, though: iMovie recognizes it as a camera and it immediately loads up thumbnails of all of your clips, ready for importbut the import will fail. Huh. But if you import the clips via the File menu treat the Mino as though it were just a USB storage device iMovie will copy the files into your library without a hitch. No transcoding necessaryit's just a straight file copy.

Of course, neither of these are real camcorders. Spending a couple of days shooting with them made me miss the zoom lens, image-stabilization, and manual features of even a cheap standard-def camera. I guess the lifestyle implied by the Zi6 and the Mino involves walking straight up to people instead of recording them from a safe distance, and maintaining a steady posture as you do so.

If this is the case, then clearly I lead an alternative lifestyle.

Last week we noted that Best Buy had reduced the price of the MSI Wind U100 to $349 and NewEgg did the same for the comparably equipped Acer Aspire One.

Now, Best Buy has cut the price of the Eee PC 900A to $279.99, meaning you can pick up a netbook with a 1.6GHz Intel Atom CPU, 1GB of RAM, and a 4GB SSD for under $300. OK, it runs Xandros Linux, but there's no reason you couldn't install Ubuntu.

[Engadget via Liliputing]

Posted from my Acer Aspire One, 4 GB SSD, 8 GB SD, 512 MB RAM, 9-Cell Extended Battery.

A St. Louis company managing prescription benefits of 50 million people said Thursday it called the FBI to investigate an extortion plot threatening to expose personal information, including prescriptions, of millions of its clients.

Express Scripts said it has received an anonymous letter containing the names of some 75 clients that includes dates of birth, Social Security numbers and their prescriptions. The letter threatens to expose millions of patient records if Express Scripts does not pay an undisclosed amount of money.

"We are cooperating with the FBI and are committed to doing what we can to protect our members' personal information and to track down the person or persons responsible for this criminal act," George Paz, the company's president, said in a statement.

Paz added that, "as security experts know, no data system is completely invulnerable."

The company said it has informed the 75 people whose data was breached, and has set up a website, esisupports.com to assist members.

The announcement comes shortly after three New Yorkers pleaded guilty to using hacked Citibank ATM card numbers and PINs to steal $2 million from customer accounts.

Express Scripts said it received the letter in "early" October and is "unaware at this time of any actual misuse of any members' information."

Submission and photo by Jim

Like most netbooks with Intel processors, most Eee PC models rely on integrated graphics which are good enough for watching videos or rendering some basic games, but kind of stink if you want to play a Crysis or Call of Duty. Asus does package an NVIDIA 9300M graphics card with the Asus N10 laptop, but the company refused to call that laptop a netbook (even though it has the same screen and keyboard size as a netbook, as well as the same 1.6GHz Intel Atom CPU used in most of the company's netbooks).

Now it looks like Asus could be preparing an Eee PC netbook with a dedicated graphics card. If the rumored netbook is anything like the N10, Asus will offer users the ability to switch between dedicated and integrated graphics. You can use the lower power integrated graphics processor when battery life matters more than GPU performance. And when you want to blow up some aliens, you flip a switch and reboot your system.

No word on pricing, availability, or if this is actually going to happen or if it was just some guy at Asus mouthing off. But if it does come to pass, I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that Asus will charge more than $399 for an Eee PC with a fancy graphics card.

via Eee PC News

Post from: Liliputing

Of course, it is a compromise for those who expect it to replace a desktop PC or a high-end notebook. Performance-intensive applications like Photoshop will be painful; recent video games will be pathetic, should they even run at all.

Day-to-day work, however, ran smoothly. Multiple browser tabs with a handful of idle apps and iTunes chugging away didn't become a trudge. Its combination of a 1.6 GHz Atom CPU and a gig of RAM built up enough steam to handle the basics.

Other features include up to 16GB of flash storage, 3 USB ports, 100Mbit Ethernet, 802.11g and an 8.9" display set to 1024x600 pixels. It's about 10 inches long and 7 wide.

I've yet to use the MSI Wind, which I'm quite certain is the equal of this machine. But it's also a little larger, at least in the U.S., and it, like Asus' mainstays, lack something else the Dell has: style. It's come a long way from the dull design that used to characterize its output. While the Mini 9 is no better (or prettier) than the Mini-Note, HP's extras, like an ExpressCard slot and 802.11n, make it much more expensive. The Dell can be had for under $350, though you shouldn't get any computer with less than 1GB of RAM.

Moreover, the Mini-Note comes with Suse or Vista, both less appetizing than Dell's choice of Ubuntu or XP.

Hacking possibilities also abound with the Inspiron Mini 9. Getting OSX on it is reportedly not difficult, and it has an empty slot for a 3G Wireless adapter. Though it is disabled, it's easy to snap in a generic Novatel WWAN card and get your show on the road. Vodafone plans to offer Mini nines with cards (and 2-year service contracts) pre-installed.

Personally, I'd like it to be even smaller. Next to an EeePC900, which has the same-size screen and a dinkier keyboard, its swooping curves seem rather bulbous.On the other hand, it feels sturdier and somewhat better-made as a result.

One caveat is the keyboard layout: it doesn't have dedicated function keys, and the apostrophe/quote key is in an odd spot.

Later today, this machine gets mailed off, and I'm sad to see it go. Bought as a gift for my nephew and reviewed en passant, it almost stayed right where I wanted it: in my possession.

$429 as reviewed Mini Inspiron 9 [Dell]

If this is your first visit to my site, welcome. I hope you will take a few minutes to read a bit more about me and about how and why I live without credit cards. Now, today's post -

According to this article - some gas stations have stopped accepting credit cards! Why? From the article:

The National Retail Federation says gas prices point to the unfairness of the system: Gas stations are paying more in interchange fees because the price of gas has gone up, while the cost of processing credit or debit cards remains the same.

Credit card companies charge gas station owners (and all other merchants who accept credit cards) an interchange fee - usually about 2% - each and every time someone uses a credit card to purchase gas. Apparently, gas station owners have grown tired of sending credit card companies a cut of each sale - and some have gone to a cash only' policy.

Regardless of whether or not you agree with these changes, it might be time to start carrying a little more cash around, just in case you find yourself in an area where there aren't any gas stations that accept credit cards. (There are also interchange fees associated with the use of debit cards. I'll assume that a station that has stopped accepting credit cards has also stopped accepting debit cards, as well.)

For those, like me, who live in rural areas, this could be a very big deal. In our small town, there are only four or five places to buy gasoline. Personally, I use my debit card for most gasoline purchases, but I'm going to start adding a bit more cash to my Gasoline' envelope. (For those of you unfamiliar with the envelope system - a great system for managing your cash - I have created a video detailing what it is and how to use it.)

I'm sure that most stations will continue to accept credit cards. But, those who are traveling with children - or going out of town to unfamiliar places - you might consider keeping a few more greenbacks on hand, just in case.

Side Note: While I found this article very interesting, in my own experience, I've found that several gas stations appear to be encouraging the use of credit cards and discouraging the use of cash. Many now require that users pay at the pump' or prepay inside' when using cash. So, while the article is interesting, I'd really love to hear from my readers. Have you experienced this in your area? Are gas stations where you live going to a cash only' policy. And, if so, how has (or will) this affect you?

Back in the good ole' days, all of the best ideas first came from the online adult industry and then made their way into mainstream applications. Not the case anymore. The latest Web 2.0 adult site is definitely not safe for work, but definitely a hilarious (some of you might say novel) concept.

AdultStumble, as the title suggests, is StumbleUpon for adult content. Unlike competitor StumblePorn, no download is required - just make some selections about your preferences and whether you'd like to see photos or videos and AdultStumble navigates you randomly through more than 100,000 adult web sites. The business model here is obvious: AdultStumble will undoubtedly earn affiliate revenue if you're a big enough skeeve to lay down your credit card for premium content on any of these sites.

I won't be the least bit surprised to see AdultStumble take off. YouPorn, which essentially copied the YouTube model but for adult content, is now one of the most popular web sites in the world, attracting 3.5 million visits in the US alone last month according to Compete.

So, now you know. I'm going to go take a cold shower and pray my mother isn't reading Mashable today

Famous for the May Report, Chicago's early version of Valleywag, Ron's seen start ups and buy outs - and always there with his tape recorder to capture it all. I've gotten to know Ron well over the years and decided to put together this montage of his recent appearance at last week's Tech Cocktail conference. I, along with another gal weren't too impressed with Ron's lewd comments at the mixer later that night. Ron's since formally apologized via his May Report, but that doesn't give anyone the excuse to mention the size of a woman's breast at various stages of a day.

Ron asked Gary Vaynerchuk a few questions, and in eloquent @GaryVee fashion, Gary taught Ron a lesson or two about marketing. This, in turn, converted Ron into a Gary fan...and convincing Ron to be a fan of anyone is difficult:).

At the evening event, Ron told me 'You're a tough cookie.' I suppose so. I sense a hint of Don Rickles in Ron...the way he makes fun of folks is reminiscent of old vaudevillian shtick. I see it, I get it.

By the way, there's nothing wrong with giving people the chance to pronounce your name correctly, at least one time, before they continue talking to you:) If the bottom video doesn't load, use this link

See you soon, Ron!

• Blogging - keep a company blog updated with latest news and status updates
• Get Satisfaction - a place for your customers to express their opinion and help you identify bugs. A Suggestion Box 2.0
• Easy access to contact information - let customers know that they can always call, email or mail in their issues, never hide your number
• Respond to complains quickly - never go silent.
• Never deny the obvious - its much better PR to admit your mistakes than to actively deny they exist.
  

Read on as I touch on some of the points above.

Blogging - The Ultimate Tool to Connect With Your Users

A blog serves a million functions for your company from keeping the customers updated with the latest and greatest happenings to custom feeds for journalists, to engaging the conversation with your users. First thing to remember is to always keep posting, because a "dead" blog is sometimes indicative of the company losing interest in updating the users. If you suffer from planned or unplanned outages of your service - never host your blog on the same server farm as your current website. A lot of times if the site is down, the blog is the first place people look for an update and if you host your blog on the same server as your site which happens to be down, your blog will be down as well.

To start a blog you can take a look at one of our tutorials in the Video Tutorials section. There are two types of blogging platforms out there: a hosted solution such as WordPress.com, Typepad or Blogger and host-it-yourself packages. If you would rather have complete control over your content and not rely on anyone else for that service, you should check out WordPress.org, Movable Type or even our own blogging platform, Post Zinger (which, by the way, is a clear winner in blogging/podcasting space). Some hosting providers such as BlueHost (disclosure: it's our affiliate link) allow you to very quickly install these platforms.

In case you are still not sold on having a blog, keep in mind that they all come with some type of RSS Feed which helps high traffic blog authors to keep tabs on you, and when they see a new interesting feature or a sour customer turned happy they will cover, it bringing the ever important positive coverage of your service. Your blog also allows you to keep the conversation on the site, where you can control it, and while deleting comments and doing weird things will quickly get you very bad rep, you at least have a chance to respond quickly to issues.

If you think you need to be a technical person, that's not true, there are a ton of tutorials out there and it's generally a very low barrier of entry to get started. Pretty much anyone can get their own blog in a matter of minutes and have it customized with your website's look and feel in a matter of days, if not hours. There are always people that can set it for you, adding the benefit of their knowledge in the area.

Got Satisfaction?

Get Satisfaction is an up and coming social media feedback site. A lot of start ups use it as a de facto destination for getting positive and negative feedback about their services. It can be used as a tool to report bugs, suggest new features or complain about your product's usability. It is extremely useful as a feedback tool because the people who write are usually very passionate about your products. I have seen people write great suggestions, awesome bug reports and generally very articulate reviews. It can backfire however - if the company isn't responsive or has terrible customer service through general channels, it will have issues appealing to the social crowd. Case in point: Comcast. They try, they really do, and in 4 years of having the service I personally had no issues, no problems with customer service, always responsive, always helpful. Their corporate image, however, has suffered, from the lies about filtering, to terrible overcharging and deceitful pricing models, they leave a foul taste in customers' mouths. Also, someone over there really needs to fix their dot com site, probably eliminate it all together.

Setting up Satisfaction is pretty straight forward, first you create a company if it does not yet exist, then you claim it through ether email or phone confirmation. It takes a few days but once you are up and running, it is very simple to manage your company and products, add additional reps and moderate the conversations.

Denial is Not An Answer - Do Not Try to Fool Customers

If you have a problem with your service - be it an unfairly treated customer, a site that is constantly down, or shipping delays on a product launch - acknowledge them, do not let complaining customers escalate it and attract negative attention. People enjoy ganging up businesses to stand up for the little guy, be it vocal (through Internet or otherwise) or action driven protest (by unsubscribing, switching services, bad mouthing, etc). Blogs like The Consumerist enjoy writing about these incidents and sometimes whole communities dedicated to complaining spring up in protest. Timing is also everything, and in 9 out of 10 times you will have to make a public response to a lot of these complains, so it's better to be proactive and responsive before you generate enough bad press to fill a wall. Responding quickly and honestly is the key. This is where Brand Monitoring comes into play, where you are able to notice these incidents quickly, before they manifest themselves into PR disasters. From Twitter to Google Blog Search, companies that pay attention are the ones that end up benefiting from "Happy Customer" stories and positive word of mouth marketing.

Finally, have an easy way to contact you company, a number on every page or at least a clear link to the contact page, responsive service centers and acknowledging emails will go a long way. Zappos has their customer number on every page, they respond to emails extremely quickly and show care and compassion - clearly the reason for being so successful in online shoe selling business.

Try some of these out or, if you already use these methods successfully, let us know in the comments how they are working out for you!

Taking part in Nintendo DS homebrew isn't nearly as maddening as the PSP homebrew scene, which still requires Job-like patience and the ability to compile and translate a thousand fragments of Internet-scattered instructions from a vast armada of nigh-illiterate Russian teenagers into a hacked PSP. Unlike a PSP, which requires custom firmware, all a Nintendo DS requires is a flash card. But with a hundred different no-name Chinese manufacturers vying for your money when they're not changing their names or going out of business, it can be hard to get a strong recommendation on exactly which flash card to buy and what you're getting yourself into.

Over at DS Fanboy, they've tried to take some confusion out of the equation with a homebrew guide that gives a summary and run-down of the perks and cons of the various flash cards on the market. The days of running DS homebrew off of a GBA flash cart are long over, thankfully: all of the current flash cards fit into the DS' Slot 1 and most of them seem to allow you to upgrade the storage by plugging in microSD cards.

As for me, I have a DS-X. Two months ago, I wouldn't have recommended it, since a year had passed since the last firmware update, despite customer's constant complaints and the fact that modern commercial DS games could no longer be played on the card due to some Nintendo changing the standard ARM7 code. They finally fixed it, though, so I'll cautiously endorse it: it's a neat card in that you can simply plug a standard USB cable into the card and mount it as a portable hard drive on your computer (most other cards require you to have a flash card reader / writer). Installing a program to it is as simple as copying it to the file. It even continues to work after I dropped it first in a cup of tea and then my toilet (don't ask). But keep in mind before you drop your money that their support is terrible, bordering on nonexistent.

DS Fanboy's (semi) ultimate homebrew guide [DS Fanboy]

On Sunday, Fred Wilson wrote on his blog "A VC":

"The other day I saw my oldest daughter get an invite to a party on Facebook, she accepted it, and then went to look at her accepted invite page. It was her social calendar, every party she plans to attend in the next two months is there. She noticed she had another event that night and then switched her acceptance to tentative. She uses Facebook the way I use Outlook."

Although the comment was in the context of a data portability discussion, there was something about this particular excerpt that was striking. Facebook as Outlook. You've heard older corporate execs describing how they "live in Outlook." Well, it's the same with the young digital natives - they just live in Facebook instead. And whether it's a walled garden or not, it doesn't matter to them - all the data they care about is flowing into Facebook. Who cares if it flows back out?

So what makes Facebook so invaluable to them? On a mission to find out, we turned to Twitter of course. But since Twitter's crowd is early adopters, we needed to find what the college kids thought, too. The combined answers gave us our big list (below).

How to Make Facebook Useful: Part I - Use Facebook's Features

Use Facebook Email: Here's an answer that speaks profoundly to the generation gap. For some, Facebook email isn't useful at all, while for others, it's one of the most important features. For even some of the hip early adopters, Facebook messaging (Facebook email) is thought to be this almost inconvenient feature: why should I go to Facebook to read that email? Why can't you just EMAIL me or send me a tweet? The issue is that it's all about what network you live in. For some it's an email inbox, for some it's Twitter, and for others it's Facebook.

For true Facebook'ers, though, real email is for business only. Using Facebook (and MySpace) is how you talk to your friends. (The frightening implications of what this means to an I.T. department that is charged with email archiving for compliance purposes and yet doesn't block Facebook.com is a subject for another article!)

"If I'm talking to any friends it's through a social network," said Asheem Badshah, a teenaged president of Scriptovia.com. "For me even IM died, and was replaced by text messaging. Facebook will replace e-mail for communicating with certain people." (excerpted from CNet)

Use Facebook Events: You don't need an online calendar to plan your schedule - Facebook has an Events app built-in. Here you can manage your events, see your friends' events, and even see when people's birthdays are. Your use of this feature is another telltale sign of which generation of Facebook users you fit into.

Block App Spam: Facebook finally added the "Block Application" option. Whew!

Go Mobile: With this application, you can use Facebook when you're on the go. You can upload photos and notes from your camera phone (mobile@facebook.com) straight to Facebook. You can also receive and reply to Facebook messages, pokes and Wall posts using text messages, or use your phone's mobile browser at m.facebook.com. To actually use the app, activate your phone here. Don't forget to also add Facebook Video so you can also send in your mobile videos to video@facebook.com, too.

How to Make Facebook Useful: Part II - Get Things Done

If you're really going to take advantage of all Facebook can do for you, then you have to find a way to do everything you need to do right in Facebook. Some of these tools (below) can help:

Check eBay: A great example of how the info you need flows into Facebook, the eBay app lets you check on your eBay auctions...and, in true social spirit, those of your friends as well. You can even just comment on auctions without even needing an eBay account.

Use Paypal: Just bought something on eBay? Might as well add Paypal too.

Upload Your Resume: Use an app like Professional Profile to post your resume on Facebook. It also lets you sync your LinkedIn profile and recommendations. There are also official apps from LinkedIn: LinkedIn Contacts and My Linked Profile, too.

Create a Business Card: The business cards app helps you create a custom business card that can be attached to your Facebook messages. (It's email signatures 2.0!)

Use Zoho: Access all your Zoho Office files in Facebook for free. (An unofficial app exists for Google Docs).

Share Files: Who needs Pownce when you can share files in Facebook? Add an app like Box.net or DivShare to do so.

Use Blackboard: Ugh. We know you don't want to, but you kind of have to, so you may as well add Blackboard Sync to Facebook. (Online assignment system for college students).

Make a To-Do List: Some people just love lists. Task Manager can help you GTD.

Use a Calendar: Need a more traditional calendar app? Try this one from 30Boxes, or one of these unofficial Google Calendar apps. Or you could just sync Facebook with any other calendar, both online and off, with fbCal.

How to Make Facebook Useful: Part III - Bring Web 2.0/Social Tools Into Facebook:

No need to leave the comfort of Facebook's walls to use the social web - you can just pull the social web into Facebook. Some of the most popular Web 2.0 applications are available as Facebook apps.

Use FriendFeed: No need to go without your daily fix of lifestreaming. The early adopter crowd loves this one.

Use Flickr: Take your pick from 100 applications for using flickr on Facebook...or just use the official one.

Use Twitter: Post to Twitter and make your latest tweet your Facebook status.

Use Upcoming: Plan your events via Upcoming and see events taking place in your area, too.

Get Movie Recommendations: Get movies reviews via Flixster so you know whether to rent that flick or see it in the theaters...or not.

Get Restaurant Recommendations: Use Bizzlr to get recommendations for where to eat. (our coverage)

Share Books/Book Reviews: Depending on personal preference, you may like Shelfari, Visual Bookshelf, Goodreads, or Bookshare.

Find People: Use Spock's people search app to find anyone, anywhere.

Link to Other Profiles: With As Seen On, you can link your Facebook profile to other social media profiles.

How to Make Facebook Useful: Part IV - Bonus Content!

Make Firefox Better: You can find great add-ons for Firefox with Rock Your Firefox.

Search the Web & Share: Think Microsoft should put Live Search in Facebook? They just did.

Reading the Daily News Facebook-Style: No need to go off-site to get the latest news - customize your own morning paper with Zine.

And More!: Check out our series from last July to get ideas for other Facebook apps for Work, Utilities, and Media.

(Special thanks to FriendFeed user Susan Beebe who supplied a lot of great suggestions!)

Here's how I did it. First, I found the condominium that I wanted to rent. I emailed the property management company and asked if I could pay with a check. They assured me that I could, but that I would need to reserve the room with a credit card - just in case there were any damages. So, I reserved the room with a credit card, e-signed my contract, and dropped a check in the mail.

(As a side note, I did not cancel my credit cards for situations exactly like this one. As an alternative to my credit card, I could have reserved the room with my debit card.)

Google AdWords has just made a major announcement: they are launching Google TV Ads, an all-digital system that lets you place your ads into TV program. The service has been available as a trial program for over a year now, and now Google has opened it up for everyone.

Using TV Ads is almost as easy as using Google AdWords: you do it all from a web interface in a couple of simple steps. First, you choose your target audience; then, you choose the networks, dayparts, and specific programs you want your ad to run on. Finally, you choose the cost-per-thousand impressions you're willing to pay; and you actually pay after your ad airs on TV.

Of course, to place an ad on TV; you first need to have a TV ad; however, Google's Ad Creation Marketplace provides you with the tools to connect with pros who will provide scripting, copywriting, editing, production and voiceovers for your ad.

There's a sweet deal thrown into the mix, too; for a limited time, Google will cover the cost of creating your TV ad through the marketplace up to $2000. Read the fine print, though; there's no free lunch. Here's an excerpt:

Promotional credit valid only for Google TV Ads customers with active AdWords accounts who have created and successfully run a Google TV Ads campaign. Ad must air on TV through Google TV Ads by June 30, 2008. Advertisers will be charged for TV advertising and receive the promotional credit for the amount of the cost of creative - up to $2,000 - after the campaign has been active for at least 4 weeks with a minimum average budget of $2,000 per week.

To understand how huge this is, try and set up a TV ad campaign through any other means. Yup, it's way more complicated than what I've just described. Google now provides anyone with a credit card and an internet connection with the ability to create a television commercial and monitor the success of their campaign using a simple online tool. Touche!

As far as the effectiveness of Google TV Ads compared to other ways of setting up TV commercials, I guess it will be a lot like Google AdSense; there are better options out there, but it's available to everyone and therein lies its appeal.

Check out a demo for Google TV Ads here. Screenshots below.

---
Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:

Google Desktop Gadgets for Your Startpage
Google AdSense on Your Mobile Websites
Google Talk Turns Into a Chat Widget
Google Voluntarily Taking Your Analytics Data
Google Maps Street View
Zoho Writer Goes Offline with Google Gears
Google Maps Gets Business Reviews

In this video, we go over the packaging, basic functions of the device, discuss its wireless features, have a look at the fabulous (dare I say revolutionary?) electronic ink screen, and generally check out the new gadget.

Camera help and cameo appearances by my wife Rachel and our son Gabe. You can download the higher quality original Quicktime movie file (about 6 minutes, 72MB), or get a code snippet to embed/share this video on your own site by clicking the little connect the dots icon in the player above.

I'll be posting more thoughts as I use the Kindle more (I've had it less than 24 hours), but the verdict so far is: I LOVE this thing! I only wish I hadn't had to wait so long for Amazon to get them back in stock.

You can find out more about the Kindle, browse the books, newspapers, and magazines available for it, and generally get more information at Amazon's Kindle page (affiliate link - if you decide to buy one, and use that link, I get a small percentage, which helps to pay for my gadget buying habit).

Post a comment or message me on Twitter if you have any questions, and stay tuned for a lot more Kindle information in the days and weeks to come!

Update: There's a LOT of great discussion going on down in the comments for this post. I've been typing like mad, answering questions, so make sure you have a look if you're interested in what book formats the Kindle can support, what you can use the SD card for, what I think of the DRM on the Kindle, how the design feels in my hands how to use the Kindle to read RSS feeds for free, and more!

The present offer is quite restrictive: they're doing this for the first 4,500 customers only, and only once per customer, and you need to fly in the next two months. But if it proves popular, and if their credit card company starts making growling noises, expect to see much more along these lines in future. (I suspect one reason for the restrictions is that the airlines have promised the credit-card companies that the cost of buying a plane ticket will not be contingent on the means of payment. But that promise has gone out the window for low-cost airlines in Europe, and it might not last forever in the US, either.)

Should consumers take JetBlue up on its offer? As a rule, no. The insurance you get by paying with a credit card is valuable; PayPal, debit cards, and the like are essentially cash, and come with no insurance at all. $20 cashback is attractive, and it's hard to put a dollar value on insurance, but it's definitely worth knowing what you're giving up when you take that route.

Notably, the bill would prohibit a third party from tracking information from websites when it does not have a contractual relationship with the website owner. This provision could have major implications for the companies described above that contract with Internet Service Providers to monitor surfing activity across all websites a consumer visits.

Somebody at Pure Digital must have sat through countless meetings, steadfastly refusing to cede any ground to the forces of feature creep.

And here's all the stuff it can't do:

The screen is tiny (1.5 inches) and doesn't swing out for self-portraits. You can't snap still photos. There are no tapes or discs, so you must offload the videos to a computer when the memory is full (30 or 60 minutes of footage, depending on whether you buy the $150 or $180 model). There are no menus, no settings, no video light, no optical viewfinder, no special effects, no headphone jack, no high definition, no lens cap, no memory card. And there's no optical zoom only a 2X digital zoom that blows up and degrades the picture. Ouch.

And the stuff it can:

Instead, the Flip has been reduced to the purest essence of video capture. You turn it on, and it's ready to start filming in two seconds. You press the red button once to record (press hard it's a little balky) and once to stop. You press Play to review the video, and the Trash button to delete a clip.

Pogue says the secret is that it just simply works. It's always ready, it's always trustworthy, it's always with you. The quality isn't the sell, the convenience and foolproofery is. You can't make a mistake, you can't do anything wrong. Its purpose is pure to the core: Shoot quick videos without thinking about it.

I love it. Kudos to Pure Digital for having the discipline to make a camcorder for the rest of us.

[Hat tip to Chris for the link]

I've been at my new desk for a few hours, long enough to get settled in, get things set up the way I want them, and unpack my meager two boxes worth of belongings (the rest of my bulky audio/video gear was stored at home until I have a secure place for it here).

So far, here's what it think: It's awesome. Taking some getting used to. The increased light, color, and cool factor are much appreciated. I've already availed myself of the free soda fountain and donuts. Haven't moved around to try to work in one of the open community spaces, mostly because I really like my new cube. I'm at the end of a row, facing a wall of windows that overlooks a really nice enclosed courtyard. It's a north-facing window, so there's shouldn't be too much direct light/heat. We'll see as summer rolls around. I requested and got a larger tower filing cabinet to store my A/V gear. They've got an onsite team of red hats to address any issues that pop up (no one expected this to go perfectly). It's been really smooth, and I feel really lucky to be a part of this pilot program.

Because I'm on the end of a row, and exposed, a dozen or so people have come over and leaned in to my cube to say Hi. It's nice to have people drop in and visit, but if that volume keeps up, it's going to get annoying. I think it will drop off as the novelty of the whole area wears off. If not, I'll have to put up a sign warning not to poke/feed/disturb the animals in the cages.

Here are a few more pictures to give you an idea of what it's like now that we're actually living here. I've added them to my existing Intel JF1 New Offices photoset on Flickr, so you can browse there for some additional peeks at life here.

My new cube, mostly set up the way I want it:

They've already gotten rid of the supply of paper cups near the free soda/coffee machines. Apparently people from other areas of the campus were coming over and helping themselves. Or something. So now, we've all been issued an official mug/cup to be used. *sigh* Yeah, this is still Intel all right.

Here's the neighborhood the Intel Software Network team lives in (named Pinot Noir - all the neighborhoods are named after varieties of Oregon grapes ):

And here's Aaron taking advantage of the power height adjustable desks to work standing up. I've seen more than a few people trying this - interesting. I won't be doing it - I'm too lazy, and I LIKE to sit down and work.

The living room area wasn't as busy and crowded as I thought it would be on opening day.

And finally, here's the little card-shaped USB flash drive (1GB) that was in everyone's welcome bag, which has a bundle of fun software, including Google Earth, Picasa, some freeware games, and, notably, a copy of FeedDemon (which recently went freeware) and an OPML file of Intel feeds to subscribe to. Could it be that Intel is starting to get it regarding feeds? Oh, and in case you were wondering, like I was, if the whole flash drive is contained within the little flippy part, it's not. I pulled the flippy part out, and along came some wires that were kind of important.

So that's it - our new home! I'll probably do a video tour soon, to give you an idea of how the whole place ties together. And I haven't gone to the lobby for some Guitar Hero action yet, either, which is on my agenda. Ooh, that reminds me! I need to bring in Super Smash Bros Brawl for the Wii and get some people playing that. Good times!

Between reruns of Sports Center and The Andy Griffith Show, I spent a few hours watching a couple of television shopping networks'.

Now, I'm hooked. Not on the products - but on the way that the products are presented and promoted.

Here's what I have learned -

Every product was presented as a 'special value' or amazing deal'.

As each host introduced a new product, a little box, with product details, would appear on the left-hand side of the screen. And, inevitably, the text would state - 'special value' or first time offer' or something similar.

Each product was promoted by a product specific host' and a product-specific guest'.

It was amazing. As a new product was introduced, a special guest' would appear to talk about and promote the product. The host and the guest would interact and exclaim how 'special' or nice' or breathtaking' or unique' each product was.

Callers would call in - and want to talk to the host, like they were old friends.

Callers called in and spoke to either the host or the guest, or both. And, inevitably, the caller would say something nice - really nice - about the PERSON to whom they were talking. Yes, the caller would mention the product - and how they loved it' - but, the key to the whole call in' segment appeared to be the callers' desires to talk to the various hosts. It was amazing.

Products were always available at a special price' or via flex pay'.

No matter what the product was - a set of pillow cases, a pair of earrings, a power tool - the host would mention that it was on 'sale'. And, sure enough, on the graphic, the original price' would have a 'strike through' and the value price' would be highlighted. On top of that, most items were available on flex pay' - where they charge your credit card for 1/2 or 1/3 of the payment, two or three months in a row. Again, callers loved! this feature - and many remarked how easy this made it for me to purchase'.

The setting for each product was custom-designed to evoke a specific mood and reaction.

I noticed, for instance, that when they sold a particular toilet cleaning product, the entire 'stage' became a well-lit, beautifully decorated bathroom. When they were selling clothing, each item was shown on a different size model. In fact, plus size' models were featured. The entire production evoked a sense of connection' between the customer and the product.

Each host had her / his own way of promoting the product, but all of them knew how to steer the conversation back to the wonderful product'.

Again, no matter what the guest' or caller' might say, the host had an uncanny ability to promote the product. Over and over and over again, the product was my favorite' or the third one I've owned' or my mom's perfect gift'. Not only did they sell the product, they sold their love' for the product.

Every item was almost sold out' or available in limited supply'.

No matter the item, the color, the size, or the quantity - Near the end of each segment, it would be nearly sold out'. And, as the host talked to the producer' - she'd be informed that those who called right now' could be assured that the product would be available, but they needed to call right now'.

Some thoughts -

I have never purchased anything from a home shopping network'.

I find it fascinating (perplexing, and a bit sad) that the callers seemed to consider the hosts to be their friends'.

I wish that I could promote debt reduction' with the same fervor that these folks promote products'.

I find it odd that after years of selling products via television, these networks still run out' of items to sell.

Surely, they really are running out? Right? They wouldn't, you know, lie to us? Would they?

Put the card away, be thankful for the stuff you already own, and call your real friends -

Tell THEM how wonderful THEY are.

You'll save money, you won't have to make payments, and you'll be talking to someone who really wants to hear from YOU!

And, late at night, when you can't sleep, come back here and read through the No Credit Needed archives!

But, hurry!

Supplies are limited!

Apple held one of their flashy dog-and-pony shows (er, press conferences) this morning to bring us all up to date on the latest developments for the iPhone. As expected, the announcements were split between discussing enterprise support and showing off the coming iPhone SDK. The beta releases of these things are going out to developers today, but if you're an iPhone user, don't get too excited: customers will see the new features as part of a software update in June (which, based on Apple's track record, probably means June 30).

On the enterprise side, the news was as much about Microsoft as about Apple. Though they had a laundry list of features their enterprise customers were demanding (push email, Cisco VPN compatibility, enforced security policies, remote data wipe, and more), it's been clear to outside observers that the Blackberry has had a huge advantage over the iPhone in corporate settings simply due to Microsoft Exchange support. Well, no more. In addition to implementing all the other enterprise wishlist features, the next version of the iPhone software will include ActiveSync technology so it can talk directly to an Exchange server.

Of course, Apple wasn't shy about pointing out the superiority of this direct communication to the old-fashioned method of using a proxy server to grab mail from Exchange and shove it out to the device. If there was anyone who doubted that Apple is gunning directly for RIM's business, this part of the presentation (with its dig at reduced reliability of systems with more moving parts) should convince them.

On the software development front, Apple is delivering a version of XCode that's iPhone-aware (the same tools they use to build iPhone software in house). That includes getting the right APIs into XCode, offering remote debugging and a simulator, and putting together specialized instruments for debugging and performance-tuning iPhone applications. While this may look revolutionary to some Apple-centric developers, to be fair Windows Mobile developers have had all of that for their platform for years. What they don't have, of course, is a way to target the iPhone.

As you'd expect, this development environment is productive, even for folks who don't already know XCode development. Demo'd code - all written in two weeks or less - included image processing, a couple of games (including a version of EA's unreleased Spore), a client for Salesforce, AIM for the iPhone (can native Twitter be far behind?), and a version of Epocrates (a medical software package that's currently available for Windows Mobile, Palm, and Blackberry).

The software tools are coupled with the App Store, a new software distribution platform that will put a catalog of installable applications directly in front of every iPhone user, complete with things like featured applications and popularity rankings. This will be the exclusive way to distribute applications, and as a developer you'll pay Apple 30% of your sales price off the top to be included. On the other hand, for that 30% they run the store and handle credit card processing. The 30% cut holds even if your price is free - that is, there's no charge to distribute free applications via the App Store. Apple will also exercise some editorial control: no porn, nothing malicious, and bandwidth hogs - a codeword for no VOIP over the ell networks.

Developers can download the SDK for free, but to get into the distribution program, or to run applications on a real device instead of a simulator, you need to pay $99. But there's a potential way to recoup that money: venture firm KPCB is putting together a $100 million iFund for firms building iPhone software.

So, what's in this for web workers? If you get your email via Exchange, the iPhone will become a much more attractive device in about four months. For everyone else, it's up to the horde of developers to take that SDK and build compelling applications. (And there's definitely a horde: KPCB's web site crashed moments after the iFund was revealed). Even developers who don't want to chase the VC money will find the cost of entry to the iPhone platform extraordinarily low, compared to programming for other devices in the same class.The most important long-term effect of today's announcements is likely to be the establishment of the iPhone as a credible platform for open development.

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Here's are a few of the things we've implemented so far:

Shorter work weeks

Last summer we experimented with 4-day work weeks. People should enjoy the weather in the summer. We found that just about the same amount of work gets done in four days vs. five days.

So if that's the case we could either push everyone to work harder during those five days or we could just skip one of those days. We decided to skip one of those days.

So recently we've instituted a four-day work week as standard. We take Fridays off. We're around for emergencies, and we still do customer service/support on Fridays, but other than that work is not required on Fridays.

Three-day weekends mean people come back extra refreshed on Monday. Three-day weekends mean people come back happier on Monday. Three-day weekends mean people actually work harder and more efficiently during the four-day work week.

Funding people's passions

We decided that 37signals would help people pay for their passions, interests, or other curiosities. We want our people to experience new things, discover new hobbies, and generally be interesting people.

For example, Mark has recently taken up flight lessons. 37signals is helping him pay for those. If someone wants to take cooking lessons, we'll help pay for those. If someone wants to take a woodworking class, we'll help pay for that.

Part of the deal is that if 37signals helps you pay, you have to share what you've learned with everyone. Not just everyone at 37signals, but everyone who reads our blog. So expect to see some blog posts about these experiences.

Discretionary spending accounts

We're in the process of giving everyone at 37signals a credit card. If you want a book or some software or you want to go to a conference, it's on us. We just ask people to be reasonable with their spending.

If there's a problem, we'll let the person know. We'd rather trust people to make reasonable spending decisions than assume people will abuse the privilege by default.

We'll post updates if we have them

The ideas above are active experiments. We'll report back if we learn anything good or bad about what we're doing and how it's working.

The site is in the final week of private beta. To register, you still need an invitation code. The company asked me not to publish it, but it's OK if I distribute by request via email. Send a note to info@netbanker with "SmartyPig" in the subject line. Or simply wait until after this weekend when the site goes into public beta.

How it works:

1. Users create savings accounts at the site. Deposits are held at West Bank, a Des Moines, IA- based financial institution with $1.3 billion in assets. Funding is through ACH (electronic) transfers from outside bank accounts. SmartyPig currently pays a high, 4.3% APY on deposits.

2. After the account is established, users are encouraged to create savings goals funded through automatic monthly ACH transfers until the goal is met.

3. Now here is where SmartyPig diverges from a typical bank account. The savings goals can be made public or kept private. Public goals can be funded in part, or entirely, by outside contributors. Think of grandma and grandpa contributing birthday money to help junior buy a new bike. Contributions are funded through credit card charges with a maximum charge of $500 and a per transaction processing fee of $4.95. To make sure grandma's $50 doesn't go to a Mario game, the money cannot be withdrawn until the savings goal is met (or canceled by the primary account holder).

4. After goals have been met, the user can elect to take the funds out in the form of a MasterCard debit card or a gift card from a retail partner such as Amazon.com. Participating retailers add a up to 5% bonus to the savings goal so that $1000 saved for the plasma TV is worth $1,050 if redeemed via Amazon gift card. That's a great added incentive to use the service.

Gift Cards
SmartyPig also sells gift cards that can be redeemed towards new or existing savings goals. These cards, issued in denominations of $25 to $500, are meant to be given as gifts or employee incentives. They cannot be redeemed outside the SmartyPig system. Physical card are produced and delivered for a processing fee of $4.95 plus delivery fees of $5.95 or more. Or consumers can deliver a virtual card through email to eliminate the delivery charge (but the $4.95 processing fee remains the same).

Summary of Fees

• Public contributions: $4.95 flat processing fee for each contribution made by an outside contributor. Contributions can be from $25 to $500 and are funded via credit card.
• Gift cards: Gift cards incur a $4.95 processing fee and an optional $5.95 shipping fee. The shipping fee can be avoided if a virtual gift card is chosen which is fulfilled via email.

Analysis
Although, not everyone is going to want to go through the extra steps to save this way, we are impressed with SmartyPig and are awarding it our first OBR Best of the Web award for 2008 (see note 1). We like how it's part gift registry, part savings account, and potentially a big help in getting users in the habit of saving for larger goals. The look-and-feel is very Web 2.0 and should resonate with teens and twenty-somethings.

There are a few rough edges that need better explanation and/or minor redesign. For instance, there is no way to simply add funds to a savings account without first setting up an automatic funding plan. But the site isn't even officially launched yet, so these issues should be ironed out during the beta period.

The processing fee of $4.95 per transaction is a bit on the high side. One could argue that it's worth price of a triple mocha for the convenience and benefits of the savings account. But for smaller deposits of $50 to $100, it's a pretty high percentage of the overall deposit.

It would be nice if the company could lower the fee, perhaps by creating an ACH funding option. Another way to reduce costs is to lower the 4.3% APR. I'm not sure the savers attracted to this account really need that high of a rate. A lower interest rate combined with lower fees might make the service more palatable overall.

The company may have to tweak its business model going forward. But the real lesson here is that savings accounts can be made stickier with automation and incentives. Leave it to the Iowans to show us the way (note 3).

Screenshots

1. The main account screen: I set up a savings account for my son. Then set a savings goal of $300 for a new bike. SmartyPig requires that the savings goal be funded in equal monthly withdrawals from the linked checking. It would be helpful if you could opt out of the automated savings plan so that the savings goal could be funded manually.

2. Public goals: If you opted to make your savings goal public, anyone can find it by searching via email address under the "Friends' Goals" tab on the top (you can see this one by searching for jim@netbanker.com).

Users can publicize their goals with a widget (see inset, and link at bottom of screen above) or by sending email to friends.

After making a contribution, the following screen is displayed.

Note:

1. Online Banking Report (OBR) Best of the Web awards are given for products that "raise the bar" in online financial services, usually for pioneering a new feature. Recent winners are covered here. Five awards were been handed out in 2007: two for Wesabe, and one each for Jwaala, Buxfer and Obopay. In the past 10 years, 67 companies have won the award.

2. Full disclosure: I was born and raised in Iowa and my brother lives within a few miles of the SmartyPig world headquarters.

Asus EEE PC, originally uploaded by Josh Bancroft.

There's a new Intel marketing blog launching next week. I'll post a link when it's ready, but I've been working with the folks doing it, trying to help them do it right - get other bloggers in the community involved, get stuff into the hands of bloggers to use and live with, so they can write real opinions of it, rather than just doing it the standard marketing way. Good stuff.

Anyway, as part of these activities, I've got an Asus Eee PC on loan for a week or two to play with. It's a very small laptop that runs Linux, has a 4GB SSD (solid state - no moving parts) hard drive, wireless, a webcam, an SD card slot for expansion, etc. I've been on the fence about actually buying one of these for myself, since they're so popular (people who have them almost universally love them), and cheap, too (the 4GB model with webcam is under $400).

I've only had it for an hour or so, but it's already caused quite a stir in my cube neighborhood. As soon as I showed it to someone, people materialized out of thin air to come check it out. We were all geeking out, drooling, plugging it into and external monitor (which it handles beautifully), and putting it through its paces. Testing YouTube videos, web browsing, the web cam, Skype, etc. It was a moment of concentrated collective geek joy, and soon, we were all pretty much convinced that we needed one for our own. One guy even started shopping for one, right then and there.

So, it's going to be a fun weekend. I'll be putting the Eee PC through it's paces, seeing where it works well and where it doesn't. It's not a laptop replacement, but it's far more capable than, say, my iPhone, so it will be interesting to see how it fits into my gadget lifestyle.

Of course, I'll be taking photos, maybe even video, testing out the WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor), seeing how my 4 year old daughter Emma likes it, etc. And I'll have more news about that new Intel marketing blog next week. Intel is making a big push around mobile devices like the Eee PC and MIDs, and I'm lucky enough to have a front row seat.

The best part is, they WANT me to blog about it all. Sometimes I feel like I lead a charmed life

Howcast is also announcing an $8 million series A financing, led by Tudor Investment Corp. In addition to their own site, they already have a Youtube channel (where they split advertising revenues with their former employer). The Howcast team also has signed distribution deals with Myspace, Verizon for its Vcast phones and FiOS TV, Joost, and ROO. JetBlue is the launch advertiser. Howcast faces competition from Expert Village, 5min, and Instructables (even though the latter uses step-by-step images more than video).

The site is launching with professionally-shot instructional videos on everything from How to Paint a Wall (see embed below) and How to Groom Your Cat to How to Get Laid. There is a familiar formula for each one: The Howcast graphic, an intro explaining what you'll need for the task at a hand, and step-by-step instructions explained in a voiceover. The video player on the site lets you jump to different chapters or steps, lets you zoom in for a better look, and provides the transcript as well. Viewers can add comments in the form of tips, warnings, and facts to each video. And the Flash-based site lets you browse the video directory on the left hand side while you are watching a video without interrupting it or going to a different page.

Audience participation in the creation of the videos starts with the ability to suggest video topics such as How to Do A Television Appearance, How to build a Sofa From Scratch, How to Make Tempura, or How to Fire a Nanny. The audience can then vote the best suggestions to the top in a Digg-like fashion.

Audience members can also look at upcoming scripts and improve them or write their own in a guided wiki portion of the site that follows the Howcast script template (introduction, instructions, tips, end with a fact). The script is then approved by Howcast, a voiceover is recorded, and Howcast farms out the production to young film school students and graduates. They get $50 for each video plus a 50/50 rev-share from any advertising. Anyone can also upload their own instructional videos to the site without going through this process.

The video ads are in the form of clickable overlays that pop up to take up the bottom part of the screen. Pre-roll, non-skipable ads are bad, in our opinion, says CEO Liebman, who originally joined Google through the acquisition of Applied Semantics and helped roll out AdSense. Howcast is starting with a $20 CPM rate card. The more targetable those ads become, the higher the rate should go. Each video is tagged by topic and each one has a visible script, making them highly searchable. A paint company might want to buy up spots in the How to Paint video, for instance, or even buy paid links in the list of necessary supplies that is part of the video. Can you say AdSense for video? Jason Liebman can.

Instructables

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Expert Village

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5min

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Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it's time for you to find a new Job2.0

Although the body will look exactly like the phone shown here, the internals are up for debate; GPS, 7-megapixel camera, 4GB internal memory, stereo speakers and Windows Mobile (or equivalent) operating system aren't out of the question. It even has two SIM card slots so you can keep your work and play in the same phone. Prices are variable, obviously, but they start at a quite reasonable $149 for a 3-megapixel version with Windows Mobile and a 3-inch VGA display. [zzzphone via Computerworld]

But why is American Express doing so badly, and dragging down the Dow so much? The proximate cause seems to be a downgrade by UBS analyst Eric Wasserstrom, who's worried about credit losses.

I can confirm that these might well be a problem. For the past few weeks, I've been annoyed by phone calls from American Express; when I answer them, I'm told by an automated voice that someone who may or may not have used my phone number in the past needs to call them back urgently. Today, I finally got around to calling the number given, to see if I could take my number off their list. And what did I find?

"Thank you for continuing to hold. Your call is very important to us and will be answered by the next available representative."

In the end, I was on hold for about four minutes before I started talking to a human. And this is the line that American Express devotes to people they desperately want to hear from, and who presumably owe them significant amounts of money.

The way I see it, one of two things is going on here. Either American Express has more or less given up on collecting its past-due credit-card loans, and is making only the most desultory attempts to reach out to its debtors, relying on automated phone messages and understaffed call centers. Alternatively, Amex really does care about reaching these people, but there are so many past-due debtors that the credit card issuer's systems have become overwhelmed.

Either way, I have sympathy with Eric Wasserstrom.