Foursquare has added photos inline with checkins in an update to its iPhone application Tuesday. The new version adds color to the activity stream and refreshes the look and feel of the app.

With the update, Foursquare for iPhone users will now see friends’ photos and checkins coupled together in the activity stream — just as they would on Foursquare.com.

Users can even select “here now” to view all the photos and shouts from friends at the same venue in a single stream. “Commenting on a friend’s night out? You’ll see all the other photos and comments as you’re composing your witty retort. Everything is in one place,” says Foursquare’s blog post.

The location-based social network — which added U.S. President Barack Obama as a celebrity user Monday — also retooled its iPhone application to make for a crisper and cleaner user experience. “There’s a new design scheme and a cleaned-up header, and, as has been frequently requested, bigger tap targets,” Foursquare says.

In early August, Foursquare gave its website a photo-facelift and started displaying images inline with checkins, foreshadowing Tuesday’s iPhone app release. Foursquare promises its Android and BlackBerry users that similar features are on the way for them as well.

Image courtesy of Flickr, steve

More About: foursquare, iphone app, Photos

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Foursquare has added photos inline with checkins in an update to its iPhone application Tuesday. The new version adds color to the activity stream and refreshes the look and feel of the app.

With the update, Foursquare for iPhone users will now see friends’ photos and checkins coupled together in the activity stream — just as they would on Foursquare.com.

Users can even select “here now” to view all the photos and shouts from friends at the same venue in a single stream. “Commenting on a friend’s night out? You’ll see all the other photos and comments as you’re composing your witty retort. Everything is in one place,” says Foursquare’s blog post.

The location-based social network — which added U.S. President Barack Obama as a celebrity user Monday — also retooled its iPhone application to make for a crisper and cleaner user experience. “There’s a new design scheme and a cleaned-up header, and, as has been frequently requested, bigger tap targets,” Foursquare says.

In early August, Foursquare gave its website a photo-facelift and started displaying images inline with checkins, foreshadowing Tuesday’s iPhone app release. Foursquare promises its Android and BlackBerry users that similar features are on the way for them as well.

Image courtesy of Flickr, steve

More About: foursquare, iphone app, Photos

For more Social Media coverage:

• Follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter
• Become a Fan on Facebook
• Subscribe to the Social Media channel
• Download our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad

Go to Source

Foursquare has added photos inline with checkins in an update to its iPhone application Tuesday. The new version adds color to the activity stream and refreshes the look and feel of the app.

With the update, Foursquare for iPhone users will now see friends’ photos and checkins coupled together in the activity stream — just as they would on Foursquare.com.

Users can even select “here now” to view all the photos and shouts from friends at the same venue in a single stream. “Commenting on a friend’s night out? You’ll see all the other photos and comments as you’re composing your witty retort. Everything is in one place,” says Foursquare’s blog post.

The location-based social network — which added U.S. President Barack Obama as a celebrity user Monday — also retooled its iPhone application to make for a crisper and cleaner user experience. “There’s a new design scheme and a cleaned-up header, and, as has been frequently requested, bigger tap targets,” Foursquare says.

In early August, Foursquare gave its website a photo-facelift and started displaying images inline with checkins, foreshadowing Tuesday’s iPhone app release. Foursquare promises its Android and BlackBerry users that similar features are on the way for them as well.

Image courtesy of Flickr, steve

More About: foursquare, iphone app, Photos

For more Social Media coverage:

• Follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter
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• Subscribe to the Social Media channel
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After receiving user backlash over privacy for its newly launch “social ads,” LinkedIn had announced changes to the ad formats.

LinkedIn introduced its new social ad formats in June — the Facebook-like ads integrate member activities and information into advertising. The ad format pulls in relevant connections from a user’s network into banner ads, using those members’ photos and names. Upon launching the ads, LinkedIn explained that users could opt out at any time.

The opt-out feature, though, wasn’t enough for users. The company announced on Thursday that due to user feedback it will be changing the ad formats to include less user information. Here are the before and after mock ups:

Director of Product Management Ryan Roslansky explained in a company blog post:

“Our core guiding value is Members First. And, with regards to the social ads we’ve been testing, we’re listening to our members. We could have communicated our intentions — to provide more value and relevancy to our members — more clearly.

Most importantly, what we’ve learned now, is that, even though our members are happy to have their actions, such as recommendations, be viewable by their network as a public action, some of those same members may not be comfortable with the use of their names and photos associated with those actions used in ads served to their network.”

Marketer advertising on LinkedIn is expected to increase in the coming year. It will be essential for LinkedIn to maintain its trustworthy reputation as it opts to expand advertising options and capitalize on the social nature of its platform.

Image courtesy of Flickr, Nan Palmero

More About: advertising, linkedin, privacy

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In the name of swift and public justice, the Greater Manchester Police has begun tweeting the identities of people convicted of criminal damage and disorder during riots this week in Manchester and Salford.

The department is also requesting the public’s help in identifying suspects via photos and videos posted to its website and Flickr account.

Wednesday, the Greater Manchester Police notified its Twitter followers that criminals were going through the courts and would soon be “named and shamed.” Thursday, the Twitter account began rattling off the names, births dates, addresses and sentences for those convicted.

“We promised we’d name all those convicted for their roles in the disorder – here we go …” the @gmpolice account tweeted.

At least 12 convicted of riot-related crimes have been shamed via Twitter so far. The department is also updating its Facebook Page.

The police force is seeing some push-back from Twitter followers who are questioning the decision to publicly out culprits.

“And are @gmpolice *really* tweeting the names of people convicted? And 8 months for stealing clothes? What f*cking century are we living in?” Manchester resident Julian Yon said in one of many tweets directed at the department’s Twitter account.

Some have rallied to defend the department. “@gmpolice ignore @julianyon you are doing a great job these thugs deserve to be out there after the trouble they have caused well done GMP,” @DaveWard121 tweeted.

Others are put off by the level of detail shared. “@gmpolice fully agree with naming and shaming those who did wrong but addresses is a step to far what if it causes more uproar in the towns,” @donnasheedy tweeted.

In an immediate response, Greater Manchester Police tweeted, “@donnasheedy legally bound to publish address and dates of birth so no-one of the same name can be misidentified as the culprit.”

The debate continues about the ethics of these Twitter tactics. Share your thoughts in the comments.

More About: london riots, twitter

For more Social Media coverage:

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Go to Source

In the name of swift and public justice, the Greater Manchester Police has begun tweeting the identities of people convicted of criminal damage and disorder during riots this week in Manchester and Salford.

The department is also requesting the public’s help in identifying suspects via photos and videos posted to its website and Flickr account.

Wednesday, the Greater Manchester Police notified its Twitter followers that criminals were going through the courts and would soon be “named and shamed.” Thursday, the Twitter account began rattling off the names, births dates, addresses and sentences for those convicted.

“We promised we’d name all those convicted for their roles in the disorder – here we go …” the @gmpolice account tweeted.

At least 12 convicted of riot-related crimes have been shamed via Twitter so far. The department is also updating its Facebook Page.

The police force is seeing some push-back from Twitter followers who are questioning the decision to publicly out culprits.

“And are @gmpolice *really* tweeting the names of people convicted? And 8 months for stealing clothes? What f*cking century are we living in?” Manchester resident Julian Yon said in one of many tweets directed at the department’s Twitter account.

Some have rallied to defend the department. “@gmpolice ignore @julianyon you are doing a great job these thugs deserve to be out there after the trouble they have caused well done GMP,” @DaveWard121 tweeted.

Others are put off by the level of detail shared. “@gmpolice fully agree with naming and shaming those who did wrong but addresses is a step to far what if it causes more uproar in the towns,” @donnasheedy tweeted.

In an immediate response, Greater Manchester Police tweeted, “@donnasheedy legally bound to publish address and dates of birth so no-one of the same name can be misidentified as the culprit.”

The debate continues about the ethics of these Twitter tactics. Share your thoughts in the comments.

More About: london riots, twitter

For more Social Media coverage:

• Follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter
• Become a Fan on Facebook
• Subscribe to the Social Media channel
• Download our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad

Go to Source

Typography Mania is a weekly post series that comes around every Wednesday with the best of Typography design works on the web, from type videos to images everything is full of great design and typography inspiration. Users can submit their typography designs.

<!–break–>
Click here to check out all the previous Typography Mania

Make sure to click on each image to go to original location where you can check out more work from each artist and designer.

Submit your Typography work

From now on you can submit your typography mania piece by adding your image to Abduzeedo’s Flickr Group and use the tag Typography. I will search through and handpick the best pieces every week.

Images

Submited by arthurtheking

Submited by arthurtheking

Submited by ashleyjosephedwards

Submited by Mauro_Matos

Submited by h4ndz

Submited by Marcelo Schultz

Submited by Sandro França

Submited by Tulio Tavanielli

Submited by Ryan Stever

Submited by Future Self

Submited by Rossella Sferlazzo

Submited by Muriel Agurto

Submited by ShaynaSMP

Submited by Tulio Tavanielli

Submited by zenichetti

Submited by Brandon Ehrlich

Submited by Hotpindesigns

Submited by James Green

Submited by ch3k

Go to Source

Typography Mania is a weekly post series that comes around every Wednesday with the best of Typography design works on the web, from type videos to images everything is full of great design and typography inspiration. Users can submit their typography designs.

<!–break–>
Click here to check out all the previous Typography Mania

Make sure to click on each image to go to original location where you can check out more work from each artist and designer.

Submit your Typography work

From now on you can submit your typography mania piece by adding your image to Abduzeedo’s Flickr Group and use the tag Typography. I will search through and handpick the best pieces every week.

Images

Submited by arthurtheking

Submited by arthurtheking

Submited by ashleyjosephedwards

Submited by Mauro_Matos

Submited by h4ndz

Submited by Marcelo Schultz

Submited by Sandro França

Submited by Tulio Tavanielli

Submited by Ryan Stever

Submited by Future Self

Submited by Rossella Sferlazzo

Submited by Muriel Agurto

Submited by ShaynaSMP

Submited by Tulio Tavanielli

Submited by zenichetti

Submited by Brandon Ehrlich

Submited by Hotpindesigns

Submited by James Green

Submited by ch3k

Go to Source

People always ask me If ever get bored of doing vectors and the answer is always “I can’t”. Why? Because, as most of you, I also got heroes on what I do and these guys are one of the main reasons I can’t quit. Human Nature 84 is probably my favorite vector artist, not just because of his personal style, but because of the revolution his making on vector graphics. As me, you won’t believe that every of this artworks bellow are all vector made, no mesh or blends used, just pure vector.

Ok now, even If you’re not a vector fan, you should defnitely check his Flickr or his Devianart to witness the evolution of this revolutionary artist, god bless him.

The Process

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IMG_4991.JPG | Flickr – Photo Sharing!.

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What can you use the application for?


Flickr is a popular photo sharing network that allows users to showcase their pictures and pass them along to others. Users create an account and upload as many or as few photographs as they like. The site currently supports multiple upload methods including uploads from email, mobile devices and the user’s desktop. Sharing options through Blogger, Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo and email make it easy to pass photographs on to friends and family. Each photograph can be added with a caption or description. Flickr also posts the date the photo was taken, how many views and favorites it received and comments left by other users. Flickr provides users with a simple search tool bar that allows them to search for images by keyword. Along with sharing photo albums with friends and family, professionals can use Flickr as an easy, inexpensive way to create an online portfolio to share with potential clients and business partners.

What is the history and popularity of the application?


Flickr was launched by Ludicorp in February 2004. It was originally a chatroom with photo-sharing for their upcoming ‘Game Neverending’ application. It became very popular, so they shelved the game and focused on online photo sharing instead. In March 2005 Flickr was bought by Yahoo for approximately $35 million and was integrated in the Yahoo site.

What are the differences to other apps?


Flickr offers a list of features that are very common among other photo sharing applications. The site offers a neat layout and user friendly design that is ideal for new and experienced internet users. One of the most appealing aspects of Flickr is its enormous user community, which includes a huge data base of images.

How does the application look and feel to use?


The Flickr website entices users with a large banner featuring a detailed, color images right on the homepage. A handful of dark blue and pink links can be found at the top center of the page along with a search tool bar to the right. The photo pages present the user with the large size image and stats along the right hand side. User comments are found below.

How does the registration process work?


A new user can join the Flickr community by clicking the pink “Sign Up” link near the upper, right and corner of the homepage (beside the search tool bar). A matching button can be found inside the color image header. A pop up box appears inviting the user to sign up with an existing Facebook or Google account. Users who prefer to create a new account can click the gold “Create New Account button at the top of the login form. The button directs the user to the Yahoo registration form, which asks for a first and last name, gender, date of birth, country, postal code, Yahoo ID, password, alternate email and two security questions and answers.

What does it cost to use the application?


Flickr provides all new users with access to a free basic account. This account includes a 300 MB monthly photo upload limit (or 15 MBs per photo), two video uploads per month with a 90 second or 150 MB max per video, a 200 image photo stream limit, photos in up to 10 group pools and smaller resize image access. Users can upgrade to a Flickr Pro plan for approximately $25 per year. The Pro plan includes unlimited photo uploads, 20 MB photo size max, unlimited video uploads, 500 MB video max, HD video capabilities, unlimited storage, unlimited bandwidth, archiving of high resolution images, photos in up to 60 group pools, no advertisements, view count and referrer statistics.

Who would you recommend the application to?


Flickr is a valuable resource for anyone who would like to share photographs online. The application offers a free and paid membership, which is appealing to both individuals and professionals.

Go to Source

Typography Mania is a weekly post series that comes around every Wednesday with the best of Typography design works on the web, from type videos to images everything is full of great design and typography inspiration. Users can submit their typography designs.

<!–break–>
Click here to check out all the previous Typography Mania

Make sure to click on each image to go to original location where you can check out more work from each artist and designer.

Submit your Typography work

From now on you can submit your typography mania piece by adding your image to Abduzeedo’s Flickr Group and use the tag Typography. I will search through and handpick the best pieces every week.

Images

Submited by zenichetti

Submited by Jackson Alves

Submited by HelloZhenya

Submited by Warren Keefe

Submited by Berto Legendary H

Submited by mauro_matos

Submited by ashley.browning

Submited by arnoKath

Submited by MadCobra1

Submited by Matheus Mendes

Submited by Tato Toledo

Submited by mikeyashworth

Submited by Jackson Alves

Submited by Tulio Tavanielli

Submited by hugo_ceneviva

Submited by Hannes Beer

Submited by killingclipart

Submited by Michael G Tucker

Submited by Stefanie Poteet Photography

Submited by von_brandis

Go to Source

The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.

Name: 500px

Quick Pitch: 500px.com is a modern online community of photographers from all over the world.

Genius Idea: In the age of insta-photography, 500px celebrates the art in professional photography.

Amidst a seemingly congested crop of photo services — think mobile-focused newcomers like Instagram, long-time veterans like Flickr and every other photo app between — is there opportunity for yet another photo community to standout?

With 35 million pageviews per month, 1.9 million uniques per month and 500% growth over the past 6 months, nearly two year-old Toronto-based 500px may not be an overnight success story, but it does seem to be on the cusp of its breakout moment.

500px photographers can use the site as a portfolio website, choose a theme and layout, and organize their photos into collections. They can also opt to sell their shots. Photography fans can use the site to discover amazing photography, follow their favorite photographers and purchase prints of the shots they love most.

500px, pronounced “five hundred pixels,” is turning heads in photography and internet circles with a primary focus on being the destination site of the world’s best photography.

“We are about the best photography and the best user experience for aspiring and pro photographers,” says 500px director of marketing Andrey Tochilin.

The startup’s most popular photos, along with the curated collection of editor selections, demonstrate the sophistication and quality of the site’s growing user base of mostly professional and artistic amateur photographers.

Plus, at a time when the iPhone is the predominant digital camera of choice for photo-sharers, 500px users are posting photos taken by their Canon EOS 5D Mark IIs, Nikon D90s, Canon EOS 450Ds and Canon EOS 50Ds — the four most popular cameras among the site’s users.

Mobile applications, while not yet available, are in the works and will be released soon, Tochilin says.

500px, initially created by two guys in a basement, is now a five-person team. The startup was bootstrapped until May 2011, when it raised $525,000 in funding.

The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark, a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.

More About: 500px, bizspark, photography, spark-of-genius, startup

For more Startups coverage:

• Follow Mashable Startups on Twitter
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• Subscribe to the Startups channel
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Go to Source

What can you use the application for?


Flauntr provides users with a collection of photo editing tools that allow them to customize their favorite pictures. The website offers multiple languages including French, German, English and Spanish. Country specific versions of the site are also available for users in the Netherlands, United Kingdom, France, Germany and other regions. Users can edit personal photos in a number of ways. Flauntr offers unique frames and one click effects that can be placed on top of photographs. Coloration can be edited as well as fonts and special effects. Flauntr also includes various styles taken from world famous paintings that can be applied to the user’s photograph. The Flauntr Profilr allows users to build a photo profile for more than 30 social networks. The application integrates with Facebook, My Space, iGoogle, Live Journal, WordPress, Windows Live Spaces, Picasa, Hi 5, Orkut and Flickr.

What is the history and popularity of the application?


Flauntr was founded in 2007 and is a part of FotoDesk. It was intended to provide a convenient collection of photo editing tools to its users. The company is based in Vevey, Switzerland. The current Flauntr team includes Chief Executive Officer Balaji Bal, Senior Vice President of Engineering Indulakshmy Lal, Chief Technology Officer Shankar Lal and Product Marketing Manager Abhiram Sarat.

What are the differences to other apps?


Flauntr provides users with a collection of tools that allow them to customize their photos in almost any way they want. The application includes many of the same photo editing tools that many mobile phone apps include, however it offers a user friendly interface, web based format and more detailed options than most mobile alternatives.

How does the application look and feel to use?


The Flauntr website welcomes users with a white background and hints of dark pink, green and light blue. The homepage presents users with a list of buttons that allow them to access each available tool. Each button takes the user to a dark page with the site’s photograph uploader. The user must add a photo to begin editing. After doing so, a row of tabs allow the user to jump to other Flauntr tools.

How does the registration process work?


A new user can sign up for a Flauntr account by clicking the dark blue “Register” link in the upper, right hand corner of the homepage. The following page presents the user with a dark pop up box that asks for an optional title as well as a username, password, first and last name, email address and date of birth. The user must also check the small grey box at the bottom of the form to confirm their agreement with the Flauntr terms and conditions before clicking the dark grey “Register” button to submit their information.

What does it cost to use the application?


All users can create a Flauntr account for free. There is no subscription fees required or other charges for using the website. Users can choose to purchase prints of the photographs they edit, which will cost money. This varies based on the size and quantity the user decides to purchase. Users are not required to purchase any photographs to maintain a Flauntr account.

Who would you recommend the application to?


Flauntr.com is a great tool for anyone who loves to edit photos as well as someone who simply wants to dress up a favorite photo. The site provides users with a number of editing tools and a way to purchase and share photos after editing them.

Go to Source

Typography Mania is a weekly post series that comes around every Wednesday with the best of Typography design works on the web, from type videos to images everything is full of great design and typography inspiration. Users can submit their typography designs.

<!–break–>
Click here to check out all the previous Typography Mania

Make sure to click on each image to go to original location where you can check out more work from each artist and designer.

Submit your Typography work

From now on you can submit your typography mania piece by adding your image to Abduzeedo’s Flickr Group and use the tag Typography. I will search through and handpick the best pieces every week.

Images

Submited by blablasah

Submited by mr.blankster

Submited by Brandon Ehrlich

Submited by Brandon Ehrlich

Submited by Michael Spitz

Submited by Ovejaja

Submited by jergot+gotroch

Submited by Marcelo Schultz

Submited by tdenisdesigns

Submited by davidfromdallas

Submited by Michael G Tucker

Submited by ‘The’ Pixel Prince

Submited by NEVERltd

Submited by NEVERltd

Submited by NEVERltd

Submited by Michael Gottschalk

Submited by Jean Mosambi

Submited by Jean Mosambi

Submited by red_dotdesign

Submited by L.e.e

Go to Source

500px is a great photo community with a rating system, editorial selections, and professional portfolios. With a great selection of beautiful photographs, and the tools to make your work shine, it seems much more like a Flickr competitor than many of the newer sites aimed at quickly sharing photos. But is it awesome enough to take on established players, each with their own breed of loyal followers? Let us go find out.

Overview

Overview

500px is a photographic community powered by creative people from all over the world that lets you share and discover inspiring photographs. Signing up for the web app is simple and it even offers logging in with your existing Facebook account (integration happens via OAuth). The app employs a very straight forward Facebook integration which is indeed complete with a single click. Kudos!

User Interface

Dashboard

After activating the account, I was a bit surprised to see a rather dull looking dashboard. When compared to the homepage and other associated page designs to show case the service, the dashboard lacks a punch. It definitely isn’t ugly, but could have been a bit more snazzy. As is, the app places a lot of emphasis on discovering photos and following photographers.

Ease of Use

The minute you land on 500px, you will instantly notice how easy it is find awesome images. So I will just run through how easy it actually is to upload images, create and maintain albums and portfolio. The app allows you to upload a maximum of 20 images a week. Each image should not exceed 30 MB in size and you can upload as many as 10 images in one go. To upload more images, you will have to upgrade to the premium account that costs $50 per year.

Image Upload

Uploading process is simple and is blazing fast. As soon as you have added all your images hit upload and they will be shown on the right side of the uploads page for you to add description, tags, category etc. All other metadata is captured automatically by the app. While you can create custom tags on your own, you will have to choose from the list of categories displayed. By the way, why isn’t there a category listing for Technology?

Creating a Collection

A Collection

Creating a collection or a portfolio begins with a very predictable step – naming it! After naming it, add images that should appear in the collection either by directly uploading images or by choosing the ones you have uploaded earlier. It’s fun to arrange images using drag and drop.

Themes

Themes are a nice addition to elegantly showcase your collections. 500px come with a bunch of cool free themes and if you want more style, upgrade to unlock a few more premium themes.

A Collection on Display

To view how awesome your collection is, head over to the URL you have created earlier. It’s just brilliant. In just a few clicks, you now have a professional looking portfolio website! Make sure that you fill all your professional information in the Profile page. That way, your Biography page will be more complete.

Discovery

Since the web app promotes itself as a photographic community, finding cool photos and the people who actually shot them is a key in building a healthy ecosystem. And to the delight of photo enthusiasts, 500px has nailed the discovery part of the app.

Discovery

From the Popular, Editor’s Choice and Upcoming sections, you can find an eyeful of gorgeous photographs. Found a photo that inspires and kindles your creative talent? Hit up the photographer name on the top right corner to go to his/her profile page.

Photographer Page

From the profile page of the creative, you can get know all about him and his work. To stay on top of his new work, use the Twitter like follow feature and then you can monitor the updates from your Settings page.

Final Thoughts

In just a few seconds, I found a lot of stunning images that were shot by professionals. However, you will need a whole lot of bandwidth to just browse or take a tour of the site. The images displayed in each page are of high resolution and there are often many in a single page!

It would be great if the developers mention clearly even before signing up if there is a free account (or a trial period) and what the quota is. Only by searching through the Settings page that I found that the account I created was indeed free. However, even here I didn’t find any information about the maximum storage or bandwidth limit. Only when I ventured to upload an image did I find the limitations of the free account.

If you assess closely, right from the start, 500px promotes itself as a professional photographic community and it actually is. Unlike Flickr, where common people who click and share images they took with their smartphones and trendy point and click cameras, 500px is solidly a place where every photo looks like it has been taken with a camera that costs at least a few thousand bucks. The web app is nominally priced, and if you are someone looking for hosting your professional portfolio, you should definitely give 500px a try.

Share Your Thoughts!

Where do you have your professional portfolio hosted online? Is 500px stunning enough to get you to move your entire collection overnight or immediately after your current subscription at Flickr expires?

Go to Source

500px is a great photo community with a rating system, editorial selections, and professional portfolios. With a great selection of beautiful photographs, and the tools to make your work shine, it seems much more like a Flickr competitor than many of the newer sites aimed at quickly sharing photos. But is it awesome enough to take on established players, each with their own breed of loyal followers? Let us go find out.

Overview

Overview

500px is a photographic community powered by creative people from all over the world that lets you share and discover inspiring photographs. Signing up for the web app is simple and it even offers logging in with your existing Facebook account (integration happens via OAuth). The app employs a very straight forward Facebook integration which is indeed complete with a single click. Kudos!

User Interface

Dashboard

After activating the account, I was a bit surprised to see a rather dull looking dashboard. When compared to the homepage and other associated page designs to show case the service, the dashboard lacks a punch. It definitely isn’t ugly, but could have been a bit more snazzy. As is, the app places a lot of emphasis on discovering photos and following photographers.

Ease of Use

The minute you land on 500px, you will instantly notice how easy it is find awesome images. So I will just run through how easy it actually is to upload images, create and maintain albums and portfolio. The app allows you to upload a maximum of 20 images a week. Each image should not exceed 30 MB in size and you can upload as many as 10 images in one go. To upload more images, you will have to upgrade to the premium account that costs $50 per year.

Image Upload

Uploading process is simple and is blazing fast. As soon as you have added all your images hit upload and they will be shown on the right side of the uploads page for you to add description, tags, category etc. All other metadata is captured automatically by the app. While you can create custom tags on your own, you will have to choose from the list of categories displayed. By the way, why isn’t there a category listing for Technology?

Creating a Collection

A Collection

Creating a collection or a portfolio begins with a very predictable step – naming it! After naming it, add images that should appear in the collection either by directly uploading images or by choosing the ones you have uploaded earlier. It’s fun to arrange images using drag and drop.

Themes

Themes are a nice addition to elegantly showcase your collections. 500px come with a bunch of cool free themes and if you want more style, upgrade to unlock a few more premium themes.

A Collection on Display

To view how awesome your collection is, head over to the URL you have created earlier. It’s just brilliant. In just a few clicks, you now have a professional looking portfolio website! Make sure that you fill all your professional information in the Profile page. That way, your Biography page will be more complete.

Discovery

Since the web app promotes itself as a photographic community, finding cool photos and the people who actually shot them is a key in building a healthy ecosystem. And to the delight of photo enthusiasts, 500px has nailed the discovery part of the app.

Discovery

From the Popular, Editor’s Choice and Upcoming sections, you can find an eyeful of gorgeous photographs. Found a photo that inspires and kindles your creative talent? Hit up the photographer name on the top right corner to go to his/her profile page.

Photographer Page

From the profile page of the creative, you can get know all about him and his work. To stay on top of his new work, use the Twitter like follow feature and then you can monitor the updates from your Settings page.

Final Thoughts

In just a few seconds, I found a lot of stunning images that were shot by professionals. However, you will need a whole lot of bandwidth to just browse or take a tour of the site. The images displayed in each page are of high resolution and there are often many in a single page!

It would be great if the developers mention clearly even before signing up if there is a free account (or a trial period) and what the quota is. Only by searching through the Settings page that I found that the account I created was indeed free. However, even here I didn’t find any information about the maximum storage or bandwidth limit. Only when I ventured to upload an image did I find the limitations of the free account.

If you assess closely, right from the start, 500px promotes itself as a professional photographic community and it actually is. Unlike Flickr, where common people who click and share images they took with their smartphones and trendy point and click cameras, 500px is solidly a place where every photo looks like it has been taken with a camera that costs at least a few thousand bucks. The web app is nominally priced, and if you are someone looking for hosting your professional portfolio, you should definitely give 500px a try.

Share Your Thoughts!

Where do you have your professional portfolio hosted online? Is 500px stunning enough to get you to move your entire collection overnight or immediately after your current subscription at Flickr expires?

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Love toys? Love photography? Have you ever considered combining the two? Toy photography has been a major source of photo inspiration for years. The look of a doll or stuffed animal captured in a certain way can have a major emotional influence, and we have seen examples of that in the prevalence of abandoned or damaged toys used to set the tone for tragedy in various medias.

But what is great about toy photography is the versatility. You can create any feeling from a shot of a toy, and there are endless possibilities for creating scenes or just having fun. Flickr has a whole lot of groups that are dedicated to this purpose. Below are a collection of what I think are the ten best of the lot.

1. Toys

This is perhaps the largest toy-centric photo pool group on Flickr. It is dedicated to pictures about any kind of toy, from stuffed animals to retro wind-up numbers. There are more than 243,000 pictures already posted by the astonishing 18,000-plus members. But what makes it so great is the quality of most of the photos.

You would expect that a large number would result in a less concentrated level of quality. But there are very few bad pics there, and some that really some true ingenuity.

2. Toy Tuesday and Thursday

This is a really interesting photo challenge. It works by daring toy photographers to take a picture every Tuesday and Thursday for a year. In addition to this, there is a second challenge every two weeks where you take a photo starting with a different letter of the alphabet for that week.

The end result is an impressive set of 104 photos at the end of the year. This used to be a once a year challenge that has now been opened up to anyone year-long. Don’t worry if you are late joining…you can go from the date you start.

3. Excellent Photography Toy Awards

This is one of the biggest official award groups for toy photography. It works by either submitting your work or anything it invited by an existing member. It is then put into the photo pull and voted on.  Since they refuse to take anything but the very best you are looking at some very stiff competition. They are also a group that has been voted sweeper active, which means for every photo you submit or accept an invite for you have to vote on thre.

4. Toys Take Over

A basic but well-populated group where anyone who likes photographing any kind of toy can join. They have more than 36,000 pictures already, and it is a good place for beginners to show off their work and watch the progression of other photographers.

5. Toys On Black

I have always liked the look of simple shots on black backgrounds more than any other. Between the shadows it creates and the dramatic but subtle tone, it is a great way to enhance a picture before you even take it. Toys On Black agree, and they have an entire group dedicated to the principle.  They have a current three per day posting limit, though sometimes this is more or less, depending on how much activity they have had in recent weeks.

6. The Other Side

I personally love this group. Unlike other toy photo pools on Flickr, this one has a specific purpose related to the shots themselves, not the subject. While all photos should be of toys, the objective is for them not to look like toys. Or, at least, to have something in the shots that give them a sense of realism, movement or life. The members have done some incredible work, and you will see what I mean by that description if you check them out.

7. Toy Shooter Assignments

This is a directive specific group. When you join you will be able to see the current assignments that have been decided on through member voting. From there you can participate in photo opportunities that involve toys.

They might be to shoot something starting with a letter of the alphabet or from a specific time period. Maybe the toys will have come from a second hand shop or flea market, or be related to a film or television show. They have regular group directives to choose from.

8. Comic Book Toys

This group has been subject to a bit of confusion lately. It is not a group for comic book pictures or photos. It is for toys relating to comic books or characters from graphic novels. While a comic book can be present in the photo, it has to be toy specific.

Otherwise it will be deleted and you will receive a warning. However, if you are a comic book toy or action figure lover, then this is the place for you. Their open gallery has some amazing scene shots created with action figures, as well. My personal favorite so far is one of Doctor Who (Christopher Eccleston).

9. Secondhand Toys

I have found some amazing items there, including some fantastic art and toys at the thrift store. This group is for taking pictures of toy items that have come from secondhand shops from anywhere in the world. Flea markets, swap meets and other similar sources are also welcome. Considering some of the odd things you can find at thrift shops, this can be a fun little exercise. I know I have seen some horrifying – but fascinating – little treats there in my time.

10. Plastic Toy Soldiers

Another great little group, this one centers on those old plastic soldiers, the ones that come with a stiff base and poses. The pictures are scenes that have been created using this retro toys, and there are some really cool ones. If you were a kid who liked to play toy soldiers back in the day, this might be just the place you want to be.

This is a post from Inspired Magazine. If you like it, you may want to subscribe to our RSS full feed to be updated on every article we’re publishing. Also, it’s highly recommended to follow us on Twitter!

10 Best Flickr Groups Featuring Original Toy Photography

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You know those mornings when you would sell your soul to avoid the commute to work? Well, according to a recent survey, 40% of people would make a less-than-comparable sacrifice: a pay cut.

Staples Advantage recently conducted an online survey about telecommuting with 140 respondents across various industries. Yes, that pool is admittedly small, but the results got us wondering about how our readers feel about the prospect of working from home.

The survey found that 54% would give up their favorite TV show to work from home, 48% would nix an hour of sleep for the opportunity and 40% would swear off a favorite food. Eighty-six percent of those surveyed who telecommute said that they were productive at home, and 73% said that they eat healthier when on the homestead.

What do you think of these findings? Do they jibe with your own experience? Weigh in below.

How Much Do You Want To Work From Home?

Image courtesy of Flickr, Ollie Crafoord

More About: telecommuting

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Typography Mania is a weekly post series that comes around every Wednesday with the best of Typography design works on the web, from type videos to images everything is full of great design and typography inspiration. Users can submit their typography designs.

<!–break–>
Click here to check out all the previous Typography Mania

Make sure to click on each image to go to original location where you can check out more work from each artist and designer.

Submit your Typography work

From now on you can submit your typography mania piece by adding your image to Abduzeedo’s Flickr Group and use the tag Typography. I will search through and handpick the best pieces every week.

Images

Submited by Luane Passos

Submited by xjapsx

Submited by Aleks Ivic

Submited by 55His.com

Submited by Brenton Little

Submited by Hannes Beer

Submited by danielgarzz

Submited by Marcelo Schultz

Submited by @Sandro_Designer

Submited by Jackson Alves

Submited by victorberbel.

Submited by micKken

Submited by Giampaolo Miraglia

Submited by Marcelo Schultz

Submited by Matthew Becker

Submited by Akiro Studios

Submited by L.e.e

Submited by H2C Photographer

Submited by Jean Mosambi

Submited by xjapsx

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Read more

Learn more about FaceScribble.com in Dataopedia.com

Find out how much FaceScribble.com is worth with Stimator.com

Have a business question? Ask Startups.com

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This week, the lawyers at stock photography leader Getty Images have decided to weigh in on the situation, too, as it relates to the company’s Flickr Collection contributors. Getty’s verdict? “We’re OK with Google+,” it says.

Sponsor

Getty’s Lawyers Look Over Google+ Terms of Service

Members of the private group (note: link only works for members) “Getty Images Contributors” on Flickr were recently informed by a company representative that Getty’s lawyers have deemed Google Plus OK for them to use.

“The important thing to watch out for in Terms of Service, and it’s the same as we’ve talked about for contests, is that whatever they do (or allow third parties to do) with the images should be in the context of the service itself, not to re-license or otherwise commercialize the images to other parties (or even the main company itself) outside of the context they’re posted for,” writes Flickr member Tom W at Getty Images, in a message posted to all group members.

Tom cites specific sections of the Google Plus ToS (11.2 and 11.3) in his post, explaining that their intent is to allow Google to provide copies of the images to third parties “in the context of the service – social networking, photo-sharing, etc.” For example, if members wanted to allow their friends to print copies of their photos, like Flickr does with Snapfish. However, says Tom, Google does “not provide for licensing to another party for their own use.”

How to Analyze the Google Plus ToS

For professional photographers trying to wade through Terms of Service, not just on Google Plus, but anywhere on the Web, it can be tricky – especially because of the wording, which often takes a law degree to decipher.

But photographer Jim Goldstein has posted some basic tips on his blog, about how he evaluates a ToS for a social media site, Google Plus or otherwise.:

1. Is a claim made that the copyright of my work is transferred to Google+ (or company X) upon posting/submission?
2. Is a claim made that my copyrighted work will be distributed to sites under a set umbrella of sites and services (ex. Google+, Gmail, Buzz, Google Search, Google Image Search, Google Maps, Google Places, etc.), or far beyond such as a blanket claim to sub-license my shared work to known and unknown companies/services (ex. 3rd party advertisers or image licensing services)?
   
3. Do terms used in relation to any claimed license include “irrevocable”, “perpetual license”, “fully paid”, “royalty-free” or the classic phrase “by all means and in any media now known or hereafter developed”?

   Horrible example often absorbed in boiler-plate ToS:

   You agree to grant to “Company X” a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, perpetual license, with the right to sub-license, to reproduce, distribute, transmit, create derivative works of, publicly display and publicly perform any materials and other information (including, without limitation, ideas contained therein for new or improved products and services) you submit to any public areas of the Site (such as bulletin boards, forums and newsgroups) or by e-mail to “Company X” by all means and in any media now known or hereafter developed. You also grant to “Company X” the right to use your name in connection with the submitted materials and other information as well as in connection with all advertising, marketing and promotional material related thereto. You agree that you shall have no recourse against “Company X” for any alleged or actual infringement or misappropriation of any proprietary right in your communications to “Company X”.

4. Can the Terms of Service be terminated by myself and not just Google?

How Does Google Plus Hold Up?

Goldstein then uses that list as a guide to analyze the Google Plus ToS, and finds that, as Getty did, the terms are (basically) OK.

In particular, take note of the section about terminating the ToS (13.1 and 13.2). This was of particular interest to commenters on our previous article. There were questions about how much power Google would have over your images once uploaded – could you ever get your rights back? It appears that Google’s ToS does provide users a way to terminate their agreement at any time, by either

a) notifying Google at any time

or

b) closing your accounts for the Google services you use.

That said, there were parts of the ToS that made Goldstein nervous, to which he only gave a “reluctant OK.” To review the analysis in more detail, head over to his blog.

Discuss

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Writing for the web often requires a great deal of self publishing, especially if you run your own blog or news/feature website. Because of this, there is a good chance that at some point, you will be required to find images, resize them, and add them to your articles.

Nothing can fully replace having your own photographer at your side, but there are many photographers who use the web as their digital portfolios and allow writers and website owners to use their images royalty-free. Just because an image is on the web does not mean it’s a free image and you have the right to use it, and if you start making money off your blog while illegally using copyrighted images, you could be in for a world of hurt.

There are several types of royalty-free photo sites out there. Some have their own licenses, and others use copyleft licenses like Creative Commons or GNU Free Documentation License. Still others allow the users to specify the terms such as notification and crediting. The following are several sites you can use to find free images for your writing.

Where to Find Free Images?

stock.xchng – One of the most well-established free stock photo sites, stock.xchng showcases an amazingly large number of photographers. Licenses include the standard restrictions, which do not require attribution, as well as an attribution, permission, and/or notification requirement. All of the images are high-quality, and all are free of charge.

Flickr – Since Flickr itself is a photo sharing site, there are plenty photos with “all rights reserved” that are off-limits to you unless you gain the photographer’s permission. With the “advanced search” feature, however, you can locate usable photos by scrolling to the bottom of the page and checking: “Only search within Creative Commons-licensed content”. If you need to use the images for commercial promotion, also be sure to check “Find to use commercially”.

A word of caution: Flickr uses the Creative Commons feature trusting that the person who uploads it will honor its terms. Unfortunately, some are prone to later change the license or upload images that they do not have permission to license in the first place. Therefore, always use your best judgment.

Wikimedia Commons – Created by the same non-profit organization that runs Wikipedia, this free image site has a plethora of usable photos and art. Because of stricter requirements for submission, Wikimedia Commons photos are all reusable under Creative Commons. Most require attribution, so be sure to credit your sources.

OpenClipArt – Although clipart may be the last type of image you want to include in your writing, OpenClipArt has some quality vector SVG artwork that may cause you to reconsider. All of the images on this site are released to the Public Domain and do not require attribution.

Google Advanced Search – Rather than an image hosting site, Google image search is a meta search tool that you can use to find reusable images. Simply click on “Advanced Search” and for “Usage rights” select “free to use or share”. Most of the images will come from Flickr, but it may also find additional ones, and best of all, it relies on Google’s speedy search interface.

everystockphoto – Another meta search tool, everystockphoto searches many of the sites mentioned above, such as Flickr and stock.xchng. Each entries clearly defines the license type, resolution, image source, and more.

morgueFile – An interesting concept, morgueFile is designed specifically for creative people looking for free images to use. The site license does not require attribution, and the collection of photos is quite impressive and high quality.

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Online Catalog – The Library of Congress has tons of digital images, and it would make this article unduly long to list all of the categories. If you are looking for art, historical photos, or things you might not be able to find elsewhere, LOC probably has it. Most of the old photos and art are in the public domain, but be sure to check the restrictions for each collection you use.

Now you have no excuse not to include beautiful free photos and art in your writing. Like you, a writer who shares your creations with the world, there are plenty of photographers and artists who do the same. Enjoy their work, and be sure to give them credit when they request it.

About the Author

Tavis J. Hampton is a freelance writer with over a decade of experience in writing, information services, and Linux system administration, relying on only quality web hosts like server hosting company 34SP.com.

You may also want to read: Where To Find Free Images For Your Blog
Photo credits to Miguel Ugalde

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive

As a subscribe reader of Blogsessive, this is my gift to you: a guide to corporate blogging (but not only) that will help you in your blogging adventures! Download now, for FREE!

©2008-2010 Copyright by Blogsessive – Blogging Tips. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact us, so that we can take legal action immediately.

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The U.S. ereader market is heating up with a planned revamp by a major player, Sony.

The Japanese consumer electronics giant is planning to launch an upgraded Sony Reader, which will be priced at $180 to $300, “probably” in August, according to Bloomberg. The Sony Reader, designed to compete with Amazon’s Kindle, will hit the market before Sony’s tablet PCs, which are scheduled to go on sale later this year. Sony plans to incorporate its ebook technology into the two Android-based tablets, code-named S1 and S2.

The Sony Reader will vie with the current category leader, Amazon’s Kindle, but also with Barnes & Noble’s Nook and the iriver Story HD, the first ereader to use Google’s eBooks platform, which goes on sale at Target this week. All those devices retail for $139.

In addition, Barnes & Noble has two tiers of ereaders, including the Simple Touch and its Nook Color, which has the functionality of a tablet PC. Amazon is also reported to be working on a tablet PC, which should hit the market sometime before October.

Image courtesy of Flickr, Ian Muttoo

More About: barnes & noble, ereaders, Google, iRiver, Kindle, nook color, simple touch reader, sony

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Typography Mania is a weekly post series that comes around every Wednesday with the best of Typography design works on the web, from type videos to images everything is full of great design and typography inspiration. Users can submit their typography designs.

<!–break–>
Click here to check out all the previous Typography Mania

Make sure to click on each image to go to original location where you can check out more work from each artist and designer.

Submit your Typography work

From now on you can submit your typography mania piece by adding your image to Abduzeedo’s Flickr Group and use the tag Typography. I will search through and handpick the best pieces every week.

Images

Submited by iGraph_pl

Submited by connor-e

Submited by Razvan Coste

Submited by Matheus Mendes

Submited by NELSONICBOOM

Submited by mw-mediawork

Submited by arnoKath

Submited by rizkankutu

Submited by The 100th Idiot

Submited by LiamAshurst

Submited by artbeard

Submited by Moe Pike

Submited by David Huckert

Submited by Marcelo Schultz

Submited by iGraph_pl

Submited by sejalm

Submited by SLAMBIGRAMS

Submited by sejalm

Submited by Jean Mosambi

Submited by Ziro Pictures INK

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Flicksh is a viewer of flickr galleries with new look .. it’s very good to see more photos in one page!
to use our site .. When you see flickr gallery only replace in URL the (flickr.com) to (flicksh.com).
For example .. replace like this:
(on Flickr Site): http://www.flickr.com/photos/abdul7amid
(On Flicksh viewer): http://www.flicksh.com/photos/abdul7amid

demo: http://www.flicksh.com/photos/eldano

view more

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Remember all of those photos that caught your eye in your Facebook news feed? Probably not. But startup Pixable wants to help change that. On Thursday, it added a “my likes & comments” category to its photo-sharing apps.

The iPhone, iPad and browser apps connect with Facebook and sort you and your friends’ photos into categories like “most popular” or “family updates.” It also makes piles of the most popular Flickr and Instagram photos.

With the new category, users also get a log of what was most interesting to them in real time on Facebook. Since I’m personally a fairly conservative liker on Facebook, the collection of photos in the pile turned out to be something of a highlight reel.

Pixable is one of the only photo startups that is focusing on aggregating and browsing online photos rather creating a photo service of its own — a smart strategy in a crowded startup space that big players like Twitter have recently entered.

More About: photo app, Pixable, startup

For more Startups coverage:

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• Subscribe to the Startups channel
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“I want to be a part of it,
New York, New York….”

Ladies and Gentleman, the Official FOWD NYC 2011 site is live!

Please head over for details of our show’s dates, venues, workshop topics and the emerging line up. We’re so excited to be returning to Manhattan to run this show – after last year’s sell-out success, we can’t wait for three more days of great company, electric atmosphere and invaluable web learning.

If you’re new to The Future of Web Design, here’s a quick run-through of what it has to offer you…

+ Two days of jam-packed, two track conference schedule
+ Optional extra full-day practical workshop
+ All conference sessions filmed, and made available to attendees after the show
+ Coverage of all the most current, relevant web design topics
+ Fast, free WIFI for all attendees
+ The famous FOWD Design Clinics – one on one conversations with our speakers
+ Optional extra learning sessions during lunch break
+ Great catering, coffee and attendee party

You can also check out our highlight reel from last year’s show…

Sounding interesting? We have a handful of Early Bird Workshop Passes left, so there’s still time to grab yourself a discounted ticket and save $100!

If you have any questions about FOWD NYC 2011, please don’t hesitate to drop me a line – I’m here to help!

We hope you can join us in November

(Thanks to The National US Archives via The Commons / Flickr for the ’70s view of Manhattan used above!)

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With all the T-shirt contests happening on the internet, I start asking myself, what makes a T-shirt design really good? I mean, you see a lot of funny ideas or well executed drawings winning, but shouldn’t a T-shirt design be both of them? Vincent Bocognani artworks really answer my question. This excellent illustrator got an outstanding body of T-shirt illustrations, they’re not only well done, but really funny, check out.

Unfortunately, I could not found more than his Flickr, but If you got more information about him, please drop it on the comments.

dragon’s origin

barbapapa

delicious!

the true story

judgement day

somewhere on the planet Hoth

to be or not to be…

original ghost hunter

mashup

da vinci game

war for the star

hard adventure

epic chifoumi

personal hygiene

back to the jurassic

and the winner is

epic sandy

(giant) problem child

tragical destiny

a (very) long time ago

da vinci bobomb

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Typography Mania is a weekly post series that comes around every Wednesday with the best of Typography design works on the web, from type videos to images everything is full of great design and typography inspiration. Users can submit their typography designs.

<!–break–>
Click here to check out all the previous Typography Mania

Make sure to click on each image to go to original location where you can check out more work from each artist and designer.

Submit your Typography work

From now on you can submit your typography mania piece by adding your image to Abduzeedo’s Flickr Group and use the tag Typography. I will search through and handpick the best pieces every week.

Images

Submited by StefanBrandow

Submited by doomonti

Submited by antonio.campollo

Submited by gabmiranda

Submited by The Metatron

Submited by Moe Pike

Submited by lets_one

Submited by fabienbarral

Submited by Ryan Stever

Submited by Jackson Alves

Submited by Jay Roeder

Submited by ndstillie

Submited by Atix Vector

Submited by lemasney

Submited by Marcelo Schultz

Submited by grzegorz_1984

Submited by Martina Flor

Submited by What Katie Does

Submited by Solo 71

Submited by Caetano Calomino

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Microsoft head honcho Steve Ballmer will return to CES in January 2012, kicking off the consumer technology tradeshow with a preshow keynote, the fourth time he’ll be taking the stage to do so.

“We are pleased to welcome Microsoft back to the CES keynote stage,” said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), which owns and produces CES.

The 2012 International CES is scheduled January 10-13, 2012, in Las Vegas, Nevada. CEA says the full line-up of 2012 International CES keynote addresses will be announced in coming months.

Ballmer’s preshow keynote address is slated for 6:30 PM on Monday, January 9, in The Venetian.

Microsoft has used the CES keynote stage in previous years to unveil products like the original Xbox and Avatar Kinect.

Care to venture some guesses as to what Ballmer will be announcing next January?

(Picture courtesy of Microsoft Sweden @ Flickr)

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‘But that’s a lot of free jQuery image gallery!’ You might think about this, but TN3 Gallery is totally different. It offers rocking features like additional skin, multiple galleries, dynamic image sizing, Flickr integration, just everything you hope for a jQuery image gallery! Full contest detail after jump.

What You’ll Be Winning

TN3 gallery is a full fledged HTML based customizable image gallery with slideshow, transitions and multiple album options. It’s powered by jQuery and compatible with all modern desktop and mobile browsers.

With TN3 gallery you can easily create amazing photo galleries and slideshows with slick transition effects by following its comprehensive user guide, and no browser plugin and jQuery knowledge are required. It’s simple, user friendly, and beautiful.

A picture worth thousand words. Below are screenshots of different kinds of TN3 gallery with its sexy interface:

Default Skin

Eris Horizontal

Eris Vertical

Eris Bullets

You won’t get a PRO license with nothing professional. By embracing PRO license, you are gained access to truly professional features for any advanced usage or customization, listed as below:

• Additional Skin
• Multiple Albums
• Multiple Galleries
• Dynamic Image Sizing
• Vertical Thumbnail Display
• Flickr Support
• XML Support
• Unbranded

You can check out more exciting features by visiting TN3 Gallery’s feature page.

How To Win

Just drop a comment, that’s all! Be also noted that the contest ends at 11th July, so act now while the chance is still in your hand, all the best then!

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Editor’s note: Guest writer Rocky Agrawal  blogs at reDesign and Tweets @rakeshlobster.

I like to create. You can find content I’ve created on my own blogs, TechCrunch, Facebook, Twitter, flickr, Quora, EveryTrail, Namesake, Yelp, foursquare, YouTube, disqus, Kindle, FlyerTalk, and now Google+. I create more content than the vast majority of Internet users.

I actively think about how to create content and the right audiences for it. When I’m hiking, I take pictures of trailheads, forks and other things that are visually uninteresting. I also carry a GPS with me so I can precisely geotag each picture. I do it because it’s valuable to an EveryTrail user in determining how to hike the trail. When I upload the pictures from the hike to Facebook, those waypoint pictures aren’t included. Yes, I’m a dork.

Given the level of control that Google+ is offering, I should be thrilled with this great new tool. But I’m not.

It solves the wrong problem, particularly with Google Circles, the Google+ feature that lets you share different things with different groups of people. And it doesn’t do anything to solve the biggest problem with social networks today: increasing the signal to noise ratio.

Reaching the right audience

Google is absolutely right when it says that there are multiple circles in people’s lives. There are certainly many in mine. The way I’ve solved it to date is to just use different social networks for different social circles. I’m careful about who I accept into different groups. For example:

• Facebook. Generally I have to have met you in person and would consider a friend in a broad definition of the word. This includes random friends, co-workers past and present, classmates, friends-of-friends. I don’t accept friend requests from strangers or people I have only met once at a conference.
• Twitter. Obviously anyone is welcome to follow me. I will follow people who engage in topics I care about.
• foursquare. I limit foursquare friends to people who I have met and I’m likely to spend time with. Of my friends on Facebook who are also on foursquare, I’m only foursquare friends with half of them.
• LinkedIn. All about search for a job, business development and recruiting people. I accept LinkedIn requests from people I’ve worked with, partner companies, people I meet at conferences, etc.

This separation also makes it much easier for me to ensure that content doesn’t get shared to inappropriate audiences. I don’t have to worry about flubbing a privacy setting. I also don’t have to worry about flooding my friends with irrelevant content. Most of the content from the Groupon series, for example, hasn’t been posted to my Facebook because my non-Internet friends couldn’t care less about it. I know if I post on Twitter, it is going to be shared with the world.

I could segment the content within Google+. For each post, I could say include circles “Business”, “Internet famous” and exclude “Personal friends”. But that requires a lot more thinking than just going to Twitter for business stuff or Facebook for personal stuff.

When people compare Circles with Facebook, they often think of lists. (Which almost no one uses.) But they forget about networks, which cover the most important use cases for segmenting people. School and work are two of the biggest buckets. If I want to share things with just the Northwestern network on Facebook, that’s a piece of cake. As a bonus, I didn’t have to put those people into buckets.

For people who care about the segmentation that Google+ offers, they are already doing it using different networks.

Specialized networks like EveryTrail provide interesting tools for visualizing data. I love this visualization of a trip I took from Portland to Juneau. Google+ doesn’t eliminate the need for vertical tools like this.

Go to Source

Advertise here with BSA

The word typography, from the greek word typos, is the art and technique of arranging type. And I have to agree that arranging typography is an art. Some designers have the right skill to transform normal type in inspiring and eye candy pieces. We decided to gather a list with inspiring examples of typography from three great sources for that: Ads of the World, deviantART and Flickr. From simple and minimalist examples to colorful and illustrated ones, we have a lot of nice images to keep the juices flowing for your next project.

Ads of the World

deviantART

Flickr

Go to Source

Advertise here with BSA

The word typography, from the greek word typos, is the art and technique of arranging type. And I have to agree that arranging typography is an art. Some designers have the right skill to transform normal type in inspiring and eye candy pieces. We decided to gather a list with inspiring examples of typography from three great sources for that: Ads of the World, deviantART and Flickr. From simple and minimalist examples to colorful and illustrated ones, we have a lot of nice images to keep the juices flowing for your next project.

Ads of the World

deviantART

Flickr

Go to Source

Typography Mania is a weekly post series that comes around every Wednesday with the best of Typography design works on the web, from type videos to images everything is full of great design and typography inspiration. Users can submit their typography designs.

<!–break–>
Click here to check out all the previous Typography Mania

Make sure to click on each image to go to original location where you can check out more work from each artist and designer.

Submit your Typography work

From now on you can submit your typography mania piece by adding your image to Abduzeedo’s Flickr Group and use the tag Typography. I will search through and handpick the best pieces every week.

Images

Submited by Vincent Inz

Submited by artbeard

Submited by Rizon Parein

Submited by Tom.Cross

Submited by Marcelo Schultz

Submited by Igraphic Studios

Submited by elliottdj22

Submited by @Sandro_Designer

Submited by Jackson Alves

Submited by Solo 71

Submited by ospina_oscar

Submited by Andaur Studios | Sebastián Andaur

Submited by iGraph_pl

Submited by FunkMasterAndy

Submited by L.e.e

Submited by ‘The’ Pixel Prince

Submited by – vanth -

Submited by Akiro Studios

Submited by Denis Peña

Submited by jon.adams

Go to Source

Village Voice employees are planning to go on strike this weekend, citing salary cuts and declining benefits. They are not, however, planning to kick back and catch up with their Facebook friends.

Instead, staff will continue to produce content and publish it directly to Tumblr, where Village Voice Media can’t make any money — i.e. sell ads — on it.

Notably, it’s not just writers, editors photographers and designers who will be producing Voice-quality content on the TheRealVoice.org; part of the sales staff will be joining them as well. As Betabeat notes, should some of the advertisers flock to the strikers, pressure on negotiations could elevate very quickly.

And it might just work. Causes have a way of going viral on Tumblr, and we expect the community will be sympathetic to the strikers’ complaints. The initial post has received nearly 100 likes and reblogs since it was posted Wednesday.

Thumbnail courtesy of Flickr, Kheel Center, Cornell University

More About: media, tumblr, village voice

For more Media coverage:

• Follow Mashable Media on Twitter
• Become a Fan on Facebook
• Subscribe to the Media channel
• Download our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad

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Social Media Day is coming up on June 30 — just one week from today! We’re excited to see Meetup organizers throughout the world who are planning awesome events using the Mashable Meetup page and the #SMDay hashtag.

If you’re located in either New York City or San Francisco, we invite you to celebrate Social Media Day with Mashable team members. In New York, we’re holding our #SMDay party at Brooklyn Bowl in Williamsburg, just off the Bedford Avenue stop on the L train. We already have more than 350 RSVPs on our Meetup page and even more on our Facebook event. The party starts at 6 p.m., and there will be free bowling for the first hour. As an extra bonus, all Social Media Day attendees are invited to stay for the Q-Tip show at 11 p.m., closing Social Media Day down right.

In San Francisco, a huge event is being held at House of Air, an indoor trampoline park. There will be free jumping, dodgeball and basketball from 6:30 to 9 p.m. and networking all night. The event already has more than 200 RSVPs on Meetup and close to 600 on Facebook. The venue holds 500, so make sure you arrive early enough to get a spot!

We’re already preparing for the big day! Here’s a photo of the banners you’ll see at both the NYC and SF events:

Not in New York or San Francisco? Be sure to use hashtag #SMDay when tweeting and uploading photos and videos. And if you haven’t told us your social media story yet, be sure to do so as your submission could CNN’s iReport, go check it out. Here are more ways to get involved:

Ways You Can Participate

• Sign up to attend or organize your own event on the Mashable Meetup Everywhere page.
• Share what you’re doing for your Mashable Meetup or leave suggestions for others in the comments below.
• Use the #smday hashtag on Twitter, Instagram, Flickr and YouTube.
• Find your Mashable Meetup community:

Find a Social Media Day Meetup Near You »

Thanks to Our NYC Event Sponsor:

Emailvision is the international leader in software as a service (SaaS) for email, mobile and social media marketing. The Emailvision mission is to provide excellence in software and services for online relationship marketing. With offices and client service teams in 19 countries, Emailvision delivers 5 billion messages per month on behalf of 4,000 clients worldwide. This unprecedented quality of service is driven by 12 years of research and development and by Emailvision’s 600 passionate employees. The company is privately owned by Francisco Partners. For more information about Emailvision, visit www.emailvision.com.

Thanks to Our SF Event Sponsor:

Tagged is thrilled to join Mashable in celebrating Social Media Day with you at the House of Air! With more than 100 million registered users, Tagged is one of the world’s largest social networks notable for being successful in a Facebook world. How? We focus on social discovery or meeting new friends vs. staying in touch with people you already know. We’re an INC 500 Fastest Growing Company based right here in San Francisco. Did you know that Tagged employees enjoy awesome benefits like unlimited vacation and paid time off, free gym membership, lunch and dinner catered in daily from San Francisco’s best restaurants and more? We’re hiring so come check us out at www.about-tagged.com.

More About: community, mashable meetup, smday, social media day

For more Social Media coverage:

• Follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter
• Become a Fan on Facebook
• Subscribe to the Social Media channel
• Download our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad

Go to Source

Social Media Day is coming up on June 30 — just one week from today! We’re excited to see Meetup organizers throughout the world who are planning awesome events using the Mashable Meetup page and the #SMDay hashtag.

If you’re located in either New York City or San Francisco, we invite you to celebrate Social Media Day with Mashable team members. In New York, we’re holding our #SMDay party at Brooklyn Bowl in Williamsburg, just off the Bedford Avenue stop on the L train. We already have more than 350 RSVPs on our Meetup page and even more on our Facebook event. The party starts at 6 p.m., and there will be free bowling for the first hour. As an extra bonus, all Social Media Day attendees are invited to stay for the Q-Tip show at 11 p.m., closing Social Media Day down right.

In San Francisco, a huge event is being held at House of Air, an indoor trampoline park. There will be free jumping, dodgeball and basketball from 6:30 to 9 p.m. and networking all night. The event already has more than 200 RSVPs on Meetup and close to 600 on Facebook. The venue holds 500, so make sure you arrive early enough to get a spot!

We’re already preparing for the big day! Here’s a photo of the banners you’ll see at both the NYC and SF events:

Not in New York or San Francisco? Be sure to use hashtag #SMDay when tweeting and uploading photos and videos. And if you haven’t told us your social media story yet, be sure to do so as your submission could CNN’s iReport, go check it out. Here are more ways to get involved:

Ways You Can Participate

• Sign up to attend or organize your own event on the Mashable Meetup Everywhere page.
• Share what you’re doing for your Mashable Meetup or leave suggestions for others in the comments below.
• Use the #smday hashtag on Twitter, Instagram, Flickr and YouTube.
• Find your Mashable Meetup community:

Find a Social Media Day Meetup Near You »

Thanks to Our NYC Event Sponsor:

Emailvision is the international leader in software as a service (SaaS) for email, mobile and social media marketing. The Emailvision mission is to provide excellence in software and services for online relationship marketing. With offices and client service teams in 19 countries, Emailvision delivers 5 billion messages per month on behalf of 4,000 clients worldwide. This unprecedented quality of service is driven by 12 years of research and development and by Emailvision’s 600 passionate employees. The company is privately owned by Francisco Partners. For more information about Emailvision, visit www.emailvision.com.

Thanks to Our SF Event Sponsor:

Tagged is thrilled to join Mashable in celebrating Social Media Day with you at the House of Air! With more than 100 million registered users, Tagged is one of the world’s largest social networks notable for being successful in a Facebook world. How? We focus on social discovery or meeting new friends vs. staying in touch with people you already know. We’re an INC 500 Fastest Growing Company based right here in San Francisco. Did you know that Tagged employees enjoy awesome benefits like unlimited vacation and paid time off, free gym membership, lunch and dinner catered in daily from San Francisco’s best restaurants and more? We’re hiring so come check us out at www.about-tagged.com.

More About: community, mashable meetup, smday, social media day

For more Social Media coverage:

• Follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter
• Become a Fan on Facebook
• Subscribe to the Social Media channel
• Download our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad

Go to Source

Social Media Day is coming up on June 30 — just one week from today! We’re excited to see Meetup organizers throughout the world who are planning awesome events using the Mashable Meetup page and the #SMDay hashtag.

If you’re located in either New York City or San Francisco, we invite you to celebrate Social Media Day with Mashable team members. In New York, we’re holding our #SMDay party at Brooklyn Bowl in Williamsburg, just off the Bedford Avenue stop on the L train. We already have more than 350 RSVPs on our Meetup page and even more on our Facebook event. The party starts at 6 p.m., and there will be free bowling for the first hour. As an extra bonus, all Social Media Day attendees are invited to stay for the Q-Tip show at 11 p.m., closing Social Media Day down right.

In San Francisco, a huge event is being held at House of Air, an indoor trampoline park. There will be free jumping, dodgeball and basketball from 6:30 to 9 p.m. and networking all night. The event already has more than 200 RSVPs on Meetup and close to 600 on Facebook. The venue holds 500, so make sure you arrive early enough to get a spot!

We’re already preparing for the big day! Here’s a photo of the banners you’ll see at both the NYC and SF events:

Not in New York or San Francisco? Be sure to use hashtag #SMDay when tweeting and uploading photos and videos. And if you haven’t told us your social media story yet, be sure to do so as your submission could CNN’s iReport, go check it out. Here are more ways to get involved:

Ways You Can Participate

• Sign up to attend or organize your own event on the Mashable Meetup Everywhere page.
• Share what you’re doing for your Mashable Meetup or leave suggestions for others in the comments below.
• Use the #smday hashtag on Twitter, Instagram, Flickr and YouTube.
• Find your Mashable Meetup community:

Find a Social Media Day Meetup Near You »

Thanks to Our NYC Event Sponsor:

Emailvision is the international leader in software as a service (SaaS) for email, mobile and social media marketing. The Emailvision mission is to provide excellence in software and services for online relationship marketing. With offices and client service teams in 19 countries, Emailvision delivers 5 billion messages per month on behalf of 4,000 clients worldwide. This unprecedented quality of service is driven by 12 years of research and development and by Emailvision’s 600 passionate employees. The company is privately owned by Francisco Partners. For more information about Emailvision, visit www.emailvision.com.

Thanks to Our SF Event Sponsor:

Tagged is thrilled to join Mashable in celebrating Social Media Day with you at the House of Air! With more than 100 million registered users, Tagged is one of the world’s largest social networks notable for being successful in a Facebook world. How? We focus on social discovery or meeting new friends vs. staying in touch with people you already know. We’re an INC 500 Fastest Growing Company based right here in San Francisco. Did you know that Tagged employees enjoy awesome benefits like unlimited vacation and paid time off, free gym membership, lunch and dinner catered in daily from San Francisco’s best restaurants and more? We’re hiring so come check us out at www.about-tagged.com.

More About: community, mashable meetup, smday, social media day

For more Social Media coverage:

• Follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter
• Become a Fan on Facebook
• Subscribe to the Social Media channel
• Download our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad

Go to Source

Apple’s iPad accounts for an ever-expanding percentage of the browser market. It’s also becoming a huge Wi-Fi data hog, consuming 400% more Wi-Fi data on a monthly basis than the average iPhone, iPod or Android device, according to a new report.

Meraki, a cloud services provider, anonymously surveyed more than 100,000 devices accessing public, educational and general use Wi-Fi networks in the U.S. It analyzed bandwidth usage and operating system popularity between 2010 and 2011 to uncover the massive gap between the Wi-Fi data usage of iPads and other mobile devices.

Mobile devices on the whole, according to the study, have usurped desktop platforms as the most ubiquitous Wi-Fi devices. In 2010, iOS and Android devices accounted for a combined 33% of Wi-Fi devices. Now they represent 58%. By comparison, Windows and Mac OS X devices together declined from 63% to 36% during the same time span.

Meanwhile, the iPhone has become the single most popular Wi-Fi device, with an impressive 32% share of the market.

The next time the Wi-Fi at your favorite coffee shop slows to a halt, look around you. The slew of iPads, iPhones and Androids in the room may be the culprits.

Image courtesy of Flickr, Alexander Smolianitski

More About: android, Apple iPad, iOS, ipad, meraki, Mobile 2.0, wifi

For more Mobile coverage:

• Follow Mashable Mobile on Twitter
• Become a Fan on Facebook
• Subscribe to the Mobile channel
• Download our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad

Go to Source

Apple’s iPad accounts for an ever-expanding percentage of the browser market. It’s also becoming a huge Wi-Fi data hog, consuming 400% more Wi-Fi data on a monthly basis than the average iPhone, iPod or Android device, according to a new report.

Meraki, a cloud services provider, anonymously surveyed more than 100,000 devices accessing public, educational and general use Wi-Fi networks in the U.S. It analyzed bandwidth usage and operating system popularity between 2010 and 2011 to uncover the massive gap between the Wi-Fi data usage of iPads and other mobile devices.

Mobile devices on the whole, according to the study, have usurped desktop platforms as the most ubiquitous Wi-Fi devices. In 2010, iOS and Android devices accounted for a combined 33% of Wi-Fi devices. Now they represent 58%. By comparison, Windows and Mac OS X devices together declined from 63% to 36% during the same time span.

Meanwhile, the iPhone has become the single most popular Wi-Fi device, with an impressive 32% share of the market.

The next time the Wi-Fi at your favorite coffee shop slows to a halt, look around you. The slew of iPads, iPhones and Androids in the room may be the culprits.

Image courtesy of Flickr, Alexander Smolianitski

More About: android, Apple iPad, iOS, ipad, meraki, Mobile 2.0, wifi

For more Mobile coverage:

• Follow Mashable Mobile on Twitter
• Become a Fan on Facebook
• Subscribe to the Mobile channel
• Download our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad

Go to Source

Apple’s iPad accounts for an ever-expanding percentage of the browser market. It’s also becoming a huge Wi-Fi data hog, consuming 400% more Wi-Fi data on a monthly basis than the average iPhone, iPod or Android device, according to a new report.

Meraki, a cloud services provider, anonymously surveyed more than 100,000 devices accessing public, educational and general use Wi-Fi networks in the U.S. It analyzed bandwidth usage and operating system popularity between 2010 and 2011 to uncover the massive gap between the Wi-Fi data usage of iPads and other mobile devices.

Mobile devices on the whole, according to the study, have usurped desktop platforms as the most ubiquitous Wi-Fi devices. In 2010, iOS and Android devices accounted for a combined 33% of Wi-Fi devices. Now they represent 58%. By comparison, Windows and Mac OS X devices together declined from 63% to 36% during the same time span.

Meanwhile, the iPhone has become the single most popular Wi-Fi device, with an impressive 32% share of the market.

The next time the Wi-Fi at your favorite coffee shop slows to a halt, look around you. The slew of iPads, iPhones and Androids in the room may be the culprits.

Image courtesy of Flickr, Alexander Smolianitski

More About: android, Apple iPad, iOS, ipad, meraki, Mobile 2.0, wifi

For more Mobile coverage:

• Follow Mashable Mobile on Twitter
• Become a Fan on Facebook
• Subscribe to the Mobile channel
• Download our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad

Go to Source

Go to Source

Typography Mania is a weekly post series that comes around every Wednesday with the best of Typography design works on the web, from type videos to images everything is full of great design and typography inspiration. Users can submit their typography designs.

<!–break–>
Click here to check out all the previous Typography Mania

Make sure to click on each image to go to original location where you can check out more work from each artist and designer.

Submit your Typography work

From now on you can submit your typography mania piece by adding your image to Abduzeedo’s Flickr Group and use the tag Typography. I will search through and handpick the best pieces every week.

Images

Submited by Mr. SKILLA

Submited by Rizon Parein

Submited by sikenomics

Submited by designtaneous

Submited by mauro_matos

Submited by bartondamer

Submited by Maurício.Cardoso

Submited by Rizon Parein

Submited by gabzillaserrano

Submited by Marcelo Schultz

Submited by David Huckert

Submited by Nathaniel Hebert

Submited by Caetano Calomino

Submited by laurinkofler

Submited by red_dotdesign

Submited by red_dotdesign

Submited by Renee Nicole Photography

Submited by Caetano Calomino

Submited by Jean Mosambi

Submited by evrmoor

Go to Source

Swift.fm is a newly relaunched social network/platform that focuses on unreleased music — it no longer needs to languish in oblivion. Swift.fm has been live for 18 months and was, in the past, focused on Twitter, but emerged this week with more tools and tricks.

“There’s a huge opportunity around unreleased music,” says Edward Aten, founder and CEO, “The site provides daily, weekly communication with fans in the way bands do it best — through music.”

Swift.fm is something between a consumer and a back-end product. When artists join, they can connect the site to all of their social accounts — MySpace, Twitter, Facebook, Last.fm — and upload tracks to share across all of those verticals. Still, it’s not just a back-end tool for blasting music out to one’s networks, it’s also a place for fans to check out bands.

Consumers can also create accounts, and, once they plug in their social networks, check out a stream composed of tracks shared by people in those networks. They can also follow musicians directly from the site and listen to artist streams via their pages. (The site says it’s DMCA compliant, but we can see how it could be used to upload and share tracks that belong to the users.)

If all this sounds a little familiar — i.e. like Soundcloud and some others — Aten says to take a closer look. “We are huge fans of Soundcloud, they are our number-one competitor,” says Aten. “But Soundcloud is more like a Flickr for music, and we are more of an Instagram. We’re totally focused on the social side of music distribution — getting music out to fans as quickly as possible.”

In essence, the site is most like “Hootsuite for bands” Bln.kr, except that Bln.kr is more of a back-end, distribution-focused tool than a social network. Still, with the current influx of such social networks — likely a reaction to the fall of Myspace — we imagine that it will still be difficult for Swift.fm to distinguish itself among the masses.

To kick off the relaunch, Swift.fm will be featuring unreleased tracks from a couple of heavy hitters in the hip-hop field — Questlove and Ali Shaheed Muhammad from A Tribe Called Quest, to name a few.

Questlove started using the service last year, posting 30-second clips of what he was doing in the studio to the site.

Unfortunately, the site lacks a “buy” option at present (it’s streaming-only now), but soon bands will be able to sell music through iTunes, Amazon and eMusic.

Image courtesy of Flickr, hell*yeah

More About: MARKETING, music, swift.fm

For more Media coverage:

• Follow Mashable Media on Twitter
• Become a Fan on Facebook
• Subscribe to the Media channel
• Download our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad

Go to Source

Swift.fm is a newly relaunched social network/platform that focuses on unreleased music — it no longer needs to languish in oblivion. Swift.fm has been live for 18 months and was, in the past, focused on Twitter, but emerged this week with more tools and tricks.

“There’s a huge opportunity around unreleased music,” says Edward Aten, founder and CEO, “The site provides daily, weekly communication with fans in the way bands do it best — through music.”

Swift.fm is something between a consumer and a back-end product. When artists join, they can connect the site to all of their social accounts — MySpace, Twitter, Facebook, Last.fm — and upload tracks to share across all of those verticals. Still, it’s not just a back-end tool for blasting music out to one’s networks, it’s also a place for fans to check out bands.

Consumers can also create accounts, and, once they plug in their social networks, check out a stream composed of tracks shared by people in those networks. They can also follow musicians directly from the site and listen to artist streams via their pages. (The site says it’s DMCA compliant, but we can see how it could be used to upload and share tracks that belong to the users.)

If all this sounds a little familiar — i.e. like Soundcloud and some others — Aten says to take a closer look. “We are huge fans of Soundcloud, they are our number-one competitor,” says Aten. “But Soundcloud is more like a Flickr for music, and we are more of an Instagram. We’re totally focused on the social side of music distribution — getting music out to fans as quickly as possible.”

In essence, the site is most like “Hootsuite for bands” Bln.kr, except that Bln.kr is more of a back-end, distribution-focused tool than a social network. Still, with the current influx of such social networks — likely a reaction to the fall of Myspace — we imagine that it will still be difficult for Swift.fm to distinguish itself among the masses.

To kick off the relaunch, Swift.fm will be featuring unreleased tracks from a couple of heavy hitters in the hip-hop field — Questlove and Ali Shaheed Muhammad from A Tribe Called Quest, to name a few.

Questlove started using the service last year, posting 30-second clips of what he was doing in the studio to the site.

Unfortunately, the site lacks a “buy” option at present (it’s streaming-only now), but soon bands will be able to sell music through iTunes, Amazon and eMusic.

Image courtesy of Flickr, hell*yeah

More About: MARKETING, music, swift.fm

For more Media coverage:

• Follow Mashable Media on Twitter
• Become a Fan on Facebook
• Subscribe to the Media channel
• Download our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad

Go to Source

Swift.fm is a newly relaunched social network/platform that focuses on unreleased music — it no longer needs to languish in oblivion. Swift.fm has been live for 18 months and was, in the past, focused on Twitter, but emerged this week with more tools and tricks.

“There’s a huge opportunity around unreleased music,” says Edward Aten, founder and CEO, “The site provides daily, weekly communication with fans in the way bands do it best — through music.”

Swift.fm is something between a consumer and a back-end product. When artists join, they can connect the site to all of their social accounts — MySpace, Twitter, Facebook, Last.fm — and upload tracks to share across all of those verticals. Still, it’s not just a back-end tool for blasting music out to one’s networks, it’s also a place for fans to check out bands.

Consumers can also create accounts, and, once they plug in their social networks, check out a stream composed of tracks shared by people in those networks. They can also follow musicians directly from the site and listen to artist streams via their pages. (The site says it’s DMCA compliant, but we can see how it could be used to upload and share tracks that belong to the users.)

If all this sounds a little familiar — i.e. like Soundcloud and some others — Aten says to take a closer look. “We are huge fans of Soundcloud, they are our number-one competitor,” says Aten. “But Soundcloud is more like a Flickr for music, and we are more of an Instagram. We’re totally focused on the social side of music distribution — getting music out to fans as quickly as possible.”

In essence, the site is most like “Hootsuite for bands” Bln.kr, except that Bln.kr is more of a back-end, distribution-focused tool than a social network. Still, with the current influx of such social networks — likely a reaction to the fall of Myspace — we imagine that it will still be difficult for Swift.fm to distinguish itself among the masses.

To kick off the relaunch, Swift.fm will be featuring unreleased tracks from a couple of heavy hitters in the hip-hop field — Questlove and Ali Shaheed Muhammad from A Tribe Called Quest, to name a few.

Questlove started using the service last year, posting 30-second clips of what he was doing in the studio to the site.

Unfortunately, the site lacks a “buy” option at present (it’s streaming-only now), but soon bands will be able to sell music through iTunes, Amazon and eMusic.

Image courtesy of Flickr, hell*yeah

More About: MARKETING, music, swift.fm

For more Media coverage:

• Follow Mashable Media on Twitter
• Become a Fan on Facebook
• Subscribe to the Media channel
• Download our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad

Go to Source

Typography Mania is a weekly post series that comes around every Wednesday with the best of Typography design works on the web, from type videos to images everything is full of great design and typography inspiration. Users can submit their typography designs.

<!–break–>
Click here to check out all the previous Typography Mania

Make sure to click on each image to go to original location where you can check out more work from each artist and designer.

Submit your Typography work

From now on you can submit your typography mania piece by adding your image to Abduzeedo’s Flickr Group and use the tag Typography. I will search through and handpick the best pieces every week.

Images

Submited by kid grandios

Submited by Sebastián Andaur

Submited by Bramorvsky

Submited by Nathan Godding

Submited by Brandon Schaefer

Submited by danmalarkey

Submited by Evgeniy Trimz

Submited by 1971dsgn

Submited by Carlos Morandé

Submited by Philippe Nicolas

Submited by fogarty.tj

Submited by Andreas Leonidou

Submited by ERNESTO LAGO

Submited by Marcelo Schultz

Submited by arnoKath

Submited by red_dotdesign

Submited by red_dotdesign

Submited by Caetano Calomino

Submited by insprd

Submited by mostrico

Go to Source

I conducted this interview at inspiredBeta and I’m sharing it here as gives insight into the design and development of a great web and iPhone app.

Bastian Allgeier of Zootool has very kindly agreed to put himself in the spotlight to answer a series of questions relating to the design, development and business of his company.  In a nutshell Zootool is about collecting, organising and sharing your favorite images, videos, documents and links from all over the internet.  I have personally used Zootool almost daily for the past year and highly recommend you guys go check it out.

New browser tools at Zootool make already amazing community/visual bookmarking service even greater ♥ – Jeffery Zeldman

It works so well it feels like it’s been a part of my workflow for long time – Jon Hicks

The interview

Design

Zootool is a beautifully designed application. Has the Zootool website design changed dramatically since first launch or has it been a case of smaller UI refinements?

It actually has changed pretty dramatically. The first version from 2007 was all green, brown and super dark. I made an album on Flickr with old screenshots.  When I look back at it, it’s hard to believe that it started that way and that I liked that design back then. But as a designer I always have the problem that I despise my own designs soon after I launch them. It’s somehow a curse, but on the other hand it always keeps me moving.

With the name Zootool you could have gone the direction of using animal references or illustrations in the design. Have you deliberately steered away from this?

There’s still the rhino, which I use as some kind of mascot in various places and which has been there from version one, but I don’t focus on it that much anymore. It’s a bit sad, but I get feedback from time to time, that the style of Zootool and the rhino is too similar to Evernote. Evernote started shortly after I launched Zootool, but got so much bigger in the same time, so it’s really hard to tell people that the rhino and the Zootool style has been there before and that it has been a coincidence that they use a similar motive.

Development

There is a lot of discovery along the journey of creating an application. Has Zootool changed direction at all from the initial concept. If so has Zootool superseded the original intended functionality or have you removed certain functionality to keep it more focused?

Zootool’s core concept hasn’t changed that much, but I’ve added tons of additional features during the last three years and some of them were probably rushed and it would have been better to not implement them. It’s just getting harder and harder to stay focused the longer you run a web application. People give feedback and ask for features, you see competitors come up and your own ideas, of how the “perfect” app should be, start to change. So you always try to make your product better and more powerful and you are tempted to stuff in new features and improvements all the time. The problem is, that it is so much harder to take features away then adding them, so it’s very important to learn to say no – no to user requests and no to your own ideas – otherwise you end up with a huge messy pile of software.

You have recently launched an iPhone app for Zootool. How much fun did you have with this? What problems did you encounter?

The best part about the iPhone app for me was the story behind it. I’ve designed and built everything around Zootool on my own so far, but the iPhone app has been something I knew I couldn’t do. I’ve asked on Twitter if someone wants to help me with it last year and Nicolas Cormier answered within a few minutes. He’s a crazy talented iOS developer, who lived in Sydney at that time and now lives in Oslo. We’ve never met in “real life” so far – which is a shame – but we started working on the app the next day. It is still hard for me to believe how productive we were, just working together via email and Basecamp, and how good the app turned out. We became real good friends in the last months and I learned so much by working with him on that app.

How did Zootool handle the sudden influx of Delicious users when Yahoo announced internally they were shutting it down?. Did this give Zootool any problems? If so what was learnt and what was improved?

The rumours about Yahoo shutting Delicious down hit us really bad in December. We had 600,000 bookmarks in our database and about 30,000 users until that point. Within three hours people signed up like crazy and imported more than 1,500,000 bookmarks, which completely killed the servers. I was able to handle the traffic in the following days by adding more servers, but the monthly bill exploded and I finally had to move to a new hosting company. Zootool is hosted on a much more powerful server setup, so it’s all good now.

Business

Every startup must consider monetising their product at some point. You added pro account features back in October 2010 and you were kind enough to give me early access. This appears to be a winner in my eyes but you’ve not rolled-out pro membership as yet. What’s your current strategy for making Zootool a viable profitable business?

I wanted to roll out pro membership much earlier, but the iPhone app took longer than expected and kept me from finishing the last features. It’s the first thing on my list at the moment and I hope to finally be able to launch it soon.

It’s the most important step together with Fusion ads and the iPhone app to put Zootool financially onto solid ground and keep it thriving. Running a bootstrapped start-up isn’t always easy, but I hope that people will like the additional features and support us.

Do you advertise or has social buzz played a significant part of Zootool’s promotion?

The only advertising I did for Zootool so far was on the Fusion network. I think that Fusion ads are not really comparable to other ads. They are more like recommendations and their quality is just awesome. I don’t like banner ads at all and I don’t believe that they have any real benefit for a site like Zootool.

I find positive blog articles, tweets or posts on Facebook much more relevant and I believe that word of mouth is the most effective way to convince people of your product. The only problem with this is that you can’t control it, so all you can do is to make sure you did everything to build a great app and hope that people like it and write about it.

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