This series is supported by Rackspace, the better way to do hosting. Learn more about Rackspace’s hosting solutions here.You can’t sit staring at your monitor 24 hours a day to keep an eye on your website(s), so thank the heavens for the free services out there that do it for you.Whether site downtime means loss of revenue or just loss of face, or you need to stay a step ahead of your clients, these services offer you a completely free way of knowing what’s up, what’s down and in some cases, why.Read on for our list of ten suggested solutions, but as this list is by no means exhaustive, please do share any services you favor in the comments.1. UptimeRobotNumber of Sites you can Monitor: 50 Regularity of Checks: Every 5 minutes Methods of Alerts: E-mail, SMS, RSS, Twitter coming soonUptimeRobot looks at your site header’s status codes every five minutes and if the code comes back with a problem, does further checks. Then, if there are still issues, it lets you know about it pronto. Created by two devs who think the web should be free or cheap, it’s guaranteed a no-payment service until August 2010, so hop over now to check it out.2. PingdomNumber of Sites you can Monitor: 1 Regularity of Checks: User set, from 1 minute upwards Methods of Alerts: E-mail, SMS (up to 20 per month), push alerts via iPhone appPingdom is a big boy of the paid monitoring services market, but does offer a very basic free account. Although the free service only lets you monitor one site, we feel it’s particularly worthy of mention since it comes with a free iPhone app gives you a handy on-the-go solution for monitoring your website’s status.3. Mon.itor.us Number of Sites you can Monitor: 1 Regularity of Checks: Every 30 minutes Methods of Alerts: IM, SMS, E-mail, RSSMon.itor.us is the free little sister service to Monitis and offers a simple set-up for its external monitoring. As well as alerts, the app tracks failures and logs a report of the uptime/downtime of your website per day, week or month and makes the reports available to you in real time.4. InternetSeer Number of Sites you can Monitor: 1 Regularity of Checks: Every hour Methods of Alerts: E-mail, SMS, pager (!)If sizes matters to you then you’ll be interested to note that InternetSeer claims to be the largest website monitoring service, currently working for over 1.7 million sites worldwide. While it’s been on the receiving end of some criticism for excessive email marketing, in addition to the ability to set up alerts to go to multiple contacts, the service generates a free weekly report.5. UptrendsNumber of Sites you can Monitor: 1 Regularity of Checks: Every 30 minutes Methods of Alerts: On-site info onlyThe free option from Uptrends is more suited to those who want to make uptime info readily available to their users, rather than an alert-based, service. Once you embed the button on your site, Uptrends monitors the uptime of your website every 30 minutes from worldwide checkpoints. Clicking the button will generate an uptime report of the last 24 hours, last 7 days, month and year.6. BasicState Number of Sites you can Monitor: Unlimited Regularity of Checks: Every 15 minutes Methods of Alerts: E-mail, SMSBasicState will check the status of unlimited websites for you every 15 minutes and alert you either via e-mail or SMS if there’s trouble afoot. There’s also the option to generate a daily uptime report with a 2-week history and the service can be tailored to add default, backup and emergency alert schedules to your preferences.7. MontasticNumber of Sites you can Monitor: 3 Regularity of Checks: Every 30 minutes Methods of Alerts: E-mail, status via RSS and widgets for Macs and PCsMontastic offers itself under the fabulous tagline of “the free website monitoring service that doesn’t suck.” The open source service checks from multiple locations in the U.S., so it might be best for sites that have an American audience. Tiered, paid-for options increase the amount of URLs you can get checked and reduce the time between checks.8. Are My Sites Up? Number of Sites you can Monitor: 5 Regularity of Checks: 25 times a day Methods of Alerts:The freebie option from Are My Sites Up? checks as many as five of your sites at least 25 times per day with unlimited email and SMS notifications that, in most cases, will help tell you why your site has gone offline by providing the HTML status error code. Paying up for the premium service opens up access to an iPhone app that is sadly not available for free accounts.9. Site24×7 Number of Sites you can Monitor: 1 Regularity of Checks: Once an hour Methods of Alerts: E-mailThe free service from Site24×7.com is basic, and offers monitoring of one URL every hour with e-mail alerts sent out in case disaster strikes. It’s just one of several free webmaster tools from the company that also includes an anytime website uptime check, web page load time analysis and various DNS/IP search tools.10. 100Pulse Number of Sites you can Monitor: 2 Regularity of Checks: Every 15 minutes Methods of Alerts: E-mail, RSS and a Google gadgetAlong with e-mail and an RSS feed, 100Pulse’s free website monitoring service will keep you updated on the status of two sites via a Google Gadget that you can add to your iGoogle homepage for an at-a-glance look at the status of your websites. As with almost all of the above, paying out gets you extra features, but the free service will cover you for the basics.Series supported by RackspaceRackspace is the better way to do hosting. No more worrying about web hosting uptime. No more spending your time, energy and resources trying to stay on top of things like patching, updating, monitoring, backing up data and the like. Learn why.Image courtesy of iStockphoto, DarkcloudReviews: Google, Twitter, iStockphotoTags: List, Lists, web design, web developer, Web Development, web development series

There’s a plethora of slogan t-shirt and witty e-greeting card companies on the Web, though only a few publishers like Someecards get to the heart of the human condition about our social media addictions, especially to Facebook. Someecards’ collection of e-greetings covers several topics, but we took special notice of their Facebook-related selection. The cards combine words that get to the nut of our Facebook behavior, along with some past-century advertising images. Here are the 20 most popular Facebook-related e-greeting cards at someecards.com. We hope you find these as amusing as we did.

1. Birthday

[That's just a perk of being one of my real-life friends.] 2. Birthday

[Didn't you get my last dozen Facebook invites?] 3. Birthday

[I know, I'll build a Facebook app to automatically write birthday wishes on Friends' Walls, then let others use it and make more money than Zynga makes with FarmVille!] 4. Confession

[Dad, please stop friending all my girlfriends!] 5. Congratulations

[Okay, not everyone with a lot of Facebook friends is needy, but we're just sayin'...] 6. Somewhat ..

[Maybe you should start with Black History Month, ease in real slow?] 7. Flirting

[So I have, like, 300 unread messages, 500 Group/ Fan Page updates, 35 Alerts, and 1 Poke. How about you? What else can we talk about?] 8. Friendship

[You're on my Facebook Friend List marked "Special," and I promise never to "Hide" your updates.] 9. Workplace

[And can I have an extra 24" monitor? You know to research, um, photo album privacy issues?] 10. Valentine’s Day

[We can even create an exclusive "Hidden" Facebook Group that only you and I are members of.] 11. Sympathy

[Hey don't feel bad if you didn't know about the new privacy settings. Even Mark Zuckerberg forgot to protect his own party pictures, and he only cofounded Facebook.] 12. Valentine’s Day

[If you're lucky, I might even Super Poke you.] 13. Friendship

[Ok, I admit I did Poke her once after IMing her.] 14. Breakup

[And do you mind if I tag a photo or two of you, once in a while?] 15. TGIF

[So can you recommend me to them as a friend already so that I can create a Facebook event and invite them?] 16. Thanks

[Thank goodness Facebook is soon going to let us first approve when someone tags horrible or compromising pics of us.] 17. Workplace

[And don't forget all the social features. This could be bigger than Mafia Wars!] 18. Encouragement

[For now, you can just view my status updates in your Feed.] 19. Confession

[Well at least I didn't waste my day tweeting on Twitter.] 20. Friendship

[You can find my Facebook vanity URL on my Twitter profile.] Do you have beefs and pet peeves about your Facebook friends and their IMing, poking, inviting, liking, and sharing behaviors? Let us know in the comments, or go make your own someecards.

This evening Facebook provided the latest details about the soon to be released applications and games Dashboards. Application news items, which are supposed to be a partial replacement for application notifications, are limited to two per application and are displayed within and “appear as a text field next to each application in the dashboard.” We’ll highlight some of the most important new features and changes in this article.

Facebook Has Suggested Apps In what appears to be an awkward typo, the current image of the games dashboard displays “Sponsored” where the company will supposedly be placing “Suggestions”. According to Facebook, the Suggestions area is “where Facebook will highlight applications we think users might like, based on the applications they and their friends are using.”
I’m not quite sure why it says “Sponsored”, however my guess is that this is a sign of the new Facebook ads layout which were being tested by the company as early as last April. My guess is that the image was probably copied from an internal version of the updated Facebook design. App News Stories As A Last Ditch Re-Engagement Tool According to Facebook, the application and games dashboards display “only the two most recent news items on a dashboard for a given application, both personal and global. It also displays the image sent with the most recent global or personal news item, or the application logo, if no image was sent most recently.” If your story doesn’t show up here and isn’t bookmarked, you are just about out of luck for re-engaging the users. It’s not game over though. Facebook has clarified how non-bookmarked applications can re-engage users: the recently used applications page. In the top of the page where recent applications are displayed there will also be, “a link to a page where users can see all of the applications they have interacted with, whether or not they have been bookmarked.” This appears to be the solution we previously alluded to back in November. Popular Applications Rise To The Top One other thing which Facebook is mentioning under the new Dashboard is that a user doesn’t have to be using your application in order for a news story to be displayed. Through the “Friends’ Recent Activity”, applications which aren’t bookmarked or recently use have the opportunity to gain the attention of new users. This results in the viral growth of popular applications via organic promotions. The more popular your application becomes, the more likely it will be displayed in this area.
There Are Two Types Of News Stories The news stories displayed on the dashboard page can be published two ways: globally or for individual users. To publish stories globally you can use the Dashboard.addGlobalNews API call and to publish for individuals you can use Dashboard.addNews or Dashboard.multiAddNews depending on the number of individuals you’d like to target. Whether or not users view these stories will be relatively random.
While we aren’t quite sure what conversion rates of news stories will be, it’s one of the last resort methods for developers to get users to come back to their applications. Games Receive Greater Priority While an increasing percentage of Facebook’s applications are games, the majority of applications still fall into other categories (although that could eventually change). The result is that if you don’t specify your application as a game, you’ll have to compete with “the rest of the applications”. I’ve repeated numerous times throughout the past couple years that if I was building applications, I’d be building games.
Social games are monetizing most effectively currently and it’s why we’re seeing many of the top developers transition to becoming game developers even if it wasn’t their original model. By calling out games, Facebook is highlighting the importance of entertaining experiences on the Facebook platform.
A New Directory Area Also of significance is a new directory area on Dashboard pages which displays those applications currently displayed under the “Applications You May Like” section of the existing Application Directory. I’m not quite sure how effective this new application directory will be given that it only displays text links. The impact on application growth will most likely be negligible. 5 Opportunities To Re-Engage Users So under the new system, what actions do you need to take to ensure users come back to your application? Here are the various phases of the application engagement funnel:

Collect Email - When a user installs an application you’ll have the option of collecting their email. Whether or not you should prompt them to disclose their email immediately should be determined through A/B Testing. Ultimately this will become one of the most important methods for re-engaging users. Bookmark Users - Whether or not you get the user’s email, you should encourage a user to bookmark your application as soon as the user installs it. As they interact with your app you should continue to promote the bookmark application. Bookmarked applications get a clear benefit over other apps so this step is the most critical. Recently Used App News Items - If the user didn’t bookmark your application and you don’t have their email, you need to take drastic action. By posting news items, there’s a chance they will be visible under the recently used applications area of the Dashboard. As we mentioned above, you aren’t one of the three most recently used applications they will be pushed onto another page. Counters - If the user did bookmark your application you are fortunate. You can now post counter updates to notify the user that there are recent activities within your application that they should take note of. As soon as they click on the counter they will be brought to your application. Fan updates - The last model for engaging users is through targeted updates, if they became a fan of your Facebook Page. You should have a place throughout your application which encourages users to become a fan. This provides yet another way of engaging users.

It’s important to note that these are not the only ways to get users to engage with your application. The remaining methods are based on user-to-user communication about your application. The two primary user-to-user methods are: stream stories and a new inbox tool for applications. Conclusion Facebook is preparing to roll out the new Dashboards “in the coming weeks”. The next few weeks mark the big changes that Facebook previously announced back in October. It has been a couple months but the changes are now being rolled out. While many developers are on edge as they have to adapt to the new model, it appears as though Facebook has appeased developers for the most part. We’ll have to wait and see what the final impact is. Do you think these changes will be good or bad for apps? Are you prepared for the impending changes?

Visuals are an important part of advertising, so it’s not surprising that so many companies have jumped on the augmented reality bandwagon, offering tools that visualize their products in a magical and memorable way. Here we take a look at some pretty amazing promotional uses of this new tech that work with common webcams, giving everyone a chance to experience augmented reality — a trend that will be big in 2010.

1. BMW Z4

This BMW interpretation ties in with a TV ad that sees artist Robin Rhode using the Z4 as a giant paintbrush (think big-scale finger-painting with the car’s tyres). Downloading the software, printing out the 3D symbol and holding it up to your webcam will allow you to see your own miniature Z4 on your screen, which you can then drive around using keyboard commands, creating your own Rhode-esque car painting.

1. TOPPS 3D LIVE Trading Cards

Taking the trading card into the 21st century, the Topps “3D LIVE” range offers baseball (and now also football) stars that leap from the special cards onto your desk, as viewed via webcam. As well as creating miniature holographic representations of the players — a neat enough trick that would impress most kids — the concept is taken a step further with the angle that you can control the player’s signature moves via your keyboard.

1. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

As well as augmented reality, this example uses clever face-tracking technology to stick the original 3D CGI head of Optimus Prime atop your own visage. The campaign to promote “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” also includes a hidden holographic message from Bumblebee, again developed using the original 3D model of the robot that appeared in the movie, suggesting CGI films may be ripe for more AR apps in the future.

1. Doritos Sweet Chilli Chips

What we like about Doritos’ take on the tech for the Brazilian market is that the webcam code is printed on the back of the chip packet, adding value to something normally disposable. Perhaps this also means less chip bags littering the streets. Holding up the code on the Sweet Chilli chips packets initiates the appearance of a little cartoon character, which can then be used in an extended online game.

1. USPS Priority Mail Virtual Box Simulator

Erring on the functional side of promotion, the USPS Priority Mail Virtual Box Simulator is a wickedly clever use of the tech that lets users compare the size of an item they need sent to the size of boxes available from the postal service, by seeing how well their item fits inside a transparent box. Although not particularly high octane excitement, it does illustrate the practical use of AR which is yet to be fully explored.

1. Star Trek

These kind of applications work particularly well with a techie audience, or in this instance a Trekkie one. The front cover of certain versions of the Star Trek movie on DVD and Blu-ray doubles as a webcam code to initiate the “cadet orientation” program. It offers a holographic tour around the USS Enterprise (that appears as a hovering apparition on your screen), incorporating a look at the bridge, and best of all, a trigger to fire the ship’s weapons, complete with sound effects.

1. Wrigley’s 5 Gum

Created for the launch of Wrigley’s “5″ chewing gum in France (although the site is also available in English) this interactive example of AR sees five symbols (each representing one of the five gum flavors) becoming a different track that only plays when the webcam can “see” it. The desktop DJ experience is probably best explained by watching the demo video above, populated appropriately by masticating teens.

1. Ray-Ban

Although many items of apparel can be bought online, sunglasses are one of those tricky products that you really need to try on to ensure you look more chic than geek. Ray-Ban’s Virtual Mirror (ably demonstrated here by YouTuber NickHearne) lets you virtually try on glasses (after a quick bit of face-mapping). The software lets you move your head around to see how the shades look from different angles. Depending on the opacity of the glass, you can even see your eyes through some of the shades. Seeing this app in action makes us think this could be where the real commercial future of AR lies.

1. Lost Valentinos

John Mayer, Eminem and Julian Perretta are three other musicians that have dabbled with AR as a way of making their music videos more compelling, but this effort from the Lost Valentinos — with each printable code representing a member of the band to be arranged as you see fit — is a great example of how to keep it tight. In addition, the band’s site doubles as a video gallery for fans to share how they interacted with the AR by uploaded webcam video clips.

1. Always Infinity

This time round we’ve saved the worst for last. How best to promote feminine hygiene products? With an augmented reality white bunny of course. We think the world can do without this irrelevant foray into the AR arena that assumes a female audience will be blown away by an incredibly basic application of the tech. Reviews: Blu Tags: Augmented Reality, awesome, business, MARKETING

Chances are you’re going to find yourself with some down-time over the holidays. Sure, you could go for a jog/swim/insert other energetic activity but let’s face it, after all that turkey and egg nog what you’ll really fancy is a semi-snooze on the sofa as you strain to watch some TV over your bloated belly. Ever at your service, we’ve pulled together a list of what we consider are ten great geek films. We’ve left out anything adapted from a video game (they are almost all universally rubbish anyhow) and anything featuring robots, Vulcans, Jedis, and Keanu Reeves as too obvious to waste space on the list, focusing instead on computer-related flicks. So, without further preamble, here are 10 great movies to geek out to over the holidays – so grab your popcorn and enjoy.

1. Pirates of Silicon Valley

Tom and Jerry, Popeye and Pluto, Steve and Bill. The duo that changed the computer industry forever are pitched against each other here in a made-for-TV movie following their intertwined early years. Enjoy Woz and be sure to look out for a young Steve Ballmer.

1. The Net

Gibson-gulping, pizza-eating Sandra Bullock wishes she never hit control and shift in this cinematic outing that sees her identity stolen by the evil digital elite as she uncovers a plot as improbable as her casting.

1. Hackers

“Their only crime was curiosity.” Well, that and really bad hair. Offering up a rad baddie that rides a skateboard despite being middle-aged, the prevalence of floppy disks in the film alone will make you nostalgic for the days of dial-up.

1. Wargames

Lovable nerd Matthew Broderick nearly starts World War III in this geek classic that sees his teenage hacker taking on WOPR, NORAD’s supercomputer, in a “game” involving nuclear missiles and the potential annihilation of the planet.

1. MacHeads

“I’ve never knowingly slept with a Windows user.” For some an operating system is a tool, for others it’s a way of life. This documentary follows the latter. Compelling, whether or not you subscribe to the cult of Mac.

1. Sneakers

Geek cinema goes all-star with this hacker slash conspiracy flick that features, among others Robert Redford, River Pheonix and Dan Akroyd as just a few of the stars discovering secrets about a “black box” they think the NSA has hired them to retrieve. Needless to say, all is not as it seems.

1. Antitrust

Tim Robbins takes a thinly-veiled turn as a sinister Gates figure heading up the NURV corporation where idealistic programmer Ryan Phillipe gets hired after college. If you like your geeks glossy and your plots full of holes, then this one’s for you.

1. Electric Dreams

So Eighties it’s almost painful to watch at times, Electric Dreams offers a plethora of gadgets from the decade as well as a self-aware “Pinecone” PC that forms one point of a love triangle. Will the geek get the girl? You’ll have to watch it to find out…

1. The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes

We’re taking you back a ways with this 1969 movie that sees a very young Kurt Russell get an electrifying experience that gives him the brain of a computer, hence the tennis shoes reference of the clumsy title. The tech is sooo dated, it’s a little like a history lesson too.

1. Office Space

We’ve saved the best for last. A cult classic, Office Space’s geek credentials come from the plot line that sees disenfranchised cubicle-dwellers create a virus-like snippet of software to rip off the company for a bunch of money, but the whole show is stolen beautifully by Milton and his attachment to his red stapler.

BONUS: Primer

Impressive for its measly $7,000 budget, this recent cult classic follows a mind-bending story about a group of hackers who accidentally build a time machine. It’s so confusing it’s sure to make you wish you could go back in time yourself and ask Santa for the foresight never to try to understand how the plot of this head scratcher works. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, DNY59. Reviews: iStockphoto Tags: Film, geek, List, Lists, Movies

Twitter has brought us many things. It lets us communicate in real-time about breaking news events, it lets us share content like photos, music, and videos, and it lets us do business in new ways. But Twitter is also being used to power some very intriguing and beautiful virtual art projects. Tweets are being visualized and mashed up with other content in ways that create stunning online art.In this post we’ll highlight six incredible experimental art projects that are using Twitter as a basis for their awesome creations. These visualizations go beyond just displaying data in more interesting ways — they are also truly fascinating pieces of online art.1. PortwiturePortwiture is an absolutely beautiful Twitter/Flickr mashup project that takes your tweets and turns them into a gorgeous piece of mosaic tile art. The site works by taking a look at your most recent tweets, and pulling out your most used keywords. Using those keywords, Portwiture then matches your tweets to interesting photography from Flickr to create a “serendipitous visual representation of your Twitter profile.” The results are stunning and can be viewed both in mosaic mode, and as a slideshow.You can tweet the results by changing the number of keywords to use, how it searches Flickr (i.e., by interestingness or by relevance), and by restricting the Flickr results to a specific Flickr user (so you can make a mosaic of your own photos).2. Twitter MosaicTwitter Mosaic also creates a beautiful mosaic image from your Twitter profile, but rather than pulling images from Flickr and matching them to the content of your tweets, the site instead tiles the profile images of your followers (or friends). The result is another amazing piece of Twitter-powered artwork. The site lets you delete from the mosaic any followers you want — allowing you to remove default avatars and reconfigure the mosaic until you have the most attractive possible version.The resulting image can be embedded on your web page or purchased on merchandise like coffee mugs or t-shirts.3. TimeTweetsTimeTweets is an infinitely clever Twitter mashup that turns tweets into a clock. The site searches for tweets with a number corresponding to either the hour, minute, or second and then places those tweets into a clock by accentuating the numbers. The result is a very readable clock that is accurate to the second and refreshes in real-time with new tweets (though sometimes a second or two may be skipped if there are no good tweets that match the necessary number). The site is also available as a screensaver for the Mac.4. TwitterfountainTwitterfountain takes text and photos and puts them together to create a piece of continually updating art. The site is another Twitter/Flickr mashup that mixes tweets and Flickr images about specific keywords. You can set the keywords for both the Twitter and Flickr searches, and they don’t have to match (so you could mix tweets about puppies with pictures of kittens). The result is a really cool way to visualize tweets about specific topics or events with images that match.Twitterfountains can be embedded and the size, color, and keywords for both Twitter and Flickr can be customized.5. TwistoriTwistori is an absolutely dazzling Twitter art project that continually scrolls tweets using the words love, hate, think, believe, feel, or wish. The site offers a fascinating look into the psyche of the collective Twitterverse, but because of the understated beauty of its design, Twistori can also be considered a top-notch Twitter-powered art project.Mac users can download a screensaver version of Twistori, as well as a desktop app that can create your own custom Twistori visualizations based on whatever keywords you want (and in whichever colors or fonts you’d like to use).6. TwyricBy mashing up Twitter with Flickr (sense a theme?), Twyric is able to bring life to short, Twitter-published verse. The site pulls in tweets that include poetic hashtags such as #haiku, #twyric, #lyric, #poetry, #poetic, and #poem, among others. The site then pairs the contents of that tweet with a related (by keyword, at least) image from Flickr. In mashing up those two, Twyric manages to create short, but beautiful, one-line visual poems. The creators of the experimental art project say that the idea is to create a “background for contemplation.”Do you know of any other Twitter-powered art projects? Please let us know about them in the comments!More Twitter resources from Mashable: - 6 Gorgeous Twitter Visualizations - 10 Most Extraordinary Twitter Updates - HOW TO: Find a Job on Twitter - HOW TO: Do Good on Twitter - 10 Ways to Find People on TwitterReviews: Flickr, TwitterTags: art, List, Lists, twitter, visualizations

We write an exorbitant amount about the web services we know and love here at Mashable, but what about some of the great devices that connect us with those services? There is a lot of hardware out there beyond our computers that helps us plug into social media as well. Let’s takes a look at ten current options in the social hardware category. And though we’ve picked our top 10, there are many more social devices out there. Be sure to let us know your favorites in the comments!

1. Roku Player

We’ve been following along as TV is getting more social. Here’s one great device for tapping into that trend: the Roku Player taps into your queue from the increasingly socially-enabled Netflix, as well as from Amazon Video on Demand and MLB.com. It connects directly to your television set and delivers video content over the internet. Plus, Roku has other partners planned for content delivery on its $99 set-top box. Social video site blip.tv has confirmed it’s working to get established as a channel on Roku, and a leaked screenshot provides strong evidence that YouTube is on the list of future partners as well. With at least 10 new partners planned before the end of this year, it will be exciting to see which services sign on for distribution via Roku.

1. Ooma Hub

Offering an interesting new business model for the home phone line, Ooma makes a hardware solution for voice over IP (VoIP) calling that you pay for once and then avoid monthly phone charges thereafter. Other VoIP services live Skype and Vonage have stuck with the monthly subscription model, but Ooma essentially subsidizes your entire lifetime’s worth of calling through the purchase of the approximately $250 hardware. Or at least, that portion of your lifetime during which Ooma is able to stay in business. Still, depending on how much you currently pay for home phone service you’re probably looking at breaking even in less than a year. On the flip side, as with other internet-based telephony solutions, you’re looking at downtime whenever your ISP is down. Ooma does offer integration service with an existing landline for just such emergencies, but then you’re still footing an extra bill for voice service. As an alternative to other VoIP models, the Ooma is worth checking out. The reviews of the hardware itself have been generally favorable as well.

1. INQ Phones

UK-based INQ takes a unique approach to social networking integration on mobile devices. It offers several phones specifically designed to integrate with Facebook and Twitter. Other phones let you access Facebook or Twitter of course, but the INQ phones are notable in part for not being smartphones — they’re designed more for the average user who doesn’t need all the bells and whistles of something like an iPhone, yet wants to be highly connected to their social networks on the go. Some may decry the idea of a mobile phone being designed for such a singular purpose, but let’s remember that back in the day our phones were designed with truly one purpose in mind: to call people. In today’s world, “staying connected” involves more options than simply voice, and it makes sense that handset manufacturers would seek to cater to some of those methods without having to go whole hog and implement a full application platform on the device.

1. Squeezebox

Logitech has several offerings in their Squeezebox line of networked music players. In addition to your own music collection, you can listen to online music services like Rhapsody, Napster, Pandora, last.fm, Slacker and other internet radio. What’s also cool about Squeezebox is you can link it with your last.fm account and scrobble the tracks you listen to. “Scrobbling” is last.fm’s lingo for sending the list of songs you play to your last.fm profile to be displayed and counted along with the rest of your music taste statistics.

1. Flip Mino

The Flip Mino line of pocket camcorders is designed with easy social video sharing in mind. The camera comes with pre-installed software called FlipShare that makes it dead easy to upload your videos to your favorite social video sites including YouTube, Myspace and AOL Video. The Flip fits easily in the palm of your hand and connects to your computer via a retractable USB connector. There’s a standard and an HD version of the Flip, depending on what kind of quality level you desire for your video. If you’re interested in one-touch video uploads to the web, these little guys are definitely worth checking out.

1. Xbox 360

Beyond its ability to get you into great multiplayer gaming, Microsoft’s video game console is a socially-connected device in several other ways. Beyond voice and text chat and member messaging, Xbox Live Gold subscribers can access their Netflix instant queues from the console’s online service. This fall, even more social integration comes to the Xbox 360, with both Twitter and Facebook coming to the console, including the ability to post in-game screenshots to your Facebook profile. Microsoft will also be adding last.fm to the 360, with unlimited playback for XBLA Gold subscribers and three hours monthly plays for free Silver users (similar to Pandora’s model, although Pandora gives you a much heftier 40 hours’ worth of free tunes). Plus, the Xbox 360 Elite bundle just got a nice $100 price drop, so if you’re in the market for a game console it’s a good time to be looking at the 360.

1. Pogoplug

Pogoplug is a very handy little device that can convert any memory stick or external hard drive into network storage you can access or share over the web. You plug in the device to a power outlet, connect it to your home router, and attach a thumb or hard drive to its USB port — and that’s it. Your drive is now securely accessible over the web at my.pogoplug.com. You can also mount the drive through the Mac Finder or Windows Explorer as well. Mac support is a welcome touch for Pogoplug, with HFS+ external drives being supported as well. If you have photos, home videos or other files you want to share with others, friends can access and download them or simply view them right from their browsers, without even needing to spend the time uploading them to sharing sites. Pogoplug’s add-on architecture will also reportedly soon allow connection to popular destinations like backup services, cloud file sync sites and photo printing, to name a few. The device is currently available for $99.

1. Eye-Fi

Eye-Fi is a product line of SD and SDHC storage cards that have built-in wireless connectivity, essentially giving any camera that takes SD memory the ability to upload images (and via certain cards video as well) instantly over Wi-Fi. Instead of hooking up a cable and transferring your photos to your computer manually, the Eye-Fi can automatically be set to upload them straight to your computer over a wireless connection. And if you’re not near your computer, you can have the images uploaded to Eye-Fi’s storage cloud and beamed back down to your home computer, even if it’s thousands of miles away. With the Share versions of the cards, you can also have images automatically uploaded to any of up to 25 photo-sharing sites including Flickr, Facebook and Picasa. With a range of sizes, features and prices from $49.99 to the $149.99 4GB Pro card that also supports RAW uploads and geotagging, there might be a card that fits your needs and budget. Check out the comparison chart of the different Eye-Fi versions.

1. T-mobile myTouch 3G

One reason we love phones: they’re inherently social. We tried not to flood the list with them, but couldn’t resist including an offering that runs Google’s Android operating system: the T-Mobile myTouch 3G. The successor to the first Android phone available in the U.S., the G1, the myTouch is essentially identical to the HTC Magic that has been out in Europe, Canada and parts of Asia since earlier 2009. Running the latest Android 1.5 software, also known as “Cupcake,” the myTouch 3G features even tighter integration with Google’s impressive range of cloud products and web services including YouTube, Picasa, Gmail, Google Maps, and more. Although in some ways hardware makers have yet to fully deliver on the promise that is the open source Android OS, the myTouch 3G is certainly a step in the right direction over the G1.

1. Apple iPhone 3GS

Still, in our minds, there’s a reigning champion in the mobile phone department. It’s made by Apple, and some of you may even have heard of it… yes, it’s the latest edition of Apple’s iconic iPhone, the 3GS. Featuring a higher-resolution camera with video support, a larger size option at 32 GB, and faster performance, the 3GS isn’t exactly a revolutionary upgrade over the previous 3G model. But it’s a welcome update to Apple’s flagship mobile device nevertheless. The iPhone was also the device that kicked off the age of the mobile application store. Much like the iTunes experience before it did for digital music, the iPhone application ecosystem took mobile apps mainstream. And with over 65,000 choices and counting, there’s no shortage of options to choose from — many of which keep us connected to our favorite web and social services while on the go. Any top 10 list is controversial and we’re sure we’ve left out some worthy pieces of social hardware. What’s your favorite social gadget? Which of the devices on this list do you use already? Let us know in the comments. Reviews: Android, Facebook, Flickr, Gmail, Google, Google Maps, Mashable, MySpace, Pandora, Skype, Twitter, YouTube Tags: eye-fi, flip mino, Hardware, INQ, iphone, Last.FM, Lists, ooma, pandora, pogoplug, roku, social gadgets, squeezebox, t-mobile mytouch, xbox, Xbox 360

When Facebook Connect first launched for the iPhone in March, we said that it would “[open] up many new avenues for developers (and users).” Indeed, Facebook Connect means that iPhone developers have access to rich social graph and profile data from Facebook, and can build applications that leverage status updates, profile data, and friend information. Toward the end of March we brought you a list of some of the great iPhone apps taking advantage of Facebook Connect. Since then, many more developers have jumped on board and added support for the technology. This list brings you 10 more fantastic apps that allow you to connect with Facebook from your iPhone to do things like share information, sync data, challenge friends to games, and access media. This is hardly an exhaustive list of all the iPhone applications taking advantage of Facebook Connect, so please share your favorites in the comments.

1. PhoneBook (Free)

You’ve got Facebook friends, and you’ve got iPhone contacts, and there’s likely overlap, so PhoneBook brings the two together. The free app from Somo Enterprises lets you sync your Facebook account with your iPhone, and create a visual phonebook of your Facebook friends using your friends’ photos. Whenever you want to call or text message one of your friends, you can just load up the application and click on your friend’s picture. The application can also tell you how many minutes or text messages you have left in the current month on your calling plan, but unfortunately, it currently only works for AT&T customers in the US.

1. iFightU ($0.99)

iFightU is a really innovative iPhone game, not because of the gameplay — that’s just classic side-scroller fighting game fare (think Street Fighter), and not all that impressive — but because it puts your friends in the game. Using Facebook Connect, iFightU lets you grab photos of your friends and attach their faces to the characters that fight in the game, which makes everything a lot more fun.

1. Scramble (Free)

Scramble is a great word game from Zynga. It plays a lot like the classic board game Boggle, in which you search for words in a grid of letters, but takes advantage of the iPhone’s touch screen beautifully letting you swipe over letters to form words. Scramble also lets users connect to their Facebook accounts to challenge their friends over the social network.

1. Top Friends (Free)

Slide’s Top Friends app, which essentially allows users on Facebook to designate a handful of users as their best friends (yes, like you can on MySpace), was one of the first big applications on Facebook and remains extremely popular with over 12 million monthly active users. The free iPhone edition lets you connect with Facebook to view your Top Friends on the go on an interactive map, SuperPoke them, and email, SMS, or call them.

1. Scrabble ($4.99)

Scrabble maker Hasbro made waves last year when it asked Facebook to remove fan favorite Scrabulous — a very well made Scrabble clone game that had become hugely popular on the social network. Since Scrabulous shut down, Hasbro has been trying to make amends with fans by releasing not only a slick Facebook game, but also a great iPhone version that connects to Facebook so you can challenge your friends wherever they play.

1. LuckyCal (Free)

LuckyCal helps you find your Facebook friends and fun stuff to do while you’re on the road. Simply login to Facebook via the app’s Facebook Connect integration, then let LuckyCal access your social graph and find friends who are nearby. The app will also suggest events happening in the area that match your interests. Because the app uses the iPhone 3.0 GPS, you never need to tell it where you are.

1. Find My Friend ($0.99)

It can be difficult to find someone at a place you’ve never been or in a large crowd. We’ve all heard something like this before, “I’m sitting next to the woman in the blue tank top and to the left of the second big tree.” Say what? Find My Friend is a new application that attempts to solve this problem using both Facebook Connect and the new iPhone 3.0 Maps and GPS features. Once you connect to Facebook, you can invite your friends to link up with you. If they accept, the app goes to work using the iPhone’s GPS and Google Maps functions to guide you to your friend. Of course, this app will only be as accurate as the iPhone’s built in global positioning system, but still, it’s a neat idea and a cool use of Facebook Connect.

1. Trapster (Free)

Trapster uses the power of crowdsourcing to alert drivers to speed traps, police cameras, and check points. While the ethics of using an app to help you drive faster than the law allows is up for debate, the application is undeniably popular with over 600,000 users on the iPhone alone.
And now the app has Facebook Connect integration, so you can publish traps you see to your Facebook mini-feed to alert your friends. You can also publish trips you take to Facebook, so your friends can see what you’re up to and where you’re traveling.

1. iNapkin ($2.99)

Everyone has heard stories about famous discoveries, songs, policies, and ideas for companies scribbled on the backs of cocktail napkins. It’s hard to say how many of those stories are true — maybe none of them, but the back of a napkin idea has a certain cultural cachet nonetheless. iNapkin is a neat note-taking application for the iPhone that brings cocktail napkin scribbles into the digital age. The application uses Facebook Connect to let you share your notes, doodles, and brilliant ideas with your Facebook friends.

1. ThisMoment (Free)

ThisMoment is a unique application that lets users author “moments,” which are mashups of text, photos, and videos drawn from Facebook, YouTube, Flickr and elsewhere. The site utilizes Facebook Connect for sign up, and the ThisMoment iPhone application allows you to create moments using local iPhone assets and then share them back out to your friends using Facebook Connect.

More iPhone resources from Mashable:

• 14 iPhone Apps With Push Notification for Productivity
• 29 Twitter Apps for the iPhone Compared
• 7 iPhone Apps That Can Save Lives
• 15 iPhone Apps to Tame the Kids
• Data Visualizations: 5 Amazing iPhone Visualization Videos

Reviews: Facebook, Flickr, Google Maps, MySpace, Top Friends, YouTube, thisMoment Tags: facebook connect, find my friend, ifightu, inapkin, iphone, Lists, luckycal, phonebook, scrabble, scrable, thisMoment, Top Friends, trapster

Facebook Connect is an exceptionally useful technology for web developers. Not only can they offer Facebook users one-click registration and sign-in, but by accessing profile and social graph information, Facebook Connect gives developers a way to create a richer experience for their visitors and gives publishers a brand new promotional channel. In January, we brought you a list of 10 great Facebook Connect implementations, and developers across the web have been busy since then coming up with new and innovative ways to integrate with Facebook. So below is a list of 10 more great implementations of Facebook Connect that stand out for their creativity, their usefulness, or their seamless integration.

1. Watchmen on Blu-Ray

Back in May, Warner Bros. announced that the special Director’s Cut Blu-ray edition of the movie Watchmen would utilize Facebook Connect. The disc arrived in stores today, and it does indeed feature Facebook Connect features for those with BD-Live enabled Blu-ray players. That means that people with both Facebook accounts and BD-Live players can invite friends for live viewing parties, exchange comments, and update their Facebook status.
Yes, that’s a lot of prerequisites, but still, the possibilities here are pretty neat. As we noted in May, the new Watchmen integration is “a huge step forward in bringing our social graph to entities beyond the Web.” Also arriving today is a special edition Blu-ray version of the film 300 that also includes integrated Facebook features (300 and Watchmen were both directed by Zach Snyder).

1. Frenzied Waters

One thing we’re starting to see more and more is the use of Facebook Connect for clever, and in the case of the Disovery Channel’s Frenzied Waters, exceptionally unsettling marketing campaigns. A couple of weeks ago, the Discovery Channel sent out packets to a handful of bloggers containing some gnawed swim trunks, a key with a floating keychain, a warning sign advising against swimming at the beach, and a copy of an obituary customized with personal details about the blogger the package was sent to. One final item in the package was a shark tooth attached to a piece of brass with the web address “FrenziedWaters.com” stamped on it. It was clearly an invitation to visit the web site, where of course, the ghoulishness continued. Frenzied Waters is an interactive flash movie designed to make watchers feel like they’re in the water being attacked by a shark. If you click on the floating jar all the way to the right (on the splash screen), the application will ask you to connect with Facebook, where it will pull photos and information from your account to create a montage about your death by shark attack. Our best guess is that Frenzied Waters is a promotional campaign for the Discovery Channel’s upcoming Shark Week (which runs on the network annually in August). If that’s the case, it is definitely brilliant — very, very creepy, but brilliant nonetheless.

1. The Prototype Experience

Like Frenzied Waters, the Prototype Experience uses Facebook Connect as a way to personalize a media campaign and insert you into a starring role. The site is a promotion for the “Prototype” video game from Activision and scores huge points for taking the normally static concept of a trailer and making it interactive. Once you connect with Facebook, the Prototype Experience pulls in photos and other information from your profile in order to customize the trailer and insert you into the video game’s world. The site adds a viral element by asking you to “infect” your friends in order to enter for a chance to win an Xbox 360.

1. Beware of the Doghouse

Beware of the Doghouse is a brilliant marketing campaign for retailer JCPenney from ad firm Saatchi & Saatchi that utilizes Facebook Connect. The site allows anyone to punish their significant other for a wrongdoing by putting them in the doghouse using Facebook. Once notified that someone has placed you in the doghouse, users can view a hilarious video about what life in the doghouse is like (above) or they can find out how to get out of the doghouse… by buying diamond jewelry from JCPenney, of course!

1. Eventbee

Facebook has an amazing platform for virally publicizing events, but right now, it doesn’t have any way to support ticket sales. Eventbee solves that problem using Facebook Connect in a very clever way. Not only can events be promoted on Facebook via your friends’ news feeds, but Eventbee offers a way to turn your Facebook friends into ticket sellers. After your friends have connected to Eventbee via Facebook, they can become “Partners,” and begin promoting your event to their own networks on Facebook. You can allow your partners to offer their friends a special discount rate on tickets and can even give Partners a sales commission on the event tickets they sell.

1. GirlsGuideTo

GirlsGuideTo is a social network just for girls that uses Facebook Connect as its only login option. By using Facebook Connect, the site is able to make sure the network actually stays girls only.
Because the vast majority of people don’t lie on their Facebook profiles, GirlsGuideTo is able to fairly accurately determine the gender of people trying to access the site and keep the guys out. The creators of the site plan to open a sister (brother?) site for guys in the future, and invites any male user attempting to get into GirlsGuideTo to sign up for beta notifications. Sorry guys, we are still in our beta but the Guys Corner will be open soon. The “GC”, as we call it, is where you can post content, give advice, lend your perspective and provide real time advice. Please fill out this form and we will send you a notice as soon as the Guys Corner is open. Thanks

1. Tweetpo.st

For those of you who find yourselves spending more time on Twitter these days, but still don’t want to give up on Facebook, there’s Tweetpo.st. Tweetpo.st is an application that uses Facebook Connect as a way to automatically update your Facebook status based on your tweeting activity. The site will post any tweet (except @replies and those containing !fb) to Facebook as a status update, but has some nifty features to make your tweets read better on Facebook. For example, tweets that include a URL can be posted on your Wall as a shared link instead of as status updates, and tweets containing an @username can automatically swap out the username for that person’s Twitter “real name.” Further, tweets containing links can automatically be encoded with Awe.sm, for users of that service.

1. Drop.io

Drop.io’s Facebook Connect integration essentially allows you to share files and other media through your Facebook news feed and status updates. Once you’ve connected your drop to Facebook, any time you add new media to the drop, your friends will be notified via a status update included in their news feeds. They can then click-through to the drop and interact with the media or download the file you’ve shared. For users that don’t want to publicly share their files, Drop.io offers a “Friendlock” feature, which allows users to specify which friends get invited to a certain drop and get notifications of new media added to the drop.

1. Brightkite

Location-based social network Brightkite is one of those obvious candidates for Facebook Connect integration, and they’ve done a wonderful job with it. Once you create an account and sign in (which can be done via Facebook Connect), visit your settings page to grant Brightkite deeper access to your Facebook account. You can specify settings for your checkins, notes, and posted photos, and whether you want those automatically added to your Facebook status, news feed, or photo albums. (Brightkite can also sync each of those types of updates with Twitter.)

1. The Washington Post

In June, the Washington Post pushed out Facebook Connect integration. On the surface, this just adds a way for Facebook users to get by the annoying registration wall the paper puts on its content, and a way to easily share stories from the Post site with your Facebook friends. But on a deeper level, Facebook Connect could theoretically be very valuable for the newspaper. They could get better ad targeting information from user profiles, for example, or they could increase traffic by syndicating user actions (like commenting) back to Facebook, or they could personalize news based on your age, location, interests, or work — the possibilities are really endless, and show how Facebook Connect could be important for the future of the newspaper business.

BONUS: Xbox Live

Starting this fall, Xbox Live will get an update that will allow you to connect to Facebook directly from your console. That unlocks all sorts of possibilities — sharing scores with Facebook friends, challenging buddies to online games, making photo albums of in-game screenshots, etc.
The actual details are a bit hazy now, so we’ll have to wait until the update is rolled out this autumn to know for sure how cool (or lame) Facebook Connect on the Xbox really is.

More Facebook resources from Mashable

• 5 Great Examples of Facebook Connect on the iPhone
• FACEBOOK FAIL: How to Use Facebook Privacy Settings and Avoid Disaster
• HOW TO: Build Your Personal Brand on Facebook
• 9 Fantastic Facebook Pages for Fashion Reviews: Blu, Brightkite, Facebook, Twitter Tags: brightkite, drop.io, eventbee, facebook, facebook connect, frenzied waters, girlsguideto, jcpenney, Lists, prototype, tweetpo.st, washington post, watchmen, xbox, XBox live

Firefox users love their tabbed browsing capability, but if you leave tabs unchecked they can get completely out of control. For those of you who feel lost in a sea of tabs, there are numerous ways to manage them; Here are over 40 of the best extensions. While we think all of the options we’ve provided are great, we suggest that you install just a few; Installing too many add-ons will slow down your browser. Have a favorite Firefox add-on to recommend? Tell us about it in the comments.

Tab Display & Placement

Chromin Frame - If you prefer the way Google Chrome places tabs at the top of the window, this add-on will aid you in recreating that same placement.  Depending on the number of toolbars you run, it can get pretty crowded in the tab area, so moving tabs above the jumble may work out the best for some people. ColorfulTabs - All those gray tabs can get confusing, and ColorfulTabs can help add some order to the mix.  Tabs gets assigned different colors as you open them, making them easier to distinguish.  ColorfulTabs could be especially helpful to anyone that needs to have a lot of tabs open at any given time. ColoUnREaDTabs - When you have lots of tabs open, it’s easy to forget which ones you’ve read, and which ones you still need to.  This add-on changes the text in unread tabs to red-bold-italic so that you can easily spot which tabs you still need to read. FlagTab - Use a menu to choose which colors to assign to a tab, mark tabs as unread, create relative tabs and more.  Tree Style Tab - Feel more comfortable with a tree hierarchical system for your tabs?  Tree Style Tab does just this by placing the tabs in a sidebar, and attaching new tabs to each tree as you follow links from page to page.  This is a great add-on for designers who need to see how a site they wish to duplicate is structured, or for those checking out a site they’ve designed to see how it flows. VertTabbar - VertTabbar places your tabs in a vertical menu located on either the right or left hand side of your browser.  The preferences allow you to determine the width, position of the closure button, alignment of the text and more.  This is a great way to de-clutter the top of your browser screen.

Tab Management

Close Tab by Double Click - The name of this add-on pretty much says it all as it will allow you to quickly double click on a tab to close it. Double-Click to Reload Tabs - This add-on will allow you to double-click on a tab to reload it, and if you do a shift + double-click, it will reload while bypassing the cache. Duplicate Tab - Bloggers will probably love this extension that allows you to duplicate a tab, which is perfect when you need to search your older posts so you can backlink yourself.  You also can merge multiple windows, break out a tab into a new window and more. Easy DragToGo - This will give you gesture control over numerous Firefox features, but it also allows you to open links in new tabs that are placed either in the foreground or background, search the text of current tabs, and more handy tools.  Great for power surfers who don’t like clicking a lot of buttons to accomplish simple tasks. Multiple Tab Handler - Multiple Tab Handler allows you to close multiple tabs at once, reload several at a time, move them around in bulk, close tabs to the left or right and more.  NewTabURL - NewTabURL gives you more options when you open a new tab, such as opening as a blank page, always opening your home page, opening a user-defined URL or the page you are currently on.  This is a great tool for web designers who need to go to the same pages repeatedly, or need multiple copies of a site open at any given time.

Next Tab - Firefox currently opens new tabs all the way in the last location on your tab bar, but with Next Tab you will be able to open a new tab directly next to the one you are currently using.  Open link in… - This add-on gives you more options via the context menu of when and how a new tab should open up.  You can launch tabs in the foreground, a background tab, in a background window and more.  OpenInWindow - Say you have a lot of tabs open already and you plan on opening up another webpage.  Do you have a tab open you don’t need anymore?  With OpenInWindow you can tell Firefox to use that already existing tab from the right-click context menu, and save yourself opening up yet another new tab. Tab Buttons - You can add either a new tab button or an undo closed tab button on either side of your tabs, or just enable one of them if you choose.  People who find they close tabs by accident may find this the solution to their problems. Tab Clicking Options - Tab Clicking Options gives your mouse a lot more power when interacting with your tabs by giving different abilities to different kinds of mouse clicks.  You can use it to close tabs, bookmark them, reload, duplicate and more.  This is something that could quite possibly be useful to just about every Web surfer out there. Tab Control - Tab Control gives you more flexibility with how your tabs display, such as a tab’s minimum and maximum width, which position they should open in, forcing JavaScript popups to open in a new tab and so on. 

Tab Kit - While Firefox lets you have as many tabs as you would like open at any given time, if you exceed the width of the screen you then have to scroll left and right to see them.  Tab Kit allows you to have multiple rows of tabs as well as give them colors so they are easy to distinguish.  You can also put them into groups, move them to the sidebar, duplicate tabs and a host of other controls, making this a great solution for your all-in-one tab manager. Tabs Menu - This add-on gives you a new listing in the toolbar that will show you the titles of all your tabs in a vertical descending menu.  Great if you have a lot of tabs open as the names get smaller with each new tab. Tab Mix Plus - Tab Mix Plus provides a lot of useful features to help you manage tabs in Firefox. For example, as each tab loads, you see a progress bar contained inside of the tab header so you can view its progress.  The biggest feature has to be the right-click menu that gives you numerous options for managing your tabs such as opening, closing, reloading, duplicating and more.  This is the perfect add-on for intensive research. Tab Saver! - While you can save tabs when you close Firefox, Tab Saver! allows you to save whenever you want, even allowing forced saves whenever you choose with a keyboard shortcut.  Tab To Window - A simple add-on that will allow you to either duplicate a tab to a new window, or just entirely move the tab to a new window on its own. TabCloser - If you have several tabs opened to different pages on the same Web site, this will allow you to close all tabs related to that one domain name with just an easy click. TooManyTabs - For those who open tons of tabs, this add-on allows you to store tabs you don’t currently need in extra rows where they will remain idle and won’t consume system resources.  You can restore tabs to the active area at any time, restore up to 20 recently closed tabs, mark tabs in different colors and more.

Tab Navigation

Auto Toggle Tabs - This add-on adds a new selection to your “Tools” menu that allows you to set a time interval that your tabs will automatically change for you.  Great idea for a makeshift screensaver. Fancy Numbered Tabs - Fancy Numbered Tabs will remove the “x” from each tab for closing and replace it with a number.  With these numbers in place you can use ctrl + a number or alt + a number to change to the tab of your choice.  If you exceed the amount of numbers issued, no matter how many you have, ctrl + 9 will take you to the last tab. LastTab - Ctrl-Tab navigation is altered with this add-on that allows you to get to the most recently opened tabs first, and also adds a drop down menu for mouse navigation through your tabs.  Great for those who need to change tabs rapidly on a regular basis. NumExt - Numbered Tabs - Numbered Tabs is an easy way to navigate through numerous tabs you may have open. Num-Ext will number your tabs and you can then use ctrl + 1 - 9 to navigate through the first nine tabs, and alt + 1 - 9 for 10 through 17.  TabNavIt - TabNavIt allows you to hold down your right mouse button and then use the scroll wheel on your mouse to navigate through the various tabs you have open.  Unlike other scrolling add-ons, this one can be used from anywhere in the browser window since it requires the right-click to work. Tab Wheel Scroll - This add-on has one simple duty, and that is to place your mouse in the tab bar and then use your scroll wheel to move back and forth amongst the tabs to select the one you want to switch to.  Wonderful extension for those that have numerous tabs open at any given time.

Tab Visualization

Firefox Showcase - The Firefox Showcase add-on gives you the ability to manage your tabs as thumbnails in a window, tab or sidebar.  Each thumbnailed tab also receives a label, the ability to drag-and-drop rearrangement, and more.  A great idea for students doing research that need to use multiple sources. FishEyeTabs - This particular tool will magnify a tab for easier reading when you have too many tabs open and the labels have gotten too small for you to read.  FoxTab - FoxTab provides you with five graphical interfaces for displaying your tabs so that you can browse through them without just having to stare at the names along the top and hope you remember what the site is about.  This extension could be especially useful to web designers as you can easily have multiple screenshots displayed at once depending on the configuration you choose. Tab Catalog - Using different commands such as F8 or clicking both mouse buttons at once, you can launch a thumbnail gallery of all your current tabs with Tab Catalog.  Once the thumbnails are open, you can close any of them or multiple tabs at once.  Tab Popup - Tab Popup allows you to simply roll your mouse over a tab to see a preview of what it contains.  Since the previews are larger than a standard thumbnail, Tab Popup is great for people who need to have lots of tabs open for research. Tab Preview - This popup preview lets you set options such as how long after mouseover it should display the preview, the size of the thumbnail and where it should be displayed.  Tab Sidebar - As the name suggests, Tab Sidebar moves your tabs to the sidebar, hiding the original tabs menu.  The most noticeable difference with this new placement is that you get a thumbnail preview of each tab in the sidebar for easier browsing.  Other features include updating thumbnails, navigation for each tab, drag-and-drop movement of the tabs and more.  Tab Slideshow - Tab Slideshow will begin scrolling through all of your open tabs after an amount of time that you set.  While this might not be the most useful add-on, it could be a fun screensaver while you’re on a phone call.

Miscellaneous Tools

Basics - The name says it all with this add-on that only has one basic feature, moving the “New Tab” button from the right side of the tab bar to the left.  This makes sense since we English speakers are used to moving across screen from left to right. Morning Coffee - While there are other extensions that let you save tabs to open each time you start Firefox, Morning Coffee allows you to setup which tabs open automatically according to which day of the week it is.  The example they give is the web comic Penny Arcade that updates Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so there’s no need to open that site on Tuesday and Thursday, and that’s no problem for this handy application.  This is absolutely perfect for the Internet addicted amongst us, which is pretty much all of us. Page Title Eraser - With Page Title Eraser, you are able to completely erase the title of the tab from your window so it just appears untitled in your browser.  You can also use it to rename a title if you choose to do so, making it impossible for anyone to look over your shoulder and get an idea of what you’re looking at. Send Tab URLs - This extension will allow you to copy the URLs of all your currently open tabs to the clipboard or directly to an email program.  If you plan to send the list to email, it can only be 30 addresses long, but the clipboard allows for unlimited addresses.  This is the perfect tool for people who need to cite the resources they use for projects. Tab History - Whenever you open a new tab, it opens up with no history, but with Tab History all of your new tabs retain the browsing history of their “parent” tab.  This is especially handy if you are splintering off tabs from the same site over and over to explore different parts of the site. Tab URL Copier - This add-on provides you with a new choice in your right-click context menu that allows you to copy the URLs of all your open tabs to the clipboard so that you can email them or simply keep track of them for any research you may be doing. TabRenamizer- Ever had sites open in a tab that you would rather not have your boss or family know you are looking at?  Even if you have another tab in the foreground, the name of the site still appears on the other tab, but with TabRenamizer you rename a tab to anything of your choosing.  Great tool for anyone that needs to conceal a site they may not want others to know they are browsing.

More Firefox resources from Mashable:

• 16 Great Music Add-Ons for Firefox
• HOW TO: Make Firefox Your Productivity Machine
• 20+ Great Twitter Tools for Firefox
• 20+ Firefox Plugins to Enhance Your YouTube Experience Reviews: Firefox, google chrome

Chris Spagnuolo is a social media maven, blogger, cyclist, food and wine lover, and an agile software development evangelist from Ft. Collins, CO. 2009 promises to be a stellar year for professional cycling around the world. The return of Lance Armstrong has more fans than ever turning out at early season races like the Tour Down Under and the Tour of California. And in the midst of all of this excitement, there’s a new thrill in town.  The world of professional cycling has seemingly become enamored with the wonderful world of Twitter.  Some of the world’s top cycling professionals have taken to Tweeting on a regular basis. For the first time, cycling fans are getting the real skinny about the behind-the-scenes happenings of professional cyclists as they travel the world. It’s not just the pedaling pros who are Twittering. Team managers, mechanics, coaches…they’re all getting into the act.  We’re getting real-time updates from team cars as the races progress. And race organizers themselves are Tweeting information for fans attending the races on a regular basis: where to park, where to watch from, after race events, and much more.  Here’s a handpicked list of 48 People to follow for your professional cycling Twitter fix:

Professional Cyclists

1. Levi Leipheimer

Follow:Levi @Levi_Leipheimer Who he is: 3-Time Winner of the Tour of California, Dauphiné Libéré winner, 2007 U.S. Road Race Champion, 1999 U.S. National Time Trial Champion Professional Team: Team Astana Levi is part of arguably the best team in the pro peloton, Team Astana. Joined by his teammates Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong, it’s hard to see how anybody can beat these guys. Levi is just coming off his incredible third straight victory in the Tour of California and it sounds like it’s been an emotional high that he won’t soon be getting over. Levi just started Tweeting this past December, but he’s been providing some good information and posting some pretty funny pics on TwitPic too.

1. Ivan Basso

Follow: @ivanbasso Who he is: Winner of the 2006 Giro d’Italia Professional Team: Liquigas After serving his suspension for his involvement in the Operation Puerto affair, Ivan’s ever smiling face is back in the ranks of the pro peloton this year.  Arguably one of the best climbers in the peloton, it should be an exciting year for the Italian pro.  Ivan Tweets regularly and his Tweets are often very funny. 

1. Christian Vande Velde

Follow: @ChristianVDV Who he is: 4th Place finisher in the 2008 Tour de France Professional Team: Team Garmin-Slipstream Christian has paid his dues in the pro peloton riding as a super domestique for the likes of Lance Armstrong for years.  Now, he’s stepping out into the spotlight and hasn’t disappointed.  With his new team, Garmin-Slipstream, Christian is ready to ride in the top ranks of the peloton this year.  And, he’s been Tweeting and using TwitPic to keep us up to date on his exploits in the peloton.  Besides his adventures on the bike, we’re also finding out that VDV is quite the thug:

1. George Hincapie

Follow: @ghincapie Who he is: Veteran pro, Tour de France stage winner Professional Team: Team Columbia-High Road After serving for years as Lance Armstrong’s most trusted lieutenant, Big George has left the fold and joined with Columbia-High Road.  For the first time in memory, he will be riding against his team captain. Not only has George been giving us the inside scoop on his travels and his teammates at Team Columbia-High Road, but he’s also been Tweeting about his new company Hincapie Sportswear.

1. Dave Zabriskie

Follow: @dzabriskie Who he is: Four-time U.S. National Time Trial Champion, Tour de France Stage Winner Professional Team: Team Garmin-Slipstream Will he have a beard or won’t he?  That’s always the question with Dave Z.  And now, if you follow him on Twitter, you’ll know.  Zabriskie is a great time trialist and has been on form again this year.  He holds the record for the fastest time trial ever in the Tour de France and we can expect to see him try to break that record again this year.  Dave’s Tweets are short and to the point, but they’re worth the follow. And in case you thought you were the only Hulu junkie, Dave seems to be one too:

1. Mick Rogers

Follow: @mickrogers Who he is: Australian National Time Trial Champion Professional Team: Team Columbia-High Road Mick is one of the hardest working guys in the pro peloton and it shows.  As one of the team leaders for Team Columbia, Mick is poised to be at the top of the GC in many of this year’s top races.  He’s a great guy and fun to follow on Twitter.  He is very responsive to replies and often takes votes and input from the Twitterati about a wide range of important questions like:

1. Floyd Landis

Follow: @TheRealFloydL Who he is: Winner of Paris-Nice, Tour of California, Tour de Georgia Professional Team: TeamOUCH Floyd is back and has something to prove.  After being stripped of his Tour de France title back in 2006, Floyd’s life has been in considerable turmoil.  But, after a long legal fight, subsequent suspension, and hip replacement surgery, Floyd is back and ready to fight again.  Floyd just recently started Tweeting but has been getting down with regular updates as he returns to the road.  There are also a few “fake” Floyds out there and it looks like the Real Floyd L thinks they’re pretty funny (even though his PR people don’t).

1. Jani Brajkovic

Follow: @janibrajkovic Who he is: World Under 23 Time Trial Champion, Winner of Tour de Georgia Professional Team: Team Astana Jani is the future of professional cycling. He’s young, vibrant, and incredibly talented.  And now, he’s riding for Team Astana alongside Lance Armstrong, Alberto Contador, and Levi Leipheimer and learning from the best.  Look for great things from Jani in the future. And look for some great Tweets and posts to TwitPics as well.  You’ll also find out very quickly that Jani loves Snickers.

1. Tom Danielson

Follow @tomdanielson Who he is: Winner of the Tour de Georgia, Vuelta a Espana Stage Winner, Mt. Evans Hill Climb record holder Professional team: Team Garmin-Slipstream

Tom has been in the pro peloton since 1999 and has ridden in support of some of cycling’s greatest names, including Lance Armstrong.  Tom is riding with Garmin-Slipstream this year and has been Tweeting about his daily racing and training routine and posting pics to TwitPic too.

1. Taylor Phinney

Follow: @taylorphinney Who he is: World Junior Individual Pursuit and Time Trial Champion Professional Team: Trek-Livestrong U23 Team Taylor comes from great cycling stock. He is the son of former professional racing cyclist Davis Phinney and former Olympic gold medal racing cyclist and speed skater Connie Carpenter-Phinney. And now, he’s in the Lance Armstrong fold on the Trek-Livestrong U23 team.  Taylor’s had a lot to Tweet about lately with his recent U.S. record in the Individual Pursuit.  He also posts tons of pics to TwitPic and often asks his followers to help him give them funny captions.

1. Ben King

Follow Ben: @BenKing89 Who he is: U.S. Junior National Road Champion Professional Team: Trek-Livestrong U23 Ben joins Taylor Phinney in Lance Armtrong’s Trek-Livestrong U23 team.  Together, they’re proving to be junior powerhouses honing their skills for bright futures in the pro peloton.  Ben’s updates are informative, usually detailing training rides and his teammates on the Trek-Livestrong team.

Professional Teams

1. Team Astana

Follow: @teamastana Possibly the strongest cycling team ever assembled, Team Astana looks poised to compete for every major cycling race this year.  With team members like Lance Armstrong, Alberto Contador, Levi Leipheimer, Jani Brajkovic and Andreas Kloden on the roster, it’s hard to believe anyone can beat Astana this year.  The team has been providing great Tweets about everything from promotions and race schedules to real time updates from the races. We even get some good humored Tweets like this one after Team Manager Johan Bruyneel shaved Bob Roll’s head:

1. Team Garmin-Slipstream

Follow: @TeamSlipstream Jonathan Vaughters has managed to assemble a great new American team to ride in the pro peloton. And, he’s been using social media to get the word out about the team and their successes.  Vaughters himself provides many of the Tweets for Garmin-Slipstream, including in-car updates during races.  The team also has an active blog and a good presence on Facebook as well.

1. Cervelo Test Team

Follow: @cervelotestteam After a long relationship with Team SCS, Cervelo has broken away and formed their own test and development team, featuring the 2008 Tour de France Champion Carlos Sastre and the ever speedy sprinter Thor Hushovd.  Cervelo Test Team is using Twitter to keep us updated on race results, team news, information, and really exciting announcements like this one.

1. Rock Racing

Follow: @rockracing Rock Racing is sponsored by internationally renowned lifestyle brand Rock & Republic and owned by CEO and Creative Director Michael Ball.  It’s almost become a team of refuge for cyclists returning from suspensions.  Rock Racing had a very successful season in 2008, winning 45 races and four national titles, while putting a rider in the top-three overall 106 times. They look poised for another good season in 2009 and have been Tweeting plenty so far, including live updates from team cars during races.  These guys are Twitter pros!

1. TeamOUCH

Follow: @teamOUCH HealthNet/Maxxis returns in 2009 with a new sponsor and a new look.  TeamOUCH, presented by Maxxis, is back and ready to be reckoned with as one of the strongest pro continental U.S. teams.  And, they’ve packed their roster with the returning Floyd Landis.  The team just started Tweeting this year at the Tour of California and they’re providing live team updates from the races at a phenomenal pace.  If they keep this up, they’ll be one of the best teams to follow on Twitter.

1. Bissell Pro Cycling Team

Follow: @bissellcycling Bissell has been involved in pro cycling for a very long time and this year, they’ve assembled a very good continental team.  Their roster includes a future star in American cycling, Ben Jaques Mayne.  Look for great things from Bissell in 2009.  The team is brand new on Twitter and just started providing live Tweets from the 2009 Tour of California.  There isn’t much there yet, but it looks promising.

1. Team Type1

Follow: @TeamType1 Founded in 2004, Team Type 1 fulfilled the dream of two collegiate cyclists living with Type 1 diabetes. Phil Southerland and Joe Eldridge initially had a standing bet: the rider with the highest blood sugar would buy the post-ride burrito. Now, they aim to instill hope and inspiration for people around the world affected by diabetes through Team Type 1’s professional, amateur and triathlon teams.  Team Type1 Tweets at a furious pace about races, promotions, and advocacy issues. With over 900 updates already, expect to see a lot more from Team Type1 in the coming season.

Cycling Celebs and Notables

1. Eddy Merckx

Follow: @emerckx Who he is: He’s won more than we can ever list here.  5-Time Tour de France Winner, Winner of the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a Espana. “The Cannibal” is arguably the greatest cyclist ever.  There isn’t a notable race that Eddy hasn’t won.  He retired in 1977 but has remained a dominant force in the sort.  He has a successful bike factory manufacturing Merckx bikes, has been a commentator on Belgian television, been a member of the Belgian Olympic Committee, a coach of the Belgian National Cycling team and an advisor to the Tour of Qatar.  Eddy is new to Twitter, but his Tweets are amusing so far.  He Tweets in broken English as he provides sage advice and gentle taunts to his followers:

1. Johan Bruyneel

Follow: @johanbruyneel Who he is: General Manager for Team Astana Johan is the man with the plan.  He is the mastermind behind Lance Armstrong’s 7 Tour de France wins.  And now, he has assembled the powerhouse that is Team Astana.  Johan has a great sense of humor and now you can see it for yourself on Twitter.  He provides frequent updates, including TwitPics and live reports from the team car. He’s really funny and sometimes gives us a glimpse into how boring it can be to ride in the team car on those long flat stages.

1. Chris Carmichael

Follow: @trainright Who he is: Lance Armstrong’s Coach If Johan is the man with the plan, Chris Carmichael is the guy who makes sure Lance gets it done.  Chris has been coaching Lance since his early years and was the first person to tell Lance that he’d win the Tour de France someday.  Chris also runs Carmichael Training Systems (CTS) and offers a wide range of athletic coaching services.  He Tweets and posts TwitPics about Lance’s training regimen and races, as well as news, information, and promotions at CTS.  And when he gives the details of Lance’s regimen, he gives the details:

1. Robbie Ventura

Follow: @RobbieVentura Who he is: Former professional cyclist, commentator on Versus, cycling coach Robbie Ventura raced professionally for 12 years, spending his last four years as part of Lance Armstrong’s U.S. Postal Service Squad. Robbie was a criterium specialist and amassed over 70 victories over the course of his pro career. He also runs Vision Quest Coaching. According to the guys in the peloton, Robbie is one of the friendliest people around.  Robbie has been posting plenty of pics to TwitPic, and we’ve learned that he has some fun outside of work too.

1. Jake Jacobson

Follow: @JakesJournal Who he is: Jake from Garmin.  He’s Garmin’s official blogger Jake follows the Garmin-Slipstream team and reports on their racing.  He also provides updates about promotions and other cool things from Garmin.  He writes a great blog for Garmin and has over 1,000 updates on Twitter.

1. Axel Merckx

Follow: @axelmerckx Who he is: Former professional cyclist Everyone know him as Eddy’s son,  but Axel Merckx had a very successful cycling career of his own.  He rode most of his career as a domestique, but always had a presence in the major races.  Axel is relatively new on Twitter and TwitPic. Axel has Tweeted about moving to Canada and enjoying his retirement from cycling in some interesting ways:

1. Ben Coates

Follow: @trek_ben Who he is: The Trek team liaison to Team Astana When he’s not trying to find replacements for Team Astana’s stolen bikes, Ben manages the relationship between Trek and Astana.  Ben is great on Twitter and TwitPic as he discusses his travels with team Astana, product development at Trek, and how the latest technologies are being used to propel the Astana team to victory. 

1. Brian Dallas

Follow: @cyclingmechanic Who he is: Veteran professional bike mechanic and Mavic Special Services Course member at the Tour of California. A great bike mechanic with over 15 years experience servicing professional continental teams.  Brian has most recently been providing live update Tweets and TwitPics from this year’s edition of the Tour of California.

1. Rory Masini

Follow: @rorymasini Who he is: Cannondale liaison to Liquigas Rory is the man who keeps Ivan Basso and Daniele Bennati in bikes.  He’s got one of the coolest jobs on the planet next to Ben Coates.  Rory is a very frequent Tweeter and his updates cover the Liquigas team and lots of other good things from the Cannondale family.  Rory is great on Twitter and TwitPic, and it looks like he’s an iPhone user:

1. Chris Brewer

Follow: @chrisbrewer62 Who he is: Development Services, Livestrong/Lance Armstrong Foundation Chris does a lot for the Lance Armstrong Foundation, including blogging on the Livestrong website.  He also attends races and mans the Livestrong booth.  He’s been very busy giving us updates and TwitPics about Lance’s travels, the Livestrong Army, and special promotions and efforts that LAF is involved with.

1. Liz Kreutz

Follow: @LizKreutz Who she is: Lance Armstrong’s official photographer If you really want to know what Lance is up to, follow Liz because she follows Lance…everywhere.  She is Lance’s official photographer and she gets the inside scoop like nobody else.  She’s a huge TwitPic poster as you’d expect from a photographer, and she really gives us some insights into how much work Lance is doing off the bike in his fight against cancer:

1. Phil Liggett

Follow: @PhilLiggett Who he is: Cycling commentator extraordinaire for Versus Phil Liggett is the voice of professional cycling.  He has been the voice behind the calls for some of cycling’s most exciting races ever.  He has also been a writer for Cycling Magazine as well the The Guardian and The Observer.  He has also written several books on cycling.  This man knows cycling.  Phil is brand new to Twitter and hasn’t posted much. In fact, his profile was being held by a fan until Phil was ready to Tweet.  Well, Phil is ready and just started out, and should be a good follow if he keeps it up.

Major Races

1. Tour Down Under

Follow: @tourdownunder The Tour Down Under is quickly becoming the headline event kicking off the professional cycling season. Recently released numbers show that the 2009 Tour Down Under was the biggest event ever staged in South Australia and all of the major pro teams were represented at the race.  The race organizers used Twitter to great effect to communicate race related events, fan information, as well as live race updates.  They’re done for this year, but be sure to follow them throughout the year for route announcements and other interesting TDU tidbits.

1. Amgen Tour of California

Follow: @AmgenTourofCali The largest cycling event in America, the 2009 Amgen Tour of California is a Tour de France-style cycling road race that includes the world’s top professional cycling teams competing along a recently expanded, 750-mile course from Sacramento to Escondido.  The tour organizers have been using Twitter to keep fans informed of special tour events, race results, and live race reporting.

1. Tour de France

Follow: @tourfrance The Grand Boucle.  The big daddy.  The maillot jaune. The Tour de France is it when it comes to professional cycling.  The first Tour de France was way back in 1903 and every year since then (with the exception of a few war years), the TdF has delivered the most exciting cycling the world has ever seen.  The tour organizers are now using Twitter to announce routes, stages, team invites, tour news and more throughout the year.

Magazines, Bloggers, and More…

To round out the list, here are some top cycling magazines, bloggers and special cycling Tweeters to help you get all the pro cycling information you’ll ever need:

1. @velonews: The social media outlet for pro cycling magazine VeloNews.  Complete cycling news, including race coverage, rider profiles, bike reviews and general commentary on the world of cycling.
2. @BicyclingMag: Bicycling Magazine’s official Twitter face.  Lots of cycling news and information as well special deals and promotions via Twitter.
3. @espn_cycling: ESPN goes Tweeting with cycling news and information.
4. @theroaddiaries: The Road Diaries takes you behind the scenes with SRAM to meet the world’s greatest cyclists at the world’s biggest races.
5. @neilroad: Neil Brown from Road Magazine brings you live race updates plus plenty of juicy cycling news stories from inside the pro peloton.
6. @roadbikereview: Road Bike Review heads to Twitter with live race updates, cycling gear reviews, news, and classifieds.
7. @bikeradar: Gary Boulanger, editor of Bike Radar delivers daily Tweets including live race updates, and plenty of other cycling news and information.
8. @interbike: Rich Kelly, marketing manager for Interbike, the largest gathering of the bike industry in North America. Rich Tweets about life and bikes.
9. @cyclingfans: Pete Geyer of Cycling Fans is your Twitter guide to live race coverage, all season long. He also provides plenty of news, photos and commentary.
10. @bikeride: Brent Soderberg from BikeRide.com provides live race updates and news about bicycling events and cycling in general.
11. @cyclelicious: Richard Masoner from the Cyclelicious blog Tweets race updates, photos and his take on the wonderful world of cycling.
12. @bikesbelong: Bikes Belong is a bike advocacy group working to create better places to bicycle and get more people riding.  Lots of good information about bike advocacy in their Tweets.  Event announcements are Tweeted as well.
13. @TourDeTweets: Tour de Tweets provides live race coverage from the major races as well as interesting commentary and questions about the pro peloton.
14. @livestrong: The official Twitter face of Livestrong and the Lance Armstrong Foundation.  Tweets about Lance, cycling, the foundation, special events, and how you can become involved at Livestrong.
15. @mellowjohnnys: Lance Armstrong’s own bicycle shop in Austin, Texas, Mellow Johnny’s has been touted as Austin’s friendliest bike shop. Lots of fun Tweets about the Livestrong cycling team as well as shop specials and other news about the Austin cycling scene.

Alright, so maybe you really DO want to follow Lance. Here he is:

Lance Armstrong

Follow: @lancearmstrong Who he is: Cancer survivor, 7-Time Tour de France Winner, Livestrong Founder Professional Team: Team Astana

The 7-time Tour de France winner has been Tweeting like crazy since he announced his return to professional cycling. He’s been giving us the inside scoop on his travels around the world as he spreads his message in the fight against cancer. He’s also providing great behind-the-scenes coverage of the major races he’s been in. Lance has been posting tons of great pictures on TwitPic as well.

More Twitter resources from Mashable:

• The 10 Users You’ll Meet on Twitter
• 25+ Celebrity Twitter Users
• 40 of the Best Twitter Brands and the People Behind Them
• Twitter Professors: 18 People to Follow for a Real Time Education
• HOW TO: Build Community on Twitter Image courtesy of iStockphoto, chichi ---Related Articles at Mashable | The Social Media Guide:Twitter SMS Will Be Free for Canada’s Bell Mobility Customers After AllXumii’s iPhone App Combines IM and Social UtilityMashable Gets a Social Media MakeoverTwitter Fail Whale Tattoo is Awesome, Kinda

Samir Balwani is a social media marketer who helps businesses create effective web strategies. You can follow him on Twitter and get his newsletter. As we battle a global recession, corporations are looking for new ways to sell their products and engage their consumers. Many have turned to the Internet, with Social Media in particular, to market their goods. Let’s take a look at 10 companies that have done a phenomenal job of taking advantage of social media platforms.

1. Blendtec Blends it on YouTube

Who doesn’t know about the “Will It Blend” series on YouTube? Created by George Write, the marketing director of Blendtec, the campaign was low cost and instantly became a hit. In the video, Tom Dickson the CEO of Blendtec, attempts to blend objects in their blender. This simple idea led to a “five-fold increase in sales”. Blendtec leveraged YouTube’s subscriber base and tried something fun and original. The campaign was a success and continues to entertain and sell.

Lesson: Social media marketing doesn’t always need to cost a lot of money. Creating funny, original video and leveraging an already large user base can be used to increase sales.

1. Burger King and the Sacrifice Facebook Application

Recently, Burger King has really been pushing the envelope with their marketing. They first started with whoppervirgins.com, then entered the social space with the “sacrifice ten friends” facebook application. The campaign quickly went viral and was adopted by over 20,000 users, sacrificing 200,000 friends for free whoppers. Sadly, the application was shut down as quickly as it started by Facebook, citing privacy concerns. Regardless, the application was beautifully built and the idea was perfect. Burger King built in the ability to share it, the incentive to use it, and added just enough humor to make the campaign a hit.

Lesson: Successful and viral campaigns don’t just test out social media, they jump in it. Pushing the envelope can create the buzz that makes your campaign memorable.

1. Starbucks Asks for Your Advice

Social media isn’t only about using existing websites, but sometimes creating your own. To get a better handle on consumer feedback, Starbucks did just that with “My Starbucks Idea.” The site allows users to submit suggestions to be voted on by Starbucks consumers, and the most popular suggestions are highlighted and reviewed. Starbucks then took it a step further and added an “Ideas in Action” blog that gives updates to users on the status of changes suggested.

By empowering their exceptionally web savvy consumer, Starbucks strengthens their campaign to add a personal touch to coffee. Lesson: Thinking of ways to build your company are great, but directly asking your consumers what they want, is better. Acting on that information and doing it publicly is key to the success of this campaign. Starbucks has also embraced Twitter, you can see their stream at @Starbucks.

1. Sun Microsystems and the CEO Blog

Want your blog to really make a splash? You could learn a lot from Sun Microsystem’s CEO blog. Jonathan Schwartz’s blog received about 400,000 hits a month (in 2006). It’s not the number of hits that make his blog a social media success, but the openness on it. Positive and negative comments are allowed, and even the most inane are approved. Transparency from the highest position in a company trickles down and increases trust from consumers.

Lesson: Social media is a culture of transparency and honesty that must be embraced, leading by example is one of the best ways to introduce it to a company. Few things are better than a CEO that blogs or uses twitter. Sun Microsystems also has a network of blogs, friends on Facebook, friends on Twitter, and their own Twitter account as well.

1. IBM With Lots of Blogs

When IBM decided they wanted to start using blogs, they didn’t just create one blog, they created an entire network. IBM created a way and allowed their employees to write about their experiences, what they’re working on, or any other topic of choice. IBM capitalizes on the intelligence of their employees to give consumers insight into what happens behind the scenes. By giving the industry experts they’ve hired a voice, IBM is able to highlight the people behind their products. Users get to see how IBM operates, and are given a direct connection with IBM employees.

Lesson: Having a CEO that blogs is great, but increase the number of blogs and you increase the number of connections. Leveraging your employees to write about what they love conveys the corporate dedication to the industry. You can also find IBM on Twitter giving updates on events from their calendar.

1. Zappos on Twitter

Obviously we had to talk about Twitter, this is a social media post after all. The most obvious of companies to make Twitter work is Zappos, an online retailer that has really led the way in corporate Twitter use. The idea of micro-blogging and the sense of exceptional customer service is ingrained in the corporate culture. Most Zappos employees have an active account, and the Zappos site has a page that aggregates all the streams. The reason why Zappos stands out on Twitter is because of their ability to bring the company to life. The Zappos CEO has lent his personality to the company brand, a personality that is friendly, helpful, funny, and trustworthy. They use Twitter to highlight interesting facts, and to talk to their consumers. Talking to Zappos is like talking to a friend that happens to sell shoes.

Lesson: Take a CEO that twitters, add in a great personality and you have a recipe for social success. Ingraining social media into the culture of a corporation means that every consumer interaction is personal. Zappos also does a great job of using their blog and Facebook to engage their avid fanbase.

1. Comcast on Twitter too

I never expected to be writing good things about Comcast, but because of Frank Eliason things have changed. Frank is the man behind @comcastcares, a Twitter account setup to help Comcast users in need. Comcast has found a way to offer exceptional customer service to their consumers, but the thing that really makes them stand out is how well they monitor discontent. Complain about Comcast and you can bet you’ll hear from @comcastcares to see if they can help.

Lesson: Being active on Twitter is great but tracking and seeing who’s mentioning you, is the next step. Social media allows for the possibility of great customer service, and with it, better brand loyalty.

1. Ford and Social Media PR

You’d think I’d talk about how Ford uses Twitter (they use it well), but the thing that makes them really shine is how they did a great job quelling a would-be public relations disaster online with the use of social media. The basic story is that there was an internal gaffe where Ford’s legal department sent out cease and desist letters to forum owners using Ford trademarks. Obviously the story was twisted and changed, and in the end people were outraged. What makes this a success story for social media is that Scott Monty (Ford’s community manager) was quick to find out what happened and let us know the true story. Not only that, but as things were being fixed and a compromise was ironed out, the public was informed every step of the way. Although we don’t know if social media has shown a direct return on investment for Ford, the public relations fiasco it helped avert (think Motrin) should help make the case for more funding for social media.

Lesson: Social media can be used to inform consumers in real-time of how a corporation is reacting to events that affect the customer. Transparency in the process and access to constant information can help stop a negative story from going viral.

1. Graco Uses Pictures on Flickr

Social media is about sharing all types of content, including photos. Facilitating the sharing is easy, but gaining something from it requires a sound strategy. Graco did just that, by building a community around their product using Flickr. Flickr isn’t the center of their campaign, but they promote it heavily with the Graco blog which also creates an incentive for others to submit pictures. The photographs help highlight the people behind Graco and the consumers using their products. Graco takes their strategy one step further by introducing offline marketing in the form of community gatherings. The pictures from these meet-ups are posted to the Flickr page, further humanizing the community around the product.

Lesson: Social media doesn’t have to exist wholly online. Blending offline marketing with online efforts can build a community around a brand. Graco has a blog and leverages Lindsay Lebresco (the corporate blogger for Graco) to be active on Twitter.

1. Dell Doing it Everywhere

Embracing social media is a huge undertaking, and involves a large investment. Dell didn’t shy away from these obstacles, instead they’ve gone above and beyond, truly cultivating a cross-platform community. They’ve created multiple Twitter handles, a network of blogs, and are very active on Facebook. Dell is also one of the few companies to publicly state that they created a return on investment from Twitter. Apparently, Dell’s social media efforts help create “$1 million in revenue“.

Lesson: Social media isn’t all about ROI, but it is possible. Creating cross-platform strategies can lead to the most success, especially when your demographic is already Internet and technologically savvy.

Other Brands

We’ve explored 10 companies and picked out 10 lessons we can learn from them. As social media evolves, we’ll see how many of these are replaced by new innovations in marketing. Is there a company you think evolved the industry, that deserves to be on this list?

More brand resources from Mashable:

• 40 of the Best Brands on Twitter and the People Behind Them
• 35+ Examples of Corporate Social Media in Action
• Top 10 Free Tools for Monitoring Your Brand’s Reputation
• Top 10 Reputation Tracking Tools Worth Paying For Whopper Sacrifice image courtesy of JasonLam ---Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web:SocialMedia and Buddy Media Team Up for a More Social Ad SpaceSendMe Mobile Gets Another $15M in Series C FundingAnheuser-Busch Gets a Blog Just in Time for the Super BowlIQLeague Says MySpace is 3rd Smartest Site in the World. Huh?Current TV to Integrate Twitter into Presidential Debate CoverageSplashCast and Clearspring Join Forces for Social AdvertisingInternet Brands Looking for $45M with IPO

Facebook Connect mania has swept the Internet! Why create an account on a random website when you can click a single button to join? That is the power of Facebook Connect, which allows websites, software, and even mobile devices to integrate with Facebook and send information both ways. The last few months have been very busy ones for developers as they furiously integrated their websites with Facebook Connect. But a few implementations have stood out against the rest. Some are on this list because of the seamlessness of their integration, while others for their usefulness.

1. Joost

How it uses Facebook Connect: Joost was an early partner, and they’ve been quick to integrate - notifications, updates, comments, and favorites all stream into your Facebook. Oh, and of course you can log into Joost with a Facebook account with absolute ease. Why it is a winner: Joost really shows what you can do with Facebook integration: seamless logins, updates on the website via Facebook, and news feed items that your friends will see.

1. Vimeo

How it uses Facebook Connect: Vimeo not only allows you to log into their website using Facebook, but it also sends your likes and uploads into the Facebook news feed. Why it is a winner: Simplicity is bliss - lowering the barriers to create an account on Vimeo is a simple win for all users. And not only is it easier to join Vimeo, it’s also a great branding opportunity - when a person constantly sees his or her friends putting up new videos on news feed, they’re bound to visit Vimeo. Oh, and as a bonus, here’s a great Vimeo tutorial about integrating your blog with Facebook Connect:

1. Facebook Connect for MediaWiki

How it uses Facebook Connect: Facebook made sure that the software that runs Wikipedia wasn’t ignored. The result is the Facebook Connect plug-in for MediaWiki. If you’re running a wiki, it makes it very easy for your users to log in and start making edits. Why it is a winner: MediaWiki is a highly-used software, but because you can edit most wikis without logging in, not as many people sign up. Facebook Connect helps fill in that gap by making it easier to log into a wiki. In addition, you can use XFBML tags in wiki text (though I wouldn’t recommend it until they update the security of it).

1. Workstir

How it uses Facebook Connect: Workstir goes a step farther than most Facebook Connect integrations. Not only can you log into Workstir with a Facebook account, but work requests in your area will immediately pop up. So if you’re looking to get in some extra work or need to find a designer for a project, Workstir and Facebook Connect make it incredibly easy. Why it is a winner: Work requests are very geographical - you’re not going to hire a carpenter in Minnesota if you live in San Jose. Facebook Connect helps weed out the noise so you instantly see what’s available in your area. It’s just plain smart.

1. BackType

How it uses Facebook Connect: Backtype allows you to use Facebook Connect to claim comments you post online, and soon it will allow you to import all of your comments, everywhere, into your news feed. Why it is a winner: Claiming comments becomes simpler with the Backtype service, and importing all of those comments into News feed will be a good addition, unless you comment on 30 or 40 blogs a day. Then you might just be a bit too noisy for your friends.

1. CNN the Forum

How it uses Facebook Connect: CNN has been a leader in social media integration for media companies, and it’s no different with Facebook Connect. CNN the Forum allows you to find your friends on CNN and compare, discuss, or vehemently argue the finer points of politics. Why it is a winner: Sure, you’ll argue with strangers about politics, but you gain an even stronger connection to the website if you’re discussing the issues with your friends. CNN is once again a step ahead of the media companies when it comes to social media.

1. Digg

How it uses Facebook Connect: This one may not immediately come to mind anymore, because Digg integrated with Facebook in April. While you still can’t log into Digg with your Facebook account (Hey, Kevin and Co, you promised this in July), you can import your Diggs into the Facebook news feed. Why it is a Winner: It’s a success in branding and traffic driving. Digg was one of the first partners with Facebook on Facebook Connect and news feed. The result of this partnership has been thousands of Diggs in news feeds all across Facebook. As more people join Digg and import their information to Facebook, more people gain exposure to it. They still need to take the next step and make logging into Digg through Facebook Connect available.

1. Red Bull Connect

How it uses Facebook Connect: It’s not a blog, it’s not a plug-in, it’s not a social network - it’s a success at using Facebook to build a brand. Red Bull Connect is a flash-based website that allows users to read information from Red Bull websites, as well as comments, from Facebook friends. Why it is a winner: They implemented it quickly, they implemented it seamlessly, and Red Bull will not stop with just Red Bull Connect. Red Bull has been successful with its branding through online media and I am curious to see how Red Bull uses Facebook next for its branding efforts.

1. Xobni

How it uses Facebook Connect: Xobni was also one of the first Facebook Connect launch partners. Xobni’s email management software allows you to see the Facebook profile pictures of contacts as well as information such as status updates and location. Why it is a winner: With Facebook Connect, Xobni becomes a far stronger product, especially in terms of contacts. I know I’m a visual person, and seeing a profile picture or location without the need to research is a great feature that saves time, plain and simple.

1. Disqus

How it uses Facebook Connect: Disqus, the YCombinator-backed comment plug-in service, now makes it simple for your blog readers to bypass signing up a for a Disqus account and removes the need to type in a name and email before commenting. With a few clicks, readers of a Disqus-enabled blog can start commenting. Why it is a winner: It’s simple - there are more people with Facebook accounts than Disqus accounts. Anything that makes it easier to use Disqus is a win for the company.

More innovation to come

As more and more websites integrate with Facebook Connect, Google Connect, and others, you will see even more innovation in this realm. I believe that Workstir especially has found a useful implementation of Facebook Connect that will be utilized by others in the months to come. I can’t wait to see what cool uses people come up with for Facebook Connect. Tell us about your favorites in the comments.

Interested in more Facebook resources? Check these out:

• 20+ Great Greasemonkey Scripts for Improving Your Facebook Experience
• HOW TO: Add Facebook Connect to Your Blog in 8 Minutes
• Facebook Connect vs Google Friend Connect: Fight! ---Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web:Facebook Connect Launches with 24 Partners Including Digg and Six ApartFacebook Connect Gets a Plugin DirectoryGoogle Friend Connect: Try it Now on MashableFacebook Platform Goes Open SourceMySpace ID vs Facebook Connect: A Battle for DemographicsFacebook Connect: The News is the NewsMySpace Opens Up First; Launches Data Availability on Flixster and Eventful