Yogi Land

Alec Baldwin, your brother Stephen wants to know when you’re coming back to Twitter.

That was apparently the message Actor Stephen Baldwin texted to big brother Alec after his in-flight Words with Friends-fueled meltdown, which led to the actor walking away from Twitter and hundreds of thousands of followers.

The younger Baldwin shared this tidbit with Mashable as he walked the red carpet at the Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol premiere. Baldwin is not in the movie, so we have no idea why he was there. What we do know is that the actor, author and radio show host is a fan of Mashable. He’s also on Twitter (@StephenBaldwin7) where his verified account has almost 12k followers. Though he has only tweeted 336 or so times, Baldwin told us he likes to tweet about “pop-cultural thoughts and spiritual thoughts. I think it’s a great tool to be able to reach a lot of people in an instant.”

Baldwin seems to be something of a technophile and told us he’s an “iPhone Geek” and is on Facebook. His kids are, too. They’re teens now, but he insists they did not get on the huge social network too early.

As for his brother Alec, Baldwin said that he didn’t tell Alec anything when he dropped out of Twitter, but then offered that he may have texted him, “When you getting back on, man?” That’s what we all want to know, too, Stephen. That’s what we all want to know.

You can see the entire exchange in the video.

More About: alec baldwin, Facebook, iphone, Twitter

Tunisian Protests

Photo courtesy of Flickr, papacamera

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2011 has been a year of memorable news headlines, from natural disasters to final space shuttle missions to historic deaths. Flickr has pieced together the story of the year in 18 photographs taken around the world by users of the photo-sharing platform.

SEE ALSO: How the World Googled in 2011

You can also view the photos on Flickr, with commentary from Yahoo editorial, who put together the collection.

What do you think was the most memorable news story of the year? Let us know how you’ll remember 2011 in the comments.

More About: flickr, year in review

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Each week, Mashable picks a popular song, finds 10 covers of it and asks you to vote for your favorite.

Gavin DeGraw is no stranger to having other people sing his songs. Remember “I Don’t Want to Be,” the karaoke favorite that has been covered in bars and on reality TV singing competitions across the world since 2003?

Well, now his biggest hit since then, “Not Over You,” is facing the similar fate of becoming a sing-along classic.

With dozens upon dozens of covers of the song on YouTube, we decided to round up 10 awesome ones for you. Listen to them and then vote for your favorite in our poll.

Brandyn Burnette

Mashup of "Not Over You" and "It Will Rain"

Click here to view this gallery.

To listen to more covers used in past YouTube Cover Song Face-Offs, click here.

**The winner of this poll will be selected Dec. 23 at 9 a.m. ET.

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Dec. 4 Face-Off Winner: Christina Grimmie

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YouTube star Christina Grimmie won Mashable’s recent most recent face-off with her cover of “It Will Rain” by Bruno Mars. Grimmie’s YouTube videos have been viewed more than 237 million times. She is finding success offline, too. Most recently, Grimmie snagged the American Music Awards trophy for Female New Media, which honors the woman who is most effectively using digital and social media to propel their careers and connect with fans. She also performed with Taio Cruz after winning an online competition to share the stage with him.

Here’s a collection of covers and an original song (video seven) from Grimmie.

"It Will Rain" Cover

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More About: Entertainment, Music, music videos, Viral Vidoes, YouTube, YouTube Cover Song Face-Off

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Kickstarter’s prominent crowdfunding platform has made it possible for just about anyone to raise money and awareness about his project. We’ve seen a multitude of success stories — whether it’s a cool wristwatch, a great story or an entire web service.

We’ve gathered some of this year’s craziest Kickstarter projects, from a quirky toilet paper design to a grilled cheese sandwich that features Jesus’s face. Still other entrepreneurs are innovating new ways to look at technology, such as a virtual portal or a set of gloves that pantomimes music.

SEE ALSO: A Guide to Kickstarter & Crowdfunding [Infographic]

Here are the top 10 most eccentric Kickstarter projects of 2011. Which is your favorite? Let us know in the comments.

1. Portals

Funded: $1,934

This project uses a box and an old monitor to simulate virtual reality. It is an incredibly cool project, but its Kickstarter backers shouldn't expect anything in return other than a "big happy thank you."

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More About: 2011, features, kickstarter, Small Business, Startups

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

Name: Cloth

Quick Pitch: Create an easily accessible catalog of your favorite outfits.

Genius Idea: In the App Store, there are more than a few solutions for snapping, saving and sharing your outfits with others. None, however, offers as clean a user experience as Cloth [iTunes link], nor (in most cases) as many privacy options.

Unlike Fashism, Pose or Go Try It On, Cloth has no built-in social network and no registration is required. By default, any photos you take of your clothing are saved in the app alone — ideal for those of us who want to remember and organize our outfits, but don’t always (or ever) want to broadcast them to the world.

Still, those who would like to share your ensembles can: The app lets you cross-post your images to Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr. You can also send your photos to ClothApp.com to be featured on the site. (Sharing via email would be a welcome addition.)

Images can be allotted to one of several categories (such as work or evening) and tagged (I tag my outfits by season, color and designer), although there’s currently no way to browse looks by tag. You can also leave notes and save images to your device’s photo album.

Photograph enough outfits, and you’ll have an easily accessible thumbnail catalog of your entire wardrobe. You can also go back and edit your uploads at any time.

Cloth was developed by Maxim senior editor Seth Porges and his girlfriend, fashion designer Wray Serna. As the story goes, Porges recognized a need for the app after watching Serna use her iPhone to take photos of outfits she was packing for a trip.

Cloth costs $1.99 in the App Store, a price Porges hopes people will be willing to pay because the app doesn’t require them to fork over their personal details or view ads. “We’ve seen a huge trend towards free, ad-supported business models online, and I think people are so burnt out on always having to sell their souls to use anything,” he observed in an email to Mashable. “[I think] there may be a movement towards people willing to pay a few bucks for a no-strings-attached utility such as this.”

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Series Supported by Microsoft BizSpark

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

More About: bizspark, cloth, fashion, iphone app, mashable, spark-of-genius

New Yahoo! e-magazine answers marketers’ top questions

Have you checked out the Yahoo! Insights 2011 Wrap-up & 2012 Outlook e-magazine yet? It features our most popular research studies from 2011, as well as a sneak peek at what we'll address in 2012.

Here are a few more examples of the types of insights you can download from the e-magazine, including tips and findings from studies like “The Power of Relevancy” and “Ethnodynamics”:

• Research: People spend 25% more time fixating on ads that are personally relevant (behaviorally targeted) to them than those that are not. This fixation is related to the potential for a stronger emotional and cognitive response to the ad.

 

• Tip: When communicating new product features, marketers should use personal relevance to increase cognitive engagement among consumers.

 

• Research: Contextually relevant (contextually targeted) ads elicit an emotional response that’s almost twice as high as those that aren’t contextually targeted.

 

• Tip: When the objective is centered around building awareness, contextual relevance can help build Long-term memory of the brand.

 

• Research: When an ad has both contextual and personal relevance, its impact is even more powerful, producing a stronger emotional response than either condition alone. In this case, pupil dilation increased by an unprecedented 40%, indicating an impressively high level of cognition of the ad.

 

• Tip: When the intention is to emotionally and cognitively connect with the consumer at the highest levels, contextual and personal relevance combined is most likely to elicit stronger responses than each on its own.

 

• Research: Each ethnicity has a set of specific drivers that shape ethnic identity. Among the most important drivers are music for African Americans, political beliefs for Hispanics, and eating habits for Asians.

 

• Tip: Gain a true understanding of the ethnic group you want to connect with, andunderstand what defines them. Avoid stereotypes---keep messaging inspirational and positive.

 

• Research: Online content preferences for each ethnicity are closely tied to the major drivers of their ethnic identity. Hispanics and Asians in particular look for ethno-specific content online,

 

• Tip: Be in the content they visit. Consider higher investments in the categories that matter to them ethnically. Be authentic---demonstrate a real value proposition.

 

• Research: Sixty-two percent of African-Americans want Health and Beauty products marketed specifically to them. Most Hispanics (53%) feel ethnicity matters when it comes to CPG, Entertainment and Clothing. And 50% of Asians stated that ethnicity is important in Entertainment marketing.

 

• Tip: Target specific ethnicities in the categories that matter most to each group. Feature diversity in your ads, and select an authentic spokesperson.

Check out Yahoo!’s new Insights e-magazine now and get a year's worth of digital marketing tips on mobile strategy, ad effectiveness, social media and more—all in one place.

--- Dianne Molina

Entrepreneur and author Gary Vaynerchuk thinks so-called social media experts are “clowns” — what really matters is driving ROI. According to Vaynerchuk, who is the author of best-selling business books Crush It and The Thank You Economy, too many companies are hiring 22-year-olds to manage social media strategies simply because they’re from a generation that grew up with pervasive digital media.

“Your 22-year-old did not use Facebook the last three years to do business,” said Vaynerchuk. “He did it to, like, look at chicks’ bikini pictures.”

Watch the interview to find out what qualities Vaynerchuk prizes when it comes to social media expertise.

Behind the Brand is hosted by Bryan Elliott. Stay tuned to Mashable every Wednesday for new episodes.

More About: behind the brand, gary vaynerchuk, mashable vidfeo, Social Media, Video

November was a busy time in Google Analytics. In particular, the Mobile App Tracking Team has a few things to announce.

• EasyTracking Library - automatic session management, better integration with Google Analytics SDK
• Updated Google Analytics SDK - More reliable method for sending hits, Android Market referral issue fixed, available via the Android SDK manager
• More samples - new open source application aimed to help reduce the ramp up time for new developers who want to track their apps

EasyTracker Library
We’ve created EasyTracker libraries for both iOS and Android.  The EasyTracker library will enable tracking of your application down to the Activity (or UIViewController for iOS) level with almost no coding required on your part.  See the ReadMe file and source code for details. These Libraries are intended for use with the standard Google Analytics SDKs and should make it very easy to add standard tracking to your applications.

Another advantage to using the EasyTracker library is session management.  As many developers know, it’s not always easy to determine whether your application is active and when to start a new session.  The EasyTracker library handles this for you.  It will determine when your application has been put into the background and will start a new session automatically.

The Android version of the Library not only provides for easy tracking, but also ensures that all calls to GoogleAnalyticsTracker are done off the main UI Thread.  Using this library should address responsiveness issues some Android developers have seen using the Google Analytics SDK.

We’ve adapted the Android Notepad sample application to use the EasyTracker library, just to show you how easy it can be.

You can find the libraries and sample applications at
http://code.google.com/p/analytics-api-samples/.  Check the downloads section for the libraries.  The source for the libraries is available in subversion as well.  Drill down into trunk/src/tracking/mobile/android/EasyTracker for Android and trunk/src/tracking/mobile/ios/EasyTracker for iOS.  The Notepad sample application is there as well.  We’ve released them as open source and contributions to making them better are welcome.

Check the ReadMe files in the libraries themselves for more information on how to use them.

New Versions of Google Analytics SDK for Android and iOS
We’ve released version 1.4 for iOS and version 1.4.2 for Android.  The iOS version of the SDK has one new feature.  Both versions contain several bug fixes as well.  Read on for details.

iOS
We’ve added a new method, dispatchSynchronously, that blocks while it dispatches hits.  It won’t return until the hits sent have either been acknowledged by the Google Analytics servers or the specified timeout period has elapsed.  This provides a more reliable method for sending hits before your application terminates or goes into the background.

We’ve also addressed several memory leaks and crashes reported against the SDK.

More details on the new version of the SDK can be found at http://code.google.com/apis/analytics/docs/mobile/ios.html.

Android
The Android SDK will now handle referrals from the Android Market properly.  This applies to autotagging as well.

We’ve fixed several other bugs in the Android SDK.  Check out the details at http://code.google.com/apis/analytics/docs/mobile/android.html.

Google Analytics SDK now available via the Android SDK Manager
We’ve added the Google Analytics SDK to the Android SDK Manager.  You can download the latest versions using the Android SDK Manager instead of checking the website for updates.

Of course, this only applies to the Android version of the SDK.

MobilePlayground
We’ve released an open source application for both iOS and Android that exercises all the APIs for Google Analytics that are available to Mobile Application developers.  You can find them at trunk/src/tracking/mobile.

New Home for the Mobile Tracking Documentation
The Mobile Tracking documentation has moved.  It now resides with the rest of the Google Analytics tracking documentation.  Check it out at http://code.google.com/apis/analytics/docs/mobile/overview.html.

Reporting Problems and Feature Requests
We really value your feedback. If you are having problems with the SDKs, let us know by posting them on the Google Analytics issues website at http://code.google.com/p/analytics-issues/issues/list.  Use the component MobileTracking when entering an issue or looking through the list for issues already reported against the Mobile App SDKs.

Please stay tuned for more exciting news regarding Mobile Application Tracking with Google Analytics.

Jim Cotugno, Mobile Application Tracking Rockstar

Susannah Vila directs content and outreach at Movements.org, an organization dedicated to identifying, connecting and supporting activists using technology to organize for social change. Connect with her on Twitter @szvila.

The movement that began on Sept. 17 in New York City was initiated in Canada by a magazine editor who refused to join Facebook.

Ironically, the Occupy movement is not only benefiting from digital tools, but also adding to and transforming the landscape of new media available to today’s advocates. Instead of asking how digital technologies are transforming advocacy, is it more appropriate to ask how contemporary advocacy is transforming digital technologies?

SEE ALSO: How Occupy Wall Street Is Building Its Own Internet [VIDEO]

This concept first became apparent in the U.K., with the “Uncut” protests. There, student protesters developed a new tool called Sukey to help one another avoid police barricades.  

This fall, in New York’s Zucotti Park, occupiers have developed new tools and appropriated existing ones. An early example of the latter was their use of the blogging platform Tumblr, which first gained popularity through New York’s fashion and photography scene. But Occupy Wall Street’s use of Tumblr has transformed the tool itself into one more amenable to advocacy. With every new tag, note and reblog that corresponds to activism, the platform becomes more valuable for organizers.

Occupiers are also the most recent activists to take a stab at creating a “mesh network,” or a localized, independent version of the Internet. (It doesn’t use central hubs that can be shut down by governments.) During the Egyptian uprising in early 2011, mesh networks garnered interest as a viable workaround for future Internet blackouts, like the one instated by Hosni Mubarak. The Egyptian experience inspired projects called Open Mesh and Apps for the Apocalypse. And now Occupy has ignited The Free Network Foundation which, like its precursors, aims to harness the momentum of today’s protests to create technological solutions that will serve actions of tomorrow.

The new tools that have emerged from Occupy protests are direct responses to user needs. For example, when it became clear that cellphone microphones were insufficient for disseminating information across Zucotti Park, technologists joined with activists to create a phone-powered tool for real-time information sharing. The People’s Skype turns many phones into distributed PA systems, provided the devices have speakerphone capability and their users know the dial-in and pin number. The tool also allows for real-time voting using mobile keypads.

A new application for Facebook called the Occupy Network provides a simple but important fix for online organizing. Rather than sifting through the various groups, pages and events related to occupations, anyone can use this app to search by location and see which of his Facebook friends are involved.

Technology and social networks haven’t yet been able to accurately anticipate the needs of would-be users. Only enhanced communication between technology developers and users will foster advancement. Until then, major movements are taking the reins.

Image courtesy of Flickr, sebastien.barre, joncandy

More About: contributor, features, new media, occupy, Occupy Wall Street, Politics, Social Media

Another week has come to a close, which means it’s time for a look at the top Mashable comments of the week.

In this weekly roundup post, we showcase the week’s greatest comments on our site. We select thoughtful comments that engage the community and drive more conversation as well as those that make us laugh. This week’s comments were innovative, witty and fun to read.

Here are the top comments on Mashable this week:

MaioloNCSAC

MaioloNCSAC adds some personal knowledge of Student Life Network, taken from how he implements it at Niagara College.

Comment originally posted on: Build a Private Social Network for Your College With Student Life Network

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If you haven’t commented on a Mashable article before, check out Mashable Follow, our content curation and social tool, as well as our comment guidelines to learn more. We’d love for you to join the conversation.

We look forward to reading next week’s community comments!

More About: comments, community, mashable, mashable follow, top comments

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