“>Tumblr finally has its first ads — except they’re not “ads,” according to Tumblr.

This new feature on Tumblr allows the growing social network to use its Radar and Spotlight features on its Dashboard to draw attention to advertisers — or “sponsors,” as Tumblr calls them. Tumblr Radar gets more than 120 million daily impressions, which Tumblr says will offer sponsors “the opportunity to gain thousands of new followers, likes and reflags.” Meanwhile, sponsors also have the opportunity to be featured “front-and-center” on Tumblr Spotlight. The Spotlight feature, curated by a team of editors, is a sample of some of the more especially creative blogs on Tumblr and is a driver of “tens of millions of follows each week for new and existing users.”

Tumblr CEO David Karp announced that sponsored posts would be coming to Tumblr at the Ad Age Digital Conference, which took place in New York earlier this month. Though Karp had vehemently been against advertising in the past — he told the Los Angeles Times in 2010, “We’re pretty against advertising. It really turns our stomachs” — he later called himself an “idiot” for making that comment.

The implementation of these sponsored posts comes at the heels of the departure of Tumblr President John Maloney, who resigned this past weekend. According to the Wall Street Journal, “people familiar with the situation” said that Maloney’s skills as a generalist manager were becoming less relevant to Tumblr as it added executives in finance, engineering and human resources — in other words, as it grows beyond its start-up roots.

“I am a good operator,” Maloney said. “Am I one of those big network operators? That is not particularly interesting to me nor does it play to my strengths.”

After explosive growth in 2011, Tumblr hit 20 billion total posts at the end of March. At the announcement of the ads in mid-April, it had reached 21.3 billion total posts. Now — just two weeks later — it has added nearly a billion more total posts, according to its About page, which keeps a running list of statistics on the site.

Tumblr currently lacks an ad sales force, but Derek Gottfrid, the company’s vice president of product who currently oversees revenue, said in the Wall Street Journal article that the company plans to build a small ad sales team. “You should expect a slow build,” he said.

And even though Tumblr doesn’t like to call its ads “ads,” the company does acknowledge that advertising is the game it’s playing:

“We’re looking for the world’s greatest marketers and media companies to help us raise the bar for creative advertising on the web,” Tumblr states in its Sponsors page. “If you’re game, we’d love to talk!”

Do you think the addition of sponsored posts to Tumblr Spotlight distorts viewers’ understanding of what’s creative on Tumblr? Can Tumblr maintain its commitment as a “platform for self-expression” with these ads? Sound off in the comments.

Image courtesy of Jessica Checkeroski

More About: Advertising, Business, tumblr

“>Tumblr finally has its first ads — except they’re not “ads,” according to Tumblr.

This new feature on Tumblr allows the growing social network to use its Radar and Spotlight features on its Dashboard to draw attention to advertisers — or “sponsors,” as Tumblr calls them. Tumblr Radar gets more than 120 million daily impressions, which Tumblr says will offer sponsors “the opportunity to gain thousands of new followers, likes and reflags.” Meanwhile, sponsors also have the opportunity to be featured “front-and-center” on Tumblr Spotlight. The Spotlight feature, curated by a team of editors, is a sample of some of the more especially creative blogs on Tumblr and is a driver of “tens of millions of follows each week for new and existing users.”

Tumblr CEO David Karp announced that sponsored posts would be coming to Tumblr at the Ad Age Digital Conference, which took place in New York earlier this month. Though Karp had vehemently been against advertising in the past — he told the Los Angeles Times in 2010, “We’re pretty against advertising. It really turns our stomachs” — he later called himself an “idiot” for making that comment.

The implementation of these sponsored posts comes at the heels of the departure of Tumblr President John Maloney, who resigned this past weekend. According to the Wall Street Journal, “people familiar with the situation” said that Maloney’s skills as a generalist manager were becoming less relevant to Tumblr as it added executives in finance, engineering and human resources — in other words, as it grows beyond its start-up roots.

“I am a good operator,” Maloney said. “Am I one of those big network operators? That is not particularly interesting to me nor does it play to my strengths.”

After explosive growth in 2011, Tumblr hit 20 billion total posts at the end of March. At the announcement of the ads in mid-April, it had reached 21.3 billion total posts. Now — just two weeks later — it has added nearly a billion more total posts, according to its About page, which keeps a running list of statistics on the site.

Tumblr currently lacks an ad sales force, but Derek Gottfrid, the company’s vice president of product who currently oversees revenue, said in the Wall Street Journal article that the company plans to build a small ad sales team. “You should expect a slow build,” he said.

And even though Tumblr doesn’t like to call its ads “ads,” the company does acknowledge that advertising is the game it’s playing:

“We’re looking for the world’s greatest marketers and media companies to help us raise the bar for creative advertising on the web,” Tumblr states in its Sponsors page. “If you’re game, we’d love to talk!”

Do you think the addition of sponsored posts to Tumblr Spotlight distorts viewers’ understanding of what’s creative on Tumblr? Can Tumblr maintain its commitment as a “platform for self-expression” with these ads? Sound off in the comments.

Image courtesy of Jessica Checkeroski

More About: Advertising, Business, tumblr

It’s not too difficult to find locally grown fruits and vegetables in most markets — but start searching for beef, chicken or pork and your food’s origins become a lot more murky. That’s what the Kansas City-based startup AgLocal aims to change.

The mobile-based app functions as a network to benefit three sides of the carnivorous human food chain. Consumers will be able to browse for local farms to order meat, which independent distributors will deliver to grocery stores, where individual buyers will claim their order.

Farmers won’t be forced into the false choice between scaling up to provide for huge conglomerates such as Monsanto, or the inefficient farmers’ market route. Distributors will be connected to their markets and not have to work with huge competitors that hurt their margins. Consumers will know where their meat comes from and have more transparent freedom of choice.

AgLocal co-founder and CEO Naithan Jones, who comes from a family of chefs and farmers, says the startup’s concept came from his own frustration as a meat-loving, health-conscious consumer.

“I’m always so conscious about what I put in my body,” he told Mashable earlier this year. “There are a lot of services out there for vegetarians and vegans, but not for meat eaters.”

Pitching the company to potential investors and other entrepreneurs Wednesday in San Francisco at the startup accelerator NewMe‘s demo day, Jones described his ambition to “change the way meat is bought and sold all over the world” for a marketplace wallowing behind the broader curve of innovation.

The $200 billion global meat business, he said, is an “antiquated, old industry powered by just a few corporate partners that have consolidated power and cut you out of the loop, which has created this problem of sustainability.”

But the company will need to make money to do that. How? Jones says AgLocal will charge wholesale fees when distributors buy from farms and farms from distributors.

AgLocal is currently wrapping up the 12-week NewMe program, where co-founder Jacob McDaniel says it made important connections, learned from mentors and fine-tuned its business strategy. McDaniel declined to provide funding numbers but says the company has had no trouble attracting buzz and interested investors.

A small group of consumers, probably in the San Francisco and New York City areas, will be able to order meat from farmers in an alpha launch within a few months, and McDaniels says AgLocal plans to expand to about 30 major American cities in the next one to two years. Eventually, however, the goal is to connect meat eaters and farmers worldwide.

Is AgLocal a service you would use? Do you think it can change the meat industry and become a success in the process? Let us know in the comments.

More About: Business, Food, Startups

If you’re over the age of 20, you’ve likely used a credit card, counted change and maybe even written a check. But is all that about to change?

Mobile payment hasn’t become the de facto method of financial transactions just yet, but it is projected to overtake those archaic checkbooks and bank notes you’ve been lugging around.

Our friends at SapientNitro have compiled research to create this infographic, which details the past, present and possible future of mobile commerce. The company shares the three types of mobile payments that dominate the marketplace today: m-commerce (uses a mobile browser and online wallets), m-payments (uses mobile apps), and m-wallets (replaces your entire wallet). Furthermore, consumers can access several forms of transaction on their mobile devices, including scannable barcodes, mobile coupons and self-checkout.

But are consumers ready to wholeheartedly adopt the latest in mobile payment technology? Adults who are unbanked, for instance, may face a barrier to mobile transactions — there are currently 17 million unbanked adults in the U.S. But many smartphone users welcome the convenience of mobile payments (87% in the UK), while others worry about the privacy factor (79% in Asia). Still, 49% of consumers in the U.S. found shopping on a smartphone awkward.

Then again, many people found paper checks awkward and credit cards confusing the first time around.

Where do you fall in the mobile payment debate? What kinds of transactions do you handle on your smartphone? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

More About: apps, Business, infographics, Mobile, mobile payments

1. TNT – Dramatic Surprise

In this ad, TNT delivers on its tagline, “We Know Drama.” Curious (and unsuspecting) passersby press a red button in the center of a quiet square and get a real-life dose of primetime dramatic action.

Click here to view this gallery.

It seems like creating advert videos for YouTube is a surefire way for companies and organizations to get an audience’s attention. Whether it’s a short film, an interactive video or a long-form advertisement, people will watch and share compelling content, and the most-shared ads during April prove it.

Check out the gallery above to view last month’s ads, made by companies like Google, Nike, Tipp-Ex and more. You’ll find many of these videos to be inspiring, funny, tear-jerking, socially conscious and visually stunning. Thanks to our friends at Unruly Media for compiling the list.

Which of April’s most-shared ads are your favorites? Let us know in the comments.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, ozgurdonmaz

More About: ads, Advertising, Business, features, Video, YouTube

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: Mon.ki

Quick Pitch: Mon.ki is a Chrome web extension that integrates Twitter content with what’s open in your browser. Users can quickly find out what people are saying about products or news.

Genius Idea: Mon.ki sweeps webpages and gives users the lowdown about given topics in real time on Twitter. It automatically shows related tweets and user profiles.

Sure, you value credible website searches, but it can also be helpful to know what people are said about said topic on Twitter. Mon.ki is a Chrome web extension available for download that aims to help individuals consume information one webpage at a time — and optimizes social discovery in web browsing.

Mon.ki shines light on the organic conversation surrounding topics on a single webpage.

Mon.ki is a product built to be used as a “social compass,” Mon.ki CEO Tim Delhaes tells Mashable. Users can immediately find out what people are saying about a breaking news article or product for sale.

“If I am reading about a product or new service or something interesting that’s going on, instead of switching over to Twitter to see what people are saying about this, I can go to Mon.ki,” Delhaes says.

After downloading the Mon.ki web extension, the tool shows up as an icon next to the URL window. The application only opens when clicked. Mon.ki automatically searches Twitter for topics you’re currently looking at with the Chrome browser.

Mon.ki currently only integrates Twitter, but will open up to Facebook, Google+, Linkedin, Meetup and other social network integrations. It automatically extracts topics and names from the web page that is open in the browser. Then searches your social networks to turn up related tweets, users and feeds all in one browser.

Mon.ki also lets you tweet and search Twitter directly from the browser sidebar without opening another tab.

There’s a saturation of information on the Internet that makes it impossible to digest, says Delhaes.

“We’re moving through a moment of explosion of information,” he says. “Every day, we get more information and we get it in different formats.”

The startup team says this is only the “beginning of a long road” to creating an alternative to reading hundreds of tweets and looking through dozens of user profiles before finding something relevant. The team behind Mon.ki adamantly wanted to steer clear of building another application or social network. Rather, it’s a “social compass” putting information people want into their view.

“It’s a solution to a problem that’s fundamental for people using the Internet on any device. We call this providing social context,” Delhaes said. “When you look at information, it changes in meaning and relevance when you can associate it to people.”

The team is working to bring Mon.ki to mobile and other web browsers in the next few weeks.

Since the company hopes the personal search engine will have an impact of decision making and product purchases, Delhaes hopes to base the business model around this idea.

The week-old startup is now in its private beta stage. The first 500 Mashable readers can access the browser tool by signing up at Mon.ki and emailing their Twitter handle to mashable@mon.ki.

Image courtesy of Flickr, Jeremy Levine Design

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, Business, Social Media, social networking, Twitter

The World at Work is powered by GE. This new series highlights the people, projects and startups that are driving innovation and making the world a better place.

Name: NewME Accelerator

Big Idea: NewME startup accelerator guides and mentors minorities and women — two groups underrepresented in the tech space — by working to lower industry’s barrier to entry.

Why It’s Working: NewME’s 12-week immersion programs nurture startup founders’ ideas, foster discussion, encourage co-working and offer mentorship from some of the industry’s most prominent leaders. Each program concludes with a “demo day,” during which NewME participants present their ideas and products to influential tech attendees.

Today’s tech industry is comprised of only 25% women, and a paltry 1.5% African-Americans make up Silicon Valley’s tech workforce.

San Francisco-based startup NewME wasn’t having it. Before launching its immersive accelerator program, the company successfully fostered a dialogue about minority participation in the tech space with events and conferences. The 2010 NewME Washington D.C. conference brought together experts, venture capitalists and minority entrepreneurs themselves to discuss the industry’s high barrier to entry, specifically when it comes to African-Americans, Latinos and women.

As both a woman and an African-American, NewME founder Angela Benton has managed to surpass the overwhelming odds. “Even if I think back to earlier on in my career, when I was a designer or an engineer, I was still the only black woman in meetings, on the teams that I was on and even in the department that I was in,” she says.

But why are there so few minorities in the tech workplace to begin with? Many believe the problem originates in the United States’ education system — today’s young people don’t have access to enough science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) curricula. However, Benton envisions a more “multi-pronged” solution: “We have to factor in other things, like access to mentors and role models, and even very simple things, like explaining to individuals how to even start to enter the field is huge,” she says.

And that’s precisely what NewME’s startup accelerator program aims to accomplish. The company hosts two 12-week workshops per year, during which about eight startups per session “spend 24 hours a day sleeping, eating and drinking our startups,” says NewME’s website. That’s right — for either the entire spring (Feb – May) or the entire fall (Aug – Nov), participants co-work and co-live in San Francisco, Calif., entirely dedicated to lifting their ideas off the ground.

Accelerator participants have heard from and interacted with a variety of leaders in the tech industry, including Opsware co-founder and venture capitalist Ben Horowitz, Lotus Development Corp. founder Mitch Kapor and the former CTO of Second Life Cory Ondrejka.

In addition to brainstorming and working tirelessly, NewME’s select few participants enjoy a supportive community. They share stories of workplace challenges and inspire each other with hopeful solutions. “NewME participants’ stories about their experiences in the tech industry are so varied,” says Benton. “I get to talk to the founders that we have in the accelerator, and I get to hear what people have experienced nationally, via the nearly 1,000 people we have in NewME community.”

That community only continues to grow as the traditional tech industry stereotype crumbles. “People, regardless of your background, think you have to be and look a certain why to be in the technology industry. Most think they have to have a computer science degree, be a white guy or look like a nerd,” says Benton. “This is the best way to have an industry that more accurately reflects not just the U.S. ethnic and gender makeup, but the world’s ethnic and gender makeup.”

NewME

Click here to view this gallery.

The World at Work is powered by GE. GE Works focuses on the people who make the things that move, power, build and help to cure the world.

More About: Business, entrepreneurs, features, mashable, Social Good, Startups, World at Work

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Have you spent the past week studying the nuts and bolts of the new Gmail interface? Or have you been preoccupied with the space shuttle Enterprise‘s final flight to New York City (and the absurd memes that came along with it)? For whichever reasons you missed our latest digital media resources, use our weekly features roundup to catch up in a flash.

This week, we’ve covered ways your business can use video on Pinterest, digital tools to help you reduce junk mail and tips on how to curate and share great content. We also have a list of the sassiest brands on social media, a rundown of essential tools for marketers and a gallery of iPhone cases that look good enough to eat. We even have video interviews with entrepreneurial trailblazers like Brian Solis and Mark Cuban.

Go ahead and take advantage of these valuable resources!

Editor’s Picks

• 4 Tips for Picking the Right Crowdfunding Platform
  Crowdfunding presents a great opportunity for startups. Here are four things companies should consider when picking a crowdfunding source.
• The Decline of KONY 2012: Where Did the Online Buzz Go?
  KONY 2012 couldn’t sustain its momentous social buzz following its March launch, despite April 20′s Cover the Night.
• How a Social Network Helps Families Coping With Autism
  MyAutismTeam connects parents of children with autism spectrum disorder to other parents, specialists and essential services.
• Bitchin’ Kitchen: How a Web Chef Cooked Up a Hit TV Show
  Nadia G of “Bitchin’ Kitchen” successfully turned her web series into a show on one of the most popular networks in the U.S. Learn how she did it.
• How to Dress Your Baby Like a Geek
  We’ve rounded up the best clothing options for baby gamers, sci-fi nerds and tech geeks alike.
• Etsy: A Beginner’s Guide to the Crafty Ecommerce Site
  Etsy has changed a lot since its launch in 2005. Whether you’re a veteran user or a newbie, take a look at our handy guide.
• 11 Tips for Getting the Most Out of Gmail’s New Interface
  We’ve highlighted 11 Gmail tips and options that will help you adjust to the new design.

Social Media

• 10 Video Tips for Businesses on Pinterest
  Pinterest is a perfect way to share ideas in a visual form. Here are ten tips on how you can use video marketing on Pinterest.
• 20 TV Shows With the Most Social Media Buzz This Week [CHART]
  Which TV shows generate the most buzz on social networks? Find out each week from our social TV chart.
• 10 Must-Follow Tumblrs for Science Lovers
  Whether you like gazing at galaxies or exploring the microscopic world, these 10 Tumblrs will make your dashboard more sciency.
• 10 Tumblrs Serving Up the Best Animated GIFs
  Whether you like ’90s nostalgia, movie clips, reality TV or animals, these 10 Tumblr sites will help you get your GIF fix.
• 10 Sassy Brands on Social Media
  Brands are showing more personality as the web becomes more social. Here are 10 hilarious brands killing it right now.
• 10 Funniest Sketch Comedy Channels on YouTube
  We’ve rounded up some of the best comedy channels on YouTube, each known for a different type of humor.
• 25 ‘Green’ Photos From the Mashable Community
  In the spirit of Earth Day, we asked you to send us a photo that represented “green” for this week’s Mashable Photo Challenge.
• How Social Media Is Changing Sports [INFOGRAPHIC]
  This infographic shows many of the ways social media has had an impact on sports over the past few years.
• 5 Tips for Great Content Curation
  If you’re a curator looking for some boundaries in what feels like the wild West, here are five best practices to consider.

For more social media news and resources, you can follow Mashable‘s social media channel on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

Business & Marketing

• Should You Combine Your Personal and Business Social Media Identities?
  There are a lot of pros and cons to melding your personal brand with your company’s on social media. We analyze both sides.
• 3 Slick Analytics Dashboards to Monitor Your Business Website
  If you don’t have analytics on your site, you’re not getting the most out of your business. Check out these simple and helpful dashboards.
• How Skillshare Is Transforming Education as We Know It
  Online marketplace Skillshare lets anyone with specialized skills teach an offline class. Anyone with the desire to learn can attend.
• Crowdfunding: How Indiegogo Connects Concepts With Cash
  Looking to fund a project? Indiegogo can help you reach the vast corners of the Internet to make the most of crowdfunding.
• 3 Reasons the Call Center Is Far From Dead
  The rise of the smartphone has created many opportunities to interact with clients, but here’s why it isn’t killing the call center.
• How Digital Journalists Used Data to Report on Murdoch Scandal
  Innovative digital journalism played a starring role in the wake of a massive document release during an inquiry into British media ethics.
• How One App Uses Digital to Empower Education
  Three Ring allows teachers and students to digitize student work by snapping a picture or video with their mobile or tablet devices.
• 4 Tips for Keeping Your Gamified Community Motivated
  If you’ve found that gamification is right for your business, here are four steps to help keep your community in involved.
• How One Website Fights Hunger With Gourmet Goodies
  Love With Food is a food delivery service that donates a portion of every sale to local food banks across the country.
• Why Great Design Is the Future of Content Marketing
  The beautification of the web is upon us. How will this shift toward visual storytelling affect content marketing? We explore the trends.
• 5 Things You Didn’t Know About Mark Cuban [VIDEO]
  Internet and entertainment entrepreneur Mark Cuban shares his entrepreneurial experiences, love of sports and tells us what’s next.
• 60 Minutes to a More Efficient Social Business Strategy
  This 60-minute social media makeover will help companies create a more effective social media presence.
• 9 Things Businesses Need to Know About Web Security
  Small businesses are of particular interest to cyber criminals. At any given time there are more than 750,000 websites are being hacked or appearing on various hacker lists.
• Ditto’s 3D Virtual Fitting Tech Makes It Possible to Try on Glasses Online
  3D virtual fitting technology lets you determine whether a pair of glasses flatters your face before making a purchase.
• Facebook Marketing: Why Less Is More
  Venture capitalist and social media consultant Peter Shankman shares the best tips and tricks for marketing your brand on Facebook.
• Could Zaarly Disrupt the Global Economy? [VIDEO]
  By optimizing the freelance economy, the startup might just change the way the world works.
• 12 Essential Tools for the Content Marketer
  There’s no single type of content marketing that works best for all companies. Diversification is key. Here are twelve types we recommend.
• Why No Brand Is Too Big to Fail, Too Small to Succeed
  Brian Solis talks about how companies should consider the consumer and community above all else when designing and presenting a product.
• How Mark Cuban Does Business [VIDEO]
  Internet mogul and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban sits down with Jesse Draper of The Valley Girl Show to discuss his business strategy.
• How to Maximize Your Facebook Engagement
  Data shows brands miss out on customer Facebook engagement more often then they realize. Here’s why.

For more business news and resources, you can follow Mashable‘s business channel on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

Tech & Mobile

• 20 Minimalist Backgrounds for a Simpler Desktop
  If you need a distraction-free background, these 20 minimalist designs are a breath of fresh air.
• 7 Tips for Women in the Tech Industry
  We asked successful female entrepreneurs what challenges women in tech face and what can help. Here’s what they shared.
• Is the Digital World Killing Creativity? [INFOGRAPHIC]
  The current age of digital disruption has opened a cornucopia of creative endeavors, but the ability to multitask may also hinder creativity.
• 14 Weird iPhone Cases You Won’t Believe
  If you’re itching to make a statement with your iPhone, have we got a selection of cases for you!
• DODOcase: How Bookbinding Inspired the Popular iPad Cover
  Patrick Buckley explains how his background in engineering and publishing led to one of the top iPad cases around.
• 10 Epic Movie Gadgets You Wish Were Real
  Technology has come a long way over the years, but there are still a ton of movie gadgets that we’re anxiously hoping will come to life.
• How Does Google Drive Compare to the Competition?
  Google Drive is an impressive product, but how does it compare to other cloud companies?
• 20 ‘Edible’ iPhone Covers
  Are you a foodie at heart? Why not get an iPhone cover that celebrates your favorite foodstuff?
• The 15 Types of People Who Play Draw Something [VIDEO]
  This video details several type of Draw Something players, such as over detailed, terrible drawers and people who refuse to buy colors.
• 9 Digital Tools to Reduce Your Junk Mail
  Is your paper trail too massive to manage? Check out these tools to cut out your unwanted mail.
• 12 Mysterious Google Maps Sightings
  A look at some mysterious things found on Google Maps, from crop circles to capsized boats.
• How a Distasteful Meme Sparked a Web Culture War
  A family’s attempt to fight the Internet over a controversial meme involving its daughter has fueled more harm than good.
• 10 Kindle Cases That Look Like Books
  The Kindle offers you an entire digital library in the palm of your hand. We’ve found 10 book-themed Kindle cases to match.
• 10 Free WordPress Themes for Photo Lovers
  Organize all your favorite images with these 10 free WordPress themes made especially for shutter bugs.
• 8 Out-of-This-World Photos of the Space Shuttle Enterprise
  Check out these eight pictures of Space Shuttle Enterprise’s arrival at New York City’s John F. Kennedy Airport.

For more tech news and resources, you can follow Mashable‘s tech channel on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, akinbostanci.

More About: Business, COMMUNICATIONS, Features Week In Review, Social Media, Tech

This one is still very much unconfirmed, but a “trusted source” recently provided Neowin.net with the image you see above, which purports to be a mockup of a forthcoming business-minded tablet from HP dubbed the Slate 8. That’s obviously a Windows 8 tablet and, if the details are to be believed, you can expect a 10.1-inch display, eight to ten hours of battery life, optional pen-based input, a docking station of some sort, an outdoor viewing option and a number of business-friendly security measures — all in a package that’s 9.2mm thick and about 1.5 pounds. Adding some weight to leak is ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley, who hasn’t been able to confirm it outright, but says that after a bit of investigation she is “inclined to believe this is a real mock-up and is part of HP’s line up of business desktops and laptops it will be touting this year.”

Business-minded HP ‘Slate 8′ tablet surfaces in leaked image originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sharp has reported an extraordinary loss of 117.1 billion yen ($1.4 billion) for the financial year ending March 2012. The company has cited restructuring costs and inventory losses as the causes for the write-down, but also projected that its TV business would lose a further 18.7 percent of its projected sales in the current year. The company has decided to convert some of its big-screen LCD production lines into mobile LCDs as it tries to reassert its dwindling display business. It’s yet more bad news after the company sold part of its LCD manufacturing business to Hon Hai, Sony withdrew from a joint venture and refused to deal with Sharp in the future, plus an 86 percent collapse in profits.

Continue reading Sharp posts $1.4 billion extraordinary loss, refocuses on mobile displays

Sharp posts $1.4 billion extraordinary loss, refocuses on mobile displays originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Apr 2012 04:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Logitech’s Q4 and full-year report makes for uncomfortable reading. Despite profits increasing by a factor of nine in the last quarter of the year, overall annual profit fell 44 percent from $143 million to $71 million. The company has already parachuted in former Whirlpool exec. Bracken P. Darrel to turn things around and recover the losses made when the company went big on Google TV. His first action has been to kick-start a restructuring operation that will save $80 million in costs, starting by cutting a whole management layer — demoting current product VP Junien Labrousse and firing sales VP Werner Heid. Mr. Darrell is now working directly with his team on a new lineup of “stronger” products to be unveiled later this quarter, with an emphasis on Windows 8 peripherals and LifeSize video conferencing gear.

[Image credit: Wikimedia Commons]

Continue reading Logitech president celebrates end-of-year earnings with management cull

Logitech president celebrates end-of-year earnings with management cull originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Apr 2012 18:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Internet retailer Amazon beat analysts’ estimates for its first quarter on Thursday, prompting a 15% surge in its stock price in after-hours trading.

Net income for the quarter dropped 35% to $130 million, or $0.28 per share, compared with its 2011 figures of $201 million, or $0.44 per share.

Revenue, however, reached $13.18 billion, besting Amazon’s guidance of between $11.9 billion to $13.3 billion for the quarter, and analysts’ consensus estimate of $12.8 billion. Amazon’s first-quarter revenue last year was $9.86 billion.

Amazon touted strong Kindle sales in Thursday’s earnings announcement. The Kindle Fire is Amazon’s “bestselling, most gifted and most wished for product across the millions of items available on Amazon.com since launch,” according to the company.

“In the first quarter, nine out of 10 of the top sellers on Amazon.com were digital products — Kindle, Kindle books, movies, music and apps,” Amazon reports.

Most recently, Amazon made a software update to the Kindle Fire, making its ebooks experience more social.

BONUS: Amazon Kindle Fire, iPad’s First True Competitor [REVIEW]

“The $199 Amazon Kindle Fire is a worthy device. It’s not an iPad slayer, but it could be the first tablet to ably stand atop Mount Tabulous (or at least on a rock ledge just a few dozen feet lower) with Apple’s industry-dominating slab computer.” Read the full review here.

Amazon Kindle Fire: Main Bookshelf Interface

Click here to view this gallery.

More About: amazon, Business, earnings, Kindle, Tech

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Groupon CEO Andrew Mason told company employees during a town hall meeting Wednesday that the daily deal site needs to grow up — right after apologizing for drinking too much beer during the meeting.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the 31-year-old CEO said the company doesn’t “have any margin for error,” while at times swigging from a beer bottle as he outlined the corporate goals for the next six months.

At one point during the meeting, Mason’s voice broke, prompting him to apologize: “Sorry, too much beer.”

The town hall meeting, available via webcast, is a weekly initiative by Groupon in which employees have the chance to ask questions of company executives. The meetings are informal to the point that beer is available for everyone in the room, says a Groupon spokesperson.

Among the corporate priorities Mason outlined were increasing financial controls and hiring more finance staff. Groupon has come under heavy scrutiny recently, with the Securities and Exchange Commission investigating the company’s restatement of its fourth-quarter results. The restatement was apparently driven by higher-than-anticipated refund rates — which forced Groupon to disclose the company had not allocated enough money for customer refunds.

While Groupon is part of the top 10 internet IPOs of the last 10 years, news of the SEC investigation caused its stock price to plummet to $15.27. At the time of writing, its price currently stands at $11.95 — well below its IPO offering of $20.00. The Chicago-based company went public just six months ago.

At the meeting, Mason said that Groupon’s financial revision and its current outlook is “the latest in a string of just us making an example of how bad we are at being a public company.” He acknowledged that while the company had tried to grow quickly to beat out other daily-deal competitors, it now needs to shift its focus — in other words, slow down, so that it can focus on “quality and control” and “not taking stupid risks.”

However, Mason’s beer-induced speech while talking about the company’s need to improve is not just ironic — it also draws attention to what some worry is an immaturity to be CEO of a multi-billion dollar company.

Mason has addressed his critics, however, and told the Wall Street Journal in January that he’s going to continue to “work [his] butt off to add value for shareholders.”

“I got the company this far. To the degree I was weird, I was weird before we were a public company and managed to get it worth whatever it’s worth,” he said.

Along with his candid demeanor at Wednesday’s meeting, some of Mason’s other quirks include posting videos of himself on YouTube doing yoga in his underwear.

Still, some of Mason’s comments were firm on Wednesday. “We’re still this toddler in a grown man’s body in many ways,” Mason said during the meeting. “We have to get good at this.”

Do you think Groupon needs to grow up? Should beer be freely available in a startup environment? Sound off in the comments.

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Acer’s Q1 financial report reveals that the fourth biggest PC maker in the world is feeling weak after posting a very modest profit — three months after it declared a $212 million loss for 2011. Turnover for the first three months of this year was NT$113 billion ($3.8 billion) and profits after tax were NT$331 million ($11.2 million). To put that in context, it made a $40 million profit in the same quarter last year — so this is a spectacular collapse of 72 percent year-over-year

Reuters is suggesting that the problem is in part due to increased hardware costs caused by the Thailand floods, but the company isn’t giving anything away. Instead its terse announcement just advised that the company grew its global PC market share by 0.8 percent to 10.9 percent, while in the EMEA region it grew 2.4 percent to 13.5 percent, adding that it is the only one of the “big five” that’s seen any increase at all. You can read the scanty details for yourself, after the break.

[Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons]

Continue reading Acer’s Q1 2012: World’s fourth biggest PC maker made just $11.2 million in profit

Acer’s Q1 2012: World’s fourth biggest PC maker made just $11.2 million in profit originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Apr 2012 13:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nearly Newlywed is a recent startup that aims to shake up the resale market for designer bridal gowns.

The social media-powered online boutique lists discounted bridal gowns from major designers including Vera Wang, Oscar de la Renta, Rodarte and Carolina Herrera. The dresses are guaranteed “nearly new,” meaning they have only been worn once or twice.

If the bride so chooses, Nearly Newlywed will buy back the dress after the wedding, guaranteeing at least 30% of the sale price. She could also opt to place the dress on consignment with the site – an option open to anyone provided the dress meet’s Nearly Newlywed’s criteria. Proceeds from dresses placed on consignment are split 70/30 between the seller and Nearly Newlywed.

Founder Jacqueline Courtney offers personal shopping consultations with soon-to-be brides via Pinterest. Courtney gets to know the brides through their wedding inspiration boards, from which she makes href=”http://pinterest.com/nearlynewlywed” target=”_blank”>dress recommendations.

“We found that women have always been planning their weddings — gathering inspiration, tearing things out of magazines,” Courtney says. “Pinterest is a great way to collect inspiration. And it’s a fun way to have a dialogue with girls.”

Facebook and Twitter are great for talking to brides and answering their questions, she says. Social media is helping the company fill a niche in the space and hold conversations people care about. The small team based in Brooklyn, N.Y., connects with customers nationally.

Nearly Newlywed hosts several pages of wedding, bridal and party dresses available at each time. The site allows filtering by size and length. Courtney hopes to bring in 50 to 100 new dresses every six weeks. Courtney says the company will expand into wedding accessory rentals this year.

“I think we are doing something unique,” she says. “We are using social media to connect with brides and make the experience special and personal.”

Most dresses come with the guarantee; however, if a dress is super fragile or becomes worn with wear, it is sold without the buyback promise. Timing is also important. The buyback is only open for 8 months after the purchase of the dress, not the wedding date. Considering how early some wedding gowns are purchased, this detail is important to keep in mind if you’re planning to take advantage of the guarantee.

Courtney, who got married this past June, told Mashable her own wedding dress hunt was the inspiration for the online boutique.

“The rentals I found weren’t really the right product mix for me — most of them were party dresses or a little bit more informal,” Courtney says. “I didn’t want to keep the gown afterwards. But, I still wanted it before the wedding to accessorize and just for that peace of mind and to alter the dress.”

Courtney eventually found a pre-owned full, strapless Vera Wang Diana gown to wear for the wedding, which she resold.

“I wanted to elevate the experience,” she says. “Even if the woman has a more modern approach, the experience shouldn’t be sacrificed.”

Would you resell your wedding gown after you got married? Tell us in the comments what you think.

Images courtesy of Nearly Newlywed, Lisa Beggs

Clarification: An earlier version of this article stated that Nearly Newlywed rents bridal gowns. It has been updated to explain that they operate on a sales and consignment model.

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