iTunes 10 is now live and available for download. It comes bundled with its own killer feature: music-centric social network Ping. Announced just this morning , the new iTunes/Ping one-two combo pack a mighty punch. But can this dynamic duo deliver on its promise to revitalize music-based social networking? And will Ping be the MySpace killer all the tech pundits are speculating about? We don’t have all the answers, but we do have a few first impressions to share with you. We were definitely met with a few surprises and even some disappointments when firing up the app for the first time. Here’s what we think so far; be sure to share your opinions with us in the comments. Signing Up and Getting Started First, download the new iTunes. Once it’s installed, you’ll notice a new link under the iTunes Store tab on the left side of the iTunes interface. The Ping tab is inconspicuous as it is exciting. The service is opt-in, so you’ll ...

Mocha frappuccino and soy latte lovers rejoice: Starbucks is rolling out its Starbucks Card Mobile App for BlackBerry tomorrow, September 2. In September 2009, Starbucks introduced its Starbucks Card Mobile app for iPhone and iPod touch , enabling the owners of those devices to reload their Starbucks payment cards, monitor their rewards cards and even pay for their purchases at 16 stores in Seattle and the Silicon Valley region. In June, the coffee company extended its mobile payment system to 1,000 Target stores in addition to the roster of Starbucks venues. Now all of this functionality has been adapted — and, in some respects, improved — for BlackBerry Bold , Curve , Storm and Tour users. For instance, BlackBerry owners can use the app’s store locator to identify all Starbucks and Target venues where Starbucks is sold, not just the ones that support mobile payments. In an interview with Mashable, Chuck Davidson, the category ...

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is diving deeper into Google and Verizon’s proposed net neutrality framework with a public notice and inquiry into two of net neutrality’s key issues. The FCC’s seven-page public notice [PDF] tackles two of the key proposals from the Google-Verizon framework: “Specialized Services” and net neutrality/open Internet principles for the mobile wireless Internet. The Google-Verizon proposal has received heavy criticism for excluding wireless Internet from many net neutrality regulations. “There are two complex issues, however, that merit further inquiry,” reads the report. “The first is the relationship between open Internet protections and services that are provided over the same last-mile facilities as broadband Internet access service. The second is the application of open Internet rules to mobile wireless Internet access services, which have unique characteristics ...

We’ve all done it — surfed on over to the book of faces, our hearts racing and pupils dilating with excitement, let our cursors linger over those oh-so-powerful words, “Remove From Friends,” and clicked away with the maniacal glee of a serial killer. Still, there aren’t too many among us who have the skill, nay, the expertise to cut ties without cutting deep. At this point, some of you may be reminiscing about the sepia-tinged past, those glory days when, if you didn’t want to chill with Lucy “I Eat Paste” Smith anymore, all you had to do was ghost out of her life, letting the last tendrils of your friendship dissolve into the ether like wisps of smoke. Well, those days are as dead as Lucy’s creepy gray front teeth. Now, every time someone exits your life, you have to decide whether to keep them in your Facebook stream or cut the lifeline. “Friends and acquaintances come and go as we move through lif ...

Posted by randfish It's been a wild few weeks at the mozplex. Today wrapped up the amazing mozinar with our half-day tools training just in time to launch the new version of SEOmoz. Should we slow down this crazy pace? Nah. If you're feeling a sense of deja vu, don't worry; it's perfectly normal. We're the same old moz, but with a new look, faster loading pages and a surprising amount of new functionality. Let's walk through it together, shall we? Big Improvements to PRO Membership It's a good day to be PRO; we've just released: • A brand new PRO Dashboard , that's designed to be the center of everything you can do with your membership, including access to your web app campaigns, tools and tool reports, webinars, Q+A, discount store, etc. If it's part of PRO, you'll find it in the Dashboard . • The web app has made some big improvements and we're now announcing a full public beta - campaigns should be faster, more accurate and dramatically less buggy. There's also s ...

In the debate between the old version of Digg and the new Digg, the readers have spoken. Last week, Digg launched version 4.0 of the popular social news website. It’s been a rocky road pre-launch , so why would it be any different post-launch? Since the launch of the New Digg, which introduced the ability to follow friends, a faster architecture and personalized news, users have been in revolt , mostly over the types of stories reaching the front page. Digg has since addressed some of these issues , but the debate rages on. Last week we asked you, the Mashable readers, for your opinion on Digg. Which did you prefer: The new digg or the old one ? The old version of Digg was clearly your choice. With a full 78% of the vote (4,808 votes), the classic version bested the new version’s 12% (747 votes). Four percent of you (230 votes) said it was a tie, while 6% of you (348 votes) said you weren’t a fan of Digg. In the comments, the de ...

As expected, a massive upgrade to the iPod touch was announced earlier today at Apple’s special event. Although the most outwardly impressive revisions come by way of front and rear facing cameras and the retina display, perhaps more significant was the announcement that the device would house the same chip capably powering the iPhone 4 and the iPad ? the Apple A4. The A4 mobile ARM processor is of particular importance when considering Apple?s mobile future. With today’s revelations that Apple has sold 275 million iPods and that 1.5 billion games and entertainment titles have been downloaded on the iPod touch alone, it’s not a stretch to see why Game Center was a cornerstone of the presentation. While Nintendo and Sony have both been busy manufacturing dedicated mobile gaming platforms, Apple has seized control of over 50% of the worldwide mobile gaming market with multi-function devices like the iPod touch. Although Apple has the mar ...

Microsoft has completed the development of its forthcoming Windows Phone 7 . The mobile OS has reached the release to manufacturing (RTM) stage, the company announced today. All that remains now is for networks and manufacturers to work on the final integrations of WP7 so that it is prepared for its release. While an official release date has not been announced, most reports pin October as Microsoft’s target time for launch. “Windows Phone 7 is the most thoroughly tested mobile platform Microsoft has ever released,” said Terry Myerson, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of windows phone engineering. “We had nearly ten thousand devices running automated tests daily, over a half million hours of active self-hosting use, over three and a half million hours of stress test passes, and eight and a half million hours of fully automated test passes. We?ve had thousands of independent software vendors and early adopters testing our s ...

Xortify - Fortify your XOOPS. Cloud Security for Protector - Dedicated Server. Xortify is a network security drone that uses Web 2.0 techniques to link between your XOOPS installs and other via a XML Cloud. This will prevent security intrusions to your xoops with accurate deceptive notation of the intruder and prevent any farmed attacks. It is an accessory and required Protector to be installed an running to be part of the hookup. Otherwise it will run without protector just make sure you deselect protector as a provider. It will display a template if you are banned and is an accessory to protector or any other firewall technology. The site itself is driven from www.xortify.com .. Cloud computing is web 2.0/3.0 stuff it used a SOAP XML exchange backend to work, this will eventually be included in xoops as a support class, that is SOAP protocol. A cloud computing process is one which staggers multiple networks sometime and mainly unknown to the webmaster into a network or cl ...

Documentary filmmaker Simon Klose has more than 200 hours of unedited footage that he plans turn into a feature-length film, The Pirate Bay — Away From Keyboard (TPB AFK). After years of documenting The Pirate Bay’s legal proceedings, and taping numerous encounters with the site’s three founders, Klose chose Kickstarter to bring his film to fruition. Klose intended to raise $25,000 in one month’s time to hire a professional editing studio. He met his goal in three days thanks to thousands of small donations from individual donors, and a little promotional support on The Pirate Bay home page. The TPB AFK project was launched on the evening of August 27. To date, 1,145 different backers have pledged more than $34,000 through Kickstarter . Funds continued to be pledged and will be accepted through September 27. The documentary aims to chronicle the story of the world’s largest file-sharing site, and be an “observational, character dr ...