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Findables case turns your entire smartphone into a business card

QR codes haven't exactly set the world on fire, yet most people know what they are, and most phones can scan them, either out of the box or with a third-party app.

The Findables Case takes that idea to heart by emblazoning a unique QR code on each hard-plastic shell, the idea being to use that code to share information about yourself or help recover your lost phone.

In other words, your case can now take the place of your business card, while at the same time offering good Samaritans a means of contacting you (that doesn't involve poring through your address book).

When someone scans the code, they'll see one of three profiles (chosen by you via a companion app or the Findables Web site): Business, Social, or Lost.… Read more

The right way and wrong way to use Twitter

"Thank you for sharing" takes on an entirely new meaning when using social media. Most of the people who use Twitter, Facebook, and other social networks intend their posts to enlighten, amuse, or inspire their friends and followers. It doesn't always work out that way.

For businesses, Twitter is primarily about customer relations, but this can backfire, too, as Customer Think's Trish Miller points out in the Top 10 Twitter Mistakes of 2012.

The first time you sat behind the wheel of a car you didn't just turn the key and head for the freeway … Read more

Twitter going deeper with ESPN

If you like sports highlights but spend more time on social networks than watching TV, Twitter and ESPN are going to do their best to meet your needs.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Twitter and ESPN plan to announce tomorrow a deepening of their existing relationship, agreeing on a pact under which the leading sports channel will unveil a wide variety of highlight clips in its tweets. The videos would be available on Twitter "shortly after" they take place live.

Naturally, the new arrangement -- which expands on a pact signed in December under which ESPN began … Read more

Twitter's latest buy: Big data startup Lucky Sort

Twitter's shopping spree shows no signs of letting up. Today, the social-networking giant said that it has acquired big data startup Lucky Sort.

Lucky Sort CEO Noah Pepper said in a blog post that his company's "goal was to make huge document sets easier to analyze, summarize, and visualize by building elegant and user-friendly tools for text analysis."

Neither Twitter nor Lucky Sort said precisely how the startup will be integrated into Twitter's larger plans, but Pepper said in his post that several members of his team would be moving to San Francisco to become … Read more

Review: Easily manage your Twitter account with Echofon for Twitter

There are a lot of Twitter clients for iOS. Integrating dozens of different features, these tools allow you to interact with and manage your tweets quickly and easily across multiple devices. But there are issues. Viewing images and videos often sends you to other apps, notifications don't always work properly, and Twitter options may be buried a few menus deep. That's why the well-constructed Echofon for Twitter is such a welcome addition to the field.

By no means a perfect Twitter app, Echofon for Twitter still manages to be one of the better options on the App Store. … Read more

Joss Whedon joins Twitter

Joss Whedon fans can now catch the latest musings of their favorite creative guru in 140 characters or less.

Whedon finally hopped onto the Twittersphere early Monday using the nom de Twitter of @JossActual. Displaying his usual deadpan sense of humor, Whedon describes himself as a "ladies man, man's man, man about town... Java man, Isle of Man, Mandroid, Man Who Would Be King Ralph, girly man."

As of late Monday, the writer and director known for "The Avengers," "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer," "Firefly," "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" … Read more

Review: Twitter Music lets you discover your friends' favorite sounds

It's no secret that Twitter is a haven for music lovers and the artists they love. Many of the top followed accounts on Twitter are owned by musicians like Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake, and Muse. With millions of followers, constant interaction among and with fans, and a big catalog of music ripe for promotion, it's no surprise that Twitter has decided to leverage all of it with a new app, Twiiter Music, designed solely for music.

The Twitter Music app is designed to integrate with your iPhone, existing Twitter account, and iTunes account so you can … Read more

Twitter: Don't you dare tweet your mom for Mother's Day

You know how you love tweeting? You know how Twitter is the epicenter of your universe, the medium of your message?

Well, Sunday is Mother's Day and Twitter has a message for you: Don't tweet.

At least, don't even think of tweeting your mom to wish her Happy Mother's Day.

How do I know this? Well, Twitter released a PSA (yes, crises such as this need a PSA) to explain to you (boys) that momma deserves more than a tweeted hug and kiss.

To use Twitter's own words, if you are thinking of tweeting your … Read more

Jimmy Kimmel gets celebrities to humiliate Twitter trolls

Few are immune from feeling envy.

Some, though, just can't help expressing it.

In our socially networked world, there are several choices of medium on which to vent one's inadequacies, but none seems so immediate as Twitter.

You can go there and post all sorts of deeply offensive things and actually direct them at the famous people who have turned you green in more places than merely your gills.

For example: "I just saw @JessicaAlba. If this was 2007, I'd be really excited."… Read more

Star Apps: Counting Crows

For some audiophiles, Counting Crows and The Wallflowers will forever be associated with the mid-1990s--along with Netscape Navigator, Hotmail, and of course, Windows 95. But don't call their joint summer outing a nostalgia trip. Velvet-tongued Counting Crows vocalist Adam Duritz, hot off the heels of The Outlaw Roadshow (alongside a slew of new indie bands), prefers to view his comparatively intimate Wallflowers double bill as a much-needed respite.

Other than sharing a decade, the comradely combos have shared previous tours, a track (Duritz sang on The Wallflowers' "6th Avenue Heartache"), and even a producer (T-Bone Burnett, back … Read more