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With the heightened buying frenzy surrounding the launch of Google's new smartphone, the Droid, it was no surprise that someone would piggyback off of the hype! While Google conducts its first-time TV advertising, Flipswap, a trade-in service aggressively jumped into the foray with a unique offer to swap cash for your old 'clunky' iPhones. ( Where was the Administration on this one?)

Did the "voice of jihad" just get a little louder? Afghan tribalism has origins that date back 1400 years to the early Muslim and Islamic civilizations. With a lifestyle based on jihad and an economy that thrives on opium trade, who would have thought that these warring factions in Afghanistan and Pakistan would ever embrace social media as a means to communicate.

Wisk laundry detergent just launched a new facebook app called WISK-IT that extends their powerful cleaning heritiage into the world of social media. Designed to make it easy to find and remove all those photos on facebook that might be embarrasing, and a general "stain" on your reputation, this is one of those apps that isn't just functional but a great marketing idea. Conceived and developed by TracyLocke, an integrated marketing agency, the WISK-IT app reminds you that "Everyone's got a photo that needs to be washed away."

The health care reform debate this current legislative season has been more about who could shout the loudest versus who really had something to say. Earning their label as the "Party of No" the GOP's push back on health care has been perceived as protest-for-protest sake.

For wordsmiths the world over, a rejection notice is the common denominator shared by the entire literary community whether you are the next Hemingway or a weekend poet. However unwelcoming, those "we regret to inform you" letters have become a right of passage for writers. On the flip side, all an author really wants to see is his or her words in print. To that end Fictionaut, an online social network for fiction writers addresses that need.

Michael Arrington from Techcrunch wrote a very insightful article titled "Scamville: The Social Gaming Ecosystem of Hell," exposing Zynga and its scam-laden lead gen-type offers devised for their ever-popular Facebook games of Farmville and Mafia Wars. I challenge one of the more ethical game developers to actually use Arrington's expose to develop the real thing - an actual Facebook game called "ScamVille!"

Art, maps,imagery and graphs add context and a visual component to numbers, locations, and information. With as much influx of data we contend with on a daily basis, visualization tools allows our brains to take a rest while perceiving content in a different light. In essence, visualization allows us to stop and smell the pixels, in spite of the fact we might learn a few things along the way.

With the Holiday Season fast approaching, you might want to consider "making your list and checking it twice."Lists are the new order of business in Twitterville. Some say it will take the place of "Follow Fridays." Others think its jumping on the the Google Wave and Enterprise Microblogs' bandwagon.

This year in addition to influences from the movie industry's horror flicks, the financial decline in the US appears to be just as scary, if not more horrifying than "Paranormal Activity" and "Saw 2,3,4,5,etc." Let's take a look at how our current financial crisis might be affecting "All Hallows Eve" this year!

For those familiar with the TV Show "Survivor," one knows you have to "outwit, outplay and outlast." And while that same philosophy is sometimes jokingly applied to failing marriages, LousySpouse.com's slogan of "endure, survive and prevail" plays it a little closer to the vest. Yes, there is a social network for those in the thralls of divorce, whether it be pre-, post or during.

Ubiquitous Google is out there once again speeding past anything it finds in its way on what we use to call the Superhighway! This time its taken to the gadget world by transforming their Android phones into mobile GPS navigation systems - and its free!

You may have already packed up your pet's necessities for the possibility of an evacuation. But have you centralized all the information you will need if your pet gets lost or stolen? I can tell you from more than one experience, it's hard to think straight when your pet disappears. Here are two more resources I would add to your list now: Amber Pet Alert™ and Find Toto.

What is so hot about the Volvo's XC60 coupe? Described on their Web site as a cross-over "with a big attitude," one would expect a car of this type to be owned by soccer moms driving their kids to practice. With a couple of well-placed product placements in a hit teens' & 20-somethings' movie, that same car is going to be on a lot of Christmas wish-lists this holiday season.

The catch-phrase that transformed Las Vegas' failed attempt at becoming a 'family destination' back into its original 'Sin City' image is now taking another turn. "What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas," was not only a brilliant ad campaign slogan, it also became a pop culture mantra used every time someone wanted to alert someone else about keeping things on the DL.

Like Mahalo, ChaCha, Eurekster and a few other social search engines before them, adding humans to the search function seems to be having a resurgence in popularity. After all when Google jumps into the fray, people do stop and listen.

While the Fail Whale comes and goes. - sometimes its absence is missed as much as its presence. Ever wonder why the ubiquitous Fail Whale cannot disappear forever? Here's the rationale of some of the top thinkers on the subject.

You hear about jewellery stores lending out expensive designer necklaces, rings and broaches to celebrities for major events, but with their name and pocketbook on the line, this is an option that's available only to the rich and famous. Now, one jewellery company is offering the same luxury services to women on one of the most important days of their lives.

Odd that Foursquare, the Location-Based Social Network with it roots in Manhattan should strike its first transit deal with the Bay Area Rapid Transit in San Francisco versus the New York Subway system. Is the new location-based social network attracting a narrow demographic of West Coast clique-ish gamers?

When Bing filed for a trademark earlier this year, it appeared that 'local search' was in its cross-hairs. Now it has set it sights on 'real-time search' as well. And not to be outdone, the ubiquitous Google followed suit. Rocking real-time, baby is something both of these search engines needed to stay relevant in today's search engine arena.

Coca Cola will access the power of social media to create some international buzz for the brand around the globe commencing January 1, 2010 and lasting for a full year. As part of their "Open Happiness" campaign, the year-long quest to find out what makes people happy will go under the code name, "Expedition 206," and will take a team of Happiness Ambassadors from Aruba to Zimbabwe.