Groupon’s model has always been to serve to up a single daily deal per city, per day. Yesterday, the company nearly reinvented itself when it kicked off its Personalized Deals initiative. With Personalized Deals , Groupon subscribers in Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Jose, Seattle and New York City will receive deals tailored to their personal tastes and previous purchase behaviors. Groupon subscribers who complete their on-site profile can also help the service better understand their preferences

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Groupon Eyes Further Growth with Personalized Deals

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This series is brought to you by HTC EVO 4G , America’s first 4G phone. Only from Sprint. The “First to Know” series keeps you in the know on what’s happening now in the world of social media and technology.

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Morning Brief: YouTube Banned in Russia, Amazon’s New Kindle, Motorola Earnings

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Twitter has begun testing User Streams , a new Streaming API that will finally give Twitter desktop apps real-time capabilities and streams. According to Twitter Developer Advocate Taylor Singletary, Users Streams is now in “a limited testing period for desktop clients.” This is the first time that the User Streams API has been in the wild since its launch at Twitter’s Chirp conference . The Twitter Streaming API gives desktop apps the ability to auto-update with new events as soon as they happen. It covers not only real-time Twitter updates, but retweets, direct messages, mentions, favorites, following and search. We saw the demo of this feature at Chirp back in April, and it certainly made TweetDeck and other desktop apps a lot more useful

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TweetDeck and Echofon First to Get Twitter’s Real-Time User Stream

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Facebook has begun the rollout of a new feature, Facebook Questions, which will allow users to get answers to their queries from the entire Facebook community. Similar in concept to Yahoo! Answers , Quora and Mahalo , Facebook Questions gives users the opportunity to ask questions just by clicking the “Ask Question” button on the homepage. Questions is also available on friends’ profiles just as you would post on someone’s wall. We first learned of Facebook’s Q&A feature two months ago, when the company started asking for volunteers to beta test the product. The world’s largest social network even went so far as to promise beta testers a trip to Facebook’s offices to meet with the Q&A team

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Facebook Questions Officially Launches

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When Apple released Safari 5 earlier this summer, one of the new features included the ability to (finally!) install third-party extensions ; today the company has released Safari 5.0.1 and, with it, an official extension gallery. The Safari extensions gallery includes extensions built by Twitter , MLB.com, Bing, eBay , Amazon and more. Developers have also submitted their own creations to Apple over the last few weeks and the best and brightest are now available for one-click installs. To install a new extension, all you need to do is click on the “install now” button under an extensions description. You can access the official Safari Extensions Gallery by clicking on the Safari menu (or File, for Windows users) and selecting “Safari Extensions Gallery.” That’s it

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Safari Updated, Gets Official Extensions Gallery

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When SCVNGR CEO and founder Seth Priebatsch dropped out of Princeton to pursue his startup full time, he spent the first year of operations going after enterprise clientele. Thursday, those behind-the-scenes efforts will culminate in a significant release that introduces a rewards element to game play. At launch, 1,000 locations across the U.S. will begin rewarding SCVNGR users with freebies or discounts for completing custom-designed challenges at their venues.

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SCVNGR Launches Sophisticated Rewards Program

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Several new Facebook scams are making the rounds today, and although they follow the same pattern as many of the recent scams we’ve seen, some users are still falling for them. The scams work as follows: First, you’ll see an interesting link in other users’ status updates, but when you follow the link, you’ll be asked to fill out a number of surveys, which are nothing more than ploys to extract your personal data. Today, we’ve seen two very similar scams, both promising a “shocking video” to unsuspecting users. One message that appears in status updates reads: “ I am shocked!!! I’m NEVER texting AGAIN since I found this out. Video here: http://bit.ly/c4SDyh – Worldwide scandal! ” If you click on the link in the message, it’ll lead you to a rogue Facebook application, which will ask you to fill in a couple of surveys before you can actually see the promised content

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Shocking Video Scams Spread Virally on Facebook [WARNING]

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WikiLeaks is currently in the news because its Afghan War logs comprise one of the largest and most controversial intelligence leaks to date. But while WikiLeaks is relatively new to the public, it is actually a product of a long-established culture. That culture has already had a banner-bearer; a quintessential exemplification of its values — The Pirate Bay . WikiLeaks is akin to The Pirate Bay, but for another purpose

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Why WikiLeaks Is The Pirate Bay of Political Intelligence

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A new report suggests that LinkedIn’s value has surpassed the $2 billion mark, based on recent investments from outside investors. According to Bloomberg , hedge fund Tiger Global Management spent $20 million to acquire approximately a one percent stake in the business social network. The hedge fund specifically paid $21.50 per share. That’s where the math comes in

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LinkedIn: Now Worth More Than $2 Billion

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StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty , the first chapter in the sequel to one of the most wildly successful computer games of all time, went on sale today. It’s available in retail stores and as a digital download for Mac and Windows computers. Made by World of Warcraft creators Blizzard Entertainment, StarCraft II is a real-time strategy game set in a science fiction universe.

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Highly Anticipated “StarCraft II” Strategy Game Launches Today

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In honor of Mashable’s five-year anniversary, this series is supported by IDG . Join social conversations to market your brand with IDG’s social advertising platform, IDG Amplify . Learn more about how it works here . Five years ago, the mobile landscape was in many ways, a world apart from where we are now. The Motorola Razr was on its way to breaking sales records worldwide, the SideKick II was Paris Hilton’s best friend , and the BlackBerry was still all about business.

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A Look Back at the Last 5 Years in Mobile

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Fwix is a news aggregation service focused on dishing the dirt on hyper-local news stories to help you stay on top of what’s happening right in your backyard. Fwix is available both in the US and select countries abroad. More

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Yahoo Japan said it will be switching Yahoo’s search technology with Google’s search engine, dealing a serious blow to the global Microsoft-Yahoo search partnership. In July 2009, Yahoo signed a deal with Microsoft , under which Yahoo was to adopt Microsoft’s Bing as the search engine on all Yahoo sites. However, Yahoo only has a minority stake (35%) in Yahoo Japan, while the Japanese telecom giant Softbank owns 40% of the company, meaning that Yahoo didn’t have the final say in the decision. “Yahoo! Japan made this decision as an independent and separate publicly traded company (…) This decision by Yahoo! Japan does not impact the global rollout and implementation of the Yahoo! search alliance with Microsoft, except in the Japanese market,” said Yahoo in a statement

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Yahoo Japan Signs Search Deal With Google

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The second season of MTV’s reality hit, Jersey Shore , will debut this coming Thursday. To build anticipation around the first episode fist-pump style, MTV is releasing a Facebook game and iPhone app that will feature the show’s larger-than-life personalities in cartoon form. The Facebook game is a Jersey-Shore -lover’s dream come true and challenges players to battle each other in head-to-head pickle and tanning lotion throwing competitions. The game is set to make its debut on Tuesday and evolve in content as the storylines on the show develop over the season

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MTV Releasing Facebook Game and iPhone App to Promote “Jersey Shore”

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It seems that Yelp is getting ready to implement a “daily deal” feature across the popular website; they’re beginning to test this feature in certain markets, notably Sacramento. After a few Yelp users noticed Groupon-like deals popping up on Yelp.com, the company’s community manager confirmed, “We are testing it out for fun to see what kind of response it generates… Also, there will be another Deal coming out on Wednesday so look for it!” Deals have been showing up for select users on the right side of the home page. They’re limited-time offers, and users who have tried them say, “It acts just like a Groupon.” Basically, you’re allowed to pay a significantly discounted amount for goods or services at a local retailer.

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Yelp Testing “Daily Deals” Feature

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In an update coupled with Google Maps 4.4 for Android 1.6 and above, Google has improved the mobile offering of Places . Android owners can now add the Places icon to their home screens and use it to quickly locate nearby venues and their accompanying information-rich business listings. The mobile Places experience now lets users query nearby places by voice or text, or dive into default categories — think restaurants, coffee, bars, hotels and gas stations — or custom-saved categories to search for places. Returned results are based on its expanding database of Place Pages

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Google Pushes Further into Yelp’s Territory with Maps for Android Update

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Google Apps has already landed a few big customers in the public sector — including the City of Los Angeles — and today the company forwarded its drive into the space by launching a new edition of its app suite: Google Apps for Government. Google Apps for Government is, according to Google, the first cloud computing app suite to receive the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) certification. This will make it easier for agencies or groups to evaluate and adopt Google Apps. Any product aimed at government employees needs more than just certification, which is why Google notes in its blog post that Gmail and Google Calendar data will be segregated into data centers marked exclusively for government users in the continental U.S. After the Street View privacy fiasco , this sort of segmentation is going to be a necessary feature for any sort of widespread adoption.

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Google Apps Adds Government Edition

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Here’s some bad news for those countries still in line for an iPad launch: LG, one of the largest supplier of displays for Apple’s iPad, says it cannot meet the enormous demand for the device. “Demand (from Apple) keeps growing and we can’t meet it all. Apple may have to delay launches of the iPad for some countries due to tight component supplies and strong demand,” LG Display CEO Kwon Young-soo told reporters .

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iPad Launch May Be Delayed For Some Countries

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A survey performed by the Yankee Group found that 73% of iPhone users are “very satisfied” with AT&T , despite all the negative press the cellular network has received since the iPhone launched back in 2007. Also, 77% of iPhone owners would buy another iPhone, while only 20% of people who use the competing Google Android smartphone platform would repeat their purchases. The survey was cited at CNNMoney.com , which was quick to suggest that the positive reviews from iPhone owners must be a result of a “halo effect” or “reality distortion field” accompanying the iPhone’s slick and impressive interface and features. The idea is that some users are so pleased and wowed by the iPhone’s presentation that they gloss over the downsides — in this case, AT&T’s struggle to prevent dropped calls or other problems caused by poor or lost signal

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73% of iPhone Users Are “Very Satisfied” With AT&T [SURVEY]

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This post is part of Mashable’s Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here . The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark.

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Yolink Helps Web Researchers Search Behind Links

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The YouTube blog has just posted about a new video embed style that uses and will eventually provide a more robust experience for users across browsers and devices. The big advantage of this new embed style is that it can serve content to users using either Flash or HTML5 , depending on where the video is being viewed and the preferences of the user. The new embed code is still being tweaked, but developers are encouraged to use it and give YouTube their feedback. Back in January, YouTube rolled out its HTML5 player , and support for HTML5 has since continued to expand and evolve. However, not all video is viewable in HTML5 in all browsers, and sometimes content needs to use the Flash player

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YouTube Launches New HTML5-Friendly Embed Code

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Today, Apple announced further delays to the white iPhone 4 release, dashing the dreams of would-be white iPhone 4 owners everywhere. Never fear, thanks to the power of silicon and plastic, you can add some color to your black iPhone and get some antennagate protection at the same time. While some industrious modders have taken the DIY approach , we figure most individuals will feel much more comfortable putting a case on their new devices. While none of these solutions offer a full 100% white iPhone 4 effect, you can get pretty close. Check out the gallery below to preview our picks of slim-fitting iPhone 4 color cases

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5 Color Case Alternatives to Waiting for a White iPhone 4

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Cisco’s 2010 Midyear Security Report found that workers in the enterprise are accessing their favorite social networking sites on company-issued equipment even when corporate policies prohibit them from doing so. In fact, 50% of surveyed employees confessed to ignoring company social media policies at least once per week. 27% of respondents went the extra mile to reconfigure the settings on corporate devices so as to access forbidden content or applications. The Cisco report primarily focuses on network security. On that front, it concludes, “Social networking, virtualization, cloud computing and a heavy reliance on mobile devices continue to have a dramatic impact on the ability of information technology departments to maintain effective network security.” The social networking side of the report is especially interesting.

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Employees Ignore Social Media Policies, Play “FarmVille” on Company Time [STUDY]

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We’re sure that Steve Jobs and other folks at Apple would like nothing more than for the whole antennagate mess to clear as soon as possible, especially after Jobs’ recent apology and promise to give iPhone 4 customers a free bumper case , but the competition just won’t let them. Annoyed by the fact that Apple used their devices as examples that other phones have issues similar to the iPhone 4, most major phone manufacturers issued a statement on the issue, dismissing Apple’s claims and asserting Apple shouldn’t have dragged them into their problems. Now, in the latest ad for its Galaxy S smartphone, Samsung simply says “Hello,” but everyone who has seen their signal on the iPhone 4 unexpectedly drop will instantly recognize the true meaning behind the ad. More About: Antennagate , apple , galaxy s , iphone , samsung For more Mobile coverage: Follow Mashable Mobile on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Mobile channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

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Samsung Galaxy S Ad Mocks iPhone 4

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In another attempt to bring a usable computer to the masses at an extremely affordable price point, India has developed a touchscreen computing device which will cost only $35. According to a press release by India’s Press Information Bureau, the price is expected to drop even further, first to $20 and ultimately to a mere $10. The reports about the device’s hardware vary greatly; all we can say for sure is that it’s portable and has a touchscreen, which pretty much makes it a tablet (confirmed by the image on the right). According to Indian Express , it has a 5/7/9 inch touchscreen (we don’t know whether that means there will be several versions of the device or they’re simply unsure what the actual size is, but it looks like a 7-incher to us), and on the software side, it sports a web browser, PDF reader, office software, media player as well as multimedia input/output capabilities, video conferencing (it must have a camera, then) and remote device management capability – all of it open-source and Linux-based. Whatever hardware is running this thing, it’s ready for production, according to India’s human resource development minister Kapil Sibal

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India Develops World’s Cheapest Tablet

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Chalk this one up as a victory for the free software movement: Thesis, the wildly popular proprietary WordPress theme from developer/designer Chris Pearson, is now available under a split GPL, the license that makes it possible to alter and redistribute this software as you see fit. Pearson’s decision marks the end of a high-drama clash between him and Matt Mullenweg, the founder of WordPress and of Automattic, which runs WordPress.com and a handful of related software. Some folks wondered if the battle of words might end in a battle of legal precedent as Mullenweg struggled to preserve free-software principles and Pearson struggled to maintain control over his highly successful software.

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WordPress Theme Thesis Maker Backs Down, Adopts GPL

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Facebook reached its 500 million member milestone yesterday and celebrated the event with the launch of Facebook Stories . The monumental moment also played a role in the ABC World News report featuring a candid interview between Diane Sawyer and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. To commemorate the achievement, the team at Facebakers.com put together the comprehensive infographic included below (click to enlarge). The illustration breaks down the demographics of Facebook’s burgeoning population (according to their own data on the service), and explores the international makeup of the site. Reviews: Facebook More About: facebook , infographic For more Social Media coverage: Follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Social Media channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

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Facebook’s 500 Million Members [INFOGRAPHIC]

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Deal-a-day startup Groupon has just released its Android app. The application is a brand new offering that complements the website and allows users to score deals and view their purchased Groupons from their Andriod mobile phones. The Groupon Android app is now available in the Android Market. The app introduces the Groupon experience to an ever-expanding user base who, according to the company, have been anxious to get their hands on it. The application is fairly straightforward and mimics the experience on the iPhone [iTunes link]

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Groupon Brings Daily Deals to Android Devices

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Facebook is testing a revised version of the user home page that eliminates the “Most Recent” view as a filter for the News Feed with a small subset of users. Currently, the standard home page layout lets users switch between “Top News” and “Most Recent,” the latter allowing users to follow a more real-time stream of updates from friends. In the alternative interface, users no longer have the “Most Recent” option and are instead presented with a “More Stories” option. We were alerted to the revised home page when tipster Michael Lain wrote to us of the growing user frustration from those who are missing the “Most Recent” option.

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Facebook Removes “Most Recent” News Feed Option for Some Users

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Photo-sharing service Flickr has released version 1.2 of its iPhone app, adding several new features to take advantage of the iPhone 4 . Version 1.2 comes with two major additions specific to iOS 4 and iPhone 4 users. First, the new app now supports multitasking for uploads; you no longer have to keep the app open in order to send the photos and videos you capture to your Flickr account. On top of that, Flickr for iPhone now supports HD video upload to correspond with the iPhone 4’s 720p video capabilities. The app also comes with some usability and design enhancements, including the ability to clear recent searches and the removal of navigation controls on full-screen photos until you tap on the photo you’re viewing

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Flickr Updates iPhone App for HD Video Uploads and Multitasking

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