Mashable: Latest 4 News Updates - including “Free Kindle Books: A Guide”

---

• Free Kindle Books: A Guide
• Quick Start Guides: Getting the Most From This Year’s Hottest Gadgets
• 5 iPhone Apps for Festive Photo Fun
• Top 10 Twitter Trends This Week [CHART]
• 36 New Social Media Resources You May Have Missed

Free Kindle Books: A Guide Posted: 25 Dec 2010 02:46 PM PST If Google Trends are anything to go by, a fair number of you were fortunate enough to unwrap a Kindle 3 this Christmas (currently, “free kindle books” is trending at number 9). As such, we thought we’d alert you to some of the following resources for getting free Kindle books on your new device (as well as your smartphone and desktop). For all but the Kindle Store, you’ll need to transfer the books manually using a computer and USB cable. Project Gutenberg: 33,000 free e-books, including all of the classics, available in Kindle, HTML and simple text formats. Google E-Bookstore: The free section is filled with thousands of free, scanned copies of books, available in Kindle-friendly PDF formats. Internet Archive: Millions of primarily rare, out-of-print works in multiple languages and formats (including Kindle), especially useful for academic work. Open Library: 20 million user-contributed items in multiple editions and formats (including Kindle). ManyBooks.net: Nearly 30,000 titles, many of which have been pulled from Project Gutenberg. Has a good collection of little-known Creative Commons works. LibriVox: Thousands of free audiobooks. Looking for more Kindle resources? Check out our complete guide here. More About: amazon, Kindle For more Tech coverage: Follow Mashable Tech on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Tech channel Download our free apps for Android, iPhone and iPad

Quick Start Guides: Getting the Most From This Year’s Hottest Gadgets Posted: 25 Dec 2010 12:25 PM PST This post is part of the Mashable 10, Mashable’s gift guide of the 10 hottest gadgets that our editors think should be on everyone’s wish lists this holiday season. If you were lucky enough to receive one of those gifts, our handy quick start guides should get you up and running. Our complete list of guides is below. To view gift suggestions, click here. Weeks of waiting? Over. Wrapping paper, ribbon and clear tape? Everywhere. Your next move? That’s easy: Take that new gadget you’re staring at, set it up, plug it in and start using it. And of course, there’s certainly nothing wrong with that approach, but if you want to get the most out of your new electronics, you need a game plan, and Mashable is here to help. Whether you got an iPad or a Kindle, a new camera or TV, a Roku or an Xbox, we’ve got you covered. In the past two weeks we’ve been creating quick start guides for each of the gadgets in our 2010 holiday gift guide to help you get the most from your gifts. These guides will get you up and running with your new gadget by helping you select the best apps, accessories and tutorials on the web. You’ll go from novice to pro in no time. Let us know in the comments what you got this holiday season! 1. HOW TO: Get Started With Your New iPad This guide will let you know to what to read, download and explore to get off and running with your new iPad. 2. HOW TO: Get the Most Out of Your New Android Device Here’s a concise list of the Android apps and accessories that we couldn’t live without. 3. HOW TO: Get Started With Your New Amazon Kindle Are you the recent recipient of everyone’s favorite little e-reader? Here’s how to make the most of Amazon’s third generation Kindle right out of the box. 4. HOW TO: Get the Most Out of Your New iPod Touch We’ve compiled a list of five must-have accessories and five must-download apps so you can get rolling with your iPod touch right out of the box. 5. HOW TO: Get the Most From Your New Laptop Lucky you. Someone was generous enough to give you a shiny new laptop, maybe even that swanky HP Envy 14 we raved about in our gift guide. Here’s how to get started. 6. HOW TO: Get Started With Your New Wi-Fi Router Need help setting up that new router? We’re going to show you some tips and resources that’ll get you off to a good start. 7. HOW TO: Get the Most Out of Your New Nikon D3100 If this is your first DSLR (or your first Nikon), chances are that you’ll be looking into some accessories and tips to get the most from your camera. Check out our handy quick start guide. 8. HOW TO: Get Started With Your New Roku Player The Roku is easy to use and pretty self-explanatory in terms of features, but we've managed to track down some tips and tricks to make your streaming entertainment box as awesome as possible. 9. HOW TO: Build the Ultimate Home Theater Here’s a checklist of the nine essential ingredients you’ll need for the ultimate home theater. Whichever of the pieces you just unwrapped, here are the complementary components to make everyone in your neighborhood jealous. 10. HOW TO: Get the Most Out of Your New Xbox 360 With Kinect Lucky enough to score this year’s hottest gaming peripheral? We have some suggestions for how you can get the most from your new motion control machine. Reviews: Android, Mashable More About: gift guide, Gifts, Holidays, home theater, hp en, HP ENVY 14, ipad, iPod Touch, Kindle, List, Lists, mashable 10, mashable 10 quick start, netgear, nikon d3100, roku, router, trending, Xbox 360, Xbox Kinect For more Tech coverage: Follow Mashable Tech on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Tech channel Download our free apps for Android, iPhone and iPad

5 iPhone Apps for Festive Photo Fun Posted: 25 Dec 2010 11:00 AM PST In addition to being a time of year when it is permissible to fill your face with as much food and drink as you can lay your hands on, the holidays are a time when it’s OK, nay, encouraged even, to be a little bit silly. Think about it: It’s a brief period when it’s socially acceptable to sing as loudly as you can, squee like a demented banshee when unwrapping presents, wear clothing you wouldn’t be seen dead in the other 11 months of the year and ambush folks you fancy for a free kiss under a sprig of foliage. With this in mind, if you want to add an extra dose of fun to your festivities, then we’ve rounded up five ways to inject some fun with no more than your iPhone (or iPod touch), a few photos and a handful of apps. Go on — add some serious silly to your Yuletide celebrations. 1. Ogilvy White Xmas This app puts a coating of faux snow over your camera lens, meaning you can trick far-away folk into thinking the white stuff is coming down like there’s no tomorrow where you are. Useful for both settling it’ll-be-a-white-Christmas bets the underhand way and putting off unwelcome visitors. Cost: Free 2. Musical Lights Do you secretly yearn to cover your humble domicile with festive lights that would tax the local power grid, but don’t dare for fear of scorn? This app will let you light up (a photo of) your home so it (it will appear that it) can be seen from space, all to the accompaniment of some festive tunes. Deck the halls, indeed. Cost: $0.99 3. Xmas Booth Free Great to amuse fractious children (or heck, even bored uncles) over the holidays, this colorful app adds fun festive touches to your photos. Snap a fresh pic or upload one from an album to add more Christmas icons than you could shake a candy cane at. Cost: Free 4. Christmas Sweater-izer We bet it’s safe to say someone you know needs a Christmas sweater makeover. Preferably someone who thinks they are a little bit too cool for such festive nonsense*. Steal a photo of his or her face and get creative with this app that will create a photo of your friend sporting ghastly Christmas-themed clothing faster than you can say, “polyester acrylic yarn.” Cost: $0.99 5. Coca-Cola Christmas Snow Globes This corporate-backed app lets you design your own personalized snow globe scene that you can shake up to see the snow flow. After you’ve made your Christmas wish, set the scene and add photos, then share your creation to Facebook. Cost: Free BONUS: Mistletoe Photo Booth If you see mommy kissing Santa Claus, be sure to whip out your iPhone and immortalize the magic moment with a mistletoe topping. Cost: Free More iPhone Photography Resources from Mashable: - iPhotography: 10 Pro Tips for Snapping Perfect iPhone Photos - 15 Incredible iPhone Dog Photographs - 7 Useful iPhone Camera Tips and Tricks - 10 Incredible iPhone Photographs - 10 Essential Websites for iPhone Photographers - 10 Incredible iPhone Portrait Photographs - 10 Wonderful Wildlife iPhone Photographs *Not actually applicable for Mashable’s Associate Features Editor Matt Silverman, who models a kitty-themed garment from the Christmas Sweater-izer collection above. He knows he’s not too cool. Reviews: Facebook More About: Christmas, Holidays, iphone, iphone apps, iphotography, List, Lists, photography For more Apple coverage: Follow Mashable Apple on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Apple channel Download our free apps for Android, iPhone and iPad

Top 10 Twitter Trends This Week [CHART] Posted: 25 Dec 2010 09:29 AM PST Twitter users have had a busy week of sports, seasonal happenings and celebrities. The holiday excitement reached a fever pitch as Christmas Day approached, but the lunar eclipse stole the show as Twitter users showed off their pics of the red-tinted moon just one night before the annual Winter Solstice. And of course, sports had another strong showing this week, with NFL and NBA players trending as they were traded, or in some cases, benched during a big game. Once again, soccer fans also flooded Twitter with updates about the sport; this time, they were sharing their excitement about the AFF Suzuki Cup. The trend in the tenth spot this week was one of particular interest to Mashable readers. On December 16, we got wind of a leaked slide showing that Yahoo was killing off social bookmarking service Delicious. Yahoo retorted it only intended to sell Delicious (a 2005 acquisition), which left many of us wondering, “But who would buy it?” For the full list of top trends, check out the chart below, compiled by our friends at What The Trend. Because this is a topical list, hashtag memes and games have been omitted from the chart. You can check past Twitter trends in our Top Twitter Topics section, and read more about this past week's trends on What The Trend. Top Twitter Trends This Week: 12/18 – 12/24 Rank Topic Intensity Description #1 Christmas 2 People tweeted their Christmas wishes and wish lists, hopes, desires, dreams and emotions leading up to the Christmas holiday. #2 Lunar Eclipse 2 The night of Monday, December 20, 2010, marked the first lunar eclipse (when the Earth’s shadow turns the moon red) since February 20-21, 2008. People tweeted photos of the eclipse as they watched it. #3 NFL 2 Mike Shanahan, coach of the Washington Redskins, benched Donovan McNabb in favor of Rex Grossman for the Redskins game against Dallas. Other topics included Dan Connolly, Joe Webb, and Michael Vick. #4 Winter Solstice 1 The 2010 winter solstice occurred on December 21, at 23:38 pm UTC. It was both the shortest and longest day of the year, depending on which hemisphere you happened to be in. #5 NBA 3 People discussed Gilbert Arenas, a professional basketball player in the NBA who was reportedly traded today from the Washington Wizards to the Orlando Magic. Hedo Turkoglu, Larry Brown and Vince Carter all trended, as well. #6 Jonas Brothers 1 Fans of the Jonas Brothers tweeted their best memories from 2010 and celebrated the first anniversary of Danielle Deleasa’s marriage to Kevin Jonas. #7 Captain Beefheart 1 Don Van Vliet, a musician better known by his stage name, Captain Beefheart, died on December 17, 2010. #8 Soccer/Football 1 The AFF Suzuki Cup was currently underway, and top discussions centered around Timnas Indonesia (the Indonesian National football team), which won 1-0 against the Philippines on December 19. #9 U-KISS 1 South Korean boy-band idol Kevin Woo (@Kevinwoo91) wanted to know what makes his fans smile. #10 Delicious 1 A Yahoo leak hinted the popular social bookmarking service was going to shut down in the coming months. Longtime users of the site are scrambling to find alternatives and to preserve their bookmarks. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, ricardoinfante Reviews: Delicious, Mashable, Twitter, iStockphoto More About: Christmas, delicious, eclipse, football, List, Lists, Lunar Eclipse, soccer, social media, solstice, Top Twitter Topics, trends, twitter, twitter trends 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 Android, iPhone and iPad

36 New Social Media Resources You May Have Missed Posted: 25 Dec 2010 07:58 AM PST We can now officially wish you a merry Christmas. It’s probably been a busy week with all your holiday-related obligations, or maybe you’ve been busy digging yourself out of a snow drift. Either way, we understand if a few of our in-depth stories slipped past you. But now, as your work week draws to a close and you’re looking for a way to spend those last few hours in the office, or you’re already home and need to take a break from wrapping presents and baking cookies, pull up a seat and see what we’ve been busy with at Mashable this week. With the holidays nearing and the end of the year not far behind, you can be sure we’ve been creating megalists of resources from the past year, as well as providing quick start guides for some of the gifts you may be receiving and predictions for what we think will make the news in 2011. You’ll find all of those posts here in our weekly features re-cap. Social Media Top 10 Twitter Trends This Week [CHART] Wondering what was on the minds of the most tweeters this past week? Check out the big chart for the complete picture. 4 Innovative Social Good Campaigns for Education These four projects have found innovative ways to help build schools using digital outreach campaigns. What Twitter’s Trending Topics Told Us About the World in 2010 [CHARTS] Looking for a bird’s eye view of all the Twitter trends from 2010? Check out this breakdown of a year’s worth of popular 140 character conversations. 3 Predictions for Social Good in 2011 The coming year will see more developments as technologists, activists and online communicators work together to try to address issues related to social good campaigns. 10 More Creative Uses of the New Facebook Profile [PICS] Following on from our original top 10, here are 10 more creative new Facebook profiles crowdsourced from the marvelous Mashable readership. Meanwhile, at Santa’s Social Media Command Center… [COMIC] If Santa has any hope of staying competitive in the digital age, he’ll need to ditch the lists and adopt some social media management tools. Video and Entertainment 12 How-To Videos for Hosting the Perfect Holiday Party We’re offering you a helping hand with your festivities with a selection of how to videos that will give you some seriously special skills to impress your guests. 5 Free, Fresh and Festive Holiday Music Playlists We've composed a collection of slightly off-beat holiday playlists to get you out of your Scrooge-like funk. HOW TO: Get the Most Out of Your New Xbox 360 With Kinect We have some suggestions for how you can get the most of your new motion control machine. For more social media news and resources, you can follow Mashable’s social media channel on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook. Tech & Mobile 9 Ways to Connect With Santa on the Web Prove to your kids that the man in red is real with the help of these nine fun sites and services. 22 Essential Resources for Android Owners Whether you need to find the best apps, or you’re looking to develop your own, check out all of our Android resources from the past year. Tough Tech: 10 Rugged Gadgets That Will Go the Distance This selection of tech will take whatever you can throw at it (or in some cases throw it at) and keep on going. 8 Musical iPad Apps for the Digital Maestro Turns out, people love making stuff with their iPads. And not just the pros. The App Store is packed with ingenious tune-making tools that can turn iTunes lovers into active players. Behind the Scenes: What it Takes to Redesign a 12 Million User Website Mashable got a sneak peak at Thrillist's new design, along with the scoop on what the inside of such a massive art project looks like. Constantly Changing Technologies: What's a Software Developer To Do? There is no choice but to remain current. Many technologies that were cutting edge just a few years ago are completely outmoded today. 5 Predictions for Online Data In 2011 Data, particularly as it relates to marketing and social media, is no longer an annual topic, but a daily one. In this post, we outline five data-driven trends that will shape our coming year. HOW TO: Get Started With Your New Wi-Fi Router Need help with that new router? We show you some tips and resources that’ll get you off to a good start. HOW TO: Get the Most Out of Your New Nikon D3100 If this is your first DSLR of any kind, chances are you’ll be looking into some accessories and tips for how to use your camera. Check out our handy quick start guide. Reddit Political Action Committee: We’re Not Happy With the New Net Neutrality Rules We spoke with Eddie Geller about the impact of the net neutrality vote and the goals of a new PAC formed via Reddit’s online community. HOW TO: Get Started With Your New Roku Player The Roku is easy to use and pretty self-explanatory in terms of features, but we've managed to track down some tips and tricks to make your streaming entertainment box as awesome as possible. 5 Free Annotation and Collaboration Tools for Web Projects Here are five of the best free tools to annotate and collaborate on the web. 4 Predictions for Connected Devices in 2011 Intel’s futurist takes a look at what we might expect from our phones, TVs, tablets and cars in the new year. HOW TO: Build the Ultimate Home Theater Here’s a checklist of the nine essential ingredients you’ll need for the ultimate home theater. 5 Predictions for Mobile in 2011 Devices are getting more powerful, data connections are getting faster and developers are really pushing the boundaries of how we define a “mobile app.” Here’s what we think is in store for the future. For more tech news and resources, you can follow Mashable’s tech channel on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook. Business 23 Free, Web-Based Tools SMBs Are Asking for Now Here's a list of great resources for SMBs that meet some of the most pressing needs you experience as a business owner or entrepreneur. 10 Predictions for the News Media in 2011 In the coming year, news media's focus will be affected by the personalization of news consumption and social media's influence on journalism. 19 Resources to Help You Land a Job in 2011 We’ve pulled together all our job-related resources from the past year to help you land your dream job in tech, social media, marketing or dev and design. 5 Essential Web Apps for the Lean Small Business Here are five cool tools that cover important bases for any business — from basic file sharing and team communication to user testing and content management. 5 Predictions for Small Business in 2011 Here are five predictions about how small businesses will continue to adapt to changing technologies as we move into the new year. 6 Predictions for Digital Advertising in 2011 The social web equips advertisers with more consumer data points than ever before. Here’s what may be in store for the coming year. 4 Web Apps For Managing Job Applications Use these four simple web apps to manage job applications for your small business. 150+ Business and Marketing Resources From 2010 Whether you’re just starting out on an entrepreneurial mission or you’re a seasoned marketing pro, there’s a good chance you’ll find some valuable advice in this mega list. 5 Predictions for the Music Industry in 2011 Despite the industry's continuing difficulty in adapting to the digital age in a truly profitable way, we have seen some stirrings of change. 75 Essential Small Business Resources From 2010 Whether you’re just starting up or well on your way to conquering your market, this list has the advice, examples, and tools to make your small biz stronger with tech and social media. 5 Predictions for the Public Relations Industry in 2011 What should savvy PR practitioners be thinking about as they're building plans for 2011? Here are a few trends to watch in the coming year. Top 10 Digital Advertising Innovations of 2010 As web technologies evolve, marketers are getting craftier. Here’s a look at some of the most creative digital campaigns we’ve seen this past year. For more business news and resources, you can follow Mashable’s business channel on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook. Reviews: Android, Facebook, Mashable, Twitter More About: business, Features Week In Review, gadgets, small business, social media, tech 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 Android, iPhone and iPad

You are subscribed to email updates from Mashable! To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610