What do you get when you add another wheel to a bicycle and slap an omnidirectional camera on top? A Street View Trike, that's what. While collecting imagery for its Street View project, the folks at Google realized that some places are inaccessible with the standard Street View Car, so they invented this special trike which can collect imagery from scenic running and cycling trails, college camp [...]

Recently, we wrote about the Federal Trade Commission's new rules when it comes to bloggers disclosing material connections with the seller of a product or service. Under the new Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising, all material connections must be disclosed; failure to do so might result in a ,000 fine. A simple yet effective service called CMP.ly makes i [...]

Personally, I prefer the old school horror-movie, large-scissors-in-your-back style costumes for Halloween. But if you're not the morbid type, why not dress up into your Facebook profile this year? Halloween is coming soon, it's time to start preparing! It's really not that hard; the idea is to slap a poster of your Facebook profile onto a whiteboard, and attach it to your body with a belt. Of [...]

The social media-sphere offers an uncountable number of marketing and branding opportunities. Your company's brand can not only live on its own website, but now you can maintain a presence and manage your brand on social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter in addition to various other social media sites such as Flickr and YouTube. Engaging in social media is a great way to promot [...]

Each Friday we choose a Lunchtime Poll topic to get a sense of how Mashable readers feel about the chosen topic of the week. Below are the results from last Friday's poll, where we asked your favorite iPhone apps. Is your favorite app not represented in the list? Let us know in the comments! And to make sure your vote counts next time, be sure to check back tomorrow for the next edition of the Lu [...]

Fed up of Balloon Boy already? You've got a long road ahead of you: the story of Falcon Heene, who the world's media believed to be flying over Colorado in a helium balloon as he hid in an attic, has rapidly become the next big Internet meme. Twitter users perhaps pushing the boundaries of good taste have taken to mashing up the Kanye West Imma let you finish joke with the balloon boy meme, with [...]

Now that Balloon Boy is safe, it’s been revealed his family participated in reality TV show Wife Swap, and there’s even a t-shirt about the whole affair, the question seems to be turning to: was this whole thing a hoax? An interview this evening on CNN is raising all sorts of questions and is likely to be making the rounds well into the night. Asked why he didn’t respond to his family callin [...]

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. Name: Twitoaster Quick Pitch: Twitoaster is a Twitter service. It threads and archives your Twitter conversations, bringing you all the background, con [...]

Now that the so-called “Balloon Boy” has been found alive and well (in his family’s attic, not in the balloon), the story is quickly morphing into an amusing Internet meme, complete with its own Kanye jokes. Of course, the smartest of Internet meme chasers are trying to make a dollar out of the whole thing with merchandise. And as such, the “Go Falcon, Go!” t-shirt is now available on Za [...]

The Internet has been captivated by news of a balloon flying over Colorado this afternoon that was believed to be carrying a 6-year-old boy. Fortunately, this story has a happy ending: the boy has been found safe and at home. As the story developed, more details have emerged. The boy's name is Falcon Heene, and his family was featured on the ABC reality show Wife Swap. His father, Richard Heene, [...]