Live TV can be tough, especially if you’re in a cranky mood. Case in point: WVLT TV Volunteer News reporter Gordon Boyd, whose on-air freak-out has gone viral this week.

Reporting from a courthouse in downtown Knoxville, Tennessee, Boyd seems to be having a bit a trouble wrapping up a story about a harrowing sentencing. As he goes to deliver the final sentiment, he botches the line, saying gravely: “Staying and doing nothing is as heinous as doing at all.”

The slip of the tongue prompts the reporter to throw his notes to the ground, a snarl contorting his livid face. The best part of the video, however, is the anchor’s expression as the camera cuts back to the studio, and his ensuing explanation of the tantrum: “All right, we’re having technical difficulties we can see, a little frustration there…” Yeah, technical difficulties…

Check out the video below, as well as a few favorites from the annals of botched news reports:

Snowpocalypse

Giant Bird

Lizard Attack

[via Buzzfeed]

Tags: video, viral video

A judge has taken Pink Floyd’s side in a court battle between the band and its label, EMI, and digital downloads are at stake. The band says its 11-year-old contract only permits EMI to sell complete albums, not individual tracks, but the label has been offering downloads of individual songs through online services like iTunes.

The word “record” was used in the contract, which EMI believes implies physical media. Therefore, the label thinks that it can do whatever it wants as far as digital downloads go. The judge was quoted in Bloomberg saying, “There is nothing in the terms ‘album’ or ‘record’ to suggest they apply to the physical product only.” The court seems to support Pink Floyd’s goal to preserve the artistic integrity of its work.

This isn’t the first struggle EMI has had with artists over online content. Social media darlings OK Go recently ended their relationship with the label and announced that they’re forming their own label called Paracadute.

Fortunately for listeners who want individual tracks, this court development hasn’t prohibited EMI from making Pink Floyd songs available yet. That might happen later on, though.

Is the Album Dead?

Pink Floyd has always resisted singles, preferring to release complete albums intended for straight-through listening. And they’re not the only band that has complained about the shift in focus to singles that the online era has heralded. But even if you’re sympathetic to the artistic vision, it’s hard to see these sorts of restrictions as shrewd business moves.

Single tracks completely dominate digital downloads, and digital downloads make up the extreme majority of music sales now. It’s possible that the age of the album has all but ended. Do you still regularly buy complete albums online or do you stick with singles now? Discuss it in the comments and maybe we can figure out where the music industry is going.

Tags: EMI, itunes, music, pink floyd

With iPad preorders officially starting tomorrow, attention has shifted to iPhone 4.0 software and what features it might bring to both the iPad and future iPhone models.

Apple Insider is now adding fuel to the long-standing rumors that the next big update to Apple’s iPhone OS will feature support for multitasking — that is, the ability for third-party apps to run in the background.

As anyone with a jailbroken iPhone knows, the multitasking limitation for third-party applications in the iPhone OS is purely artificial. Whether it is for security purposes, performance or battery life, Apple has chosen not to allow third-party developers (or even third-party Apple created apps) to run concurrently in the background.

This means that if you want to listen to Pandora while surfing the web in Mobile Safari, well, too bad. Of all the complaints levied against the iPhone, this is probably the one that impacts consumers the most. It doesn’t help that you can, for instance, use the iPod application while surfing the web or using other apps.

Push notifications have mitigated some of the need for many use cases for multitasking — but it’s not a true solution.

Multitasking in iPhone 4.0?

Even a year ago, the multitasking issue with the iPhone 3.0 OS wasn’t as problematic as it is now, in part because while competing mobile platforms did offer support for running third-party apps in the background, the competition from those platforms wasn’t as strong.

A year later, we have Palm’s webOS, the BlackBerry, Microsoft’s upcoming Windows Phone 7 Series, and of course, what many see as the iPhone’s biggest competition: Google’s Android platform.

For the iPhone to remain as enticing to developers as it is now (and in turn, as attractive to users), future versions of the software will need to support multitasking by third-party applications in some capacity.

AppleInsider says that its sources say Apple has developed a “full-on-solution,” but details about how that solution will be implemented and what rules applications will need to follow to address multitasking was not revealed.

Steve Jobs is famous for taking features out of a product if they don’t meet his standards. As a long-time smart phone user who has used devices on almost every major smartphone platform, I can attest to some of the very real problems that multitasking or excessive backgrounding can cause for those devices.

They include, but are not limited to:

Decreased Battery Life — More apps running at once means more CPU usage, which means battery life can be reduced.

Slowdowns, freezes, crashes — As a long-time BlackBerry user before I migrated to the iPhone, I remember the “three finger salute” reboot mechanism far too well. At least once a day (more often if I happened to open up my RSS reader or my e-mail was particularly heavy) I had to reboot my Berry in order to reset the memory cache and allow the device to work at a pace that didn’t resemble molasses. Android devices I’ve used have had this same problem (although not to the extent as my BlackBerry Curve) and homebrew Palm Pre developers have even written a tool that schedules phone reboots to handle the issue.

Switching apps can be awkward — This is probably one of the biggest challenges Apple will have to face — beyond just the technical tricks for implementing better resource handling and allocation — the mechanism used to switch between open applications can be cumbersome, depending on the type of application. With it’s one-button design, the iPhone will likely have to employ some sort of gesture for opening or accessing other apps — if indeed it implements multitasking the same way that BlackBerry and Android do.

Rumors about multitasking coming to the iPhone in a supported form have been swirling for literally years, so any report on whether or not it will be a reality in iPhone 4.0 is pure speculation.

That said, if Apple doesn’t address multitasking with its next big release, it risks falling behind other players moving forward.

Reviews: Android, BlackBerry Rocks!, Google, Pandora, iPhone

Tags: apple, iphone, iPhone 4.0, iphone os, multitasking

If you’re a Facebooker who’s lusting after the Apple iPad (so much so that you’ve joined a Fan Page), then chances are you’re aged between 18 and 25 and have an interest in popular culture — or so says RapLeaf, a company that analyzes social media stats to draw meaningful conclusions from the likes of Facebook Fan Pages.

RapLeaf looked at the top three Facebook Fan Pages (all of which are imaginatively named “The iPad”) to see if iPad fans could be easily grouped into a particular demographic.

The numbers are certainly there for such a study — the three pages together boast almost 98,000 members. While gender pretty much averaged out across all the pages, the age range came in at under Facebook’s average with 85% of overall fans 35 or under, and nearly 50% 25 and under.

iPad-owner-wannabes are also fairly social, with a third boasting more than 300 friends. Other Fan Pages they have joined include, in many cases (and perhaps unsurprisingly), iTunes, as well as other Pages related to caffeine, sleep, pop culture and humor.

What will be truly interesting to see as we edge closer to the April 3 iPad launch is how many of those 98,000 put their money where their Facebook fandom is and go out and buy the device.

Reviews: Facebook

Tags: apple, facebook, ipad, statistics

This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

One of the most powerful aspects of social media and the web is the fact that it isn’t specific to any location. So long as you have an Internet connection, you can be halfway across the world Skyping, tweeting, and communicating with your friends. It has broken down barriers, given people the ability to work remotely, and made it so that your location doesn’t have to determine your destiny.

Still, to discount location would be foolish. It’s where we socialize and, for the most part, where we work. We grow to love (or hate) the neighborhoods and cities in which we live. And with the rise of smartphones and GPS, location-based social networks such as Foursquare and Google Buzz have been growing like wildfire.

Thus, I’m not surprised that a new debate has been raging in entrepreneurship circles over whether it matters where your startup is based. For web entrepreneurs, the perceived epicenter has always been San Francisco and the Bay Area – often known as Silicon Valley. With a huge collection of technology companies, venture capitalists, and talented engineers, many advocate moving to the area if you’re serious about building a startup.

That mentality has been challenged recently by growing startup hubs around the globe. One of the ones making a lot of headlines is New York City’s tech scene, which has been growing rapidly in recent years and includes startups such as Foursquare and VC firms like Union Square Ventures. Boulder, Colorado is also gaining traction due to the presence of Techstars, an early-stage seed venture firm.

Why Location Still Matters

While you have a lot of good choices for where to build your company, don’t let anybody fool you into thinking that location doesn’t matter; in fact, it does. Here’s why:

• Different locations have different entrepreneurial support communities.

These are vital, because entrepreneurship can quickly become lonely and nerve-wracking without mentorship and support.

• Talent pools around location. You will simply find more talented engineers in Silicon Valley, while you’ll find a larger pool of financial minds in NYC and media moguls in Los Angeles. You can find talent anywhere, but the pool matters.

• In-person meetings are just as important as they were five years ago. Being able to grab a coffee with a potential investor or partner is still going to be more powerful than Skyping or email.

With that said, it doesn’t mean that San Francisco or Silicon Valley is the best place to start a web company.

Yes, in a lot of cases it can be because of the influx of money and talent, but there are a lot of other things you should consider, including:

• Partnerships: Foursquare, an NYC-based company, has succeeded in striking a lot of great media partnerships, including ones with Bravo and The New York Times. Their location has surely helped: NYC simply has more advertising and media companies than other locations, and Foursquare has seized upon the opportunity it presents.

• Talent: While engineering talent is prevalent in Silicon Valley, you need to consider what your startup is about. For example, Boston has a strong startup community with great scientists and academics that come from MIT and Harvard.

• Happiness: If you live in a place that you simply hate, you are not going to be as productive. If your own needs aren’t fulfilled, how can you expect to fulfill the needs of a startup and its employees? If I have any piece of advice for where to create your startup, it’s this: make sure it’s a place that will make you happy first and foremost, and then go from there.

Location matters for your startup, but it doesn’t define success. Hard work, smart execution, and the right team are far more important. Don’t compromise those things in your quest to find your perfect startup city.

More business resources from Mashable:

- 7 Essential Online HR Resources for Your Small Business

- Google Buzz: 5 Opportunities for Small Businesses

- 5 Ways to Avoid Sabotaging Your Personal Brand Online

- 4 Elements of a Successful Business Web Presence

- HOW TO: Implement a Social Media Business Strategy

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Matejay

Reviews: Foursquare, Google Buzz, iStockphoto

Tags: business, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, List, Lists, small business, startup

We now know how Conan O’Brien plans to leverage the huge swell of support he found online in the wake of being forced out at NBC: a nationwide comedy tour.

The comedian announced on his Twitter account this morning the launch of TeamCoco.com, where fans can buy tickets to one of 30 shows, kicking off in Eugene, Oregon, on April 12. The tour, fittingly enough, is called “The Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour,” a reference to the deal he made with NBC that keeps O’Brien off the air until the fall.

A comedy tour has been rumored since shortly after Conan stepped down, and we suspected something might be in the works when he finally joined Twitter (and immediately found a huge fan base, and changed one random girl’s life along the way). Now, Conan officially has an outlet to keep the momentum going while he determines his next move on TV.

Are you going to go see one of Conan’s shows? Let us know in the comments!

Reviews: Twitter

Tags: conan o'brien, team coco, trending

According to the Guardian and Global Dashboard, Facebook has threatened to sue Daily Mail over an article that wrongfully claimed Facebook makes it easy for older sex predators to approach and seduce minors.

Daily Mail’s article, which can (in edited form) be found here, was written by a former police detective Mark Williams-Thomas, and had originally been titled “I posed as a girl of 14 on Facebook. What followed will sicken you.” It contained the account of the author posing as a minor on Facebook, which, according to him, attracted sexual predators right away.

The problem? He wasn’t really using Facebook to conduct the experiment, he used a “different social networking site,” as explained in today’s update to the article, added at the bottom by Daily Mail staff. The full text of the update is as follows:

“In an earlier version of this article, we wrongly stated that the criminologist had conducted an experiment into social networking sites by posing as a 14-year-old girl on Facebook with the result that he quickly attracted sexually motivated messages. In fact he had used a different social networking site for this exercise. We are happy to set the record straight.”

Needless to say, this caused a strong response from Facebook, which is still referenced throughout the article. According to the Guardian, a UK spokeswoman for Facebook said that the company was considering legal action due to the “brand damage that has been done.” “If you were a Middle England reader and your child was on Facebook, this sort of thing would have a very serious effect on what you thought of us,” she said.

Facebook has a point here; besides the obvious erroneous reporting, the article details how someone posing as a 14-year-old girl would get messages from older men (more accurately, users whose Facebook profile indicates they’re over 18 years old), which cannot be done on Facebook. Therefore, Facebook can argue it has measures in place to prevent exactly the kind of behavior the article describes, unlike the unnamed social network the experiment was conducted on.

We’ve contacted Facebook’s UK PR representative on this matter but have yet to hear back.

Reviews: Facebook

Tags: Daily Mail, facebook

If you’ve never been to Hong Kong, and you’ve heard legends about the busy streets of the city, you can now see how it looks for yourself without leaving your comfy chair, as Google has launched its Street View service for Hong Kong.

The huge city has been covered extremely well; just zoom out of Street View, pull the little yellow Street View figure on the upper left side of the screen and you’ll see that most of the streets are blue, which means Street View is available there.

In addition to Hong Kong, Google Street View is now also available in the city of Macau, south of Guangdong province.

Tags: Hong Kong, street view

Last week, an App Store error got the latest version of Foursquare for the iPhone into a few users hands a little bit early.

That hiccup resulted in the app briefly disappearing from the App Store before finally returning early yesterday. Now the newly designed version of the app is in the App Store and available for everyone to check out.

Foursquare 1.7 features a new design, faster checkins and shouts, plus an easy way to view your checkin history. The app also features pull-to-refresh, a la Tweetie 2 for the iPhone. The app is a lot more responsive in our tests and the new interface is a big enhancement.

This is a nice improvement from the old release and a fitting first-birthday gift of sorts as the app is arriving just before SXSW 2010 — where the app made its first big splash last year — begins.

What do you think of the new Foursquare app? Let us know!

Reviews: Foursquare

Tags: foursquare, foursquare iphone, iphone apps

A new study from security firm Barracuda Labs provides some interesting insights into the state of the Twitterverse. Unfortunately for the microblogging startup, the stats say that most of its users aren’t very active.

The study looked at around 19 million Twitter accounts (PDF) in order to figure out how people are using Twitter. It started with one assumption: An active or “True” Twitter user has at least 10 followers, follows at least 10 people and had tweeted at least 10 times. By that definition though, only 21% of Twitter users are active users.

There’s a great deal of interesting data in the breakdown. Only 26% of Twitter users had 10 followers or more by December 2009, while only 40% were following 10 people or more (in fact, a majority of Twitter users, 51%, were following less than five people).

In terms of tweets, the report estimates that 34% of Twitter users hadn’t tweeted even once, while a whopping 73% of Twitter’s users tweeted less than 10 times. That means nearly all of the tweets on the social network were coming from about one-fourth of the userbase. Power users dominate.

Barracuda Labs also analyzed Twitter’s growth over time, and the numbers are consistent with previous reports that show while Twitter grew like wildfire in early 2009, it has dramatically slowed down in recent months. Going back further to early 2008, the report estimates that the microblogging tool grew by just 0.31%. However, with the quick rise of media coverage and the influx of celebrities such as Oprah and Shaq, Twitter use grew by 20% in April 2009 before dropping off to 0.34% growth in December 2009.

While the news isn’t stellar, it isn’t all bad for Twitter — these metrics are moving in the right direction. A full 79% of users had less than 10 tweets in June 2009, but that number dropped to 73% by December. Eighty percent of users had less than 10 followers in June 2009, but that percentage dropped to 74% by December. If that trend continues, you’ll hopefully see a more diverse and active Twitterverse going forward.

[via MediaMemo]

Reviews: Twitter

Tags: Barracuda Labs, followers, stats, trending, twitter