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One of the most important differences is that Timeline highlights a number of posts, photos, videos and other moments from the past picked by Facebook's algorithms. The old style profile was a simple endlessly scrolling first-in/last-out list of items.

The year-by-year scrapbook-style view can make two business profiles look very different.

Take for example two companies which have both posted an equal amount of information in 2011 but one company was relatively silent in the years before. That company's profile will have empty or somewhat empty years scrolling back; something which was virtually hidden form view in the old format.

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With Facebook Timeline‘s takeover of personal profiles complete, the social networking giant is unleashing its latest greatest invention upon brand Pages, too.

Facebook announced on Wednesday morning that Timeline is now live for the first time for some organizations that use Pages.

Much like with profiles, the new platform has the potential for real design beauty, but with the added bonus of multiple publicly-known storylines and angles to draw from. The cover photo can be especially powerful for its ability to display logos, products or personalities. The timeline itself showcases brands’ unique stories and identities. Facebook is also introducing some handy new admin capabilities, including the ability to sticky selected pieces of content for seven days.

Timeline for profiles was designed to make Facebook a better medium for individuals to tell the stories that create their identities, and the philosophy for brands is no different, according to Timeline product manager Sam Lessin.

“Organizations have identities too,” he said earlier this week.

More than any other facet of the new design, the timeline itself is especially effective at conveying those identities. The timeline of Livestrong’s Page that Mashable was shown began with photos of Lance Armstrong bed-ridden with cancer — powerful stuff. Manchester United‘s timeline points to its rich history, with the first entry dating back to 1878. Brands can also call out specific milestones — a first sale, major acquisition or debut of a hit product, for example — by starring them so they appear double-wide. That exists with personal Timeline profiles already, but can wield special force for brands.

When you visit a brand Page in Timeline layout, the experience becomes more personal. A prominently displayed section on the landing page shows how many of your friends like the brand, as well as your friends’ public mentions of related topics.

“The goal is to make Pages more engaging and more social,” said Gokul Rajaram, Facebook’s product director for ads.

Page administrators have new options at their fingers too. An admin panel hides or expands on command, meaning you don’t have to navigate to a separate page to make changes, updates or improvements. The panel includes notifications of activity on your Page and chart-based performance data. Best of all, you can now respond directly to private messages without added hassles or obstacles, a feature also directly accessible from the admin panel.

To see examples of what Timeline has to offer brand Pages, check out the gallery below.

And fear not, nervous admins and traditionalist users: Page administrators have until March 30 to curate their new profiles, then the revamp goes live for everyone.

A chubby dog gets in shape to chase a Beetle in Volkswagen’s long-awaited sequel to its “The Force” Super Bowl ad from last year. And don’t worry, there’s a shout out to Star Wars as well.

Mark Hunter, CCO of Deutsch LA, which created “The Force” and the new ad, “The Dog Strikes Back,” acknowledges that the former ad was a tough act to follow. “The pressure is on because we did that great ad,” he says. “We don’t mind. That’s what we’re in this business for.”

Hunter jokes that the Deutsch team went to work on the new ad shortly after the whistle blew in the 2011 Super Bowl. Actually, work began in earnest about six months ago. Over that time, the agency went through many, many concepts. “I would be surprised if the raw number of script ideas was less than 200,” he says.

One of the challenges was to somehow work in a Star Wars reference. Hunter says the online Star Wars community is one of the reasons that last year’s ad caught on. One major difference is that most advertisers are dropping their complete ads before the big game. Last year, VW was among a more select group. Click the link to watch the ad!

The timing, however, is the same: The Wednesday before the big game. Within a day, the video had received more than 150,000 views. However, VW’s teaser for this latest ad, “The Bark Side,” already has racked up 10 million views since hitting YouTube Jan. 18.

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Responsive Functions: The web design is about to become truly responsive. This thing relates to some new functions and capabilities which are introduced in its infrastructure. The concept, which relates to a fully responsive web design, is still quite new. This thing indirectly means that we might not get it in 2012. However, the developers will definitely impress us with these capabilities very soon.

Circles: None can deny the fact that web design presents a few steady trends. One of these trends is the so-called “circles”, which are some effects that can be completed with the help of the CSS3 feature. This feature is capable to create some truly fancy box effects which can easily compete against any rounded corners and drop shadows desktop-based effects.

New Menus: The latest web design ideas are proposing users some new menus which come along with multi-column choices. The multi-column alternatives are ideal especially for those websites which must handle numerous links. These new menus allow websites’ owners to keep core links at the top of their pages, which actually improves the overall web experience.

Vector Art: The vector art is also about to change. The new codes and formats allow people to create some truly adorable mascots which are ready to claim their own spots on various virtual pages. The “big vector” illustration work is quite new although the concept which relates to its basics has been around for a few years. These days, the website creators are ready to cheer up their boring cyberspaces.

HTML5 and iQuery: This new formats are finally able to enhance the user experience with bonus animations and fancy aesthetics. These new code formats allow website builders to create some truly outstanding effects with fewer code lines than before.

New Banner Graphics: As you might already know, the website designers are proposing a variety of banner graphics these days. If you take a look over the web, you are able to find numerous tutorials which help different people to create unique page bookmarks, banners, and ribbons.

Slab Typefaces: Although slab typefaces have been recently introduced in web design, they can help you to create a great web page, which highlights a wonderful graphic. Moreover, slab typefaces are essential in order to convince the readers to check specific website sections.

One-Page Layout: This function actually requires you to remove the unnecessary lines from your content. It is essential to bear in mind that most readers only scan the content, without actually reading it. This thing indirectly means that you have to create some short texts that can attract the readers to check your website. However, it is important to know that one page layout fits the personal web designs much better than the corporate ones.

Infographics: Although this element does not affect the web design of a page, it is related somehow to the overall user experience. And the truth is that the new elements, which describe infographics these days, have changed the new-age media. Thanks to these elements, the consumers are capable to get any information they want in a truly easy-to-consume way.

Font Faces: You can change any CSS styles by getting the Typekit tool, which allows you to write custom fonts into the CSS. By choosing a specific font, you can easily create a new look for your website.

Oversized Headers/Logos: If you wish to impress your website’ visitors, you can use oversized headers or logos. However, if you intend to use oversized elements on your page, make sure that you do not use too many. In most cases, the oversized graphics are meant to attract the attention of your readers with regard to specific website elements.

Hand-Drawn Designs: For example, if you intend to develop a website for an artist, the best thing that you can do is to get hand-drawn graphics. You can even choose software which allows you to create your own design. This way, you can be sure of the fact that your creation is unique.

Typography: The web designers have also developed some new typographic trends. The truth is that in most cases, the designers are afraid to use new fonts in order maintain the usability of websites. However, you can use different fonts to create a twist where it is needed. Moreover, you can modify fonts to fit your purpose. Although typography is quite new, it will definitely become a very important component of websites.

Simplicity Remains the Key: In order to give customers quick access to different virtual points, you should definitely choose intuitive but simple interfaces. The more elements your interface provides, the more time it takes to download. This thing can convince a part of your visitors to choose another website, which provides similar products and services but faster downloads. Therefore, if you want to stay on top, make sure that “simplicity” remains the word which describes your website.

Source: http://designmodo.com/web-design-ideas-2012/#ixzz1kxR3SYMm

Now that Facebook Timeline has rolled out, many of you have become more familiar with its most prominent feature, resulting in a plethora of creative and noteworthy profiles. Now, we’ve scoured the social network and found some of the funniest cover photo designs.

Whether it’s a tribute to an old Nintendo game or a play on placement or lighting, one of these cover photos is likely to make you smile. 

Think you have a funnier cover photo? Share yours with us in the comments and let us see your creativity!

Did you know that McDonalds is the largest toy distributor in the world? or that McDonalds plan on opening 1 store per day in China for the next 3 years?

Or that the Queen of England owns a McDonalds?

Well either did we! Click the link and let us know your thoughts!

Got a lot of ads on your website? Google‘s new search algorithm, which looks for sites that maintain a good balance of content and ads, could automatically filter it out of search results pages. The change comes after complaints of searches regularly turning up sites that favor bulky ads over the content.

The search engine will show more high-quality websites by downgrading pages that display too many ads, according to a blog post from Google engineer Matt Cutts. High-quality sites will also be rewarded, encouraging “a healthy web ecosystem.”

Google, though, is already coming under fire for the changes. Some say its own site sometimes favors ad results. One example — see the video above — shows how a search for “Blu-Ray DVDs” turns up sidebar links to stores, supported personalized ads, shopping results, plus advertisement links that deflect from real content that users may be looking for.

The change, Google’s Cutts notes, will affect less than 1% of global queries or less than 1 in 100 searches. The new algorithm will reduce rankings for low-value ads and sites deemed less useful.

Afraid your site will be affected? Google suggests cleaning up obscure content with the help of its Browser Size tool, plus screen resolution emulators to see how users will see your webpage on different devices.

Tell us in the comments what you think of Google’s latest algorithmic tweak, and if you think it’ll impact your website.

Two years ago, a group of Star Wars fans decided to remake Star Wars: A New Hope out of fan-generated scenes. Now, that Star Wars Uncut project has finally come to its full fruition with a Director’s Cut, a two-hour+ YouTube video created entirely by crowdsourcing.

When fans were encouraged by organizer and fan Casey Pugh to recreate the Star Wars movie in 15-second segments, they were given free reign to do whatever they wanted. Out of the thousands of wildly creative scenes, video editor Aaron Valdez and sound designer and mixer Bryan Pugh picked the best of the bunch, putting together this whimsical Director’s Cut, a rip-roaring re-creation of the George Lucas film.

Over the course of a couple of years Casey Pugh has basked in the limelight, even winning a primetime Emmy award in 2010 for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Media for his work on this project. Now the Director’s Cut has found its way to YouTube, where it’s already garnered more than 433,000 views since it was first posted on Jan. 18.

Said Casey on his blog, “Star Wars Uncut has always been incomplete without this. I’m very excited and proud to release the entire film. Watch it over the weekend for guaranteed LOLs and nostalgia.”

So sit back, and see if you are more entertained by this crowdsourced version of Star Wars: A New Hope than you were by the original. Then, let us know what you think of this enormous undertaking. Is it awful or amusing? Somewhere in between?

Supporters of the Stop Online Piracy Act, or(and its Senate-sister the Protect Intellectual Property Act, PIPA) legislation — like the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) — argue that legislation is needed because online piracy puts jobs and industries at risk.

While we agree that content piracy is a real problem, the language and implications of SOPA has the potential to hurt the very industries and content creators the bills purport to protect.

Read more on what seems the the most controversial topic around!

Did you know that if Wikipedia was a book..... it would have 2.25 million pages and take 123 years to read!!!!

Some cool and interesting facts in this video on Social Media.

What are your thoughts? Did you think Facebook alone would get as big?