CNN

Facebook and CNN launch the 'I'm Voting' app

As election season heats up, politics are increasingly taking center stage in Facebook discussions -- and now that's going to step up even another notch. The social network and CNN launched their "I'm Voting" app today.

Announced last month, the app lets users commit to voting while endorsing specific candidates and issues. The commitments are displayed on users' timelines, news feeds, and real-time tickers. This way (for better or for worse) users can show all of their friends who they are voting for and how they feel about certain issues -- like immigration, health care, and … Read more

CNN and Facebook go all social on the 2012 election

Some Facebook users may not need that cardboard voting booth this year -- CNN and Facebook are partnering up to put that bright social media spotlight on voting in the 2012 election.

The media behemoths announced the partnership today, which includes a "I'm Voting" Facebook app that lets users commit to voting while endorsing specific candidates and issues. The commitments will then be displayed on users' timelines, news feeds and real-time tickers.

The app, which will be available in English and Spanish, will show which of your Facebook friends also supported the issue or candiate you voted … Read more

The 404 1,061: Where we're in too deep (podcast)

Stupid Andy helps us round out the week before the three-day holiday, and our favorite way to pay tribute to the soldiers is by getting choked up at YouTube videos of soldiers reuniting with their dogs. The ones with their families are pretty good, too.… Read more

Zite launches platform to highlight partners' stories

Aiming to work more closely with top-tier publishers, the popular news reader Zite today unveiled a platform that will prominently highlight stories from its media partners.

Zite, which works on iOS and Android devices, is built around the concept of giving people personalized news in discrete subject sections like "technology," "politics," "sports," and so on. People can choose as many sections as they like, and stories are algorithmically curated at least in part based on people's feedback about whether they do or don't like stories, publications, and even individual authors.

Now, with … Read more

CNN to buy Mashable for around $200 million, report says

This could be the news of the 2012 South by Southwest: CNN is set to pay more than $200 million to buy social media blog Mashable, according to Reuters blogger Felix Salmon.

Salmon, who is attending this week's festival and conference in Austin, Texas, says that "a little bird" told him that CNN will announce the deal on Tuesday. If the deal goes through as rumored, it would be an amazing coup for Mashable founder Pete Cashmore, who founded the blog in July 2005. The site draws about 20 million monthly unique visitors

The New York Times confirmed … Read more

CNN suspends Roland Martin for homophobic, violent tweets

CNN's political analyst Roland Martin got in a tweet-war during Sunday's Super Bowl game. And because of it, CNN has suspended him.

The debacle began when he tweeted, "If a dude at your Super Bowl party is hyped about David Beckham's H&M underwear ad, smack the ish out of him," referring to the H&M David Beckham ad that ran during the game and showed the soccer player in nothing but underwear.

Martin also tweeted, "Who the hell was that New England Patriot they just showed in a head to toe … Read more

The 404 968: Where we're totally idiot-proof (podcast)

We asked CNN technology writer Mark Milian to come into the studio today to wrap up the last show of the year, and he surprises us with Peter Ha from The Daily in tow!

Our two favorite guests join us for a discussion about the tech trends of 2011 ("hacking," privacy, mobile OS wars, Tumblr, and Reddit), and we'll also take a look at Mark's new book, Letters to Steve: Inside the E-Mail Inbox of Apple's Steve Jobs.

It's a collection of e-mails sent from the legend himself that shows his dedication to customer service and Apple fans. Some of them aren't so nice, though, as Mark tells us a few stories about his lesser-known messages.

I know you're probably super upset that this is the last episode of the year, but we'll be publishing exclusive Yuletide and Throwback episodes throughout the break, all the way up until we start our block of CES shows, live from the CNET stage at the Las Vegas Convention Center!

Thanks to everyone who helped us out this year--too many names to list, but we wouldn't be here without all our awesome guests, fans, moderators, producers, callers, and co-workers!… Read more

For Zite CEO, no meeting is truly random (Day on the Job)

SAN FRANCISCO--Welcome to Day on the Job, a new series looking at what life is like inside the technology business. Over the coming months, I'll be visiting a wide variety of tech companies, with an emphasis on startups, each time shadowing one person for a whole day.

It could be the CEO, or it could be an engineer or a designer. Or anyone in between. The idea is not to uncover dark secrets or business plans, but instead to take readers alongside the people who are creating the products they use every day or may be using in the … Read more

HP to bring back the TouchPad

Samsung unveils the Galaxy S II and Epic 4G Touch smartphones, Google offers free calls to the U.S. for American soldiers through Gmail, and HP will bring back the TouchPad for one final, short production run.

Links from Wednesday's episode of Loaded: